I swore I never do this!

Blogging was not for me! Great for people that have all that extra time in their day, but I have much better things to do than to air my thoughts on feelings on the internet for everyone in cyber space to see! (OK, I will admit I have been known to read a few blogs.) Yet, here I am...blogging.

With the move to Italy I just get too many requests for updates. So this is my way to keep all of you up to date. If you choose to read my blog then great (and it'd be nice to get a comment or email back!) and if you choose not to read my blog then don't ask for an update! :)

Our Italy is not quite the Italy one views in romantic movies. It is chaotic (driving here is slightly better than Ukraine), dirty (the garbage strike/situation is not even close to being resolved, not to mention the air quality around Naples), and there is more poverty than you'd think for a developed country that belongs to the EU.

Our village is quiet and safe - two unusual qualities for Italy. We are two very short blocks from the beach (but the beaches have yet to be cleaned for the tourist season and the Mediterranean possesses much more garbage than you'd like to see.) We live in an area of houses all built within the last few decades. Thus there are not the winding streets that resemble small canyons with laundry strung out overhead. However, I think Kyle appreciates the lizards and the walls much better than laundry overhead.

I walk daily with the kids. We have to check out the beaches, buy our bread and a few groceries. Our favourite stop is surely the local "deli". This is where we can buy things like bread (always at least 6+ fresh baked varieties to choose from), prosciutto, ham and other meats, cheese (fresh ricotta, mozzarella etc) and premade lunch pizzas and sandwiches. Kyle now walks in first and announces "Boungiourno" or "ciao" to everyone and then proceeds to order what we (he) wants.

We try to spend our weekends on adventures with daddy. Every week Kyle anticipates Saturday with great excitement. He knows on Saturday daddy doesn't go to work. So far we've been tourists in Naples (too cold and windy to do much), did a day trip to the Island of Ischia (spent all our time at Castel Argonese - amazing!), drove south to find some caves and didn't get there until hours after close because we were distracted by the awing Greek ruins at Paestum. We have also had some misadventures; like promising Kyle a "new" McDonalds and, by following the directions on the McD's website, drove for 2.5 hours and then gave up. Only to find the McD's on the other side of the city on our way out of town. (Only Brian would ever have the determination to drive that long to find a McD. Believe me it wasn't McD's that kept him going, it was the inability to give into a challenge!)