Itchy Feet and Smelly Socks

Hallowe'en

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Pheww! We made it. We survived Hallowe'en. Now we just have to survive the sugar rush for the next few weeks! It was certainly different than our last Hallowe'en, spent in Italy, but it really was nice to be back to our old traditions - minus the rain.

I suppose you could say our Halloween started Tuesday with a visit to the pumpkin patch and then carving pumpkins Thursday evening - but I don't have the pics ready to go up for that so stayed tune. But please note that we, as parents were crazy enough to give Kyle full run of the pumpkin carving tools (supervised!) and he carved his very own pumpkin!!!!

Hallowe'en actually started Friday morning with Kyle heading off to Dads and Donuts at his school. It was also Storybook Character day so he was all dressed up as Peter Pan as he headed off with Papa. Dad, dressed as Cpt. Hook met up with them and I guess they were quite popular for the cameras. (I'd love a picture if anyone has one to share!) Kyle returned home as he actually attends school in the afternoon. The morning continued with one of my favourite traditions. The moms' group I belong to arranges for the children to go Trick or Treating at a retirement home. The residents and staff are always so excited to see the kids and it really is a fun experience for everyone. It is also very fun for ALL the adults to dote over all the adorable costumes worn by the kids. For this Kyle went as Cpt. Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Vika went as Little Bo Peep (which I'm proud to say I made - and the emphasis is on "I", as my mom only did one hem and that has to be a record!)

Kyle then headed off to school , still as Cpt. Jack and had a great time with his class Halloween party.

Saturday Trick or Treating began at Ami and Papa's with all of us in costume. (Mental note - skip the wig when I already have a headache!) Then we headed off to the mall for indoor trick or treating in hopes of avoiding some of the rain. I guess most of the area had the same idea! It was very well run, but too crowded for us! So we came home. We lit up our Jack O Lanterns and took the kids trick or treating on our street - in the rain. The advantage of only two families on the street having kids - our kids get LOTS of candy - but I'm starting to think that's a disadvantage from a parent's perspective! The kids had a great time! The only let down was a lack of other trick or treaters for Kyle and Brian to scare! They love to hide in the bushes and around corners and scare the older trick or treaters. I think we only had about 12 kids -more candy for us! :0 And that includes the 3 teenagers!

The kids, and myself really had a great time! Halloween is my favourite time of year and I'm so happy when my family enjoys it too!

Kyle's back to school

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Once again, I'm a little late with things, but it seems I am slowly making chronological progress and will soon give up on catching up and just live in the current moment.

Here is Kyle off to school - his first day of Kindergarten - sort of. It's his first day of kindergarten in the US. He completed a year of kindergarten in Italy because they start there at 4 yrs old. Now he's 5 and starting Kindergarten all over again - and he's totally excited about it! He is in half days. We were not initially thrilled about afternoons but once our schedule got readjusted we felt threatened when they announced they were adding another morning class and we could be switched. Thankfully Kyle is still in afternoons.

Kyle is thoroughly enjoying Mrs. Fogg's class and practically runs to school everyday. It's worked out especially well that most of the kids in our neighbourhood are in his class and we walk home with one of his classmates and his little sister who is the same age as Vika. It helps that there is a park that we have to pass on the way home so the kids can usually get some time to burn off some energy.

Vika still misses Kyle fiercely everyday and can't wait to get her hugs from him when he is let out of school.

I can't believe my little guy has turned into such a handsome, smart and humourous kindergartener already!

Last day of school

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:19:00 +0000

I know I'm back stepping a little bit but I wanted to share this with some of our family and friends closer to home and share the pics with our friends abroad who may have kids in them. And, hey, it's not yet Kyle's first day of school here so I'm not that late! :) (well it wasn't Kyle's fitrst day back at school when I wrote this. Too bad blogger won't post my

Kyle’s last day of school –
The decision to put Kyle in Italian Kindergarten this year was not an easy one! I had it in my head that he would be attending preschool one more year – three half days a week. In the end we decided to send him to an Italian International school in the next town. He attended Italian Kindergarten – full days, five days a week. In the end it was a fantastic decision. The language of instruction was Italian and it was a challenge for Kyle. However, he thrived! By the new year he had made a huge transition and was pretty much fluent in Italian – well as fluent as a four year old can be! Kyle had a fantastic year! He made some wonderful friends from all around the world – Finn from Ireland, Elspeth from England, Adam and Ian from the US, Alessia and several others from Italy, and even more friends from places like Spain and Greece.
The school year did not officially end for Kyle’s class until June 30. With everything going on, including our move, we decided to pull Kyle from school early. I had been told by other parents to do whatever I could to make sure we didn’t miss the year end celebration. We made sure that Kyle – and all of us, made it to the celebration on June 19 – Kyle’s last day of school. It was an incredibly hot and humid day. So hot and humid that at one point at about 9:30 am I looked over at the mom next to me and we watched the make up melt down each other’s face – and the parade hadn’t even begun! The classes of the infant school marched out on to the parking lot and did the most heartwarming performance! Several times I was fighting the tears – and I didn’t even understand the Italian!
The morning was the perfect way for Kyle to finish a fantastic year! He spent it with some very important friends and his wonderful teacher Miss Ira, and he got to see Miss Hannah and Miss Iris – his very valued English teachers!
Kudos go out to all the staff at The International School of Lago Patria! We – I mean Kyle – had an excellent year! His education has a positive and strong foundation set and he has begun to develop a true love of learning – all of it giving him a fantastic experience that we will treasure for many, many years to come!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Ok, so it's been a while since I posted. Slowly I will try to bring you up to speed.

First I just have to share how proud I am of my nephew! He is not yet 9 and he is a sponsored BMX rider. He is great! We're all so happy we can watch his races now that we're closer. He lives to ride! He will do ANYTHING if it means someone will take him to the track.

Here's a photo I took of him last week.

Please meet Diego and Nemo and 6 of their friends

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:17:00 +0000

So how exactly does something like this happen? Well, it started a couple of Saturdays ago. I hear Kyle yell from the front of the house, "ZORO'S BACK!" It took me a minute and then I remembered Zoro is the name of the dog that "lives" at the house across the street. The family only uses the house in the summer so it's been a while since we've seen them. Kyle wants to go say hi to Zoro and in the course of conversation - about the frogs singing, we are taken to the pool and shown hundreds of tadpoles! Kyle, of course, being 4 and a boy, wants some. We fill a jar with 6 tadpoles and now are proud new parents! (And just exactly how does one rear tadpoles? I think I knew more about this at age 6 than I do now!) We (I) read up on it on the internet (mostly because I want to avoid any tragedies and making tadpole funeral arrangements) and Kyle is now the proud owner of a small plastic aquarium with six tadpoles who feast at least once a day on frozen spinach.
Jump to two Tuesdays ago. Kyle was so excited to show Eva his new pets. Although he struggled to find the Italian words he needed to relay his excitement Eva definitely understood. So much so, that when she came this Tuesday she had, in a jar, two goldfish, whom were quickly named, by Kyle, Diego and Nemo. I thought the jar was a little small and wasn't sure if tadpoles and goldfish can co-exist. Kyle now has two small plastic aquariums.

Now just who is it that brings new pets to a family only six weeks before they move! OK, the tadpoles - with a little luck they'll hop away before the six weeks are up. But Nemo and Diego? With our move approaching Kyle has been working on a list as to what of his possessions will be sold, what will go home with us and what will he give away and to whom. His venus flytrap (which he feeds fairly regularly with still moving insects) he'd like to give to his mate Elspeth but since they're moving it looks like Finn may be the lucky winner. And I, like a good parent, will start conferring with Dorianne, Alessia's mom next door to see if she will take on Kyle's Diego and Nemo.

I'm thinking babysitters, at least our very loving Polish-Italian one, must fall into the category of "aunt". The people in that category can get away with things with my children that no one else can! (Right, Lisa?)

Now if Kyle would only admit that the tadpoles tails are getting shorter and not growing longer as he claims! If they are growing longer then I may really have a challenge!

Hmmm, I think I hear a cricket singing outside the front door...perhaps I should go and warn him to move on.

I actually wrote this blog entry well over a week ago and never got it posted. So here is the update: Poor Nemo did not stay with us very long. Kyle was not particularly bothered as he simply renamed Diego - "Diego-Nemo". And all is fine. Since this posting we have actually had an encounter with a cricket that found it's way into our house, as well as a baby bird that fell out of one of our trees (put it in a shoebox and hung that from the tree and the next day it was gone), and a litter of three kittens (maybe 5 days old) at our friends house. Oh and our tadpoles have legs.

Rescue Hero

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:38:00 +0000

Thursday evening presented a very memorable event. One that I doubt Kyle will forget for a very long time.

On our way home (late) from a birthday party we noticed a fire burning in an abandoned building in our village. It was obviously just started because the smoke had not gone very high in the air but a whole room was already lit up. Kyle and I agreed we needed to "call it in" but we did't speak enough Italian to give the details. We tried calling a friend but couldn't reach her, we drove past the police station but there was no one around, so we turned to our next door neighbours. We went over and gave them the details and they called it in while Brian put Vika to bed. After the call was made we were assured that everything would be taken care of. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought that would be end of it. We came through our front gate and just as fast as any firefighter, Kyle had his gear on and was ready to go! I politely bowed out and told him that it's not really a good thing to go watch a fire but he could go talk to daddy. Of course he did and of course they went, with a head light attached to his helmut - and they beat the fire trucks there!

Kyle learned the importance of making sure all equipment is in working order. The firefighters' chainsaw wasn't working and then they had to resort to bolt cutters to cut through the locks to get onto the property. (Why didn't they use the bolt cutters first?) Once they had access to the building it took all of 30 seconds to extinguish the fire. Then, as Kyle says, "They just noticed me!"

Here's how Kyle tells it: They just noticed me. They just talked to me. One spoke English!!! Do you believe me! They asked me about everything actually, like who called in the fire. They wanted to know where I go to school and I really surprised them that I showed them I speak Italian. They really liked my uniform and theirs is the same even with a light! Then they just took me over to their truck and I got to sit in it. And they turned on the siren for me!! Then they got me out of the truck and I got to get my picture taken with them all! They actually were all nice!

The part Kyle doesn't tell is coming home when the Carabieneri (sp)(police) decided to stop Brian and Kyle and check Brian's documents (not unusual here). All Brian could think about was - yeah, the one who sets it comes back to the scene - oh -oh , here I go! It was shortly after that thought that Brian realized his Sojourners permit (permit to be in the country working and living) had expired 4 days earlier. Lovely. Thankfully Kyle had charmed the firefighters to the point that they considered him one of them and stood up to the police and asked them to let Brian and Kyle go!

(Did I mention how proud I am that Brian actually thought to grab a camera as he ran out the door!)

A quick update

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:16:00 +0000

I am pathetically behind in keeping up this blog! I guess that's life - when you're busy living it it's hard to find time to write about it! We've been keeping well, obviously busy. We had a fantastic visit with Lisa and Zach followed by a wonderful visit with Brian's parents. Of course the kids were thrilled to see Ami and Papa and were sad to see them leave. We did take the advantage with Brian's parents to see a little bit more of Italy. We spent some time in Orvieto and also made a trip to Sicily, fulfilling a dream of mine to see Mt Etna, glowing lava and all. Now we start the countdown to my mom's visit in May.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures to keep the grandparents happy! Some were taken around the house and some at a birthday party we attended last weekend. Enjoy.

Our visit to Rome

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:55:00 +0000

Kyle and I had such a great visit to Rome for two days with Lisa and Zach! We left Vika with Brian (and she got to spend one day with her "auntie" Nancy) and we took the two hour train ride to Rome. It took a little longer to get settled into our B&B than we expected. That had something to do with us buying our Roma Passes, stopping for snacks, eating at McD's then finding our way on the metro to our stop and walking the rest of the way to the B&B. As you can already tell food became a big part of trip. Kyle ate more than I've ever seen him eat! We took a whole grocery bag of snacks and in 24 hours they were gone - plus we ate three meals a day and had gelato twice a day!

Or course, we saw the main highlights of Rome - the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, The Pantheon, Vatican City, and a few smaller sites; the Cat Ruins/Sanctuary, and The Crypt at Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception church which is full decorated from floor to ceiling with the bones of 400 monks. That was Zach's big request - to see the church with the bones. Both the boys were amazing as they walked and walked and walked. We only had to stop and give them foot massages (peeuww! smelly!) once.

We walked to the top of St. Peter's Dome - 320 stairs up (after the elevator). That was a challenge for Lisa and I as the boys decided to race and ran pretty much the whole way. We gave it our best shot but we didn't quite keep up. As soon as we got to the top the boys wanted to have a drink and snacks (nevermind that we'd just finished breakfast). Lisa and I wanted a full body massage and a bed! (and a shower!). I believe while we were at the top we actually have two snack breaks!

We walked A LOT, rode the metro and the bus - and we still didn't get to see everything that we wanted to see. Hopefully that means that our wish we made when we threw our coins into the Trevi Fountain (to return) will come true!

Zach and Lisa's visit

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:35:00 +0000

We had such a fabulous visit with Zach and Lisa! We wore ourselves out - and the boys always seemed to find more energy, especially if gelato was involved. I think Zach tried more than 20 flavours! We saw lots of the sights both locally and in Rome and we also did some shopping. Lucky for the boys Brian would watch them so more often than not when shopping was involved. But then again, gelato can go a long way when kids are waiting for their moms to finish shopping. (It's "rewarding", not "bribing", right?) I believe after 3 malls ( tow of them shopped twice each), two markets and the shops in Rome, Sorento and Naples Lisa left with 5 pairs of shoes, 3 purses (all counterfeit designer bags of course), one hat, one sweater dress, at least 4 tops/sweaters, one skirt, multiple tights, three belts and more I'm sure!

We spent about 5 hours one day at Pompei. I think Zach really enjoyed it, for at least two reasons. One, that it is close to Mt, Vesuvius. The other, that it gave him endless opportunities to persue his quest to defy gravity! He seems to be born to have his feet off the ground! He would jump off of or leap frog over just about everything. This was a really lesson to Kyle! Kyle realized on more than one occasion just how much shorter than Zach he is! However, that didn't slow him down when it came to keeping up with Zach! Check out the slideshow of our day at Pompei!

My favourtie Kyle-ism yet!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:03:00 +0000

I have so many things to post about but they'll all have to wait. (I seriously need to get some slideshows together of Zach and Lisa's visit! What a great time!) But right now I need to post about one of the biggest smiles Kyle has given me in a long time!

Kyle and Zach were out digging in the yard and Kyle runs to the door calling me, "MOM! Come and see what I found! A treasure! Come and look!" I run to meet him at the door and he presents to me a broken shard of terracotta pottery that he has unburied. "Look mom! Harry Pottery!" He exclaims.

I wasn't sure I heard him right, but I did! He was so proud about finding Harry Pottery in the dirt!

Just to confirm it we went through it all again the next day as we were exploring Pompei with Lisa and Zach when Kyle found another shard of broken pottery.

Now Kyle doesn't really know who Harry Potter is as we've never exposed him to the books or movies. However, I'm sure he's heard the name as Brian and I will make reference to the books and maybe to a Quiditch broom or such. Nevertheless I absolutely love what his imagination does and I hope I remember "Harry Pottery" for a very long time - and smile every time!

For my scrappy friends

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:13:00 +0000

Here's a new scrap blog:

http://lovebugscrapbooking.wordpress.com/

Feel free to check it out and if you do, let them know you found it through me!

A conversation with Kyle

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:38:00 +0000

I've had to fill in a couple of small blanks in this conversation, but only because I wasn't there for the original conversation. Kyle was out for a walk with our Italian/American friend Mary Grace. As they were talking and walking the topic of what Kyle was going to do when he grew up. Kyle expressed his desire to shoot up to the stars. He would like to be a cannon ball when he grows up so he can go to the stars. But there's a problem because he'd have to find a school that teaches how to be a cannon ball. But once he learns he'll be able to go to any star he wants.

He also told me he couldn't go to school yesterday because he was going to go in a rocket. When I told him we didn't have a rocket he told me I could go buy him one. I told him I was a little short on the 2 billion dollars needed to buy a rocket so I thought he should go to school. He said, "That's OK. I'll wait."

Carnevale!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:00:00 +0000

I never expected that I would get to participate in Carnevale, yet here were are in Italy and we did get to experience Carnevale! We found out that the town just over from ours hosts one of the bigger celebrations in Italy! It's very Italian in that it is all done in a chaotic sort of way that Italians are completely at home with. On Sunday we headed over withthe kids. The website says things will start at 3:00 and we found out that's when they close the road. Things weren't even set up. "Things" got started after 5:30. What we thought was going to be a parade was more of a static parade. We didn't clue in right away so we didn't actually go and see all the other sections of the "parade". It was cold and late and it seems that Carnevale can really drain one's energy - especially when it's at the volume Italians like! However we all had a great time and we did learn why one should eat cotton candy AFTER throwing confetti and not before.

Carnevale is HUGE in Italy! OK, so not all of Italy is like Venice - or even close to Venice, but it is still BIG! This area seems to really cater to the kids. I've never seen so many costumes in my life. It is nothing for Italian to drop $100 or more on a costume for a young child! Kyle's school had a pre Carnevale celebration where the parents brought in typical foods for this time of year from their countries to share with the other parents (yes I made Pancakes!). Then they had a Carnevale day with the kids in costume (that's when they get their school pictures done) complete with a festa (party). Then they get Shrove/Fat/Pancake Tuesday off. That's when a few of the parents and I got together and took our kids to Villa Literno for another day of Carnevale celebrations.

Shrove Tuesday proved to be louder and more crowded in Villa Literno. Yet, the kids and the parents had a great time! However, I think the parents may have enjoyed themselves slightly more than the kids as many of them had to instruct their children on the proper use of silly string and just how to throw confetti with the right technique. I was left wondering if the kids that were hesitant were scared silly string or scared of their parents' behavior with silly string.

I had a fantastic time taking pictures of all the costumes. The first slideshow is of Sunday's Carnevale celebration in Villa Literno with Brian, the kids and myself. The second slideshow is of Carnevale at Kyle's school and then the group of friends in Villa Literno on Shrove Tuesday (and a few extraneous little Italians in costumes).

Feel free to leave a comment and vote for your favourite costumes!

A few more things from Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:24:00 +0000

Finally, it's February and I'm finishing up posts from Christmas!

Before we went on our trip back tot he states the kids enjoyed Playmobil Advent Calendars. Of course all kids get excited about opening the little door each day, but I think it's fair to say we all got excited to take a small box off the calendar and place it in the scene we were building. Kyle had a pirate themed calendar and Vika's was an outdoor animal/wilderness theme. These were fantastic and the kids are still enjoying them!

Probably Kyle's very favourite gift he received for Christmas was his fireman's suit. He received this from Ami and Papa when we were celebrating Christmas with Brian's family, including his brother, his wife and their 5 children. Kyle and Pierce are only days apart in age and it was fitting that Pierce received a policeman's uniform. They were so cute playing resuce for hours that day! Kyle wears his suit almost daily! While we were still in the States Kyle wore it out for several outings with Papa. Papa even had to introduce the "visiting Italian fire chief" to the local fire department, and the police department a couple of days later! They also went and walked the boardwalk - which is somehting the two of them have always enjoyed doing together.

When we returned to Italy, it was all but forgotten that Santa had written in his Christmas note that he had left a few things at our place in Italy. (Santa sure knows haow to save a family from hauling stuff halfway aroudn the world!) The kids were thrilled with the surprise of finding more gifts! Kyle found a great start to his Lego collection and Vika instantly took a liking to her pink Pegasus!

The Great Christmas Chaos

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:44:00 +0000

There are only three "real" kids in my family; Zach, Kyle and Vika, and then several people who are kids simply because they never grew up (and that's a good thing!). Sometimes I wonder just how Christmas gets so out of hand in such a small family! We spent Christmas day at my mom's. It was one of the very few (maybe the only?) white Christmas of my life! In fact there was so much snow Christmas Eve day that Christmas Eve Church service was cancelled! I'm very glad that there wasn't too much snow for Santa and his reindeer. Explaining that one to the kids may have been a bigger challenge than I would have wanted.

We continued my family's tradition of inviting people who don't have anyone to spend Christmas with. This year that meant more family! (A very exciting phenomena when one comes from such a small family!) Brian's parents joined us as well as my uncle who travelled from Vancouver Island. Brian's cousin Lisa was supposed to join us but was snowed in in Coquitlam. Of course Lisa, Rick and Zach were there.

Kyle enjoyed putting out cookies for Santa, along with the chocolate milk - because there is ALWAYS chocolate milk at Nana's as far as Kyle is concerned. And there were also carrots for the reindeer, and the accompanying note. In the morning it was a bit difficult to get Kyle to wait until Zach and Lisa and Rick came over but he managed pretty good. We started with stockings and that alone probably was enough for everyone! And then came the gifts - and gifts, and gifts! There were laughs and excitement and lots of delight. Some of the highlights were Kyle's playmobil crane and fireman boots, Linda's Italy photobook, Lisa's Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner and Vika's new doll and baby stroller. There was also Brian's new bike.

Our day always includes a family brunch after gifts with my very favourite Christmas tradition: my mom's homemade Stollen (German Christmas Bread). Then there's time for trying out the gifts and just hanging out before we tidy up for dinner. This year was a little bit unique as Zach and Kyle could not wait to put the gifts aside and suit up to go out and play in the snow! And they did - for hours! Lisa, Rick and Zach usually head home to relax for the afternoon as they are always up late Christmas Eve. They return for dinner and we have the traditional turkey with my sister's great garlic mashed potatoes. This year Brian's mom made a selection of pies for dessert.

We like to drag out Christmas for one more day. Boxing day is PJ's and puzzles in my mom's house. And we like it just that way. I think this may be difficult for some of the guests sometimes but they usually get the hang of it without too much effort! This year mom's puzzle was one of the Cinque Terre in Italy - where we visited earlier in the year.

The chaos of Christmas in the Hartley household is something I actually quite enjoy - as exhausting as it it is! It is all part of tradition, but if it weren't for the kids what would it be? Kyle was able to read his name on gifts this year and Vika...well, Vika got a little ahead of herself in opening gifts and there were a couple that had to be wrapped again!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:13:00 +0000

So we survived! We had a crazy, but very fun, visit "home" for Christmas. I'm sure to recount all the adventures involved will take a few posts! In the three weeks we were home we had nine doctor appointments, 2 birthday celebrations, Christmas, the Cormick Christmas celebration, New Year's, numerous visits with family, and not enough time left to catch up with all the friends we wanted to see.

We began our trip with an overnight in Paris. It was so beautiful! Thankfully we were prepared for the cold and we were able to walk around the city late into the night quite comfortably. The highlight of course, was seeing the Eiffel Tower. Especially when there was a "pop" and all the sparkling lights went out. We were left with a beautiful glowing blue tower with a circle of stars. We don't think this was supposed to happen but it remained that way for the rest of the night and it was beautiful! The kids were fabulous troopers as we dragged them all over the city! Kyle is an amazing little walker and hardly complained even after 6 hours of being on his feet! We weren't so lucky in that we were there the day of a train strike. It took much longer, and a few extra trains for us to get in and out of the city. We didn't get back to the hotel, with two sleeping kids in tow, until after 11pm!

I was so excited to be in Paris and had wonderful thoughts of a beautiful French dinner. Brian prides himself that he did take us all out to dinner on the Champs Elysees - to McDondalds. Well at least the kids were happy and from the first floor window seats we had a pretty spectacular view! From there I was on a mission - I wanted to find a toy or book store so I could pick up Zach some French things! We succeeded! But we ended up a very long walk from a metro station!

We were actually quite thrilled to arrive in Seattle in the middle of a snow storm! It turned out that the snow was there to stay and we only had about 4-5 days without fresh snow the whole time we were there! Kyle absolutely loved it and was outside playing in the white stuff every single day! He could not get enough of it! Even on Christmas he and Zach wasted no time putting aside the new toys in order to go outside and play! Most days saw more than a couple of inches too! Most days the snow was over Kyle's knees and there was MUCH more than that at Aunt Laverna and Uncle Mark's.

Once we arrived home we were thrown into the chaos of our visit! After only two nights at Brian's parents' we began a schedule that wore us, me at least, very thin! I packed our overnight bags SEVEN times in three weeks in order to visit both sets of parents and Brian's aunt and uncle. Because of the all the doctor appointments we ended up going back and forth many times!

In the end we really did manage to get some great visits in with family. We feel that we left more than a few friends hanging onto hopes of at least a quick visit. Let me put it this way: our dear friend Cindy is taking care of Brian's car. While we were home all the snow (30+ inches!!) from the roof of her barn slide off and landed right on the roof of that little Corolla. We didn't even have a chance to go by to see the damage! We are really sorry that we did not get the chance to visit with so many friends (including new baby Gianna!) Just think of it this way - only 4 more months until we will have enough time to visit with everyone!

German Christmas Markets

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:16:00 +0000

Finally! A girls' weekend! It's been at least 2.5 years since the last one and this one was completely different! I got to go, with my friends Nancy and Tina, to the German Christmas Markets. We flew into Zurich where we had a long enough layover to have lunch at a beer hall and shop the Zurich Christmas market before we caught our flight to Nuremberg. At the Zurich market is a monstrous Christmas tree covered in something like 6000 Swarovski crystal decorations! In Nurnberg we stayed with very good friends of mine, Darryn and Martina and they gave us fabulous hospitality! They took us to THE Nuremberg Kriskindl Christmas Market. (Thanks for shopping with us Darryn!) We explored aisles and aisles of glass ornaments, nutcrackers, Nurnberg prune people, and gluhwein and Nurnberg sausages. The rain held off for the most part. (Umbrellas should not be allowed! Dangerous! Unless the person carrying it is over 6 ft and willing to share with the shorter people!) It was a bit chilly especially for our southern Italian blood! That evening we were very fortunate to have received an invitation to join Darryn and Martina at their friends' home for Gluhwein and cookies. The next day we left Darryn and Rhys behind and Martina took us to Rothenberg (of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame) to the local Christmas market there. It is a medieval town that is still surrounded by it's original walls and towers. It's law that all shops posting a shop sign must do so in the traditional gilded fashion. It is also home to the biggest Christmas store in the world: Kathe Wolfarht. And when I tell you that that store goes on and on and on and on I'm not exaggerating! (Think Small world at Disneyland!) Of course we had to try the local "cookie balls" before we could leave! (Does anyone actually eat a whole one?)

Everywhere we were was incredibly festive and ready to celebrate. Garlands and lights everywhere! Every shop was decorated - no matter what they sold.

With a bit of faith all of our good just fit into our suitcases and carry on bags! (OK, so I did buy a Venetian feather mask there and I did carry that separately!) And no reports of breakage on the way home!

It was a fabulous weekend and I think the only thing that would have made it better would have been a little snow instead of rain! We had lots of laughs and too many scares with motion sickness - and they weren't me! lol I think we're thinking of Venice next?...

This isn't in the guide books!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:35:00 +0000

Yesterday was a great day- and a very spontaneous one! We went from lazing in our PJs to packed into the car and on the road - to find an Aqueduct that I knew wasn't too far away. I had seen a picture of it and knew it was near Caserta. I also knew that, along with Caserta Palace, it has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage sight. So off we went to find it!

This is the Vanvitelli Aqueduct.

It actually pretty easy to find and it kind of stuns you when you first see it! Just how something so entirely massive that has been around for a couple of thousand years can be missed is surprising! But this is really not a tourist destination. I'm totally stunned as the history here is just amazing and it must have the most amazing story to tell.

Kyle was very excited to see it and had some questions that I still need to look up the answers!

We also drove up the hill by the aqueduct to the Sactuario di San Michele and found some breathtaking views!

It was a beautiful, but cold (10 degrees celcius) day. It was perfect for a Cormick adventure!

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:41:00 +0000

This Halloween was very different for us! It was the first Halloween we've ever experienced when you don't have to worry about how to fit several warm layers of clothing underneath the costumes or how to show off a costume covered by a rain coat! It was "cool", but even that is relevant. It was 20 degrees celcius when we were Trick or Treating at 7pm! Nevermind that we carved our pumpkins on the 29th in shorts!

Even our Trick or Treating was very different. Although Italians enjoy Halloween it is very unusual to see Trick or Treaters. We were invited to join our friend Brandy and her son, Donovan, and attend the USO Halloween celebration and go Trick or Treating on the US Naval Support Site on Oct 30 (other activities were planned for the military community for actual Halloween). We saw many of our friends and even had dinner at Applebees on the base! Kyle really enjoyed all the festivities even though he wasn't feeling 100%. However, it was Vika that really stole the show while Trick or Treating. She quickly figured out that she wanted whatever they were offering in their bag or bowl. She had no idea what it was but she though it was great to grab it and run! Then turn around and see if she could go another round! Kyle had a great tiem with his friends, but I have to day, Peter Pan wasn't quite as brave as I thought he would be when he came across Captain Hook (turns out he was Jade's dad). (I just had to include a picture of Wall-E. It had to be the best costume we saw - and it was all homemade!)

For the third year in a row Kyle was Peter Pan. He absolutely loves being Peter - and has been practising his sword fighting for months! It was fortunate that I had picked up a Tinkerbell costume for Vika as her planned costume didn't arrive in the mail until a few days after Halloween. Vika's Tinkerbell dress is actual a size 3/4 night gown! I bought it on sale and altered it to fit! Maybe she'll want to be Tinkerbell for the next 2 years?

October 31st was a bit anticlimactic. Guess that's what happens when the Trick or Treating is already done with! The Halloween highlight for me was getting to visit Kyle's class and carve a Jack-O-Lantern with his class - most who had never even seen one! It was really interesting to see all the kids in costume. Italians have a much more "traditional" view on Halloween costumes. There were 5 witches, 5 pumpkins and 4 devils! No princesses! The only Disney character was Kyle (Chef Linguini). In the evening I ended up walking the kids to Dominic's (our favourite pizza place) and Dominic madly ran to the convenience store so he could give the kids some candy! :) Then we met up with Brian and went to a local restaurant that advertised Halloween festivities. Well, I guess Italians consider Halloween decorations festivities as nothing took place -and the kids were the only ones in costumes! Oh well, we had fun and Kyle certainly enjoyed showing everyone his Peter Pan moves!

The moms group that I belong to here hosted a late Halloween party the weekend after Halloween. It took place at Carney Park and we were able to rent a cabin and spend the night along with 5 other families (although there were 50 people at the party!). It was much cooler inside the crater than we were used! It was a great deal of fun - and games! Families were encouraged to dress up, and since Vika's costume had finally arrived (but was MUCH too big) we went all out! Kyle was Chef Linguini, Vika was Remy, Little Chef, I was Chef Colette, and Brian was Anton Ego, the food critic - all from Ratatouille.

We felt so privileged to spent the night at Carney Park! Kyle was thrilled to be able to run free with his friends (and the big boys!). It really made me homesick and made me realize just how much I miss the parks, open space and being able to go camping or even on a day outing to "wilderness".

And amidst the Halloween chaos we celebrated Brian's birthday. We had dinner at Dominic's - Brian's pick - no surprise there! But I did surprise him with a homemade double chocolate meringue cake. His reaction:"Nah - uh!!!!". I love it when I can truly surprise him!

I would say Halloween was a big success this year!

Grandma Phyllis and Granddad Les

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:47:00 +0000

We were so excited to have Phyllis and Les come from England to spend a few days with us in October! I think I was the most excited out of everyone! It was the first time they got to meet Vika. And of course, Brian had to be sure he had his wits about him as the sarcasm and digs fly when he and Phyllis are together!

Both the kids absolutely adore Grandma and Granddad. It helps that neither of them act their age (that's Les and Phyllis). They were wonderful with the kids and seemed to have an endless amount of patience for our kids who have an endless amount of energy! They were not bothered by morning wake up visits or construction safety tape being strategically placed throughout the apartment.

Phyllis and Les are very independent and were very easy house guests! They ventured on their own to Pompeii. Vika and I took them to Montecassino and Sorento, and Kyle joined us on a day at Herculaneum. We were even able to celebrate Les's 79th birthday with him at a wonderful little Italian restaurant in our village. We really had a spectacular visit with them! Lots of laughs and smiles and generally good times!

Les - Kyle says "TTFN Capt'n"

Fresh Fish

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:54:00 +0000

A few days ago Vika and decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go for a walk. The Holiday Inn is only a 20 minute walk so we walked there. We went through the center of town and walked along the marina towards the Holiday Inn. Our village is not the prettiest village but there is definitely lots to look at. We walked along the rows of docked boats and then towards the entrance of the marina. Across the water at this point we checked out the machinery that has started to build the new port. (Soon we'll have ferries from our village to Ischia and Capri - but probably not in the time we'll be here.) Then we had to watch the fishermen perched along the edge of the marina inlet. It was particularly exciting when I realized that one had a fish on his line. I took Vika close so she could see it. I wasn't hooked quite the way I expected; it had one hook of a three way hook gauged into it's side. Lovely. He reeled it in and I was telling Vika about it. Then I realized he was speaking to me. He was telling me to show Vika. He released the fish onto the ground RIGHT in front of us. That poor fish (at least a foot long!) was a flipp-floppin all over the place! And Vika DID NOT like that. She screamed - as in hysterical screams! I instantly tried to sooth her (flip-floppin fish still going at it) and then I picked up the fish to show her that she didn't need to be scared.

At this point the fisherman is talking away to me and I'm not understanding a word. I'm still
working to sooth Vika. The fisherman has walked over to his buddy and returns with a plastic bag. Next thing I know he has bagged the fish and put in the bottom part of the stroller - yes - it is still flip-floppin. Of course he is feeling great that he has shared his catch and I really do not want to offend him. I'm not sure where sharing fish falls into Italian culture and certainly don't want to become the "American that didn't appreciate it!" (No one recognizes me as Canadian here) Soooo....on our way we go. Of course the plastic bag was one of the really crinkly kind and made a lot of noise every time it flipped or flopped. As we walked away all I could do was smile - and try not to laugh aloud!

As we continued on our way I gave Brian a call and asked him if he was up for teaching Kyle how to gut a fish. That question through him off a bit! I told him the story but as I'm telling it, I'm starting to wonder if I really want to be eating a fish from the marina in our village (polluted water from boats, leached toxic waste from illegal garbage etc). Hmmm...maybe we won't have fish for dinner.

Even though there will be no gutting of the fish, or eating it either, I think Kyle would want to see it - and the stray cat that live sin our yard would probably quite like it for dinner. So in the fridge the fish goes. (It is no longer flip-flopping) I'm thinking that Kyle and Brian can take a look at it in the evening. No such luck. That fish spends another 24 hours in my fridge.

The next evening Brian and Kyle take out the fridge and put it in the garden for "Kinky" the cat. Yes - I will be rid of that fish in just a few minutes and Brian has agreed to bury any remnants. On problem - Kinky is absolutely uninterested in fresh (OK, day old) fish). I give up - leave the fish in the garden maybe she'll eat it later. At bedtime I still have a fish staring at me from the garden. I expect it will fish parts I'm viewing from the kitchen window in the morning.

Thankfully in the morning the fish - and all signs of it are gone.

A grandparents' fix

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:36:00 +0000

Here's a few photos of the kids taken over the summer. Just thought I'd share as it seems to long since we've seen so many of you! This are strictly snapshots but I think they're important because so many of them really show the kids personalities!

Another good bye

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:52:00 +0000

This morning was a tough good bye. After having Rick and Marilyn here for three weeks it was time to see them off. Kyle had a very difficult time with this as he has lost a favourite story teller (Marilyn) and a very important playmate (Rick). He will miss his morning visits upstairs in the apartment ensuring everyone's safety by tying safety tape to every possible piece of furniture and then some! Vika might not understand the fact that it will be Christmas before we see them again but she did understand that this was a big good bye: she kept waving until their car was around the corner and out of sight!

Our time with Rick and Marilyn was capped off with a wonderful four day road trip to Florence and Assisi. Both places were amazing. Having had studied art history and taught history I was particularly interested in Florence, the birth place of the Renaissance. It lived up to everything I expected! I did have somewhat skewed expectations as traveling with a 1 yr old and a 4 yr old does that to a person. I knew I'd only be able to see may be two museums and perhaps that many churches. I must know my children! In Florence we saw two museums, the Accademia and the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum and one church - and one gelato shop - twice! Oh - and two trips to McDonald's (over the whole weekend).
The Accademia was the highlight of the trip for me. To actually see Michelangelo's David is truly amazing. I just waited for him to take a breath and move! What made it even more special was the level of interest Kyle had in David. I guess I should know how much power the idea of a hammer and chisel will have with Kyle! I bought a children's book about David and we read through parts of it while looking at David. Kyle was full of questions and has decided he will not be a sculptor when he grows up.
I'm sure the highlight for the kids was the Leonardo Da Vinci museum - a hands on exhibition of many of Da Vinci's machines that he had sketched. Kyle LOVED the crane! He asked at least 15 times when we're going back there! (Personally this museum can be skipped if you don't have kids!)
Another fun moment was when we accidentally came upon a wine tasting festival! Obviously it we didn't get too involved with the kids but it was fun to have a couple of tastes of the over 60 wines there from Tuscany!
Assisi was a beautiful city - of course known for St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Clare. Our first day there did not impress me. It was a good thing we went back the next day so I could see Assisi when the temperature was more than 13 and the bitterly cold wind wasn't blowing. It's actually a very nice place! Although, you'd think after all the travelling I've done I'd know better than to show up at such a famous basilica at noon on a Sunday! We certainly saw the crowds!
In Assisi, or rather, just outside of town, we introduced Rick and Marilyn to one of our favourtie things about Italy - Agriturismos. These are like inns on farms. The one we stayed in here was a working Olive farm. Agriturismos are so peaceful and friendly and such an easy way to keep the kids happy!

The trip back home even went well! Rick and Marilyn went their own way and explored at least one hill town and we drove straight through - with two sleeping kids!

Now we have a full 18 days until our next guests arrive!

A little more info

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:33:00 +0000

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2008/0920/1221835126585.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/2990663/Italian-mafia-shoot-out-kills-seven.html

A little too much Italian culture

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:41:00 +0000

My heart has slowed down and there are no more shakes. This was a day that will not soon be forgotten. I cannot believe how things fell into place and how we all ended up safe in the end! I was supposed to pick up Kyle from school and was not supposed to have our guests Rick and Marilyn with me - just Vika. But things didn't work that way and they were with me - and thank God they were! We were driving home from Kyle's school along the Domitiana (That is one the main street along the outside of our village and only three entrances to our village from that street. Although on the other (east) side of the Domitiana there is more development it's generally not referred to as part of the main village.) It's very unusual to run into traffic at that time so I thought we must be approaching an accident. The road has a cement median and round abouts along the way. There was no traffic coming towards us and traffic was stopped in front of us. We were only a couple of blocks from the turn off for our place so I thought we'd find a way through. As we got closer I realized that traffic was slowing for garbage dumpsters that had been pulled and tipped in the middle of the street. What a prank! But really none of use were too put out so I drove around and continued on our way. Then we saw more dumpsters pulled into the middle of the street and dumped. Now we were thinking this is a little bit more than a prank but only being less than 2 km from home we continued. Then traffic stopped. That is when we all took a deeper breath and realized maybe this was something none of us expected.

We were parked in bumper to bumper traffic - with cars trying to run around on a dime and drive out going against the one way traffic. It was CHAOS and it got worse. We even had a dumpster dragged and tipped into the road in front of us. I didn't know what was going on but felt tension rising and knew it wasn't good but still thought we'd just go home. After 20 minutes or so we decided to turn off the main street and try the side streets to see if we could just get up the couple more blocks to the next roundabout where we could turn off. All the streets either dead ended or lead us back to where we started. We drove up and down the lane like streets and even cut across some vacant lots only to get more stressed and find ourselves back where we started - again. I am truly thankful that Rick was int he backseat with the kids. He and "Fireman Kyle" were drawing up the "fire map" in case we needed to find our way to the closest McDonalds. We saw many Africans walking towards the center of the activity and we stopped and talked to at least three of them. Maybe I should of been hesitant to speak to strangers in such a strange situation but I've always found the Africans in this area extremely friendly and they also all speak English. We were told several time that the roads were being blocked because the Italians (police we incorrectly assumed at the time) killed 7 Africans "with no reason". We were yelled at over and over - until I figured out that if I rolled down the windows and spoke English (then they knew we were not Italians) they were very friendly and even helpful to us. One gentleman even told us to try to get close to the barricade that completely blocked the road and let them know we were tourists and they would let us through. Bu how on earth could we even get close!

The kids had had enough. because we were pretty much parked I actually allowed them to get out of their carseats and a game of pass the baby began. (Do you know how finely ground cheerios can get?) We were running out of ways to keep everyone entertained. Kyle knew this was not a good situation and at one point just started screaming! (Have I mentioned how thankful I am that Rick was with us? He was FANTASTIC with Kyle!) Over and over we were weighing our options - do we park off the main street and wait, do we try to work our way through, do we try to go the wrong way through traffic and just get out of the area, or do we park the car and walk home (in the rain) and hope the car will be left untouched? We drove the back streets some more and made no progress. We all agreed that we would give one try to get through the blockade. A pretty impossible task to do when traffic was NOT moving - as in people had even deserted their cars. We had been watching an Italian school bus and kept commenting on that poor bus driver stuck with a load full of what looked like primary students. And their poor parents who were waiting and waiting for their children to arrive home. Eventually the Africans realized the bus needed to get through. I never realized I could glue myself in an Alfa Romeo station wagon to the bumper of a school bus. I became it's shadow. And sure enough it was lead right through the barrier. I kept the window cracked and kept yelling "do you speak English?" and it worked! We were allowed to turn around and go back on the other side of the street. I prayed - yes prayed - that we didn't get a flat tire after driving through so much debris and garbage.

Phew! We were free! What was normally a 10 minute drive had taken over and hour and a half and we still weren't home. Again, we found ourselves, with slightly less adrenolin, weighing our options; do we go to the mall, try to get in to the village from the north side or come up with something else to do? We decided to give it one shot to get through the north side of town. It was a long drive around and I knew if we could get close to the Holiday Inn I could probably get home - assuming the village center had been spared. At this point I was able to let go of some of the worry about our immediate safety and realized I may not have a home to go to? What if the village was the center of the riots and what we saw was only the perimeter. We drove on. At the north end of town, on the Domitiana, we again found dumpsters that had been dumped (but also uprighted again) and all the street signs pulled out of the ground and strewn across the road. The traffic ahead looked clear so we carried on. It was quite the slalom driving course but we made it through to the first entrance to the town. And we all held our breath as we were really not sure what we would find in town. We could breath again, the main village was untouched. In a matter of minutes we were home - after well over an hour and 45 minutes of trying. It was 5:15. We drove in and parked the car and before the gate had even closed our next door neighbour was there. "Michelle! Are you OK!" " Did you get Kyle" We quickly learned that yes indeed there had been a homicide/assassination and seven people were dead. There were parents from our village with kids in Kyle's school that could not get out to get their kids! Thank God we were home safe! Our neighbour advised us "DO NOT go out again tonight!" I just received a message from another friend (at 8:30) who had a delivery from the US military base - normally a 20 minute drive - and it took them over FOUR hours! Obviously the protests are still out there and even growing!

Now here's what we know - it was a mafia hit, actually two of them one at each end of our village- drug related. Seven people dead (rumours have it that it is 1 Italian and 6 Africans) There are many claims that the wrong people were killed, thus the protests. For those of you who have read Gomorrah: Italy's other Mafia you'll be familiar with the Casalese Clan.

And wouldn't you know tonight we have babysitters and it was to be the first date for us in eight months! I guess I can be thankful that all of us were home safe and sound and we shared a wonderful family (extended family too) dinner together.