My Fair Verona

We were able to take off a few Saturdays ago and do a little sight seeing.  We hopped on the Autostrada and headed toward Lake Garda where we had heard how beautiful it was.  However, on our way we hit a few detours and were so glad we did......

First, this is just a couple views from the Autostrada.  The landscape is beautiful, and you can literally see vineyards everywhere.  On the side of a mountain, fields, as well as people even plant grapes on their terraces and front patios.  The soil is fertile, so it is easy to grow.

 

We got caught in traffic on the Autostrada and decided to take a detour into Verona.  No place is more romantic than the city of the most famous lovers in history: Romeo and Juliet.  The balcony of Juliet's casa, Casa di Giulietta, is a famous tourist attraction and of coarse my first hunt was to try to find it.  

 A beautiful church along the way.

We found it!  The walls are all 'decorated' with graffiti, writings and love messages.  The tradition says that everyone who visits the house should leave something for Juliet.  So the house is packed with love notes, small jewelry and even heart-shaped chewing gum.

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?..." You can actually pay to go up in the balcony and walk through the casa.

Oh, but the traditions are classic!

Look who we found in the Verona Square!!

 We found a nice little vineyard on the side of the road...

 The girls may not be in to wine, but they sure do love the grapes.  Couldn't be more delicious!!!!

"Good night, Good night!  Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow." William Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet

Home Sweet Home

What they don't warn you about when moving overseas is how crazy the house hunting process is...along with every other detail with the move.  Upon first arriving to the area, you don't have a vehicle to go look for houses so you can either walk or wait for the housing office to provide you an interpreter to drive you.  You are allowed only 5 trips with an interpreter and hope and pray you will find your home in one of those trips.  Upon finding a house there are multiple steps and details that follow, and if you are lucky....3 weeks later you Might be in your house.    So here it is....... before our furniture arrived. 

The kitchen

 Front view from 2nd floor terrace.

 Bedroom 1

 Cornfield behind our house...had just been harvested.

 I guess you could say 3rd floor room.  The ceiling is short, and entrance (where Madelynn is) is only about 4 ft. x 4 ft. (the rest is a glass wall), so now it is the girls play room. (Perfect for me because I can't see the toys from below.  Thumbs up!!!)

Laundry

This may be totally gross, but the girls have discovered how conveniently sized the bidet is as a sink for them.  *Note: I have thoroughly sanitized the bidets in the house.*

Front fence and pedestrian gate

Front patio

My only hydrangea on the whole bush that bloomed...

We are So very thankful to finally be in our house.  Maybe soon I will get pics up with everything decorated.

Look at her go...

Madelynn participated in her first race...I was so proud.  It was called the Donut Run (which is an oxymoron if you ask me).  Go girl!!!!

 YES....as you can see she discovered she had to go potty approximately 5 seconds before the race started.  She made it through the first round really good! ;)

 A new sweet friend!

 Victory for all....now time for a treat.

We are learning...

I have not been very good at keeping up with blog posts..but I'm trying.  Thankfully we have made some progress and are now settled in our house.  We live in a quaint little town on the outskirts of Vicenza, and our front porch faces a beautiful view of the Alps (on a clear day).  Behind us is a nice corn field that was just recently harvested and now being prepped to plant for the next season.  Thankfully, it is starting to feel a little more like home here.  Kendall has started back to work and the girls and I are getting into our own routine, and have made some wonderful new friends to share our time with.  We have enrolled Madelynn in the local Asillo, where she will hopefully be going to pre-school soon.  The students and most all teachers speak only Italian, so we are a little nervous about her getting started, but So so excited for her to learn the language and become more comfortable with the culture.  We do know that our neighbors daughter will be in the same class as Madelynn, so even though they really can't "talk" together yet, they will be able to play together.

We are slowly learning the area, but let me back up a bit and catch up on some pictures.....

We stayed in Ederle Inn for 4 weeks, which from what I hear is really stinking short.  Lots of people stay anywhere from 6 weeks - 3 months.  So what did we do while living in a hotel????
...watch TV of coarse....

 ...and make forts

 .....play in the wardrobe/toy box

 ....have snack time

 ....sleep   (Madelynn's bed)

 ...wake up Sissy

You could say Family Bonding at its best!  :)

Italy Bound and Found

5 months of planning, and 12.5 weeks of living out of a suitcase...we are finally in Italy.  What a crazy transition this has been, but we so enjoyed our time visiting family and being home for a few weeks.

Last Thursday we flew out of Tulsa to St. Louis, and then flew from St. Louis to Atlanta and then on to Venice on Friday.  Those few days were extremely exhausting, but the girls were troopers and stayed in pretty high spirits the whole time.  We had put together some surprise "treat" bags for the duration of the trip so they could have something to look forward to and a new toy or snack to have to keep their minds moving.  It was a hit...and in Madelynn's words when opening makeup, "it's just what I wanted! (gasp)".  Thanks mom/Nanny!!! :)

We are so thankful for our friend Mark for meeting us at the Venice airport at 7:30 on Saturday morning and agreeing to transport us, our 9 bags, and a car seat to our hotel on Caserma Ederle, the local army post in Vicenza.  We explored the base a little on Saturday and Sunday, and tried to catch up on rest (the girls are still trying to figure out the time change).   Today, Mark and Susan took us on an awesome tour around the Vicenza province.  We are so thankful for them and their knowledge of the culture and the checklist of things we need to do to in-process.  Since today was an American holiday (Happy Labor Day by the way), we start our big to-do list tomorrow: sign up at the housing office, new Italian SS cards, classes to get a new Italian drivers license, register our vehicle in Italy, register the girls in the childcare program.....the list goes on.  Oh Boy!!! :)

There are lots of fun things to do and see, but here are just a few of our firsts from the trip and today.


                                      

Madelynn is just getting ready to open her first trip surprise at the airport in Tulsa.

An Innotab!  Here's to hours of entertainment...fingers crossed!

Saturday at the hotel, after a 9 hour flight and still smiling, the girls are opening their final treat bag.  So proud of these girls.

What do you do when you aren't quite used to the time change yet?  You sit up at 2:00 am and watch the Oklahoma State football game via Skype.  Go Pokes!

Our first authentic Italian wine was given to us upon arrival.  Pretty cool.

Madelynn at the Italian zoo today.  Don't ask me what the signs say.  The zoo was really neat, was just off the road, and definitely had some animals we hadn't seen before.

This beauty is a castle in the ancient town of Marostica. While driving closer to the town you notice that  the castle and hill was crowned by a wall from top to bottom dating back to 1372.  The wall connects the upper and lower part of the castle, and you can drive all the way up to the top.

The bottom part of the castle and wall.

Within the center of the walls is a little courtyard area that has several 

Italian eateries.  It was our first experience ordering and eating authentic Italian food.  Lets just say we have some practicing to do in order to get the ordering part right.

--Anastynn was really taking it all in.  Poor girl.

We all ordered something different and shared.  Yum!!!!  I loved it, and I am proud of Kendall for trying new things.  He he!!!  

Madelynn trying gelato, Italian ice-cream, for the first time.  Yummo!

Gelato

From the top of the castle.

View up to the top

And a restaurant at the top of the castle.

Merostica:  You'll notice in the background they are starting to put up bleachers in the square there in the middle of the walls.  Back int he 1450's two gentleman were at odds to who was going to marry the kings daughter at the time, so the king came up with the idea to do a human chess game and whomevers team wins, wins the hand of his daughter.  To this day they still do the human chess game every other year with real mean and horses.  The festival is next weekend so we are hoping to go.  Watch videos and find more info here: 

http://www.italylogue.com/things-to-do/living-chess-festival-in-marostica.html

Soooo.......Nove, Italy is a little town that produces incredible Italian pottery.  We went inside this shop called La Ceramica V.B.C.  The bottom level is where they make the pottery (see the huge oven in the back?), but when you walk up the stairs the room is filled with floor to ceiling hand made, beautiful pottery in such an array of shapes and styles you are sure to find something you love.  Lenox, William Sonoma, Tiffany's & Co, and Arte Italica are just a few of the pieces they make here.  You will see shipments down stairs that say "shipping to Tiffany's", of coarse in the shop though they are just a fraction of the price.  You can GUARANTEE I am coming back here!!!!  :)

Just a couple websites to see what they cost in America:

http://www.arteitalica.com/dinnerware

http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/CategoryBrowse.aspx?cid=316225&mcat=148208

It was incredible first day of exploring, and I hope to bring you more pictures soon.