Well, Italian living it's not

It's been a while (cough cough) since I've posted... The grammar and spelling will be just as horrendous, and the stories maybe three shades less interesting than the wildness of living in Italy, but I'm going to do my best to get things somewhat caught up....
Things that have changed since the last post.....other than pretty much everything...
1. We no longer live in Italy..DC is where it's at now baby!
2. The kids have grown up....a lot...Emma is going into her senior yer, Liz into 6th (much more on them later :-) )
3. I (finally) graduated, and may now be going back to school... Don't ask, not all of us know what we want to be when we grow up.
4. The James house has expanded. We are now OFFICIALLY the crazy pet people (don't judge). More on them later too.
Life is good....
So, I just found this draft from LAST year. Things have changed even more since then, guess I should update the good old blog a little more often!

Sept and Oct part tre (e finito!)

UMUC offered a week long literature course in Venice. I strong armed a friend or two into going with me. The pitch went something like this " How much fun will THAT be? A whole week of touring Venice, talking about literature, wine on the train? And they GIVE us credit for this?!" The reality went something a tad bit differently (train strike, blah blah, LOADS of work, blah blah, leaving the house at 4:30 and not getting home till 9, blah blah and blah), but we did end up having a great time (once we realized that we had survived).

A gondola repair shop, one of the last.

Home of Desdemona

Harry's Bar, a Hemingway (among others) hangout.

Paula and Courtney in San Marco Piazza (otherwise known as my lifesavers that week!).

We revisited the Venzone Pumkin Festival. It wasn't quite as pumpkinny as last year, but there was a guy who could balance a bench on his chin...

It's a little lost among all the decor, but yup-that's a bench on his chin.

A picture of the picture taker, Deb has a gift for photos. I caught her unawares this time.

A pumpkin fest isn't a fest without a fire breather.

Chris and I had a weekend away in a castle. Their photos are a bit better than mine if you want to check out the website. The castle is high up on a rocky outcrop, you take a funicular from the parking area to get there.
http://www.hotelcastelbrando.com/ 

View from the castle.

An inside hallway.

 On the drive home I made Chris stop to get pictures. I just couldn't resist. Across the street from the gate is the second picture, someones house..yes, they live there. On top of it they have gorgeous horses. Really?! Who ARE these people?

Emma took a field trip to Venice with the book club. See how the sidewalk blends into the canal? That's a mild shot of aqua alta (high water) in Venice. During the really high times they have scaffolding they put up so they can walk through.

Sept and Oct part due

Our garden suffered from (cough cough) a little neglect this year. You can't tell can you?

I had to leave this picture a little larger to make sure that you can see the carrot Lizzie is holding.

On the upside, out garlic turned out well until I realised I know nada about storing it... This year will be a little better planned. Maybe.

Lizzie's class went to Aviano to meet the mayor. It's wild, this guy has a full time job as an engineer, the mayor thing is a part time gig. It seems to keep him busy! He was happy to answer all the questions the kids had for him and to show off their hand written records that go back for hundreds of years.

We wrapped up the field trip with a walk through the town square and up to a restaraunt for lunch.
FB friends will have seen the photos below, but I had to make sure no one missed out on the craziness that can be a drive into town here.

Nothing like a little goat herding on your way to school!

Sept and Oct catch up part uno

Yes,  it's been a while. As most of you know already this fall was a challenge to getting anything outside of school work done. Now that I'm down to a reasonable load, and the finish line is drawing near, the blog is back to being a pleasant method of procrastination. Even with all the school work this fall, we did manage to have some fun.

Chris and I went to Verona for a Peter Gabriel concert. It was incredible, and what a venue! 

 

Verona Amphitheater

Originally I had been looking forward to hearing a little bit of English, but surprise surprise-the whole concert (spoken part) was done in Italian. Kudos to Mr. Gabriel, even his Italian accent is amazing!

We managed to catch dinner before. If I haven't mentioned it-Verona is my favorite Italian city so far. Bellissima!

Aviano HS Homecoming. That bonfire was so hot I think our eyebrows were singed from 20 feet away. Liz and I had to stay home, but Emma got to go to the dance (I don't know WHY she wouldn't want us there too!).

And last, but not least, Chris and Tobi hosted an open house at the ADC office. I get a lot of questions about where he works, so here's for you folks...the ADC conference room!

Back to Bled

Some places you just can't go once. We headed to Bled back in August to do a ropes course we had heard about. We never did get to do the ropes course, but our family had a great day.

The castle had one of the fanciest weddings going on that I've ever seen. I was too polite to take pictures of it, but here are some more of the views of and from the castle.

Near the end of the day we found the ropes course...but it was too late to do it, so we did tobogganing instead. They convert their ski slopes to this summer course. The ski lift was maybe a little bit more scary without the feet of snow as padding under us. You can't see, but that is one big mountain.

 The lake at night is incredible. We walked around the path, got coffee, and listened to the bands.

For our MAFB peeps, recognize these guys? We're so glad the DeGruchy's PCS'd over here!

Some girls trips

Thanks to some great friends I was able to go on a few day trips this summer.

Prosecco Road is about an hour and a half away. It's a long stretch of wineries that produce Prosecco. It's not one of my favorite wines, but it is a vital element in my Italian favorite Spritz Aperol. We hit a few wineries, saw some great sites and had a fun lunch.

http://www.turismovenezia.it/eng/dynalay.asp?PAGINA=799

This little place was on our way up a walk to a hidden overlook that we never would have found without Joni as our guide. It's got a table, chair, and filled fridge. It works off the honor system. Yes, really. You leave your money and take what you want to eat. What am I going to do when my only option for "fast food" is fast food? 

 

Of course we didn't leave Prosecco Road empty handed. Most of us brought home wine, Joni almost brought home a new dog.

We didn't leave empty handed in yet another trip to Nove either...How do I keep finding pieces to buy?

Here is the crew inside VBC's, on of the favorites.

The ride home in the summer rental was a little crowded, we didn't take a picture of us crowded in the front.

 

Here is one of the shops. We were able to watch for a bit while he hand-painted some pieces. Ah, yes, this is how I keep finding pieces to buy.

Not all my girl trips were just big girls. Of course wherever we went, gelato was found.