Liz started soccer (futbol) camp this morning. It's right across the street from TLF, so I can look out our windows and see her practice. She was so excited to go that she woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast (all on her own) and was ready to go an hour before the camp started. Things only got better when we got there and she instantly spotted one of her fellow dust bunnies.
We're in the final countdown! Next week at this time the movers should be delivering our household goods shipment to our new home. 8/26

Sacile, Venice, and the Dust Bunnies

The blog will be pretty disorganized this go 'round. Getting out of the habit of daily entries puts you in a position of "remembering" things, yeah-not so hot at that one.
So, last things first so I can hit what is fresh in my mind. We took the train to Venice today. From Sacile, a local town called "little Venice", the train ride is only an hour and was very comfortable. We intended to immediately get lost, which is exactly what we did, and the first few hours we wondered around Venice without another tourist in site. About the time we were all famished, all that walking works up an appetite after all, we came across a cute restaurant on one of the smaller canals. Chris was brave enough to try the local dish , Sardines and Onions, and said it was great. The rest of us were brave enough to take him at his word on that one. Emma and Liz split a Tortellini with mushrooms, and I had a delicious Gnochi. The wine is cheaper than water, so Chris and I also refreshed ourselves with the vina della casa (house red). In Italy it is common to have the "house" wine be of a very good quality as they take it as a matter of pride that the wine is representing the owners selection and the general quality of the establishment. This wine lived up to that and complimented an afternoon on the canal perfectly. The owner was even nice enough to take a picture of ALL of us. Ever notice how usually ONE of us is missing from photos (the girls swear I don't like to be in pictures)? Really, it's just that we haven't gone in for one of those "works in its own" cameras yet.
From there we continued our wondering and came into a rehabbed church from the 14th century that is currently holding an exhibition of modern middle eastern art. There were amazing interactive pieces as well as print and muti media works. One was a giant wave of metal (no other way to describe it) that invited you to "touch look and listen". Needless to say Liz repeatedly walked all over that one. One of Emma's fav's was a tunnel of magnetic stripping that shimmered as you walked through. Very surreal, but very cool. All in, it was a fantastic grouping of art, and one of the best exhibitions I've been to in a long time.
July is Saldi (sale) month in Italy. You can't help yourself as you come across store after store with the once yearly saldi signs up. We mainly window shopped. The girls love the masks and costumes for Carnivale. I scored a shirt that I should have bought in every color.
Finally we wended our way down and around to San Marcos. The pictures say it all..beautiful but horribly crowded.
We're worn out but pleased with our day trip and can't wait to see more!
Yesterday was Lizzie's play. She was an amazing dust bunny! Her dancing/singing/acting skills were all on display. Emma took video which we may be able to post tomorrow. She's even made yet another new friend who has a sister Emmas age, how perfect is that?
While Lizzie was at dress rehearsal I got the chance to go and explore some of the local stores with a friend. It'll take some getting used to. Good cheap wine, fresh produce, stores that carry everything from mopeds to kitchen cabinets and car supplies.....Yeah, not my kind of place at all ;-).
Friday night we went to Sacile for Gelato and a music festival. Once again-Emma has pic's I'll try to post tomorrow. We left before it really got started, but had an awesome time people watching and wandering till the late hours.

For all the MIL out there who are thinking about traveling...hint, hint...

http://www.aviano.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10633
http://www.spacea.net/faq.html

quick list of news

1. The tooth fairy brought Euro to Liz.
2. Liz is in the Missoula Children's Theatre production of "Princess and the Pea". Her official role is "Leader of the Dust Bunnies". Dust bunnies now, third world country later...
3. Move in date is tentatively set for August 2nd, TMO to arrive on the third. CAN'T WAIT!!
4. Emma says she's been reading, and wishing for more gelato. (she has also been enjoying Liz being in the play :-) )
5. Other than the people moving in, coming home, and calling us three nights ago, we have actually been able to sleep through the night. (There should have been a dromroll for that one.)
6. I went out to dinner with two of the office spouses last night. The restaraunt could have been out of an Italian movie, and the company was great.
7. http://www.zedanranch.de/englisch/index.php Here is the link to the Horse Rescue I've told so many of you about. The woman who runs this is also our property manager. The girls and I are anxious to dig in out there.

All for now, we're busy doing nothing.
Tiffeani

The last few days have been busy

The girls and I checked out the base pool the other day. It's no Maxwell, but it does have an awesome slide and a diving board. That evening we went back out to the original house that we had heard about in San Leonardo and reserved it. We should be able to move in the first week in August. I took pictures from on of the balconies, kind of a panoramic view. I'm glad we looked at other places, if not I always would have wondered. That being said, we LOVE this place, and can't wait to move in. It's a great neighborhood and town. There is an area in front of the house that the girls can scooter and bike, kids their age right down the street, the neighbors give music lessons, I could go on and on. I'll post inside pictures when we move in.
Yesterday we took Chris back to the Dr. His eyes look good (yeah!!!), but he has to be on his meds for another week, and no contacts for about a month. I'm so glad he can start joining in all the fun the girls and I have been having. After that we got the e-mail our van was here so we popped back and forth getting the initial paperwork done and......we now have the Odyssey here it Italia. Last night we cruised out to the town we'll be living in and had dinner at the local Pizzeria. This place is right downtown. You pull up and there is a little farm next to it, complete with chickens. It's in an old Villa (I will take pictures of it eventually) with marble mosaic floors, old heating stoves, and the resident dog. We sat outside and ate probably the best meal we've had since we got here. In addition, we made our first Italian friends!! We'll head over Monday afternoon for a play date for Lizzie and her new friend Chiara (who speak 5 languages, but French just a little :-) ). They live right downtown in San Leonardo, within walking/biking distance of our new home. We finished out the night by heading to a local Gelataria. All in all a pretty perfect night. I love Italy.
Some other random things that happened the last few days:
Liz lost a tooth (we'll find out this morning if the tooth fairy brings Euros or dollars here)
We finally got a little heat, now it's raining again and will probably cool off.

Todays adventures

Today has been a blast, one of my best days yet here.
After a late night of no sleep (again) I slept in a bit. Then the girls and I packed up and hit the road to pick up Chris's other med and see houses. It is so much fun here to have American songs play on the Italian radio stations. It never fails that it is some middle aged Italian guy singing along to Mama Mia or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, too cute. Plus-it's never a bad day when you have all the windows down and are signing ABBA at the top of your lungs with your two fantastic daughters.
Trip one to Pordenone-Farmacia closed.
House one- great (I mean REALLY great) but too small. It would be an ideal home for a couple with no children. It's down in the trendy part of Sacile right across from the train station (quiet trains, that is soooo not a drawback).
House two-great, but too expensive. I'm starting to feel like Goldie Locks here.
Since we were already out, and I felt we needed a treat, I told the girls to hold on tight and we headed up the mountains. (Pop-you may want to leave this part out when you tell Gram, she would have been terrified (!!!) on this drive.)
Piancavallo is the ski area near here. I figure it's a great idea to get familiar with the roads now rather than on the ice and snow. What I didn't realize is that they are doing summer construction to the usual roads so we were on an even more narrow and winding street than usual.
This was one of the most beautiful natural area I have ever seen. The pictures can NOT due it justice. The grainy ones are when the windows fogged from driving through the clouds. We even got out and walked through a cloud-how cool is that? By, the way literally cool- there was a definite cold snap up there. Any murky looking ones are because we are above the cloud line looking down. At one point the clouds were so thick it looked like it must be twilight, in the middle of the afternoon. I've included a few pic's of the road, just remember at any moment someone might be tearing around the corner going the opposite direction. Piancavallo itself is breathtaking. I took a few shots of the ski lift and one of the slopes, I hope to take the same photos this winter when it's all snow packed. There are a million and one hiking trails, can't wait to get out there! The homes are primarily Austrian/German style. There was one, on the side of the mountain, that had a 20 ft wide old fashioned carved wooden sun on it. I wish I could have grabbed shots of that and the little streams, etc, we came across. I guess I'll save those for another day.
Trip two to the Farmacia-closed for the afternoon siesta.
Back to the house, Chris is doing much better. Chafing at being cooped up and not able to work. I'm just glad he can see and the pain has subsided.
Then-trip three to the Farmacia tonight and JACKPOT they were open. Picked up his other med and even got to use my fancy Italian skills I picked up from our Italian stickers. Refrigerator in Italian may seem a little random in a Pharmacy, but his other med had to be refrigerated. Thanks mom-the sticker book did come in handy.
Now a quiet evening here at the cozy TLF. P.S. there are also some random photos the girls took as we were driving. Can I just say I've got the coolest kids on the planet-they are doing great and up for just about anything!