Zafferana Oktoberfest

Sunday we drove up Mt. Etna through many towns, winding our way nearly to the top to the small town of Zafferana. Every year in October they have a festival on Sunday's, each week featuring a different theme. This week's was honey! Honey is a popular local souvenir along with the usual wine and olive oil. Our friends, the Cunningham's and the Waller's went with us and we had a really nice time. It was extremely crowded so traffic was a pain, and we did almost run out of gas, but we ended up making it safe and sound. I had some sort of wrap with veggies and lamb or pork? and it was to die for. We also got to have corn on the cob, which was a little different from back home. It's literally just set, unhusked, on the grill with no butter,etc. and a little salt. Jen said it tasted like popcorn.. so true! At any rate Val was thrilled. ;)

I don't know if you can see the sign or not, but it says Kentucky Derby. I thought that was pretty funny, in Sicily!!

Walking out we let the kids ride one little kiddie ride, a train on a track. Val had her usual serious face while on the ride and Ellie was dancing and waving her arms around. It is so amusing to see their differences in every aspect of life!!

We also caught a Native American rock group singing on the sidewalk~ they were pretty good!

I know I'm not in any, but I'm always holding the camera. I think Jen has a shot of all 4 of us, i'll have to post that later. Ciao!

baby love

Look at this cutie.. our friends Ryan and Lovie had their baby boy Westin a couple weeks ago and I took some photos of him the other day. Isn't he as cute as a button??

Derrick's last deployment- Djibouti, Africa

Here are a random assortment of photos from Derrick's recent deployment. I thought you'd like to see a little bit of what he does! You will see that most of the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) guys are sporting a mustache. They do this on deployments but I am happy to report that bad boy was shaved off before he came home. ;)

Day 14: Last Day in Venice

We woke up and layed in bed for quite a bit today. We were all a bit ready to go home and sleep in our own beds. After breakfast, we went on a gondola ride. It was 70 euro which is pretty nuts but it's one of those things we had to do while there. Since it wasn't going to be a scene of romance with the girls, we went during the day to save 20 euro- prices go up after about 7:30pm. It was nice and relaxing, winding through the little canals and ducking under bridges. I can imagine doing this some day with my hubby by moonlight with a bottle of wine. Ellie started flipping out after 30 minutes and was pulling on the rope on the side of the gondola and broke off the little statue/rope holder 'thing.' great!

handome hubby

pardon the hideous pacifier. she is still stuck on that thing to sleep and it was well passed nap time at this point in the day

people watching the gondolas down below

We ate lunch at a chinese place about a block from San Marco's. We needed something different. It was pretty good food! We got there just before two huge chinese tour groups showed up so we never saw our waiter again or got drinks but I do recommend it normally if you want something other than italian for a change of pace. It's also cheap! Our bill was 26 euro for 2 entrees, an app, and a table charge.

We had another nap afternoon at the hotel. This is a must if you want to keep small kids up to eat 8:30pm dinners! We saw the clouds coming in so we scooted over to the waterfront and bought an impressionistic oil painting of gondolas @ sunset from a man there. Paintings range from 10 euro to 300 euro, watercolor to oil ~ a cool souvenir! We had dinner, pizzas, at an outdoor place and went for gelato. It was a nice end to Venice.

The painting we bought was a canvas which we rolled into a tube and just framed ourselves. The mask next to it is one that D brought back from Africa. (there is another one on the other side.. which I realize have nothing to do with each other but we're moving in 6 months so that's what I have to work with. ;) )

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Day 15 we went and got our minivan and drove down to Naples. I think it took 7 hours but I can't remember. We spent 2 nights there as we got to Naples fairly late in the evening. Naples itself is extremely dirty and covered in garbage everywhere. In August everything is closed and we pretty much spent the day at our hotel other than a stop at Ikea. We drove to the Naples base to see what they had there and it was super tiny! I was shocked at how insane this place was and glad to be stationed in Sicily. We went to a Rock n' Roll McDonalds (the only thing open, literally, within blocks) in downtown Naples and there was trash at every single table, artifacts ripped off the walls, just absolute filth. It was so sad because it was probably once a really cool place with a little soda fountain machine in the back of an old Cadillac (broken, of course). We had planned to stay two nights to give ourselves a break from the drive and maybe walk around the island of Capri but we had no energy left. It was a fantastic trip but by the end, we were so ready to be home. It took us about 9 or 10 hours to get back home from Naples I believe, including the half hour ferry ride back over. I highly recommend driving if you have small children or plan to buy souvenirs that you don't want broken by Alitalia ;) Let me know if anyone has any q's-- I'd be happy to help trip plan!

Ciao for now!

Weekend Update

It was about time for a date night. Derrick has actually been pretty stressed at work lately as he's taken over a platoon of guys and he is just swamped with paperwork and people coming and going off the team. He just left for London yesterday and is meeting with some big whigs for a few days. SO we were all about relaxing together this weekend with the family and to the Khaki Ball!

For those not in the military, the Khaki Ball is the night when all of the guys who moved up in rank to a Chief get to celebrate. The current chiefs and their spouses go as well. It is the end to a 6? week process of training, extremely late nights and even earlier mornings,etc. We went through that when Derrick was promoted and it was definitely a night to celebrate! Being a chief is a pretty big deal as they now wear the khaki uniform that officers/upper enlisted wear, hence it's title, Khaki Ball.

It isn't really a "ball" as we think of Cinderella. It's in a nice Italian hall, though very small, and includes a 3 course dinner. They give a few speeches and play a slide show of photos of the guys and then by about 11pm everyone heads out to dance outside on the patio to a DJ. We left after dinner because it was already 11 and I had to sing in church the next morning! It was really nice to sit and laugh with my husband over dinner, which we don't do often enough.

Here are a few pics shot right before we left from my babysitter in front of my kitchen window. Pay no attention to my horrible hair cut and color at the present time. It's a growing frustration of mine to get my hair cut by someone who does not speak english! I think I am seriously going to have Derrick cut it from now on. He does a better job. (seriously!)

Other than that we hung out and got some house stuff done, let the kids "rike bikes" around the neighborhood. As you can see Val uses her feet because she is still too short for a tricycle supposedly built for a 2 year old. I should get dinner going. ciao for now!