6.02.2011

The Fun Begins!

Where has the time gone?  I was under the impression that I would get all kinds of blogging done during our initial time here in Italy and apparently that is incorrect!  I will try to do a quick recap of what happened during our first couple of days.  We stepped off the plane and were met by the NCIS office and our sponsors Kevin and Karey along with their 2 kids.  We were smelling and looking amazing, and I think really blew everyone away with our first impression!  Now when I say "smelling"  I mean "SMELLING."  Sweet baby Juliette managed to create a disaster in her diaper just before landing.  She had a mess everywhere and trying to change her in the small airplane bathroom was no small task.  I was focused on getting her back in some kind of order and she was focused on looking at herself in the mirror.  She was working some kind of Macguiver moves and successfully raised herself to a standing position with complete disregard for the severity of the situation or how I needed her to cooperate.  Needless to say, the clothes she had been wearing were no longer wearable, so she met the new office in pea stained clothes from the day before.  Spiderman came off the plane shooting "webs" at people. 
After being given a tour of the base, we checked in at our new "home."  It's a small apartment type place with a couch, table, tv, and small kitchen in one room.  There is a back hallway with two bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  It really is a great situation for temporary living.  Pizza was on the dinner menu the first night and it was oh so good! 
The next morning Karey, one of our sponsors, came by and she showed us around and gave us a tour of her house.  She has incredible views from the balcony's of her home!  Juliette started with some heavy duty teething, so she was miserable the first few days.  Now she has all of her molars and she is doing her best to keep up with Brady. 
Lets talk about jet lag for a second.  It's terrible!  Trying to keep kids up when they want to sleep is no fun.  Letting kids sleep then being up with them all night is no fun.  Trying to stay awake to keep your kids up all day is no fun.  Going to bed at 3am, getting up at 9am, and wanting to go back to bed at 1pm is no fun.  You get the point?  We were all finally adjusted by the end of the weekend.
Our time here has been fantastic and we expect it to only get better.  The Magnolia (where we are currently staying) has amazing staff that have helped us with learning more Italian.  We are comfortable and happy to be settled for more than 2 nights.  The Magnolia has a large swimming pool that is very popular with the locals.  It didn't take long to realize that some of the locals enjoy nude sunbathing.  It's a culture thing that sent some shock waves to my brain when I'm out on our balcony overlooking the pool with my little boy.  Luckily, he didn't seem to notice and I didn't make a big deal out of it. 
It's different here, for sure, but we are taking it all in and enjoying what Sicily has to offer.  Just like people, what fun would this world be if everything was the same? 

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