Italy week one

We have been here for a week and the time is flying. We are staying in temporary housing until we get moved into our house. It is actually pretty nice and is in walking distance to many things which is very helpful since it took us several days to get our car figured out and I still have to get my license so I can drive over here. Although, I don't really know if I want to because it is SCARY! The roads are so small and people drive really fast and pass you all the time. There are roundabouts everywhere too. So for now I will let Dave do all the driving and don't even get me started on the parking situation. Speaking of Dave driving, we were driving around our neighborhood yesterday and ended up on a bike path! The road kind of ended and then split off, next thing we know people are walking toward us and we both were like, "umm is this a bike path?!" He turned the car around then we saw a parking lot where we were supposed to turn off. So I guess we won't do that again but the area looked really nice so I think we will have to go back and check out the bike/walking paths. 

My initial thought on Italy, after the fog of jet lag went away, is that it is absolutely beautiful. The mountains are gorgeous and remind me of Utah. The weather has been nice and the area outside of base is so cute! I have seen pictures but to see it in person, it feels unreal. When you drive around it is old buildings everywhere and old ladies hanging out of windows with wooden shutters. Other than the man at the phone shop, everybody has been very nice. The language seems so difficult to learn but we are determined to at least be able to order gelato and pizza before we leave! Quinn and Leo are already really good at saying "ciao" and it is too cute. 

Everybody has had a pretty difficult time adjusting to the time change but I think Leo and Finley have had it the worst. There have been several sleepless nights in our little 2 bedroom apartment and I feel sorry for our neighbors. It has been a stressful week because of the lack of sleep and the amount of things that have to get done as soon as you get there but overall I think we are all handling it well. 

Right outside of our building are 2 really big playgrounds and we have spent many evenings outside letting the kids get their energy out. Our friends are staying in the building across the way from us so it is nice to meet them out there and let the kids play and talk about all the things we have to get done!

 

I knew it would be busy when we got here but I didn't realize how busy!!! We had to do a lot of paperwork, etc. in order to get the car picked up and then it has to be inspected and THEN you have to get gas coupons (so you can pay $5 for a gallon of gas instead of around $8) but not before you find the post office and pay the road tax. Then there is the house situation. We went to look at the house and get the contract signed. Our landlord doesn't speak a lot of English (much more English than we do Italian) so that was challenging at times to get what we needed to communicated. He seems very nice and we are excited about the house! And that is just a little bit into what we need to do.... temporary furniture, coupons for gasolio, international drivers license, the list goes on. Plus on our second day, I fried Dave's hard drive on his computer and he had to get a new one (whoops)!  

 

Other than the not sleeping issue, the kids have been very good during all of this craziness. They are sleeping on the pull out couch because the second bedroom has twin size beds without rails and they will fall off in no time. I think they like sleeping in there together plus there is a TV so they are happy. They have been such big helpers and always go outside with Dave when he takes the dogs out. The elevator is fun for them and they love pushing the buttons (and in Italy ground floor is zero and the second floor is actually floor 1). 

 

 

 

Dave and I attended a class on base to help get us set up with everything we needed to do upon arrival and the kids went to the daycare center on base. Quinn was so excited about this but Leo, not so much. He screamed and cried so much on the first day that I had to go get him about 2 hours early. He refused to eat and wouldn't even go to the table during meal times. The second day he went was better but he still cried a lot and refused to play when they went outside. His last day was yesterday and he screamed before we even got in the classroom. Dave and I went on an all day tour so there was no going to get him early, he was there all day. They called before we left on the tour to tell me his tonsils seemed swollen and wondered if there was anything they should do about them. I told them they always look like that (I know what they were talking about because when he screams you have a pretty good look down his throat). I think it was one last effort to get me to pick him up before they were stuck with him all day!! They said he did better and did eat some of his lunch. When we picked them up Quinn said he stood at the fence (between the big kid and little kid playgrounds) and cried because he couldn't get to Quinn on the other side. That made me so sad. But we all survived 3 days of daycare and hopefully Leo will continue to get better about being away from me. Finley only went to daycare the first day and she had to take a bottle but they said she did "ok" for her first day. When I picked her up she wasn't crying but was doing this breathing thing that she usually only does after she has been screaming pretty hard. She ended up falling asleep at dinner that night so I am guessing she wore herself out. 

 

Finley has been eating so much new food lately, she really loves black beans and is getting quite the taste of Italian cuisine. She is going to be spoiled when it comes to eating Italian food. 

We were so lucky to have a house lined up when we got here and that helped keep some stress down. We did a walk through with the landlord and then got the keys a few days later. We aren't moving in until next week and will have temporary furniture from the housing office until our stuff gets here, hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks. We went over one evening this week to take a few suitcases and to walk around the house again. The kids love it and Quinn says it is "beautiful." They love their new bunkbeds (I am more than a little nervous about the ladder) and the yard space is really good too. There are going to be some challenges with this house (like the kitchen being on a different floor than the living room and play room, laundry in the basement, etc.) but overall it is a great house and we are pretty excited to get moved in and Quinn really wants our couch! She keeps asking when we will get our couch back. I guess of all the things she has lived without for the last 2 months, she misses it. 

 

There are several outdoor terraces which I am excited about. It also has the prettiest windows and wooden shutters. Quinn and Leo are going to share a room, at least we are going to try that in the beginning and see how it works out. 

We went and tried the gelato place in our town and it is oh so good and so cheap! We all got gelato for 5 euro. Our electric and gas bills are going to be outrageous but at least the wine (1 euro a glass), pizza (8 euro for a delicious pizza!!) and gelato (about 1 euro a scoop) are cheap. We can offset the utility bills with cheap food! Quinn has been wanting to eat gelato in Italy for a very long time now and she loved it. 

This might be one of my favorite pictures of this little guy. Eating ice cream with his spiderman shirt. 

 

Dave's sponsor (he helps get us settled in Italy and does a lot of things for us before we get here, it was super helpful!), Tim, took us to his favorite pizza place that is near our house. We loved it and have already been another time. The kids got pizza with french fries on top and I got the house wine which was amazing. We have sat outside both times on this beautiful stone patio that over looks a creek, it really is beautiful! I think we will be visiting this little pizza spot many more times. Hopefully, our Italian (at least some of it) comes quickly because we were having trouble figuring out how much to pay the cashier (you don't pay at the table, you go up to the register and tell them what you had) so he just handed us the receipt. We have some learning to do for sure! 

 

 

 

The nice man (I think he may be the owner because he has been there each time we were there) gave the kids suckers and they loved it. They even told him "ciao" as we were leaving.   

I didn't get any pictures but one evening we went to a pharmacy cookout and got to meet most of the people in the pharmacy. Quinn got snapped at by a dog and Leo scratched at by a cat so within the first 10 minutes both of my children were screaming. I think we made a great first impression. Everybody seems very nice and I think we will enjoy our pharmacy group here! 

When we woke up the other morning they were cutting the field outside of our TLF with tractors and that was the entertainment for the morning. Leo woke up this morning asking where the tractors were. I think he is missing papaw and his tractor. 

We went on a tour with our class to help us get some information about the area and probably a day to destress since this whole moving to another country thing is no joke. They helped us learn how to use the train in our area and we went for a walk in one of the city centers. The towns are all very cute and we stopped at a chocolate shop for some samples. I had to grab a chocolate croissant because I love them, it was delicious! We went and saw the church which was amazing and over 800 years old. They took us to a market (where there were a lot more clothes than I expected) and then we went to lunch. It was a 7 course Italian meal and the food was great. The first course (I think because we were not sure what all counted as a course... ) was bread, then we had lasagna (best I think I have ever had), followed by penne with red sauce and bacon, then the main course (I had stuffed turkey and potatoes), then we had an ice cream/vodka drink, followed by ice cream and finished the meal with espresso. It was a great experience but it was very hot. We are going to have to get used to the lack of air conditioning! We finished the day with a trip to a local winery which specializes in red moscato (rosa moscato) which happens to be my favorite wine! We learned a lot and bought a few bottles to take home, I will be visiting this little place many times!! The day was really great but we were all so tired last night after our busy busy week!!  

Chocolate croissants are my favorite. 

 

I swear she likes it in the carrier, this picture just makes it look like she is breaking her neck! 

Overall, week one in Italy was wonderful with many learning moments. I have a great feeling about this place and am looking forward to many new memories. 

Italy is good, life is good. 

Traveling to Italy

We just got to Italy Wednesday and we are all exhausted! It is 6 hours ahead of Ohio and we are feeling it today. I was pretty much a zombie all morning and then after taking 2 naps felt much better but now its 1 am and I (as well as Quinn and Finley) can't sleep!! (Edit to this post- the kids were all awake until 4:30 AM).

I am really behind on blogging (I am talking still need to finish our February Disneyland trip behind) but I want to try and blog these first few weeks in Italy as they happen so I can really talk about how things are instead of trying to remember in 6 months. As I am writing this Finley is attacking my computer making this about impossible and reminding me why I never get anything done!!

We left my parents house on Tuesday afternoon and took a shuttle down to the airport because we had so much stuff it was going to be the easiest option. Telling everybody "see you later" was very difficult and I was so sad when Elliot started crying. We love being at home with family but we are excited about our new home and new adventures to come. Finley screamed the entire hour drive to the airport and our driver was so over it by time we got there.

Checking in was a process. Since we are essentially homeless during this move for about 2 months and with 5 people in our family plus the fact that I don't know what packing lightly means, we had a lot of stuff! In total we had 10 suitcases for checked luggage, 3 car seats plus a pack and play, the stroller (with 3 kids) and 7 carry on bags (computer bag, camera bag, Quinn's backpack, SAMMY, etc.). It was nuts! I know for our next trip home, that my carry on amount needs to be limited dramatically and we will just have to go without things while traveling! The looks we were getting while checking in were hilarious. Everything went smoothly and the nice man waived the fee for bringing Sammy with us which was amazing. We had one last meal at Chick-fil-a for a while and then it was time to get on the airplane. We had 5 seats which was nice because we had 2 by the window and then the whole center row. The kids took over the window seats and were troopers! The flight really wasn't that bad at all, I was expecting much worse. We had dinner and breakfast served and that helped to break up the flight time. We learned next time we can request children's meals ahead of time for them, this time we did not and they just ate (or really didn't eat) the adult plates. It was only 7 hours and 40 minutes total and we got to watch the sunset on our flight and then a few hours later watch the sunrise again. Finley slept the most out of all of us with Leo and Quinn both sleeping for maybe 1-2 hours total. When we landed, Leo looked out the window and said "Utah", I guess most of the time when we fly we do land in Utah, it made us all laugh. 

 

  

We had a 4 hour layover in Paris which I am so glad about because that airport is confusing! We had to find the way to our next gate which proved to be a challenge. My favorite part of the airport was Leo getting on one of the moving walkways for the first time. He saw Quinn doing it so he had to also but then as soon as he got close to it he was too nervous. I went and helped him and he was smiling ear to ear, he said "look daddy!" It was so sweet. We found out during our time at the airport that the elevators are SMALL. I mean so small that we had to go in shifts because with our stroller and one adult it was maxed out. While in one of the many elevator rides Leo pushed the call button and they answered in French, I just yelled "accident, sorry, sorry!", I am sure they were thinking "stupid american!" The other thing that was entertaining during our travel time was getting everybody taken care of in the bathroom department. We found a nice family bathroom and were probably in there for 30 minutes by time everybody got changed, Dave and I changed our clothes because we felt gross and then having to give Sammy water (we couldn't feed him because we forgot his food- whoops!) and let him run around for a little bit. The airport was really nice and the kids enjoyed their first Kinder eggs while in Europe. Our gate ended up getting changed so we had to find our way to another gate.  

The second flight was very short (about an hour) and easy (both big kids finally slept). I am impressed with how they handled the day of traveling, they really did better than I did. Finley made friends with the lady behind us and was smiling at her the whole flight. We got some pretty good sandwiches and coke (that didn't taste like American coke) and next thing I knew we were in Italy.

We got off the plane and our stroller had been checked so we had to go without it until we got to the luggage carousels. We were not really sure where things would be coming out and we were all exhausted. A nice man gave us some directions and I waited by the large items to come out (car seats and stroller) and Leo and Dave grabbed the 10 suitcases as they came out. We marked them with bright orange duct tape which was very helpful in quickly identifying which ones were ours. Leo started yelling each time he saw the orange tape. So after we gathered everything Dave got the carts and started loading them, we ended up with 3 push carts and the stroller. The way security is, our sponsor (Tim) could not come and help us with luggage so we had to push it all out to where he and our shuttle driver were waiting for us. The only option we had was to have Q push the stroller and she was a champ. We were cracking up, she couldn't see anything but just pushed along and did a great job.

 

Sammy in that bag cracked me up the whole time, he did really great too. I was carrying Finley in the Ergo at this point so no babies were harmed in the chaos of the Venice airport. :) 

 We found Tim and our driver and quickly loaded up the cars and headed to a different part of the airport to get Charlie. I don't think our driver fully understood that this would be happening and I think he was rather unhappy about it. It took over 30 minutes to get him through customs and then they ended up charging us 60 Euro because they had to "hold him" for longer than they had planned. But they were the ones making us do the paperwork!!! However, after driving to Indianapolis and then Detroit, Charlie was finally with us in Italy and everybody was happy (expect our shuttle driver!). 

Our driver drove about 100 miles per hour (I am not making that up) the whole way up to base. I was so nervous that we were going to crash. My first thoughts on Italy were that it looked just like I had imagined. As we drove down the highway there were old looking villas and vineyards everywhere and the mountains are beautiful. Leo looked out the window while we were driving and said "look, mountains!" 

We checked into base and got in our room around 5 in the afternoon. It was a crazy long day/days and we were happy to be all together. The pharmacy had put together a basket of snacks for us with milk in the fridge and it was so nice to have those already in the room plus our friends the Tolmans brought us some items also! The kids ate cereal right away and we finished the evening with walking over to the BX for some essentials and dinner. Getting adjusted to the time change has been a challenge but that is for another post. Ciao!  

Relaxing on the pull out couch in TLF. 

Italy is good, life is good.