Ciao from Italy and a little catch-up!

We made it safely to Italy. So far so good. The trip over was really smooth and the girls did great. But before I get into our first few days in Italy, I want to close out the past few weeks.  I left Newport, RI on 17 September and met up with Shannon and the girls in VA. We had about 10 days of leave before we headed out to Italy. We had a fantastic time with family and friends and even celebrated E's and LC's birthdays. Here are some pictures to catch you all up on. 

We had a great time in New England together. Shannon and the kids stayed with me for two weeks. After our outings to New York, we enjoyed the USA vs. England polo match. The kids had a great time watching the horses however the most fun was had during halftime where we stomped the divots back into the ground. 

Apparently after the match the tradition is to line up along the permitter of the field and all players ride by giving high fives to the spectators. We joined in, of course. 

We met up with some long time friends of ours (from Va Tech and prior squadrons). We went to a playground and then up to a farm to pick raspberries, eat ice cream and enjoy the beautiful New England weather. This is Emery with LC and E. 

First Beach in Newport had a red tide that was interesting to watch. 

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the brand new USS ZUMWALT. It pulled into Newport for a few days and offered tours. The ship is on its way to its new homeport of San Diego. 

I also swung by Sonya's old stomping grounds. She lived in this house when she was at Surface Warfare Officer School back in 2000. 

Our last outing was up to Boston. It was a quick 1.5 hour drive. We googled some fun things for kids to do and at the top of the list was the Duck boat tour. 

These amphibious boats were old army vehicles that have been converted to tour vehicles. The tour took us through the city of Boston highlighting a lot of the historic monuments and areas of the town. 

And then it went into the river and took us Cambridge to see Harvard and Fenway park. 

Downtown Boston from the river. 

The driver let LC drive in the river which she loved! 

There was a lot of beautiful architecture and history in the city. I don't know what they are standing in front of but it was a good looking building. 

We wage lunch where all the food vendors were parked. The Bratwursts and empanadas were delicious. 

And lastly, we went to Boston Commons park. 

We took the swan boat ride around the lake. 

Played on the "Make way for ducklings" statues in the park. Shannon and I had never heard of the famous book until that day. 

And before we hit the road we got some ice cream!

In other BIG news, while we were getting ready to leave Boston, LC said her two bottom front teeth were loose. Sure enough, the teeth behind them were REALLY poking through and her teeth were pretty loose. She ended up loosing them both while back in VA a few days later. Shannon said the first tooth was traumatic as she fell into a couch causing it to come out.... but the second one came out with a chip. You can already see the new teeth coming through! 

E turned 4 on the 18th. Grammy and Papa had a fantastic party where we played with family and friends and ate cupcakes!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ellis! We love you! 

So proud! 

Some highlights of our time in VA was the 4-wheeler rides around the farm....

Playing and feeding the neighbor's goats, Elsa, Anna, and Ice Cream.... 

And another party at Poppy and BB's where we had a cook out! Our summer vacation was fantastic! We were able to see most of the family and have fun while back in the USA. It was sad to leave the family behind but super excited to board the plane to Italy! 

We left Norfolk, VA on 27 September. Our flight was at 10pm and the girls were both asleep by the time we took off. 

We arrived in Rota, Spain 7 hours later and had a 2.5 hour layover where we played at the playground and drank spanish coffee. Some of the locals commented on our last name, too! 

We loaded back up in Spain and it was a 2.5 hour flight into Naples. We pulled into the Navy terminal and offloaded where we met up with my sponsor. All our stuff made it, we were checked into the country and we were off to the base. The pic is the plane sitting on the tarmac at the navy terminal. You can see Mt Vesuvius in the back ground. 

We checked into the Navy lodge and have been here since. This is the view we have of the Italian country side. We look forward to our time here. The next few weeks we will get cracking on getting settled in and hopefully moving into our own place.

Thanks again to all our family and friends for the prayers as we transitioned to Italy! We enjoyed every minute of our time back in the states and our time with you all was priceless!  Now buy your plane tickets and come visit! Ciao! 

A lot of "New" places

Shannon and the girls flew up to RI to hang out with me while I'm going to school. We have been enjoying the cooler New England temps, been hitting up the beach and since we are so close, we took a trip to New York city.
Here are some pictures:

The Officers Club at the Navy base in Newport is one of the best I have seen. It is right on the water, has spectacular views and the lobster quesadilla wasn't too shabby. 

We enjoyed collecting snails on the rocks and watching the sail boats go by.

We made the 3 hour trek down to New York city to see some of the sights. We immediately parked the car and hit the southbound subway towards the Statue of Liberty. The girls loved being back on the train!

Probably one of the best sandwiches I have ever ate! A hot pastrami on rye at some hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the city. I asked the lady if it was a large sandwich and she said that all their sandwiches aren't that big. 

NYC Subway was great! 

Of course one of the first things we did was get hot pretzels from one of the streets vendors at Battery park!

Statue of Liberty pose! 

Ellis was SUPER excited because "her boats" and "her island" was all right there. All the boats had "Ellis" island on them and she found that to be really cool. This was her showing Mom her boat in the water as it went by. 

E showing us her Island (Ellis Island) in the background. LC kept asking why we named E after an island. 

E and her Island. So proud! 

The ferry ride was a lot of fun. We were able to see the city from afar and the cool breezes cooled us down. 

The Big Apple! 

This is the closet we got to the the statue. The guy said there is a 30-day waiting list to that has to be cleared by the Dept. of Homeland Security. So we just took the ferry around it. 

Statue ot Liberty. LC was fascinated on why it was green. We told her it was made of copper, just like pennies.  So now she has pennies in a cup of water and everyday she checks to see if they turned green. 

We got lucky with a bluebird day. 

After the statue, we visited the Manhattan Children's Museum. It was a great time but wasn't really a museum. It just had a bunch of things for kids to learn, touch and play on.  Needless to say, the girls loved it. 

After the museum we headed back to the hotel and when we popped up from underground, we noticed we were near time square! 

This was the view from our hotel -- Empire State building. 

The next day was spent at Central park. We didn't really know what to expect but as soon as we stepped foot inside the park, were blown away. So many things to do! 

We met up with my cousin, Danielle, and got to meet Jed for the first time and meet their son Matthais. The kids had a ball playing in the water and playgrounds. I haven't seen Danielle for over 6 years so it was great to see her and meet her family whom we have never met. 

We hit up the Central Park Zoo before we left and caught the Sea Lion show before we left.

Good times! We have been having a good time and look forward to the long weekend that started today!