Closing out the Summer

As I mentioned in the previous post, we made it back to the USA for 3 weeks this year. I was a little shocked my command allowed me to take 3 weeks off, but I took it none the less. We flew into Raleigh-Durham, NC and spent the first week and a half with Shannon's folks. It was wonderful to see everyone and watch the kids play with their cousins. They had a great time having sleep overs, playing outside and staying up late. The highlight of our time in VA was the girls' trip to get their ears pierced. LC had been talking about it for the previous 2 months but I thought she would wave off at the last minute. Grammy and Shannon took her to the mall and she sat in the chair like a big kid and got it done. Then Ellis decided to get hers done too! So brave and I was shocked. They have healed nicely and LC has already changed hers out a few times. After our time in VA, we drove over to KY to see my folks. We had a great time in KY and were able to see Sonya, Ben and all the cousins, too. Mom and dad went from 2 people to 12 people in a matter of 24 hours. The kids all slumbered downstairs in the basement and loved playing and sleeping with each other. We enjoyed time with the great-grand parents and took a trip to see Noah's Ark and a trip to a pool. Then it was back to VA to fly back to Italy.

We spent the last few weeks in Italy getting ready for school and playing at the pool. The temps have been awful so a lot of our time as been in doors, unfortunately.

Then on 27 AUG, it was back to school for LC. She started 2nd grade and is also in the Italian immersion program. E will start the following week, on 4 SEP, and was also selected for the Italian immersion program. We went to E's Kinder orientation class to get all the details of her year.  We also sat down with the teacher for a one-on-one where she went over somethings and did am evaluation on E. Ellis blew us away! She was able to read all but a few of the kindergarten sight words, count to 100, say all her sounds, and read all but a few upper and lowercase letters. The teacher said she is going to make E a student teacher and that she won't have to teach her much this year. Needless to say, we were proud parents!

Here are a few photos for the past few weeks.  I just realized that we didn't take too many photos while we were home... so here is what we got:

Here is the picture that was taken after LC and E got their ears pierced! So brave! They both chose turquoise stones. 

E modeling her ears....

We also found out that E is allergic to cats. Grammy and Papa had new kittens that E couldn't put down for the first few hours we were there.... we started to notice her eyes getting poofy and red. Eventually we put two and two together and realized she had been putting cats on her head, hugging them and had them all in her face over the past day... Poor thing cause she loves cats.... This was a picture of her puffy eyes, however, they were much worse than this. This was taken after taking some medications and a night of sleep.

The girls love face paint. We went to Papa's bands performance in Appomattox, VA and had a great time with the crafts and activities. 

We had uneventful drives from VA to KY and back but had to make plenty of pit stops for potty breaks and stretching. This was a rest stop in KY. 

We were able to spend some time with the great grandparents as well. They kept asking great grandpa to perform some of his magic tricks! 

We drove up to see the Ark experience while in KY. It was pretty impressive and if you get the opportunity to visit, then go! 

Its a life-sized ark with neat and informative exhibits inside and out.  

This was the petting zoo outside the ark. 

 All the kids got slushies afterwards to help cool down from the heat of the Kentucky Summer.

Then it was on to Chik-fil-a for dinner and hanging out with the Cow. 

Our neighbor, who works with me, asked if we could watch their Goldendoodle while they went away for the weekend. The girls had an absolute ball going over and playing with Ollie, walking him and taking care of him. 

LC, Ollie, and E. 

As mentioned above, E had heft Kindergarten orientation earlier this week. We met the teachers and some friends and saw her desk. Here she is sitting at her assigned seat. 

And here is out 2nd grader! She is growing way too fast.  She was excited to go to school and see all her old friends and meet her teacher.

And that is about if for the summer. The temps are still awfully hot but school is back in session (E starts on Tuesday).  Hope everyone had nice summers too. 

A little catch-up

Please excuse the extended delay.... We've been busy bees diving into summer with a trip to Sorrento,  finishing school and other fun things.... Before we dive into our recent trips to N. Italy and the USA, here are a few pix that we've been meaning to share:

E won 1st place in coloring contest. It was something her participated in with 3 other schools in the area. It was a coloring competition for the local JFC Naples base. Here was E getting recognized and receiving her prize. They thought "Ellis" was a boy's name, so they gave her the red (boys) bag w/ a boys lego set and a soccer ball. She didn't notice and was humble in her victory. 

This is E's class showing off their Van Gogh paintings. They studied Van Gogh for a few days and concluded the instruction with replicas of his artwork. \

E graduated from her international school. Is she would have stayed at the same school, she would have went on to the 1st grade. But we are taking her out and putting her into the DoD School to remain aligned with her peers. We all loved her International School and friends and she will keep these memories forever. 

E w/ her diploma. 

For Memorial Day this year we drove down to Sorrento.  We hit the beaches, walked around town and ate lots of gelato. 

The water temperature was just right and we had all the beaches to ourselves. The tourists had yet to arrive on the Amalfi coast so we had everything to ourselves. 

The area was quite picturesque with neat little shops and restaurants in the various coves.

We ate an awesome dinner one evening on the Mediterraean Sea. It was delicious sea food and pastas overlooking Mt Vesuvius and the Naples bay. 

And on the walk home, we were able to watch the sun set. 

The girls headed out to go swimming and beach combing. 

Sardines must have been in season because all the local restaurants were advertising and pushing sardines. We  decided to give them a try and they did not disappoint! 

We took another boating trip prior to our good friends moving.  We drove out to Ischia, anchored and swam in the super-blue water. 

This is our finny kid's last day of first grade! 

Gelato is the perfect way to celebrate the end of school and the start of summer!

**More to follow over the next couple of days to include our trip to Northern Italy and Switzerland.