A Great Saturday!

We got up this morning and walked to the local bakery, then ate our yummies on a park bench near the center of town.  The sun was warm and we could see the mountains clearly while we ate.  It was a little surreal when a nun walked by us and smiled a "buon giorno" to us!

We then went to the Saturday market in the next town over.  They had fresh fruit, fish, meat, and even clothes for sale!  The kids got a free smiley-face-tater-tot on a stick, and then we got some gelato as a treat later in the morning.  Shannon and I got a rotisserie chicken to take home for lunch (more yum). 

When we got home, we got a package!  It was our mail saved up from the last few weeks.  Shannon got some US Weeklies, so she'll be content for a while. 

After nap, we went with some new friends to the US Army Base nearby for a Mom's Club bowling outing (videos forthcoming).  The kids had a blast, and so did we. 

What a wonderful day! 

Buon Compleanno

Beautiful day! While Celia was in school, Dean and I enjoyed the cute downtown area. Love being out and about in the 60 degree weather and lots of sunshine. It was market day and Dean was in awe. I ended up only buying flowers...haven't learned yet how to buy any of the food yet in that situation. Everything smelled and looked great. Although I did have to carefully explain to Dean why the lobster and fish weren't swimming around. :)

Tonight I took Celia to a birthday party. It was an an indoor play area (very rare around here). It was all in Italian, which Celia loved. She only has one other classmate that's American. Pizza and cake---like ours, right? Oh wait, they had champagne for the parents too! Pretty fabulous, huh? I wonder if Parky's Farm would mind that? Either way, it'll be a tradition we carry on in the Watson house.

I was supposed to go to a purse factory tomorrow morning, but it got postponed. Not sure the details, but I'm picturing shelves and shelves of luxious purses at my disposal. Could be something wacky, but for now, I'm gonna live the dream. Instead, Dean and I will head to the postoffice tomorrow morning to pick up a package. You have no idea how excited that makes me (and Celia and Dean)!

Oh, and our closets and curtain rods are coming tomorrow! Woo Hoo! Finally no more piles of clothes. It's so not like me to be excited to put away clothes. I think I've finally found my limit of being able to live with piles of "stuff" around.

Celia has never been one to care about what she's wearing, so I don't if it's because she now has to wear a uniform or because she wants to personify Spring, but this was her getup of choice yesterday. 

Here's Dean with my new ski/snow boots.  Yes, they are a bit obnoxious and I kinda feel the same way about them that I did when Uggs first made the scene, but these are so perfect for the snow that I couldn't resist.  No joke---everyone on the slopes wore these.  (Note---before these I didn't have any actual snow boots).

Casa del Watson!

Here's a look at where we live in Italy!  Please excuse the clothes in the kids' rooms - they don't have closets and the rental furniture company hasn't brought over bureaus yet. 

Another Venice Video - The Water Taxi

Set to music!

Drannon Meets Brangelina

We've got new neighbors!

http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2010/02/17/brad_pitts_venice_home/

Recent Videos

Here are some recent videos that we didn't include in their respective postings.



There are a few from Celia and Dean in Venice and some from the mountains.

An Italy-Bone Steak

Shannon went out with some friends from the Vicenza Mom's Club, so Celia, Dean and I checked out a local restaurant I found - "My Texas Grillhouse" is its name, and no I didn't make that up. Celia got a hot dog, Dean some chicken nuggets, and I got a steak called the "San Antonio" (turns out that's a T-bone). It didn't taste like American steaks, but it was good nonetheless. It only got better when they played "Elvira" over the radio there. We were the only ones in the restaurant on a Friday night, so I guess big ol' steaks haven't quite caught on here in Italy.

P.S. Yesterday it was almost 60 degrees and sunny. Mmmmmmm....

Drew's Birthday and Valetine's Weekend

To celebrate we headed to the mountains for some snow. We can see these beautiful mountains from our bedroom window--what a sight! Celia and Dean have been asking to go here since we moved in and it was finally time! I posted some pictures here, but the bulk of them are on facebook. Drew found a house for us to rent. It was exactly how I pictured an Italian villa in the mountains. So much more relaxing and comfortable than a hotel---especially when you are traveling with two little ones. In the evenings we walked to the local pizzeria and in the mornings we walked to the bakery. Luckily, we did a lot of sledding to burn off those calories. :) Celia had her first experience skiing and loved it. I was so impressed with her! She didn't even use poles. A shoutout to our first (and only) ski instructor-MB. She was the most patient instructor I've ever seen (were there like 4 of us on that trip that had never skiied before :)? Celia is not sore from her skiiing---unlike her mom and dad were back in the day. This weekend we are staying home and checking out our city (Caldogno). There's a pizzeria and a gelatria near us. Not sure which we'll visit first. :)

Felt like I was playing charades

First time was today when someone came to measure our windows for curtains. I'm not sure what we'll end up with. A lot of head nodding and finger pointing can progess a conversation quite far though. The best was trying to explain why he couldn't go into two of the rooms (Celia and Dean were napping). Luckily, Dean woke up before he left and he was able to see that I wasn't hiding something in there. :) He spoke a couple of English words to me, but 99% of the conversation was in Italian (and I only understood the hand motions and pointing). The best is that he would tell me a word in English and then explain it in Italian.

Then, our electricity went out! Drew saved the day by calling our landlady and figuring it out (power was turned off for a bit and had to be turned back on in our garage. i knew enough to check the circuit breaker, which showed everything fine).

We joined a local gym today and my next game of charades was the full, unexpected tour I received in Italian. He spoke zero English and I've def. not learned any helpful words related to working out. I would insert a good yes every once in awhile to show I was "listening." He'd kinda look at me for a second and then continue. I'm pretty sure I was "answering" yes when there wasn't even a quetion. But, I did get a good workout in and they were playing MTV and it was all American music videos.

Celia finally got to play outside at school today-she was thrilled! They are required to leave rain boots at school for outside play...a wonderful idea!

Dean had his first official day of "mommy school." He wore his backpack and put his papers in there until the end of the day when Drew got home. He was so excited to show them to Drew.

While Celia was at school, Dean and I walked around the pedestrian only downtown area. I think we'll try and visit here more often. I love that everyone here embraces being outside, even when it's cold. They also embrace the need to have your sunglasses on at all times. I have to admit that it does look quite chic. It only took 5 attempts to find my car on the way back. I was getting close to the panic mode as I knew I only had a few minutes to spare before I had to pick Celia up from school. In the car, we can just punch it into the GPS, but walking around downtown is much trickier. Streets are small and there's so many of them.

Venice + Super Bowl Sunday - What A Combo!

La Casa del Watson is officially open! We moved into our new place this weekend. Pictures and video will be posted soon.

We got up this morning and the kids were a little less sick, so we decided to head to Venice for the day. It's about a 45 minute drive, then a 15 minute boat ride from where you park your car to Piazza San Marco. The day was beautiful - 45 degrees and sunny. It's the beginning of Carnivale, and Venice is one of the most famous places for it. There were plenty of costumes, masks, and sights to see! We bought carnivale masks for Celia and Dean so they "fit in".

Celia was way more excited to go to the Natural History Museum than anything else in Venice, so we went. Unfortunately, it was closing TOMORROW for a 2-month renovation, so only one room was open (but it was the dino fossil room, so that was OK). We took a water taxi to get there!

It was a long day with no naps, but 2 servings of gelato keeps the kids and their parents going!!

Now, time for bed, so Drew can get up at 12:30 am and watch the Colts in the Super Bowl!!

Reception

Celia had her first day of school today (Reception). It's the equivalent of kindergarten in the States---she was able to be in this class because of her birthday. There is a uniform of red on top, blue on bottom (It's a British School). She loved class and told me she's in the elephant group. Her teacher (Miss Emma) seems very nice and engergetic. Right now Celia is just attending until lunch time, but may go longer as the year progresses. The school has an on-site chef who makes the lunches and it smelled so good when I picked her up! I'd like to stay for lunch. I wonder if I can pay extra for that?