Back Home Again in Sweden

We visted IKEA today. It was so crowded that there were lines waiting to just enter the parking lots. There was the typical huge ground one and two garages. We got a little nervous, but happened upon a lucky break and got a spot. Strolled through and then decided we'd get the yummy, cheap IKEA dinner. I will say the choices here were much yummier than those at the Cincinnati location. Since we eat dinner at 6ish there was absolutely no lines for the cafe. I'm sure we were pegged as Americans just by our dinnertime. :)

Yesterday we visited a local mall-very American like. Celia and Dean especially liked it because there was a kid game room. Celia mostly enjoyed the bumper cars, but has no interest in bumping-only racing. I really think that might be her extracurricular of choice as she gets older. She's quite good at it. Dean enjoyed the kid rides and tried the bumper cars, but I got scared and switched him to something else. The cars had no shoulder straps and the kids just run up to a car and put their coin in. No one standing watch. Cars can stop, go whenever they want. A bit like the ol' school game Frogger.

Still enjoying the pool here at the hotel and Dean now swims (with floaties) by himself!! The pool is actually part of a fitness center and I'm pretty sure that we are swiming during swim lessons (like in the actual lane they are being conducted). I just speak English a little louder so they know I have no clue what the rules are ---no one has kicked us out yet. :)

Today was our first fully sunny (most mornings there is a thick fog) and clear day. Such a beautiful town. You can see the Dolomite Mountains from where we are. Celia and Dean (and we) are excited to visit the mountains soon; every time we drive through this long tunnel under one of the local hills they get really excited! We think it'll be the weekend after next.

Celia starts school tomorrow and Dean's head and cold are...well...not getting worse. We get to move into our house on Wednesday and our shipment from the U.S. is supposed to arrive then. We are all excited to have our own place to live.

How Do You Say "Helmet" In Italian?

Poor little Dean. Last night, since we don't have a bathtub in our hotel room, he was taking a shower, and fell down and hit his forehead on the porcelain edge of the shower floor. We were scared of a concussion or something, so Drew took him to the hospital. They observed him for about 3 hours, then they came home. Poor guy fell asleep on Drew's lap in the hallway.

This morning the lump was bruising nicely, but the swelling came down a little. He was fine all day - then, getting off of the elevator in our hotel, tripped again, and fell on the marble floor...and hit the EXACT same spot. Now it literally looks like a purple golf ball stuck on his forehead. We feel so sorry for him! We gave him some ibuprofen before bed, hopefully with some good sleep he'll be better tomorrow.

Lost in Translation

I'm just guessing...

Lunchtime Fun at Work

(Posted by Drew)
I went out at lunch to get hand lotion, since it's so dry here, and I wash my hands a lot at work (being in a manufacturing plant). I got a good deal on some lotion, about 2 Euro, and got back to my office, opened it up, and pushed the pump to get my hands all nice and lotiony....but, apparently, it's not lotion, it's soap. What a great feeling of dry hands with soap, then having to try and open the doors to my office and then the bathroom with weirdly soapy hands! Should've looked up the translation on that one...


I'm drowning my sorrows with the biggest calzone ever I got at a local pizzeria I found driving back from the grocery. My computer is in the photo for perspective...

Our Weekend Enjoying the Area

Enjoyed a local playground while Drew got his car. We figured that if we are in Italy we should get a ferrari. My drive back was uneventful-whew.

Right when we got there Celia ran over and pretended to be swimming.

Another trip to the grocery afterwards. We may never buy produce again. It's much like the NY Stock Exchange. First you must get gloves--must have these to touch anything. Then you push through the crowd (There's always a crowd. I guess it's because the stores aren't open Sundays or any afternoon) to get you items weighed by someone, bagged, and tagged.

Finally got our swimcaps. I guess Celia thought Italian water was different than Cincy water because she wanted to wear floaties. After a few jumps in though, she was fine to take them off. She's such a natural water lover. Dean, on the other hand, is not comfortable. He wants us to have a hold of him at all times. I'm posting these photos for your giggle pleasure. It's totally out of my comfort zone to have myself on here in a bathing suit, but the picture is really too priceless not to post. :) Enjoy.

Sunday evening we headed to Verona (yes, Romeo and Juliet) to tour the Natural History Musuem. Kids enjoyed seeing all the animals and we hope to visit again and get some pictures of the famous city.

Later that night, I attempted my first wash. After pushing several buttons, turning some dials, pouring detergent in a random opening, it started. The washing machine here is about 1/4 the size of the ones we have there and Italians don't typically have dryers! Yikes, that's a bit too "green" for me. Right now we have yet clothes strewn about our little hotel room. Smells good in here, but not worth the crunchy clothes we are going to have in the end.

Found out yesterday that we will get the house we wanted and will hopefully move in next Monday. Celia and Dean will have their own room then! Celia is fighting a cold right now and having them both in the same room makes me wonder how long it'll be before Dean has the cold too.

Oh, and, we didn't get a ferrari. :)

Two Great Italian Traditions

Drew had his first day of work today here in Italy. We're celebrating by drinking Limoncellos and watching Jersey Shore. :-) Will update about the weekend tomorrow.

Getting Settled

I'm not sure the Italian groceries can keep up with our milk intake. We would go through 7 gallons a week back in Cincy---these little containers here barely get us through one meal. And, you know the frig.s here are about the size of the ones we had in college. Guess I'll have to start drinking more of my newest drink---Snell Up!! Doesn't that just sound so refreshing. I think it taste like what I'd imagine aloe vera juice tasting like, but Drew thinks it tastes like Dt. Mt. Dew. I think that's just hopeful wishing on his part.

Still haven't heard back on the house we'd like to have, but hopefully that'll progress more next week. We did get to move into a bigger apartment/hotel room today. A big plus.

We made our first meal tonight. We've been living on pbj's and pizzerias until now. It tasted pretty good, especially considering we have no microwave or oven---we do have a toaster oven. But we don't really know how to use it or read the instructions on any package. Celia and Dean were happy with their Lightening McQueen nuggets though. :) Their reward was some fabulous Nutella---that stuff is so cheap over here (and so yummy).

Kids are still adjusting well. Sleep is progressing too. We still have to wake Dean up each morning/nap. He woke all of us up last night laughing. I guess he was patting Celia's belly and finding that really funny.

We are going to get our second car tomorrow (didn't make it there tonight) and I'll get my first driving experience here. There are A LOT of roundabouts here and Celia and Dean love to call them out with our GPS. And, I think we'll get to the pool finally tomorrow. Gotta go get those swim caps first though!

Oh, and we both got to work out tonight for the first time. Having your weight amount cut in half here is kinda unmotivating, but the workouts are needed in order to keep up with our gelato intake (sorry I keep mentioning it, but it really is a highlight of our day :).

Here are some videos we took the last few days. Enjoy! (And notice how almost all of them end with Dean saying "I see it, see it, see it..." because he's used to watching himself while we record on our old camcorder.)