Catching up and random pictures

We met this sweet Italian couple who spoke English beautifully, however, their hearing was so bad that they couldn't hear us!  It was pretty humorous trying to have a conversation with them.  

Hillside in Sicily.

The Ionian Sea.

Beach of Taormina. 

Tom and Lincoln got out of the car to check out the view.

Taormina is a popular tourist spot.  It's where most of the cruise ships stop.

Noah played on the horse while we ate our favorite Lemon granita at an outdoor cafe in Acireale, Sicily.

Tom bought a $600 stick-shift car with no a/c.  Not my favorite purchase, but it works while we're waiting for our car to arrive from the states.

Tom is teaching Lincoln to enjoy one of Tom's favorite snacks - popcicles.

We've been at the Navy Lodge for about 45 days now.  We're still searching for a home.  Since we'll be in Sicily for a while, it's worth the time to find something we really like.  We're still not sure if DJ will go to the base school or an Italian school.  Everything is a little up in the air.  We're hoping we'll find a home this week and that we'll be able to get everything figured out for school and preschool.  I know everything will fall into place.  

Tom just returned from a two week training.  That means I was back at the Navy Lodge taking care of our three boys.  It was a LONG two weeks.  The toughest part was a few days after Tom left.  I came down with a flu/virus and then Noah came down with the same thing.  It lasted about a week.  It was tough, but we're all healthy now and Tom is home.  

Not much exciting news to post since we've been sick.  Hopefully we'll find a home soon!  I'll keep everyone posted!  

Learning to make pizzas

We went to a restaurant in one of the mountain towns of Mt. Etna last night.  They were very sweet to let DJ and Noah help with making their own pizzas.  They love our boys.  

At first, I was confused at how much the Italians love children yet we see very few Italians actually with children.  Several locals explained to me that they don't get married until they're in their 30s.  They live at home with their parents until they get married.  Sicily is a very poor country and with the troubles in the economy, they either do not have children or have only 1 or 2.  At least that's what several Italians have told me.  Another local said that Sicily is a dying country.  They have more people dying than being born.  When we walk through town with our three little boys, we get lots of stares and smiles.  

I love learning about this country and it's people.  I'm reading a good book called The Stone Boudoir - Travels Through the Hidden Villages of Sicily if anyone is interested.  I'm having a hard time putting it down.  It's probably more interesting to me since we live here, but I think it's well-written and it received great reviews.  

Italians and babies

Who is this lady holding my baby, you ask?  I'm not sure.  All I can say is that our 7 month old, Lincoln, is getting more attention from the Italians than he does from his own parents.  They stare as we walk by, take him from my arms, hold him, kiss his face, pinch his chubby legs, and even take his picture.  Yes, strangers, as I use to call them in the states.  We'd probably panic if strange, older men were taking pictures of our baby with their cell phones or if women we never met were grabbing our baby from our arms, but this happens ALL the time when we're out in town.  

We love this difference.  It's really a special thing to experience.  The other day we stopped to get gas, and there were three young Italian guys, probably in their early 20s, and they couldn't get enough of Lincoln.  They competed with each other to get his attention and to make him smile.  In the states, guys their age wouldn't look twice at a baby, but not in Sicily.  I've even been able to enjoy a meal at a cafe while another table full of Italians (whom I've never met before) held Lincoln.  

And not to forget our two older boys, the Italians will hug and kiss them as well.  Not so sure DJ and Noah appreciate it as much as we do.            

Counting in Italian

House hunting update

Random pictures, I know.  When I tried to find recent pictures to post, all I could find were pictures of houses that we've been looking at.  I didn't want to take the time to post them since we haven't found anything we really like yet.  The pictures of the market are kind of fun.  Tom and I went into Catania and did a little shopping.  This is how most Italians buy fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish.  Another random picture - we took a little break from house hunting and went bowling at the base.  

Not much news in our house hunting.  We've been looking at houses almost everyday.  We've also visited several schools and preschools.  The Italian preschools don't care if the kids are potty trained, so Noah's in!  He'll be 3 on September 11th.  Hard to believe.  The whole process of finding a home has been pretty exhausting, especially when you're traveling in a tiny car with no AC with a toddler and baby in the backseat and the temperatures reaching 100.  Our Honda Pilot won't be here for at least another month.  DJ has been at summer camp on base which has been a win win.  However, next week his summer camp ends and he'll be starting a new summer program.  He'll be attending a day camp in the town of Motta starting on Monday, where they'll do a total emersion program with him.  The teacher has her Masters degree, she came recommended, and she'll work with him one-on-one for three hours a day for the first week.  It's a little costly, but we think it'll be worth it in the end.   We've been trying to have the attitude and remind ourselves that we didn't come to Italy to live in America.  We want to experience everything we can while we're here - the language, the food, the culture, the people.  We know it'll be tough for the first months or even longer, but from the advice of many other families who took this road, they say it's very much worth it.  

More pictures from our first week in Sicily.

Here are more pictures from our flight to Italy and from our first week here.  It took a while to upload the pictures onto this blog.  I'll update it later to let you know more about these pictures.  I need to get back to class.

Our first days in Sicily.

We got to Italy on Wednesday evening.  Our flight went fine.  It was nice to be on a charter flight with all military members and their families.  The boys slept most of the time.  Tom and I had a hard time getting any sleep though, and Tom started not feeling very well.  We arrived in Italy and while we were waiting for all of our luggage in the terminal in Catania (not a military airport.), DJ decided to push open a door which was clearly blocked off and had a big green "emergency only" sign on it (granted, it was in Italian).  Alarms and lights went off everywhere.  These Italian security guys were rushing all over, getting on their radios to let everyone know it was a mistake.  DJ was pretty embarrassed.  The Paudler boys are here.

The first night we were here, we were exhausted and sleep deprived.  Tom had a fever and was throwing up.  I had to take care of Lincoln and Noah, who had a hard first night of adjusting to the new time zone (6 hour difference).  I had a little bit of a melt down in the middle of the night.  It was a tough first night.

On Friday morning at 7:30am, we started our Indoc classes.  It's a two week, all day course on base.  They teach us about the base, culture in Sicily, driving, housing, etc.  They provide child care for the kids.  The boys did great at the Youth Center and Child Development Center.

Today (Saturday) everyone is feeling healthy and better rested.  We rented a car and went exploring the island.  It's breathtaking.  I wish I had more time to post more pictures but the internet is soooo slow.  Here are a few for now.  We went to Acicostella, a quaint fishing village in Sicily.  We're considering living there.  We barely made it to the pizzaria before they closed at 1pm.  Yes, everything closes here at 1pm and then reopens at 4pm.  It's a ghost town between those hours.  Kind of crazy.  There are about 7 Acis and they are all fishing towns on the water.  We'd love to live in one of them if we can find the right place.  It would be about a 30 minute drive to work, but Tom thinks it's worth it.  Now that we're here, we both are convinced that we want to live in town.