Getting use to smaller

One thing I love about Italy is that we have less stuff with us.  We each brought one suitcase (for the kids it was a carry on size).  We have enough clothes for a week, limited toys and stuff. It has made keeping a smaller space cleaner, more manageable and less to worry about. There isn't so much of what should I wear today, as what is clean? Do I need to layer?

 This little beauty is fabulous. Small but fabulous! She takes a bit of time for a load to wash, doesn't dry but can wash a small amount of things at a time and get them clean.  I'm so glad we have a washing machine in our place!  Sunny days have us hanging the laundry out to dry, otherwise they are on drying racks throughout the apartment.

 Sometimes we even get visitors to our drying laundry!

Allison has been a great helper to get the laundry out and drying.  We have only had one casuality so far...a pair of pants fell and dropped into the yard below us.  All was well when we learned to drop a rope and they would attach them so we could bring them back up.

Toilets! Notice no tanks above them.  The buttons are on the wall.  A small button and a larger one.   Chris has adopted using the one without the lid (bidet or the "bum washer" as the kids have named it) as his own urinal.  

This is the view out one of our bathroom windows.  I love it and all the variety of trees! The sun rises over these houses. 

A few Halloween decorations to make it feel more like our place.  Tons of artwork is on the walls and shelves.

This is the kitchen. It still has it all. I still haven't mastered the oven/stove and the fridge is about a third the size of what we had in the US.  We go to the store every couple of days. 

Our balcony!

| hi

Lido is cool. They have good gelato. It taste better than 

ice cream. I haven't seen any Italian Ice. There is a 

beach that is close to our apartment. When we went 

there, I wished we brought our swimsuits. At the beach, 

there was a long row of sand incase the beach flooded. I 

like going on the boats. I also like going on the narrow streets.

-David in Venice

Trying a new fruit

 We got a new fruit. It was called a cachi (persimmon).

 I liked it. It was super juicy, sweet and good. We will have to get more! We see them a lot at the grocery stores.

We have seen two pomegranate trees too. I wanted to get one. There were some at an outdoor market so we bought one. I hope it is delicious. We are trying it today for lunch. I'm sure I will love it because I love them. 

Bridget

Itlay by Allison

Italy so far

Italy is AWESOME!!!  I love it!!!  Of course I miss all you guys, but so far I LOVE it!!!!!!  We can walk to the grocery store, and the gelato store.  We get gelato, and pizza almost every day.  My favorite type of gelato is dark chocolate.  I love Lido, because it is SO much fun!!!  Venice is awesome to, but it is really crowded, like Boston.  This is because all of the tourists are here.  It is still awesome.  I love how there is tons of dogs here, to bad I don't know how to ask if  I can pet them!  I hope I'll learn eventually.  Anyways, our apartment is awesome.  Bridget and I have to share a room, which stinks, but it is still awesome.  If  I had my own room it would be better, but I don't.  To bad.  We ride a water bus every day, but sometimes I don't like it because you can't get a seat very often.  But some have a part in the back were there is seats, and not everyone knows that.  The wind also feels awesome on your face.  I can't wait until I see everyone.  Bye, for now!!!

Exploring Venice

We have spent the last two days trying out different bus boats and seeing where they take us. 

Looking back at Lido

The kids love to sit in the back as we watch the beauties around us.

   We have walked A LOT!! I am loving all the bridges around.  We decided we may need to start counting how many bridges we cross each day.  

 St Marks Square

 St Mark's Basillica

 lindt chocolate...huge squares!

 We found a park and Chris was beyond excited to run and slide and swing

 Found some beautiful old buildings. I am loving the brick 

Hope we never have to use the ambulance...may be tough getting in if you are really hurt.

Drinking fountain in a square

 Watching the sunset.  Gorgeous!

We made it!

 We traveled for what seemed like days....a quick flight to Philly was lengthened as we sat on the runway. Then we were lucky enough to sit again on the runway before taking off.  The kids didn't mind as they quickly figured out how to work the screens in front of them and were watching movies as we waited.  They loved having airplane food for dinner, going to sleep (or trying to sleep) and then waking up to more food.  We averaged about 3-4 hours of sleep.

 We landed to a wet, cool and rainy day in Venice.  After getting our luggage we walked to the water transportation dock and boarded a water taxi.  It was fabulous! Chris declared it better than the airplane which was what he was looking forward to the most. A water taxi is a covered motor boat. It took us through some other islands, so we felt as if we were getting a bit of a tour (but we bypassed Venice).

 Landing in Lido we were met by Fabio (Aaron's co supervisor that is from Venice) and he escorted us the block to our home for the next few months.

Lido is an island off from Venice.  It has cars, unlike Venice. The kids were still mesmerized by the tiny size of all the cars.

We are on the second floor.

 Once we unpacked for a bit we had to go and explore.  We tried some fabulous gelato.

 walked to the beaches (which Lido is famous for)

  had pizza for dinner.  

 And enjoyed the amazing scenery.

Why Italy is good/bad.

They have fast food pizza :)

They wear suits :)

They don't have cars :)

They are near other countries :)

They don't speak English :(

They don't like Nerf guns :(

They have bad internet :(

They don't have Halloween :(

    -David

Allison's Point of View

Another's Point of View  

   Going to Italy will be exciting, but I'll miss my friends SO much.  I might not make it through the whole time I'm there.  You do know that there is a 40% chance that we will die in Italy(Mom, and Kaitlyn and her Mom know what I'm taking about).  There isn't a 40% chance we will die.  More like 2-5%.  Highly unlikely.  Anyways, I'm  NOT excited for the airplane ride there.  It will be OVERNIGHT.  It sounds like SOOOOOOO much fun.  Yep, sarcasm.  My parents taught me that.  So, back to the topic I'm supposed to be talking about(like THAT'S going to happen).  I'm not looking forward for this trip because:

• I'll miss all my friends
• the ride there will be VERY long
• I might have to stay back a  year in school

The reasons that I'm glad I'm going to Italy are:

• I'M GOING TO ITALY, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!!!!!
• I might meet an Italian friend
• I'm going to a different country
• I'm going to have a great time(I hope!!!)

Well, this was all I had to say this time!!!  Bye Bye!!! :) 

Bridget's Thoughts

I feel good and bad about Italy.

good:
1. We get to go on an airplane.
2.We can see a bunch of cool stuff.
3. I got new rain boots and clothes.
4. I can buy stuff there.
5. I get euros and use them.

bad:
1. People are "weird" there. They squeeze kids checks and you have to say something to them.
2. They speak a different language than me.
3. We will miss Halloween and Christmas
4. I will miss my friends.
5. Everything is in Italian.

Getting ready

In less than a week we are off for the "adventure of a life time".  Until then we have field trips to attend, soccer games and practice, meetings with teachers, packing, cleaning, girl scouts, and enjoying the fall in New England as much as possible.