Grape Stomping

The grape is as synonymous with Italian life as fast food is to American life. So, when we found out about an opportunity to stomp on grapes I Love Lucy style we were beyond thrilled.

The day of our grape stomping adventure we boarded a bus and rode to the mountainous Benevento province. Benevento is part of the Campania region in which we live, but is nice contrast to our bustling, dirty Napoli province. Avalon, our final destination, is a members-only vineyard and dining club. We felt privileged to be guests.

The scenes from the vineyard were so beautiful, as is usually the case in Italy. The picturesque views are often something you have to see for yourself. No camera can truly capture the great Italian landscape. 

Once we were in the vineyard we got a quick tutorial and history of the Italian grape. We learned not to ever pick straight from the vine. Grapes must be cut in order to avoid damaging the vine. We also learned that the Italians of Benevento taught the French how to cultivate the Champagne grape (so they say). 

Once we began gathering the grapes AC could not keep them out of her mouth. What can I say, she loves her produce. Her mouth was constantly full!

Ok, some of her grapes actually did make it into the basket.

Parent's of toddlers know how important it is to explain things in detail. Case in point, when we reached the area where we'd be stomping on grapes AC started picking grapes off of her personal bunch and putting them on the ground. She thought we were just going to put grapes on the ground and stomp on them! Oh to be 2!

The children stomped on the grapes first (we are in Italy), and then the adults. It felt exactly like you would expect stomping on grapes to feel like: squishy!

After stomping the grapes, we went inside for an Italian lunch. A weekend Italian lunch can be anywhere from 4 to 8 courses, and lasts at least 2 hours. Our lunch was probably 8 courses and lasted a little over 3 hours. The lunch was served communal style which is very common in Italy. I personally love eating at a huge community table. The food was excellent (of course!), but the best part was the wine they had on tap. Chief had no problem keeping the wine on our end of the table filled to the brim. Needless to say, we were on the fun end of the table!

Three hour lunches are hard on little girls. Italian culture is very child centered, so they don't place unrealistic expectation on the children's behavior.

Ciao for now!

The Carrot Works Better than the Stick

"Choose your battles wisely" strangers would chorus as I held my new baby girl.

Of course this advice meant nothing to me as a new mother. There simply aren't many battles to choose when caring for a newborn. Only now, as the mother of a two year old do I really understand the weight of these words. Thus my current ideas of acceptable behavior from a toddler have been slightly tweaked.

In all actuality, we have been lucky in this third year of life so often dubbed "the terrible twos". AC is a pleaser by nature, and therefore easily adheres to rules. But once we threw an international move into the mix we were bound to have some challenges.

I used to tell people that surely AC would be a dentist. After all her security blanket as a baby (other than me) was a toothbrush. I just didn't realize at the time that toddlers like to throw their parents curveballs.  Now at age 2, the sight of a toothbrush sends her into a tizzy. After two nights of holding down a screaming toddler, prying her mouth open, and brushing her teeth I knew something had to give. Any parent can tell you that a battle of wills with a toddler will surely be lost. I also knew that I could surely outwit her.

I referred back to some knowledge I learned in Psych 101 (duh!) and realized that she needed to be rewarded. The following morning I hastily drew a few boxes on a sheet of paper, and informed AC that every night when we brushed her teeth she would earn a sticker to put in one of the boxes. She understood that once the boxes were filled with stickers she got to pick out a toy.

Duh! The carrot works better than the stick!

That night her teeth were brushed with minimal resistance. A week later we took her to the NEX (Navy Exchange) to pick out her prize. Seeing that she is the progeny of Chief and myself she chose to go to the bookstore. But it wasn't a book she wanted. I happily handed the cashier $2 for glitter Sesame Street tattoos (Abby Cadabby to be exact).

Right now my daughter is covered in glittery tattoos, but she has clean teeth! How's that for choosing a battle?

Ciao, for now

A BIG Thank You

Veteran's Day.
                             

A holiday meant to honor veterans. A day for celebrating their victories, remembering their hardships, acknowledging their struggles. A day that usually passes without much fanfare. Maybe your town has a parade; maybe not. Maybe you have the day off; probably not. Maybe you are annoyed when you go to the bank or post office and discover its closed.

Most veterans are fine with lackluster holiday that is meant to honor them. You see in my experience veterans are humble people. They don't brag about their accomplishments, they don't advertise their feats, and they rarely talk of the struggles that come with serving in the military. They certainly don't expect to be thanked.

Which is exactly why we (non-veterans) should be thanking our past and present service members today.

You don't have to look far to find a veteran to thank. Your grandfather, your best friend's daughter, your next door neighbor, your doctor, your postal worker, your local police officer, your child's teacher are just a few of the possibilities. The veterans that cooked meals, stitched up wounded soldiers, piloted a Blackhawk, provided religious counsel, manned a submarine, or supplied network operation support are all worthy of thanks.

Thank you: two simple words that mean oh so much to the nation's best.

My all time favorite veteran!

Ciao, for now!

Hang Tight

Sorry to keep you hanging. We moved into our house 4 weeks ago, and we just got internet installed a couple days ago. Remember...nothing is fast in Italy. I have so much fun stuff to share, and promise to get it up very soon!

Thanks for sticking with me!

Ciao, for now

For the Love of Etsy

I confess that I am one of those people that start thinking about Halloween costumes in late July August. I don't know what it is about Halloween that I love so much. Perhaps it's the fact that it kicks off the Holiday season, or the fact that it's so light-hearted. Seriously, there's not much stress involved in having a wonderful Halloween party, or a great costume, or a wonderful time. A couple decades ago Halloween was a scary day that seemingly focused on evil, but these days Halloween is all about fun, food, and candy. 

Anyone who spent time with our family this summer before the big move knows there really was only one option for AC's costume. A majority of her day is spent on all fours, meowing like only a real cat can do. I did give her some options for her costume; a cupcake, a ladybug, a butterfly, but when I mentioned the word kitty cat there was no going back. 

Pottery Barn Kids costume

The day my mom received her Halloween issue of Pottery Barn Kids I jumped up like a kid at Christmas. The joy of finding the perfect cat costume, was followed by the dull pain attributed to the sticker shock that so often comes with shopping PBK. Even I am smart enough to laugh at the $69 price tag. But the costume was cute, and it did look easy to replicate. 

My dream of sewing the perfect costume was shattered when I realized that we would not likely be leaving our hotel until Thanksgiving mid-October. So, I turned to my trusty old pal, Etsy, in search of a cute, girly, cat costume. And boy did I hit the mother load with about 2 dozen costumes that were not only cuter than the Pottery Barn costume, but about half the price. 

BoutiqueSophia costume (picture with black tights and a leotard)

After two days of indecisiveness I confidently settled on this black cat costume by BoutiqueSophia. The tutu with the pink satin bow over the tail was just too much for me to pass up, as was the $25 price tag. I e-mailed the owner, Christy, and confirmed that she could ship to an FPO address. I was also delighted that she was able to custom fit the skirt for my supper-skinny AC.  

When we received the costume this week we were beyond thrilled with the final product. The pictures just don't do the costume justice. I can't wait to post pictures of my AC in the costume in 22 days! I definitely recommend BoutiqueSophia for all of your tutu needs!

Ciao, for now!  

A Whole New Language

When Chief got orders for us to move to Naples, I knew that this assignment would encompass a great deal of change. A new language, a new culture, a new way of life was in store for each one of us. As expected everything we know changed the moment we stepped off the airplane.

A simple trip to the store involves much more cognitive energy than I ever expected. Luckily, my European spec car gauges speed in kilometers per hour; so that's a no brainer for me! Although, I do need to know how many kilometers or meters to make my turn. I also have to figure out how many liters of gasoline I need to put in my car, and remember to carry the right amount of gas ration coupons. At first I was constantly calculating these conversions in my head. After a month of living with the metric system, I am beginning to "get the feel" of it.

I have a running log of the U.S. dollar to euro conversion rate. One dollar is worth .74 euro, In case you wanted to know. All of this is really no big deal. I expected to have to learn all of this.

I also expected that when the going got tough and all this change was too much to handle I would be able to seek solace and comfort in the one thing that is familiar to me: Military life. WRONG! I've spent 7+ years of my life living near Army installations. Even though Chief is an Army representative on the NATO base, we rely on the Navy for all of our support activities (shopping, banking, the library, etc). The transition to "Navy life" has definitely been one of my biggest unexpected challenges.

Every military spouse knows the importance of learning the "language" of the military. It took me a couple of years to get accustomed to the structure of the Army, know the ranks, and most importantly understand all of the acronyms. A majority of military speak is done in acronyms. The terms ACU, MWR, CYS, PT, PCS, MP, BAH, and PX are just a handful of terms that are likely to be used in the course of a day. In fact, I often forget when I am talking to civilian friends and family that they might not understand these terms. Army acronyms have really become an important part of our family vernacular. Unfortunately many of the Navy's acronyms are different, which means that in addition to learning Italian, I am learning "Navy".

The Navy's ranks are very different than the Army's. For example, a Navy Chief is enlisted (E7 or above) and an Army Chief is an officer. When we were attending the mandatory week long AOR (area orientation), the Captain of the Naval Support Site came to speak to all of us newbies. For the life of me I couldn't understand why a Captain was in command of the whole Support Site. Finally, (my) Chief informed me that in the Navy a Captain is the equivalent of a full-bird Colonel. In the Army a Captain is an O3 and usually in charge of a company.

Another thing that I noticed upon arrival at the Navy base was the variety of uniforms they wear. I have counted at least 5 different uniforms. For the life of me I can't figure out a pattern to who wears what uniform; just that they are all dressed differently. On an Army installation you are likely to only see one uniform, maybe 2 on the rare occasion. For some reason it was comforting to know that everyone was dressed the same.

Really I must say that adjusting to life with the Navy is not so much of a nuisance, but just one more thing to add to the laundry list of adjustments that must be made. Number 284 on the list to be exact! In fact, I have found Navy life to be much more family friendly. All in all, change has been good for us, and if you're going to change one thing you might as well change it all!

Ciao, for now!

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest flyers peppered JFC (the NATO base) when we first arrived here in Naples. Our interest was piqued not only by the colorful flyers showing people in traditional German costumes drinking beer, but also by a bouncy house! It just doesn't get much better than that for our little family of 3.

A few days later Chief happily reported to me that he bought our tickets and beer steins in advance. He explained that Oktoberfest is considered a work event after all. Since he works in an office with people from a multitude of nations, it was our duty to show up to Oktoberfest.

I was disappointed that it started raining a couple of hours before we were scheduled to arrive at Oktoberfest. Chief assured me that there were tents we could find shelter under, but I was more concerned about the affect the rain would have on the bouncy house. Spoken like a true mother, huh?

In the end everything worked out: the rain stopped, the food was great (coming from a former vegetarian), the beer was excellent, and most importantly the company was amazing! Good food, good beer, good times. What more can you ask for?

Chief had the mega stein. I'm pretty sure it weighed more than AC when full!

My stein was more appropriately sized (for me at least)!

AC loved the pretzels.

Ciao, for now!