Dog Days of Summer

I am sure everyone is wondering where in the world is a new post?

Well, unfortunately, we haven't done much that is newsworthy.

The girls have been swimming and playing with neighbors and I have been trying to stay as cool as possible. The weather has finally gotten to the "stinking hot" time. Air conditioning is not a norm here in Italy. We do have it in our house, the landlord just installed it for us last month. We normally don't use it during the day, but we turn our units on in our bedrooms at night. I can't imagine being without now.

Tom's job is at a standstill. Let me fill everyone in on what's going on here. The powers that be have decided to downsize the base here in Gaeta. So, the small base that we have (one large building) is going to close and move down to the pier where the flag ship for 6th Fleet is. No one understands why. We live in paradise, but someone decided that having everything down in Naples is a better idea. If anyone doesn't know, Naples is a corrupt nasty city. I am sure everyone has seen the trash issues they have been having. That is just one thing. There are a plethora of other issues. Anyway, there was not room for the clinic at the pier. They are having to move trailers in for some of the departments as it is. The naval hospital in Naples has negotiated with one of the private clinics here in town to let us lease a space from which to see patients. There is a bunch of red tape that needs to be sorted out before Tom can move the clinic over there. It is much smaller than the space he is in now, so for the last 2 months, they have been getting rid of everything they don't need. That job is now finished, so he is doing a lot of thumb twiddling. Our population is relatively healthy and add on the fact that it is not cold/flu season and that people are off on vacation, Tom is definitely not overworked at the moment. Most people would say, "Aw, poor baby. I really feel for you." But, Tom actually has a work ethic and doesn't like to not be productive. We shall see how this all works out. We are as unsure as everybody else. That includes the people who are supposed to be making the decisions.

I am including a few more pictures of the girls' trip back to the states. Hope you enjoy, and hopefully, something exciting will happen in the next little while for us to tell everyone.

Happy Birthday Pop-Pop!!!! Tom's dad had a birthday while he was here last month. I made him a "Birthday Pie" since that is what he prefers. Of course the girls helped blow out the candles.

We dog-sat our friend's dog, Missy Lou, while they went back to the states. She is very sweet and easy going and was a joy to have. I am begging them to go out of town again so we can watch her. Here she is with Anabelle taking a little rest.

Anabelle is serving tea to our cousin Joe on my mother's porch. She is such a good hostess!!!

This is Victoria, Anabelle, my mother, Marlene with our cousin Edie during her and her son Joe's visit to my parent's house.

Just a day at the beach with Aunt Stacy and cousin James. I just don't understand how Victoria can stand all that sand all over her!!!!

My mom took the girls to the aquarium in Charleston with my sister, Stacy and my nephew James. You can tell who is the animal lover in the family.

Another picture of Victoria and Anabelle at the beach by Jim and Dixie's house. They are with our friend Kelly's daughter, Sophia.

Uncle Jim and Granddaddy took the girls out in the kayak on Lake Marion where Jim and Stacy have a house.




Here are some pictures of the girls with my mom and nephew at my friend Amy's boyfriend Peter's farm. Peter is on the 4-wheeler with the kids. They had an awesome time!!





This is something only a Granddaddy would let you do!




The Sassy Molassy's posing in their new dresses. Boy, are we in trouble.

Just a Few Pictures

Just wanted to show everyone a few pictures of Victoria and Anabelle's trip to the States.

Getting some snuggle time with Jim (Uncle Biggs) at Jim and Dixie's beach house.





The girls got to have ice cream with their godfather, Bo (or O'Bo as Anabelle used to call him) and their Auntie Dixie. Bo lives in Florida and is going to law school. He was up in Charleston to get ready to go on a mission trip to Guatemala, and he was able to squeeze in a quick visit.

Their godmother, Amy (or Aunt May), got lots more time with them. She lives in Charleston, so they had time at the beach, at her boyfriend Peter's farm, and at church. For anyone who doesn't know, Bo and Amy are brother and sister. They are some of our best friends. Tom has known them since they were little, I came into the picture much later. Dixie and Jim are their parents and were Tom and my youth group leaders when we were in highschool. Though not blood relations, they are just as much part of our family.

Here's a nice picture of the girls with my parents.

They got to go swimming in their clothes at Bubba and Pop-Pop's house.

Tom's dad took the girls out for a paddle around the St. John's River.

I have a lot more pictures, which I will share once I get them all on the computer.

The Girls are Back in Town!!!!

We got our babies back on Wednesday evening. We were very excited to see them. They came home to a large welcome banner, and a yard full of their friends. That actually was not my doing. My next door neighbor was watching quite a few kids from our small community.
It didn't take long for it to feel like they never left. Life is back to normal. Clothes and toys on the floor, fighting between the sisters, threats from the parents to stop. It's fabulous.
Tom, Sr. and Barbara are here for a few more days before they make their trip back to a quiet home. I think they need a vacation now.
I want to thank everyone for treating my girls so well. Cousins Edie and Joe, Tiffannie, Ami and Chris, Amy, Dixie and Kelly, and Molly.....you helped make the girls' trip spectacular!!
I especially want to thank our parents and my sister. You all went above and beyond. The girls had such a good time. Take a good rest and get ready for next summer!!!!

Our Summer So Far

Our summer started with a flourish. First, Tom was promoted to Commander at the beginning of June. I am so proud of him, but of course he doesn't think of it as a big deal. Tom's dad, Tom Sr. and his wife Barbara came over for the ceremony. His dad, being a retired Navy Captain, was able to perform the ceremony. We had a big cook out at our house that evening which I would not have been able to pull off with out Barbara's help. Thanks, Bubba!!! The grandparents took Victoria and Anabelle back to the states with them for 5 weeks. The girls went to a day camp at the Jacksonville Zoo, had Victoria's 10th birthday celebration at Adventure Landing with some friends, and spent endless hours in the pool and on the dock crabbing, fishing and learning how to use a cast net. Victoria is apparently a pro now. They also got to go out in a neighbor's boat and go tubing and knee boarding. Barbara took them up to our old neighborhood in Georgia and they got to spend a couple of nights with our friends the Lacaria's. Ami and Chris and their kids Zach, Sarah and Emily were wonderful to them, going to the local water park and out to eat. They ended their almost 3 week visit with a night at the local dinner theater to see The Sound of Music. Their seats were front and center and were mesmerized the whole time.
They are spending 2 weeks with my parents in Charleston, SC right now. They have been equally busy there going to the beach, waterparks, pools, lakehouses, and doing fun stuff in the yard and cottage with Granddaddy. Our dear extended family, Jim and Dixie Roberts, hosted a 4th of July celebration and invited my parents, V and A to their beach house. They spent all sorts of time on the beach, stayed up till the wee hours watching movies, and Dixie, daughters Kelly and Amy (the girls' godmother) had an "unbirthday party" for the girls. They are in Charleston for a few more days, then get ready for their return to Italy on the 15th. We are ready for them to come home. We miss them terribly.
We have tried to have a little fun ourselves while they were gone. We were able to take a day and go just south of Rome to Castello Gandolfo (the Pope's summer residence) and just stroll along the lake and eat a typical Italian 3 hour lunch. It was a wonderfully relaxing day.
We have been very lazy as well. I had all these grand plans to get some reorganizing and sewing done, but it is just too hot here most of the day.
Our 4th of July weekend was spent traveling with our friends, Joe and Terry Mooney. We ferried to Sardinia, got to eat dinner at our favorite agriturismo (farm/restaurant/hotel), then up the next morning to ferry to Corsica to our favorite spot up on a mountain with the hotel set right next to a mountain stream in Corte, the capital of Corsica. We wandered around the town of Corte, and had a typical Corsican dinner. Saturday we headed up to the "finger" of Corsica to the village of Luri and went to a wine festival that we went to every summer we lived on La Maddalena. It is a small to-do, but very fun and not something you normally find in the travel books. We bought several cases of wine, and returned to our little oasis in the mountains to get some rest before having to ferry back to the mainland of Italy on Sunday. It was a lot of traveling to go to a tiny wine festival, but well worth it for us to get back to some of the places we enjoyed when we were stationed in Italy before.
I am going to stop now. I didn't realize how much I wrote!!!
Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July.

First Blog

Hello everyone. This is my first time ever trying something like this, but I figure it was a good way to keep people updated on our lives.

Well, we have lived in Italy for 11 months now and are enjoying almost every minute. There are a few minutes of every day that I get frustrated with the cultural differences, but they soon disappear, especially when I look out my kitchen window.

I will try to keep things updated, so check up on us often.

All my love, Leslie