W33 of Y4

Memorial Day

I woke up to a beautiful Memorial Day morning

I thoroughly enjoyed my view this morning and thought it was very appropriate weather for the day

The boys honored the day appropriately at the American Cemetery in Florence

 Order of the Arrow

Last year Connor and Aiden earned their Order of the Arrow.  This year, they completed the Brotherhood designation of Order of the Arrow.  After the ceremony they were able to award two of their friends their sash. 

Our day ended up being very bright and sunny and we enjoyed spending some time with friends

Kayla found that sweet spot where she can still "hang out" with us but be the the shade at the same time

5th grade pool party

Another 5th grade field trip to the pool (right across from my office)!  

I had fun visiting Whitney's class during lunch.

Such a little fishy!

 Parents vs Kids

Aiden's baseball team had their annual parents vs kids game this week which is always fun and ultra competitive!  Luckily, I'm allowed to just watch!

Aiden tried to get him out but no luck!  Jeremy's still got it!!

 5th grade Field Day

Field day has always been my favorite event to volunteer at for all 3 of my kids while they were in elementary school!  Today was bitter sweet as I volunteered for my last elementary field day!

 Friday Pizza-Movie Night

When we were in Edinburgh, Scotland I had the best pizza!  It had red onion, feta, and spinach.  Jeremy asked our local pizzeria if they could make this for me after we got back but they didn't have any of the 3 toppings there.  However, the next week when we went to get our pizza they told him that they had all 3 ingredients to make my pizza.  Now they keep red onion, feta, and spinach in their regular inventory and make it just for me every Friday!  Now THAT'S service! 

Trust me... it tastes better than it looks!! 

Beauty Land

Whitney and I discovered some beautiful walking paths just down the street from our house.  I can't believe we've never seen this before.  We loved walking through the fields and were the only ones around.  I've told my kids about my "Beauty Land" from my childhood and how special that place was to me.  Whitney and I decided this would be our Italian Beauty Land.  

Blackberries everywhere!

W32 of Y4

Field Trip

I love living in Europe and being able to travel to so many interesting places and learn about so many different cultures that are all relatively close.  HOWEVER, I think the one thing that I love MOST about living overseas is our "campus" lifestyle.  All 5 of us go to school, work, gym, grocery shopping, doctor appointments, after school activities, sports practices/games, etc...  together every day.  Our commute is only 10-15 minutes from my house and there are school busses and shuttles that come right to our house and transport the kids so they can come and go when they want.  I can pop in to see any one of my kids during lunch or a school activity and I always see Jeremy multiple times during any given day.  This sure is different compared to our lives in Kansas before moving to Italy where I had to commute 45 min to 1 hour each way for work!  

Today, Whitney's 5th grade class walked from their school to the movie theater to watch a Wrinkle in Time and then they walked to the big track and field right across from my office for a picnic lunch.  It was so fun to look out my window and watch them playing. 

And, yes... it was raining on and off the whole time but no one cared!

Olympic Gymnasts

Today Whitney got to attend a special gymnastics clinic run by 3 Olympic Gymnasts, including Laurie Hernandez, 2016 Gold Medalist!  

During the Q&A, this little guy asked Laurie if she had a boyfriend! LOL!

Whitney asked the girls if they ever got injured doing gymnastics.  I loved Laurie's answer...  she told the girls about several injuries that she's endured but said everyone falls and gets hurt, even Olympians, but that you get back up and keep working and keep trying and are better because of it.  

Whitney loved this!  What a great opportunity!

Memorial Day Weekend

Jeremy took the scouts to the American Cemetery in Florence for their annual Memorial Day ceremony.  They went Saturday morning to help prepare the cemetery for the event and camp out for a couple of days.

The boys spent all day Sunday getting the cemetery ready for Monday's ceremony.  They worked side by side with the Italian troops to clean each and every cross and place over 8,700 flags at the graves of the 5th Army that died during WWII as they entered Italy. 

The American and Italian troops

What did Whitney and I do all weekend?

Long over due deep cleaning and reorganizing EVERYTHING!