Spring Break #2: Lago di Garda

The bridge in Bassano del Grappa
is being repaired.

Easter started off quietly for us. I had been picking up small things for the boys' baskets during our travels. The Easter Bunny brought larger chocolate eggs with toys inside them for the boys- that's apparently what happens here. Dave hard boiled some eggs and helped the boys hunt for them in the garden, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

As for Italian traditions, aside from the Easter Bunny's chocolate eggs, there are few. Holidays, in general, are much less commercialized here. Valentine's Day, for example, is only for romantic love. There were no parties or treats passed out at school. Ben did make an Easter craft at school, and the boys both brought home cards for us. Religious holidays are celebrated in church and with family here.

Another good brother
moment.

We got on the road toward Bassano del Grappa in time to stop there for lunch. Dave had heard from three people recently that it is a beautiful city. Our first stop was a park with a fun playground for the boys. We are trying to get them some unstructured time here and there, but they are really missing the freedom of being at home. They more or less have the run of the neighborhood, and our house has more options for them to self-select activities to occupy their time with.

The city itself was much like many others. Not that it wasn't beautiful, but I can tell that I'm 'ooh'ing and 'ahhh'ing less as time goes on. I was even quoted as saying, "We've seen enough castles," so we skipped going inside this one and walked the grounds instead. Now that the vistas here are so normal to me, I'm interested to see to what extent I notice the surroundings and the differences at home.

Una bella settimana in Piemonte

I Tre Fuochi (The Three Fires) was our home for eight nights- and it was fantastic! The house is just outside of a town called Castiglione Tinella in the Cuneo comune of the Piemonte region of Italy (phew!). Nobody in our group had ever visited the region, which is why we chose to go there.

Marino (our host) and his family have a beautiful property. Their home is attached to two rental units (one is under construction). Our house had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a huge farmhouse kitchen table, a fireplace, an elevator, Wi-Fi (my boys' favorite part of the week, according to them 🙄), and anything else that you can think of to make it comfortable. It was great to unpack and do laundry!

Ethan: adventures

We watch football and basketball too!
We watched the fireworks on new year!
The fireworks were beautiful too!
The score was 68 Michigan and 55 Penn State.

Natale (Christmas)

Christmas began in Orland Park! We were able to have a shortened Christmas visit with Dave's family. His dad picked us up (very late- thanks) from Union Station in Chicago on Friday. On Saturday, we woke up to do some gift-giving. The boys both love their new stuffed animals from Auntie that go with their beloved sheep and puppies.




We arrived in Riefensberg, Austria, late on the 23rd. Our good friends, Lynne and Tyler, their kids, Tyler's mom, sisters and their families, and several friends had already checked in to the hostel and gotten started making things comfortable. After spending some time getting settled, the boys and I went to bed. Dave was so excited to see everyone that he stayed up to do some singing, though he didn't have the energy to participate in the dancing.

                                                    

Our home for Christmas. Our group had the entire second floor to ourselves.

Thanks to jet lag, I woke up at an embarrassing time on Christmas Eve. It was great to have the chance to catch up on some sleep, but as soon as I woke up I pulled a muscle near my shoulder blade. I couldn't brush my hair, much less shower or do dishes, which there were plenty of with 23 people in our group. About all I could manage was a short walk up the road. It had snowed a bit overnight, so everyone got out for some fun in the snow. Sadly, the nearby ski lifts were not open due to the recent warm temperatures and lack of snow, but the boys all enjoyed sledding and snowball fights.

  

The group of kids included eight boys and one girl. It was so much fun to see them establish fast friendships. Tyler's mom, Laurie, really enjoyed putting together activities for her grandchildren (and our two add-ons). The decorations they made for the Christmas tree were gorgeous.






We were told that there would be a Christmas Eve torch walk, possibly with singing. Even though the boys did NOT want to go and my back still hurt, I really didn't want to miss out on what seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Everyone gathered in front of the hostel to light their torches. The two nine-year-old boys were quite disappointed that nobody would give them a torch to hold.

While this was really cool, the details of the outing really were lost in translation. Ethan and Ben were really poorly prepared. Ethan had no shoes, so he rode on Dave's shoulders. Ben, with no coat on, ran up toward the front of the group. Nobody was singing, and we just kept walking... and walking... After about ten minutes, Dave's back hurt from carrying Ethan, and mine was ready to head back up the hill. Ben, who was well ahead of us at this point, continued on with the group. It turned out that they traveled to the small chapel in town for a Christmas Eve service. The parents returned with the children after seeing the chapel and hearing that the service was taking place in German.


We ate really. well. in Austria. Laurie's friend, Connie, had organized a menu and did the bulk of food preparations (Thank you, Connie!). For Christmas Eve, she and her husband prepared raclette, heating cheese on a special cooker they brought and scraping it onto our plates. The cheese was then eaten with potato, onions, and pickles. Yum!

Laurie read to the kids before bed. Ben was thrilled to be included.

Ethan was the scribe for the Christmas Eve note to Santa.

  

Two Christmas morning views

Ethan woke up vomiting at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas morning. He made it through opening presents, but went back to bed shortly after. The boys had tons of goodies in their stockings, thanks to Santa's combined efforts. Ben received soccer warmups and Ethan got a game under the tree, and they magically found phones back on their beds. (The phones do not have magical cell phone plans, but will allow them to listen to music and take pictures for the duration of our travels.)

Christmas Day continued with more time out in the snow for Ben and Dave, and sleeping for Ethan and I. When Ethan woke up at 1:00 p.m., he was as energetic as ever. (I am glad that I haven't heard reports of anyone else in the group being sick afterwards.) We took another walk up the road to enjoy the snow and the views. Dinner was another feast that included turkey, salad, and spätzle with crème brûlée for dessert. I finally felt well enough to help with dishes, too. 

Ben's Trip

Dear class,

I have made it all the way to Switzerland I went to Amsterdam and Austria and Germany. A funny thing happened on Christmas my brother Ethan throw up. we stayed in Amsterdam for Christmas in the Netherlands.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Hopefully this is the closest I ever get.

My day started with a trip to DTW for my Global Entry interview (✓). Dave tells me that this will be very useful for our travels. It was a good day for it, as I already had taken a half day from work to visit the dentist (✓).

Tonight we are putting up our tree (✓), which is earlier than it usually goes up. The tree is also smaller than usual. 

Checklists

I have a tendency to procrastinate. For a trip like this, I have to work actively to make sure that I don't leave too much to the last minute, though. Since this summer, I've been working to prepare everything that needs to fall into place to leave our house, packed, on December 21. Now that we are three weeks out (!), I am trying to do something every day to keep the checklist for the last week down.

This past week's checklist:
 -Order Christmas gifts
 -Pack and store a box of clothes from our closet
 -Purchase supplies to restock the house between renters
 -(I swear I did more than this!)

Next week's checklist:
 -Pack and store another box from our closet
 -Go to the airport for the Global Entry Interview
 -Mail Christmas cards
 -Start wrapping Christmas gifts
 -Put up our Christmas tree
 -Sort and store supplies to restock the house between renters
 -Send handwritten note to the boys' school to unenroll them

At some point I will have a final checklist. I'm not ready to do that yet!

Preparations

The countdown is officially going! The whiteboard near our dining room table is counting down the weeks and days until we leave. I've been writing some things in Italian on it each week for a few months now- days of the week, 'calcio' for Ben's soccer games and practice, etc. Down at the bottom, Dave lists some vocabulary words for the boys to practice during the week. Last week, we attended our first Italian conversation group here in Ann Arbor. We'd been planning on going for months, but there is always something going on.

I've been trying to make necessary purchases for the trip and the holidays while I still have an income. This week, I ordered gifts for the boys' teachers, classmates, and other people who help us out. I found some relatively inexpensive Michigan t-shirts and pencils with our state symbols and motto on them. Many of my students who come from other countries bring gifts, and I have always found it very thoughtful. I also ordered American flag post-it notes. If anyone has any ideas as to good, lightweight,  'American' gifts to bring, please suggest them!

Last week I addressed all of our Christmas cards, and I've been making Christmas purchases for a few weeks, too. We are leaving on December 22, so we will be celebrating Natale (Christmas) abroad.