We're in Sicily!

After a couple hour delay at Ramstein for crazy fog, we finally lifted off the ground and began the final leg of our journey to Italy. It was great to experience flying in such a small plane after taking C-17s during the previous portions of our trip. There were only two other passengers, it was climate controlled, and we were able to look out of the windows the whole way to Sigonella. What a comfortable flight!

Here's the fog over Ramstein:

No wonder we were delayed for decreased visibility!

Before we knew it, we could see Mount Etna on Sicily. How exciting to be so close to the finish line!

Our bird's eye view of Sicilia!

Once we landed, all I could think about was how to get a hold of Josh and Nikki so that we could see them. I was trying to pinpoint where we could find their phone number, where a phone would be, when they might be able to get there... I was so busy thinking that I didn't even see the entire Laguesse family standing right in front of us when we walked in to the terminal! Once I realized what was going on, I was so excited and happy! What a wonderful, long-awaited reunion!

The C-21 we flew to Sigonella on.

Leaving the Air Terminal, all together!

Our first full day there, Josh and Nikki showed us around Catania, Sicily. The architecture was beautiful, but of course being all together was the most amazing thing of all.

The four amigos on the steps of the statue in Elephant Square.

The next day we headed to Siracusa, an incredibly beautiful city in Sicily. The weather was wonderful, which was great since we spent the whole day exploring the city.

AJ even got a little treat while we were there... A little taste of gelato! He made an awful face at first, but of course quickly decided that it was definitely some good stuff.

We did a little more sightseeing while the sun set before heading back home:

Thankful

*Are we out of order around here or what? As you can see, this post was written while we were still in Italy; it was just waiting for the accompanying photographs, which just arrived in the mail following their previously mentioned disappearance into cyberspace. Better late than never!

We arrived in Sicily on Monday and have been thoroughly enjoying every minute of our days since then. Yesterday, we were able to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Laguesse Family. They treated us to an amazing dinner with more food than we have ever seen... It was a lovely evening full of messy little grins and sleepy little babies.

The evening started with a little lesson on olive oil followed by a tasting.

Digging in to one of many dishes.

Messy kisses for Mama!

Kiera trying to escape the messy smooch.

After a little meltdown later on (unrelated to the aforementioned yuckiness), this is where she fell asleep.

Yep, booty in the air, face on the stone bench, passed out.

She was soon followed into dreamland by the boy...

I am so thankful that we could spend this day with such incredible friends.

I am so thankful for the four healthy, happy little ones who spent it with us.

God is good!

We Made it to Ramstein!

After a trying few days in Dover, we finally got on a flight to Spangdahlem, Germany. While it was a freezing flight, we did land safely yesterday afternoon. One of the airmen at the terminal gave us a ride to housing, where we were able to do laundry and get a wonderful night's rest (in a three bedroom apartment - crazy!). One 0530 taxi ride to Ramstein later, and we're sitting in the passenger terminal waiting for the seat release for the only flight to Sigonella. They will take anywhere from 0-6 passengers, so we'll see what happens! If we don't make this flight, we should be able to take an afternoon flight to Aviano, Italy and take a nearby train to Catania, Sicily from there.

We're getting closer!

Update: There were three open seats on the C-21 to Sigonella...AND WE GOT THEM! We're supposed to board at 0900 for a 4h15m flight, but it's insanely foggy so we might be delayed a bit. Either way, we'll be landing in Sicily later today! YAY!!!

Hola, San Diego!

Part one of our trip was a success! We were able to get on the flight to North Island, CA this morning; what a relief! We took a C-17, so there was leg room and standing room and sleeping room galore. I'd rather fly on one of these than a passenger aircraft any day! AJ and I took a nice nap on the floor next to the ISU90s; wish we'd had one of the hammocks the SEALs had to sleep hanging off the side of them. They were so neat! It looked there were a bunch of cocoons hanging all over the place. We didn't manage to get a picture of them, but here are a few shots we snapped with James's phone:

Waiting to (hopefully!) be called for our flight out of Hickam.

Sleeping on the C-17.

We have a 20 hour layover until our C-17 leaves for Dover AFB at 0900 tomorrow (which we already have boarding passes for!), so we booked a room at the Navy Lodge and took a bus to downtown San Diego. Unfortunately, the zoo was about to close by the time we got there, and Sea World wasn't open for much longer either. So, we just walked around while AJ napped. When he woke, we showed him the trolleys driving by and listened to a man playing the saxophone for a bit.

We finally found the bus we needed to take back to the base, and AJ signed "more" every time the driver stopped for a red light or to pick up passengers. He didn't want it to stop moving! Now we're back at the Lodge for the night, and the boy is jabbering away on the telephone and getting into everything he can.

Time to see what flights are available out of Dover, and then it's off to bed for us. Goodnight!

And We're Off!

After an awesome visit with my parents a couple of weeks ago, it's time for us to take off on an adventure of our own... Italy, here we come!

We've spent the last few days preparing for our big trip, and thankfully almost everything's taken care of at this point. We're taking military flights as far as we can (can't beat free), so that makes planning a little tougher, but we're trying to stay flexible. Our tentative plan is to leave for Dover AFB in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow!

Last night we hurried to get everything together in case there was a flight out today. We wanted to pack light since there'd be so much traveling involved with this trip; more stuff definitely isn't worth the extra hassle to us. For a three-ish week journey, I think we did pretty good:

Especially since all of the above packs into this:

Of course, changes have been made since we snapped this shot last night. Instead of the packing cube of bumGenius diapers, we got two Grovia diapers today and a package of disposable inserts (they decompose in about six weeks as opposed to the 500+ years experts think regular disposable diapers might take to break down). We'll still take a couple of BG's for overnight use and for when we have easy access to a washing machine. Since we're taking fewer diapers, we're also bringing a much smaller wet bag instead of our large one. The Grovias came highly recommended by a fellow shopper, whose rave reviews really made the decision much easier. Can't wait to see how we like them!

We also forgot to include AJ's little bag of goodies for the plane in the first photo. This was fun to put together, because we wanted the boy to have a bunch of new (or new-to-him) little things and activities to keep him occupied and happy on so many long flights. A bag of pipe cleaners (how have I never introduced AJ to the fun of pipe cleaners before?), a little macaroni-on-a-string activity that I was reminded of on Pinterest, a little felt strawberry Daddy made, a couple of sticker books, a little toy calf, and mini Iron Man and Silver Surfer guys. Hope they're a hit!

We kept busy in the kitchen last night, too, baking some more graham crackers for the boy and I to snack on during our travels. I have to say, these are so easy to make and are really delicious! (Even our neighbors love them!) Here's the recipe, if you're interested. I cut them into little Cheese-It size squares to make them easy for AJ to handle (and keep him and our surroundings slightly less crumb-y), and that seems to work out pretty wonderfully.

We've also been busy scrubbing down the house before we leave. My mama made sure to tell me the other day, "Don't forget to clean the toilets before you go," and as much as I wanted to (and perhaps did) roll my eyes, she's right. And Mama, they're all done! As much as scrubbing the inside of our soon-to-be-empty refrigerator or vacuuming the upstairs isn't exactly what I'd most love to be doing this evening, it'll be so worth it to come home to an incredibly clean house. (And, taking so little clothing means we'll only be doing a load or two of laundry when we return. Win!) Nothing like coming back from a big (or little) trip to a clean, relaxing space.

Alright, T-minus nine hours and counting... Time to cross the rest of the to-dos off of our list. Card making, toothbrush finding - we bought AJ a new one just yesterday and can't seem to find it anywhere - and packing, teepee sewing, puzzle making... And the list goes on!

Hope to posting from somewhere other than the island soon!

19 Months Old

Wow, nineteen months really snuck up on us! Someone asked me today how old AJ is, and I replied, "Almost nineteen months." Then James looked at his watch and showed me the date; boy was I surprised to see that it said today is 11-10! Glad we realized it before noon, at least... Even though picture-taking still waited until after 5pm. Nothing like quickly-dwindling daylight to rush a mama and her 19-month-old out the door and to the playground for an impromptu photo shoot!

Before we get to those yet-to-be-narrowed-down pictures, here's what the boy has been up to:

- He says "Papa," "beep beep," "more,""Mimi," "book," "no," "shoes," "boots," "socks," and "apple." ("App" is what he calls any fruit remotely resembling an apple, including mangos and avocados, and bananas. Yeah, we don't know either.) He also says "Jesus." If you mention Jesus, he runs right over to his Bible stories book and asks you to pull it down for him. So sweet!

- He can climb onto the tall dining room chairs and stools (and therefore onto the dining room table) with zero assistance. He can also do it while maintaining near silence; this stealthiness is not quite so appreciated by those of us who would like to prevent table dancing catastrophes. Ahem.

I don't believe I put the broccoli up there, and I know I didn't put the boy up there. Nice, AJ.

- He finally kisses with his mouth closed! Mimi taught him the day that she and Papa left Hawaii. We are so grateful! Kisses are much more appropriate around here nowadays. A little less make-out-session, a lot more polite peck. Win!

- Our little Radar points toward the sky, very close to his head, the second he hears any kind of aircraft flying nearby. Often he hears it before James or I do; we quickly learned to stop doubting him if we don't hear it at first, because he's almost always right!

- He insists on feeding himself now (with a grown-up utensil), whether it's broccoli or beans. Now that we've got a cleanup strategy down pat, the aftermath doesn't seem quite so daunting. Here's what yogurt ends up looking like:

- He is even more of a little ham now, if that's possible. He's got this goofy laugh that he does if he wants you to check something out. When a normal person would say "Look!" AJ lets out this maniacal giggle to get your attention instead. Hilarious and ridiculous all at the same time.

Okay, on to the playground pictures... There were big kids running around this evening, so he was not interested in his boring ol' mama to say the least!

He could swing for hours on end:

A little out of focus, but I love that face:

 Can you tell he has a tooth coming in? That tongue is always out!

I asked him to look at me, but I think the flash was getting a little too bright:

We finally let him play with the vacuum cleaner tonight while the maintenance guy was here fixing our stove. Can you say excited?

This is what we get when Daddy says, "Look at Mama and say cheese or I'm turning the vacuum off."

Nice 'do, dude!

So much fun to be had with a nineteen month old! Here's to hoping this next month doesn't fly by quite as quickly! (Unlikely... We're off to Italy in two or three days! AHH!!!)