Easter, Pasquetta & Pinewood Derby

 April 14-17 2017

Yes, in my attempt to catch up on the last 8 months, I am combining things that should probably have their own post. Oh well, I'm over it.
The Friday before Easter was a day off of school, so our little band of expats decided it was a good day to go to the beach! The beach we went to is called Santa Severa and is only about 40 minutes from our house. We invited our neighbor and Charly's good friend Defne, and Kate's best friend Gabrielle.

We had a fun day playing in the sand, and the kids even got in the water even thought it was a bit too chilly for me! Between all our expat families, we had kids as young as JR, to seniors in high school. Michelle was a sport and made a mermaid tail for Charly, complete with seashells for decoration. 

Laurie Hurst organized a little Easter egg hunt for all the kids. She brought the eggs, we all brought candy and the teenagers hid the eggs in the grass just behind the beach. The kids loved doing an Easter egg hunt, something we haven't done in three years!

The most important part of Easter for us was worshipping at church on Easter Sunday. Everyone even smiled so Mom could have her obligatory picture in their new Easter clothes. Even Ryan didn't complain too much.                                                                

A new favorite tradition we have inherited from the Italians is "Pasquetta" - which translated means 'little Easter', and is held on the Monday after Easter. In my opinion, the Italians don't like to go back to work the day after a big holiday, so they make up a holiday the day after, so they have an extra day off. Which is great for us!! The tradition is to pack up all the Easter leftovers, head to a park and have a picnic. So we followed Italian tradition and ended up at the Aqueduct park in Rome. Us and about 50,000 other Italians. Besides trying to find parking, it was a lovely day! We were easy to spot as we were the only ones playing baseball and american football instead of soccer! 

JR and Levi taking care of business. Public bathrooms
are non-existent, so this is how we roll. 

Sara, Cheynne, Ellika, Kate and Charly

Pinewood Derby was actually before Easter on Sunday April 9th. This was Clarks first time doing a pinewood derby. Clark turned 8 right before we found out we were moving to Italy, and really didn't much experience in Boy Scouts. In January I got wind of a Boy Scout troop that was started through the US Embassy. We were so excited that Clark would have the opportunity to do BSA while we are living here. Since all of Ryans tools are back in the US, he and Clark went down to the Embassy the week before the derby to cut out the car and use whatever wood working tools they needed to get it ready to go. They enjoyed working on it together, and since the derby was at the Embassy, just Clark and Ryan attended. A big thank you to Stephanie Olmo for taking these pictures for me. We are not allowed to take phones or cameras in to the Embassy, and since her husband works at the Embassy, she was allowed and graciously took these pictures for me!

Angel Moroni

March 24 2017

These are all the kids of the expat families working on the temple.

We had the awesome opportunity to witness the Angel Moroni placement on top of the temple. The night before all of the temple families were allowed to go down to the jobsite and take pictures with the statue. Saturday morning 

Picture courtesy of Deseret News

Ryan had the privilege of getting Moroni ready for his crane ride up to the spire. His picture was used in a press release from the Mormon Newsroom, and in the caption for his picture it said, "A worker prepares the angel Moroni" So we had a good time teasing Ryan that he was just " a worker"! Ha.

  

Picture courtesy of Mormon Newsroom

Picture courtesy of Desert News

Picture courtesy of Deseret News

Picture courtesy of Mormon Newsroom

 This really is a huge milestone for the temple construction and serves as a light at the end of the tunnel. After 2 years of living and working in Rome, it was such a joy to be a part of this historic part of the temple construction.

Nana and Paco come for a Visit!

Feburary 17-25 2017

We couldn't wait for Nana and Paco to come visit us! The kids had a week off of school for "ski week", so it was a good time to spend lots of time together. Our first stop was dinner at Fratelli la Bufala, one of our favorite restaurants. Best pizza in Rome if you ask us. Since it was the season of carnivale, there was confetti all over the mall. Nana joined in the fun of throwing it at each other. 

This is the Appian Way. It is an old, original Roman road. We walked up and down the Appian way, found some cool ruins and even explored some old catacombs. 

 Paco wanted to go down south and get some *real* mozerella di bufala, so we made the drive down to a mozerella di bufala farm to see the water buffalos and to buy some fresh cheese.

 We stopped at a little restaurant and had mozerella, tomatoes and bread for lunch. Sounds very un fulfilling, but it was delightful!

 We also stopped at Pompeii and explored some of the city. It is amazing to see how well preserved the city was, trapped under all the ash. You can even see designs of paint on the walls, floors and different parts of the houses.

 We really are becoming Italian, because one of our favorite lunches is bruschetta with fresh mozerella, tomatoes and basil. We are sure glad Paco wanted to drive down to buy some mozerella!!

We also took Nana and Paco to Civita Bagnoregio, one of the cutest hill top towns in Tuscany. 

 Charly was lucky enough to have Nana and Paco here for her birthday. She wanted cupcakes to celebrate at school and a 'My Little Pony' cake.

Our last stop with Nana and Paco was the  American WWII cemetery and memorial just south of Rome in Nettuno. I never realized how much of WWII was fought in Italy, and all the history that is here. We even found a MIA soldier with the last name "Haynes".

Our church also put on a Carnivale party, and Kates best friend Gabrielle went with us. The kids had a fun time dressing up, playing games and being able to celebrate a new holiday!