It's been awhile

I haven't been keeping up with this blog very well, and I'm a little sorry about that. Honestly, we've just been living life over here. It doesn't seem that exciting to me, but I know the grands want to read about what we've been up to these last few weeks, so here goes.

Wow! I just looked back at my last post to see where I need to pick up. So, yeah, it's been a long time! I will try to hit the highlights since then. I can guarantee I will forget something.

Our weekdays have all been pretty similar. Do school during the day, wait for Joe to get home from work, fuss and fume because he's always later than he says. Good times! Add in the fact that we still only have 1 vehicle, and things get tense. I'm trying to have patience, I promise.

The weekends are quite lovely and we always enjoy them. I wish life were just one big weekend, don't you? We go to church each Sunday, usually grab a bite after with friends and maybe go to a park or hotspot in Torino. One Sunday, we went to lunch with friends and then to the top of the Duomo Bell tower in Torino. It was fun but made me realize how out of shape I am! Over 200 steps and I was feeling it! The view made it worthwhile, at least. Here are a couple shots.

 

 While in the bell tower, one of the boys we were with wanted to tap his pencil on a bell. Joe did him one better and hit the clapper against the bell. I'm surprised we weren't quickly kicked off the premises! Joe says he did it lightly. It was quite loud in the tower. Maybe it didn't carry well?!?!

The day before we climbed the bell tower, we visited Forte di Fenestrelle. This is a fort built in the 1700s, I believe. It is massive! We went on a bad day. It had snowed that morning, so most of it was closed. We will go back. We were able to see 3 museums. The kids enjoyed the animal museum (think taxidermy's Heaven), the fashion museum was pretty cool and we all enjoyed the tarts and drinks at the ristorante! I'm pretty excited about going back and exploring the entire grounds.

We had a dusting...they had a few inches. Well, maybe closer to 6". 

 Which is scarier? The boy or the buffalo?

Watch out! There's a puma behind you! Oh wait, that's just Little J. 

 He loved the gazelles. Joe got a good pic of him with a tiny one. It was his favorite.

Fashion similar to what was on exhibit at the Fashion Museum

The kids (and Joe) played in the snow while I sat in the van. They needed a good snow to play in while I needed a warm van to sit in. Mutually beneficial.

The next weekend, we hiked in Ruata. It was lovely, but snowy. Climbing a mountain in the snow in tennis shoes, yeah, not a genius idea. I knew I was in trouble when we arrived at the beginning of the trail and people had snow shoes and ski poles! I was unequipped for this terrain. It was fun and gorgeous, so we will return. I just want to wait until there has been a thaw, thank you very much.

 Breathtaking views of the Alps

The wonder of God's majesty...seriously, awe-inspiring

After church this weekend, we went to lunch with a coworker of Joe's from Japan. He and his wife are also moving to Torino. It was lovely and they probably know downtown Torino better than we do. OK, that isn't saying much. We only "lived" in downtown Torino for a week. Whenever we go back to town, I remember how much I like it. It is clean, lots of things to do, I never thought I'd be a big city sort of girl. Well, we live in the country here, so I guess I'm not. It just makes me appreciate the big city even more. I don't want to live there, but it sure is nice to visit.

This past weekend, we went shopping on Saturday. We went to the local open air market. I was looking for clothes for my weeds, I mean kids. Turns out, I am not good at market shopping. I don't have the patience for it. We then went to look at a karate place for Big J. He liked it! There is also a dance studio and Olympic sized pool there. So KK can go to dance, Big J can go to karate and the other two want to take swim lessons. We were thrilled to find this. Add in the coolness factor of it being next to one of the Olympic stadiums from the 2006 Olympics and we were stoked! Once I get the van full-time, we are all over it.

Sunday, we went to church and then were invited to our neighbor's house for drinks and desserts. It was lovely. We were outside the entire time, there was loads of food and the company was wonderful. KK said the next day that she really had a lot of fun.

Yesterday, the kids and I had to go to Torino to start the process for immigration, now that Joe is a resident of San Pietro val Lemina. Since we were downtown, we went to the Matisse exhibit (yeah, the kids had never seen so many naked bodies before...lol) and the Risorgimento Museum (Italian unification). I think I need to brush up on my Italian history. I didn't know enough about the unification to understand much in the museum. Add in a 6 year old that was at the door of the next room before we all entered the current room, and I didn't get as much out of the museum as I would have liked. I did, however, enjoy the Amsterdam Fries we bought and ate before we went in...so there's that. Here are a few pics of the artwork and ceilings in the Risorgimento Museum. No photos allowed in Matisse, of course.

 

Just your typical, boring ceiling 

 Artwork in the hall...we were amazed at the detail in each painting. Some of the paintings were photograph quality. It was quite impressive.

 Another boring ceiling. These people need to learn to be more decorative! ;)

 My little Boo liked this one..it has horses!

The Chamber of Deputies of the Subalpine Parliament

I forgot to mention, a friend showed us a trail close to our house that we can "burn some energy". It is close enough to walk to and easy enough that I'm not feeling like an invalid after the hike. Here are a few pics from our excursion last week!

Hard to see, but that is Torino beyond the hills.

I need to sign off here! It is 6:30 and I haven't started dinner. Oops, it is 18:30 and I haven't started dinner. Buona serata! Manchi e ti amo alla mia gente Kentucky.