Verona with Donna

I am way behind on my blogging.  Life has been busy lately, but that’s a good thing.

While Donna was here, we took another trip to Verona, and Verona was just as pretty as it was the first time.  It was actually even prettier since we got to enjoy the fall colors this time too.

We had lunch on the square looking out towards the amphitheater.  Lunch was pretty good and Abbie is getting much better about eating out.  She’s screaming a lot less and not throwing her food around as much, which is great!  I think she had fun eating with “ma-ga” as she calls her grandma.

 

This time we actually went into the theater.  They still hold shows here, so they have a big stage and floor seating.  People still use the original seating also and it was fun walking up and down the seats (when we weren’t gasping for air) and imagine who had sat there before.  Those seats/steps are HUGE though so it was a workout walking up and down them.

This fossil was on one of the seats!

Abbie had a great time going up and down all the stairs now.  Some of them were almost as tall as she is though, and she’s a tall girl!

                                

 

Abbie with grandma Donna in one of the original entrances of the theater. We, of course, stopped by Juliette’s house and I took some pictures of the graffiti on the walls by that house.  This isn’t even an eighth of it!  The walls are just covered in writing.  It’s pretty neat.

I caught a bird taking off from the fountain.

So they do actually eat horse here, and here’s the proof.  Horse, cow and chicken.  I don’t think I’ll ever be brave enough to try it.  That would be like eating dog or something…. Ew.

Mark and his mom.  Don’t they look exactly alike?  There is no denying that he is her kid!

It was a beautiful day to take pictures and wander around Verona.  I really wish it was fall all year around here!

Abbie is used to her paparazzi.  She was getting shot from all angles!

I love this picture of her.  She’s growing up way too quickly.

“Mo-mushes!”  (Abbie’s word for eskimo kisses.)

 

Changing tables are pretty much non-existent in Italy.  So we take what we can get.  I don’t know what we’re going to do when it gets cold out! 

Verona is still one of my favorite places we’ve discovered so far!

Future plans

Today Mark and I were in church and a 12(ish) year old girl sang during the offertory.  I was fighting back tears the whole time, but not because of her singing.  I honestly don’t remember what she sang actually.  But the entire time she was up there, I couldn’t stop thinking about how my little Abbie will be her age before I know it, and I’m not ready for her to grow up.

I’ve been bitten by the “baby bug” again, in a big way.  The other day I held a friends two week old baby.  He was TINY!  8lbs 3 oz to be exact.  I don’t even remember when Abbie was that small.  (Mainly because she was never that small – she was born 9lbs 9.2oz… But that’s besides the point.)  She’s growing up way too quickly.  I do remember when she was newborn, I kept wondering what she’d be like when she could crawl, and then what she’d be like when she could walk, and then what she’d be like when she could talk.  Now I find myself not wanting to think about her future and just wanting her to stay little forever.  She’s so much fun right now!  She’s starting to pretend and she loves to play and she laughs all the time.  I don’t want her to get big.

I find myself thinking a lot about when a good time would be to have baby #2.  We had originally thought that we’d start trying for #2 when Mark got back from his deployment so our kids would be about 3 years apart, but the more I think about it, the more I’m not sure that’s a good idea.  A large number of people getting back from a deployment at the same time equals quite a few people getting pregnant, and this base only has room for 3 people in labor at one time.  If you’re the 4th, you get to give birth in an Italian hospital, which I do not want to do at all.  Plus we really want to take advantage of our time in Italy and travel as much as possible.  Abbie is enough work by herself when we travel.  Adding me being pregnant or a newborn to the traveling mix doesn’t sound like much fun.  I’m also feeling like I’ve finally got this parenting thing figured out.  I want to be able to spend lots of time with Abbie without having to split it between her and a newborn.

But the other side of me is longing for another baby.  And I’m very aware of my clicking biological clock.  I’m nervous about waiting until I’m 33 to even start trying for another baby, and even if we managed to get pregnant right away this time around (which didn’t at all happen last time), I’d probably be 34 before we had another one.  Right now I’m thinking 3 kids would be great, but I don’t want to have kids in my late 30’s.  That seems kind of risky to me and a four year age gap seems to be a bit much.  It’s hard to make future plans like this in general, but it’s even harder when you have deployments, overseas moves, foreign healthcare and TDY’s to take into consideration.

To add another twist to the mix, Mark and I would love to adopt a child (or two) eventually.  I guess another option would be for us to adopt our 3rd child, but my thinking on that is if you have 2 biological children, it would make sense to adopt two children too.  We would love to adopt an Asian baby, and I think it would be neat to adopt twins if possible, but I haven’t even started researching (or saving our money) for that yet.

    

Just lots on my mind about future kids lately and I thought I’d share.  Anyone have any thoughts, opinions or suggestions? 

Friday Fill-in

I can’t believe it’s already Friday again!  This year has been flying by!  It’s going to be Christmas before we know it!

Here are this weeks questions from Wife of a Sailor.

• What are some things on your bucket list?

Most of mine involve traveling actually.  Places I’d like to visit.  I would like to finish my first quilt and I would like to have another baby or two.  And I’d like to get through our first deployment alive and unscathed and come out stronger on the other side.

• How long have you been a MilSpouse and where have you been stationed so far?

We’ve been married for 4 years and we’ve been stationed at Hurlburt Field in FL, Pensacola NAS/Whiting Field in FL, Vance AFB in OK, Luke AFB in Phoenix and now we’re at Aviano AB in Italy.  Yes, that’s 5 moves in 5 years….  But we’ll be here for another 2+ years so we’re breaking our “move every year” streak.

• What is a list of songs that sums up your life so far?

I’m terrible at these song questions.  I can never think of songs when I’m not listening to them, and I haven’t been listening to much music over here anyway since the radio stations aren’t that good and I can’t hook an iPod up to my car…  So I honestly don’t know.  Sorry for a crappy answer.  =)

• What is your favorite kind of pizza?

Pepperoni and onion, preferably not Italian.  I’m tired of Italian pizza.  Here in Italy I order the diavolo con cipolla (cheese, pepperoni with onions).

• What are three good things in your life right now?

Just three??  1.  I’m married to an amazing man who I fall in love with more every day.  2.  We have a beautiful, healthy, perfect daughter who is growing up way too quickly and charms us with her witty character and big smiles all the time.  3.  Our amazing support system here in Italy.  We’re blessed to be part of an absolutely amazing squadron of people and we also have many friends and family at home who have kept in touch really well and make home not seem so far away.

Foto contest

GI Joes Wife is hosting a fall foto contest and I have just entered it!  If you like photography and have a picture you’d like to enter, head over there and check it out!

Here’s the photo I entered this week.  One of my favorites from our walk that day.

PS – Fellow bloggers, do you have any idea how to add a button when using Windows Live Writer?  I know how to do it when I use the blogger dashboard to write my blogs, but I write most of mine in WLW now and I don’t know how to add a button link in this.  Can anyone tell me how to do it?  Thanks!!

Lipica

I fully admit to being a self-proclaimed “horse nut”.  I love horses.  I love everything about them.  Riding them, feeding them, grooming them, cleaning their stalls.  I really do love it all, and I miss it.  (For those that don’t know/ remember, I sold my horse in 2007 due to the constant moves with the military.)  Spending the day in a barn working with and around horses is my idea of Heaven.

So when we went to Lipica, Slovenia, I was pretty much in Heaven. 

I’m not sure I’ve seen a more beautiful place.  Lipica in the fall is ALL sorts of GORGEOUS!

You enter via a tree and white fence lined road, with a golf course on one side and a beautiful pasture full of Lipizzaner’s on the other side.

Lipica is one of the oldest Lipizzaner breeding farms in the world, and where the Lipizzaner’s got their name.  Lipica has been breeding Lipizzaner’s since 1580.  This breed has avoided extinction numerous times, after they were evacuated from their farms in various countries when those countries were invaded.  They’ve been used as war horses for many, many years, and there are only 3000 registered Lipizzaner’s world wide.  They are also Slovenia’s national animal.

  We were able to watch a training session while we were at the farm.  They put on shows on Friday’s and Sunday’s, but we were there on Saturday so we didn’t see it.  However, I’ve seen them perform in the States 3-4 times and their show is amazing.  What they can get these animals to do is nothing short of a miracle.

Lipizzan’s are trained in classical dressage, and at Lipica, they start their training at the age of 4.  It takes about 6 years for them to complete their training.  Although they ride the mares (females) here, in their shows they only use the stallions.  The horse below is doing a “piaffe” which is basically trotting in place – one of the most advanced dressage moves out there. I would love to be able to ride here, and they do actually have week long courses that you can take, where you ride the Lipizzan’s every morning and then stay in the hotels at the farms in the evening.  (Rachel, you need to get your butt out here so we can do this!!!)  That would be a dream come true for me.

Everything about this place was beautiful.  I could have spent 3 weeks there. We took a carriage ride around the grounds.  It was 20E for 30 mins for all four (and a half including Abbie) of us.  Pretty cheap considering how absolutely gorgeous it was.  I’m not sure we could have picked a pretty time to be there.  Enjoy the pictures!  (It’s pretty hard to get a clear picture when you’re bouncing along in a horse-drawn carriage, but we managed to get a few.)

This is the oldest building on the grounds and is the barn for the oldest stallions on the farm and the ones they use in their shows.

This guy was 26 years old and still beautiful as ever.

Lipizzan’s have gray skin.  They are born black and gradually turn white around 6-8 years of age.

You weren’t supposed to touch the horses, but I couldn’t help myself.  I can’t be around that many soft horse muzzles and not touch at least one of them!  Abbie was afraid to touch them.  She’d reach out to touch them, but as soon as the horse would look at her she’d pull her hand away.

There is a Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, that trains the Lipizzaner’s.  So that’s next on my list of places to visit!  It was great having Mark’s mom and brother along to join in the fun too!