My week (and then some) vacation!

Bologna-- check!

Venice-- check!

Austria-- check!

Slovenia-- check!

Needless to say.. the trip has been a success! I have seen beautiful aqua lakes, breathtaking mountains, gondolas in Venezia and have even got to experience some American stuff on the Air Force base. I have tons of pictures-- they will be uploaded ASAP when I get back, but for now, I am using Brittany and Josh's computer, and my laptop doesn't have internet. 

It has been so nice staying at the Farrar's! They have made me feel right at home, and have completely opened up their home and gone out of their way to show me around the area! They have a sweet boxer named Lola! Although I feel like I have been cheating on Jack letting Lola sleep by my feet under the covers, it has been really nice to have that for a little while. 

Lets see.. Thursday maybe-- Paolo (the dad) had called me twice while we were out. I was worried, and thought something may have happened. I called him back and he sounded ok but said we needed to "discuss" something.  It made me worried, but I went upstairs so I could hear him. Nothing was wrong at all, and he was calling to tell me that they were gonna stay an extra 5 days! Who in their right mind does that? When my family planned a vacation, we came home when the trip was up-- there wasn't anything else we could do! I guess they were still having fun, so why leave, right? That's a big difference in Italians and Americans. Italians just do what they want and don't really care about much else besides time off and espresso! Pretty cool if you ask me-- So I am staying at Brittany and Josh's until Friday and trying to help with as much as possible! They are moving this week, but they don't really have to do much because the military does it for them!

It's gonna be weird to go back to work cause I have been off for so long! It has been a nice break and my time left is so short!

xoxoxoxo, Linds

Have I mentioned I am excited for Saturday?

Ok. Wow. 

I cannot believe I have been in Italy for seven whole weeks. That is insane!

Today it rained all day! It has not rained once since we got to the beach, but today was storming like crazy! It was a nice break, but bad news is-- no dryer. Therefore, if the sun doesn't come out tomorrow, we have a lot of wet clothes :) .

Saturday the family leaves for Sardinia. I will be on a train on my way to the East coast of Italy! I am so excited to see Brittany and meet her husband Josh! She took off the week from work, so I feel like a really special guest! I think I mentally need a break from the family because the mom can be a little moody. I try to stay positive-- I mean, that's just who I am-- but her pregnancy hormones are all over the place! haha. The boys are great though. Antonio is making really good sentances in English, I am so proud of him. Today he looks at me and says, "Lindsay, today in the house, it is very cold." His mother almost fell out of her chair. He speaks a lot of English to me, but I don't think she realized how good he has become! For a boy who will not be 6 until November, and knew very little before I got here, he is doing fantastic. He also loves his new saying, "Please do not touch me." He is saying it constantly to his brother, other children at the playground, etc. Pretty funny...

Ceasare's birthday was yesterday! We had a phenomenal "torte"! Chocolate is not my favorite by any means, but it was good! Oh, and by the way... my cheesecake was perfect!! It was so good, and I was so happy with myself cause the ingrediants are different here-- my slight changes paid off!

My train ride to Brittany's includes a little layover in Bologna. I don't think I will find the Oscar Mayer factory, but I will keep you updated on what I see. Found a really neat ferry that goes up in to Switzerland from the next house we stay in. That is exciting.. I didn't know I would be leaving Italy!

Got to see Jack yesterday! Thank you Thad!! We used tinychat. It is a cool website that works like Skype, only you can videochat with lots of people at once. Always good seeing my little guy. Not having him is the worst part of being gone! We went to a friend's house this morning and they had two Jack Russels. I was in heaven! Lots of kisses and jumping-- perfection!

I can't believe it is almost August.. time is flllyyyyyiiinnnngggg.

xoxoxoxo, Lindsay