stale :(

Sorry I've been stale and not making my reading rounds of other bloggers!  We are officially in Alaska and in the process of moving into our new house.  We spent the first 30 days after leaving Italy in Oklahoma with my family!  We took a cruise to Mexico and had a wonderful time all being together for the first time in 4 or 5 years!  Then the hubs and I took off for the Last Frontier and left our kiddos with my parents for some more fun.  They will be bringing them up here to us next month just a week before school starts.  I have to say it's been lovely to just have time with my man.  Sometimes we don't do much or even talk much but just knowing it's "just us" for a little while makes it so nice!  We haven't had time like this together in 4+ years!  Once things are back to normal I'll get back to my blogging!

Sunday's Song

This was my last Sunday here in Italy at the base chapel.  My last day on the praise team.  My last day to hear the spoken Word from Chaplain G.  My last day to see many of my sisters in Christ.  I was asked to sing the offertory and I happily did so.  I chose a hymn partly because all my music had been packed and shipped off, and partly because this song had been on my heart.  How appropriate the words as my farewell song.  There have been many ups and downs for me here.  Ranging from the mental to the spiritual to the physical...through it all my God has been faithful!  How could I not praise Him with this song.  Amazingly I did well until the end.  As the last note faded away I could no longer control my tears.  I'm sure it was an ugly cry but I was among friends and they loved me through it.  I received the best smile and bear hug from our servant leader as I left the stage and the love I felt was amazing. 
We have come to our last 3 days in this beautiful country.  Again while I'm excited to see what God has in store for us in Alaska I'm heartbroken to be leaving.  This has been an extremely difficult place to leave.  With each farewell hug my emotions are a roller coaster.  I pray that I won't dwell on what the next few days will bring to my heart but what these last four years have brought to my life!  The last goodbyes on Wednesday and Thursday will be the toughest yet but I'm determined to do it with more joy in my heart than sorrow...even while the tears flow freely.

sorry it's stale

we are down to like 23 days left in Italia before our big move to Alaska.  we are doing things here and there and there's really not a lot to sit and write about. 
we have been buying wine like crazy to add into our household goods and have about 200 bottles going with us on this move.  I've been weeding through closets, craft supplies, etc.  Soon I have to do one more toy purge and then start packing suitcases and making a box ready for temporary lodging.
the movers come to pack up our house next week!!!  oh boy this is going very quickly!

10 Reasons to Smile

1. wine shopping in the Veneto
2. beautiful days with sunshine
3. fun reads
4. dinner with friends
5. walking with a friend
6. the smell of coffee
7. scrappin'
8. PWOC mom event
9. stretching canvases and framing them myself
10. husband snuggles in the middle of the night

Cruisin'

Spring break finally arrived last week.  Off we went on a cruise with the MSC Musica ship to the Greek Isles.  Now bear in mind this is a European cruise company....it will be nothing like cruisin' with Carnival cruises/similar companies.  Would I recommend this cruise line?  Probably not.  Customer service is horrible.  Not all employees were rude; sadly the managers and people working the information desks were!  Compensation for problems was just as terrible!  They wouldn't do anything to help you..."contact your booking agent" was a common phrase.  Kids club activities suck!  They are in a room with some board games.  Now I will say my daughter enjoyed the few times she went but that was few and far between.  Okay.... I'm not gonna keep bashing this trip just because the cruiseline was crap!

All in all our trip was not all bad.  This cruise line could definetly use some help...they offended all nationalites on this trip from what we could see and hear.  But the good did surely outweigh the bad!  We were on vacation for one!  We were heading to Greece for two!  We were guaranteed good family time for three! 

In Santorini we rode up the mountian on their steep cable car to the top where we walked around the town of Fira.  Had some mouthwaters Gyros.  Grabbed a few trinkets to take home.  Then had our calf muscles screaming at the bottom as we walked from the top all the way down...dodging donkeys and their poop piles.  I would love to return here one day and see more of the island since we didn't get a lot of time to see all of it.

Stopped in Mykonos close to dinner time!  Didn't want to waste a port so off we went with a few friends who were travelling with us.  We found a fabulous local restaurant where we feasted on meat platters, fish, pita bread, 2 plates of the best Tzatziki, 3 bottles of amazing local wine, and then finished off our night with a toast of Mastika (a gift from our waitress and restaurant manager).  This stuff was amazing!  We made sure to come home with a bottle.  We actually got looked at funny when we asked about buying it...I guess they thought as tourists we'd be more interested in Ouzo (which we never had the whole trip).  Apparently this yummo drink is well known with locals but not tourists...if in Greece you must try it!

On to Athens we went and took all morning to enjoy the sights of the Ancient ruins of the Parthenon and the Acropolis museum.  What amazing sights!  Athens itself was kinda "eh" for us...the old ruins and similar sights was the best part of that place for sure!

Spent a rainy few hours in Corfu the next day.  Had a local recommend a restaurant (The Sailing Club) which was through the old Venetian Citadel and down by the water.  Amazing food once again and with awesome prices!  I would love to go back here and explore more since our port time didn't allow much for sightseeing...but it was more than originally on our itinerary.

Our last stop yesterday was in Dubrovnik, Croatia!  What a great stop this was.  Again way more time was needed to explore this beautiful medival city!  We were once again rained on but in the end we got off the boat and had the best time!  This place is a MUST SEE!

And now we are home safely in Italia!  I am so excited to be sleeping in my warm bed tonight.  Tomorrow our normal routines begin once again with school, work, and daily this and thats!  From this point on our time living in Europe is down to a mere 8 weeks!  Things will be moving quickly for us now that we're down to scheduling days for our house to be packed and shipped, and all the other things that go with moving on.  But first I think I'll savor the rest of my day, curled up on the couch with my pooch (who I missed snuggling this last week) and munching on some Chinese take-out!  Ahh it's good to be home

Everything is moving quickly

It's already April!  Holy cow this year is already speeding by.  I'm amazed at how quick this time is already going and I know I'm not going to be ready to leave bella Italia when the time comes!  We have so many fabulous memories here and so many more we could make if we were to stay longer.  While we love it here...I'll say it again...the job here just sucks.  The mission at this base is hectic and makes for some very unhappy military members most days.  I praise God for my hard working man and the dedication he has to serving his country at 110% every day he walks into his office.  I know he's excited to be going to a new job with new challenges to tackle.
We are about to take our last trip.  We leave this Sunday and will be on a cruise to Greece for a week!  Our last big trip will be fabulous!  We have friends from the base that are going as well; so this will be amazing to share this time with them.  Most of these friends will all be moving this summer to new bases as well so it's like a huge, fun last hurrah for most of us.  Super stoked!!!
By the time we get back we'll have about 8 weeks left before we are leaving here.  Before we know it we'll be starting pre-inspections, pack out days, shipping vehicles, cleaning, and waiting in the base hotel for our airplane ride to the states.  Then we'll have 30 days to spend with family in Oklahoma and try to see as many family members and friends as we can before we take off to Alaska and starting a whole new process with getting settled! 

I *heart* Ireland

I love Ireland!  My St. Patty's Day rocked this year!  A friend of mine said she was thinking about going to Dublin to spend the weekend and did I want to go.  Did I want to go?  Heck yes I want to go!!!!  I've never had a fun girl's weekend away like that and my hubby was wonderful enough to let me go.  With St. Patty's being my most favorite holiday of the year how could I not want to go!

Dublin has got to be one of my favorite places to be in the world.  I would be totally happy to move to Ireland.  We had a great time over the weekend.  We had our pints of Guinness of course in the pubs and at the Guinness Storehouse.  I added a few pints of Smithwicks and Bulmer's Cider too.  We attended a fabulous concert with traditional Irish music.  Watched the St. Patty's Day parade as well with all the tourists and locals.  You can check out my photos here in my  St. Patty's Day FB album.