getting settled

So we've been in Italy for a full week now and we're gently settling in to the Italian lifestyle. My stomach is still growling at 5 o'clock even though dinner isn't ever served before 8 p.m. but at least Jackson is no longer taking a minimum of THREE naps a day so I guess the jet lag is wearing off.

Here he is patrolling our balcony, keeping a watchful eye out for an uccello, Italian for bird.
And here he is post-swim, happy as can be and ready for his bath.Every day is a day for learning here in Italy. We are grateful for the teachers we have here - the Boeing employees who have bravely gone before us and can now take us by the hand and walk us through daily tasks such as buying fruit at the grocery store and ordering from a menu that's written in Italian.

Sunday was our first full day here at the Tenuta Moreno Spa Resort (yea sounds rough, doesn't it?) and it was also the day Jackson turned 13 months old. (Giraffe flew all the way from Seattle just for the Watch Me Grow photo.)We met up with Boeing friends Jon & Jesslyn Kellerman for a crash course on Italian culture. (Dan is replacing Jon at Alenia and conveniently we'll be taking over the Kellermans' apartment lease once they head home for the States.) They acted as our guides on our first shopping trip to the local mall which includes a store similar to a smaller version of Super Walmart - only not so ghetto and without any People of Walmart shoppers in sight. It's weird shopping when everything is in Italian, but with some assistance from the Kellermans we did alright and ended up with only one weird purchase - a package of baby food that contained carne di vitello...better known in the U.S. as veal. At no surprise to us, Jackson didn't like it very much and put the brakes on mid-way through the meal. That was the first time he turned down food...ever!

(I went back to the grocery store later and took pics of the baby food on the shelves: prosciutto, mozzarella, rabbit, veal, horse, and more! These Italian babies have such diverse palates!)Lessons on Italian culture continued on through the evening with dinner at the Kellermans' favorite pizza restaurant in Grottaglie. With antipasto that seemed bottomless, wood-fired pizzas, and a pitcher of house wine, the meal was as fabulous as was the tutorial on Italian customs and nuances provided by Jon & Jesslyn. I think Dan's favorite phrase he learned was "un mezzo litro di vino della casa" which means a half liter of house wine. The wine here is incredibly delicious and cheap. A win, win. We also learned to avoid menu items that contain the word "acciughe" -- those are anchovies. Ugh.

History is continually given new meaning as we meet with its ancient remnants here in Italy. Friends guided us on our maiden trip to nearby Brindisi, a seaport town on the Adriatic which marks the end of the Via Appia (or Appian Way). This column marks the historic site.While in Brindisi, we also sampled our first authentic Italian gelato and it was delicious! Jackson even got to have a taste and he was beyond thrilled. It was a much better choice than the carne di vitello for sure!We'll be moving into our apartment in Grottaglie soon but for now we're happy to hang out at the Tenuta Moreno. Having a pool on these hot summer days is priceless.And of course Jackson enjoys trying to keep up with his buddy John (2 years old) on visits to the fish pond to watch the froggies jump.