{my new racing bike}

A Mother's Day present from Mark. He got into cycling when he moved to Italy (3mos. before we did)..he wanted me to start riding with him and also signed us up to do a triathlon in Bled, Slovenia (4 Sept.). After several initial frustrations, I'm starting to like it too!

{a backyard full of fruit}

The trees growing up and over (0n the right side of the picture) are how kiwis grow--I didn't know that---but we are going to have TONS when they are ripe--in the fall.


Apricots- YUM! We've already picked them. I will add another post today. I made some delicious apricot jam.

Peaches- we've already picked all the peaches too. I have a peach pie in the freezer for when my parents come visit us in Aug.

Pears- we've already picked pears off one tree. I gave some away and just made Vanilla, Ginger, Pear Crumble for dessert last night.

Grapes- living in Italy, one must have grapes :)

We have a stream running in the back of our yard...pretty, but might be why we have TONS of mosquitoes---definitely a reason to miss CO and it's high altitude (no mosquitoes!) :)

A picture of how the kiwi grows on the tree (it's almost vine-like).

Mark also put in a garden and we've had a ton of lettuce. We'll have tomoatoes soon- our Italian gardener had to show Mark how to grow tomatoes and also brought us a bunch of his homegrown tomatoes. We also have zucchini and beans. Next year, Mark has big plans for a huge garden!

We also have a huge fig tree. The figs will be ready in the fall too. I've never had a fig, but apparently they are really good. By then, my dad will be here and can show us how to eat/fix figs. :)

Enjoy........more pictures yet to come!

Ciao

{Marostica, Italy}

We will watch a human chess tournament here in Sept.

road down from the upper castle

the upper castle

yes, our car fit through :)

Enjoy :)

{Vicenza, Italy} part II

at the restaurant

Kieran having a hamburger. She isn't a fan of pizza!

Mark ordered: Pizza Americana...cheese pizza topped with french fries..his new favorite!

I uploaded the pictures in reverse...I'll have to remember that the next time I post :)

Enjoy :)

{Vicenza, Italy}-part I

Some pictures of the city & surrounding areas that I took. We met some of Mark's co-workers downtown Vicenza for dinner the first week we were here. (more pictures in part II)

Enjoy!

{an update}

We finally have internet at the house. I thought I would first post a picture of our house here in Italy. We LOVE it! I will update again soon with pictures of Vicenza, as well as pictures from some of the trips we've already taken.

{Making our way to Italy}

We are almost to Italy........We left CO on 29 May for MN.....spent a fun week in MN with Heidi & her family........We left MN on 5 June for NY.......we are having fun in NY until we fly to Italy on 11 June. We arrive in Italy 12 June, where we will live for the next 3-5 years.

Stay tuned for posts about our amazing adventure in Italy........................