Visiting with family has been wonderful! I have tried to shop to the best of my ability, but negative temperatures and snow have put a damper on my activity. Thoughts of going for a run outside went out the window the moment I stepped off the plane. I don't think my body has ever felt negative temps and 5 inches of snow...oh is it cold. I have some great pics of Kennedy in the snow that I will post once I get a USB cord to download pics of my camera. I have been eating some excellent food! Sending Mexican food thoughts back to Italy.

The longer I live overseas, the more I realize that Americans (in general) are just self involved. People are constantly asking me how Italy is, but as soon as I start telling them they can't seem to understand how I could live there. Granted I do miss some American luxuries, but I have learned about so many other cultures. The sightseeing stuff is wonderful, but I truly love watching people from other countries in their day to day life. Eating habits, the way they raise their children, philosophies about heat and air conditioning, etc are just so interesting. So, as much as I love running to Target, I love travelling that much more. I can't wait to get back to Italy and our trip to Paris!

So, many of you know that I'm not a spontaneous person. I usually have a plan well in advance, and don't like to do anything that isn't well thought out. I have found that there is a reason for planning....Airplanes! I decided a week ago that I would try to get on the military plane (the Hop) last Thursday. Things were quickly done to get ready, and I got to the terminal on Thursday fully expecting not to make the plane. Well, they have 22 seats available and Kennedy and I make the flight. Things are going smoothly until something causes the toilet to explode and the need for an ER landing. We land in Shannon, Ireland. The whole thing is a mess, and we have to spend the night. No toothbrush, no clean clothes, no toiletries period, no formula or diapers for the babies. Since we landed in the U.K., there are all kinds of strict quarantine laws. People had pets on that plane that could not leave the airport. These poor animals were in crates for 30 hours straight. The owners were allowed to let the dogs out 2 times in that time period; it was so depressing. You could hear the dogs barking underneath the plane; it made my heart hurt. Oh, it wasn't fun. We finally made it Stateside on Friday afternoon, and things went well after that. I knew that making the flight was too good to be true. Brian said that he had a bad feeling all day. I am just so glad that we landed safely.

We are now in the good ol' USA, and have made our first trip to the mall. This information would not surprise anyone except that Kennedy got her ears pierced today. She has been wanting them pierced for awhile, but we haven't done it due to all kinds of issues. The major issue being that the only piercing shop around us in Italy is a tatoo parlor....not my vision of where Kennedy will have her ears pierced. Kennedy didn't cry at all for the first minute, and then she started wailing. As soon as I picked her up, she calmed down, but 30 min. later when I said her earrings were beautiful she had a melt down. She now has little tiny pink studs, her birthstone, in her ears. This ear piercing thing is a lot of work; I have to clean them 3x's a day for 6 weeks!

I will post a pic as soon as I get a new memory card for my camera. I don't know if mine got damaged in flight, but it keeps telling me error and won't let me take pics.

We miss Brian, Missy, and Rusty very much!