Salvador Dali Exhibit

We took a few of Matts' students into Catania Saturday to see a Salvador Dali exhibit at Le Cimineire. Le Cimineire is a refurbished sulfur factory turned into a gorgeous art center. It is now a must see on our list of places to take our visitors. The Dali exhibit was terrific. All I really knew about Dali before Saturday was that he was famous for his was a surrealist and he had a crazy mustache. I learned much more going through the exhibit but I was most intrigued with some very simple black and white drawings that were all sorts of combinations of man, woman, animal and various body parts doing various things. I tried to find an example online but have yet to do so - the closest I can come to describing it here for you would be like an X rated Dr. Seuss. He also concealed a "G" into each piece for his wife Gala. I had so much fun searching for the "G" and then taking a step back only to realize that was I had actually been staring at was a crocodile head, on a woman, nursing a grown half man/half dragon. Hard to explain but I found it fascinating.

Le Cimineire is located right in the center of Catania and borders on the train station. This was definitely Jacks' favorite part of the day! Matt and I would take shifts going into the museum while Jack perfected his trainspotting skills. We had one train pull in right under us carrying a load of cars and I thought Jack was going to EXPLODE with excitement. There is also a WWII museum on the grounds so we were exploring outside and Jack found this great old war gun. He was able to climb into it and play around for about thirty minutes before we had to head home.

Miracles DO happen...

We now have a BRAND new dishwasher - and it works too! I am so giddy about my first load of dishes that its insane. No woman should ever be so happy about such a simple thing - BUT I just cannot help it. I am actually looking for recipes that are more involved and messy just so I HAVE to wash all those dishes. Any ideas out there?

I have been without a dishwasher now for 19 months - and Matt and I are still married. Speaking of which he mentioned something about how the dishwasher and new oven would be in lieu of a anniversary present next week - I told him - NICE TRY!

Easter pix part II

I am still not sure how to post so I ran out of room - here are some more photos from today. I just loved listening to the kids all screaming and running as they found each egg. I swear Easter is even more fun as an adult!

An italian friend and I were discussing Easter and I mentioned to him that growing up my family always went to the Greek Orthodox Easter services. He told me all about this ancient Albanian town outside of Palermo. Apparently the town was established in the 1500's and is 100% orthodox ... they speak there own language (sounds like a greek/albanian/sicilian/italian blend) and signs are still to this day posted in both Greek and Italian. I will be researching and I'm hoping to spend Orthodox Easter on April 27th out that way!

Buono Pasqua!

We had all our neighborhood friends over and had a great Easter egg hunt. The Corey boys made an apprearance and were the hit of the day! Better than even if the Easter bunny himself had shown up. The kids had a complete and total blast running amok, hunting for eggs, and taking turns wearing Jacks' new dinosaur hat!

Some days are just so great...

Following the Easter Egg Hunt we came home and played in the yard all day long. Phil, Aja, and Ella joined us as well as Mary, Eddie, Katie and Marys' sister Kathy. We spent hours in the lawn just watching the kids chase each other like dinosaurs and/or monsters. Have I mentioned how happy I am that we are all FINALLY over the sickness and the weather has changed?

Sicilian Easter 2008

Jack met the Easter Bunny again this year and we were actually able to take a picture! (Last year he was terrified.) I love that you can see Etna in the background one the one picture. We're planning an easter egg hunt in our yard next weekend - maybe I can convince Matt to dress as a bunny for the kiddos?

It truly feels like spring here now and we are loving all of the sunshine. Along with the warm weather we are also feeling 100% healthy too. Matt and I have been playing tennis after school each day and we're hoping to start some spring conditioning for prospective kids for next years' team soon too.

Here are a few pictures from Matt's trip to Venice with the wrestling team...sorry a few are sideways - i am still trying to work out the kinks! We have some friends moving out that way so we hope to do a family trip back to Venice once we return next fall. Matt was AMAZED at how incredibly goreous this city is...enjoy!
Carrie

Happy and healthy...finally!

All is well in our home these days. Matt feels much better, my earache is subsiding and Jack is almost 100%. We spent a nice weekend enjoying the spring weather in Motta. The sun was out in full force today and it felt great to sit on the front lawn and soak up some vitamin D. Now that we're actually feeling well we should start travelling around the island and we hope to start sending out much more interesting blogs. Love to you all.

The SICKNESS

We've all had it now - one version of the flu or another - this has been the dominant force of our existence for the past MONTH now. Jack woke up TUGGING AT HIS EARS this morning and now I am scheduling yet another doctors appt and this time I WILL LEAVE WITH ANTIBIOTICS for my sweet little boy. This pcture sums up our life right now.

HOPE everyone else is healthy! Keeps us in your thoughts and hopefully we're all on the mend soon.

Love -

The cooties