Wine Tasting

Lately, I have been asked to go on several wine tasting trips. It's kinda funny, because now I can't drink and I am finding all of these wonderful vineyards! I guess it's just that time of year.
We went on a wine tasting tour with our FRG and some of our friends. It was so much fun. Even though I couldn't drink much of the wine, I was able to swish some tastes in my mouth and get the idea. It was such a beautiful day and the countryside drive was absolutely picturesque.

At one of the places, you just put your glass up to a spicket on a huge metal cannister and pour a little out. You can also bring your own jugs and bottles to fill instead of buying the pre-bottled wine. At other places, you sample the wine from the bottle. It just depends on where you go. It's kind of neat just being able to walk up and pour your own little sample from the source. I think that this is an awesome way to go wine tasting!!! So much fun!

One of the places served bread, cheese and olives too. So I got to enjoy in some food. I did buy several bottles to add to our collection and to have for our guests! I couldn't resist.

We even stopped along the way at a cafe for cappucino's, (and since I'm trying to limit my caffine) Kristin (she's preggo too!) and I got ice cream instead!!! yummy! We wanted to indulge a little too!

It was a wonderful day and I'm so excited to take my parents in a few weeks back to some of the neat little places that we found.

One Year Blogging Anniversary

I started writing this blog exactly one year ago today. Reamer was in Ranger School and I was looking for a way to express my feelings about all of the changes we were going through. We had the move to Italy ahead of us and it seemed like it would take forever and was a million years away. But as time does, it flew by.

As I spent my time counting down the days until the completion of Ranger School, I also started reading other people's blogs. Many of them were Military Spouse blogs. It was so interesting to me that they all wrote about their lives and experiences and I too wanted to become part of this counter-culture. I realized that we would be moving far away from our family and our friends and that blogging would be a great way to "stay in touch" with people.

While blogging, I have gone through my ups and downs and at times have taken several weeks off. And the style and content of the blog has changed several times (as does life). But overall I really enjoy writing. Now with the baby on it's way, I know that I will continue to blog. I don't think that I will be at a loss for material!

Thank you to my faithful readers for supporting me!!! It makes me feel great to know that I have people who care enough about me to read about my thoughts and feelings on life!!

Baby Gender Predictions!

Ok, so I have had some free time on my hands while Reamer has been in Germany for training.

The last time I went to the doctor, she checked the baby's heartbeat and told me that if you go by the wives-tale of beats per min, that our baby would be a girl. ("Obviously, you can never be sure of this", she told me, but she said she had a feeling it might be a girl).

So, this started a curiosity in my mind about what other predictions would give me about the gender of our baby. According to every one, we are having a girl.

The Chinese Calendar was the first one I did. You input the mother's age birthday and time zone. You also enter the date of conception ( tired several dates around when we think it was) and they all come up with GIRL.

I also did the ring on the string prediction. You put your wedding ring on a string and hold it above your belly. If the ring moves in a circular motion instead of a back and forth motion, it will be a girl. And Circle it did.

I also answered 20 questions to an old wives tale. It had questions about morning sickness, weight gain, hair growth, etc.. and the answer was that it would be a girl.

Now, who knows if this is true or not, but it was really fun. It's going to be interesting to find out if these wives-tales have any truth to them. Hopefully we will find out in about a month!

Toby Keith Concert

Toby Keith came to our military post last week. It was part of his USO tour. Usually these artist stick to performing for the deployed soldiers, but somehow we made it onto his schedule. It was awesome! Unfortunately a lot of the guys were gone for training, but the families were able to really enjoy the show.
It is so amazing to know that music artists like Toby Keith are doing things like this out of the goodness of their hearts. He put on an amazing show and I'm so happy that I got to go see him! I only wish that Reamer would have been able to enjoy it too.

It was hilarious to me to see the Italians that were excited about it. They got more dressed up than all of the Americans (cowboy hats, cowboy boots, belt buckles, etc...) I had no idea that Italians would like country music.

During the concert, Toby Keith made a few statements about only doing this concert for the Americans. It was kinda funny. He is so patriotic and most of his songs even center around that theme.

My friend Kristen is pregnant too and is due any day so we took a pic of our bellies to show our babies first concert! I wonder if they could hear the show in there? Maybe feel the vibrations? I'm glad that little peanut was able to attend his/her first concert and that it was country!!! At least peanut will know where he/she came from!! ha ha he he ha!

I'm Back

I have seriously had bloggers block and haven't felt like writing in the past month, but I am back! So many things have happened. Jennifer and Nathan came to vist and we had a great time! We literally saw the entire country of Italy in 2 weeks! What fun we had.

It was so great being able to show them everything that we have learned about Italy and share in all of the beautiful cities.

We toured Vicenza (several times of course). We showed them Theatro Olympico, the parks, Monte Berico, the market and several restaurants and bars. We even took a bike ride tour around town and went to the Villa Rotunda. I enjoyed showing them by bike, because they were able to see a taste of my daily life. (riding bikes like a 9 year old :) (JK).
We went to Verona and toured the city. I think that Jennifer really liked the Romeo and Juliet attractions the most! We even went to our favorite vineyard Recchia for some wine tasting. Of course I was only able to smell the delicious wine, but I was able to get some gifts!

We spent the day in Venice and Reamer and I were able to take our first Gondola Ride with them! It was so neat. It is different seeing Venice from another angle.

We also took an overnight trip to Cinque Terre and hiked to all 5 towns. It is quite a workout and I think we were all proud of ourselves for accomplishing the hike!

We spent a relaxing day in Lake Garda and even took Champ along for the ride. We went to the market in Vicenza in the morning and bought some food to bring with us for a picnic. We walked around and saw the beautiful castle. Champ enjoyed the trip more than we did!

We also spent a day in Florence and saw all of the art and museums that the city had to offer! After Florence, Jennifer and Nathan took the train to Rome and explored the city for a few days by themselves!

We are so happy that they were able to come and visit and spend time with us! We had such a great time while they were here! I know that Reamer wishes he was able to spend more time with them, but the time that we spent was amazing! Can't wait to see ya'll again soon!

Ciao!

(More updates on what I have been doing to come....)

An Exciting Letter I got emailed today!

First Rock Families-
It is with great joy and excitement that I share this email with you as it not only makes your life easier, but it also serves as an exceptional example of the Army Family Action Plan (AFAP).A bit of background, late last year a Soldier in this BN and his wife had a baby boy. They wanted the son's first name to be the same as the father's.The middle names were different. When the father arrived at the birth registration office downtown, he was told that, under Italian law, it was illegal. Forced with no alternative, he switched the child's names and registered his birth - thus legally naming the child a something neither he nor his wife truly wanted. His only recourse was to take time and money to legally change his name upon returning to the states. Original document,however, would always have the wrong name. I was frustrated by this and put in an AFAP issue. It seemed unfair that we, non-Italian citizens whose children would ALSO be non-Italians, would be forced to give up one of our fundamental freedoms as American citizens - the right to name our children whatever we want. It turned out the Red Cross also put in a similar issue. In the end it was a hot topic at the local conference. Work to change the situation began immediately. The positive result is attached. I am so excited for EVERYONE, but especially the folks who want to continue family names, have hyphenated names or make up a name that no one has ever had before. Although it may sound like I am bragging, my real purpose is to share the AFAP news with all of you. If YOU are outraged by something that affects more than just your family, AFAP is your recourse. Submit your issue today at http://www.vicenzamwr.com/acs_afapform.html I have already put in two since March! (but you could have guessed that!)Thanks Jennifer

I wanted to share this exciting news! CPT Saahene has achieved what was thought impossible! I guess that is what AFAP is for :) See attached for the agreement to allowing the naming of children with the following exceptions to Italian regulations:
a child of two non-Italian citizens will be able to name their child the same as the parent, with two last names (of both parents), geographiclocations, seasons, months, days, after someone famous, or with a first name widely considered to be a last name.

Angry!!

Ok, so today is the day that you can call me a hypocrite for complaining about living in Italy. I can't believe that it came so soon. I still love living here don't get me wrong, but today I am very angry with the Italian Government!!!!

I read this last night in a military document that was sent to me:
Currently, United States citizens who give birth while living in Italy do not have the freedom to name their child(ren) as they choose. Under Italian law, a parent and child cannot share the first name even if the middle name is different, nor can children have suffixes or hyphenated last names. Such limitations remove the ability for families to continue important family traditions when naming their children.

WHAT THE HEC!!! So basically, that means that if we have a boy, we are legally unable to name him Reamer Welker Argo V while we are here in Italy! I am furious!

I don't care if by Italian law I am unable to do it, if we have a boy our childs name WILL BE REAMER WELKER ARGO V!! I will "legally" name him something else but will call him REAMER WELKER ARGO V. And as soon as we move back to the U.S. we will legally change it to the correct name! I don't care what we have to do, it will happen.

Seriously, this is so important to me. I love Reamer so much and I love his name. I have always wanted to have a son and name him after the love of my life, and to continue this neat family tradition. We don't even know if we will have a boy or a girl yet, but the thought that I can not legally name my own child really makes me angry!!!!!!!

Apparently, this issue was brought up at the Army Family Action Plan Meeting and may possibly be something that our government may try to fix, but there are many requests and who knows if it will make it to the final list. Hopefully something will change but there will probably not be any results before we have the baby.

Sorry that I have taken such a negative tone with this blog but I am just furious right now!