You're gonna need an adaptor...

OK, so we have had a large break between posts here. We suck.. It has been crazy! We moved into the house on 30 January and household goods arrived the very same day. Oddly enough, our unaccompanied baggage (which is supposed to get here faster) didn't get here until after our regular shipment arrived and they had to deliver it the next day. So for the first three weeks it was nothing but boxes, boxes and more boxes. Funny, we even left about a third of our "stuff" in Kansas in storage but were still overwhelmed with a crowded house. The second night of Boxopolis freaked us (read Sarah) out a little bit. Nothing in the kitchen was fitting anywhere and dinner was not going to be cooked in any way, shape or form. Even though the hotel had worn us thin on fast food, for Sarah's sanity, we headed to the local Piramidi mall and ate at the Italian Burger King. With Sarah's sanity safely in check (as much as normal anyway), we waded back into the fray and managed unpacking boxes. Somehow, after two days or so, we had internet working in the house and Sarah managed to set up the wireless network. No longer was Tony tied to the office to surf the 'Net.  Unpacking continued in earnest until we realized that nothing was going to fit where it should. After a haul at Ikea on random storage furniture, we finally saw progress. Sarah managed to organize the kitchen with the use of her new super awesome pantry and the kids' play area was nice and organized (for all of 15 seconds) with the new book shelves and storage cubes. Eventually, (when Tony feels the house is put together) he starts (incessantly) bugging Sarah to start hanging pictures. This time I actually waited till the third week before I started bugging her...Sarah actually pulled out the power tools and hung a couple of coat racks to get those winter coats up off the floor - a Costello PCS first!

Let me just take a break and offer a side story. It gets back to our title. So we already knew that the electricity in Italy is 220V and not 110V like in the States. No problem, we left most of our 110V appliances in storage and had already started purchasing 220V stuff while we were in the hotel. "Boy, are we smart" was the prevalent thought as Sarah and I high-fived each other on our genius. Until we realized that Italy uses a different (just barely different) style of electrical plug to plug items into the wall. It instantly reminded me of a commercial from a few years ago from IBM called the Universal Business Adapter or the UBA. Here's the link if you want to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOqOxI0K_I If you watch it you'll see our frustration with living in Italy, even though it is a part of Europe. If you visit just wait until you see some of the crazy adapters we have! Dominic recently told Sarah that it is a fire hazard to have so many different things plugged into a single plug...

So in all that time of unloading the house, we have neglected our blog. It has now been two months in the new house so we can finally say that everything has a place. We almost have all the pictures on the wall too. I can even fit the Mustang in the garage! We haven't done a lot of traveling while unpacking the house. We've really only ventured to Padua to buy things at the Ikea. Unfortunately, I'm heading to Germany for most of the month for training; gotta get ready for deployment. Just as the house is set up, I leave for three weeks. Tony just got home last night!

Kate started in Italian pre-school about a month ago. Pretty slick, our little girl is going to be speaking better Italian than us. They don't speak any English there. We're going to get her to translate for us when we go for any trips or shopping!

Dom is really enjoying his new Kindergarten. Most days he comes home pretty wiped out from three recesses. Two days every week he takes swimming class which wipes him out even more! Somehow they always manage to wake up early though...

Sarah is starting to enjoy her new found free time- language classes, working out, reading UNINTERRUPTED (amazing how fast I can read a book!)... Looking forward to Mom and Dad's visit. Day trips and shopping, here we come!

I was finally hailed by the 173rd, so I'm officially a part of the unit. I was able to jump again after 9+ years from a C-17. Probably, the coldest jump ever. Certainly though, it had the best view - the plane has to bank immediately to avoid crashing into the Alps. I tried to jump with the Italians a couple weeks ago but the winds were too high and the jump was scratched. That would have meant Italian jump wings...allora. Maybe next time.

That's it from here. Arrividerci.