North Carolina: Week One

We miss Sicily A LOT...but little by little North Carolina will become "home" too.  We've had a full (and sometimes overwhelming) week with lots of new beginnings and adventures...here's a quick recap.

Hannah was so sweet to travel down to NC with the kids and I (a seven hour road trip with four kids was a tad intimidating to me!)...while she was in town we spent an evening around Josh's old stomping grounds in Chapel Hill.

A house with no furniture means picnics in the dining room...every night!  (For our first night in our new house we ordered take out from my favorite restaurant in town...Foster's Market)

Our pretty first grader on her first day of school! 

The much anticipated arrival of the BIG, YELLOW, school bus.  (The kids had never seen one in person until last week!)

"Sock-er" fun in our empty house...gotta do something to keep from going crazy!

...sweet Eden is so very patient...

...and cute!

In honor of our many (many) trips to our local granite and gelato shop, we took it upon ourselves to find a handmade ice cream shop downtown Durham.  Yum!

Another sentimental must - The Farmer's Market... upside: I found my absolute favorite succulent plant that I'd left behind in Sicily - WOW!  downside:  it would cost a small fortune to buy all of my fruits and veggies here each week (making me miss my Wednesday Motta market even more...)

...And a little Carolina BBQ to remind me that you can experience "culture" wherever you live!

We're in the STATES!

We arrived in the U.S. of A last Friday and have enjoyed a wonderful week of cuddles, reunions, and t.l.c. from some of our favorite people in the whole wide world!

Pancakes at Grammy's.

Pretty girls in pretty hats.  My mom made Eden's hat for my sister Hannah when she was a baby.

Uncle Josh and Super Zia!

Josh surprised us and came home for the day, so he got to meet Zia and spend the day with the whole fam.

Hangin' at the park with Grandpa Sam.

Loved watching Eden enjoy Uncle Grant's tunes.

Celebrating my sister Hannah's engagement at Terrain!

Isn't she beautiful?!

Eden and her Granddad.

Cousins!  The start of a wonderful relationship.

Eden did not have her A-game on for smiling, but she did enjoy some nice cuddles with Grandma.

Dinosaur egg oatmeal with Makari = awesome!

More cousin time with Sote' - Hayden and Michele's newest addition.  Can't wait to see these two in action...when Sote' stays awake a little more.

Aunt Lydia was sooo sweet to cuddle and play with kids just about every time she was asked. 

What a wonderful way to be welcomed back to the homeland.  We were so blessed by everyone's patience, kindness, and love.  Thank you for caring for us so well.

...and now we begin a new chapter of our lives in North Carolina.  Ready or NOT...here we come!

Marzamemi

Last summer we "discovered" the tiny fishing village of Marzamemi with Hayden and Michele and it has remained one of my favorite off the beaten track towns in Sicily ever since.  It was once home to a bustling tuna processing industry, but is now a better place to enjoy a cappuccino or cremolate (an icy cold mix of granite and gelato) and soak in it's old world charm and salty sea breeze.  

To the beach...

We're trying to soak up every wonderful bit of Sicily before we depart next week, so we took our friends the Garbers up on their invitation to join them for a weekend at the beach!  Elliott searched long and hard to find a house that would accommodate our two families AND be right on the beach.  We were all kind of surprised to find that even though we live on a small island surrounded with coastline, it was quite difficult to get a house where you could walk right out onto the sand.  The thought was that with our combined 6 children (all under the age of 6!), it would be ideal to come and go as we pleased for naps, snacks, bathroom breaks, etc...  Well, it was absolutely perfect.  I realized as we were departing that my kids had not had their shoes on for the entire 4 days of our stay.  We just moved from the house to the beach to the water and back again, it was a joyful and (almost!) relaxing routine!

The house and it's amazing gated patio and yard made this a perfect place for the kids to roam free!

I feel more relaxed just looking at this picture!  (Our view from the front of the house.)

More play space.

Love these two together.  They are such a playful and mischievous duo!

Gelato time!

The U.S.S. Arthur (otherwise known as our air mattress) made a wonderful boat on the last day!

Just the right adventure to bring our time in Sicily to a close.  Good friends, sea breezes, warm sun, happy kids...bliss!