Our First Few Weeks

We have been in Italia for almost three weeks now. It has taken some time to get settled, but we are close. We have also been on a couple more trips.

Cinque Terre
Back in 2006, Kacey and I visited Cinque Terre during our trip to Italy, but it was the off season and there was not much open. So this time we all set up our base camp in La Spezia on Friday night and on Saturday morning took the train to Riomaggiore (the southern most town). That Friday night we arrived late in La Spezia and after some traffic and hotel mix-ups, we headed out for a late dinner. While most things seemed closed, we finally found Antica Trattoria. The food was good but it was late by time we were done, so we headed off to bed.

After our quick morning train ride to Riomaggiore, we hiked the ridge from Riomaggiore to Manarola (Lover's Lane) and walked around Manarola for a bit. We then hiked the ridge some more to Corniglia. We ate lunch in Corniglia, and prepared for our mountain hike to Vernazza. This was a pretty good hike with some nice views. We rested in Vernazza by the water for an hour or so, ate some gelato, and then took the train to Monterosso. We walked around Monterosso for a while, found the wine and olive oil shop we liked 3.5 years ago (Enoteca Internazionale) and purchased two more bottles of Benza Olive Oil, and ate dinner at Ristorante Via Venti. We barely caught the 8:30 train back to La Spezia and found some gelato to eat while watching the US v England World Cup match.

Pictures from Cinque Terre.

On our way home we bit the beach for a bit in Massa. While the public beach was about the size of 4 beach towels, it was a chance to catch some rays. We ate lunch at a water-side bar and Nolan and I walked around a bit and played at a playground. The cooling of the temperature indicated it was time to go and just as we were getting in the car to leave, the rain started. Perfect timing.

San Gimignano
We traveled here last Saturday for a quick day trip. This was a nice little town, known for it's many towers. We were able to walk up the tallest, Torre Grossa, and snap a few pictures before the fog completely encapsulated the tower. I also took a panoramic shot from the tower.


We ate lunch at Ristorante Perucà. The portions were a little small, even for here, so while we left hungry the food was pretty good. We decided to just walk around the town and avoid the rain as best as possible. We went in and out of many little shops but didn't quite find what we were looking for. We decided to find a place to eat dinner on our drive home, which would go through a few little towns.

Pictures from San Gimignano.

Our drive took us through Colle di Val d'Elsa and as we left town we spotted Il Casato. The sign said Pizzeria (we were all craving pizza) so we stopped without delay. We walked in at 7:10 and they said we could sit and order drinks, but they didn't open until 7:30. After glancing at the menu, we didn't care. It was full of pasta AND pizza! We found it strange that the rather large dining room was full of tables and most of them had reserved signs on them with different names. Between 8:15 and 8:30, we learned why. This was definitely a family-friendly local joint! Lots of big families with kids came here for dinner. So if you are ever in the area and want a good dinner, stop in!

Napoli, Round Two

There were some things I didn't write about during our trip to Napoli, Pompeii, and Vesuvius. Here we go with some more details!

Napoli
I have now uploaded photos of Napoli showing the town. We also took a couple pictures of our Friday night dinner; fried pizza. We thought we were ordering calzones, and while they look just like calzones, they are fried. While they were ok and interesting, they were not traditional pizza that we were hoping to sample while in Napoli. The good thing about dinner: two fried pizzas, a bottle of water and two beers, and the seating charge was 14 euro. I also uploaded some pictures from our Saturday night walk around the beach and waterfront. Their beach isn't much, but they love it.

Pictures from Napoli

Pompeii
I uploaded some videos to Youtube from Pompeii. They show the Forum, the Ampitheatre, and Apollo's Temple.

Pictures from Pompeii

Vesuvius
I created some panoramic shots while hiking up Vesuvius. I have included one in this post and the others are available by searching for the panorama tag.

Pictures from Vesuvius

Buongiorno da Italia!

Well, we made it! We arrived in Siena on Thursday afternoon and were dropped off at our villa. Todd and Dannielle were already here, but sound asleep. We started unpacking a little and then decided to plan a weekend trip!

Friday around lunch we rented a car (we don't have our cars yet) and drove to Napoli (Naples, and for future reference, I will use the Italian spelling as we have no idea why the english renamed their cities). It is about a 4 hour drive. We ate at an Auto Grill along the way (roadside gas and food joint), which was decent. While the GPS helps tremendously, it has a hard time keeping up due to quick road changes and roads very close to one another; it gets confused if you took a turn or not. After a few u-turns on my part, Todd successfully navigated us to our hotel in downtown Napoli. We had booked two rooms for two nights at Hotel San Giorgio via Expedia. Considering the trash hole that is Napoli, this hotel was decent. We walked a bit for some food and also walked around the docks a little before turning in. Pictures from Napoli are here (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy-2010/Napoli/)

Saturday we woke up, ate some breakfast at the hotel and drove to Pompeii. Pompeii was quite an experience. Todd had been before so he was able to direct us off the beaten path somewhat. Pictures are coming soon. After about 4,5 hours in Pompeii, we ventured toward Vesuvius in hopes to do the hike, but we were unable to get there in time before it closed. To that end we drove back to Napoli to walk the nicer beach/park area and eat along the sea. We ate at Gusto&Gusto‎; while the house wine was poor, the food was decent again. Pictures from Pompeii are here (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy-2010/Pompeii/)

Sunday we decided to attempt the Vesuvius hike again as no one had done it before. Sure enough, we were able to get in! The hike, while not too long, is a bit strenuous. I hiked Nolan up on my back. We also have many pictures of this that I will post soon. The views were beautiful and Vesuvius was steaming just a little bit. At this point, we drove home in hopes to buy some groceries. Pictures from Vesuvius are here (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy-2010/Mt-Vesuvius/)

But alas, everything is closed on Sunday afternoons. With no food or car, we were forced to order delivery pizza. It is not the greatest, but in a pinch we will definitely do it again.

Pompeii was high on my list of things to see in Italy, so the trip was great for me. My bottom hurts more from driving than my legs from hiking, but it was worth the trip!

Craziness

So it has been over a week since we left Cambridge. There was much craziness last week. Here is a recap...

Saturday the 15th - I loaded the car and took a load to storage. Kacey packed some more stuff up while I was gone and once home I did some more as well.
Sunday the 16th - I rented a U-Haul 10' truck and took a load of things I could carry by myself. I took many boxes, a desk, and some other things we didn't need around the apartment. The day involved much more packing, too.
Monday the 17th - We had to get everything ready to go on the big truck I was renting Tuesday. The beds, desks, all the big stuff had to go while I had some help on Tuesday, so everything had to get ready.
Tuesday the 18th - This was the day all the big stuff had to go. Cynthia came over and watched Nolan for about an hour so Kacey could get stuff ready with me. Thanks Cynthia! Then Chris Hopkins came over to help me load up all the big stuff. Thanks Chris!!!!! This was a massive task; we had way too much stuff in Cambridge. I want to leave it all in storage when we get back, it is just too much! Once Chris and I got back to Cambridge, we met Kacey, Nolan, and Todd for dinner. Oh, about half way through loading the truck, I realized all the big stuff would not fit, so that meant I was renting another truck on Thursday, the day we were leaving the city. Tuesday night I was able to sleep somewhat on the air mattress, mostly because I was pretty tired.
Wednesday the 19th - Kacey had her final in the morning. Nolan and I did some playing and then daddy got busy packing up all the remaining crap we still had left. I sectioned off an area with the gates and put everything there. While there wasn't too much big things left, there was a lot of small stuff. Wednesday night, I could not sleep.
Thursday the 20th - I picked up the truck and Todd (thanks Todd!) and we loaded up the remaining things. Then I drove them down by myself while Kacey drove our stuff and Todd and his stuff to comcast. Turns out that I returned the truck just after they got back to Central Square. Since I finished so early, I grabbed a sandwich and helped Chris, Todd, and Cynthia load up their things in their truck. We finished around 4:30 so I walked home and started getting the car ready for our drive back to the midwest. Our goal was to leave around 9-10pm and drive until we got tired, then pull off for a quick nap during the night. We grabbed some dinner at The Friendly Toast and went back to finish off the loading. I administered the cat meds around 8 and we spend the next two hours packing, throwing away trash, and saying goodbye. It was kind of sad because this is where Nolan first walked and spent a lot of his life to that point. But by 10:30pm we were on the road. I drove until midnight, then Kacey drove until 2am. We stopped for a 3.5 hour nap at a rest stop in New York somewhere. At 5:30am, I started driving again and we arrived in Ft. Wayne at 5pm Friday. We were done!

We have been doing a lot of visiting while back in the midwest. We started off with my family on Saturday down at my cousin's house in Martinsville. It was a fun day of running with the kids and chatting with family. On Sunday we went to our old church and then had lunch with our old small group. After lunch we had a cookout with the Indy Rose Pikes at Tom & Jenny's house. It was a very fun day!

On Monday we got to visit with my grandparents. We had not seen them since August and probably won't see them again until next June. We had a very nice visit. On Tuesday we had lunch with a couple of Kacey's friends, dinner with Adam and Sarah, and play time at the Charltons house that night. On Wednesday we spent more time with the Charltons after lunch and then had a nice dinner at Adam and Amanda's house. This is where we said our final goodbyes as we were leaving Thursday for Toledo.

Thursday Eric came down and we dropped off the car at my mom's house and loaded up Eric's car with our stuff. We drove to the Fort and Eric spent some time playing with Nolan. It was a nice visit. Then Mike and Maggie met us for dinner and drove us up to Toledo.

In all this madness, Kacey has been dealing with visa issues. We find out Tuesday around lunch if we are allowed to leave for Italy this week. I hope so - I don't want to sit indefinitely and have to change multiple flights at great expense.

So in all our craziness, there are many people who helped make it all possible. Cynthia, Todd, and Chris all saved our butts by helping us move out of the apartment. Karl and Nancy took in our kitties while we are away. Eric gave us a bed AND drove to get us in Indy. Vince and Sharon offered us a bed in Indy for 5 nights. My mom arranged a family get-together and took in our car. Mike and Maggie made us yummy food and came and got us in Ft. Wayne. And a thanks to my little boy who had to live through this, being in a car way too much, and not having toys and not getting the attention he deserves (it made me sad). Thanks to you all!

What Is Going On?

It has been a little hectic around here. But so some day I can look back and reflect on what we did, here we go with an update...

Kacey, of course, has to continue going to class and turning in projects and giving presentations. But now, she is mostly done! Just a few more study sessions and one more final to go!

We started packing little bits a few weeks ago. I also put a deposit down on a storage unit that about 6 people will share. Slowly and surely I would pack a little more each day. Then about a week ago, I started assembling boxes for "real" packing. Kitchen, bathroom, clothes, random junk... you know, stuff that makes your apartment look like you are moving. I took as many boxes as would fit in the car yesterday morning to acquire our storage unit. Today I rented a small U-Haul truck to take boxes, a desk, some tables, and lots of large items that are just in the way and ready to go. Too bad it still looks like we have a ton of crap! Tuesday, the plan is one of Kacey's classmates will come over after class and help me move the items I can't do by myself. TV, bed, couch, three dressers, bookcase, another desk. Then we will also grab a few of his things. So by Tuesday night, our apartment will be naked. Then I will probably have to take a couple car loads Wednesday and Thursday.

That is ok because Thursday night we get in the car with the cats and drive through the night until we reach Indiana! We figure since Kacey is used to staying up until like 1am, she will drive from 9pm-1am. Then we will stop and if I feel up to it, I will drive for a few hours. If we need to stop for some short naps, we have plenty of time to reach Indiana by Friday afternoon. We will be in Indiana for about 5 days. Not much planned yet, just visiting friends and family. Then we get driven to Toledo (our car is staying in Indy, I think), with a stop in F-Dub to visit with Eric, and stay in Toledo until June 1. Then we fly back to Boston, spend the night, then get ready for our flight to Florence on June 2!

It is funny. This is half a brain dump for sharing and half for me to think about how we are going to do this :)

My Red Sox Game at Fenway

While Adam was in town, we hit a Red Sox game at Fenway. While I was not much of a baseball fan growing up, I think I can now call myself a Red Sox fan. So going to Fenway to watch a game was awesome! We went to the May 3, 2010 game versus the Angels, and it was a blowout! This was good for three reasons... 1) We saw a win, 2) we saw a lot of shots go over the green monsta, bringing on lots of cheering and 3) lots of people left early so we were able to move down almost all the way!

Here are the pics we shot:
http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Boston/Red-Sox-Game-2010/

Here is a video I shot before the game started:


And here is a video I shot during the last pitch of the night. Unfortunately, the memory card filled up right as the crowd started reacting. Oh well...


It was an awesome night!

Week of Firsts

This past week was jam packed with some firsts. While Grandma Maggie was visiting, we were given some opportunities to do some new things on the east coast.

Boston Marathon
Monday April 19th was the 114th Boston Marathon. We of course had to check out the action on what was a beautiful day. We debated how to get close to the action and while I wanted to walk the 3 miles to our meet-up point with friends, Kacey wanted to try the T. So we took the red line to Park and switched to the green-C. After waiting 15 min for our train to leave the station, we then waited another 20 trying to move but the traffic was just too bad. We determined it would be faster to walk, so we exited at the next stop and hoofed it.

This turn of events, though, led us right to the finish line, about 3 minutes before the first elite runners got there! We got pictures of some wheelchair finishers, the first woman, and the first man, who also set a course record! After 10 minutes of cheering, we walked further down the course toward Mass Ave and stopped along the way to view more runners. So while we never actually made it to the group we were meeting, we got to see some pretty good action.

www.chrisandkacey.com/Boston/Boston-Marathon-2010/

Martha's Vineyard
I had been wanting to visit Martha's Vineyard at some point and luckily my mother-in-law wanted to as well. On Tuesday we drove down to Fox Hole (near Falmouth) to catch the ferry to Vineyard Haven. It only costs about $15 round trip per person. Once there, we walked around for a few minutes before catching a bus to Edgartown. Most of the island had not really opened up yet for the season, so finding a place for lunch took a bit. We ate lunch at David Ryan's Restaurant. The homemade fries and chips were pretty good. We walked around a bit, took some photos at the water, and caught the bus back to Vineyard Haven. After walking through a few more shops, we caught our boat back to the mainland.

On our way back to Boston, we stopped at Plymouth to see Plymouth Rock. There is a nice little park near by with free 2 hour parking. We walked down the shore line for a while and found Wood's Seafood for dinner.

http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/NewEngland/MarthasVineyard/

Newport, RI
Each year Sloan holds a Gala, aka MBA Prom. Every other year it is held in Newport, RI. This year, for our 6th wedding anniversary, we went to MBA Prom at Rosecliff Mansion in Newport. Since my mother-in-law was in town, she stayed back in Boston with Nolan. So while Kacey and I have both been away from him for a night, we had never done it together. We stayed at the Inn on Bellevue. It is a nice little place. Before the gala, we walked the Cliff Walk near some of the mansions. We then drove around a few more before returning to prepare for the gala. We toured the mansion once there, enjoyed some really tasty appetizers, ate a decent meal, and danced the night away. Oh, and of course ate some yummy dessert! It was a fun evening. The next morning we drove around with a few friends viewing a few of the parks in the area. Unfortunately due to rain, we didn't get to walk around much. We were also able to stop at the Touro Synagogue. It is the oldest synagogue in the country and a National Historical Site.

http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/NewEngland/Newport/

My next first... Red Sox game on Monday with my brother!

Fun with Pano

I was looking over some old trip photos and remembered I had not even stitched a photo together from Australia. So I decided to stitch it and now I want to post some of my panos. No, they are not great. Send your tips and thoughts.

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), Ayers Rock, Australia

Stitched from 7 photos

Mt. Britton Tower, El Yunque, Puerto Rico

Stitched from 20 photos

Yokahu Tower, El Yunque, Puerto Rico

Stitched from 8 photos

Prospect Mountain, Lake George, Adirondacks
Lookout #2

Stitched from 4 photos

Lookout #3

Stitched from 5 photos

Prospect Mountain Summit

Stitched from 4 photos

Buck Mountain, Lake George, Adirondacks
South View from the Summit

Stitched from 6 photos

North View from the Summit

Stitched from 3 photos

West View from the Summit

Stitched from 6 photos

Toddler TV

I know, evil words. We have not really let Nolan watch TV yet (he watches some sports). But, as he is nearing two, and our life is changing, I feel we may need to find a couple good shows for Nolan to watch. While we understand Nolan and he understands us, he is not really putting words together yet. Every baby is different, but our situation is we will be soon living in a country where he will not hear English except from us. So, it is time to find a couple good shows that we can buy on DVD and take with us.

We don't want just any show. We want something relatively simple with hopefully real or animated children. We want him to learn, but the show doesn't need to focus on learning so much that it isn't fun to watch. We mostly want him to hear kids speaking English. Some singing would be nice too.

So far I still love Sesame Street. My friend Matt mentioned that he watches Caillou with his daughter and so far I like this show too. I am looking for recommendations of a few shows that we can take with us (or watch on the SlingBox). Don't hesitate to leave a comment with your thoughts and why!

A Big Step for Nolan

Today Nolan and I were at MIT for an event around lunch. The room we were in had many steps and Nolan wanted to run around. The steps weren't huge, but they weren't tiny steps either. As if he had been doing it for weeks, he quickly and confidently stepped right up them without any help and then turned around and came right down them without any help. I was excited!

Life Insurance... Yeah

I am so happy to be working on this... we need to update our life insurance. I currently have a whole life plan I am going to do away with. We are going to get two term plans that we can adjust as needed. We have looked in to a few big name companies so far.

How have you, random readers of this blog, picked a company? What gotchas should we look out for? Don't hesitate to comment!

Spring Break in Puerto Rico

This past week we spent 5 days in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Those of you that know me well, yes, I ate my words and went there for vacation. That just tells you how good the deal was we found. For those who have no idea what I am talking about, I spent a lot of time there for work a couple years back. So while it is nice knowing where to go and where to eat and how to get around your vacation spot, there are certain things about the place I wanted to avoid, including thoughts of work.

We got direct flights on JetBlue, which sweetened the deal. This was my first time on JetBlue and I was pleased with them. Free first bag and no first class, so no lines of people wanting an upgrade. They do have expanded leg room rows, but they don't give them away, even at the last minute. So again less clutter. The regular rows have a decent amount of space, so traveling with an infant wasn't too bad. They don't, however, have family rows like some airlines have (i.e. you call the airline after booking and can get better seats). Each seat has an entertainment screen and XM radio, so bonus. And, free snacks and drinks, with which they are not stingy. Lastly, they take your drink order and bring it out on trays, so they keep the isles clear. So, enough of my JetBlue review.

We picked up our rental car, which even for Puerto Rico took a while, but oh well. We got a compact SUV for $85 for the week, another bonus to the deal. We stopped by the Pueblo to get some fruit and snacks for the room and it gave me a chance to show Kacey where I used to hang out and live while there for work.

Travelocity gave us a sweet deal at the Conrad. That's right. And since we are Hilton Gold, that means a free room upgrade and free breakfast. So, my expectations were pretty high of this place, even for Puerto Rico. Well, we were a little wrong. This is not a super nice hotel, but I don't want to spend my time writing about the things wrong with the hotel. If you really want to know, ask me. Just know that a fancy name and a decent location do not a nice hotel make.

The first afternoon we were there we hit the pool and the beach. We enjoyed the slide very much and also the little dolphins that spout water in to the pool. They also had a salt water pool, but it was too deep and us to take Nolan in. We walked down the Condado strip and ate dinner at Café del Angel. Our goal when traveling is to generally find the best values; so good food not marked up because of the location. We succeeded here.

Our first full day we went to visit the forts in Old San Juan. They are part of the National Park Service (one of my favorite things), so Nolan was able to get his National Parks Passport stamped twice more. We first visited Castillo San Cristóbal, the eastern most part of the fortress. We walked through the tunnels and up to the top for a view of San Juan and Old San Juan. We then ventured west to El Morro. There were a few people out flying kites on the lawn of El Morro (I have pictures from 5 years ago when many more were out). We decided to eat some lunch before our tour of the fortress. We had a small list of possible places and ended up at La Bombonera. This was a decent lunch stop and I recommend it. We walked back over to the fort and walked around a bit. We went all the way down right as a cruise ship was coming through the channel, so check out our pictures for that. Then on our way up Kacey took the circular stairs. By this time Nolan was starting to get sleepy so we walked to the car and drove back to the hotel. Then, it was pool time again! For dinner that night we ate at Hacienda Don Jose just down the street from the hotel. This is another good value place right on the ocean.

Dinner at Don Jose

On Tuesday it was time for the rainforest, El Yunque. I had been there 5 years ago on my first trip to the island but Kacey loves a good rainforest too. We decided not to do the El Yunque peak trip as we didn't take the baby backpack. We hiked down to La Mina Falls and Nolan played in the rocks for a bit. We then hiked up to Mt. Britton Lookout Tower. Both of these walks are pretty easy, but the first one does have a lot of steps. Nolan fell asleep being held on the way down from Mt. Britton so when we got to Yokahu Tower, Kacey and I took turns walking up for the view (so two sets of pictures). After our two trails in the rainforest, we drove by Lilly del Caribe in Carolina so Kacey could see the plants there. We then hit Lupi's for dinner, a place I visited a few times during my stays to the island. We sat outside and Nolan watched all the people and trucks go by. If you are staying near Isla Verde, try Lupi's.

Wednesday was pool and beach day. At this point I was having trouble relaxing (what's new) so I was looking forward to not doing anything except play with Nolan and Kacey. For lunch we walked over to Waykiki and due to their lunch specials, we got a good deal and some pretty good food. I don't think their dinners would have been such great deals, though. After Nolan got a quick nap, it was back to the beach. We did some high speed continuous shooting with the Nikon of us coming down the slide with Nolan. We also did a video now on my youtube channel. For dinner that night we met up with the Deacons at Yerba Buena Cafe. The food here was good, but just a little pricey for us (it was ok for one dinner, though). After some nice conversation with friends, we walked home to start packing.

Thursday we flew home after some breakfast. A travel note for those of you who have never flown through SJU, GO EARLY. Ticket lines are insane here, mostly because the locals show up right before their flight and then get to cut line, backing up the lines for everyone else (this is why being American Gold is nice, but we didn't fly AA). The security lines on the other hand are not that bad.

So we made it home with all our stuff, hopefully just a little more relaxed, and maybe a touch less pale.

Pictures can be found here.

Might Get A Netbook

I am thinking about getting a netbook to take to Italy with us. As the tablet we currently have will serve as TV, internet, movies, thesis writing, and phone for us, it might serve us well to have another option. I don't want to spend much money and don't need too many options as it is really a backup. (Yes, I know there is no on-board optical drive).

The Dell Mini 10 looks good, but there are a few options available in terms of video chipset and processor. I have not yet been able to find good reviews of whether these options really matter. I also like the price point.

The Toshiba looks promising as I have found a few deals online for their machine. It also appears to be upgradeable to 2 GB of RAM.

Both the Acer and Asus websites don't quite cooperate with how I want my information, so after a couple attempts, I just don't know about them. I am interested in an Eee PC, though, as this seems to be one of their better markets.

What about you? Do you have one of these? Advice on chipsets?

Week One of "Knowing"

So it has been about a week since we found out we are moving to Italy. So far we have meet with the 2 other students that will be living in the same city and met with the student who was there last year. We have all started talking about ideas for moving and living there. We have also started talking with all the other students who will be in Europe to determine where all we should travel. The list is probably too large...

I have also started my Italian lessons. I think the partner company will probably pay for Kacey to learn some Italian, so I am on my own. I have Pimsleur Italian. I have 90 30 minute sessions to get through. My goal is to do one every day during Nolan's nap. But as you can tell, there is no way I will be done before we leave, but it should definitely out! I have already done 3 lessons and can effectively say "I do not understand Italian", along with a few other phrases. I hope I can keep on task.

Finally on a Nolan note, last night he threw up for the first time. I mean he spit up when little, but he has never thrown up. It just so happened to be the night we had people over for dinner and he threw up four times. It wasn't violent or bile, but it still made him cry. He seems fine today and is slowly starting to eat some food. Check mark for another first for us!

Italy, It's Official!

It is pretty much officially official... we are moving to Italy! Kacey has landed an internship with Novartis in Siena, Italy (near Florence). For years we searched for a means within Lilly to get an overseas assignment, but it just never worked out. And now we have the opportunity of a lifetime to live in one of our favorite places ever visited for 7 months! Logistics and planning are going to be tiring and stressful; I am not even going to start listing things here. But we are looking forward to learning Italian and living in a new culture.

We are also looking forward to visiting some European cities as weekend trips that we normally would not get to see. This list has also been started too. (If you have any recommendations, definitely let us know!!) On the list so far: Moscow, Prague, Berlin, London, Glasgow, Dublin, somewhere in northern Africa, Paris, Budapest, Basel, and Warsaw.

We have no idea how big our studio/apartment may or may not be. Hopefully we have room for an air mattress as we hope to get at least a couple visitors. Of course Kacey's parents are up for visiting Italy again. We are hoping we can convince my mom, with the aid of lots of medication, to get on a plane (I am already looking in to non-stop flights to Rome for her). If you are *seriously* interested in visiting with a potential free place to stay, just let us know!

Anyway, I am sure that we will be posting information along the way as we figure out details.

Web Hosting Fun

I just wanted to get a little information out there to anyone looking for some web hosting. I have been with ipower (or ipowerweb) for almost 5 years. Their price is ok and their service is bad, so just hope nothing goes wrong (even though something goes wrong almost every year). Even though they have given me 150GB of space, if you use more than 25GB, you are in violation of their newly revised Terms of Service, and they start deleting files. This may be the last year for chrisandkacey.com as I am about done with them and will transfer all pictures to Flickr. I have already had to move all my videos to my youtube channel.

Happenings

I write this for you, but mostly for me - to someday remember what life was like here.

Nolan is doing great. We started playgroup back up this week at MIT. It is volunteer ran and this semester I am helping run it. Mostly, I just lug the toys around for the kids, but I am glad to help.

I believe Nolan really understands shapes and colors. We have a couple different books where he can point out shapes and colors (probably half memorization and half learning). He can only say a couple colors, but he can say most of the shapes. I think he is finally starting to learn the number three. He can't quite say it properly, but he is getting close. I frequently count to five with him as I figure the next step shouldn't be four but five. Also, I believe Nolan's first real two syllable word is pasta. For a week or so now whenever you ask him what he wants to eat, he says pasta. Even for breakfast. He got a set of little pots and pans and he likes to make pasta in them! And lastly to add to this long, rambling paragraph, Nolan will now shrug his shoulders with his hands up if he doesn't know something, it is really cute!

This week we should find out where we will be moving this summer. Where ever it is, it is going to be a planning nightmare. We have to find a home for all our stuff, our car, and our cats. We are really, really hoping we can find a student in town who might cat sit for us (if you are reading this, we will pay for food and litter!!!). As for the car, I still don't know if I will drive it back to the midwest or find a cheap place here. A storage unit just for our stuff will probably run us $150/month if we are lucky.

We are also trying to determine if we should do something for spring break. We have considered many things, but don't want to spend too much money. Everything from renting on RV out west to the US Virgin Islands. I guess we will see what deals pop up first! Any suggestions???

Nolan is Eighteen Months Old!

Well, we are a couple weeks late, but we were out of town. Here we go!

21.9 lbs
32.25 inches tall
He has been working on eating with a fork and is getting better at it.
He can count to two! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2h1ij4QtJk)
We are working on colors still. Sometimes we think he gets it, and sometimes it seems like he doesn't.

So yeah, he is still a light weight. And we are not sure why as he is a good eater, he just doesn't eat much pre-packaged food, milk, or meat (he is also a very active boy and mommy is small). The doctor has given us some ideas for more calcium, iron, and fat intake, so I will be working on those over the next few weeks. Ideas include bok choy, green beans, more butter, organic chicken breast, creamy peanut butter, and more cow's milk. We also learned that one of his favorite veggies, cucumbers, doesn't do much for him right now.

December pictures are posted (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Nolan/December2009/)

Food

So the title of this post is a little wide-open, but it is what I want to discuss. Nolan is getting to an age where I feel he needs more variety in his diet (I can tell when he is tired of eating something). For quite some time, he ate chick peas every day for lunch along with one or two veggies, some fruit, and a piece of multi-grain bread. Dinner is not too bad as Kacey usually whips up something consisting of either pasta or tortillas.

I have tried grilled cheese which he will eat if the cheese is melted enough but the bread not too crispy (fun for daddy as Nolan doesn't like unmelted cheese, crazy boy!). I haven't tried peanut butter and jelly for him yet as we only have crunchy peanut butter. I haven't given him lunch meat yet out of fear of foodborne illness. What other healthy ways do folks out there get protein and grains for their kids? Nolan also doesn't really like eggs and that is ok as we don't really cook with them or buy them frequently. I am considering buying fresh, organic chicken breast from the store down the street that sells it for Nolan and I to eat at lunch.

Christmas 2009 Road Trip

We started our journey on Wednesday December 16th in the afternoon as to try to break up the 12 hour trek to Toledo in to two chunks. Our plan was to drive I-90 until we got tired. Around Rochester, the lake-effect snow kicked in and we had to get off the interstate. We stayed at a little roadside hotel for the night and got to Toledo the next day just after lunch.

There was much food to be eaten at the Fetcho house. Haluski, pierogies, ham, kiffles, lasagna, and much more. We also took a trip to Wren, OH to have Christmas with the Snyders. It was great to see everyone!

On the 26th we drove to Indy and our first order of business was to stop and greet my niece Leah Kate! (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Family/Leah/) She is such a cutie and I loved getting to see her. The next day we spent the afternoon at my cousin Jason's house and had some good times and good food.

Pictures from Christmas can be found here. (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/ChrisKacey/Holidays/Christmas-2009/)

We spent the following week visiting a few friends and family. We also visited our friends at church and went out for lunch with them; it was great to see them all! January 3rd, Kacey hoped on a plane to join her classmates for a two week plant trip visiting partner companies for her school program. This meant I was a single dad for two weeks. I was able to stay at my grandparents house in Martinsville, so we had a real house with space to stay in. My brother Matt took Nolan and I to the Children's Museum for our Christmas present; it was lots of fun! Nolan ran around and saw many things. Matt and I played with a few things too. I spent time with my mom most nights which I know she loved, and Nolan had lots of fun spending time with grandma. I visited some friends for playtime with Nolan and each visit was great to catch up and let Nolan play.

On our way home we stopped in Ithaca, NY to visit Kacey's aunt, uncle and cousin. We did not get to see them at Thanksgiving or Christmas, and we have never been to their house. It was a fast, but good trip. We also got a very fast visual tour of Cornell where Kacey's uncle is a professor.

All in all, it was a good trip. Many thanks to Chas for helping watch our cats!!!