Good Fortune!

While out shopping for cabinets Stu stumbled on this little gem...  They offered us a deal we couldn't refuse, now we just need a house!

We haven't decided about the hood yet.... but it's a 650 pound pasta and bread cooking machine!

Play Ball!

Yesterday we went to a Tennessee Smokies baseball game.  It was a beautiful day! 

The Smokies are a AA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.

The brother and sister mascot team...Slugger and Diamond.

The game was sponsored by Food City, a local grocery store... How cool is this giant motorized shopping cart??!!

We definitely need one of these!!

We got lucky with the weather, the forecast was for thunderstorms all day...my kind of rainy day!!

Stu ready for action!

Put me in coach...I'm ready to play!

Yikes!

What month is it again??!!  This is 6 inches of snow that fell where my parents live (fortunately only in the Summer now) in Upton, Maine....

These were taken yesterday, enough already!!

We still don't have an estimate for the house yet, hopefully by the end of the week we'll know something.  Until then our days are filled with paint samples and bathroom fittings....

Newport and Cosby

We headed back to Newport and Cosby today for two reasons: one, to try to meet up with the couple that sold us the property and two, to go to Newport to buy a couple of bottles of wine...  Can you believe that the apartment we are renting is actually in a "dry" county, meaning they only sell beer!  Good for us our house will be in the next county, but until then......uggggh!

A couple of shots from the road between Sevierville and Cosby, good thing it's a beautiful drive...we'll be seeing it alot!!

This is the entrance to our road.

The creek on the side of the road on the way up to our lots.

This is the waterfall at the back of our property

And a shot of our new "in-ground" pool!!

The road going back to our apartment in Sevierville...beautiful!

TGIF...Oh yeah, it doesn't matter anymore!!

Stu and I had lunch at a local steakhouse this afternoon, the food was good and the beer menu was hilarious!

When did we start "importing" beer from Boston!!  (Sam Adams on the import list) Too funny!

I made my Italian bread here for the first time today...

Yummmmy!  We will be missing the Italian lifestyle, food and wine for a long time to come, but at least we can have our little pieces of Italy every now and then...

Home Sweet......Home?

We went to see our property today, it looks even better than we remembered! 

It's not quite move in ready, but we are so excited to get started!!

Stu surveying his Kingdom...

Our design is done, we are just waiting to hear back from the contractors and with any luck we will start next month.  We picked up "The Bus" (my Santa Fe) yesterday, she was in good shape, started up like a trooper after being in storage since December.  We also got our phone, cable and high speed internet hooked up yesterday.  Ahhhhh, it's good to be back in America!!!

Logan Update!

5 months old...He's getting so big!  We can't wait to see him again!

  

Culture shock day 1

Well we made it to Sevierville, Tennessee!!! Yahooo!!! 

We passed this exit along the way....good thing we were driving the "Bat Mobile"!!

So on to the culture shock. We just got back from the grocery store... We miss Italy already! There you can drive down the road and see abandoned citrus trees with the boughs breaking from all the fruit and our neighbors begging us to take their lemons and oranges…ahhhhh the good old days (last week)!!

Our apartment is nice and will be fine for the next few months.  It is decorated in a jungle theme...

lots of monkeys everywhere...too funny!

Easter Skiing

Stu's son Tyler spent Easter weekend skiing on 13 inches of new snow at Steven's Pass North East of Seattle....  Hooooray for global warming!!

Happy Easter!!

Origins of the Easter Bunny....who knew?!

The Easter Bunny was not originally an Easter symbol. Bringing Easter eggs seems to have its origins in Alsace and the Upper Rhineland, both then in the Holy Roman Empire, and southwestern Germany, where the practice was first recorded in a German publication in the early 1600s. The first edible Easter Bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s and were made of pastry and sugar.

The Easter Bunny was introduced to America by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of the Osterhase was considered one of "childhood's greatest pleasures," similar to the arrival of Kriist Kindle (from the German Christkindl) on Christmas Eve.

According to the tradition, children would build brightly colored nests, often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes. The Osterhase would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in the nest. As the tradition spread, the nest has become the manufactured, modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets.

We hope you all have a happy Easter!!

Today is the Day!!!

Today is Stu's official retirement day!  Finally, after 36 years and 7 months he is a free man!

A perfect ending to a perfect career...(thanks for the cigar Bill!)

Hilton Head Island

We went to Hilton Head Island this morning just to do the touristy thing and have lunch.

We stopped in Harbor Town a little resort village, shops, restaurants...

And lots of water sports

Big expensive water sports! 

I like the name of this one "No! No! Bad Dog" 

Lunch at The Crazy Crab!  Yummmm!

 

A beautiful old live oak tree  

They have their own shrimp boat! 

Dad and Stu checking out the old trees