Bullet Highlights of Our Week

• Monday: Meet & Greet (part of orientation) with the whole family.  Brought the kiddos back to the TLF afterward while Ted endured sat through some fairly informative briefings.
• Monday afternoon: Ted and the girls went to look at houses with Luisa, who had taken Ted and me out last Friday.  Ted's verdict differed from the girls'!
• Tuesday:  A homeschool mom generously drove to base and picked up all 6 of our kids and took them to her house for the day so that Ted and I could attend the mandatory safety brief and driving test.  We are officially legal to drive in Italy now!
• The driving test was a multiple-choice road sign test, 48 questions.  We could only miss 2 and still pass.  It was easy-peasy. :-)
• While I sat through the anti-terrorism brief, Ted slipped out to meet up with the guy from whom he purchased his "Naples beater car."  They did what they needed to do with the insurance and paperwork stuff, and we now have a vehicle!  (See pic above!)
• Owning a vehicle = easier to get groceries.  We stocked up before Michelle dropped the kids off after a lovely day of play!
• We took the kids to a great park that evening after dinner after stopping by the library for a few new books.  
• Wednesday: We took the older 4 kids to the Intercultural Relations brief, which lasted all day, thinking it would be beneficial for all of us.  It was; the instructor is a native Italian who was very wonderful!  I think he was delighted that we had brought our children. :-)  Arden was less than thrilled, but the other kids did a great job of sitting quietly and listening.  (There were parts we let them read their own thing, and Kenna mostly played with the quiet activities I brought for her.)
• Highlights of the briefing: general history of Italy; Italian culture; Italian food and wine; various transportation modes around Naples; suggested places to visit/see in the Naples area; how to navigate; protocol for eating out in Italy; etc.  Very helpful!!
• The younger 2 spent the day in the Child Development Center, since we had received word that there were openings.  First time my kids have ever been in day care...they did fine, though we did have to purchase Zaden some shoes, otherwise they would not have taken him!  This involved walking back and forth TWICE across base--once to pick him up and keep him with us for the hour until the NEX opened, and once to take him back to the CDC (brand new shoes in tow) and then return to the brief.  Grrrr.  His shoes are coming with the rest of our household goods...he isn't walking yet, and I don't really do infant shoes...
• Thursday morning:  Ted went to the last few briefings while the kids and I did some "school."
• Thursday afternoon:  We ALL got to go see houses with a different agent.  We LOVED the last house!  We're asking the owner about some specific things, so we'll see what happens!
• Thursday late afternoon:  The older kids and I got to see Madagascar 3.  Afro circus, Afro circus!