Goodbye Sicily

Wow three years already! Sicily has been good to us, but it is time to move onto a new home and new adventures. As I write this we have only 2 days and a wake-up left here. All of our stuff finally left yesterday, and today our car leaves. Today will be spent cleaning our house. Tomorrow we we have the finally inspection of our house, and then fly out on Thursday. The next month we will be living in Chicago, Kentucky, and Virginia! Our final destination is Chantilly, Virginia and will be there for at least the next three years. Then who knows what will happen. Chris will be retired from the Navy and will have to work a civilian job! This year is already exciting for us with all the new adventures. Our move, new job, new car, new house, new friends, old friends, Braydon going to school, and whatever else is ahead for us!

Strike

Last week the Farmers, Fisherman, and Truckers decided to strike for the week. This resulted in us not having gas as well as running out of food at the commissary. A lot of the service members here and now without gas, and there is a gas strike scheduled to start tomorrow (Monday) and run through Friday. Although reports suggest that the strike may continue until the 1st of Feb. We are doing okay here as we have enough food for the next week and a half. However, we are scheduled to do our express shipment pack out and wine shipment on the 30th. I'm praying that this strike will end early and we are able to get everything shipped out on time.

Oops!

We have been stationed in Sicily for three years now and only had three incidents with the car. The roads here are very narrow and the drivers are CRAZY! The first damage occurred on base at the hospital. I went in to get Braydon looked at when he split his head open, and came out to a dent on my passenger door. The second happened when we went on a command wine tasting and Chris hit the curb. This caused the tire to split and eventually caused my flat tire. The third and hopefully last happened last night when we went to Catania for dinner. We were on our way home when Chris hit a sign that was in the road. Guess we are now even on the mirrors being broken on the car. I broke the passenger one and he broke the driver one. Hopefully we won't be in trouble with a broken item on the car when we go to ship it!

Things to accomplish in 2012

Since it is a new year and we are getting ready to move I've been thinking of things I'd like to accomplish in 2012. These are not resolutions because let's face it each year I make them and each year they are not followed. So instead of naming this resolutions I'll name them accomplishments. Of course there is the ever present losing of weight, followed by eating better. Also I'd like to update this blog more regularly, and take more pictures. I've seen some challenges online for 30 day photos where you take pictures of something given for 30 days. Some other things that I'd like to do is craft more and that would make my craft wish list get smaller instead of bigger. Then there are the things I'd like to accomplish with Braydon. Once we move I've decided that I will force the potty training issue. We want to get him into preschool once we move and he will need to be potty trained. There are also accomplishments for us as a family and those are ones I know will be completed. Like the buying of a new house, and some new furniture. I'm writing these down because then I'm more likely to follow them. I believe 2012 will be a good year for the Hughes family!!!!

Moving out phase 1

Today we had the first step of our move out process. The movers came and packed almost everything and put it in boxes, then into crates. We had our good friend Kristy watch Braydon so he would not get in the way of the movers. They started off with five movers and had to call into two extra men to help pack. The whole process took eight hours, and we filled eight crates. All that is in our house now is some kitchen stuff, our clothes, a tv, and Braydon's crib. We are living on temporary furniture until we fly out of here in three weeks. Phase two will be done on the 30th and will be everything that is pretty much here now. Then we will be living out of suitcases until our stuff arrives in the US. We should expect everything to get there in about 60 days. Hopefully this is our last move. I love the fact that we get to live all over, but hate having to move and find a new house, new friends, and a new job. Three years left with Chris in the military and then we will be moving less frequently hopefully.

Etna erupts again

Mt. Etna erupted this morning. All that it left at my house is a lot of black ash. That means I get to go outside and wash everything down. I love having the view of an active volcano outside my kitchen window, I don't love the ash it leaves me as it's going away present. Add that to the list of things I won't miss when I leave here in a month!