Blessing, Birthday, and Benevento

The children pose with Mr Dodson and Mr Solomon, and Deacons Briese and McDole on the Jan 24th.

Peter gets goofy for the camera.

Anthony on the pedestrian street near Piazza Roma.

The family spent a wonderful afternoon skating/sightseeing in beautiful Benevento, Italy on 23 January. Here the children pose infront of the truumphal Arch of Trajan erected by the senate and people of Rome and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus in 114. The Arch of Trajan is one of the best-preserved Roman structures in the Campania. It repeats the formula of the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, with reliefs of Trajan's life and exploits of his reign. Many of the Arches in Italy were destroyed during the World Wars.

Skating on a temporary rink at Piazza Roma, Benevento.

Anne shows her grace and poise.

Catherine did well when not in motion!!

Philip with and without a helping hand. In the photo below I am holding all 55 lbs of him!!

Peter turned 1 on the 12th of January and swiftly dug into his birthday cake - sugarless carrot cake!!

Dad reads to the kids - one of the few activities (aside from eating) that brings the kids flying from the four corners of the house!




Fr Deeley blesses our house on 10 January. He has since been reassinged to the USS Boxer out of San Diego. We took a timed photo - this was the best one.

Peter stands for the first time on Super Bowl Sunday!!

After the first evening we realized Peter prefered the bag and tissue paper to the toy - oh happy day!!

Our tree decorations are sparse as we only brought over a fraction of our ornaments. Additionally Peter felt strongly that every Mom should experience the excitement of a tree crashing to the ground -complete with broken glass ornaments while elbow deep in dinner preparation. The smile on Catherine's face more than makes up for the reduced sparkle of ornaments!!

We celebrated Christmas throughout the Christmas Season by opening one present daily between 25 Dec and 6 January. The children looked forward to opening another present every evening and Mom and Dad enjoyed the wonderful family time and reliving the "joys of childhood."

Buon Natale

Peter throws his bibs over his shoulder and begins his debut as the World War I Flying Ace. Make way Snoopy; Peter is taking no prisoners.

Peter continues to bring joy and laughter to the household. Here he practices his clown routine with a blue easter egg ... before trying an orange one on for size.

"Look Ma, No Hands!!"

Peter enjoys a moment with adoring sister Catherine.

Anne, Philip and Catherine open their gift from Aunt Terry and Uncle Chris. Ah, fort making material - what joy!!

The guys and Kathy enjoy the main meal.

Fun during the dessert course!!

The women of 2162; Kathy, Karen,

Kate, Jeanine, Lynell and Mary.

At the appetizer course of the

progressive dinner.

Eight of the nine children of 2162; Catherine, Anne, Ashley, Madison, Will S., Mickey, Zach and Will K.

A silly family picture in front of the tree - still warm in Naples in December!!

Catherine poses after her first hiarcut!!

Sorry for the orientation...I am still learning!! Catherine and Anne have some holiday fun.

In December our good friends the Croziers organized an evening of Caroling with hot chocolate to follow. Here the Merry Carolers pose for a picture. Thank goodness for the singing talent in the Naples Christian Homeschool Group; it easily offset those whose talents lie elsewhere!!

Attending the December luncheon were: Deacon Craig, Deacon Larry, Deacon Jeremy, and Deacon,

A Roman Thanksgiving

Anne sports a metal-free smile - FINALLY.

Catherine and Peter cheerfully respond to an in-house emergency. No doubt of their own making!!

We were blessed with yet another visit with Elizabeth whom we are sure runs on less than four hours of sleep nightly!! From the Fiumicino Airport we went straight to the Vatican museums; NTS - Thanksgiving Day is the PERFECT day to go - no lines, no crowds - pure bliss. Here we eat the traditional American Thanksgiving meal; veal, pizza margerhita, and gnocci.

A view of the Vatican Museum courtyard.

Dad and his boys at the barber's. It was hair cuts for all the week before Thanksgiving.

Peter eyes his barber, "You're not going to give me a cut like yours, are you Luigi? "

Anne and Philip were in the homeschool production of "Westward Ho"; a musical written and directed by homeschooling Mom, Marguerite Crozier. It was a great learning experience for all.


Catherine at ballet - towering above the other four year old girls!!

The base Catholic Church welcomes priests and seminarians from the Pontifical North American College in Rome to assist with Mass and RCIA and CCD classes. Families are able to host these men for an overnight stay and/or Sunday lunch. Here Fr Nick Schneider, diocese of , poses for a picture with the kids.

Philip started his scouting during the fall of 09. Here he wears his full uniform for the first time - for a popcorn sales event !!

If it's Tuesday we must be in....

Halloween 2009

Trick or treating on base was a blast; so much candy, so little effort! Mother nature delivered one of the coldest nights this fall on the 31st of October but the ghouls rose to the occasion. Here angel Anne gets a hug from vampire Mckee. Philip had already removed his Joan of Arc costume and was well into his treat bag.

The kids had been sick on Friday and Saturday morning. Anne rallied enough to go out but Catherine, who never got out of bed that day, couldn't make it. By Sunday afternoon, Mckee, Philip and Mom had caught the bug and Dad got it on Monday...

For safety reasons, trick or treating is conducted outside of the buildings, so the children do not have to go up and down the center stairwells. Participating tenants sit outside while the kids walk building to building. Our building organized a pot luck complete with chili, stews and beverages and had the warming glow of a terra cotta fireplace as well. A great opportunity to get to know the neighbors.

Our littlest pumpkin ready for the patch...

Sightseeing with Elizabeth

We were greatly blessed to be able to get together with Liz in October and November. While we are sure it was NOT a restful trip - we hope she would agree it was eventful!!!

Here Godmother Liz poses with Peter under an olive tree. The trees at this rest area were loaded with olives ready to be picked but they are extremely difficult to see in the photo.

This rest area is along the mediterranean east of
the Spain border.

Liz poses here with Catherine atop the grounds of the Palace of the Pope. The bridge in the background inspired the children's nursery rhyme song "Sur le pont d'Avignon" translated on the Bridge at Avignon.

From Nice we traveled West along the Mediterranean towards Spain. We took a side trip to Avignon, France to see the Palace of the Popes. Here we found out that few roads in France are designed with mini-vans in mind - and definitely not those around the Palace. Note to self, just because a GPS tells you to take a road doesn't mean you'll fit!!!


We arrived late afternoon - it was windy but blessedly sunny.

The view west from the top of a hill in "Old Nice," France. We had beautiful weather for our trip.

East of Old Nice is a hill that we traveled up to see. Here the kids run down the street. Note the way the street is a series of sloping steps. For the most part these are only passable by moped, but an occasional car could also be seen.

We met Liz at the Nice Airport on Sunday afternoon and spent the evening finding a restaurant and getting a bit settled. Monday we explored "Old Nice" and took these pictures in front of the "town square" or Place Massena.

We left Naples on Saturday noon heading for Ft. Darby south of Pisa, Italy. Thinking that billeting would be open when we arrived, no reservations were made.... We stayed overnight in a quaint hotel in Tirrenia. Before heading to Mass we made our first visit to the Med and snapped this photo.

A unique opportunity here is hosting Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians from the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Most weekends in the fall and spring the seminarians come on Sat, stay with a family and then assist with CCD and Mass (0930 and 1100 respectively) on Sunday morning before eating lunch and returning to Rome in the afternoon.

Deacon Chase Hasenoehrl sits on the couch with the kids before CCD. ...now to start a similar program with the nuns in Rome !!

Soccer Season
During the soccer season we had a U5 Blue Thunderbird, a U7 Green Dinosaur, and a U9 Yellow Jacket in our home!! The children all played well and improved throughout the season. We started on a rainy day in Sept, played games with temps in hte high 60's and ended the season in early Dec on a sunny day in the low sixties. All in all a great season.

As you can see, true to name, the Blue Thunderbirds were all about style from the beginning of the season!

Philip and the Dinosaurs - an EXTREMELY well fitting name!!!

Ann runs for the ball. Her team was by far the most competitive of the three. She held her own valiantly, often playing goalie.

As we drove out of Bacoli we saw this incredible vista (hidden on the way in due to the curve and tilt of the road). The view East is of Pozzuolli Bay in the foreground with Mount Vesuvius in the background.

A few miles from Baia is the town of Bacoli where the ancient Picina Mirabalis is located. This ancient man- made "resevoir" or cistern is several stories deep, built at the top of a hill. Here is a picture of the outside of the cistern. These insets are believed to have housed tools used to operate the reservoir and are approx 6 - 8 feet deep and 8 - 10 feet wide. The "dugout area behind the gate in the foreground retains the original mosaic floor - believed to have been built at approximately 300 BC. The remaining insets down the road are the perfect size for parking a typical Italian car - and that is exactly how they are used. It is tragic that these archeological treasures are not being preserved; but the vast quantity of such sites throughout the country makes preservation prohibitively expensive.

Here a view of the inside of the cistern. I would equate the inside dimensions of the cistern to that of a large stateside basilica. This "reservoir" was dug by hand, leaving the supporting beams you see. Because the volcanic earth was porous the walls were covered with a concrete like mixture and then a final layer of porcelain was applied. In areas this porcelain like material can still be seen.

You might be able to see an "air hole"

in the top of the cistern and stairs on the far right.

There is evidence of some acquaducts that fed this cistern but no evidence of how the water was let out. It is believed that the Roman fleet used an ancient lake immediately adjacent to the Pozzuolli Bay to exercise and practice maneuvers. The reservoir was used to flood the lake to allow the Roman fleet to cross back into the bay.
If you would learn more about this incredible Roman structure go to:
http://www.penisolabella.it/tag/piscina-mirabilis/






Anne as we get ready to go out in the bay. It was a beautiful day but the wind on the water was very chilly.

This is the view inland from the Baia bay. The ruins across from the port are of a roman bath adorned with statues and inlaid mosaics on the floors and walls.

October was a jam packed month. A local trip to the Baia Underwater Archeological Park and Piscina Mirabalis were great learning experiences. We boarded a glass hulled boat to view the ruins on the bay floor. Go to http://bloggingpompeii.blogspot.com/2009/08/baia-underwater-archaeology-park.html to see more about these ancient roman ruins. Due to the shallow nature of the bay the ancient roads and floors are still intact and visible.

The chilren helped keep the festivity of my birthday going by building my age in legos...

The children treated Mom as "Queen" with a celebratory awning, formerly known as a head scarf!!

October brought more birthdays..and just as Anthony turned 35 again, Mom turned 45 again...

Here the children help celebrate at one of our favorite restaurants Savaris in Carinaro.

We enjoy their 1/2 chicken, melanzanie, risotto di mare, margahrita pizza, and most everything we have tried. We have yet to leave enough room for their gelatto bar!!