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05 January 2008
Another poor night of sleep, or no sleep. Kids are on an appropriate schedule, but not Bobby, yet. So that leaves me up with him. I finally handed him off to Dave around 1:30 and let him take over, since I was totally wiped out. I still didn't pull my head off the pillow until almost 10:00. The kids and Isabelle slept that late as well, so I guess we all have some adjusting to do yet. Did I tell you about the soccer—uh, futbol program? We waited around on Wednesday for the 6-7 year-old practice to get done, and then DeDe spoke to Zazu, the coach. He said we could put Ian and Addison in the program (for a cost) and Ian asked if he could practice with the 6-7 year old teams, and Zazu said okay. So the boys are hoping to start next week. I am not sure, but I think this means they have games on Saturdays. Now we have to find a gymnastics or swim program for Rachel. We have yet to check out the pool across the street. Isabelle was very jealous of Dave and Rachel, yesterday, when they returned from a walk to say they had hooked up with her father on the SKYPE phone. Apparently, they found an internet cafe when out to hunt down some milk and bread, and they made calls to home, to let folks know we're doing okay. Isabelle wishes so much to contact her father and let him know how she's doing, that she was in tears when she heard they had spoken with him. Today, after oatmeal, (I had the Honey Nut Cheerios I didn't get to enjoy yesterday) we packed up for a little expedition. At first, we were going to catch a bus and head up the coast a little, but after finding the bus routes very confusing, we decided to tour on foot to the marinas of Msida and Mdina, not far from here. We found two parks, and the kids had great fun with the merry-go-rounds, and teeter-totters and slides. We took many pictures of the very cool boats. Small, colorful ones, (called luzzu) and big, white, yachts as well. The bay area is absolutely amazing, with giant fortresses of stone on either side of the opening to the sea. Can't wait to get over there and explore them close up. We tried to get an internet connection a couple times along the route we walked, but we were unsuccessful today. Boohoo. The kids handle these long hikes very well. We have to put David (4) on a leash at times, because he's a little spontaneous, and curious, and the traffic is very scary. Folks don't slow down for pedestrians much. I carry Bobby in the front pack, Dave carries the pack for supplies and pushes Nathan in the stroller. We have an additional backpack on the stroller to carry things in as well. I think we're quite a sight for the locals, but everyone has been very sweet and welcoming to us. We found a large grocery store at the conclusion of our walk, and we filled the two backpacks we brought along, and the kids and Isabelle each carried a bag of goodies home. We finally found the much sought after “chips” that Isabelle (typical teenager) was quite desperate for! I guess we all miss the salty foods we're accustomed to eating. We've had to purchase spices, salt and pepper, to kick things up a notch. Tonight we made a ratatouille dish. With rice and a good fresh bread, it was a good call after we worked up such hearty appetites with all the walking. Send us an email about this post! dgibbs at uwsp dot edu or dedegibbs at gmail dot com |
