Superbowl here we come . . .

Hello all!

In case you haven't heard . . . the Catania Elephants are in 1st place in the IFL! I'm so excited for them!!! Whoo hoo! This is great news for us because it means that the team's first playoff game will be at home and it also means that we get 3 weeks off! Yippeeeeee! Jordan and I are trying to plan a mini honeymoon vacay during this time . . . . Greece, Malta, Italy . . . the possibilities are endless :)
The last game that the boys had was so much fun for so many reasons!
1) They played at a new field near the airport! The green grass was plentiful and the fans were closer to the action!
2) I had James, Adam, & Ciba's girlfriend, Monique, to keep me company! The boys and I went and got snacks before the game so we had a regular Italian picnic before halftime!
3) Jordan played great! Breaking tackles left & right and heading to the endzone for touchdowns . . . I'm a proud wife!
4) The elephants have officially taken the 1st place spot (even though they still have 1 more game to play in the regular season). Go ELEPHANTS!!!

Jordan checking out the grass!

Me & the hubs!

The new field the boys are playing on!

James, Jordan, & Adam after the game

Coach Denver, Federica, Claudio, me, & Jordan

Claudio thought this picture would look great on the blog :)

Eric & Jordan celebrating after the game

Some of the guys on the team! What would we do withought our Sicilian family?!

So, if you noticed in some of these pictures, I CUT MY HAIR!!! haha. It was getting really long & tangly and it was getting difficult to wash it in the 5 minutes of hot water I have in the shower . . . so, Jordan and I walked down the street, walked into a beauty shop, and I got my hair cut! I brought a picture of Reese Witherspoon to show the hair stylist, and that was about all I had to go on. Nobody in the entire shop spoke English so I pretty much crossed my fingers and hoped for the best! Jordan was sweet enough to stay with me the whole time and give me a thumbs up every now and then! Turns out, she knew what she was doing because I really like it! After I got it cut, we came back to the apartment and Jordan helped me dye it with a 5 Euro box of hairdye that I bought at the store! Look at me, so independent since I came to Sicily haha. It's my new summer do and I'm pretty excited about it!

One more game until the playoffs! I feel a Superbowl in our future . . . Go Elephants!

Hugs & Kisses to all
xoxo

Fun in the Sun :)

Ciao!
Just wanted to share one of our adventures that we had with Jordan's brother, James, and his friend, Adam, last week! We thought the boys really needed to see Taormina & Castelmola because they're both so beautiful, so we decided to head out there on Friday! We started the day at the beach down by Isola bella (a small island off the coast of Taormina that you can walk to). Instead of sand on the beach, there are little rocks that you have to lay your towel on top of. Very weird, but it works nonetheless! The scenery down by Isola bella is GORGEOUS! Beautiful, see-through water, and lush green grass on the island! Jordan and I decided to stick to laying out, but James & Adam decided to brave the water (it's still a bit chilly and there tend to be a lot of jellyfish in this area! yikes!).  After a couple of minutes, that was all the boys could stand so they joined us on the shore. We wanted to make sure we got to see the city so we left the beach and headed up the mountain!



We made sure the boys had a granite at Bam Bar (the best granite in the world!), saw the greek theatre, and experienced some authentic Italian food! After touring the city of Taormina, we climbed in the car and started the crazy drive up the mountain to the city of Castelmola! The roads are quite tiny and sometimes they hang out over the edge of the cliff . . . creepy! When we finally got to the top and parked the car, we had a couple hundred steps to tackle before we actually made it to the top of the mountain where the castle used to be! The views are beautiful and we would have spent more time up there if a storm hadn't been heading our way!





We had so much fun with James and Adam while they were here! We dropped them off at the airport last night and they're headed back to Kansas City! We're so glad we got to share some of our experiences with them and that they were brave enough to venture out to Catania to hang out with us :)

Love you all!

Adios to the Pistolero

Hey friends & family!
As you might have already figured out by now, our dearest Nate has headed back to the states! What a sad day! We got back from Rome early Wednesday morning and Nate left for Ohio late Wednesday night. Eric, Wes, Jordan, and I  (& some other elephant players) went with him to the airport to say goodbye and see him off! It was a tough night for sure. Nate was sweet enough to leave some Mount Union gear behind so Jordan and I wore it to the airport in his honor. Hopefully we will be seeing him soon . . . maybe in Houston :)

Ciao ciao

When in Rome . . .

Hello everyone! We had an excellent past weekend and I'm excited to tell y'all all about it! After our 10-12 hour bus ride from Catania to Rome . . . I'm not sure exactly how long it was because we tried to sleep for most of it . . . . we arrived in Rome! Between the 4 of us (Wes, Eric, Jordan, and I) we had packed a ton of snacks - pringles, pasta, grilled chicken, spicy nuts, chips, chocolate almonds, fruit, hamburger patties, dr. pepper, etc. When we finally got off of the bus, we snacked a bit (it was still pretty early), and I hung out/put make-up on/brushed my teeth while the boys stretched and got ready for their game. The game was very exciting! About 2 minutes before halftime the elephants were down . . . until Jordan returned a kick for a touchdown! Whoo hoo! I was so proud! Unfortunately, this stroke of luck seemed to anger the gods who immediately sent rain down from the sky :( At halftime I found my rain jacket (I checked the weather before we left!) and then was very kindly invited to sit on the elephant's sidelines underneath some cover so I wouldn't get so wet! Yippee! Let me tell you, it's so much fun to sit on the sidelines and be so close to the team! I loved it! In the end, the elephants pulled out an impressive victory over the Lazio Marines to make their record 8-1 . . . still in first place, baby! Jordan's brother, James, and his friend, Adam, had been in Florence the days before the game and were supposed to make the trip down to Rome to see Jordan play. Unfortunately, the trip took longer than they thought so they showed up as the teams were shaking hands afterward. Oh well, at least they get to see the game this weekend!

After the game was over, Eric & Jordan showered and we hitched a ride from some friends of a teammate back into Rome. We arrived at our hotel which was quite nice, put our stuff down, and headed to the store to get some supplies. After our shopping was done, we headed back to the hotel for a short nap and then got ready to go out. We settled on kebabs for dinner and then walked to a bar that Eric had found on the internet. Let me just say that walking through Rome at night is pretty awesome . . . ancient builings being backlit makes for some pretty gorgeous scenery. When we finally arrived at the bar (Scholars), we discovered that it was an Irish pub . . . and that it was full of Americans! Whoo hoo! We made lots of friends - some Houston folks, a fellow Baylor alum, a loud irishman, and some study abroad students, and we even sang karaoke . . . 'Friends in low places' by Garth Brooks never gets old :)

The next day we woke up and headed out to do some sightseeing. The boys really wanted to see the Colloseum and the Roman forum so that's where we went! We got a guided tour of both places and it was pretty incredible! Even though I've been to both of these places before, I definitely learned some new information!

Our second day in Rome was just as much fun as the first . . . except it rained. We managed to see the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain before the rain really started, and we saved the Vatican/St. Peter's Basilica for last! The boys really loved our first two stops, but I loved seeing their faces/hearing their comments when we walked through the Vatican museum and the basilica! Incredible! Even though I've seen it before, I still think it's so unbelievable! After our tour guide was done showing us around, we decided to pay the extra 7 euros to make the trip up to the cupola of St. Peter's basilica. OH MY GOSH! WHAT AN AWESOME CHOICE!!! Although it was a long and arduous journey to the top, it was well worth it! Being able to have a 360 degree view of the city of Rome is something that I will never forget!



That's all for now!
Ciao Ciao!

The Lakes visit!

Hello everyone!
Long time no blog! Sorry about that! This week has been crazy busy and lots of fun! Jordan's mom and sister came to visit us! We picked them up from the airport last Friday and they just left this morning! They got to see Jordan's game last weekend (which they won!), and experience the Sicilian lifestyle!



 Nate's family (Aunt Beth, sister Jenny, and cousins Josh and Julia) were also in town this week! We hung out and traveled together a lot . . . it was pretty much a non stop party!

If I recounted everything we did this week in this blog post, it would go on forever! Instead I'll give you the highlights -

 * Our trip to Taormina was lots of fun! We took in the breathtaking views, visited the Greek theatre, smelled the flowers in the gardens, did a little shopping, and topped the night off with a nice dinner in Castelmola! Here are some pictures!







  

 *Our pub crawl through Catania was a blast! Eric, Wes, the Lakes, and the Kmics walked to 7 bars throughout the city. We had one drink/shot/bottle of champagne at each bar and took a picture of the whole group at each bar to document it! It was a 'classy' night so Eric and Jordan donned their elephant ties . . . instant class :)

*Visiting the Greek temples in Agrigento was extremely cool! There are remnants of about 6 temples there, some still fully standing, while others are in pieces on the ground. The temples are located in a row beneath the large city of Agrigento! We stayed at a B&B in a little town on the water not too far from Agrigento and hit the temples in the morning. It was pretty crowded and a bit hot, but it was so worth it! The Temple of Zues (although now in ruins) used to be as big as a football field! Incredible! If you ever come to Sicily, this is a place you need to visit!

We were sad to see momma Lake and Jess go this morning, but we had a lot of fun with them this week! Tonight at 9 pm we are getting on a bus to make the 9 hour road trip up to Rome for the elephant's game tomorrow versus the Lazio Marines. Jordan's brother James and his friend are meeting us in Rome and we'll be there, exploring the ancient city until Wednesday! Can't wait to see what adventures are in store for us! Miss you all and love you lots!

Ciao



Cinco de Mayo

Hello friends!
Just wanted to let you all in on our Cinco de Mayo festivities! We spent the morning at the baseball game at Sigonella, but the rest of the afternoon was spent gathering supplies and cooking up a delicious mexican feast! Jordan, Eric, and I headed to the grocery store for chicken, onions, peppers, and various other supplies. We then headed to the liquor store to see if we could find margarita mix . . . it was a long shot but we thought it was worth it. The man in the store asked what we were looking for and why we were looking for it . . . I told him it was for a Cinco de Mayo party- a mexican fiesta, if you will . . . he proceeded to stare at me like I was an idiot. Eric then translated that into Italian and he still looked very confused. Needless to say, there was no margarita mix so the boys went straight for tequila and limes! When we got back to the apartment, we started cooking! Chicken fajitas, beef fajitas, roasted peppers and onions, and most importantly . . . QUESO! Overall, it was a delicious meal and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all! Hope Cinco de Mayo treated y'all well in the states :)





Ciao for now :)