Messinas Gone Global

Lily's Kindergarten concert

2011-02-09T14:58:00.005+01:00

Here are some pictures from Lily's first school concert. She did great! She sang and danced and played the xylophone with two mallets. Not bad for a 6 year old with only one hand! :o) We had bad weather that week, so the concert had been postponed. It ended up on Chinese New Year. We went out for Chinese food afterwards.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

2011-02-09T13:05:00.005+01:00

Since Lily's birthday falls during the winterbreak, the last few years we have waited until the end of January to have a party with her friends. This way we can combine our celebration of Chinese New Year as well. We like to share our knowledge of Lily's culture with her friends. They had great fun seeing pictures from our trip to China. They made crafts and got to try to eat sticky rice with chopsticks. (which is really more for our humor) :o) They ate typical Chinese New Year food of oranges and peanuts and even got a few fortune cookies. They topped the eating off with a Chinese Lion cake (or the best I could do to make it look like one). :o)

Here is some of the information I sent home with the kids:

Xin Nian Kuai le
Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year starts on the new moon on the 1st day of the new year and ends 15 days later on the full moon (Lantern Festival).
Foods: peanuts (long life), oranges (wealth), tangerines (good luck), noodles (long life)
Traditions: the color red (good luck), clean the house then hide the cleaning materials. People wear new clothes for the new year. There are lots of fireworks, the lion dance and family gatherings. Children get red envelopes (hongbao) from elders after bowing 3 times and saying “gongxi” several times. New bills are inside for good luck and wealth in the new year. Everyone stays up late on New Year’s Eve. It is believed that the longer the kids stay up, the longer the parents will live.

Xin Nian Kuai le
Happy Chinese New Year!
February 3rd, 2011 – Chinese year 4708
Year of the Rabbit
You are a rabbit if your birth date falls during the following years:
1927 1939 1951 1963 1975
1987 1999 2011
Rabbit Traits: They are affectionate, talented, obliging, always pleasant, values security and tranquility. They can sometimes get too sentimental & superficial. They are cautious and conservative.
Famous Rabbits: Albert Einstein, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bob Hope, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Frank Sinatra.
Please join us in celebrating the Year of the Rabbit!

Our Chinese Princess

Lily Su Grace Messina, age 6

Everyone came wearing red to the party!

The party girl...Lily celebrating Chinese New Year with her friends and her birthday (a few weeks late...since her birthday falls during the holiday break).

Eating some Chinese New Year food....oranges, peanuts and fortune cookies! We also made some sticky rice so everyone could have a try at eating with chopsticks. :o)

Lily gets ready to blow out the candles on her Chinese lion cake

More Basketball shots

2011-01-26T16:17:00.008+01:00

Our whole lives seem to revolve around basketball right now. Here's some more pictures of the boys in action....

Our Snowy Weekend

2011-01-26T15:35:00.002+01:00

Last Sunday we got about 7 inches of snow. Churches cancelled all their services as most of us spent our morning digging out ourselves and our neighbors. Still not good snowman snow...but still a lot of fun!

Nebraska message to troops

2011-01-12T15:11:00.004+01:00

The view downrange...

The view as you come to land...

This is something I wanted to show you all for awhile....funny enough, I received these pictures from a French friend in Norway. :o) She is married to a man from the Omaha area. Her mother-in-law sent it to her. She forwarded the pictures to me to ask me if I knew about it. Of course I did! I drive by this field everyday. It is less than 2 years from my house. :o) Now that Rich is flying again, he flies over this field all the time on his final approach to Offutt AFB. This Nebraska farmer puts this message in his field every fall after he harvests this field. This is just a wonderful thing. The troops here deploy often and for long periods of time. It must be wonderful to see this as they are coming home for a landing. Nebraska is very supportive of the military and have a long history of how they have gone about it. Rich was out to lunch with a group of pilots last fall and someone anonymously picked up the tab for all 8 of them. Almost every business has a military discount of some kind. It is really been a wonderful place to live so far!

Snow days.....

2011-01-12T15:03:00.003+01:00

It started snowing on Saturday night...and it just kept on going until late Monday night. There was no school on Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday (today) brought frigid temperatures. It is definitely winter now in Nebraska! Our 13 year old snow blower is working well and the boys have been clearing the driveways of some of our older neighbors the last few days. Pro bono. No complaints thus far. :o) We ended up with about 8 inches. The pictures of Lily and Rich sledding were from Monday, when we only had about 4 inches of powder. We had a good time but the powder wasn't very good for sledding. Tim was a little upset about having a game cancelled...but I assume he'll get over it since he got to sleep in two extra days!

A Night Out with Tim

2011-01-06T02:09:00.002+01:00

Last night Tim and I went to see our first (of hopefully many) men's Creighton basketball game. Some friends of ours got two free tickets and asked if we wanted them. Turn down a college game? Pah! Creighton is actually a pretty well-known college team that does very well. Tim got to workout with one of their star players, Josh Jones, at a local basketball camp he took late last summer. There is also a big Bellevue West stand out that plays there as well. The head basketball coach at BWHS, Doug Woodard, (who the boys have been training under since day one in Nebraska - okay, actually day two) has a daughter who is the star of their women's team, which is also outstanding. Creighton is a Catholic university that is about 20 minutes from our house. It is very well known for it's medical program and health care studies. Tim is toying with the idea of going there....:o)

Happy 6th Birthday Lily!

2011-01-04T19:36:00.004+01:00

Lily requested a husky cake this year. Rich stepped up and volunteered to make it for her. I had my doubts, but he managed to do it! It was all kept a secret until she saw it. In fact, he told her the cake broke in half and we'd just have to try again next year. :o) When she saw it, she said, "That's not a husky cake! That's a wolf!" :o) She enjoyed the cake...even if she was unable to blow out the trick candles (that was really fun to watch!). It was especially nice to have her grandparents there to share her special event with her. When you are a military family, those times can be few and far between. I think we had a little celebration for her with my parents when she turned two...that was just a few months after we got her. We've lived overseas for the last 5+ years, so birthdays with family is a rarity. She had a great time!

Fun at Bounce U

2011-01-04T19:04:00.006+01:00

Lily was introduced to Bounce U at a squadron Christmas party. She fell in love with it and so for her birthday, we took her to an "open bounce" on Monday afternoon. Tim was game to get right in there with her and they had a great time together!

Time with Grandma & Grandpa Neitzke

2011-01-04T18:50:00.002+01:00

Rich works on Joe's car while Joe and Dad watch. They are trying to make it look less like a cop car....

Lily Su Grace....in her favorite pair of glasses that are perhaps a decade old and have been through several little girls! :o)

Grandpa Neitzke gets a lesson on playing house with Lily. He was pretty fascinated to find out that her family's car had seat belts in it!

Joe (16), Tim (14) and Lily (6) with their grandparents, Walt and Karen Neitzke

Three generations....My parents, my children, and me.

My parents arrived December 29th and left January 4th. They drove down from Michigan with their two Min Pins, Katie and Luther (although my brother calls him Lucifer which is a more appropriate name for him at times). They were able to make it to one of Joe's basketball games and celebrate New Year's with us. We celebrated Lily's birthday the night before they left so they could be a part of that as well. They put their lives in Joe's hands and let him drive them around. :o) They attended Mass with us on Sunday and had a lively talk with our parish priest, Fr. Jose. We went to Bounce U to let Lily and Tim romp around one day and they were game enough to go and watch them literally bounce off the walls for over an hour. Best of all, my Dad and I reigned supreme with our pairs cribbage record as undefeated! :o)

Some T-bird Basketball shots

2011-01-04T17:45:00.008+01:00

If you know our family at all, you know that from the beginning of November to the end of February, our life totally revolves around the boys' basketball schedules. Here's what we've been doing during the Christmas break, inbetween Christmas and New Year's.... Tim was in a 2 day freshman tournament at Millard South and Joe was in a 3 day reserve team tournament at Bryan. There were one day where we were at both schools watching both boys play. :o) Lily is always along for the ride with her pink Nike bag full of art supplies, snacks and her new Leapster to play games on.

Joe takes a shot

Tim looks for the good pass

Joe puts on some pressure to Central Omaha's point guard

Joe puts up a jumper

Tim playing defense against Millard South in the Freshman Tournament over Christmas break.

Lily brings a "bag of tricks" to keep her busy during her hours in the basketball stands.

Lily loves to cheer on her boys! (especially if popcorn and a drink are included!) :o)

Christmas 2010 take 2

2010-12-28T00:37:00.000+01:00

Here's another little video of our Christmas break....

Christmas 2010 take 2

Christmas Take 1

2010-12-27T23:13:00.001+01:00

Hit the link below to see a compilation of Christmas family pictures to music!

Christmas Take 1

Christmas visit

2010-12-27T18:29:00.004+01:00

Christmas was a fun at the Messina house! My brother, Craig and his wife, Mayra and their 5 month old son, Alex, came from Houston. It was so wonderful to have family here for Christmas and also to meet my youngest nephew! We had a white Christmas and it was good just to sit around and talk and get to catch up again.

Lily is having fun with her new Leapster (she is no longer allowed to bug her biggest brother to play games on his iPod Touch!) She also received a lot of arts and crafts projects and materials. She is quite the little artist and can be found drawing pictures everyday at one of our tables. She drew pictures for everyone for Christmas and put them under the tree. Aunt Mayra had a picture of her holding baby Alex. Uncle Craig got a drawing of a motorcycle (complete with flames on the tank). Tim got a very impressive drawing of him playing basketball. (He couldn't believe she drew it on her own....I had to remind him that she HAS spent a great deal of time in the stands at basketball games over the past few years!) Joe's looked kind of abstract....a whole bunch of colored rectangles. Joe was looking a little disappointed after seeing Tim's drawing and asked Lily what it was....she told him it was "lots of sticks of gum!" She wanted to draw something that he likes! We all got a good laugh over that. :o)

Rich made everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to me on Christmas morning. No, it wasn't my birthday, but my birthday is in February and it's the big 4-0. There's a 99% chance he will be deployed, so I got a fabulous Christmas/40th birthday gift of a digital SLR camera and telephoto lens. I am excited to try it at the boys' basketball tournaments this week. It took some pretty good pictures around the house! Alex was patient with me as I clicked away. :o)

Rich is so proud of all the countries we have been to in all our travels. I got him a stand and a miniature flag from each country he has been to so far. It was quite a few!

Tim enjoyed getting anything having to do with basketball. Always exercising, he also got some equipment that kept him busy that afternoon! Tim also got a few hoodies to keep him warm through the Nebraska winter.

Joe also got a few hoodies to wear along with some items for his car. His front driver's seat now sports a Tweetie bird seat cover. :o) Thanks to Uncle Craig, he now has an emergency safety kit for the trunk and I got him some much needed new windshield wipers. :o)

We had a wonderful Christmas and now that Craig and his family are safely back home, we are cleaning up and getting ready for my parents to arrive on Wednesday. We'll celebrate Christmas with them and then get ready for Lily's birthday party. She's going to have two parties...one with family around her birthday and then one at the end of January with her friends. (We like to throw Chinese New Year birthday parties for Lily) Her friends are back from their holiday trips by then.

Enjoy the pictures!

It's Santa! I always imagined he'd be a bit bigger...and hairier!

Alex

Cousins - Joe, Tim, Lily and cousin, Alex

Cyndi and Lily

Mayra and Alex

Cyndi, her baby brother, Craig, and his baby, Alex

Craig, Mayra and Alex

Christmas photos

2010-12-27T18:03:00.007+01:00

Alex

Alex and Mayra, his mommy. His whole face lights up when she talks to him.

Craig, Mayra and Alex in Council Bluffs, IA at the go-kart racing place.

Alex and Craig, his proud daddy

Kisses for Auntie Cyndi!

Mayra and Alex are a bit bundled up! Nebraska is a bit colder than Houston!

What a ladies' man!

Tim and Alex get acquainted

Chomp! Alex got ahold of Joe!

Mr. Smiley!

Lily in her Christmas sweater from her Godmother, Judi, and her Christmas party antlers....

Joe gets some time with Alex.

My baby brother, Craig, and his son, Alex (5 mos)

Merry Christmas 2010!

2010-12-27T17:49:00.002+01:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! First Rich's brother, Joe, came for a few days during the middle of December. He's being deployed to Kuwait/Iraq in early 2011, so it was nice to get to see him before he leaves. Rich actually left with him and they went to Las Vegas for a few days.

My brother, Craig, and his wife Mayra and son, Alex came in from Houston on Dec 22nd and stayed until the 26th. It was so fascinating to see my baby brother as a father. Mayra is a great mom and Alex just charmed everyone...okay, perhaps not at 2 in the morning, but he sure is cute! My parents are due in on the 29th and will stay a few days. It is so wonderful to see everyone and not have to fly 12+ hours in order to see them!

Tim, Lily and Joe with their newest cousin, Alex! He turned 5 months old on Christmas Day and had everyone smiling!

The Messina clan during their first Christmas in Nebraska!

Tim (14), Lily (10 days shy of being 6) and Joe (16)

Muscle Cars

2010-10-10T23:17:00.004+02:00

Rich has a '67 Camaro that he and Joe were working on today in the garage. Since it IS a muscle car, Lily and Joe struck a few "muscle-y" photos for me. :o)

Blessing of the Animals

2010-10-10T23:10:00.004+02:00

Today we had the blessing of the animals after Mass. Everyone went home and came back with their critters they love so dearly. Most were dogs...there had to be more than 20 of them there....but there was also a rabbit and two turtles. Evidently Our Lady of Peace Roman Catholic Community doesn't have a lot of cat people! :o) Fr. Jose brought his weiner dog, Cigar as well. St. Francis of Assisi showed his love and kindness for all of God's creation, down to all creatures great and small. Scriptures were read, prayers prayed and the animals were given a blessing and sprinkled with Holy Water. Kona even got a St. Francis of Assisi medallion to wear on her dog collar! She thought it was quite fun to get gifts, sprinkled with water and meet a whole bunch of other dogs!

A few random October pictures....

2010-10-10T23:04:00.002+02:00

This is the tail end of Tim's shiner he earned while scrimmaging on the basketball court last week. The only other freshman taller than him went up for the same rebound and his elbow landed in Tim's eye. Wasn't the first....certainly won't be the last.

We have sooooo many spiders here in Nebraska! There are webs EVERYWHERE! No need to buy fake cotton webs for Halloween; the spiders will do it for you for no charge at all! If you look closely, you'll see thousands of spider web lines criss-crossing our yard. I heard on the radio once that the average person swallows 10 spiders a year in their sleep. (was it a year or a lifetime? Blech, either way!) We just up'd our anti living in Nebraska!

Rich's future

2010-10-10T22:48:00.004+02:00

Rich had his class drop night on October 7th, 2010. This was a gathering to announce which squadrons all the students would be going to upon graduating in early December. There was a lot of beer flowing that afternoon (hopefully in celebration) and three of the Omaha Night Hawk cheerleaders were there to add to the festivities. Each person was called and had to draw from a hat as to what task they had to do in order to get their assignment. They had four choices - a hair cut by the cheerleaders (not recommended after seeing the outcome, but Rich was relatively safe considering his hair is about 2 mm long), bobbing for apples (Lily thought this was really strange), karaoke (anyone that has ever heard Rich sing would have him avoid this at all costs) and a dance off with the cheerleaders. Rich was one of the lucky few that got to go in a group of three officers....and got to dance. This was still quite a sight....quite a sight indeed. Think of Elaine off of that one Seinfeld episode. I love him dearly, but the man can't dance. Anyhow, Lily and joined the gang to watch and were very happy for Rich when it was announced that he would be going to the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron here at Offutt AFB, NE upon graduation. He'll most likely be flying the Cobra Ball and Combat Sent. He'll be deployed quite a bit and several will be very short-notice TDY's....however, it will get him back to our old home on Okinawa for several months a year to fly in the Pacific. He's excited to get back into the cockpit and to start this new chapter in his flying career flying the RC-135s and RC-135u. Congrats Rich! Love the new patch!

Lily is officially a Girl Scout!

2010-10-10T22:27:00.005+02:00

Lily's Daisy Scout troop had their dedication ceremony on October 5th, 2010. Each child had a flower of a different color and a part to say. Lily got one of her favorite colors (which was easy because she has 5 favorite colors). Her flower was purple. Her part to say was, "Purple is the color of nobility. It reminds me that I should do my best to respect myself and others." They received their blue star and some other Girl Scout regalia to wear on her uniform. In this ceremony, the older girls were rededicating themselves to Girl Scouts and the new girls were dedicating themselves to Girl Scouting. Cute cermony with fun, colorful cupcakes afterwards!

Fontenelle Forest

2010-09-28T16:53:00.010+02:00

On Sunday, while Joe and Tim were recovering from the Homecoming Dance, mowing the lawn and working on homework, Lily, Rich and I went to Fontenelle Forest for a walk. This is a nature conservation center just a few moments drive from our house. There is a mile of walk ways that are on boardwalks through the woods. That was the loop we took. However, there are 18 miles of trails beyond the boardwalk. The area moves along the Missouri River and currently still has the summer exhibits up. These are the giant bugs. Lily loved them (considering she's not a big fan of bugs in general.) We hope to spend more time there.

Homecoming 2010

2010-09-28T16:27:00.008+02:00

Life back in the U.S. high school system = Homecoming in the fall. The football game was on Friday....and we lost miserably to the #1 ranked team in the state. Who plays the #1 team for your homecoming game? Anyhow, the final score was 48-7. (yikes) The band put on a great half-time performance and the cheerleaders yelled their hearts out, even though the football team was being creamed on the field. The Homecoming King and Queen were announced at half-time and the Homecoming court was also introduced. Most of the Homecoming royalty were very active in the school...either in the band, FBLA or athletics. I have to say it was odd not knowing any of the kids' names mentioned. At our little international school in Norway, we would have known EVERYONE....here, I am just happy to know the immediate circles of friends the boys have.
Saturday night brought the Homecoming dance. Both of the boys were asked by their dates. Tim was actually asked by three different girls. Who would have thunk it? :o) There was a large group of freshmen girls that got together and decided how the night would go. Tim got a text message from his date telling him where and when to show up for pictures, where they were all going to dinner, etc. So Tim's job was easy...just show up and pay for everything. :o) The freshmen group met at Shadow Lake shopping center in Papillion, NE for pictures and then went back to Bellevue for dinner and to the school for the dance. Tim's date's name is Lauren and she was a cutie. Joe met her when they were taking pictures and told me, "I am proud of Tim. His date is hot!" lol
Joe, on the other hand, got together with some of the sophomores he hangs around with at one of the girl's house. They had pizza there and then went to the dance. They then went to someone's house after the party as well. Joe's date was Peyton...the one with the turquoise dress that I could find a tie to match. So he matched Kate's dress instead. Egads.
They both had a great time and danced the night away. Until next year....(at least then I'll know a bit more of what to expect!)

Littlest Daisy Scout

2010-09-21T15:48:00.003+02:00

Lily has taken the plunge and is a Daisy Scout. This is the precursor to Brownies, for those of you my age....they didn't have Daisies when I was growing up. Anyhow, she has a meeting tonight and was supposed to wear her uniform to school today. I thought she looked kinda cute and wanted to share these pictures I took before she set off for school. There were only 4 kindergarten girls interested in Daisy scouts this year, so they combined the 1st grade and kindergarten together. Unfortunately out of the 10 girls in the troop, 3 of them are named Lily! What are the chances?? So Lily is now Lily Su at Daisies. :o)

from our yard....

2010-09-19T21:15:00.005+02:00

Here are a few random pictures from our yard. The sunset on a day where the storm clouds were gathering, and a picture of Lily and Rich trying to conquer the weeds in our yard (it's going to take awhile!)

Happy Birthday Tim!

2010-09-19T20:59:00.004+02:00

Tim is 14 today! He was pretty excited to be the same age as most of the other freshmen...finally! He has grown and changed so much in the last year....many of the people who meet him here mistake him for being much older. He has grown an inch and a half since July 1st, so he's still sprouting up. As an avid hoopster, that's just how he wants it. He always tells me that 6'6" would be good but he'd be happy with 6'3" or 6'4". I don't know where he thinks he'll get those giant genes, but ya never know. :o)

What did Tim get for his birthday? A lot of books on basketball. He loves to learn about the nuances of the game. He knows so much trivia, it amazes me. He got another Celtics t-shirt (I guess you can't have too many of those) and then a Creighton basketball hoody. (just in time for the cooler weather that rolled in yesterday) For those of you who don't know about Creighton...it's the #1 basketball school around here. It's a Catholic university that has a wonderful medical/dental/health field programs. Tim wants to go into nutrition and personal training. It's 20 minutes' drive from our house, so I am somewhat hoping he gives it a look. :o)

Anyways, I am very proud of the young man that Tim is becoming. He is really coming into his own with school and sports. He's a great big brother to Lily and I think our neighbors may want to adopt him. :o) (Their boys have left home now and Tim goes over almost every night after dinner to play basketball with their dad.) I look forward to seeing what he can do during his high school years. He is really blossoming here and I love watching it.

Happy 14th Birthday, Tim! We love you!

Lily's Elementary School Carnival

2010-09-19T20:45:00.006+02:00

Lily's elementary school had their big PTA fundraiser on Friday...a huge carnival. The weather was supposed to be horrendous, but with a few hundred prayers being lifted, the rain and thunderstorms held off until everything was done. Lily had a blast going around and playing games. We now know that if being a chef doesn't work out for her, she can always win prize money throwing toilet paper rolls through a hanging toilet seat. She was really quite good at that! Who knew?

Tim volunteered an hour of his time running the basketball toss area. He was pretty excited that he got selected for that booth!

Joe was off with the varsity football team. They had a game in Kearney, NE, which is almost a 3 hr drive from here. Joe doesn't play football but was there as a student athletic trainer. He told me as I was dropping him off at the school for the buses that he was riding up on the cheerleader bus. Wow. Rough life! He came rolling in at 2 a.m. but estatic because his high school team had won. Way to go T-birds!

Cornhuskers...they are a breed apart! :o)

2010-09-12T01:25:00.003+02:00

Okay, we have been in Nebraska for a couple of months now. We love it so far. We noticed that there's a lot of red things around here....seems like there are a lot of red pick ups...everyone wears red shirts. There aren't any professional teams here in Nebraska....no NFL or NBA teams...or even MLB. So college sports are very big. Here in Omaha, the high school teams are really big. People without kids come to the tournaments and games to watch a high level of sports play. But Saturdays during the fall, it seems that all of Nebraska comes together to cheer on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Cornhuskers. Their colors are red, white and black. UNL flags are seen flying in almost every yard and every native (and even some that aren't native to the state) are wearing red. I have to say, we have purchased shirts for each of us so we aren't banned from the neighborhood. There are signs up everywhere in support of the cornhuskers. We took a ride to Fremont, NE this afternoon (about an hour northwest of Omaha) and we went by a house that I just had to stop and take a picture of. You don't see a blow up cornhusker in every neighborhood, but this one made me grin. They are hard core about Husker football here. By the way, they were added to the Big 10 (which is really the Big 12, right...since there are more than 10 teams?) and they have won their last two games. Go Big Red! :o)

A few pictures of our house

2010-09-11T18:09:00.009+02:00

Before I get anymore polite but persistant emails regarding not having shown you all pictures of our new home....here they are. Now, please remember it is still a work in progress. Most of these pictures were taken at the end of August. We are still waiting on delivery of a few items that were "lost" by the storage folks in Colorado five plus years ago. There was a lot that needed to be done to this house to make it a bit more liveable. However, we are slowly but surely making it our own. :o) Thanks to Craig's List...something that wasn't widely available or maybe didn't even exist when we left the U.S. in 2005, we have bought some gently used furniture to fill up some spaces in our house. In fact, I just got back from a trip to Fremont, NE (about an hour from here) to pick up an entertainment center for the basement...so as I said, everything is still evolving...but you get the gist.

the spare room/computer room/crafting room in the basement

basement spare room

The basement

the basement

the basement

the basement - with Joe and his friends Tanner and Zac hanging out watching the FIBA semifinal game

the basement - Lily's area

Tim's room

Tim's room..by far the coolest room in the house. He put a lot of thought and planning into his "Celtic" room.

Tim's room

Tim's room

Lily's room

Lily's room

Joe's room (still a work in progress as he hasn't hung much)

Joe's room - the sliding door goes to the hall bathroom that the kids share

The master bathroom

The sitting room off of the masterbedroom...which is Rich's office.

The rest of our new bedroom set - we still don't have things hung up on our room either...

Our new sleigh bed (which I LOVE!)

The desk nook between the kitchen and the formal dining room.

The kitchen

Tim in the kitchen

The family room

The entry way (what you see when you enter the house via the front door)

The formal dining room

The hearth room (off the kitchen)

The formal parlor...which is still a work in progress due to missing piano and needing to hang the pictures on the wall.

End of the summer pictures

2010-09-11T17:59:00.005+02:00

Here are some pictures taken just before school started, in mid-August. Lily got her little blue plastic swimmng pool...just in time to try and beat the heat during one of the hottest summers in Nebraska history. After three years in Norway, I honestly thought I was going to melt. Walking home from school with Lily everyday had us both sweating buckets. There were days that she didn't even want to get into her little pool because the water was too hot. Big change from Norway! :o) Needless to say, although we loved the flip flops and shorts of summer, we are looking forward to autumn. :o)

Reunion of sorts

2010-09-07T23:53:00.002+02:00

We attend the base chapel at Offutt AFB. It's not literally on the base, but we have a military priest and the great majority of the families there in attendance are active duty or retired military. I happened to look over my shoulder before Mass began and saw a familiar face from our days in Okinawa. Our military priest there, Monsignor John Cusack, was in the congregation! He retired before we left Okinawa and then was hired by the military to continue to serve the military community by being a priest at an Air Force base in Arizona.

Monsignor Cusack helped us do some of the paperwork required for our homestudy to adopt Lily. He helped us with the process but left Okinawa before we adopted Lily. We got to introduce them to each other after Mass. It was really a wonderful thing. It was so great to be able to have them meet. Without his help, we wouldn't have Lily. He was just passing through...but it was great to see him and introduce him to Lily. We have kept in touch over the last several years via his email ministry. What a wonderful suprise and what a small world!

Lily's 4th Adoption Day

2010-09-01T03:23:00.004+02:00

Four years ago today we became the official adoptive parents of Ling Guang Su...who was then to be known as Lily Su Grace Messina. She was 20 months old when we adopted her and she was bitty. She could fit into 9 month clothing in some instances.

Since leaving China, she has lived in Japan, Norway and now the U.S. She has been to over 15 countries and can talk to you about what things she saw in many of them.
She is just now learning that she is American...now that she's in the U.S., she thinks that perhaps she can now join the band wagon. Too cute!

For her adoption day, we always go out for Chinese food and then come home for cake and a present. This year Lily wanted a bee hive cake. It was 97 degrees today...so it definitely still qualified as summer! Her gift was a puzzle of the United States that tells you the state name, capitol, state nickname....it also sings America the Beautiful and says the pledge of allegiance. (she is learning the pledge at school) She really liked it. She also got a Chinese language DVD as well...to keep helping her learn (or relearn) some of her Mandarin.

She had a lovely day and we are so blessed to have her as our daughter. The boys have blossomed in ways I didn't think was possible having her as a little sister. We are truly blessed to have her in our family!

Offutt AFB Freedom Air Show 2010

2010-08-29T20:38:00.005+02:00

August 28th and 29th brought us the annual Offutt AFB airshow. The thunderbirds were here as well as F-18 hornets and the F-22 raptors (which if you have ever seen them...they are wicked loud!) We have enjoyed having them fly over the last several days. We are less than 2 miles from the flightline so we can see it all from our deck! LOVE IT! The sound of freedom....
The fabulous Thunderbirds demonstration team...from our back deck of our house. It was too hot and crowded on the flightline so we just went home to watch the aerial demonstrations.
We "love" the military!
Joe, Rich and Lily by the RC135 at Offutt AFB. I have a similar picture of them back in Okinawa 3.5 years ago...when Lily was tiny and Joe was also much smaller!
Some impressive art on one of the planes...
Lily enjoying her day at the air show
Lily flying her plane...
I think she was a bit disappointed they didn't actually leave the ground....
Rich showing Lily that the rest of us were watching her "fly" her plane.
Lily even got a certificate of her first flying lesson on an active flight line. Pretty cute!
Lily sitting in a C17
Lily "flying" a sail plane from the Air Force Academy. It was funny...the cadet standing there asked Rich if he had any questions about the aircraft. Rich just replied,"I competed in Air Acro Nationals in 2005 in this very plane. Same tail number." To which the cadet said, "Oh..." :o)
A veteran's group from Nebraska...
Lily getting a tour of one of the Omaha police helicopters.
RC-135. Rich will be flying this jet while stationed here at Offutt. There are several varieties of the jet with different missions. We should find out in the next 10 days or so which mission and which squadron he'll go to.

1st American Football Game

2010-08-29T20:07:00.008+02:00

None of my kids have been to a high school football game...not the kind Americans would be used to anyways. We got the opportunity to start it all off right...with the opening season game being played with their arch rivals....the Bellevue East Cheftains. (The boys attend Bellevue West and are called the Thunderbirds). Now, I may have mentioned this before...but if not, it should be reviewed. Bellevue, NE is just south of Omaha, NE. The boys' high school mostly plays the schools within Omaha, as it is a class A school. Back when Bellevue was a smaller town (it's the oldest town in NE...but has never been too big until the last 15 years or so when the population just exploded) there was only one high school. When it separated into Bellevue East and Bellevue West...they kept mostly the same school colors. Bellevue East is purple and silver....Bellevue West is purple and gold. Bellevue University is also purple and gold. So you take a family who are huge fans of the Boston Celtics and implant them into this sea of purple and gold (Laker colors, ugh) and we have a lot to be desired when it comes to supporting our local teams with clothing. We honestly had NOTHING purple and gold. That, however, has changed a bit over the last few weeks. This game between East and West is a big hairy deal. The entire town seems to attend. There were as many standing (if not more) as there was seated in the stands. Each school designs and wears t-shirts just for this game. The theme (for both sides' shirts - which caused all sorts of problems) was "restore the order." It was an amazing first game for all of us. Lily was shocked at the noise. Tim couldn't believe the outfits people were wearing and how many parents were there, and Joe...well, Joe just jumped right in and painted his body purple and gold. :o)
They had a battle of the bands (both several hundred strong) and there was even a fly by for the kick off (because there was an airshow going on at Offutt AFB and there are a few generals who are parents at East and West that could pull some strings). :o) It was kinda cool, I must say. How often does a high school football game have a five ship flyby? :o)
The game was played at Bellevue East and ended with the West student body storming the field to thank their team for a 42-20 victory. Go T-birds!Zac and Joe together after the game..."WE" rule! :o)
The West student body storms the opposing team's field after West handily beats East.
Rich and Tim appreciate the game...wearing their Bellevue West t-shirts.
Lily thought it was all a bit loud. (and it was!)
The five ship flyby for the kick off of the game. How cool is that?!
The Bellevue West Thunderbirds before the game...
Zac and Joe - who were best buds in Norway and are reunited again here for high school. Zac's family came out a year before us. We specifically tried to get into Bellevue West because Zach goes there. Joe and Zac will end up going to school from 7th thru 12th grade together (minus their freshmen year). That's pretty much unheard of in the military world.
W-E-S-T -!-! (along with the hand sign for West...)
One of the many kids in a "Restore the Order" shirt. The tutu's were a new one on me. Lots of girls were wearing them.
Joe...as a Bellevue West "E" :o)

We Survived the First Day of School!

2010-08-16T23:32:00.002+02:00

We survived the first day of school! Lily was smiling when I left and smiling when I returned! I do think she'll be ready to turn in early tonight though...I know I will be! :o)
The boys had a great first day....Joe found some female upperclassmen to hang around with. (I know...shocker!!!) Both boys had good things to say about their teachers...especially one of Joe's teachers...who is an ex-NFL player. :o) Joe has him for Geometry and for study hall (which is a mandatory 35 minute period at the end of the school day for all students!).
I managed to get this picture of the boys as they were walking in from school...still on the first day, so it counts!
I met lots of parents at Lily's school today. They ask me if I have anyone other than a kindergartner and they are all a little shocked when I tell them I also have two high schoolers. :o) At least here I can put on two separate hats at two separate schools. :o)
For all of you that had kiddos starting today, I hope it was a good one for them! For all of you who haven't started yet...your time is coming!!! :o)

1st Day of School

2010-08-16T16:25:00.002+02:00

Today is the first day of school for all three kids. Normally it would just be a day for the freshmen at the high school, but the new upperclassmen have to go as well. Both of the boys headed off on a yellow school bus at 0715 this morning (they rode city buses in Norway and walked in Japan...so this was the first time riding a yellow school bus for Tim and it's been since 1st grade for Joe!) Bear with me...it's the first day of school...so there is a lot of reminiscing going on in my head! So the boys are off to high school...both of them. Yikes! Did I mention Joe has a driver's permit now? Egads! I am too young for all of this! (However, the experience of driving with him is quickly aging me!) :o)

About 15 minutes after the boys are picked up, Lily and I headed out the door for her 20 minute walk to her school. This is the first time she is on her own in her own school. Rich and I were thinking that if we end up staying here...she could go to school at that school for 7 years! Mind-boggling! Anyhow, luckily, Lily had a fantastic preschool teacher and she was ready and willing to take on kindergarten head-on. There weren't any tears or clinging hugs. Just a "I'll see you after school, Mom!" :o) Yay! I can't wait to hear about her day on the walk home!

After I dropped her in her classroom, there was a "boo-hoo" breakfast for parents of kindergarteners. Someone stood up and told us about kindergarten here at this school and about the school itself, which was really informative. I have volunteered to work in the library, so I hope that I'll be spending some time there. It very much reminds me of the elementary school I used to work at in Colorado Springs. Anyhow...here are some pictures of Lily on her first day of kindergarten. I'll let you know how things went!

The Omaha Royals

2010-08-09T03:25:00.003+02:00

The Kansas City Royals have their farm team here in Omaha. They are the Omaha Royals. They currently play at Rosenblatt Stadium....which only has 17 games left before it is leveled and the land turned over to the Henry Doorly Zoo for expansion. Omaha is a baseball town...the college world series is held here every summer (at Rosenblatt). We had the chance to go to a game and jumped on it. It was Faith and Family night at Rosenblatt. We got to see a game (versus the Portland Beavers), see fireworks and then a free concert afterwards. Get this...the tickets were $2 a piece! It was really a no brainer. So we signed up with the Offutt Catholic Community Chapel and sat amongst fellow parishioners as we had a great night in Omaha. The Royals won...the weather was great (we were in the shade which made it even better!), the fireworks were fabulous and we all enjoyed the concert afterwards...an Australian Christian pop singer who is quite well known....Rebecca St. James. She had two of her brothers with her and they are starting off a singing career as well and showed us what they had to offer. It was really nice. Next year, there will be a new stadium downtown...but we will be able to say that we spent some time at Rosenblatt. :o)

Nana & Nano come for a visit

2010-08-09T03:18:00.004+02:00

Rich was TDY to Spokane, WA for several days and he capped off his trip by flying to New England to suprise his brother at his 40th birthday party. :o) My father-in-law, God bless him, took a train to NY a few days prior to pick up our RAV4 that had been shipped from Norway. Rich planned on driving it back here to Nebraska. On a whim, he asked his parents if they would like to come with him to keep him company and also see our new digs. They were packed straight away and arrived late Tuesday night and stayed the rest of the week. We went to the zoo. They had a good time catching up with their grandkids. It had been over a year since they had seen them. They will be coming again for Thanksgiving. It was a nice visit.

We're Going to the Zoo..Zoo...Zoo..How 'bout You??

2010-08-09T01:13:00.005+02:00

Say "Ahhh!"

Going into the rain forest....

Somewhere in the tropical jungle...

Rich having fun with the kids at the zoo...

Spending some time outside while at the zoo

Lily with a real giraffe! She was in the giraffe class in preschool and giraffes are her favorite! She had never seen a real one before!

Lily hitches a ride on the bronze baby giraffe near the giraffe house at the Henry Doorly Zoo.

The kids are getting ready to see the orangatans and the gorillas!

And they have lots of big cats as well!

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo is AMAZING! We have been three times in three weeks. Pretty scary, huh? However, it is only a 20 minute drive from our house and we have a military family season pass that was pretty cheap. You don't even have to pay to park! There is this huge dome that is all desert landscape inside...and another building that is the tropical rain forest (my personal favorite). The gorilla house is fantastic and most of the sites are actually inside rather than outside in the elements. Anyhow, we love it and enjoy our time there!

We Have Arrived!!!

2010-08-09T00:35:00.003+02:00

We are now in our new home! Yay! After five years overseas in Asia and Europe, we are finally back on American soil!

Where are we? We are right outside of Omaha, Nebraska! For all our Navy friends....that's inland...about as inland as you can get in the U.S.!

Seriously, we are LOVING Nebraska. The people are so incredibly friendly and helpful. We were trying to open a local checking account a few weeks ago and we not only walked away with that task done but also got a run down on the local schools, churches and best places to eat! I can totally see how this area is the Air Force's best kept secret. We wanted to come to the Midwest because we felt it would be a better transition for all of us after being away for so long. So far, so good!

Rich is stationed at Offutt AFB and will be flying one of the many reconnaissance aircraft based from there. He has been fortunate enough to be on casual status for the last 6-8 weeks just getting us settled and doing things around the house. He starts his official training tomorrow and should finish up in December, when he'll be placed into one of the local squadrons and start deploying again. He'll be very happy to be up flying again. Flying a desk was not his cup of tea. :o)

The boys are pretty excited about their new school. We arrived on a Monday afternoon and drove by their high school just to show it to them. The doors were open and people were going in and out so we peeked in and found basketball games going. Bonus! They met their new head basketball coach (there are 5 boys basketball teams from their high school alone and he was the big kahuna) and were invited to start training with him and the team the next morning. They have been at the school for 3 hours each morning for conditioning, weightlifting and pliometrics ever since. I can actually tell a difference in their builds...Joe has especially really beefed up with the lifting. Tim is also quite impressive with his workout regime and shooting schedule. It's still hard to believe he is only 13. This basketball program is run like most college programs so the boys are in heaven. School starts for them on Aug 16th and I think they are looking forward to getting back into a schedule. Because they are not in a fall sport, they are expected to do lifting, conditioning and shooting after school everyday to keep in shape. Yikes. Serious stuff here!

Lily will start kindergarten on the same day the boys start school. She is excited, I think. The classes will be much bigger than what she is used to, but I think she'll get used to it and enjoy being around kids her own age again. We have met a couple of potential classmates through our church. She's spent the summer bossing her boys around and running screaming when Joe and Tim have had enough and turn on her. :o)

Our house is in a lovely neighborhood and the house is just beautiful. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would have a house like this. I feel like I have to pinch myself every morning. We still have a lot of work to do, but I am trying to convince myself that it doesn't all have to be done right this instant. There is a lot of work to be done in the yard but the soaring temperatures and humidity to match have just totally put the kabosh on that. After freezing for 4 summers in Norway, living with a heat index of 110+ is just not working well for my system...let alone the rest of us. I hear by mid-September, the weather is perfect here. Can't wait. :o)

I have spent the last month getting settled and trying to see how many dental, orthodontic, medical and optometric appointments I can fit into the schedule. Playing catch up from 3 years in Norway has not been a cake walk. However, the kids have been given a clean bill of health and all necessary paperwork has been done for them to start school.

We are really enjoying getting to know the area. More posts on that later. :o) So as the saying always goes (and we truly truly mean it...) if you are ever going through Omaha, please stop in and visit! We would love to have you! (We have already had visitors...so we are ready!)

A Trip to Tromsø

2010-03-17T12:35:00.003+01:00

Some of the Sami people in their traditional dress.

Lily on main street of the town.

We ended up making a snow family. Two older couples from Florida saw our snow man and made him a wife. Lily and I felt they needed a child as well. The snow ended up getting so high that the snow plow pushed our snow family into the ocean (they were on the edge).

Lily loves the snow!

Lily is not a fan of trolls...no matter the size. This was in the Sola airport.

There was almost no snow when we arrived...we were shocked because you just kind of imagine there being plenty of snow in the Arctic Circle. It started snowing the night we arrived and never stopped. We got over a half a meter that night and the following day. It was great. We decided a snow man was in order.

This is the cable car up to the top of the mountain overlooking Tromsø. It was a nice ride and a pretty view.

Here we are overlooking Tromsø from the top of the tram ride. It was mighty chilly up there! Who rode in the tram with us? A family visiting from Houston!

Random winter images from Stavanger

2010-03-17T12:28:00.003+01:00

Here are just a few random pictures from the coldest, snowiest winter in over 50 years here in Stavanger, Norway. All kids brought sledges with them to school...many people were cross country skiing to work. The lakes and fjords were frozen solid for the first time in over 20 years....for weeks....the middle school actually cancelled classes one afternoon to all go out on a nearby lake for some skating and hockey. Pretty cool! I, for one, have enjoyed the snowy winter. It made the winter that is so dark and long here seem a little brighter. :o) We had a huge snowfall on Dec 18th and now, three months later, it is finally melting away. This is unheard of in this part of the country where there is such a warm water current running along the coastline here.

Lily turns 5!

2010-01-07T13:39:00.006+01:00

Monday, January 4th, was Lily's 5th birthday. We don't know that it is her true birthdate, as the dr's just guessed her approximate age when they found her. However...we had a time celebrating with her! She feels so grown up now that she is 5...just ask her! She'll be having a birthday party with her friends towards the end of the month.

Our House

2010-01-02T16:31:00.009+01:00

Okay, this isn't for most of you...there is a family that I met online that are moving here to Stavanger and this was the easiest way to take them on a tour of our house. They may want to move in...who knows? Anyhow, this is a quick peek into our house! It's not clean...especially the basement office and Rich's room...but he is the one who is in those rooms and I try not to invade on his space...so I just close the door! :o) Anyhow, this is our big house on the hill in Sola!

New Year's Day

2010-01-01T16:17:00.003+01:00

Happy 2010 Everyone! I have been plugging away on this blog and I think I have caught up on everything....the Prague trip is even on now! Then I see that Tim is videotaping Rich and Lily sledding down the hill... So in an effort to keep somewhat up-to-date on the blog, I share with you the video that is merely hours old. :o) And yes, Tim did almost get taken out by Rich and Lily in one of those runs...he was too busy videotaping!

Sorry that this one is sideways. I always seem to forget that I can't turn the video once it's taken. However, I do have a smile on my face as I envision all of your with your heads tilted to the right watching Lily and listening to her. She loves to see herself on the "big computer." She kept telling me how funny her own voice sounded! Only a few more days as a four year old! :o)

Last Images of Prague

2010-01-01T15:40:00.003+01:00

Prague from the old town market square during Christmas market time. Gorgeous! There were little devil horns everywhere...even on the horses. Also there were lots of witches on brooms as ornaments or toys. Never got the story on that either. This is one of the stalls that was selling the handblown glass ornaments with painted scenes from the Czech Republic. Yes, I came home with a few....but not one of the huge ones like this. Jane samples some of the cheeses on display Irene and Shannon are trying to keep warm..... Actually, they had warm honey meade which was really very good. It was a sweet honey wine that I actually enjoyed. I am not a drinker, so a small taste is usually all I will try. That was actually not bad. This stuff that Irene and Shannon had didn't even make it to my lips because I smelled it first. :o) Jane with her cow hat and mittens on in this funky shop Shannon found called Sanu Babu. Jane has cow pastures all around her house in Norway. She got the mittens. I got a ladybug hat for Lily. :o)

Making our way to St. Vitrus's Cathedral

2010-01-01T15:20:00.007+01:00

We took an afternoon to walk up to the castle and see St. Vitrus's Cathedral, which we had such a beautiful view of over the Charles River. THere was a vineyard on the hills walking up there and the views of Prague were spectacular. Amanda and I stopped and took a picture of a couple of American men, a father and son from New York, and they took our picture as well. We stopped and talked to them for awhile and they thanked us for our husband's service to our country. :o) The father was probably in his late 60's maybe early 70's..(I am not a good judge of age) and he was saying he had been in the U.S. Navy for awhile...then took a job as a young man traveling around and working on a Norwegian tramp steamer. He just had published a book about it! I looked it up on Amazon.com and found it and got it just before Christmas. It is called Sea Interludes: Rogue Adventure on a Tramp Steamer. The man's name is Andreas Bradden. I am looking forward to reading it! How cool is that? He stopped the first friendly faces he saw and was happy to find that we were American. Then a conversation ensued and he found out we lived in Norway...what a stroke of luck! He'd spent some time working with Norwegians! :o) One of those very cool coincidences!

More pictures from Prague

2010-01-01T15:14:00.005+01:00

Czech Republic Folklore Night

2010-01-01T14:15:00.003+01:00

The Prague Jewish Quarter

2010-01-01T11:56:00.004+01:00

We spent one morning touring the Old Jewish Quarter in Prague. The picture of the statue is by Franz Kafka. The mosaic is of the Golem...a very interesting tale of how the Jewish people survived in the area hundreds of years ago. Well worth looking up and reading about. Interesting legend...
We toured about 6 synogogues and museums and really learned alot. Most would not allow photography but I did pay a fee to take pictures in the cemetery (the fee goes to help restore the tombstones, which are incredibly old and in a state of disrepair. The Jewish quarter is the oldest in Europe and the cemetery is the 2nd oldest in Europe, with the oldest tombstone dating back to Apr 23, 1439. There are areas that some of the graves are 12 sites deep...there are over 20,000 tombstones toppling over each other. The last person buried in this cemetery was in 1787. The most popular grave to visit is that of Rabi Jehuda Loew Ben Bezalel, who lived around the turn of the 17th century. He ties into the legend of the Golem.
There was one synogogue that we went into had the names of all the Jews from Prague that were killed in the concentration camps. It was overwhelming. The top floor had drawings and letters from children in camps...awaiting to be sent on trains further west to be killed. It was really very powerful.

Trdelnik

2010-01-01T11:45:00.005+01:00

The food in Prague was fantastic! We had great meals of goulash and pork knee. :o) I wanted to show you some of the foods at the Christmas market. The Czech gingerbread was amazing. I brought some home for everyone in the family.
The Trdelnik was by far the best. It is a dough, twisted around a metal or wooden rod, rolled in sugar and crushed almonds and then baked over an open fire. It's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It was soooo good! I would love to figure out how to make these on my own!

Prague

2010-01-01T10:59:00.009+01:00

On Nov 28th, a group of 6 women, including me, went on a four day trip to Prague, The Czech Republic. We had such a wonderful time! I had never been to Prague before and it was mostly untouched by WWII as it was taken over early in the war and without much fighting. It is one of the few places in Europe that can say that. So their beautiful buildings are not rebuilt..they are exactly as they have been for hundreds of years. The Christmas markets had just opened and yes, there was a lot of shopping done. Beautiful hand-blown glass ornaments with hand-painted Czech scenes...marionettes everywhere (who knew?)...I did buy one for Lily...a little Pinnochio one and she loves it! The food was fabulous and the company was great. The people were very friendly and everything didn't cost an arm and a leg like it does in Scandanavia. I missed my family, but wow, it was great to only be responsible for me! I was able to get up and be showered, fed and out the door in record time to catch the sunrise on the Charles bridge or mingle around the Old Town Square watching the vendors get their wares ready for the Christmas markets to open. I had a fabulous time and would highly recommend it!
Here I am...in the old town square (Staromestske namesti) in Prague, The Czech Republic This is the infamous clock and astronomical clock right off the square. Another of the beautiful Christmas carvings. The inside of St. Nicholas church. It goes back to 1283...and is built in Czech baroque style. Mozart played the organ in this church. Here I am aside one of the many wooden carved creches in the town square. See the green building? It's the narrowest hotel in all of Europe! This guy also seemed to keep an eye on everyone. The stone carvings in Prague were amazing! Here's the whole gang on the edge of the Korluv Most looking over the Charles River to the castle and St. Vitrus's Cathedral. Amanda (U.S.), me, Jane (U.S./Canadian), Irene (Scottish, Cheryl (Welsh) and Shannon (U.S.) Great time had by all! This is what I was thinking - Wow! I am in Prague, The Czech Republic! No way!!!! Some of the gorgeous scenery... This is the tower house on the entrance to the Charles Bridge (Karluv Most) This is Amanda and Shannon, two other U.S. military spouses with me. I wanted to show you how tall this book monument was! It was amazing! Here I am inside the Prague city library and their book display in the front lobby. Maybe I can do this with my books now that I have a Kindle..... From a street that opens to the main Christmas market in the main square in Prague. Breathtaking. The square is called Staromestske namesti. This sax player was playing music outside a cathedral for money. Our guide told us he has been married 3 times and has an 8 year old child to raise and he does this for extra money. I always felt this Bishop was watching me....probably not a bad thing when you are on a girls' weekend in a foreign city! :o)

I thought you might enjoy hearing some of the locals singing Christmas carols...the men around me were very boisterous! Lots of hot, mulled wine, I think!

New Year's Eve

2010-01-01T00:47:00.004+01:00

Our neighbors and friends, Randi and Tørres Joa...ready to go for a little ride around town while waiting to ring in the New Year Randi's reindeer snowboots. She said they were probably 30 years old and they look like new. They are super warm and a lot of my friends swear by them! Randi and Tørres Joa Rich and Lily on a very frosty New Year's Eve in Sola, Norway Lily goes for a ride with Rich Tørres takes Lily for a spin Lily feigns exhaustion after walking through the crusty, icy snow. Godt Nytt År!!!

Christmas Morning

2010-01-01T00:28:00.002+01:00

I think everyone enjoyed their Christmas morning....Lily was a little concerned that Santa didn't eat ALL of the cookies, but she soon settled down to open her Strawberry Shortcake paraphernalia. Her favorite gift was a stuffed giraffe that is the same as her class mascot, Gerald. I stumbled across it while I was in Prague a few weeks ago. Gerald is never too far from her side.
Joe and Tim both got plenty of basketball things to keep them busy. Tim has already read 3 of the 4 basketball books he received and is intently studying a basketball training video he asked for. :o)
As for Rich, I had a poster made of some of the pictures from his marathon run in Berlin in Sept and he also got a pretty cool painting of Celtic great Larry Bird practicing his free throws alone in the Boston Garden back in the day...
I...got a Kindle! I am loving it! I got to set aside my 900 pg library tome by Ken Follett that I had been lugging around and in a flash, had it on my Kindle to read. LOVE IT!!!! :o) Rich, of course, had to wrap the Kindle within 7 boxes, some with wood to weigh it down....so I was opening the initial box about the size of Lily. The man has a warped sense of humor. :o)
So yes, Santa was good to all of us this year!

Christmas Eve Family Pictures

2010-01-01T00:23:00.005+01:00

Sledding down the driveway

2010-01-01T00:18:00.002+01:00

Our Ride Home from the Mountains

2009-12-31T23:04:00.004+01:00

Coming home was slow-going...but the view was spectacular. We even found a few odd things to look at...like two young men getting ready to go scuba diving (walking through a path of snow a foot deep!). Only in Norway.... and then there was the Christmas tree lifted up by the two backhoes....:o)

More Sirdal Stuff....

2009-12-31T22:56:00.003+01:00

Inside the Hytte

2009-12-31T22:54:00.003+01:00

It's not big...but it was nice and cozy for 4 days of fun in the mountains. We were there from Dec 18th thru the 22nd.

Snowy fun in Sirdal

2009-12-31T22:52:00.002+01:00

Ice falls

2009-12-31T22:47:00.003+01:00

Joe and I hiked up a nearby hill/mtn to these ice falls we could somewhat see from the road. Here's what we found....

Winter Fun in Sirdal

2009-12-31T22:37:00.005+01:00

On Dec 18th, it started snowing pretty hard here in the Stavanger area. We had several inches on the ground by the time we were ready to head up to the mountains to stay in the Norwegian military hyttes they have in Sirdal. A hytte is a cabin. It has a kitchen and bedrooms, etc. You have to bring linens and towels, food, etc. There are two burners in which to cook on and pots and pans are provided. It's a nice set up. We have gone up to Sirdal (about 2 hrs drive inland from here) every Christmas season. The cabins are always booked and you have to have your name drawn each peak season. We have been pretty lucky. However, no one else made it during our stay! We had the entire hytte park to ourselves! It was blizzard conditions for the first two days we were there with blowing snow and severe wind chills. We mostly stayed inside and played Settlers of Catan (an awesome board game!). We did venture out a few times to sled (we didn't bring snowboards because we were told they didn't have enough snow - which was true...the slopes weren't even open!) We had a great time though! Little did we know that we were all alone because the roads leading up to where we were had been closed! :o)

2009-12-31T22:22:00.002+01:00

Lily had a little Christmas play in her classroom. She told me ahead of time that she had to be a "cheeky Nisse"....because they laugh so much! They did a little skit with each of the kiddos being Nisse on Christmas Eve and then ended the show with their "torches" (I had to actually ask the teacher about this - she meant flashlights!) for the Northern Lights on the ceiling. Santa came in to visit after the show. Lily wanted NOTHING to do with him. (it was our American AF Chaplain, Michael Howard). When he left, he peeked back into the classroom and said,"Bye Lily!" The kids were so suprised that Santa knew Lily's name! (so was Lily!) :o)

Christmas fun

2009-12-26T14:52:00.004+01:00

Joe sitting on Santa's lap at our BX....he was a little big for Santa's lap this year! However, Lily would only peek at him from 3 aisles away. :o)

Lily loves candy canes. She would live on candy canes and pepperoni if I would let her. Throw in a bit of chocolate and she'd be in heaven. :o)

At Tim's middle school on the last day before school let out, each of the 12 homeroom classrooms were responsible for coming up with a carol to sing to the school in an assembly. They drew names to see which class would go first. There were 12 different songs...some by the chipmunks, Australian version of jingle bells, and some kind of song about wanting a hippopotamus for Christmas. Tim's class sang "It's Hard to be a Nissemann". I have a video clip of it that won't seem to load right now...but I'll try it again soon. It's a reggae tune and it's mostly in English with some Norsk mixed in. Nisse are the Christmas elves that they believe in here in Norway. There is no Santa here.

December Basketball

2009-12-26T14:35:00.005+01:00

As I have mentioned before, life transforms between early November and late March in the Messina household. Basketball schedules rule the house. We were banking on the boys only playing for ISS this year and being on the same team. They actually started out that way, as the JV A team is mostly made up of 8th and 9th graders. They compete with U16 boys teams in the area. However, Joe had some upperclassmen that talked to the varsity coach and got Joe a tryout for varsity. Joe practiced with them for a week and was told he'd made the varsity squad. He's pretty excited and we are both quite proud of him. He's quite a good defensive player. He is also a talker on the court, which is a plus. This leave Tim on the JV A team...and that was actually a good thing. He was no longer in Joe's shadow and started to shine on his own. He is a natural leader because of his skills and has really blossomed this year. All those hours of basketball practice have paid off. The boys lives and breathes basketball. I have never seen anyone so determined and focused. So Tim is playing on the JV team and Joe is playing on the varsity team. They practice on opposite days. Tim is also playing on the U18 Stavanger basketball klubb team that Rich helps coach. Tim manages to practice basketball four days a week and then games are on the weekends...on both Saturdays and Sundays. Between SBBK, JV and Varsity ball, we really keep going. I love watching them play though. They really have grown so much in the last two years...in the last year especially. Let's just hope they keep growing. :o)

Nativity Play

2009-12-26T12:16:00.002+01:00

I have been the religious education director at our parish for the English-speaking community for the last two years. I get the job of writing out a nativity play and making it come to fruition. :o) Last year was the first nativity play ever in the English-speaking community and it was quite a hit. This year we had to do it again. :o) The trouble is that there can't be any rehearsals...that complicates things abit. The nativity play always falls right during a major NATO exercise. Rich didn't get to see his kids last year in the play but was able to tear himself away for 30 minutes to catch it this year. He took a couple of pictures (above). All in all, we had nearly 50 kids involved in the play this year. Whew...I am glad someone else gets to take this over next year! Lily was the donkey, Joe was a cow and Tim was the star. (in every way, he would like to think!) I am guessing this is the last year all three of them will be in a nativity play together.

The High School Winter Formal

2009-12-26T12:06:00.002+01:00

Joe and Charlie

Charlie is a sophomore and asked Joe to the dance. They are good friends and she and Joe are surfing buddies.

I was working the event (it had a sit down meal, etc) as a volunteer and so I also took along two brothers, twins actually, that live near us. Magnus and Alex are Norwegian but this is the first year they have ever lived in Norway. They just moved here from Oman. I think Joe likes the fact that he towers over them even if they are a few months older. :o)

Princess Lily

2009-12-26T12:02:00.002+01:00

Lily has been invited to several birthday parties of her classmates. This party was at the Stavanger Children's Museum. There was a princess gown dressing room that the girls of the party (and a few of the moms) hit. I tried to capture it...Liy was sooooo in her element! :o) The little girl who was turning 5 is from New Zealand.

Middle School Semi-Formal Dance

2009-12-26T11:52:00.003+01:00

I volunteered to be the Middle School parent liaison for the PA this year. One of the big jobs is to organize the MS dances. There are three during the school year and the first is a semi-formal dance. No trainers, no t-shirts. Smart trousers and shirts for boys, smart trousers/dresses/skirts for girls. The girls tend to go all out and buy pretty cocktail dresses. The theme for this one was "Midnight in the City" and the student council chose black and white as the theme as well. They had three chocolate fountains going along with savory foods and drinks. There was a huge skyline (and when I say huge, it was 8 ft tall and about 25 feet long, with twinkling lights. They all seem to have a good time. Their PE classes for the 2 weeks prior are all dancing lessons. They have strict dance etiquette rules in place for MS dances. You must dance with the person who asks you at least once. That allows the shortest boy in the 6th grade to ask the most popular girl in the 8th grade to dance and she must dance with him at least once. No parents are allowed in the dance area except for one parent taking photos. The teachers are required to attend and they get the kids started by doing a mass dance for the first few songs. I was able to catch a picture of Tim and his best friend, Keegan, between dances while they were getting some food. Funny, I don't remember having MS dances...let alone ones with chocolate fountains! I think Tim and Joe are going to come crashing down to reality next year in the States!

Making Christmas Cards in Preschool

2009-12-26T11:47:00.002+01:00

Lily got to work with glitter and sparkly things for the first time and was thrilled! I think there is still glitter stuck on our clothes!

Santa Time in Preschool!

2009-12-26T11:44:00.002+01:00

Here's Lily standing with Santa (and not looking scared or crying) and her class and teachers (minus one).

Share in our learning

2009-12-26T11:25:00.004+01:00

I just wanted to share a few snippits of Lily's classroom. Every 6 weeks or so they have a morning where the parents are invited to attend an hour long session to watch and participate in their class. It is called "share in our learning" and this is one of the days I went at the end of November. Lily's teacher, Miss Emma, is a cross between Mary Poppins and Pippy Longstocking. She is just fabulous with the kids. She's from the UK and Lily has picked up a lot of her "Queen's English" which totally cracks us up at home. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher for Lily for her first year of school.

During this Share in our Learning session, Lily was teaching me the sounds that she has already learned this year. She was the teacher and I was the student. It was a lot of fun!

Joe's Birthday

2009-12-24T15:08:00.004+01:00

Joe's birthday was a Mexican theme this year. He had his party at our house and it was a party for his British friend, Fergus as well. They had virgin margaritas and pinatas. Who knew it could be so fun to turn 15?

International Festival Basketball Game

2009-12-24T15:00:00.003+01:00

At the International School of Stavanger, in early November each year they have an international festival. It is a really big event and a fundraiser for the PA. This year there was a basketball game after the festival ended. The staff played a select few of the student body. Both boys were able to play and had a blast. If there was a foul or the referee just felt you had an unfair advantage, you were given something to even up the odds a bit. :o)

Shaq in a tutu...that was fun to watch him fly through the air with that on!

Joe taking a shot with his oven mitts on. He actually scored a basket shooting with those things on. We currently tease him when his shots are off in a game that he needs his oven mitts back on....

Dr. Len Duevel (primary school principal) with his fairy wings on

Rudy with the funky goggles on. They have funny plastic to see through that blurs everything. He made a sure shot (so he thought) and was 15 feet to the right of the basket. Hysterical to watch!

Joe's first violation caused him to wear a hot pink feather boa. (Actually, I had talked to the ref before the game and suggested it would go well with his hair....)

The first JV game of the season

2009-12-24T14:48:00.002+01:00

Joe drives towards the basket for the shot Tim with the fade away.... Those 100 free throws everyday through out the summer really paid off for Tim. He's the #1 free thrower on the team and takes all the technical shots for them. Basketball season is underway. Life as I know it is over....everything is basketball now. (and the boys are loving it!) So am I, to be truthful. I really enjoy watching them play!

Surfing Contest

2009-11-07T11:46:00.004+01:00

On October 31st, Joe was in a surfing contest. He surfed in the under 18 division (although we think he could have been in the under 14 since he's 14...) We arrived on a cold and very blustery (okay, more like gale-force winds) at Børe Beach. The winds were evidently going the wrong direction because there were no waves. So we got the kids all registered and then caravaned down to another beach near Brusand. (who knew there were so many surfing beaches in Norway???) We arrived and it was cold.....and very windy....and full of crashing waves. Joe ended up getting third overall in his division...which he was happy with but somewhat frustrated because the undertow kept him from paddling out too far. It was a good experience for him and he had a great time (although everyone was somewhat hypothermic after exiting the water...but who am I kidding...I was in a winter jacket and was hypothermic watching him!)
He is still surfing...yesterday I had some reservations when I dropped him off at the surfing shack...the puddles were all iced over. Yet, they went out and surfed for 2.5 hours. Yikes! He was pretty cold when I picked him up...his face isn't covered in the water and his face gets really cold...so he can't talk very well. I think we are just about done for the season. (yay!)

Trunk or treating

2009-11-07T11:35:00.002+01:00

The last three Halloween's we have participated in trunk or treating at the NATO base (since Halloween has not really taken off in Norway). It's a lot of fun and more of a candy swap than anything because it is so small. However, it was the biggest ever this year...and I think it is a great start to going back to the U.S. for bigger festivals next year!

A Princess and Pirate Party in Preschool

2009-11-07T11:23:00.002+01:00

Lily is in preschool 4's this year. She absolutely adores her teachers: Miss Kate, Miss Emma and Miss Uly. (two Brits and a Norwegian). I have mentioned before that she has quite an international class. On October 30th, they had Princess and Pirate day in preschool 4 classrooms. Her class had a small party with way too much food and lots of fun activities for the kids to do. Just wanted to show you some pictures of the kiddos. They looked adorable! Joe and Tim wanted Lily to be a pirate but she insisted on the whole princess thing! :o)

Random fall pictures around Hafrsfjord

2009-11-06T16:54:00.004+01:00

I was driving by the three swords last week (as I do twice a day) and the Hafrsfjord was as smooth as glass...so I stopped and took some pictures. The sunset picture is out porch off our masterbedroom. Gotta love the beauty of this country!

Pushing buttons

2009-11-06T16:35:00.003+01:00

Ya know what it is like when you have a four year old sister that knows how to push your buttons? Ask Joe...Lily knows just what to say to get him going. This is the usual results of the confrontation. :o) (see picture)
So what does Lily do you ask? She calls her brother "Joey." It totally freaks him out. NO ONE calls him Joey...no one. No one except Lily when she wants to get a rise out of him. Notice in the picture that they are both smiling...but let me tell you, she always gets the last jab in... :o)

JV boys football is over!

2009-11-06T16:23:00.004+01:00

These are the ISS JV boys football team posing on a ferry heading for Tau, for an away game. Yes, among the competing teams, there is sometimes quite a distance due to those pesky fjords that get in the way. :o)

Here are a few pictures from the end of Tim's football career. It was FREEZING the last several games...and it hailed....and rained...and hailed again while these boys were out in thin clothing, soaking wet. This is not the part I will miss standing on the sidelines all over Rogaland! :o) Tim had a great three years playing for the ISS JV boys team. We will be in the U.S. next year and he plans on concentrating on basketball. He also feels he probably doesn't have the skill set to play on a U.S. high school team. However...you never know...he may surprise us!

Weekend surfing

2009-10-23T14:28:00.005+02:00

Here are a few pictures of Joe surfing with his high school friends last weekend. They were having a surfing competition on that beach, so there were a ton of people there and probably over a hundred surfers. It was great to see the sun out (it had been absent for surfing for the last several weeks). The days are now getting so much shorter so quickly that I am not sure how many more surfing pictures I will have the opportunity to take. However, I got a few good ones this time. Joe will be competing in a surfing competition on Oct 31st and Nov 1st....he's really looking forward to it!