Italy activities

I know its important that the kids have things to do once we get over to Italy. What I'm doing is trying to give them a sense of normalcy. I have located and registered the girls for Girl Scouts. What I didn't know was that there is a committee called the USA Girl Scouts Overseas - North Atlantic, http://www.usagso-na.org/, just for girls in who families are in the military and serving in Europe. I will say there are some civilian locations too covered by this committee. So cool, right? I sent the paperwork to New York, where the committee is located, and they sent it to the person in Italy. It's a shame she is PCSing too, as are some of the leaders, but she did tell me about the training I will need. I guess I will continue to be a leader  in Italy too. Not too shabby.

My biggest concern though was trying to locate a gymnastics place for my girls. I have one that is really talented and could make something of the sport and another who does it for the fun aspect. She is talented too and if she applied herself, i know she could do well. She's got a mind of her own though and doesn't want my opinion on the subject, like any other nine year old girl i suppose. At any rate, one would think this should be a hard thing to do, find a gymnastics club. I searched the USA Gymnastics site for some clues on how to start overseas. Then I found the world federation of Gymnastics. That helped a little too. What I wished they would do is to put a link to gymnastics clubs. I did finally find one and translated the page enough to figure out where they located and what they offer. This is the place, http://www.vicenzaginnastica.it/contatti/index.php , Vicenza Gymnastics, Italy is the rough translation. But prior to this, i contacted the SKIES program with the Child and youth Services program through the post in Italy and no one got back to me. I wanted to email or talk with the gymnastics coach they have there, he teaches a basic class on gymnastics, but to no avail, received no response. At any rate, if i could ever contact this gym in Italy, because as it so happens, the contact page does not work, then i could enroll the girls. I can however say i have located a place. Yippee!! That is half the battle right?

I've also been researching ACS, the Army Community Service, program in Vicenza. It looks like they have some great trips planned to beaches and little towns over the summer. The girls and I will have to immerse ourselves into the culture and this sounds like they way to do it. Hopefully by end of the summer, they will be speaking a little Italian. I am so excited for this adventure to began. We set foot in Italy on 28 June. We have 5 weeks until the big move and 2 weeks with family.

Update on the shampoo situation: I am happy to report that the children wasted another bottle by leaving it open on the floor so that it could flow out of the bottle and pool around on the tile floor. I am nearly finished with my set of shampoo and conditioner and hubby told me he tried the lather, rinse, repeat method and his hair was squeaky clean. In other words, he liked it! See, there are benefits to my madness. In an unrelated note, we officially went through the toilet paper stash I had.I know I have not bought toilet paper in months and had to purchase some just the other day to keep us going. Time to tackle the canned goods.