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We did get off our butts occasionally…

Here are a few pictures to prove that we didn’t just sit on the beach every day. (Ok so we did a lot of days, but not every day!) We hiked to see the Iao needle, click the picture of the sign to read details on that.

We walked out to the “dragon’s teeth” some really cool lava-scape.

And we drove to the top of the volcano “Haleakala”, which we later drove up again so that my dad, Nicole and I could fly down on bikes…I’ll get to that later. (If you need to cool off in Hawaii Haleakala is the place to be!)

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Seeing fish in Hawaii

While in Hawaii we went to the aquarium. The kiddos loved it (Jonah now has a whole new vocabulary that includes words such as shark, sting ray, frog fish, octopus, star fish, puffer fish, parrot fish, angel fish…and he can correctly identify all of them). I discovered my new favorite fish…the frog fish. (see photo below).

They blend into the coral and appear to barely move. But they actually move so fast you can’t even see it. They dangle a fleshy blob in front of their mouth and when a fish comes to eat it, they eat the fish. They can eat things up to twelve times their size. They swim using jet propulsion. So cool!

Cousins! Jonah could not get enough of his cousins. Now that we are home he still talks about them every day.

Jonah also couldn’t get enough of the grandparents…

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From Ciao to Aloha

You may have noticed our lack of blog posts as of recently…it could be because we were busy preparing to fly half way around the world to meet up with some of the people that we miss in the land of Aloha. Don’t worry, Jonah will catch a wave for you and I’ll soak up some sun for you too.

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From Ciao to Aloha

Sunday: Arrived
Monday: Makena beach
Tuesday: Hyatt bird show and beach
Wednesday: La perusa wildlife preserve snorkeling, saw a spotted eagle ray
Thursday: Aquarium
Friday: Whale watching, Lahaina
Saturday: Farmers market

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Christmas Card

We are two days from Christmas and although getting Christmas Cards out has been on my mind, it just hasn’t happened. So for this year, we are doing it by email.
Happy Holidays! or as they say in Italy “Buone Feste”! We are thoroughly enjoying our time here in Italy and cannot believe how fast it seems to be going by. This year for Christmas we will be staying home, so if you have Skype, turn it on and give us a call! We’d love to hear from everyone.
(Click on photo to see it bigger, cuz you know you want to see us closer!)

A quick review of our year:
* Jen and Jonah made a trip to Utah/Idaho to visit family before the big move
* Moved from Fort Meade Maryland to Vicenza Italy in April
* Jonah turned two in May
* Trip to Rome
* Jen and Jonah went to Ukraine to see Elder Woodbury before he headed home
* Trip to Germany
* Jen’s cousin Aneesa comes to visit for three months, lot’s of traveling with her including Switzerland, Tuscany, Germany and local towns like Venice, Verona and many many more.
* Trip to Monaco to see the world’s best fireworks
* Got a pet bird at the market and named him Charley
* Stayed home in December due to unexpected car troubles

But the best part of our year has been learning so much about the Italian language, culture and of course, food. Sometimes we get a little homesick for familiar things but then we start planning our next outing and we feel much better. We have realized that three years really is a very short amount of time and it is flying by!

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Adventures in tune up land

This December, fate has decided that we get to spend our time quietly at home. No grand adventures this month due to our previously reliable car being in the shop, the shop making it worse and paying for a rental car for us while they made it better. Hopefully it’s better now. Meanwhile, we made no plans due to uncertainty.

But it has been nice to spend some time at home. We got a Christmas tree from a local garden store and put it in a pot with soil (instead of using a tree stand) just like the locals. 
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Sexy and he knows it

Jonah’s sexy and he knows it. This video is the proof. Grandparents, be warned, there’s graphic child cuteness coupled with slightly inappropriate music. If anyone’s seen the music video for LMFAO’s Sexy & I Know It you’ll know exactly why this is so funny.

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Bonamini Olive Oil

Not too long ago, Jen, Jonah and I all got to go to an olive grove / olive oil factory. Bonamini oil is a very fine olive oil company that deals solely in extra virgin (meaning oil from the first pressing of the olives). The tour was extremely interesting. They waste absolutely nothing. After the pressing is finished, the olive waste and natural by-products are used as fertilizer. Even the pits get used as fuel to heat the homes of the workers. After we toured the factory we got to taste test. Usually at the markets, to taste test oils you put it on pieces of bread, but here they had us taste it out of tiny cups to really get the flavor. Both Jen and I had to work hard not to gag. Jonah though loved it and wanted more after every tasting. The lady who was giving us the samples was rather astonished. Anyway, all around it was quite a good time!