My 24th Birthday

Sunday, August 24

I'm finally 24!! And, its also my lucky birthday, 24 on the 24th!

Today we had planned on going horse back riding for my birthday at one of the Ranches near our house. Unfortunately when we got there they told us they weren't doing any for the day, even after calling and making sure they would. But that is Italy for you. I was a little bummed but at least I had my husband was there to try and cheer me up. He drove us up the mountain to Piacavallo and parked so we could just admire the view. It was beautiful! (as always ;) )

We then decided to drive over to Mezzomonte; which is a town on the side of the mountain. One of Preston's friends had told us there was a really good restaurant over there, so why not try it today for my birthday. 

The town of Mezzomonte is really tiny! There are just a few houses, some really beautiful ones I must say, then a "bar" or two and a church. Also right on the outside of town are two restaurants. 

We decided to park near the church and then walk around to look at the houses and the amazing view.

Then went down to the second restaurant from the town, which is the first one you pass coming up the mountain.

It was still a little early for dinner so we decided to sit and have a drink and relax. The owner also gave us a complimentary chocolate cake thing, not exactly sure what it was but it was pretty good.

I was starting to get a little hungry, so Preston and I went in to see when they started serving dinner. It was still very early for Italians to open, only 5:30pm, usually they don't open until around 6pm or later. As we thought the restaurant part didn't open until 6pm but the wonderful owner said he would start up the grill and make something just for us two. I felt really bad making him do that but he insisted it was fine. Before we sat down he asked us what we wanted to drink, I said Prosecco would be fine. 

We got to choose any seat we wanted in the place, which was huge!! We decided to sit next to the window. The owner then brought us a big basket of bread and bread sticks. And then out came a brand new bottle of Prosecco. I thought I was just getting a glass, but nope, we got the whole bottle for ourselves. I thought to Preston, well there goes our check, since Prosecco usually is pretty expensive at restaurants. But the amazing husband he is said "doesn't matter the price its your birthday" :) 

While we were waiting for our pasta dish, we could hear him prepping and cooking away in the kitchen. You could tell/hear he was making everything fresh for us. (Gotta love Italy!) 

Out came the pasta dish in a huge family style bowl, where he then scooped it into our bowls in front of us and then left the rest of the huge pasta bowl. We couldn't wait to dig in because it smelled amazing!! 

Both of us say this is the best pasta we have ever had! It was penne with tomato sauce, tomatoes, bacon and a few other spices. Simple but we couldn't get enough of it and it the taste just made you want to keep eating. We were so happy he left the rest of the bowl for us because it was consumed so fast, it probably seemed like we hadn't eaten in days. 

Time to pay. After enjoying that delicious meal we had to go up and pay for it all. To be honest I was a little nervous to see the price of everything, since we did end up getting a lot. Preston went up to pay and I was wondering what was taking so long but when he finally came back the owner was in front of him with 2 huge shots of Limoncello. As he set them down he said on the house. Me, being a little confused agreed to drink them but still had no idea why we were getting them since neither of us had said it was any type of celebration. After he left Preston explained why we had them and also told me how much our check was. Everything ended up being only €20!! My mind was blown, since we had, a glass of white wine, one pepsi, two pastries, huge basket of bread and bread sticks, bottle of Prosecco, giant bowl of pasta and two huge Limoncello shots.

Enjoying the view before we leave. (And Preston not looking at the camera)

After that delicious and amazing dinner we went to go get gelato from our favorite place. As usual it tasted great! 

I would say this turned out to be a fun and relaxing birthday. Might have started out a little rocky but that's what amazing husbands are for, they always know how to turn a bad day into an awesome one! :)

Aqualandia

Friday, August 15

No matter how old you are, everyone loves going to a water park! While in Italy I would recommend going to Aqualandia at least once.

This Friday was a Family Day for the Italians so all military people had it off. So what better way to spend it than at a water park with two of your friends from Preston's work. The drive isn't that bad either; a little less than and hour and a half.

The price to get in the park is €30 per person. Might sound like a lot, but there are tons of things to do. Some of the things you can do are, go down the multiple water slides, play volleyball, wave pool, rock climbing, kids water park, different shows throughout the day, bungee jumping and tons of food options to name a few. There is something to do for every age in the family. Of course for our group we loved going down the tall water slides and especially the "racing slide". On the racing slide there are 6 slides all next to each other, one for each person in your group and you wait until the staff blows his whistle for everyone to go. First one down wins! Of course, somehow I would always be the last one ;)

It was sad to have to leave so soon because of the storm rolling in, but even after everyone somehow leaving with some type of "battle wound" we all had a great time and would definitely go back again!

Knife Festival in Maniago

Wednesday, July 27

There was a knife festival in Maniago, which is about 20 minutes from our house, that I thought would be a fun festival that Preston might actually enjoy going to.

Definitely not as many knives as we were both thinking they would have, but it was still cool to go look around at all the different ones they did have. I also got to watch a guy sharpen his knife collection.

If you were hungry, there was tons of food stands to choose from and also stands with all different types knick knaks and homemade things they were selling. Or you could also take a carriage ride though town with donkeys pulling you.

Kitty Babysitting

Thursday, July 24-29

This past weekend, Preston and I had the pleasure of watching our friends kitty, Tigger aka Tigs, for 5 days while they went away for their 6^th anniversary. What a silly, cute and playful kitty he was! This was a great chance also to see if we really wanted to get a cat right away or wait a little longer.

Their kitty is a very pale orange with faint white strips. Neither Preston nor I had seen a cat this color before, but he was very cute! What a burst of energy he always was. But he did make a friend with our outside stray cat, they were really funny to watch play with each other on each side of the door. Or I guess I should say Tigger did most of the playing, the other cat, Tiger would just rub his head against the door or walk back and forth with Tigger.

It was nice to have a kitty this past weekend to hang out with while I’m at home all day but since I’m starting my two new jobs this coming weekend I don’t think that would be the best time to get a new pet. It was good while it lasted. I guess I got my fill on kitties for a while. And who knows maybe our next animal will be a puppy! J