Life in Sicily

Hello everyone.......where to begin? Our flight was rather uneventful( tho I'll just say I don't like landing! Take off isn't bad.) It went rather quickly and the kids did great. It was Ben's first time flying and he loved it. We were able to sit together at least in 2's all the way. We had a 9 hr. layover in Rome so we surprised the kids and DJ flew into Rome before our flight got in. We walked around a corner and he was standing there waiting. The kids were very happy of course! (Me too!!!) We were so tired by then that we just hung out at the airport for the day instead of trying to go see anything. Our flight was an hour and a half late. In Philadelphia we were delayed as they couldn't get one of the access doors shut. They finally just took it off and said we didn't need it. (?) We got to the apartment about 7:30pm Thurs. night. One of the first things I noticed was that everyone seems to wear alot of black or dark brown. In the states even in the winter you see all sorts of colors. 95% of the women seem to be wearing high heeled boots with their pants tucked in. Something tells me we may stick out a bit when we go out! :) I'm also starting to think they wean from bottles to cigarettes! Most people seem to smoke. Everywhere. There are piles of cigarettes on the sidewalks. People just drop them when they're done with them. There are many fascinating things here tho Mr. Clean wouldn't be passing out any blue ribbons. Litter is very commonplace. Northern Italy and southern Italy are two very different places. People that have worked in the northern and southern parts say that northen Italy is much friendlier. DJ calls Sicily the M & M society. Me & Me.
Let me just say that the fresh produce is amazing. Cherry tomatoes are YUMMO.
The mediterranean is beautiful and I love living so close to the water. It's a block away:) We've gone out walking around town everyday. We are a couple blocks away from the market area. It's very old and beautiful. Just like you see in the movies. Narrow, stone roads with apartments above all the shops. Beautiful architecture. Wonderful, old wooden doors and wrought iron.
At this time I can't share pictures from my camara (in the process of getting it setup with laptop) but will share some pics from the girls camaras.
Hope you are well and enjoying the new year so far. As time goes on if there is something you're curious about or want to see a pic of something specific let me know :)
Love to you all!