Acireale Carnivale

February in Italy is a time for CARNIVALE!  I found a good description of it on a travel website.  Here's a bit of history:  

What is Carnevale?

Carnevale, also known as carnival or mardi gras, is celebrated in Italy and many places around the world 40 days before Easter, a final party before Ash Wednesday and the restrictions of Lent.

How is Carnival Celebrated in Italy?

Carnevale in Italy is a huge winter festival celebrated with parades, masquerade balls, entertainment, music, and parties. Children throw confetti at each other. Mischief and pranks are also common during Carnevale, hence the saying A Carnevale Ogni Scherzo Vale, anything goes at carnival

Masks, maschere, are an important part of thecarnevale festival.  Carnival masks are sold year round and can be found in many shops, ranging from cheap masks to elaborate and expensive masks. People also wear elaborate costumes for the festival and there are costume or masquerade balls, both private and public.

We were lucky enough to go and experience a little bit of the Acireale Carnivale.  Acireale has the celebration every year and people all over the world come during the two weeks of Carnivale to take part.  

Every night there is a big party on the downtown streets of the city.  Jason wasn't able to go on any of the days and my neighbor's husband was out of town, so we decided to brave it alone with the kiddos.  The parties can get a little crazy, so we decided to go in the afternoon so that we could head home before it got too wild.  

Here's Lucy and Graham with the Fahey kiddos: Megan, Evan, and Brendan.  

Carnivale seemed to me to be like an Italian Halloween.  People wore masks, but many people just dressed up as anything.  

This was when the fun started.  Everyone throws confetti and silly string at each other.  It's so funny, but strange, too.  Bags and bags of confetti were sold their for a couple euro.  You would just reach into the bag, grab a handful and throw it at somebody.  Graham kept choosing the wrong people to just throw it at, like grumpy old Italian men or women taking care of their kids.  Not cool.  

Eventually, after a bit, Brendan and Graham got into a little war with this girl.  They would try to sneak up on each other and get a good fistful to throw.  She and the group she was with were dressed up as the characters from Wreck it Ralph.  

Benny thought it would be fun to put his mask on Sullivan :)

Notice all the silly string all over everything and the confetti covering the sidewalks.  

I thought the head was a little creepy......not sure if it was up just for Carnivale or year round.  Yikes.  

Once the sun went down, the floats came out.  We had been told they were parked somewhere during the day and we would be allowed to go check them out, but we couldn't find them.  So....on our way to the car, we finally came across the street they were on and the music started and the parade began! We got to see them!

Most of these floats are completely covered in flowers.  Each float had it's own music going along with it, so they were spaced out a bit.  Maybe two small blocks between each one.  So much of the music with the floats (and on the Italian radio, for that matter) is in English.  I always wonder how many of them understand what they are listening to as they sing along.  

This one was a little racy.  Ooh la la.  

This float had a whole presentation and story.  When it stopped, it moved with the music and had a little program.  

We had such a great time!  I was pretty worn out by the time we got home.  We did a lot of walking and Benny tuckered out half way through, so I carried him on my shoulders for a lot of it......while pushing a stroller.  Yeah.....I'm tough like that.  

I was happy to hear Lucy say, "I think that's the funnest thing we've done so far since we've lived here."  The adventure was a success!

SeaBee Ball

J and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary at the SeaBee Ball.  To be honest, it wouldn't have been my first choice of ways to spend the evening, but Jason was required to go and it ended up being a lot of fun.  

I borrowed a dress from a friend and I got my makeup done by another friend.  The eye make-up was a little heavier than I'm used to, but Jason kept reassuring me that I didn't look like I had gone "goth".  

We carpooled in our mini-van with the Hutchinsons and McManus'.  The ladies decided to strike a pose.  Here I am with Sarah and Cindy.  We also got to sit at their table, too!  It made for a great evening with lots of chatting and laughing.  

Thirteen adventurous years with this handsome man.  I never ever would have thought I'd be a Navy wife.  I especially never dreamed we'd spend time living in Italy.  When I stop and think about my life and our marriage, it's testimony building for me to realize how much the Lord knows me and what I need.  I had no idea how perfect of a match Jason was for me until we'd been married a few years.  He is strong where I am weak and he makes me feel calm.  My family and I have always described me as someone who struggles with change and adapting to new things.  As I sit and type this, I realize, that's not true anymore!  Yes, I still struggle with worrying too much and stressing over the uncontrollable, but I have come a long way.  I know that's because Heavenly Father knows what I need and has helped me learn to stretch and "bloom where I'm planted", as my mom puts it.  

I am forever grateful for the choice I made thirteen years ago.  

Kalleen!

Come back Kalleen!  We were so very, very lucky to have Kalleen, Renee (her mom), and Melissa (her sister in law) come for a week long visit.  It was so fabulous and sooo very needed and timely.  I could feel myself slipping into the post-partum blues and a visit from one of my favorite people was exactly what me and the family needed.  We tried our best to show them some of the sites here in Sicily while they were here.  

One day was spent in Siracusa and Ortigia.  Siracusa has an amazing historical site with ruins from as early as 450 B.C.  This Greek theater is the most breathtaking part.  I've been a few times now, and I'm always blown away at how much is still intact.  

That same day we made our way over to Ortigia.  It's a small little island right next to Siracusa.  Every town in Sicily or probably Italy, for that matter, has a city center.  This one was beautiful!  The church and surrounding buildings are gorgeous.  

Jason took the week off to either join us on our day trips or stay home and watch Benny and baby.  

Kalleen got some great pictures of Benny while she was here.  

More of the Greek Theater

I hadn't met Melissa before she came, but we fell in love with her!  So sweet and so fun!  Not to mention beautiful!  She was missing her baby that she left at home with Dad, so she became Benny's buddy.  They played and played and napped together on the car rides.

This is one of the streets we walked down in Ortygia.  This is a typical street in many of the little towns.  Tiny, right?  Lots of italians will drive their little cars down a road like this.  Minivan?  Not so much.  

Love this shot of Benny boy.  

We made our way to Caltigirone on another morning.  Still one of my favorite places.  I loved sharing it with friends!

We introduced them to Arancinis (pronounced AR-AN-CHEE-NEE).  It's a fried rice ball with meat and sauce in the middle.  We found our new favorite arancini spot in Taormina later in the week, though.  

My birthday was the week before they came, so sweet Kalleen made me an amazing cake.  I hadn't been sung to yet, so it was fun.....and delicious! 

Later in the week Jason stayed home while the girls went to Catania to visit the shops and see Piazzo Duomo (city center).  

This is what the produce part of the market looks like.  The Catania market opens every day and closes around 12 or 1:00 pm.  It has produce, meat, fish, purses, shoes, clothes.....and much more.  This is making me want to go again....I've only been a couple of times.  

One of the churches at Piazza Duomo.  The red banners were in preparation for the festival starting in a few days.  Each town has a patron saint and they are celebrated each year through a town festival that lasts about a week.  Catania's saint is Saint Agatha.  

More shopping

We, of course, had to take them to Taormina.  It was gorgeous.  The weather was fabulous and I loved seeing it again through them.  It'll never get old.  

I remember thinking around this time how grateful I am that Kalleen and crew made the trip.  What a blessing.  

Kalleen also got a great shot of Mount Etna erupting.  This was a pretty clear day, but you can see the little bit of smoke coming out.  She'll (people call it a "she") erupt for a few days at a time like that.  Kinda cool.  Kinda scary, too.  

I was so sad to see them go!  We were planning their next trip during the last few days of their visit.

We are anxious for more visitors!  Especially now that we know we aren't coming home this summer.  It's been heartbreaking for all of us, but it's just too darn expensive.  Many tears have been shed at the Ray home.  Hopefully we can fill the summer break up with fun trips and sights.

Lucy's Happs

Our Lucy has been a very busy girl this year.  Fifth grade school work has proven to be a bit more intense than previous years.  But, along with homework and studying, she has been quite the extra-curricular phenom.  

She was on the front page of the weekly Naval Air Station Sigonella newspaper!  She's been running in the monthly base races.  Her latest was a 5K.  She's running with her friend, Camilla.  

Swim, swim, and more swim!  That's what Lucy's been doing since we first got here.  She tried out for the Sigonella Swordfish swim team just a week after we got here.  The rest of the swimmers had been in the water all summer, so she had some catching up to do, but she made us proud.  She practiced after school three times a week. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to very many meets because of the new baby, but hopefully next year we'll see more.  The team travels to Belgium, Germany, Lisbon, and Northern Italy.  She competed in two here at Sigonella, one at Aviano, and one in Naples.  

Many of the meets are held on Sunday, so that was a bit of a struggle for a little bit.  Lucy handled that very well.  Of course, she was disappointed, but I was so proud of her and the way she explained her beliefs to some of her friends.  

Lucy also ran for Student Body Vice President and won!  Here's one of her Instagrams from when she was campaigning.  Silly girl.  

She had to make signs and give a speech at an assembly.  It was so fun listening to her plan and practice what she would say.  She also made pins to pass out.  

I was less than five minutes late for the assembly and missed it!  I was sooo sad.  The advisor had her give it again so I could see her at the podium.  

She has had a lot of fun being involved with everything and helping with the planning of different events.  She has always been an organizer and natural leader.  So proud of her.  

Side note:  She babysat Benny and Graham for a couple hours last night for the first time.  She did great!  It was a success!