Luis thinks he's a fish!

Luis has been spending so much time in the water trying to get certified for scuba. These are a couple pictures I took at Acitrecci and at the pool where he did some of his training. He's getting pretty good at it. He only needs one more dive before he will be Open Water certified...then he is going to get his Advanced certification so that he can go down as far as 30 meters. That way when the trip in November to Egypt comes around he will be able to dive way down and see everything really well. I want to be able to do that too, but something about being that far under water and not being able to see the surface freaks me out a little bit. I know it is mental....I'm working on it!

Acitrezza

These are some pictures from the little town Luis and I have been frequenting on the weekends to scuba dive. It is a very pretty town and Mt. Etna looms over it in the background. You'd never guess that the volcanoe was active looking at these pictures, or that this town was once covered in lava and ash. The town is probably about an hour or so from where we live, so it is not too far. The water is so clear on some days that you can see all the way to the bottom. The first time I went diving I saw a few schools of fish and some sea urchin, but Luis has seen star fish and more than I have because he has gone on more dives.

Oh the pain!

I went to the doctor yesterday morning because after scuba diving on Saturday I was fine and then by Sunday evening I was really feeling bad. My ears have been hurting since Saturday but on Sunday my head, teeth, and stomach joined them. Apparently when you surface too fast your body doesn't have enough time to decompress so all the air gets stuck in your body and tries to push it's way out which basically results in headaches, earaches, nausea, etc...Of course the first thing the doctor asked was if I was pregnant. Sheesh! No, I'm not pregnant! If I was pregnant would I be scuba diving? I think not. He said I had a Station 2 Diagnosis which basically means my ears won't equalize under water and he gave me a bunch of medicine and told me to just wait it out until my ears healed. So now I am still a little light headed and my ears are killing me! I can't take my pain meds the doctor prescribed because I have to drive today and I cannot drive on them. Oh well! Scuba class again tonight. I am going, but only for the classroom portion. I will not be getting in the water. :o) Not yet...maybe in a week or so. The Doctor said that I could still Scuba Dive but that I would have to take a Sudafed the day before and the day of the dive to open my ears up so I can equalize. What a pain...all in the pursuit of some good ol' fashioned fun!

A New Adventure...

Luis and I started Scuba Diving lessons last week. It is an interesting sport and very difficult at first. This past Saturday was our first open water dive off the coast of Sicily. It was a beautiful spot and there were fish and sea urchins in the water accompanied by a few jelly fish. I had a hard time getting my ears to equalize under the water and my mask was on too tight so now my eyes resemble that of a racoon's ever so slightly from the suction of the mask.

We went out to another spot today for a second dive but only Luis dove today because my ears were still sore and I was tired. It actually worked out good because there were a lot of jelly fish in the water today. Way more than on Saturday. So I layed out on the boat deck instead and got a little sun, something I am trying not to do too much while I am here even though it is tempting. This was actually the first time I had really spent a significant period of time in the sun since we arrived here in Italy. But I used 30 proof sunblock so I didn't really burn. We were only out there for about an hour.

We will go on another open water dive next Saturday. I have decided that one dive a weekend is enough for me at least until I get better at it. Wish me luck!

Planting Flowers

I took some new pictures of the yard since I added some flowers out front. It looks much nicer now.

My Birthday

Another year older. (Aughhh!) I feel older than I am, but I think it is mostly because of my car accident a few years back. Still, I get to spend my 26th birthday in Italy and you can't beat that! :o) It has been a somewhat ordinary day which is just fine with me. I don't know many people here yet so it will be a quiet day, and considering the amount of school work I have due today, that is fine with me. I'll be stuck on my laptop writing papers most of the day. My birthday present from Luis is fabulous and I am very excited about it. He got me a Coach purse and matching wallet and checkbook cover! I have never owned such a nice handbag before and I absolutely love it! They say the quality is excellent and it should hold up extremely well over time. I guess it was to make up for not being here for my birthday the past 2 years. :o)

A new place to sleep...

I went to the NEX the other day strictly for the purpose of returning some throw rugs that just weren't right for the house and found a pair of mathcing pet beds for the kitties that I just couldn't pass up. They absolutely love them! Sydney jumped on her bed right away. Onyx took a little bit longer to warm up to the idea of sitting on th ebed instead of on the couch or in our laps, but he has finally given in at least partially. He spends equal time on all orafaces at this point. Sydney sticks strictly to her bed. They seem to be settling in to Italy quite nicely.

A beautiful picture...

I made chili for dinner yesterday at Luis' request and at the last minute realized we didn't have crackers. So I hopped in my car and ran over to the supermarket to pick some up. Unfortunately the commisary had just closed, so I headed back to the house. I went the back way just for a change of scenery. The whole day had been overcast and gloomy, but as I drove home the sun was peaking through the clouds and shone down on the town of Mineo at the top of the hill near our home. It was absolutely breathtaking and made me wish I was a professional photographer that actually knew what I was doing. Anyway, I took a pictures although it by no means does what I saw justice.

Our little babies...

I was uploading pictures from the camera the other day and ran across this one that I just had to post. The hotel we stayed at had a crib in one of the bedrooms, I guess in case the family who stayed there had a baby. Well, we brought our own babies...and they made themselves right at home!