Christmas Pictures.

Not all of these relate to school, but they do give you an idea of what we got up to before and during the school holiday!

Being a star, literally, in the school nativity play. This lasted 2 hours with an hour beforehand for them all to arrive and get ready! I've put the video of her bit on my Facebook page (Alyson Joy Long - I think I'm the only one!!) if you are interested.

End of term ballet recital. The hardest part for her was having to have a proper bun. As soon as she finished I had to remove all the pins holding it in place, it was hurting her that much! She was very enthusiastic though!

The AILO's Christmas Bazaar at the old stables near Porta Romana. Being an American event we ate burgers and hot dogs! They were very good though. There was also proper US crisps (chips) by Lays, which I've never had before. They were almost like Britain's Walkers, so they were good. I find most Italian crisps far too salty or highly flavoured! I tend to stick to Pringles or Kettle Chips because of this! It was a good bazaar and we came home with loads of bargains! The best was buying back a baby toy I had donated that nobody wanted, except Antonia of course who recognised it and hadn't realised I had given it away! As it had come from a fair in the first place I ended up paying more to buy it back than I paid for it in the first place! 

We went to see an Italian musical production of Pippi Longstocking, hence the pigtails! Antonia thought it was great. It was just the right length at an hour long. Also, for once, it was in the afternoon rather than the evening so we were out before tea. We went and had a Chinese as a treat. Unfortunately it was the Sunday the heavens opened and we had an enormous hail storm! We eventually got home about 8.00 p.m. having had to stay in the restaurant until it all calmed down!

Finally, Christmas Day! Antonia has been having golf lessons with a friend on and off since September. She decided she wanted a set of clubs from Father Christmas. Here she is practising with them on Christmas day!

Christmas is a coming!

One for Courtney - the Christmas play at school is looming large!!!

This year Antonia is a Star! Just how many seconds will she be on stage I wonder! We didn't make last years play as she was really sick on the day, but I got hear all about it from Courtney! This year she can have the pleasure of hearing about it from us!

We have to pay to have the costumes tailored - only in Italy! Then it is in a theatre about 30 mins or more bus ride from where we live, we also have to pay for the theatre! Last year it was about 3hours long, but we missed it, I can't wait! The summer play was 2 hours. This is only the Asilo kiddies, not the whole school! I dread to think how long the Media productions must be! Oh well, it's all in a good cause! My darling husband is managing to miss it by being in the UK, but Alex will be able to accompany us, tee, hee! I love watching my kids in their shows, but 3 hours for a nativity, please! 

I also have Antonia's end of term Ballet Recital. This is less than an hour, much more like it! If nothing else expecting little ones to last for hours is unreasonable, but never mind. Looking forward to the ballet! 

The Dinosaur Park and Golf....

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The first picture is of Antonia's first golf lesson, but it didn't seem to fit in anywhere else so I thought here was as good as anywhere!

The dino park is in Peccioli - I hope I have spelt that right! The name is somewhere in one of the pictures. The huge dino is one the biggest full scale models in the world and took 4 years for the brothers that own the park to make! It is dedicated to their dad. Not sure what the implication of that is, but hey ho! It is a great park for young kids. Not much for any above 8 I would say, unless they are obsessed dino fans that is! It was a lovely day, as you can see and the surrounding area was pure Tuscan countryside, really beautiful. A good day out.

Broken Record!

Well, we almost got through a whole month without an absence, but it wasn't to be! So far this week Antonia hasn't been in school at all. Monday she woke up hot and tired. Her temperature was over 39c! I dosed her up and sent her back to bed. I don't have a regular doctor here - I have to go private because of all the weird and wonderful constraints the various Italian governments have put on EU immigrants trying to live in their wonderful country. They are aimed at stopping people who can't support themselves sponging off the state here, but it impinges on all of us who are trying to live here. Consequently I have to have expensive medical insurance in order to have a doctor. Or pay as I go. At the moment, because of the minefield involved in finding the right insurer etc. I pay as I go. Luckily, having had all this with my 13 year old it takes a lot for me to dash to the doctor anyway. If I'd called for an appointment in the UK they would have told me to do exactly what I did - give her fever reducing medicine and then check if that was taking the temperature down. Well it came down a little, so I dosed her back up and she slept most of the day. When she was awake I was checking her for rashes, making sure she could put her chin to her chest and touch her toes! She was the one going around turning lights on so I knew she didn't have light aversion!!

All the sleep in the day then threw out her night time, so she was waking at midnight expecting me to get drinks and food! Cool, huh! By Tuesday her temperature had gone down to about 37c, so still borderline, and then the cough started!! That night was the worse, as soon as she lay down, cough, cough, cough. But rarely heard during the day. So another bad night Tuesday! Wednesday we managed a little trip out to a new bakery and the weather was warm, but when we came back she started coughing again. That night I was making warm milk and honey at midnight and stacking up the cushions (why I didn't do this earlier, I don't know!). Finally, peace! But then I woke at 5.00 a.m. with my head full of stuff, so when I finally got back to sleep at 7.00 a.m. it meant another school day had bitten the dust!!

So, of all the things that are definitely wrong with Italy is easy access to its healthcare programme. I can just take her to the A&E and if I had thought meningitis had been a serious risk I would have done, no question. But how many out there are seriously endangering their kids by not even considering this?