The Hills Are Alive...

...With THE SOUND OF MUSIC! Aviano Air Base has a very active community theater group, and after seeing all the plays for the last year and half, I decided to participate! I got a small role as a nun in The Sound of Music. Although it was a stretch for me to act like a nun, it was an easy costume, no speaking, and only singing with a group! That worked for rehearsals and 4 of the 6 performances, but to cover for a friend, for 2 performances I played the part of Sister Berthe. This meant that I actually had lines to speak and some solo lines to sing in a quartet of nuns to the song "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria." I never got a rehearsal, but I got it right. It was a blast. Here I am "in the habit!"


And here are a few shots from the play. If you know the movie, these should look familiar...






And shots from my scenes as Sister Berthe. Berthe finds a sexy nighty in Maria's suitcase and holds it up for the other sisters to see, with a shocked look on her face. This got a few laughs and was fun!


Me, singing my heart out with the sisters and the Reverend Mother. I look positively angelic, don't I? (see, that's ACTING, hee,hee)


Me, singing one of my solo parts...



The play was a lot of hours of work, but I met so many new people, had so much fun, and learned so much! And it was so awesome to do THIS particular play only 4 hours from Salzburg. My dear husband took these pictures and sat through the show 6 times, poor thing! All of us know all the words to all the songs now, and it's driving us crazy! Sara and I are thinking of auditioning for the next one, and Andrew wants to work backstage. Just what we needed -- another thing to keep us busy!

HOME!

It's a heck of a long trip, but always worth it to be home to Missouri for a while! This trip seemed extremely difficult since the kids and I got stuck in NYC because of weather and had to spend a night in a hotel with no luggage, only to get delayed again for 6 more hours the next day! But, finally, a day later than we were supposed to, we got HOME! Grandma and Grandpa Smith are always happy to see us!



The kids are always happy to see Uncle Greg for a little while until he scares them with offers of free spankings -- LOL!


And our friend from Grandpa's photo studio, Bill (a faithful blog follower) you are famous now -- you finally made it on here!


Andrew loves to help mow Grandma and Grandpa's yard -- because they have a riding mower! And because he gets paid to do it as well! Geesh!



I left the kiddos in Grandma's capable hands and flew down to New Orleans to meet Bryan for the JAG Keystone Conference. It would have been a great, romantic retreat for Bryan and I without the kids, except that I got really sick! We had one nice evening together in the French Quarter the first night I got there. The next 3 days I spent a lot of time in bed in the hotel room until I could fly back to St. Louis. I did get to do a little shopping and see many good JAG spouse friends in between my naps, like Joy Dunlap, who flew in a little early just so we could spend some time together! Thanks Joy! I miss you! Needless to say, I didn't take many pictures in New Orleans. Here are a few...





After the conference, Bryan got to visit family for a few days too. Bryan's folks live about 3.5 hours from mine. The weather was chilly, but nice and we spent a lot of time outside with the kittens and the mule.



Three generations of Watson men!


The kittens LOVED all the attention from Sara. She didn't want to leave them for a minute! They all enjoyed some time together in the sun...


Andrew has little ol' Grandma Watson completely beat now on height!!!


Grandpa's new mule was a huge hit! Both kids loved driving it around the farm...



Grandpa got Andrew a BB gun to use while he is visiting. What more could a 12-year-old boy want? Shooting guns and driving vehicles!




After a few days there, Bryan had to return to Italy, but the kids and I spent another week. We did stop in our old college town of Columbia (MIZZOU-RAH!) on the drive back to St. Louis and had a super quick visit with our dear friends and mentors, the Bostons. Always love to see you, Bill and Ro!

When in St. Louis, we always spend a lot of time hanging out with our best friends, the Essigs! Robyn and I have been buddies for 25 years! Yikes! And somehow I didn't get any pictures of her this time! So weird -- sorry Robyn, and thanks for everything! You are the BEST! Here are views from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch.




Grace and Andrew (best buddies since birth)...


Sara, Sophia and Grace...


I love this shot of Sophia on the hayride...


You are never too old to be silly...


At Robyn's house, the kids decorated some little pumpkins...


And we got to trick-or-treat with our good friends for Halloween! Here's little Sarajawea...


And the youngest Lt. Colonel Watson...


Ready to go get some candy!


We had a great trip back to the states! It always goes so fast and there is never enough time for everything! We had lots of tears as we left Grandma at the airport, but it was a smooth trip back to our home in Italy and it's always good to be there too! Thanks to both sets of grandparents for taking such good care of us! We love you all!