| The Leonetti Family - Italia |
| Last night the American School of Milan invited friends and family for the annual awards ceremony to celebrate their Varsity Athletes. Zaven had played Badminton (gay - but apparently very BIG over here - I still don't get it) and he ran Cross Country. Kyle, his coach, gave out the MVP to Wataru - you might remember him from Zaven's election video and when she came to the Coach's Award - saying how this boy had missed weekend get aways with his family to attend Cross Country events, ran with an injury, was consistently postitive and had a great team attitude and was just a pleasure - it only crossed my mind that it could be Zaven. Everything fit except I had forgotten about the shin splits... We were and are so proud and are grateful everyday to be Zaven's parents. American School of Milan 3 June 2013 |
| ASM Prom 2013 And lower classmen can attend. Obviously there weren't many kids paired up on really real dates - just everyone showing up and having fun together. Love this group of boys. They will graduate together from ASM - class of 2016- ie rare for an International School to have kids attend multiple years together (everyone is coming and going all the time) - we are thankful that there are 4 great boys who will spend their high school years together. PS Connor far right is heading back to Boise this summer so he is the exception to the group. #wewillmisshim Another nice thing about prom is that the 16 and older kids are allowed to drink so they served prosecco. Think about how much effort goes into preventing underage drinking in America. #wastetheydoitanyway While they were partying, we had Ethiopian food with some of the other parents. Eating communally with our hands. Academic award ceremony this Tuesday...more Zaven acolades coming. Joe's birthday tomorrow - Mt. Blanc trek next weekend - yay! 8 June 2013 |
| Last night ASM celebrated the academic awards for 2013. Zaven recieved 3 awards. The first was for being on Honor Roll the entire year 3.5+ GPA He also received the Teacher's Choice Award for Intro to Film. The school is entering a film in a European Film Festival in Switzerland this Fall - but it needs to be entered this month - which Z wrote, co directed and stars in :) He loves this medium and he has a wonderful teacher - Zach which you may have seen in some of our previous posts. As I was talking to a mom beside me (or she was talking to me), I hear blah, blah, Zaven Grey Leonetti, again. "Kathryn, what did he just win?" She said, "Most Outstanding Student." "But for what?" Italian? Italian. #notpayingattention#bad We are so over the moon proud about our amazing boy! It's the end of award season, I think Zaven will sleep the entire summer - he has worked so hard this school year. And Joe will be moving up to teach Middle School Math & Science next school year. Yay! Mt. Blanc trek this weekend with the Hooleys - can't wait! 12 June 2013 |
| We do an Alp trek every year for Joe's birthday, but Zaven's prom threw a wrench in our original plans so we postponed to this weekend, which was better as the Hooley Family could join us. We love hanging out with them. You might remember night sledding in Switzerland last February with them as well. It was SO gorgeous! We stayed at Rifugio Torino Nuovo 3300 meters or something crazy. We were able to hike up to Rifugio Pavillon 2173 - which was v. steep yikes, but from there we had to take the Mt. Bianco Funivia because there is still boatloads of snow. Upper right: Mt. Blanc - everytime I am here there are always clouds covering the peak - even yesterday when we arrived - but I was promised this morning I would be able to see it...and I did - wowzers! Just a note - this rifugio is like a base camp for hard core mountaineers - who get up at 2.00 AM to get to the summit. We felt like cheaters but it was good to get a lay of the land in case we decide to give it a go when the snow melts. #gotmymtfix Mt. Blanc / Bianco Italia 15-16 June 2013 |
| Trail break for some panini e gorp. |
| Midway - Rifugio Pavillon discussing the finer points of hash tags. #themes, #categories #subtitles #stereotypes #nonsense |
| We had a fun evening eating pretty decent rifugio food, drinking wine and playing zonk. Above left: the morning after - 3300 meters is tough for us plains people - I took one Exedrin PM - it helped a bit - the only way to explain altitude sickness is like a hangover - so throbbing headache, nausea #pukey Plus Joe had been REALLY REALLY sick last week so he felt like his sinuses were going to explode. Best solution - get down fast and voila we all felt like a million bucks. Yay! |
Not sure what's going
on with that pained
look on my face -
but you can see a
tissue in my hand in
the 1st frame- I had a
hang nail that was
just bleeding and
bleeding
#highaltitude. I think
Joe was shaming me
#gross
on with that pained
look on my face -
but you can see a
tissue in my hand in
the 1st frame- I had a
hang nail that was
just bleeding and
bleeding
#highaltitude. I think
Joe was shaming me
#gross
| It was so wonderful to spend time with the Gilbert-Gilhome family!!! I was so sad to leave. But we hope to see them in a few weeks when B comes to Italy for business and K and the kids tag along. My work sessions were great, I was so happy to meet more of my EMEA colleagues. No business trips planned until September and then I think it will be manic. Joe is going to the UK in a week for his last principal training. Yay! Then we go to Germany to see Av and celebrate his graduation. YAY! Then we go to Tropea for vacation. YAY! Then Zaven is going to Japan!!! He was invited to visit his friend Yu. What a cool opportunity. It is his sweet 16 early birthday present. Yay! Feeling grateful and blessed. 22-26 June Croughton & Bracknell, England |
| Above: Artwork by Archer. Archer stole my heart. He is the most charming little boy (besides my own boys) in the whole wide world! Right: he left a flashlight (no batteries) for me on my night table, in case I got scared at night...and a spider (to scare me or keep me company - not sure which) Left: He told me I should look on my bed and he left me a surprise he put this darling note and crystals in a box with my name on it - "Rond" (I am changing my name to Rond). He is only 6 but wow his penmanship is amazing. |
| And I was so thrilled to meet Tahlia in person - what a darling doll baby! The sweetest temperamant - happy, smiley - not fussy at all, just an absolute beautiful dream little girl! |
| Kerry & Rhonda bloopers. I loved having some quality time with my darling Kerry. |
| English countryside Right: Kerry & Brendans super cool house A big thank you to the Gilbert - Gilhome family for their hospitality before my meetings in Bracknell! |