Our Latvian Guests

Our friends, Marina and Sergei, arrived on Wednesday from Latvia and we are so excited to have them here. It has been four years since we've seen each other when the guys played together in Fort Wayne. Thanks to Facebook and Skype, Marina and I have stayed in contact over the years and I was thrilled when she told me they were going to come for a visit.

Unfortunately, Marina and Sergei ran into some trouble on the way here and had one of their bags stolen at the rental car place in Milan. As they were getting in their car, a woman came up to them to ask them where the rental office was and in the 20 seconds they were talking to her, her 'partner in crime' stole one of their bags they had set directly behind them. By the time they realized what happened, it was too late. What is wrong with people?

After they counted their losses, which included a GPS, camera, phone chargers, underwear, and Sergei's homework for school, they made the 3 hour drive to Vipiteno. We spent the night catching up and having drinks. Thursday, we hit up the outlet malls and Kevin's hockey game.

Yesterday, we decided to go to Innsbruck to watch the Youth Olympic Games. We were excited to see the ski jumping competition, but once we got into Innsbruck and saw the weather, we had a feeling it was cancelled (and it was). After sliding down the hillside and almost getting stuck, we thought it would be better to check out an event that was played indoors. When we got to the stadium, speed skating was going on so we caught the end of it, but no Lativan or Americans were competing in the finals. We made our way inside and found out women's hockey was going on so we checked it out for awhile. Kazakhstan was playing Sweden in the semi-finals. We only stayed for one period because it was painful to watch. The final score ended up being 11-0 with Sweden outshooting Kazakhstan 74-1.

The boys are excited for some women's hockey.

We will spend today in Bolzano shopping, meeting up with friends, and watching the hockey game. Hopefully the weather cooperates with us.

Snow Day!

Since the first day I arrived, I've been looking forward to the snow. I would wake up every morning and the first thing I’d do was look out the bathroom window to see if we had any. And every morning, I've been disappointed...until yesterday!!! I'm not sure why I'm so excited since I've always lived in places that have a fair amount of snow during the winter. I guess it is because snow looks so much prettier here in the mountains of Vipiteno than in the flat Midwest.

With the snow, it is definitely a lot colder. Since arriving I've been used to daytime temperatures of 5-10C or 41-50F, but today I got in the car and it said -2C or 28F. The snow has also brought the tourist. The hotel property we live on went from a ghost town to being packed in less than 24 hours. When we were driving through town today, the parking lots were packed with buses, the ski lifts were running, and the walking street was packed.

And the most exciting news of all...I got to break out my new snow boots today!