August here was, once again, like every August here but even worse this year, HOT.  So stupid gross humid hot.  Record hot.  We went to cooler Slovenia for awhile, but we also had to come home.  Also the hot started this year in JUNE.  I turned, once again, into a terrible-horrible-no good-very bad-angry-lethargic human.  So I didn’t take pictures.

What did happen when I wasn’t angrily sweating was that the kids had homeschool teen friends.  They hung around on base, went to the beach, Cedar organized an all-day movie-marathon in our basement, and I organized an epic paintball event for the homeschool teens including pizza and pool.  Cedar became good pals with Lucy, Scouts started up again (including a day at a Ropes course!), and Cedar became interested in tennis.  He joined the school tennis team and is now playing tennis for hours every day.

We finally had a Band picnic to welcome new people and say farewell to those leaving.  We welcomed another new family by taking them out for groceries and pizza. We hung out with Brannons and Volpes and Nolan, and also had picnics at Carney… most of which I was too lethargic to photograph.

Matt and I went on a Naples date to include pizza, calamari, and desserts.  We have almost hit all the top pizzerias now.  Our typical main goal with Naples trips is to eat all the things, and sometimes we just don’t hit the mark, but this time we achieved our primary goals.

Typical beach/city shot here.  In some regions this kind of place would include clean water, but truthfully and sadly, clean water is not often a reality in this area.  People still swim in it though.  I wish Naples would figure out how to keep the seashore clean, since her people value the sea so much.

We finally got back up to the lake (Lago di Castel San Vincenzo), probably for the last time.  This time we rented a stand-up paddleboard from the base, and it was great!  Matt is really thinking a lot about the kinds of outdoor activities that will work for our family when we move to Florida, and kayaks and stand-up paddleboards are on the list.  He’s also researching vehicles to buy, how to renovate a van into a camper, and buying a home to keep as a rental.  Did I forget to mention we got our orders to move to Jacksonville, FL in Feb/March 2022?