Finally Found a Moment

Yes, I have been slow to get this blog started.  Apologies to my faithful friends and family who might be wondering what has been going on.  The answer is... A LOT!  We have just been so busy with settling in that I have not had the time to sit down and write.  Luckily today the opportunity came up so here I am, trying to put together 5 or 6 posts to catch all of you up.  For now you get a view of our first few days.  I will try over the next month to get back up to present day.
For anyone not quite caught up on the Belli family, we are a Italian (Paolo)-American (me) couple with two children (Gio, age 6 and Maria, age 2) who have just moved to our fourth continent since we got married 8 years ago.  Paolo works for the World Bank and so far we have lived in New Delhi, India (Gio's birthplace), Washington, DC, Kyiv, Ukraine and now Pretoria, South Africa.  To add to the chaos we also have a 140 pound Bernese Mountain Dog named Enzo and a 3-legged black cat named Pepperoni who came along with us to Pretoria. And now, here is how the newest adventure began....

13 pieces of luggage and a fond farewell to our beloved apartment in Kyiv.

Enzo and Pepperoni had flown 2 days before us and were waiting for us in South Africa.

When we are moved to a new post we get to fly Business Class.  This can be a bit stressful with a toddler (somehow it seems worse when your child is loud in the fancy seats), but Maria was a star.  She only screamed on take off as she hates being strapped in her own seat, preferring to be in my lap.   

She actually only sat in her seat for take off and landing.  Otherwise she was quite content in my lap (where she did sleep for 6 of the 10.5 hours) and in this perfect Maria-sized spot which was, in theory, my foot rest. The flight attendants gamely played along and served all of her meals to her here.  I am guessing they would have done anything to keep her smiling and quiet!

We landed in Jo'burg Sunday morning.  As soon as we got to Pretoria and checked into our hotel we raced out to Menlyn Kennels (best kennels ever!) to visit our dear Pepperoni.  In typical PooPoo (Maria's name for him) fashion, he ignored us in order to concentrate on eating. 

We wished we could have taken him back with us but our house is not quite ready.  These fancy digs made us feel less guilty about leaving him behind.  He had a full furnished house all to himself along with his own grass garden!  Sadly we could not visit Enzo who was in a government quarantine kennel near the Jo'burg airport. 

Poor Gio.  He has a mean mama.  Full day of school in Kyiv on Friday, overnight flights to South Africa Saturday-Sunday and Monday morning at 6:50AM....waiting for the school bus.  No rest for a busy 1st grader!

Once Gio was at school and Paolo safely dropped off at his office Maria and I headed to our new house to supervise a thorough cleaning and to wait for rental furniture to be delivered.  Here we are looking out the playroom window onto the 18th fairway of the golf course.  This playroom is the size of the entire 1st floor of our apartment in Kyiv!  

By Wednesday we were able to move into our house (after picking up Pepperoni, of course).
 Here he is scanning his new hunting grounds.

Gio now gets picked up every morning right outside of our house.  He already adores his driver Thabo.

On Friday afternoon (one week after he arrived in South Africa), Enzo was delivered to us from quarantine.  Here is what he did during his first minute of freedom!

 

Watching Enzo cavort in the pool had us both giggling.

Enzo now wallows in the pool throughout the day.  The pool, the tiles throughout the house and the many shady spots in the garden mean Enzo is quite comfortable in his new life.

Maria's sign language for swimming.
No, she is still not talking much but she has developed quite a lot of hand signals!

Not sure which one is the lifeguard.

Pepperoni likes to stay as close as he can to Enzo but does avoid him when he is soaking wet!

One of the many things I love about South African living?  Maria and Gio happily play out on our huge patio while I cook dinner inside.  With no toys yet delivered in our shipments, this jar of kinetic sand we bought our first days in town became a real favorite. 

Our second week in Pretoria meant it was time for Maria to try out preschool.

She was mostly excited about her backpack.  Yes, it is as big as she is, but when Maria sees something she wants there is no talking her into other options.  Her first morning went pretty well.  Some crying when she realized I was not staying with her but she was all smiles when I picked her up 3 hours later.

A bit more apprehensive on day 2 but we both survived drop off again.

Every afternoon when Gio gets home from school he strips down to his underwear as soon as he gets off the bus (yes, there is actually a trail of clothes leading from the gate to the pool!).  Maria wants to join the fun and insists I dress her in her full outfit.  Only problem is she really does not want to go into the pool, so it is really just about the outfit change.  One day....one day....

That is all for now.  More about our second week when I find another free hour to write it up..... 
For now, some teasers to keep you checking back:

-pictures of our new house
-a trip to Victoria Falls
-Maria has surgery
-Halloween at Gio's school
-a new Belli!!!