Day 2 Together--Basketball and Beaches

Day 2--Tuesday, December 16
This morning I was feeling even worse, but thankfully we slept in a bit. But we were woken up by the crowing of the roosters. Yes, roosters. We knew they had a farm, but didn’t realize it was as big as it was. Byron headed downstairs and had tea (?) and some other breakfast. The kids were up and playing outside. They spent the morning being shown the entire farm and all of the animals. I had no idea that they had an entire farm. Complete with goats, chickens, pigs, quails, and rabbits. They also grow corn, olives, lemons, tomatoes, and lots of other vegetables. Out front they have a Japanese orange tree and a mandarin orange trees as well as lots of palm trees.

Once I motivated (thanks to a cup of coffee!), we walked around the farm and Nicholaus was able to pet the baby goats that were only a few days old. I’m hoping this real farm experience will fill his desire to live on a farm when he grows up. Maybe he’ll see how much work it is and be done with that. Mario, Melissa’s father, took him way out in to the field, too. Y’all know how nosey Nicholaus is!

For lunch, Melissa fixed Max’s favorite---spaghetti. And my goodness it was sooo good. I don’t see how they eat so much food, though. The spaghetti was only the first course. Then there was more prosciutto and cheese and vegetables. I was about to pop! Melissa was thrilled that Max had 2 helpings of spaghetti.

Oleg and Ivan then took the boys over to a friend of theirs—Edwardo. Then Edwardo came back over and they played basketball, which is Oleg and Ivan’s favorite sport. They are both quite good--especially with their height. They then played soccer a bit. Again, the language hasn’t been an issue at all. It is amazing to watch. They act as if they see each other all the time and haven’t missed a beat yet.

A little later, Melissa and Quinto had to run an errand so we were home alone with the boys. Oleg took the time to show us some of his artwork from school. He is quite talented. He says that art is his favorite subject. Max and Ivan then wanted to play a game of---you guessed it—UNO. So while the 3 of us played UNO, Oleg and Nicholaus got out Oleg’s paints. Oleg proceeded to show Nicholaus how to do a watercolor painting. It was very nice to just watch them interacting. Like it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

Late in the afternoon, we took a walk down to the beach. When we arrived last night, I could hear the beach and knew it was close. Turns out, it is about a 15 minute walk. Based on what I could make out from Melissa, the ocean has been very turbulent lately and has flooded up to the street leaving a lot of debris. The beach was covered with sticks and other ocean matter. But it is still beautiful. And most of the hotels are closed for the winter. Quinto explains that they will open again in April. This truly is a resort town that is generally frequented by Italians.

After our walk, Toni and his wife came over and Quinto indicated we were going for real pizza for dinner. So we went to a local pizzeria that I am sure is swamped during the tourist season, but tonight only had about 4 families there. The individual pizza there is the equivalent to a medium or large family pizza at home. The boys had a 4 cheese and sausage pizza and I had a cheese and tomatoe. It was very good but it felt wasteful to leave ½ of it there.

Once the boys finished dinner, they went outside the restaurant to play and our conversation turned to the story of the boys’ adoptions. Our boys came home to the US in April. Melissa and Quinto made their first trip and met the boys in June. In July/August, Oleg and Ivan were hosted in Milan by an Italian family. Quinto is still angry that they were not allowed to see the boys during that time. They made their second trip to bring them home to Italy in September. Oleg was very apprehensive about school in Italy but quickly adjusted. Ivan still isn’t a big fan of school and it sounds like he does the minimum to get by—sound familiar?????

All in all things are going well. I am a little stressed by the language. Oleg and Ivan’s English is not good. And although I’ve been studying Italian for 2 years, I have a hard time speaking it. But the kids seem to be doing well. It doesn’t seem to bother them at all. Although, when I ask Nicholaus about it, he just now told me that his solution for the language issue is to just say YES to everything. Pretty funny. I can not convey how amazing it is to watch the kids together. It truly is like they haven’t missed a day together. Although Ivan kisses and hugs Max a LOT. He is very affectionate and just hugs and kisses on him a lot. It’s quite cute. And personality wise, from what we gather from watching Oleg and what Melissa has said, Nicholaus and Oleg have similar personalities. They are both VERY organized. In fact, Melissa said that she would have to put the Ukraine photos in a very safe place b/c Oleg often takes to cleaning and organizing drawers around the house. Just like Nicholaus. And Ivan and Max are MUCH more playful. Maybe it’s b/c they are both the younger siblings (Ivan in Italy, and Max in the US).
What amazing kids they are. All 4 of them. It’s hard not to look at them and wonder what would have become of them in Ukraine. Or what would have happened had we and the Pignotti’s not connected. I know that my boys are better off knowing and having a relationship with their brothers. And I know that the Pignottis feel that way too. But I sometimes would what would have happened….

The photos below are of them playing basketball, Oleg painting, and just hanging out on the couch at home.