Jeopardy in Naples

  "This famous ruler once said 'Veni, vidi, vici.'" As soon as she finished my thumb hit the buzzer. "Charis?"
  "Julius Ceaser."
  "That is correct, Charis. You may pick the next category.
  "American history, four hundred." You'll never believe where I am. Okay, the location isn't that amazing. I'm in an elementary school  in JFC Naples. But you'll never guess the next part. Standing in front of me is Kelly from the Clue Crew.
  "On January 1st, 1863, this proclamation was issued to free the slaves. Tobin?"
  "The Monroe Doctrine."
  "That is incorrect. Charis?"
  "The Emancipation Proclamation."
  "That is correct, Charis. That concludes this round. Please step up to the table and get a prize." I grabbed a Jeopardy T-shirt and hurried back. This round my mom and dad would be playing against each other.
  "Ted, would you start us off,please."
  "Out of this world for six hundred." And so they began. Mom and Dad were at each other neck and neck. The other lady, Tiffany, barely had a chance. Soon they were finished and it was time to go. Just so it's clear: This was a practice round. We did not earn actual money. Just prizes. And we were not being filmed. This was just for fun. Well, for some people it was more than that. Before we started Dad had taken a ten question test to try out for Jeopardy. He passed, which meant he had to come back at four for a fifty question test to see if he would make it onto the show. As we were getting ready to leave we saw a line for a picture with Alex Trebeck. Dad really wanted to get a picture with the show's host, so we got in line.
  While we were waiting, Dad asked Mom if she wanted to take the test also. She admitted she did want to, and so she went back to take the test. A few minutes later she was back with happy news. She had passed, so both her and Dad would be coming back later for the bigger test. That meant we would have to find someone to watch the kids. No worries. A neighbor agreed to help us out. Later that afternoon we went to the park and mom and dad went to take the test. After awhile we decided to go back to the apartment to rest and bumped into Mom. She had failed the test, but Dad was one of five who had stayed behind. If he did all right they would keep his name in their files until it was time for military week. The Jeopardy team would be going to three other Navy bases in Italy and would pick twelve people in all to be and their show. We won't find out for awhile if Dad made it, so we'll just have to wait and see. I don't know about you, but I'm hoping he makes it onto the show. I'll keep you posted.

A Day at the Vineyard

   "We're here!" I unbuckled my seat belt and stepped out of the car. The first thing I noticed was the dirt. Actually, dust is a more accurate way to describe it. With every step I took a cloud of dust would form around my shoe. After a few steps I couldn't tell what color my shoes were supposed to be.
   "Isn't this awesome?" my mom asked, getting out of the car.
   "Yep." I replied.
   "All right everybody, circle up." Nello, the guy who had organized this event, called out. "Who's ready to go grape picking?" We all cheered. "All right, then, follow me." He started up the path and we all tromped after him.
   My mom was the one who had found out about this. We were at an Italian vineyard where we would spend the morning picking grapes. After that we would have lunch and then stomp on our grapes to make wine. At first we didn't think we could go. The cost was 20 euro for adults and 15 euro for kids. That would be 130 euro for all of us. Then Nello told us that he would let three kids come for free, and we decided to go. So here we are, following an old guy through a vineyard on a well worn path. I tried to concentrate on what he was saying.
   "We'll have a little snack, then we'll pass out the clippers and show you how to work them, and then we can get started. Here we are." We had arrived at a little table on the edge of a steep hill. Thankfully, there was a fence. On the table were two cakes and cups of juice. Once everyone had eaten and we had retrieved Lucan's shoe (he had accidentally kicked it of the side of the hill and would not stop screaming until someone had fetched it for him) Nello passed out the clippers. He explained how to open them, which grapes to cut, (the yellow ones, not purple) and where to cut. Then he gave us all baskets and showed us where to start picking. I worked with Kenna for a bit, then she found a little friend and ran off to play with her. I found a different spot and started picking by myself. Soon I was drenched in sweat, but I had a whole basket full of grapes. I filled half of another, then went to find my mom. We took a water break and sat in the shade for a bit. Soon it was time for lunch. We tromped back to the tables, washed our hands off, and found spots at the table. I would like to say that we had some yummy Neapolitan pizza for lunch, but instead we had hot dogs and fries. Some of the grown-ups had wine too. Warning, kids: Don't Try Wine! It tastes super bitter. I had to drink three cups of water before I could get the taste out of my mouth. It was almost as bad as beer (and that's saying a lot).
   While we were eating a couple of Italian guys serenaded us with some Italian music. They played the guitar really well, and we heard the real version of the song Veggietales based their "A great big squash just sat upon my hat," on.
  When everyone was done eating it was time for the grape stomping! There were two big containers filled with the grapes we had picked. Everyone who wanted to washed their feet in a tub of water, then stepped into the grape container and started stomping. Pretty soon the tub had more juice than grapes in it. After the kids had all had a turn some grown-ups joined in the fun.
   When everyone had their shoes back on we paid Nello and left. All in all, it was a pretty good day.