Trey Johnathan Braheem

Both Trey and Olivia seemed to slip right back into their groove when we arrived back in Italia. Trey had no trouble getting adjusted to the time changed that takes Olivia and I nearly one full week to get straight. He simply sleeps twelve hours and is all set! Ever since he was a little baby, Treyboy could sleep anywhere, at anytime and pretty much as much time as you will let him!

Trey also knew that upon our return to Florence that he would be responsible for helping Spencer Tyoran in his adjustment to Italian life. We spoke of the difficulties that he faced when we arrived in August and how much Spencer would need a friendly face in those first few days at his new school. The best part about it is that their friendship has been effortless.

Currently, Trey is preparing a fairly large homework assignment where he is responsible for researching the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci and putting them into a Power Point format for oral delivery in front of the entire class! He couldn’t have picked a better subject as Leonardo is quite a fascinating individual and of course a native of the Florence area. The neat thing is that this is a project that Trey and I can work on together as my experience in Power Point and presentations in general is pretty extensive. It’s really neat to see how much he is learning in school about computers. Heck he might know more than Anna about them at this point!

Tennis and swimming remain as the two weekly physical activities that Trey participates in. He has been using his new tennis racket downstairs at the castle to practice by pounding tennis balls against the giant wall in the castle’s entry way. Soon, when the weather begins to warm in a month or so, baseball practice will begin at the castle (Trey and I can’t wait) we talk about it a lot and are determined to spend three to four days a week practicing. The goal would be to have Spencer over as well and to create formal practices with the two of them after school! I’ll make ballplayers out of them yet :>) Following is this months interview with Trey:

Q: Trey, tell us about Leonardo da Vinci. What did you learn about him from your report and why do you like him?
TA: “He was perhaps the first European interested in flight. He was an artist, a botanist, a writer, inventor, geologist and painter. He invented the Ariel Screw which was the first relative of the helicopter. He invented several flying machines and was fascinated with flight. He dissected a bird to figure this out. When he was born, a hawk landed on his chest and so many people think that this is why he had so much interest in flying. It’s cool that he lived in Florence and we live here now.”

Q: Trey, tell us about your friendship with Spencer. How has it been having another kid from the Thousand Oaks area here in Italy?
TA: “I think that it’s great having another kid here that I new from America. I hardly knew any of the other kids before I came here. He’s my best friend here in Italy and it’s really cool that he lives so close to us so we can play together. We like a lot of the things that are the same. This makes it easy for us when we play together. With some of my other friends, we like different things so we have to take turns with things that we like. It’s not that way with Spencer.”

Q: Trey, Florence has a lot of dog poop, tell us how you feel about it?
TA: “Well, its fine to me when I see it, but when I smell it, my eyes start to get watery and I feel like I am going to puke.”

Q: Trey, two words and then your response please “Italian Milk”
TA: “I like it so much better than America. It’s more rich and has more flavor and tastes so much better.”

Q: Trey, how was Carnival in Venice. What did you like the most about it?
TA: “I liked the part in San Marco square with all the people in costumes. My favorite was the person who was dressed like a carrousel, it was a really cool costume.”

Q: Trey, you have finally attended your first Italian Soccer game. How was it? Describe the experience please.
TA: “I liked it but the seats sucked and it was really dirty in the stadium. I was disappointed that they lost but at least I got to see a soccer game. I liked watching the game, it was really cool to see how good the players are.”