6th Anniversary with Summer Fest & Pizza Date Night

This post is proof that you don’t always have to go all out on your anniversary celebrations. This is our 6th year anniversary, and our first in Italy. Celebrate the way you want.

Written by Mariztella Dibble

June 11, 2022

---

Originally, Riley and I were planning to visit Venice for our anniversary. It’s our first important celebration here in Italy. What would have been a better way to celebrate than taking a gondola ride and exploring the beautiful city of Venezia?

What really stopped us is the fact that we just got here. We were stressed and just trying to settle ourselves in the hotel. We were being pulled here and there for appointments and orientation classes to in-process. It was so stressful trying to add planning a day trip to Venice. The idea to go to the Summer Festival came about when we were sitting in the USO center one afternoon.

The USO is a center here on base that provides a relaxation area for soldiers and their family. There are snacks, drinks, couches, tv’s, a game console area, and computer area there. We usually go there when we just want to go outside to walk and have free snacks & drinks. They had a monthly calendar at the reception desk and I saw that there was a Summer Festival on June 11 which was our anniversary date. They even have different events and programs for other days like Taco Tuesdays, Wake-Up Wednesdays, and Troop Lunch Thursdays. It’s a great resource. They have wonderful people.

Summer Fest Signage

Anyway, the Annual Summer Fest was wonderful! They had so many fun things to do for adults and kids. There were hotdogs, chips, and snacks. There were booths from other centers like the Community Bank and the ACS (Army Community Services) that were giving away free sunscreens and other knickknacks. There was even a raffle giveaway which has an interesting story behind it.

We were one of the few people that got there early. I found it actually weird that there weren’t even more people there. It was only an hour and a half event, but I thought that more families would bring their kids to enjoy the sunny weather and the games. There were plenty of children-focused booths like a giant 4-in-a-row game, giant Jenga, face painting/temporary tattoo booth, and piñata.

Riley and I thoroughly enjoyed playing a round of corn hole game after we had eaten. I was severely awful at it! The boards were like 15 feet away from each other and I could barely throw it straight. Riley, on the other hand, made it in twice! He is clearly much better at it. He was actually telling me a story about the time in his old unit where they played night scope cornhole and he was the best one.

Going back, I mentioned that there is an interesting story with the raffle drawing. The raffle was free. You didn't have to pay to enter, so I kept pestering Riley to enter his name so we could have 2 entries. Anyway, they kept doing drawings every 10-15 minutes and they would give away 2-3 baskets. The last one they just did a massive drawing to give away 5 baskets. We were down to the very last one, and Riley whispers in my ear, "this one will be ours since it's our anniversary."

Guess what? We won! We got the very last raffle prize. It was a picnic basket full of snacks including 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies and it just happens to be our favorite. Thin mints for me and Samoas/Caramel deLites for Riley. How perfect is that! Here are some the pictures from that.

We ended the day with a date night at Spaccanapoli. It was the first night we have truly gone out to the city at night. It was wonderful! The weather was perfect. During the day, it is so painfully hot here! It's almost excruciating. I think we are closer to the sun so it's like scalding my skin. It is so unnaturally bright, brighter than back home. I feel like I'm going blind. I cry every time I go outside and I forget my Ray-ban's.

Beside that tangent, the nighttime weather can't be more perfect. It felt like the perfect summer day without the sun. There was a pleasant breeze and a lack of noise. I was telling Riley that I don't think I've ever really felt such a quiet night.

It was the perfect atmosphere for a date night. The restaurant was packed! Italians love their pizza at night. We were walking there and we saw the restaurant and there were people waiting outside. We got lucky that it was just the 2 of us and a couple had just gotten and left, so we didn't have to wait for very long.

I did learn, though, that you have to be a little aggressive when it's busy. When we got there, we were waiting to get on the counter to be seated because there were people in front of us that were paying. Behind us, there was another couple. Yet, when it was our turn, they completely went around us to the counter and got a seat. I was ready to completely go bonkers, but I did not because I did not want to ruin my anniversary date by getting angry. It was not worth it. Another group cut us off to pay before we finally got to the counter to get a seat.

Aside from that, there was nothing more perfect than having delicious authentic Italian pizza. We love Spaccanapoli. There are some people that criticize it and says it's not good, but there are also plenty that recommend it. This restaurant was recommended to us before we even got here. We got 2 medium pizzas, 2 drinks, and the "coperto" fee for €26, and this was a lot more than we should have paid because they charged us more for the drinks than what it said on the menu. If you ever make it out here in Vicenza, go to Spaccanapoli. The staff are sweet and the food is amazing.