We live a block from a recently renovated park so we spend a lot of time climbing and sliding (repeat for an hour!).
Entries from July 2011
Sliding!
July 28, 2011
bath time – from January 2011
July 28, 2011
We just found this video of the kids taking a bath (from January 2011). They taking baths and splashing!
Europe 2011
July 24, 2011
We took a few thousand pictures so it took us a while, but we’re finally getting around to posting our Europe vacation photos. Below are 5 new galleries.
We wanted to make the trip to see Zvonimir’s parents before Gabe and Zara needed their own airline seats. Airline tickets to Slovenia were much more expensive this year compared to years past so we ended up buying tickets to Venice, which is about 3 hours from Ljubljana. An added bonus was that our connections were through Philadelphia so we were able to find a 24 hour layover and meet up with Grandma, Pap, Aunt Debbie, Aunt Patty, and Aunt Sue before our flight to Europe!
It was great to see our family and perfect timing that Pappy could give Gabe his first haircut. We saved the cute little curl for his scrap book.
View the pictures from our Vacation 2011 – Philadelphia family visit.
The next evening we had an overnight flight to Venice. We assumed that since it was a night flight that Gabe & Zara would sleep through the flight. We assumed wrong!! The kids are not used to being held while they tried to sleep, so that was a problem, as were the lights, people were walking around, and not having any room to spread out (you can’t sit in the same row with twins because you need an extra oxygen mask). They also started the I want mommy and no one else phase so they were only happy when Amy was holding them (which a stewardess pointed out was not allowed). Unfortunately, we were “those people” with the screaming kid (times 2!) and nothing we did made them stop crying.
We arrived in Venice with two grumpy kids and 2 very tired and stressed out parents. We were very happy that we booked a hotel in Venice because we were exhausted and in no shape to drive the 3 hours to Slovenia.
After trying several cars before we found one large enough to fit us and our stuff, we headed to the hotel, just outside of the old city. After we took a nice nap, we took the bus to the old part of Venice and rode the water taxi around the city. We enjoyed a beautiful dinner al fresco in the back streets of Venice. It is a beautiful place and worth the visit. I wish we had more time to explore!
View our Venice pictures.
The kids were wide awake at 2 am so it was a rough night with little sleep, but overall we were glad we stayed overnight in Venice. The next day we headed to Slovenia to see Baba and Dide (Grandma and Grandpa). It was much warmer in Slovenia than at home so was a tough adjustment. The kids also did not adjust well to the time change so sleep was tough for everyone. We had a great time taking walks, visiting the playground and markets in Slovenia, and catching up with friends. The kids had a great time with their grandparents and loved spending the days watching dogs and playing in the park.
View pictures from our Vacation 2011 – Slovenia visit.
Next, we headed to our family house on the Croatian coast. Lucija, Erwin and Eva flew in from France to meet us in Croatia. The kids are only a month apart so it was really fun to have the whole family under one roof. It was also great to catch up with our Croatian family and friends in Murter.
The weather in Croatia was quite warm but the kids loved exploring the patio at home. When we arrived in Croatia, both kids were still pretty shaky with their walking so they often ended up crawling then pulling themselves up. They did not like crawling on the rough patio stones so they learned to walk a little more quickly as a result. Grandpa also taught the kids to throw stones into the sea in Croatia so this was hours of fun.
View our Croatia pictures.
After our visit to Croatia, we returned to Slovenia for the remainder of our trip. On the drive back to Ljubljana, we stopped at Zvonimir’s grandparents homestead in Slovenia. The area looks very similar to where Amy’s grandparents lived in Pennsylvania. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch on the stairs of the house and were greeted by a very friendly cat whose calm demeanor, despite 2 non-gentile kids, earned him some prosciutto from our sandwiches! Before the final leg of our journey to Ljubljana, we visited our cousins who live nearby. We had not seen them in a few years so it was great to say hello!
View our pictures from our last week in Slovenia.
The flights back to Seattle were very long but luckily we had an awesome gate agent who, not only blocked the entire bulk-head row but also gave us 3 seats behind that road so we had enough room to spread out and for the kids to take a nap. Unfortunately Zara flat out refused to sleep so she was a mooing mess (she sounds like a cow mooing when she is tired, upset, etc.). Gabe was a little happier after a 3 hour nap but the flight seemed never ending. When we finally got to Philadelphia the kids we had to rush to make it through customs and to our next flight. By the time we got on the flight the kids were so exhausted that they crashed and slept the entire trip to Seattle. We were extremely happy to be home after a 26+ hour day!!