Croatian Vacation

Back around last Thanksgiving, which we had with our friends Jeffrey and Whitney, we decided we wanted to go somewhere together and Split, Croatia came up as a destination none of us had ever been to and sort of a "poor man's French Riviera" that we all wanted to see. And we really did it!

Departing for Split via Vienna (sighhh)

Hrvatska is Croatia in Croatian. The language sounds like a hybrid of a slavic language and Italian.

On the bus to the town.
Marc knows Jeffrey from work. Aren't they cute?

On the bus ride we passed a lot of homes scattered on the sunbaked hills. Many of them were unfinished and it was hard to tell if anyone lived in them. The center of town is really nice but the surrounding streets reminded me of Athens, but maybe not as crazy. Lots of stray cats...
My first impression was that the old stuff is in ruins and the new stuff is also in ruins.

Checking out the city for the first time.

Whitney and I really just want to be yacht women. 

I heard many languages but it seemed like there was mostly Irish, Aussie and Italians, since Italy is just across the Adriatic Sea.
There were a lot of tourists but it didn't feel overly crowded.

Vendors along the outside of the old wall. They mostly sell beach towels, hats, water shoes and souvenirs.

I arrived in Croatia with my seasonal trend of huge, swollen eyelids. On Day 2 they were worse, but by Day 3 Whitney commented that they weren't as scary. (Jazz hands!) But on Day 2 we went to the beach and somewhere between getting ready at the apartment and arriving at the beach I broke out in a raised, red, incredibly itchy rash on my right thigh and all around the front and back of my shoulders. What is wrong with me?? Can I just have a day where my skin isn't freaking out and torturing me? Am I allergic to the sun now as well as trees? So with that and all the mosquito bites I looked like a dog with a flea problem critical enough to need medical attention.

Day 2

Passing some ruins on the way to the beach.

We walked a long way but it was worth it when we saw this.

He was good about keeping his hat on for once.

So this is why the vendors all sell water shoes. It really hurts walking on this! 

Later that day we found a park with good climbing trees...until we realized we were being eaten alive by mosquitos.

Jeffrey is one of those people who says hilarious things without trying. Here is a list of just a few things.

Toby made a comment about how on the first leg of the trip we were sitting in front of them and on the second leg they were sitting in front of us. Jeffrey goes, "Isn't it funny how life works?"

"Is that sanitary?"

"I'm growing this one hair out."

We started a movie for the boys and when the intro music came on Jeffrey yelled from the other side of the apartment, "Is that Mulan?!"

Ok, maybe you had to be there, but we were all in stitches at the time.

Day 3
We took a ferry boat to the island of Brac and walked to another gorgeous beach. The water was so clear and warm. This time we knew enough to get water shoes for the boys. It was kind of awkward trying to get comfortable lying on a pile of rocks but the plus side was not having all of our stuff covered in sand.

The limestone used to build Diocletian's Palace was taken from this island.

Lots of different rocks but mostly white-ish limestone.

Watching a sea plane land.

Split was hot, like mid- to high-90s. I'm not a summer person so it probably wasn't the best idea to go to an already hot place in the summer. Anything above 80 and I start to get cranky. I REALLY don't like sweating. I know that, once again, I'm in the minority here, because I don't get why so many people can't wait for the summer weather. Everyone's like "Summatiiiiime!!" What part is it that you love so much? Clothing sticking to your body? Body odor? The sun burning a hole into your forehead? Fresh mosquito bites just as the last batch finally disappears, not to mention wasps and all the rest of Insecta plaguing the earth? The silhouette of my boys' bodies changed shape because the bites were so huge. Ugh! I'm sorry to be such a bummer about summer but to me it's just a mucky soup of itchy, sweaty, sticky sunscreen mixed with dirt. Unless I'm in water or still soaking wet from being in the water it's not an enjoyable time of year for me. Please just put me in a sealed cave and wake me up in late September. Bah Humbug!

Day 4
One of the highlights for me was seeing the inside of Diocletian's (cave-like!) Palace. It was built at the turn of the 4th century as part-residence, part-military garrison. After being abandoned for centuries the residents started building their city around what was left of the walls. Something like 3000 people have their homes and businesses within the old walls. Isn't that fascinating?!

It used to look like this right against the water for easy boat access. The water receded and now there is a big promenade in front of the harbor.

It's a maze of narrow streets. Old mixed with new.

And now to the underground...

Water bubbling up from underground.

Some of the walls were dripping water.

I think some of GOT was filmed here!!!

Part of the ancient sewer system.

Seriously old!

There were so many rooms to explore!

He ran in circles for ten minutes non-stop.

Our third and final beach was actually sandy! About ten minutes after we got there it started thundering and lightning and it looked like rain was coming so we had to pack up. I kind of missed the rocks when it was time to get all the sand off everyone and everything.

Sand in every crevasse.

The wall of rain.
It ended up only drizzling but we were already in a restaurant just in case.

The old city by night

It looks like a really fancy place, but it was pretty cheap.

These boys had an obscene amount of ice cream.

Day 5

Killing time in the shade before the busride to the airport.

It was so nice vacationing with adult friends. Not only was it great chatting and getting to know them better but it was invaluable having more adults for hand-holding, playing and swimming. Jeffrey and Whitney had quite a sampling of what it's like being with kids 24/7 and  traveling with them. I'm almost positive they still like us and I think they might even still want to have kids someday. Or maybe a cat.

We got on the bus to get back to the airport and the A/C wasn't exactly high-functioning. We were on that bus, which Whitney said smelled like the inside of a vacuum cleaner, for over an hour just dripping sweat.

Marc was literally pouring water on our heads.

Marc told me to smile and this was the best I could do.
Dripping sweat. Claustrophobic. Hate.

He finally fell asleep as we're descending on the first flight.

Aaaaaah! Split was beautiful but it's so good to be back in clean, predictable, chilly Germany. The temperature now in Split is 91 degrees but here it's a breezy 75 with a chance of rain tomorrow. Now that's my kind of summer!

Early Summer

A year of living in Germany has come and gone and so much has happened! We started from zero and now we have so much to be thankful for. If one thing stands out to me the most it's the boys and their language acquisition. It's truly been an incredible transformation to witness. I guess they're at about 50-60% fluent for their ages. They could just as well be speaking any language on earth! It's the funniest thing to hear them talk to other kids and for the other kid to understand them! The best part is when Tobin corrects my mispronunciation of the difficult sounds with a perfect accent. Or when another adult asks Jonah a question that I don't understand but Jonah answers back. Oh man, I'm so proud of them. They were thrown into it and sucked it up like sponges.

Jonah's Kindergarten goes year-round with a few breaks but Tobin only has a few days left of this school year. American schools got out weeks ago but Germany is on a different schedule. They have a shorter summer break (six weeks) but two or more weeks off in the three other seasons. I really like it this way. And if there wasn't enough to love about their schools, another thing that I think is wonderful is the first year class stays together through the second year. Tobin will have the same teacher (Mrs.Beautiful) and same kids next year, too. I think this is a really sweet and helpful way for the youngest kids to feel comfortable in their first years of school. Tobin has been exposed to some neat things this year like ukulele, pottery, and German-style handwriting. And he has so much recess time! I heart.

The Euro 2016 Soccer games have been going on in France for the past several weeks and obviously it's a really big deal here. People put German flags on their houses and decorate their cars. One thing about Tobin's school is that they really frown on absences. You better have a good excuse or they will give you a hard time about it. Well last week was the Germany v France semi-final and the director of the school basically said it's fine not to show up for school the next day because it's understandable that the children will be up very late watching the game. I thought that was so funny and unexpected, like it's required viewing and every normal family WILL obviously be watching. I like that they can bend the rules in the name of fun. Sadly, Germany lost. I did send T to school because, even though we've watched most of the other Germany games, Marc was gone that night and I wasn't about to deal with overly tired kids by myself. Four kids total showed up in his class so they watched Minions!

First day of school and almost last day.

We celebrated Jonah's fifth birthday at the end of June. Last year he didn't have a party because we didn't have any friends yet, but this year I had to cut him off with the guest list. I'm so happy he got to have the party he wanted with real friends! We had a 50-50 mix of German and American kids.

He was very excited about Batman.

The kiddies had fun excavating dinosaurs from a block of ice.

We mixed up a batch of giant bubble juice and it was a giant success!

I recently saw some blog about the birthday party "culture" in America and how it's become such a stressor for parents. You have to wait until the weekend when people are free to come and parents are usually expected to stay which means they are forced to give up half of their Saturday to go stand around at some kid's party for five hours. This means the hosts have to provide food for not only the kids, but their parents and siblings. There is supposed to be a cool theme and really cute ideas from Pinterest. And you have to give every kid a goodie bag to bring home. Parents spend so much time and money making their child's birthday a magical event.

Aahhh, but in Germany birthday parties are super low key. If possible, the party is on the actual birthday. Jonah recently went to a girl's birthday on a Tuesday afternoon. There was no cute theme - just regular party decorations like balloons and streamers. I dropped him off... because it's a kid party. It would be very odd if me (and of course my other two children) stuck around. Three hours later I picked him up and there was no goodie bag full of plastic crap and candy. It was a Tuesday. There was a birthday. Now it's over and my weekend is free. So many hearts.

More in party news...
Something going on in our village right now is a celebration called Kerwe (care-vuh). It's a celebration of the past year and basically just another excuse to get together and party. This is our second Kerwe, and while still mysterious, I have more information. This is what I know: A bottle of wine is buried somewhere in the town which the mayor will dig up and everyone will cheer. Teenagers have spent the last few weeks decorating the Kerwestrauss (see below) which is a big pom-pom phallus baton thing covered in colorful strips of fabric that symbolizes Kerwe. It will eventually bleach white in the sun. There will be a small carnival/fair in the town square. There will be a parade with a band and young people carrying the Kerwestrauss to where it will hang. After putting it up, one of the chosen young people will read some rhyming stories, which they wrote, about funny things that happened in the village over the past year. For example, the mayor fell asleep at his desk, Mr.Schmidt got drunk and forgot where he lived, etc. A teen will shout things to the other teens and they answer back. The teens have to protect the Kerwestrauss in the week before it is hung because teens from other towns might try to prank them and steal it. The celebration goes on for four or five days and there is a lot of beer drinking, oompah-banding, and merry-making.

One person is reading the funny poems and the other is leading the teenagers (sitting in white shirts) in cheering and yelling along with the band. It's all very strange and adorable.

The Kerwestrauss (and a stuffed alien??)

I thought Doren was going to love sitting in a fire truck but he started crying after two rounds.

They're baaaaack! CONDIMENT UDDERS - so wrong, so practical.

Bumper cars and other booths. It's pumpin'! 

Me and my fab friend sipping Hugos.

Speaking of my fab friend...I am SO glad I met her and her family! About two months ago the boys decided they wanted to start soccer again. We went to the field, I heard English, I dropped whatever I was doing and lunged toward them to introduce myself. They have two boys the same age as my two older ones and they live in our town!! Hardly any (fabulous) Americans live on this side of city! And they've been here for months. I only wish I had met her sooner because we were fast friends. It helps so very much to have someone really close by to hang out with on a regular basis! Triple hearts!

As I sit outside right now, with the boys all in bed, I can hear the live oompah band playing and people singing along in the town square. I really want to be a part of it. Like, a real a part of it. Huhhhh.

I have a love-hate relationship with this time of year. The pretty flowers and "shedding-of-the-coats" is great but then all those pretty but hateful trees start doing whatever they do and I turn into an itchy, swollen, red-eyed, red-nosed snot dispenser. It's super fun trying to get the boys ready in the morning in between sneezing and blowing 148 times and wanting to scratch my eyes out.

Another summer as Quasimodo

But I shan't leave you with such a frightening image. Here's a cute, old tractor I found parked around the corner from where we live and our boys with some of our neighbor boys.

Mint condition

Six brothers

And now we await a visit from my in-laws, more guests, and a summer trip to Croatia!