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It’s taken a while for me to update the blog – partly because we’ve done so much and I’m beat by the end of each day, and partly because the thought of having to choose photos from the many we have taken is a little daunting.  But here it goes…

We drove from our Croatia beach house to Zadar with a short stop in Split.  We loved Zadar.  The sea organ is the thing to see there – marble steps into the ocean with tubes underneath that make music by using the waves.  It was cool but the vibe of the city is what we loved the most.  And we watched Croatia play and sadly lose in the “sweet sixteen” with hundreds of Croatian fans.  

Next we headed to the Plitvice Lakes, a park filled with lakes and waterfalls, of colors you can’t even believe are really in nature.  We had planned to get to the hotel the evening before, hike both the upper lakes and lower lakes the next day, then drive back across Croatia to our next destination.  But we changed our minds last minute and bought a 2 day pass.  We got there 2 1/2 hours before the park closed and hiked the upper lakes.  You start at the middle of the elevation and keep hiking up many level of lakes and waterfalls. We made it to the top just in time to get the last shuttle back to the parking lot – the kids were beat by the end but we literally saw only 6 other people the entire time.  The next morning we got there early, avoided the massive crowds yet again, hiked the lower lakes and had just finished when a torrential rainstorm came.   It was a breathtaking 2 days.  And we stayed at a bed and breakfast with a huge grassy field for Trip and Greg to play catch, and a playground for Taylor and her new friend (the granddaughter of the owner who was visiting from Serbia) to play on.  



We drove to Rovinj, a beach town from which we would be ferrying to Venice.  It was a fun town and our hotel room overlooked the International Salsa Festival that was going on that night.  We thought about getting our dancing shoes on, but decided to listen from our comfortable beds instead.  

A ferry then took us to Venice.  We spent 2 days there and had not expected to like it as much as we did.  We had a blast there.  The kids spent HOURS chasing the pigeons in San Marco square while Greg and I watched as we drank cocktails.  We did the obligatory gondola ride which was actually fun and painted our own Ventian masks which was a blast.  Oh and we did lots of shopping (not necessarily BUYING because we of course have no room). 

We have been traveling for over a month and the kids have been amazing.  The complaints have been minimal, attitudes are generally good and they are getting along better than we could have hoped for.  But they are tired of the food and could use some other kids to play with so our next stop has come just in time.  We just arrived in Ireland to meet Greg’s family.  The kids are looking forward to playing with their cousins and we are all looking forward to some variety in our diet.