Ketch Up!

In just a few days we have family visiting...LOTS of family!  And LOTs of traveling comes along with it, with LOTS of photos and LOTS of storytelling.  Before any of that happens, I need to catch up on the semi-important things that I haven't journaled about yet so there's is not total procrastination at blogging about our big Merback European Adventure!

Happy Birthday to Me!

For starters I never bragged on my family about their spoiling me on my birthday!  Joey and the kids bought me a tray full of my favorite flavors of Gelato.  After the candles were lit and the song was sung  we all grabbed a spoon and dug in family style:

And I turned 33....KRAZY!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

An Italian Opera

On my birthday weekend some friends of ours watched the kids for us while Joey and I went with two other friends to Verona to see the Opera, Aida.  Belissima!  

We sat in an ancient coliseum built in 30 AD (around the time of Christs death...that old!!) and watched the entire floor of the stage filled with water to make a "lake" crawling with white "alligators", torches and rings and giant rocks lit on fire,  "elephants and Giraffes, line the stage, all while listening to Italian Opera.  We're not big Opera people but in this setting, it was pretty freaking cool.  The weather was perfect, the company was great, and we won't ever forget it!

The opera ended at 1:30 am so we spent the night in a cute little working farm just outside of the city, ate the delicious included breakfast with our friends upon waking in the morning and then headed home to retrieve our "real life" and our children....magical weekend!

 A New Pet

On an even happier note, we have a bunny!  A cute little black baby bunny who's name has evolved into BunYun.  What started out as Kitten Michino (kitten in Italian) Fiore (flower) Merback became..."BunYun"...after those nasty onion ring chips called FunYuns.  Don't ask me where or how.  The only thing I know is that 3 days after getting the bunny the kids called me down for a circus performance with said amazing bunny.  They had her jumping off shoulders, baring teeth and climbing body parts and kept referring to her as the amazing "BunYun".  We've never looked back;)

Our favorite friend Daniela's family has a beautiful little farm with chickens and rabbits on it (for eating).  Two of their cutest rabbits, a breed called Lion Head, had a litter of 4 bunnies and her Mom offered to give us one as a pet when she heard we lost 2 of our chickens (more on that later;).  When the other 4 chickens were finished off by the cingiale (wild boar) I promptly called Daniela and said, "yes! we'll take a cute little bunny!"    

She really is the perfect pet for us.  We're becoming quite sold on the idea of eternal rabbit owning!  While all the kids have taken to her, Isaac seems to be the most proactive about toting her around the house.  It's pretty cute;)  

Funny story that the kids have said repeatedly that they will never forget:

BunYun was hopping around in our living room with Isaac and Georgie while I put Juliet to bed.  She found a pipe sized whole in the wall that we had forgotten existed and wormed her way into it....*&%^ Holy crap...our new rabbit (after just killing 6 chickens, mind you) was now sure to die somewhere in the walls of our house!

After some waiting and stressing for 3-4 hours of hearing nothing from the rabbit I finally got the idea to reach into the hole and take photos with my iphone.  With that done we discovered  that the space she'd hopped into was actually quite small and that the bunny was, in fact, alive!  Phew!  We resecured the carrots and lettuce just outside the hole and waited and watched for her to get hungry!  Sure enough, after 5-6 hours she emerged, Georgie spotted her, wittingly whispered of her location to Isaac and he successfully POuNcED!  Bunny Saved!!  WooHOO!!  We can have alive pets after all!

And that about catches us up...I have only one more story to tell of heavy breathing and chickens screaming in the night...stay tuned;)

xoxo

Ashley

Baska

We hit a new country!   CROATIA! And from now on when we dream of crystal clear, relaxing family beaches with nothing but our little people, a scoop

 of gelato, and a cozy place to stay, we will dream of Croatia!  

Here's Juliet at the entrance of our cute little apartment with our own private garden smelling the glorious fumes of fresh bread baking in the bakery situated just at the front of our apartment.  We walked by it every time we came and left.  

We spent our entire first day here:

 The kids chased fish in water that was clear as your bath and because we were in a large cove there were no waves to tackle them and tire them out.  The beach was literally a 1 minute walk from our apartment...just across the pedestrian only street.  Ahhhhh!!

The second day we spent the morning hiking to the ruins just above the town.  There were wild fig trees growing everywhere.  We suspect that the end of August will be a good time to return for a free harvest.  We kept pinching ourselves, commenting how never in our lives did we think we would visit Croatia.

The top had great views of the town of Baska and its coast.

Our hostess Sylvia recommended a yummy restaurant just up the beach from

Us. We ate there both nights!  Why mess with a good thing!

Pan fried, cheese stuffed Ravioli

Fresh that day Tuna Steak (my seaside break from vegetarianism!!) with spinach potato sauté which was way yummier than it looks.

 Isaac ordered a spaghetti with mussels both nights that I couldn't stop swiping from off his plate. The tomato sauce was some of the best I have ever tasted...The tomato sauce always seems to blow me away in seaside spots.  I am noticing a trend!

 On the way back from the restaurant Joey and the kids did a Gelato tasting on the way back to our apartment. That means you get one scoop from a few places along the way and judge the best ice cream...yea, it's pretty fun!  

Georgie literally cried when we left Croatia. With only a 3 hour drive between us, this place is one we surely will return to!  

Xoxoxo Croatia!  

Hotel:  Authentic Apartments Baska found on Booking.com

Restaurant: Cicibella

Best Gelato:  Aida

Lake Garda! and a School Year of Success!

On Friday Isaac and Georgie finished their first full year of Italian School!  And we drove off to 

Lake Garda

to celebrate.   Joey told the kids that they have now done what no one else in the entire extended family has ever done...gone to school in a foreign country, in a foreign language.  At 9 and 7 years old, they are bilingual!

 I think (or at least I hope) that made them feel a little bit special.  Because they deserve to feel special.  What they did this year was hard...harder than we probably ever gave them credit for.  And they succeeded!

 They deserved this "kid friendly" trip to this HUGE, gorgeous lake just outside of Verona with a handful of their best buddies and no demands from Mom and Dad saying, "behave, walk faster, lets go, come on!!"

 We stayed at a Euro Camp sight called Camp Eden and our friends stayed right there withe us.  WE stayed up late talking and playing cards and spent the day times playing at the campsights' pool complete with slides, a huge playground, an amazing view and a gelato shop (of course!)  Swim caps were required(...they are at every Italian pool).

 We spent one morning rock climbing in the dolomites, Isaac and Georgies first time ever in a harness.  It was fun!   

 Our friend Jeff has all the gear and was nice enough to share it with us.  

Our kids are really close to the same ages and get along swimmingly.

 The kids really love each other.  

Especially these two who are using large leaves as umbrellas for the rainy hike down the mountain.

 This morning before heading home we stopped at the beach and skipped rocks, skinny dipped (Juliet only) and enjoyed the view.

 We love our life here...sigh.

As we watched the kids on the beach we commented on the three of them all doing their own thing, indicitive of their individual personalities, and somehow still playing together while doing it.  Isaac skipped rocks, requesting our audience from time to time and showing Georgie all the cool rocks he was digging up.  Georgie gave Isaac her full attention whenever he asked but spent any spare moment wading in the cold water (it wasn't warm outside either folks), dunking her face in to see the water life through the lens of her pink goggles.  She stared out at the view and talked to herself from time to time.  Juliet walked in with her clothes on, cried about being cold until we took her wet clothes off, and then walked around up to her knees in full glory (naked), collecting rocks and putting them in my pocket and chasing after any duck that came by.  She watched Isaac and Georgie playing, laughing when they would laugh and trying to act big like them.  It was one of those, "Life is good" moments when you want to pinch yourself to make sure that its real.  Great day.  Great weekend.  I think we might be getting a hang of this traveling thing, or at least how it works best for our family.

xoxo
Ash