Author: Jen

Our first stop on our super road trip was Croatia. Pula to be exact. We did some snorkeling and then hung out at the coolest tiki bar around where there is some good cliff jumping and some super silly toys.

Next stop was Plitvice falls. It was an interesting drive getting there as it is about an hour off the main road and we got to see some very interesting little towns and people. Everything was really run down. But when we got to the falls, we found TONS of tourists. And for good reason, it was BEAUTIFUL. There were so many waterfalls that we walked around for hours going “oh, another waterfall”. We pretty much got “waterfalled out”, which is hard to do in my opinion.

 

Next stop was Lake Bled Slovenia. Where we were supposed to do some cool stuff, but it was pouring the whole time. So we stayed in awesome “glamping huts” then went to a bee museum and headed home a bit early.

Before Taylor had made his plans to come here, we had booked tickets to Sicily (because we got them for FREE, just had to pay the taxes and fees). So when Taylor made plans we let him choose if he wanted to go to Sicily or not. He decided to go, which was good because it ended up being his favorite thing. Having Taylor along we changed our plans and instead of hanging out on Sicily, we took a ferry out to an island known for scuba diving (we figured we better take advantage of a babysitter! And Taylor likes to scuba dive too, win, win). Upon arriving in Palermo, we found out that we had missed all the morning ferries (which are cheaper) and that we would have to pay double and wait until 5 pm, ah the joys of travel. So we lugged our luggage all around Palermo. Which was not so fun. Palermo is a dirty southern Italian city, with lot’s of sketchy charm.

But then we made it to Ustica. And we scuba-ed, hung out, hiked and ate seafood. Ustica captured Taylor and Nick’s hearts. And Taylor finally captured a lizard.

 

Jonah loved this guy at the scuba company, his name was Dario. He didn’t speak English but he was SO good with kids. And he was a great dive master. When I had some trouble with my ears he very patiently took my hands and held me steady and waited for me. He showed Jonah a sea rabbit (like a sea slug but it moves faster).

 

 

Above is a photo of Ustica’s main square. There are benches on either side that are always occupied by the elderly locals. Cars can drive through one way in the morning and the other way in the evening.

We had to spend one more night in Palermo before flying out. It was a Sunday evening and they did this awesome thing that I have heard of some Italian cities doing (they also do it in Ukraine). They closed down the main road from traffic so that everyone could stroll. Too fun.

Verona. I don’t think Taylor found it as “romantic” as I do, ah well. I even took him up the the Romeo and Juliet castle on our way back (which is right by our house).

 

 

Venice. Beautiful, unique and filthy dirty. Spend a day getting lost. Or in Taylor’s case, not getting lost. Still not sure how he managed to find his way around. I’ve been there at least ten times and I still get lost. Taylor was our fearless leader and led us right back to the best gelato in Venice.

 

 

Not many tourists know about Vicenza (where we live 🙂 But it really is beautiful. Hometown of one of the greatest architects, Palladio (and therefore also home to a lot of his beautiful works including the rotundo and teatro olimpico). Palladio’s basilica in the main square just reopened (they fixed the damage from WWII bombs) and they had a cool bike display going on so we went and had a gander.

 

Uncle Tater came to visit us and he asked for adventure. We tried our best to come through on his request. The day after he got here we headed up to Lake Garda. Taylor got to demo sweet mountain bikes at an expo. Then after a taste of “European camping” ( =not nearly as cool as american camping) the boys did a “via ferrata” = “iron way”. Which is a cross between rock climbing and hiking. Super steep hiking where you wear a harness and clip in to steel cables, or sometimes ladders.

I hung out with the kiddos, enjoying the view from the bottom of the via ferratta.

Nick was SUPER excited (above). Taylor is pointing to the top of the via ferratta in the below photo. It is the little spire or chimney there on the right side all the way at the top!

 

Poor Taylor did a lot of this while he was here. He was a good sport though.

 

May 2, 2013. Jonah turns FOUR! Can you believe it?? To celebrate we had a pirate party. Jonah had a very specific vision for his cake…I think it turned out alright, I am no professional but it does look like a pirate ship at least. All the presents were pirate theme (thanks Grandma! the presents from Mom and Dad didn’t arrive until a week after the party, oops!) The party was even complete with a real live pirate who we flew in from the states just to complete the party.

 

We have some friends who own a pastry shop here in town and we try to support them when we can, so we ordered cupcakes for Jonah’s class at school. Jonah’s teacher was pretty excited when she saw where we got the cupcakes, they are pretty good!

Hanging out after Ireland, before all of our visitors hit for May/June. Declan started solid foods (at 5 months, he’s been ready since 3). Jonah rode his first bumper cars at a little festa in our town.

We made our way to our furthest north destination, Galway. (If I could do it again I would not have driven this far, south west Ireland could take up weeks and still be lovely). Our trip in Ireland included a lot of driving, and thus a lot of time in the car to talk, sing, cry, scream, laugh and watch sheep go by in the window. We had several discussions about all the cute little baby lambs dotting the countryside. Nick would say “yum” and I would get mad. Jonah at first was on my side, but on the drive to Galway he swithced sides. He said that if we made fries out of them it wouldn’t be sad to eat them. Especially if we put sugar on them, “then it would be nice Mom!” Sugary lamb fries. He might be on to something. Also on the way to Galway Jonah figured out how to whistle, thank goodness not very loudly.

Galway was a lovely small city, but we didn’t have much time there before having to turn back around and head south so we could make our way back.

Just outside of Galway we stopped in a little craft village called Skibbereen where Jonah had a total melt down and yelled at a complete stranger. He was laying on the ground throwing a fit about something and a lady walked up and said “are you tired?” to which he responded “NO I”M NOT TIRED! SHE THINKS I”M TIRED!” I really should start a blog of “toddler travel melt downs” because we have had our fair share.