An Evening on the Balcony

So it's totally hot here.  Especially without air conditioning.  Thus the days are scorching, but the nights are cooler.  Particularly on the balcony.

Elise LOVES being outside, so we've been spending a fair amount of time out on the balcony in the evenings.  We draw with chalk, talk, sing, dance, watch what's going on below us, or play with toys.  It's just simple fun.

Sometimes we bring N's mat out on the balcony with us, but this night she was just right inside playing calmly so we let her stay there.  And yes, E really does need a haircut ;)

Three cheers for a balcony on warm summer evenings!

Elise Was Here

I looked over at Nora this morning while washing dishes and this is what I saw...

Ah, life with a big sis :)  At least Elise thought just the top of her head needed to be covered and not her whole face...whew!

CROATIA: The Peeps

And by peeps I mean our peeps, you know, the fam bam, our loved ones :)

We were thankful that the Palmer/Neufangs flew over to spend some time with us first in Bratislava and then in Croatia.  We hadn't seen our little bubba nephew and his parents in a good ~seven months, so it was such a treat.

 These two went on a Father/Daughter beach walking date our first morning in Croatia.  Don't they make a super cute pair?  From what I hear, however, their date consisted of one of them being carried for quite some way due to tiny legs :)

That hubs of mine is a bona fide goober ;)

 If you're wondering what relaxing looks like, look no further.  This guy had it down pat.  He and Jas were hammock lounging masters.

 Nora and Grandma.  This day was somewhat cloudy, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the water.

Mostly Nora spent lots of quality time napping and rolling over in the tent.  She was mastering her rolling skills...see that look of pure determination?

 We also partook in a lot of ice cream (Snickers gelato, um yes, please, every. day. of. my. life.  SO good).  This girl knows how to down her fair share of the stuff too.  I think that last pic is one of my all time favorites...she's got the model wind-in-hair look down pat, don't ya think?

And there was some seafood-eating as well  (I didn't technically have any myself...but everyone else did :)  I mean, do you blame me!?  Look at that squishy thing!  I'll pass, thanks.

Strolling around the marina each evening was one of my favorite things.  The lighting was so beautiful and calming.

Seriously how cute is our nephew Bryce?  I can honestly say he's the cutest little boy I know :)  Loved getting to spend some time with him and his parents.

We so enjoyed this trip and spending time with family.  It was a blessing.  Can't wait to go back to Croatia!

CROATIA: The Views

I didn't realize just how beautiful this country was until I actually went there.  Sure, pictures are great, but it just doesn't quite do it justice.  You know how that goes.

But here's my feeble attempt at capturing what we saw in photography (actually, some of these were taken by the hubs too :)

We stayed on the island of Krk.  The beaches are rocky, the water is incredibly clear (we were stoked we could see the bottom!), and the sunsets are glorious.  Literally, glorious.  This water-loving girl was in beautiful beach heaven.

We rented a two-level flat that we found on airbnb.com (highly recommend that site...check it out).  The place we stayed was two flights of stairs away from the beach.  That made me just want to jump with joy.  LOVED being by the water.

Ok, finished with the words (for now ;)  How about those pictures?

I told ya.  Glorious.  What's more, each night we went to one of two small nearby towns where we enjoyed pizza, seafood, ice cream, etc. with family.  And since we're speaking of family, photos of them up next.

A Little Teaser...

Family time.  Traveling.  Croatia.  Sunsets.  Good food.  Beach.  Ice cream.  Cousins.  Water.  Driving.  Sun.  More traveling.  Prague.  Good friends.  Pictures.  Balcony talks.  Babies.  Germany.  Relationships.  Music.  Singing.  Dancing.  Talking.  Church family.  Meat and potatoes.  More driving.  Home.

Laundry.  No groceries.  Catching up.

So while the first set of words sums up the last couple of weeks for us, I'm currently faced with the second set of words. 

But I couldn't resist putting our pics from our travels lately on the computer last night, so I thought I'd share a little teaser photo with you...

Hold on to your seats, there's more where that came from ;)  Amazing, huh?  I could live at the beach, I'm convinced.  But while I dig myself out from these piles of laundry you'll just have to enjoy the beauty of that sunset.  Be back soon...