My company rents a boat for the Seafair festival and this year the Blue Angels returned. Ciara came over to hang out with the kids while we enjoyed a beautiful day on the lake!
At the end of August I made my first solo trip with Gabe & Zara. I had to travel to VA for work so the kids stayed in PA with family while I was working in VA . We were a little worried that the kids would get homesick since this was their first trip away from Mom and Dad but they didn’t seem to care. They wouldn’t even talk to me on the phone when I called them.

Check out the PA pictures.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, PA 116 Comments »

So we’re WAY behind in posting pics from last year. Here are 5 galleries to catch us up!

California trip:

Check out the California Trip pictures.

October 2014

Check out our October pictures.

Nov – Dec 2014

Check out our Nov-Dec pictures.

Christmas 2014

Check out our Christmas 2014 pictures.

Jan-March 2015

Check out our Jan-March pictures.

Posted in Activities, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle, Travel 15 Comments »

Zvonimir had a mandatory training class in Arizona and since one of my good friends who I had not seen in over 10 years lives in AZ, we thought it was the perfect excuse to tag along and get some sun. While Zvonimir was at work, Gabe, Zara and I lounged by the pool. The resort was wonderful! There was a large pool and a big lazy river. The kids had a blast hanging out at the lazy river. The resort even had an Easter Bunny who hosted an egg hunt.

Each day the Gabe, Zara and I had a nice breakfast then headed to the pool. It was very relaxing! One morning we drove to breakfast so that we could go to meet my friend Joanne, who had posted on Facebook about being in Scottsdale at the same time so we were meeting up. As I was backing out a low curb/flower bed happened to be in my blind spot and I scratched the car bumper (quite bad!). Of course the first thing they told their dad that night was that I wrecked the car!

We were also able to catch up with my cousin and his family before they moved to NY. It was such a great trip and the kids were very well behaved. It was one of the most relaxing vacations I’ve had with them. They want to go to Arizona every year for vacation!

Check out our Arizona pictures.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Travel 1,047 Comments »

We wanted to take a trip to see our families before Z got a new job so we decided to see both sets of parents in a combined trip. We planned for a little over two weeks and we went from Seattle to Chicago to DC via airplane then drove to PA to visit Amy’s family. We decided to put Amy between Gabe & Zara on the airplane and this proved to be a smart choice. The kids did really well on the flights and since Amy was sitting between them, they were not able to fight and hit each other or fight over toys. We loved seeing our family and friends and the kids had a great time playing in the yard.

View our pictures from our PA vacation 2013 photos.

We drove back to DC after 5 short days and had a night flight to Munich, Germany then on to Split, Croatia. We were able to get 4 seats together and again put Amy in between Zara and Gabe. Our flight took off after 10pm so the kids were very tired. The personal TVs on each seat were very exciting to the kids and as a result they refused to sleep. Zara fell asleep first and while Gabe was tired he refused to sleep until about midnight. We arrived in Munich tired and hungry but in relatively good moods. We ate a quick sandwich and boarded our flight to Split. Baba and Dide greeted us at the Split airport and helped to entertain the kids while Zvonimir got the car seats into the rental car. The night flight worked out perfectly as we arrived in Murter late in the evening and were able to escape the jet lag that usually comes with international travel.

Our house in Murter has a great outdoor space so we spent the majority of the week outside playing in the courtyard. We took the kids’ life jackets with us and the kids were very excited to try them out with a ride on Dide’s boat. Every day after breakfast we took the boat to a beach. The kids don’t really remember the ocean from our past trips so they were a bit scared of the water and Zara is cold when it’s 80 degrees out so she had a difficult time adjusting to the chilly water. The kids loved playing with their shovels and buckets and spent the majority of time doing this.

We enjoyed some great food while in Croatia. We love when we fire up the grill and make cevapcici (a pork/beef patty). This year we were lucky enough to be in Croatia during fig season so each day we picked fresh figs off of the tree. Amy had made figs wrapped in prosciutto in the states but this year we were able to make it with fresh ingredients and it was delicious. Zvonimir’s dad and aunt thought this sounded strange and is not something the locals eat but they also enjoyed the new treat! We also celebrated Amy’s birthday while in Croatia with a wonderful cake.

We were also very excited to spend some time with Aunt Lucija and cousin Eva who came to visit us from Munich.

On our flight back we flew through Frankfurt and spent a night there before having a direct flight back to Seattle. The hotel we stayed in was right in the airport and train station and there were plenty of food options. We picked a traditional pub and enjoyed a wonderful German style dinner before calling it a night. The next day we had an early flight. The kids did a really great job on the flight back. They never cried and we had plenty of toys to keep them busy.

After the flight landed and everyone was standing and waiting to get off the plane (and it was exceptionally quiet) Gabe announced that he had a penis. At least we ended the trip with a bit of humor!

View our pictures from our Croatia vacation 2013 photos.

Posted in Europe, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, PA, Travel 97 Comments »

After celebrating Christmas at our home in Seattle, we flew to the east coast on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas Day and the following week with Amy’s parents. It started snowing just as we picked up the rental car and continued snowing the entire way to Pennsylvania. We had to laugh because we often drive to our ski resorts in Washington so a little bit of snow doesn’t stress us out but most of the people on the road clearly were not comfortable or prepared to drive in snow. The ride home was very slow going and the kids were very tired of being strapped in car seats all day so we were all very happy to arrive in PA.

The snow in PA was beautiful but unfortunately we did not have enough room in our suitcase for proper gear so we weren’t able to spend too much time outside. Gabe had a blast playing in the snow but Zara absolutely hated it. Our girl does not like to be cold!

The kids had a great time spending time with family, playing with play dough, and making Aunt Patty take them to the potty. With all of the trips up the stairs to the potty, they got a great start on potty training!!
After our week in PA we headed to Virginia to spend a few days before flying out. We were able to catch up with our friends Eric and Sujeeta, Sallie, Liz, and Aunt Jackie & Uncle Chum which was awesome. We wish we could rent out a space just to have a big party and catch up with everyone we haven’t seen in a while.

Our return flight to Seattle was in the late evening so we were trying to find a good way to play the kids out before the flight. We found an awesome bouncy house right beside our hotel and they had open play. The kids had so much fun bouncing but the one thing they talk about most is the self-propelled train.

It’s always so strange coming back to Northern VA because in many ways it still feels like home and we have a lot of fond memories of our time in NoVA.

View our Christmas 2012 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, PA, Travel 2 Comments »