In the car sight-seeing in Hawaii, Zvonimir and I were talking about an actress who was from Hawaii (Tia Carrera) and quoted the movie she was in that she was a fox. As we drove down the road Gabe, who pronounced Susanne’s name as Sudan yelled “Sudan’s a POX” (his word for Fox). Z and I were laughing so hard which made both he and Zara say it more. THe first time was by far the funniest but we thought this video was pretty cute as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnN2cd6tolM
We had talked about celebrating our birthdays in Hawaii and when our friend Susanne texted Amy and a few other friends about taking a trip together it was perfect timing. Amy quickly began researching houses. We were so excited to meet up with Jessica, Chuck, Malina and Logan from SF, Tracy, Doug and Billy from NY, and Susanne and Bill from Dallas.
Zvonimir, the kids and I arrived early to meet our friends Susanne and Bill in Waipouli on the east side of the island for the weekend. We rented a 2 bedroom condo that had a great living area, laundry in the room, and a great pool with slides. We were in a great location that allowed us to explore the north side of the island. Our first stop was Ke’e Beach bordering the Na Pali coast. We quickly learned that Kauai has two things – beautiful beaches and plenty of roosters! The story is that there was a big storm that blew a chicken coop over. The chickens escaped and have multiplied over the years. They are everywhere and they are LOUD! Despite her roots, Amy is a true city girl now. The garbage truck backing up the road (and beeping loudly) didn’t wake her but the rooster woke her daily.
After the weekend we headed south to Poipu where we met the rest of our friends. We rented a large 3 bedroom house and a neighboring 1 bedroom appt. to accommodate the group. Our house was across the street from the ocean. To the right was a “baby beach” that was protected by a break wall and to the right was a boogey boarding beach. The baby beach was perfect for the kids. They could play in the water without having to worry about waves or the rocks. It was also great for the parents because just 25 or so yards out there was a great reef and lots of fish and turtles. We also had a seal come up on the beach. It didn’t really move so the kids were a bit disinterested.
We had a blast in Hawaii and look forward to our next reunion.
View our Hawaii photos.
We returned from Croatia to a cool Seattle summer. We planned a last minute trip to PA less than 2 weeks after our return from Europe. This was our first red-eye with the kids and by the time we made it to PA we were exhausted (not to mention dying from the heat and humidity!). Since Amy’s new company is based in the DC area she planned to spend one day working out of the DC office to meet with the founders. The kids stayed in PA with Aunt Patty and Grandma in charge while mom and dad had their first night away (ever!). The kids had a blast playing play dough and barely noticed we were missing. It was a super quick trip but we were really glad we made the trip and got to spend time with Amy’s family.
View our July 2012 photos.
The week before we left for Europe there was an article in the Seattle newspaper that talked about how a father and child were kicked off of a flight because the child was throwing a fit. We were a little worried this might also happen to us when Gabe decided to throw a major fit for the first 45 minutes of our flight. We have no idea what was wrong but he was not a happy camper and did NOT want to be strapped into the seat. Once he calmed down they were both in a great mood. In fact, they were so giddy that they kept each other awake until we were an hour from Germany. Every time Gabe would fall asleep Zara would hit him and yell “Babriel. Babriel Karl.” Gabe he would return the favor yelling Zaza or Zawa. We tried our best to keep them entertained by offering them something new every hour and with the exception of a yell or loud giggle, they did pretty well. It was a really long trip and pretty tough on us all so we were very happy when we arrived to Europe.
The kids were super excited to see Baba and Dide (Grandma and Grandpa) in person. The kids are usually very shy when they don’t know people well but since we often skype with Baba and Dide, the kids were comfortable right away. We were able to spend a few days with Aunt Lucija and cousin Eva in Slovenia before they returned to France. Zara and Eva were fast friends. Zara was super interested in Eva and wanted to hug, kiss, and hold hands with her. It was super cute. Gabe was too busy to care about the girls and didn’t really know what to make of them. Zara fell in love with an old teddy bear that Eva had claimed so it will forever be known as “Eva’s bear.” Zara was surprisingly good about giving Eva her bear back.
After a few days we headed to our house in Croatia. Zara and Gabe had a lot of fun running on our outside terrace playing with the large toy truck and wheel barrow Baba and Dide bought. These were a huge hit and provided hours and hours of entertainment. The kids had a blast in Croatia. They loved going to the beach and playing in the sand, running with their toy truck / wheel barrow, and swimming.
Europe was much hotter than we’re used to in Seattle! We forgot how miserable hot summer nights can be! The kids didn’t mind the heat – this meant more playing in the water and more ice cream – a novelty they experienced several times on this trip!
View our Vacation 2012 photos.
Each month seems to get more fun.
Gabe and Zara are talking more and more each day.
The kids continue to eat almost anything we put in front of them but they developed a bad habit of throwing their food onto the floor when they got mad about something. We tried explaining to them that we give them good food and it was “not nice” and “rude” to throw their meal on the floor and explained they made a “mess”. This had little impact so one day after they made a particularly large mess I made them pick the food up off of the floor before they could play. This pretty much cured Zara of all food throwing but Gabe could care less. He eagerly picks up the food he threw on the floor.
The kids have also started interacting with each other more. They spend a lot of time giggling at each other. Any time one does something silly or mischievous, the other quickly does exactly the same thing. Unfortunately, interacting has also meant a bit of biting, pushing, fighting over toys goetc. If they’re being mischievous we count to 3 then they go to “time out”. If they’re mean to each other we tell them it’s not nice to be mean to each other, we send them to timeout, then they have to say sorry and give each other a kiss when timeout is over. One of the first clear things they said was “not nice.” Zara usually waddled over to Gabe, leaned down and said “not nice.” It’s pretty hard not to laugh at them sometimes!
We flew to the east coast for the holidays to visit our family in PA. The kids did awesome on the flights and have become quite the little travelers! Zvonimir and I normally only get a few hours a day with the kids during the week so it was really fun to spend 10 whole days with them. They change so much so quickly. The kids loved being around family but Gabe was very shy at first. They got to see all kinds of animals including Clydesdale horses, parrots, cows, dogs and cats. They loved it but they were very excited to see Maggie when we had returned. She had been in boarding at our vets while we were gone and she was thrilled to be home. I’m not sure that she was so excited to hear the kids screaming but she was happy to be home.
We have 2 picture galleries this month.
December Seattle Pictures
View our December 2011 photos.
PA Visit pictures below:
View our 2011 holidays photos.