As I posted before, we went to Slovenia and Croatia for the 4th of July. While I was originally going to do just one post as it was a day trip, I realized I took entirely too many photos and a video, so it's best split into two posts.
So we spent the morning and early afternoon on the 4th of July in Porec, Croatia. After we left Porec, our destination was Koper. We had heard nothing about it, had recommendations from no one but we looked at the map, it looked like a good sized city and it wasn't far from the highway so we made a stop.
Best decision ever.
First of all, it wasn't touristy at all. Secondly, it was some sort of holiday or sagra and it was so amazing to experience this towns traditions without it being put on as a show for tourists.
So when we first took the Koper exit, the kids spotted a McDonald's. Now they have eaten at a McD's in America, Germany, Italy and France so it only seemed appropriate that they get to try it in Slovenia as well. Afterall, this was their vacation too. We try our hardest to make these vacations and trips fun for them as well and surprisingly, McDonald's really is different in every country. In Slovenia, the kid's happy meals came with the chicken nuggets, fries, a fresh fruit cup, a bottle of milk and then the toy (which was Skylander's).
So we ate dinner then pretty much followed everyone else. We ended up right by the water, near a town square. This area, right near the marina, was gorgeous. The lighting was amazing as it was dusk and everything was just so pretty. I took a ton of photos which I feel inclined to share here.
The thing that I really noticed and enjoyed about Koper was the mix of the old and the new. There are building that are (what I assume) hundreds of years old right next to a really modern park.
There were vendors selling lemonade, modern art, funky stone chairs facing the water, skateboarders, old people walking holding hands, restaurants with walk up windows next to fine dining places with cloth tablecloths and twinkling lights. The atmosphere was amazing. Small town, summer nights, amazing.
As we were walking we started to hear all this excitement and music so we went to check it out.
This is where people had be milling about dressed in historical costumes when we had first arrived. Turns out these different groups were competing in some sort of music/dance competition. Each had a flag or tapestry representing their group and they would get called on stage. I managed to take a short video on my phone, but the quality isn't that good as we were at the outer edge of the crowd. Still it was fascinating to see/hear!
We had a wonderful evening in Slovenia. The people there were amazingly friendly and everyone we encountered spoke perfect English with the exception of a group of older people. They asked me, what I assume was ''Are they twins?" in Slovene. I responded in Italian, that I spoke little Italian and did not understand. They then said "Gemelle?" and I knew that's what they asked and responded that no they were not twins and I listed their ages in Italian. This earned me a pat on my shoulder and an exclaimed ''Brava Mamma!' All in all, it was an amazing experience. While we were only there a short time, I'm glad we went.
Two weeks ago I shared pictures from Great Grandma's 100th birthday. Yesterday morning, Grandma went "home" to heaven. She had a wonderful, long life and she was ready. She's been saying for years that she was ready. I guess all the excitement of living for so long has it's ups and downs. I know it was especially hard on her when she had to witness deaths of her own children, grandchildren and even one great-great grandchild. I remember her saying that it just wasn't fair that she was getting older and they died too young. She did enjoy her grandkids/great grandkids and great-great grandkids though! I wanted to share this video from her birthday a couple of years ago...she was singing to the boys :) I am so grateful that B caught it on camera, even if it was just his cell phone.
We love you grandma! I know you're in Heaven smiling down on us and keeping a watchful eye. Can't wait to see you again, someday. {I think it'd be pretty cool to meet my great great grandkids and seeing how grandma had just celebrated her 100th birthday and my Grandma Great is 96 years old the odds might just be in my favor!}
This {if it posts correctly} should share a video of Pooks singing to his sissy. There really isn't much to see, but listen to his sweet little voice. Every night he sings "3 Little Birds" to Sweetcheeks and usually she kicks and squirms like crazy for him.
Here is a video of Peanut acting goofy on our recent car trip to The City. While the fact that I caught it on camera is unique, his behavior isn't. He is the silliest little boy that I know. He's constantly doing things to make others laugh. He loves to get a reaction from anyone; nanaw, papa, strangers, other kids, other adults, but mostly his brothers. And they think that he's pretty hilarious too!
for the first time ever, peanut walked while pushing a toy. he's cruised the sofa before but has never taken steps pushing something. this is at nanaws house, naturally the first time he does it, i miss it! (ignore the mess, her and papa were watching all 3 boys while i ran errands. they destroy the place!)
was what i heard coming from the kitchen today. PEANUT was standing at the fridge throwing off letter magnets, then saying ''uh-oh'' when they hit the floor. i didn't get a video then but i did get a short one at dinner. by this time he had said it approximately 400 times to he's not saying it as clearly as he had been but it's still cute!
i know, i know lately all my posts have been about how big the boys are getting. well that's because they are. case in point, pooks:
pooks gave up the binky back in april. he turned 2 in may. then, in july he started potty training himself. in august he started sleeping in a twin bed. and now? well for the last two weeks someone has decided that he is much to big to wear a diaper. actually he downright refuses. he has been wearing pull-ups and underwear only. well a week ago we ran out of pull-ups so (following his lead in all this) we switched to underwear. we have pull-ups for bedtime and nap (he usually stays dry during nap...over night, not so much) but even during errands, pooks wears his big boy underwear. so far *knock on wood* we have not had an accident while out and about. we do have accidents at home but i think it's because he gets so busy playing that going potty is an inconvenience.
today was accident free. today pooks even went #2 on the potty (this is only the 3rd time for that!). and while sitting on the potty he insists on ''weading his book''. here is a video (and yes, WARNING! he is on the potty in this video!) of him reading outloud:
the black eyed peas preformed at the football game last night. while i personally don't watch pro football, we were at nanaw's house and she does watch. (hence how i know that the black eyed peas opened.) my boys ♥ the black eyed peas. why? i have no clue but they really took to "boom boom pow" when it came out a few months ago. hearing it on the radio isn't near as fun as seeing it on tv, apparently. they turned into dancing fools. and if you pay attention around 00:55 seconds, you'll see that pooks is REALLY listening! when fergie says ''put your hands in the air'' oh does he ever! even peanut was shaking what his mama gave him =)
here is a quick little poor quality, crappy lighting video of peanut crawling. it's really a stretching army crawl movement, but it gets him from point a to point b without rolling so we're gonna call it crawling. (and btw we do have a fancy schmancy camcorder that records to a hard-drive and takes EXCELLENT video. but i have no clue how to upload the video from the camcorder to the computer. go figure!)
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