Written by Mary 9/22/20:

Well we left about 18 days ago and are already getting used to the Croatian way of life. We’re in our third house (heading to our 4th at the end of the week) and some things that shocked me in early September are now becoming expected... There are stray cats everywhere! When we first got here we wouldn’t let the kids touch any of them. Now we’re learning which are friendly and they’re actually darling. I’ve befriended our neighbor who is a local (surprising in this highly tourist town) and she and her Parisian neighbor run a ‘cat ministry’ where they feed around 30 stray cats daily! The kids are in heaven and excited to help! I’m finally getting used to the laundry and hang drying everything on drying lines. Hang up those towels bc the kids are in and out and in and out and then in and out of the pool again! Feeding the kids has been interesting... many of our American staples are not found. No mac n cheese, no peanut butter, no ranch (surprise), no tortillas, no salsa (poor andy)! Fortunately we’re practically in Italy and pizza and pasta are regulars! It also took me a few tries to understand the system of weighing produce at the grocery but I figured it out after the clerk turned me away and told me no that weighing and labeling was up to me before I made it to the register. We're also getting used to visiting the market every day for food. As a mom who depended on amazon fresh, it took me longer to convert to the European lifestyle! I think one of my favorite parts of Croatia so far is the stark old meets new! Our current town has a beautiful marble boardwalk that lines the beach that seems relatively new but you’ll stumble into an a 1475 monastery (today on my run), or an old structure made of limestone (Croatia is solid limestone) and concrete leading into an old cave or stairwell likely abandoned for centuries. Some things are so old it’s peculiar how they're still standing! Another item that has been blowing our minds is the topography! Now that we’re in Bol, we feel that we’re in Colorado sometimes. There are pine trees everywhere and even right up to the ocean! The scent of the air is a beautiful salt water and pine tree mountain mix. Did you know most Croatians have enough olive trees to provide them with enough olive oil for one year? Olive trees and vineyards are EVERYWHERE. We stumbled upon some local Croatians offering wine tastings (basically out of their basement) and as thrilled Americans, we immediately bought two bottles. We regretted not tasting it firsr bc it ended up down the drain. As andy would say - ‘life is too short to drunk gross wine’. Especially when the grocery sells it for $4 (again feels like Italy or France). There are tourists everywhere and it’s fun to hear German, Dutch, French, etc regularly, but there are really no Americans. Since being here, we’ve met two. All for now, miss you dearly, MT

A Few Pics...

Written by Rosie 9/20/20

Hi my name is Rosie. Me and my family is in Croatia it is so much fun and it is so pretty. I will be here for 2 month’s. In one of the  houses we Stay in there were 3 turtles 🐢 one of the turtles 🐢 was small and one of the turtles 🐢 was big and the 3d turtles 🐢 was really really big.I LOVE THE TURTLES SO MUCH .🥰💖😘💕😜🐢.

Written by Lucy 9/20/20:

Top ten family fun: 1. Going on a ocean blow up obstacle course 2. Snorkeling in the ocean 3. Walking on The Great Wall of Old town in Dubrovnik 4. Going to Lopud island 5. Seeing a octopus at the Lopud Island Beach 6. Seeing lots and lots of stray cats and dogs 7. The concert at Bol beach 8. Losing our teeth 9. Going on two fairy boats 10. swimming in all of our pools

Written by Mikey 9/20/20:

My favorite part about Croatia has been the octapus, sea urchins, swimming in the pools, a lot of fish. One time we were swimming at a sandy beach and I noticed an octapus swimming in the ocean! It was cool and it had a lot of arms. I love the green apples here. We have seen a lot of tutles here - 13 turtles in a neighbor's yard! Today we fed a cat in our yard and tonight we're going to help the neighbors feed all the stray cats - 30 of them! One day we went on an obstacle course on the sea. It had a trampoline and a ringer thing but I didn't do it. My dad fell into the ocean a lot of times. It was super fun! There was this ringer thing in a row and you do the ringers across and I did it! I loved the trapeze! I'm happy we're here but I miss Denver. Rosie got a toy phone and Lucy lost her molar and Rosie lost her front tooth and the Croatian tooth fairy came!

Written by Lucy 9/8/20:

Airplane: Me and my family decided to go to Croatia. First we had to fly to Newark (New Jersey). The flight there was about three hours. On the plane I saw mountains, farmland, and the Statue of Liberty. I saw it when we where about to land at the airport. Then we put all our luggage in the plane that was headed to Munich Germany. We boarded the plane and it was AMAZING. It had two rows of seats and a small tv on the back of the seat in front of me. You could dim the lights and everything! IT WAS SO COOL! Then we started to take off. I started watching a movie on my iPad. Two hours later, we got Into our pajamas. When it was time for us to go to bed, my mom gave me sleepy spray that tasted like mint ice cream. When we went to bed I had a whole row of seats to lay down with. I did not sleep very well on the plane. In the morning, I woke up and breakfast was getting served. I did not feel very well. I felt a little sick. When we thirty minutes later we were going out of the plane in to the airport. I felt a LOT better. It was time for lunch. We each had a giant pretzel. It was so good. Then we got on the plane for one hour to Croatia and took off. We landed. Croatia!!!!