European Adventure

Flights, family time, Eli's first illness...and some hockey!

2012-01-24T22:45:00.013+02:00

Well after a half an hour trying to figure out how to log into my blog again.. Google saved the day and now I can get to writing!

A lot of fun crazy things have been happening in the past 2 months (not really but I have to get you to read this somehow..). Let's start where I left off.. we had a Team Thanksgiving party which was great and now lets skip ahead to Christmas! Christmas Eve Andy and Eli and I spent at home together then walked over to a friends place (the building next door) for some visiting! Eli took a nap on me while we were there which was awesome. I've mentioned it before but he only really likes to sleep in his crib so the rare time that he falls asleep on me I take pictures, and talk about it...a lot. Unfortunately these little naps are only about 20 minutes long compared to his 2 hours he would have in his crib, but sometimes you just don't have a crib with you! So we roll with the punches...

Christmas Day we woke up and Eli opened his 2 presents from Santa! We sort of figured he didn't need much more than that...well he didn't really "need" anything but it was fun to watch him fumble with the wrapped gifts and shove them in his mouth! After a morning together we headed over to one of Andy's teammates apartments for a team party. Everyone was invited and we each brought an appetizer and the hostess Kim made 2 huge pots of Chili and Potato Soup. It is so nice being able to spend the holidays with other families since none of us get to spend it with our own! It makes it feel more like Christmas thats for sure. We stayed at the party for a couple of hours then headed home to relax and get some rest since I was flying out the next morning to go home to Minnesota for a couple of weeks!

I was a nervous wreck on the inside but cool, calm and collected on the outside..(minus the sweating). We got to the Zagreb airport early..around 7am and got my bags checked then Andy and I had a coffee and played with Eli while waiting for some time to pass before my flight.. I eventually went through security and got to our gate (about 20 yards from where you go through security...small airport.) And Eli fell asleep on me in the baby bjorn for the rest of the wait.. It was finally time to board- And boarding in Croatia means walking outside, getting on a bus and getting bussed to your plane since there are no "terminals" so we got on our bus, and got on our plane to Amsterdam. Much to my surprise the flight was pretty empty..being the day after Christmas I was expecting it to be much busier. Pretty much everyone on the plane had their own row of 3 seats. During take off I fed Eli to help him with the ear popping, then he layed on the seat next to me and played for about a half hour, and once he got tired I stood up and held him until he fell asleep and he slept all through the rest of the flight (about a 2 hour flight to Amsterdam from Zagreb)...Easy breezy! He was so good and I felt much more relieved and prepared for the international flight.... We had a 3 hour layover in Amsterdam and I honestly can't remember what we did during this time.. I know that right before boarding I had him laying on the floor on his play mat that I brought along and he started to get cranky (preview of what was to come..)

I was SUPPOSED to get a bulk head seat with a bassinet attachment for this long flight but they told me it was full when I went to go check in...so long story short we got on the plane and I had a window seat- not possible with a baby. So I asked the guy next to me if we could switch. He spoke zero English. But he figured out what I meant and kindly switched me places.. thank the Lord above.. So to sum up my next 9 hours on the plane- Eli ate then cried then slept for 5-15 minutes...then cried...then ate then cried...I had to stand and walk with him for about 6 of the 9 hours of the flight otherwise he would freak out. I was a mess. Normally he is such a happy easy baby who rarely cries so I had no clue what to do... I did everything I could, including slamming an ice cold Miller lite. Imagine the looks I got while I was doing that. But I didn't care. I really only got the death-stare from one guy, everyone else was actually pretty good about it. Especially my friend sitting next to me. I helped him fill out his customs declaration card since he was from Kazakhstan and spoke only Russian. I would point to his name on his passport, then point to the name line on the customs card.. and did this for all of his required info. During this time Eli was only whining, not crying so that was helpful! Anyways...longest day of my life... I really don't even like talking about it, it gives me a stomach ache! But that's life.. its one of those things you just have to deal with and the pain of it lessens with time. Sort of like childbirth. Except I would rather go through child birth than that plane ride again to be honest! Ok moving on.

We arrived in Minneapolis at 6pm to my mom and Andy's parents Carol & Steve.

Eli was still crying and I was exhausted. We got in the suburban right away and headed for home... only a 3 hour drive or so...nothing compared to that 9 hour flight where you are TRAPPED in a little plane. Ok I'm done complaining. Eli slept the entire drive home because he was so exhausted. We got to my mom's house around 10pm and Eli stayed awake for a bit then we both went to bed! He got up at about 2am and was awake for about 45 minutes then went back to bed...so the jet lag wasn't horrible!

The first 3 days at home I was jet-lagged myself and tired and not used to getting up in the middle of the night with a baby since Eli has been sleeping through the night since 9 weeks old. But when you're home you just feel more relaxed and calm and things slowly but surely started to feel normal! We had lots and lots of visitors and finally after 3 days decided to stay at our own house instead of my mom's or sisters.

Once we got to our house I just felt totally relaxed! And I think Eli sensed that and he slept so well in his crib! He liked his bedroom :) So from the 4th day we were home until we left we stayed at our house and had our visitors come to us! Pretty much every day we had people over for most of the day! It was so nice to see everyone and to have Eli meet his loved ones! I even went out a couple of times without him. I went to Target 3 times while Grandma Carol and Grandpa Steve watched him. I've never shopped so quickly at Target in my life! I also went out on New Year's Eve for a bit. I left the house around 5:30, came home at 7:30 to feed him (I was just a few houses down at a friend's place) then I went back out until about 11. I came home and fed Eli and rung in the New Year cozied up in my bed fast asleep!

We continued to have lots of visitors and lots of good food! We had homemade quesadillas with all sorts of goodies to put in them, and a lot of Doritos and Beer. We also had 2 Christmas parties we went to, one at my sister's house where Eli met most of his family on my side including his almost 100 year old Great-Great Grandma

and the other party at Andy's parent's house where Eli met his 90 year old Great-Grandpa and 2 Aunts and Uncles! On the night before we left to come back to Croatia, we had our last hurrah at Mr. Roberts in Pengilly with more family!

I was dreading the trip back to Zagreb because of my terrible flight experience, but I was really anxious to get back to Andy and I know he was ready to have us back too! We drove to Minneapolis and Eli was great in the car, he played in the back with his Grandmas, watched his Neptune's Ocean DVD and snoozed a little bit even! When we checked in for my flight Carol had made sure ahead of time that I got that bulk-head bassinet seat so we double checked that and got my bags checked and we went to our terminal. There were probably 20 kids under the age of 2 waiting for this flight.. this made me feel GREAT knowing there would probably be other screaming children! I boarded the plane, got my seat and there was even an open seat next to me! The only one on the flight!! Eli ate during take off, then played on the seat next to me, and the flight attendant got the bassinet and set it up for me and I put him in there and he slept! This flight back to Amsterdam was 2 hours shorter than my flight to Minneapolis because of the jet stream. Two hours is like a lifetime when you're on a long plane ride so that was awesome news. Eli didn't cry once on the plane, he took 3 naps in the bassinet and otherwise layed on the seat and played with his feet!

Our layover in Amsterdam was a little over 5 hours since we landed early. So this was going to be a challenge... I walked around for a bit with him in the Baby Bjorn trying to get him to fall asleep (it was 6am, we lost 7 hours of time...). The Amsterdam airport is pretty great and accommodating for long layovers..they even have this new thing there...a hotel where you can rent rooms by the hour! GENIUS! The rooms look like cruise ship rooms, really small, no windows, but they have a bed and a sink and the really nice ones even have a shower! I tried to get a room for us so Eli could lay on a bed to sleep, but the rooms were full... and as I was asking about the rooms, the cops were escorting a very "hooker-like" woman out of the "hotel" and she was completely disoriented... Just my luck I would have gotten her room... so we moved on to try to find a place to hang out for a while.. They have this area with a bunch of lounge chairs all facing one way..sort of like if you were at the beach. And you can take naps on the chairs... so I walked with Eli until he fell asleep then I layed down on one of the chairs (with him strapped on me in the bjorn) and closed my eyes and tried to get some rest since I didn't sleep a wink on the flight. FINALLY it was time to get on the flight to Croatia... he was fussy and crying while we were waiting to board and everyone was looking at me.. like OH GREAT... but once we got on the plane, we once again had our own row, he ate during take off, fell asleep while eating, so I layed him on the seat next to me and he slept through the landing (this was an hour and 20 minute flight). He stayed asleep while we got off the plane, got on the bus, got into the airport and all the way through the passport check line! I saw Andy and it was a glorious sight!! So great to be back to him!! I gave him Eli while I fetched the bags and we headed home!

So that is my first travel story with a baby- 1 terrible flight and 3 good ones! Not so bad I guess! One of the downfalls of traveling with a 5 month old is the risk of them getting sick... and sure enough Eli caught something because the day after we got back he developed a terrible cough...so bad he would gag and throw up all of his milk. So we brought him in and sure enough he got bronchitis. So he was put on ventolin spray... 3 days later we went back for a follow up..and find out he had a bacteria in his lungs so he has to go on ammoxicilin. These were some LONG days and nights because he wasn't acclimated to the time change and I wasn't about to "force" him to stay awake to get it back on track when he was sick and needed the rest...so it took about 6 days for him to get back on track... and now... 2 1/2 weeks later, he is still on his antibiotic for one more day, and only has to take his ventolin 1 time a day instead of the 3 times per day he started with. We were at the doctor 4 times in a week and a half.. yucky. It is so sad watching a little baby cough and not being able to help is agonizing. BUT he made it through and has been back to himself for about 4 days now and he sure is smiley!

Andy's team had 7 home games in a row starting the day we got back from the USA. They played these home games at Arena Zagreb, which is a really big arena that the handball team usually plays in. They had a total of 105,000 rowdy fans total in those 7 games so that is pretty exciting! And.... 98,000 glasses of PAN beer were sold at the games... fun fact.

They are currently sitting in 3rd place in the 11 team league and have a guranteed spot in the playoffs. I believe they have 8 games left of the regular season then playoffs start already! If anyone is interested in following them, their team websites are:

www.medvescak.com

www.erstebankliga.at

Well that keeps you up-to-date on us... the next couple of weeks we have a girls night of hair cuts and wine planned (hopefully the cutting before the drinking..) and a 1st birthday party for one of the little guys here! Other than that, just lots of walks..it's been so nice here, it was 60 yesterday! I also just started going back to the gym yesterday... it has been a very long time! But my body needs to get back into my old shape. I'm currently lacking some major muscle mass I had before Eli was born and I desperately need it back! Wish me luck!

Here are some pictures of Eli and his first time meeting everyone!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Kessler

Great Grandpa Badavinac

GREAT Lori!

Cousin Jocelyn

Auntie Courtney

Auntie Rhea

Great Aunt Rochelle

Cousin Axl and more cousins Alex & Brady

Great Aunt Stephanie

2nd Cousin Ryan

Mom's best friend Sarah

Uncle Dano & Auntie Leah

Uncle Aaron

Great Uncle Mick, Great Grandpa Marko and Grandpa Steve

Grandma Sue & Auntie Rhea

2nd cousin Emily & Auntie Leah

Mom & Cousin Jocelyn

Friend Colleen

Blog Slacker.

2011-11-24T15:05:00.009+02:00

Hello from Zagreb! It has been over a month (almost 2 months..oops) since my last post and I realize it's long over due...but I've been too busy laying on the floor playing with Eli! This past month has absolutely flown by! We have mostly just hung around at home, playing with our little love and teaching him new things (we think he gets it...?) and just enjoying his laughs and smiles every day.

After my mom and sister went back home we spent a few weeks just doing our every day things; grocery shopping, going for walks, reading books, cleaning and cooking- It's funny how when you tell people "I live in Europe" they automatically assume your life is full of adventure and glamour. Well to be honest, whatever you are doing today, we are probably doing the same thing- wake up, eat breakfast, play with the baby, clean, go to the gym, do laundry, go to the grocery store, cook dinner, watch TV, listen to music, read, go to bed. Oh yeah...and work for some people :) It's pretty much as if we take our life in Minnesota, pick it up and drop it down here in Croatia and just keep moving on! Just with different scenery, weather and language in the background.

Being that it is Thanksgiving today back home, I feel that it is the right time so say that I really am thankful for our blessed life. We are very lucky to be over here in Croatia where Andy can do what he loves for a living and I get to stay home and raise this little baby! Can't really ask for much more than that! It is very rare to see that a working dad is able to get home by about noon each day to spend with mom and baby as a family. I'm also Thankful for our spring and summers at our favorite place in the world....Minnesota!

Ok back to about a month ago-

Andy's mom was able to come visit us for a couple of weeks and meet Eli for the first time so that was pretty awesome! We mostly just hung around our apartment and played with the baby- but ventured out a few times too!

Carol got the hang of the tram system and bravely went downtown by herself a couple of times! We also took a day trip to Graz, Austria where we hit up Ikea and Babies R Us before wandering around the city center there..(and grabbing some Subway of course..).

Eli did ok in the car on the trip... we brought along the DVD player which kept him entertained for a bit and he slept for a bit too...but when he's awake in that car seat... man look out. He absolutely hates it. I'm not sure what to do to cure this- We've tried the mirror, toys, DVD player.nothing seems to work for more than about 10 minutes at a time... so if anyone has suggestions, feel free to help a fellow mom out! Hopefully he just grows out of this phase.... it is hard for him to get used to the car seat too since we very rarely go in the car. We walk everywhere we need to go.... grocery store, tram, the rink ect...

After our Graz trip, Carol and Andy took a day-trip back to Stancija, Croatia. We went here last winter to check it out and take some pictures too. This is where Andy's grandpa's family was originally from. They took a few nice pictures then headed back home.

We also enjoyed a few nice meals out while Carol was here and lots of dinners in since I like to cook! Andy and I also went out for the first time together while Carol babysat! We went downtown to the wine tent for a bit then to a bar with a few of his teammates and made it home by about 12:30 I think! I still have a hard time leaving him for too long... And it's not because I don't think he will miss me too much.. it's just hard with nursing him still- He eats about ever 3 hours now and if I miss a feeding I have to pump and it seems to just throw off the whole rhythm of my body and it's just a hassle to be honest. So I prefer to just be around to feed him!

Andy had 5 home games while Carol was here visiting which was great for her to see! Andy played great and the team won all but one of those games I believe... Oh one little side note about hockey- Andy's team played Klagenfurt (ranked #1) in October and beat them (it was a home game) and Andy had 3 points that game- (I already know he's going to be mad at me for writing about this.) Well turns out they took the win away from us about 2 days later saying our goalie's paperwork wasn't turned in on time or something... so they also took all the points away from the players from that game... and if they didn't Andy would be the #1 scoring defensemen in the league! Darn it! Oh well... there's worse things in life... Needless to say I'm very proud of him- I think it's helped to have his little good luck charm watching and drooling from the stands! (Eli, not me).

Well after Carol headed home we once again got back into our normal groove of things- I sure do miss my 20 minute morning coffee and grocery run that I had while she was here though!

The past few weeks have been fairly uneventful except for Eli's milestones, which to some people may seem silly but you better believe I wrote on the baby calendar the first time he found his tongue!

He had immunizations done recently and at that appointment he was 13lbs. His favorite things right now are grabbing at a toy we dangle in front of him, laying on his back kicking and trying to grab at his feet, watching TV (I know this is terrible), and sitting in dad's lap. He is also starting to enjoy his Johnny Jump Up but needs a couple more weeks to be a little more steady with holding his body up. Every day he gets stronger and cuter in my opinion.

Last weekend I went out with a few girls for the first time since Eli was born...it was a Saturday night, Andy stayed home and watched Eli and I met the girls downtown in the tent for some gluwine (hot wine). And from there we went to a bar... I left the house at about 6:30 and got home around 12- The longest I've been away so far! And I drank too much of course and had a terrible headache the entire next day- aahhh the joys of alcohol.

Last night we had a Thanksgiving get-together with a few of the American couples here and it was also a 2nd birthday party so there were also some Canadian & European couples there that had kids that were at the party- It was a lot of fun and all the food was amazing!!! I made stuffing/dressing and it turned out pretty good. I had to put it in the baby bathtub because I didn't have a bowl big enough to carry it over to the Banham's place!! I obviously made too much... haha

We ate and visited and the kids played birthday games and ate cupcakes, fun was had by all!

Andy left today for Czech for their game tomorrow so Eli and I have just been hanging out today, I've done some cleaning and organizing of the apartment so we can put the Christmas decorations up on Saturday! Then finally a home game on Sunday! It has been 3 weeks since the last home game BUT they did have a bunch at the beginning of October and they also have 7 in a row in January at the big Arena Zagreb this year!

Well I think that brings everyone up to speed on our lives the last 6 weeks or so! Eli and I are coming home to Minnesota after Christmas for a 12 day visit! I'm VERY nervous about the long travel day, but excited to get home and have everyone meet him! On Saturday he will be 15 weeks old... almost 4 months already! Time flies when you're having fun!

2011-10-01T12:42:00.013+03:00

Well it has been almost a week since Mom & Rhea left us to head back home, we miss them dearly but had an awesome time while they were here! We filled the days while they were here visiting, playing with Eli and doing a little traveling & exploring.

They arrived on Thursday, September 15th in the early afternoon and I picked them up at the airport (left Eli at home with dad) and then we proceeded to sit in traffic for about an hour on our way back to our apartment! We stopped at the United States Embassy on our way home since it's right along the way and picked up Eli's passport since it was ready to go! It only took about 4 business days! OH how I love the efficiency of my fellow Americans, it's a breath of fresh air :)

When we got back to our apartment it was the first time Mom & Rhea met Eli, and the first time he met anyone in his family besides Andy and I, so it was really fun.

He was just laying on the floor playing when they got here so it was perfect timing for their introductions to each other! We spent the rest of this day just catching up and they spent it fighting the jet lag!

Friday Andy had a home game so we spent the day just wandering around our neighborhood before the game then we walked over to the rink before game time and got our seats.

I honestly don't remember if they won or not... but Andy scored a goal which was awesome since this was the only game they were able to see while they were here since his other ones were all away games. After the game we came home and picked up dinner from Viva to go and ate at home.

The next day we headed down to the city center to wander around and see some sights and they were able to pick up a few souveniers.

It was really hot outside and I had Eli in the baby bjorn so I was sweating bullets of course. It was Eli's first time on the tram and his first trip downtown and he did really well so I was proud of him :)

The next day we spent resting up and letting Mom & Rhea do some more catching up on the jet-lag. Each day we wandered around the neighborhood a bit and picked up some pastries at the bakery and had a coffee at one of the many coffee shops. We also drove up to the top of the mountain here in Zagreb, and went to the local park, Jarun and walked around there. We decided to plan a trip to the coast for the upcoming days so we got online and booked a hotel and packed a few things and got ourselves ready for our roadtrip!

We headed to Opetija (pronounced Oh-potty-ah) which is about an hour and a half drive away from Zagreb. I'm SO glad we chose this place A. because it was so close and B. because it ended up being so beautiful! We arrived there in the early afternoon and got checked into our hotel.

It was funny because I was all worked up we were going to get in trouble because we had 3 adults and an infant in a room that was only for 2 adults..so I checked in with me, Eli & Mom's passports while Rhea hung out by the car... and she came up and met us in the room after a few minutes... I don't know why I was so worried.

I'm pretty sure every hotel room is supposed to only be for 2 people.. but our room was a "junior suite" so why the heck would you get a suite for only 2 people...well I guess people do that, but come on, they are big enough for more than that! Well it turns out our room was amazing! It was on the 9th floor and on a corner so we ended up having a balcony on two sides and it literally felt like we were on a cruise ship, our view directly below...and all around us was water. It was gorgeous outside and everything was either lush green or ocean blue!

We quickly got settled in the room and headed out to explore. We were pretty hungry (weird..) so we stopped right away at a little cafe to grab some lunch. We ended up eating at a cafe called Pizzeria Andy! I got spaghetti, Rhea got a calzone that was the size of her head and mom got a spicy garlic pasta. Eli fell alseep in my lap while sucking on my hand! After we ate we started to walk and discovered a walking path pretty much all long the shoreline of the little city.

It was just perfect. This little boardwalk made it perfect for checking out the sights and slipping into the sea whenever we felt like it. Mom and Rhea spent lots of time collecting sea glass for their collections which was really cool. Eli continued to sleep while we walked...

We stumbled upon an outdoor theater and a few nice parks and gardens along the walking paths and took lots of pictures and just took it all in! Rhea ended up going into the sea for the first time about halfway through our walk and said it was a little cold but nice!

From here we headed back to the room so I could feed Eli and mom and Rhea headed down to the beach right below our balcony. I fed Eli out on the patio with the waves crashing in the background! After we played and he went down for a nap, I went out on the patio and was scanning the beach for mom and Rhea and saw them out swimming, which was a really cool view because I could see right through the clear water with all the rocks below them and thankfully no sharks.

Next, I layed on the beach chair on the patio and read a book and took a little snooze! After they were done swimming and collecting some more sea glass they came back up to the room and we hung out there for a bit then Rhea and I headed out to grab dinner while Grandma Sue watched Eli! We walked and found only 1 little cafe that had food at this time and we sat down and ate. Rhea had cevapcici (reminder: this is a meat that is really popular in Croatia, pronounced Cha-Vaap-Cha-CHee. It looks like a breakfast sausage and tastes like a garlicy, spiced meat. It's delicious). And I got a cheeseburger. We brought a hamburger back home for mom, and she said it was terrible!!

The next morning we woke up and had a great breakfast down in the fancy dining area then headed out to do some more exploring! We continued our walk along the seaside but went the opposite direction that we walked the day before. After our seaside walk we sat at a cafe and ordered some deli sandwiches and coffee before hitting the road back to Zagreb. Side note- Eli hates his car seat so that's fun for roadtrips...

The next couple of days we spent lounging around the apartment! We ended up going to Mcdonald's and picking up some burgers and taking them to Bundek park where we had a "picnic" and did some walking and talking and the next day Mom & Rhea went downtown all by themselves and picked up the rest of their gifts for people and went to the market and got food to cook all of us dinner! They ended up making Ribs with homemade BBQ sauce, a few different salads and baked potatoes with these amazing deep fried bacon fat cruton things! Sounds very Minnesota State-Fair-ish..and it was delicious!

Sunday we decided to road-trip again. This time we headed in the opposite direction to Slovenia. We made it through the border, which is always one of my least favorite things to do.. seems like I ALWAYS pick the wrong line to go in and my line ends up being the slow one.

Our first stop was Ljubljana.

We parked and walked to the city center. There was a lot going on here for a Sunday in Europe! There were people everywhere, bands playing and a parade of Bentley's. We sat down and ate at the Mexican Cantina which was of course huge portions of deliciousness.

After eating we made our way back to the car to hit up our next stop, Bled Slovenia which was about 30 minutes away.

Ok Bled is one of the cutest most magical little towns tucked in a mountain valley area. There is a crystal clear lake of mountain runoff water (very similar to the mine pits at home!) and amazing 360 degree scenery. There is a walking path all along the water here and of course little cafes to stop at along the way.

We walked the path for a while before stopping for the famous Creme Cake and a coffee. After this we hopped in the car to head home..and of course Eli was not happy about this!! He ended up settling down for most of the drive and woke up pissed off right when we got to the Croatian border! He does not like when the car stops!

Andy had an away game Friday night in Vienna and they won, for the first time ever in Vienna! Then Sunday his game was in Villach, Austria and they won that one too! We were going to go to the game after our stops in Ljubljana and Bled but it would have made for a really long day with a 7 week old baby! Andy scored another goal that night, I think when family comes it's good luck :)

After we arrived back in Zagreb on Sunday, Mom & Rhea got their bags organized and we ate dinner and went to bed! We got up around 5:30 to head to the airport at 6:00.

I came back home to our seemingly empty house and was pretty sad, but realized I should be happy and thankful that they were able to come visit and that Eli finally got to meet his Grandma and Auntie! And we only have 3 more weeks to wait until Grandma Carol comes to visit!

This past week has been mostly just hanging out at home and going for our evening walks with Eli. We did have a girls night on Tuesday that I attended for about an hour, Eli was with because Andy had already committed to helping with the youth hockey that night. Even if I was only out with them for a hour or so it was still fun, we have such a great group of girls here again!! The next day I met up with my friend Jaime and she filled me in on the night's events!

Last night the Bears had a home game that they ended up losing in OT. Eli was such a good boy at the game, he slept, then sat in my lap and watched the game!! We picked up Viva on our way home and had dinner at home.

Tonight a few of the girls are headed to the Britney Spears concert, and I think we are all going to meet in the center for a few drinks and visiting before they head out!

It has been a really fun month, with visitors and with Eli growing and changing so much! He just started smiling this week which is really fun...I love that big gummy smile!! We just love him more and more each day, he is truely a good baby and we are very luck to have such a little sweetie!

Ok well I think that keeps you up to date on our life here in Zagreb- more to come soon!

Here are a few more pictures from the past few weeks!

Random events in our crazy life-

2011-09-08T14:47:00.015+03:00

Well we're almost to week 5 of Eli being our lives! It's really funny going back and reading my previous posts about the stress and challenges we have gone through, and realizing now that it's just part of how things work with new babies! Things are going really well and he is just growing and moving and changing every day.

I'm still writing down everything daily on my little spreadsheet and it has helped tremendously for me to see the patterns of his day. He has basically eaten, played & slept around the same times each day which is huge progress for us! Oh side note... the fricking construction is STILL going on. I've given up all hope and have realized that these guys have the easiest life ever and have 1 job per year and just take all year working on that one job... that is what I tell myself anyways... oh and to top it off they are blocking me in my parking spot today and I have to bring my friend to the airport shortly so we'll see if they move or if I need to go up to the 4th floor and try to tell them to move (I really need to learn some Croatian...)! BUT I've actually calmed down quite a bit with the construction..it doesn't immediately send me into anxiety and rage, now it's just another one of those things that I say...."of course they're not done... why would they be?!!"

Well last weekend we took Eli to his first series of hockey games. I was a nervous wreck the first game of course... We got him all ready, loaded up the diaper bag, and walked to the rink. Andy had a minor groin injury so he wasn't playing so that actually helped me out a lot, being it was our first time taking him there. And what do you know he sleeps through pretty much the entire game, even though it's extremely loud (we had his ears covered with blankets in his car seat and had the headphones for when he got up).After that first game I was able to breathe a little easier for the next game, which he also slept through and then the third game I was realizing that I can actually do this and if he gets hungry, he will let me know and I will go find someplace to feed him... and if he's not hungry, he will sleep. Easy as that. It also makes it much easier knowing that if for some reason he has a meltdown, I can just walk back home with him and meet Andy there later. That is one huge perk of living walking distance to the rink.

This week we have spent most of our time at home, which is just fine with me! Eli prefers to be out and about, however. Anytime we are at a friend's place or on a walk he is a perfect angel and either sleeps or just sits there awake looking around... the second we walk in our apartment he decides it's no fun sitting at home and he lets us know- haha.

We live in the building next to our friends Joel & Kim and they have had us over twice and it is so nice; it's a way to get out, get some adult (am I an adult?) interaction and once again, we are so close to home so we can get their quickly if need be.

So basically, life is starting to fall back into a place where I can call it normal, and Eli seems to be adjusting to everything just fine! With each day I learn I can't over-analyze and freak out, I just need to roll with the punches and hope I'm rolling the right way.

We only have 1 more week to wait for Grandma Sue and Auntie Rhea to come visit!! It is going to be so much fun, not quite sure what we will do yet but we have a few ideas.. first of all they get in on Thursday the 15th and on Friday Andy has a home game which is perfect! Then I would like to take them around Zagreb to see the sights and then we will venture out and either go to Slovenia, Italy, or Austria. I feel much better knowing that these two experienced moms will be there with me on these little trips so I don't automatically jump into panic mode! I should add that we will only go to these places IF Eli's passport is finished by then... this is a story all in itself....

Ok so I go to the photo shop last Friday to get his passport picture taken, I make sure to feed him right before then head out because I know he is awake for about an hour after he eats. So I put him in the stroller and briskly walk down the street to the store.. The lady working luckily speaks English and we get Eli all set up for his picture. I have to hold him out to the side so I'm not in the picture and hold his head up. His big blue eyes are wide open and we get a great picture. While they are developing we go outside and have a coffee (national pass time) and they are done in about 25 minutes. So I check that task off of my list and head home. Next on the list is to get an appointment at the Embassy. This is pretty comical- they are only open for this particular service on Wednesdays from 9 to 3, but lunch is from 12 to 1:30. And what do you know, Andy has practice during these exact times. Both parents need to be present of course... so I email them explaining our situation and they say it's ok If I come with Eli, and all the paperwork and have Andy go there after practice and sign the forms. I had printed off all of the paperwork we needed back at home in the good old U S of A (actually Carol printed them off, who am I kidding). So I was ahead of the game there. I also had organized a folder with all the documents we needed which I later realized I forgot at home. SO Carol faxed us these necessary documents and I had everything I needed! You should see the list of criteria needed! Andy and I both needed our high school transcripts...which were pretty fun to look at.. and bills from our house in the USA, our marriage license, birth certificates, criminal backgrounds, blah blah blah... At first I was annoyed by all of this but then I quickly realized that I liked that America is so picky about who gets to become a citizen..because all you hear about is illegal immigrants and drama about us letting anyone in...

Ok off track-

I go to the Embassy which is just like any other outing I go on- need to time it so Eli is fed right before we go, hop in the car, hope to the good Lord that he sleeps the whole time and doesn't wake up hungry or fussy... Well he once again slept the whole time while I was there! What a little sweetie. The only glitch was that the passport photo size was too small, turns out the woman gave me the size for Croatian passports, which is my fault for not being very clear. So I decide to go back there right after leaving the Embassy and ask her to print me the right size. There is no where to park so I pull the ol' Croatian park wherever you please with your flashers on- and go in and she finds his picture and prints it for me, I tell her 2 inch by 2inch which she doesn't understand because they go by centimeters like the rest of the world... but she figures it out and has them done in 5 minutes. Meanwhile I look outside and my car is about to be towed, so I grab Eli's car seat and run out there and convince them to let me go (I think having the cute little baby with me helped!)

Andy got home from practice and grabbed the paperwork he needed to bring to the Embassy along with the new photos and headed over there. Well, it turns out this passport photo was also the wrong size... of course. But the lady said she could make it work somehow- SO now we wait and hopefully it will be done in 5 days (that's what they told me!) and Eli will officially be an American and be ready to travel the 7 seas with mom & dad!!

Last week the coach's wife made dinner for Andy and I and brought it over in Tupperware, it was the nicest thing ever. It just happened to be one of those days that was super hectic and I hadn't taken anything out to cook... she made chicken in a cranberry sauce, rosemary potatoes and a salad. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect! It was so delicious- It's nice to see that there are still caring people out there!!

Speaking of caring people, I have the sweetest husband in the world. Last week he got home late after being at a promotion and woke me up and apologized for being so late (I had no idea it was late..) and he told me he was walking home and saw an old lady hunched over pulling a bag of groceries across the ground tied to a string. He went up to her and asked her if she needed help and she said "yes" so he knew she understood a little English. So he carried her groceries and then ended up holding her up with his other arm and walking with her, and helping her up the stairs up to her apartment. He said it was about 5 blocks from the grocery store and it would have taken her about 3 hours doing it alone because she would have to stop and take breaks. She invited him to stay for a drink but he respectfully declined and let her know that he needed to get home to his wife and baby! Just melted my heart when he told me the story.

Two days ago I went for a walk with my new friend Jaime and her daughter and we walked to the pediatricians office that has been recommended to me. I thought it would be nice to walk there to figure out where it is and make my appointment for Eli's 2 month check-up and immunizations while I was there. Well we find it and after waiting for a bit I ask the lady at the desk if I can make an appointment for my son's 2-month check up with so-and -so Doctor and she tells me I need to come back in the afternoon when that doctor is in to make the appointment.... which makes perfect sense? So I just left and figured I'd give it a try another day.

Well Andy left today for an overnight trip...I thought these were OVER?!!! Actually I'm ok with this one...it's only 1 night, 2 days this time. They are headed to Linz, Austria to play there tomorrow. This will be the first regular season game. It will also be his first game back after his groin injury so lets hope and pray that he stays healthy! They will be back late after the game tomorrow then they have their first official home game on Sunday.

Here's to an injury free, successful hockey season to the Medvescak Bears! And to a fun-filled adventure with our 1 month old baby with many more ups and downs I'm sure but lots of love and learning to be had by all!

2011-08-23T12:06:00.009+03:00

Well I just put Eli down for a nap and realized it was probably time for a blog update! Things have been going fairly well and we are slowly but surely adjusting to our new lives together. Weeks 1 and 2 were a complete blur, when I look back I don't really even remember anything specific, just being completely overwhelmed and trying to tell myself this was the way things are and it's normal and pretty much trying to talk myself into being positive. This worked for the most part, but some days man oh man I was just a wreck; questioning everything I did and worrying about him constantly! After about day 10 things started to smooth out a bit and we have gotten to know each other and how we work! Now we are working on our routines together and they may not work every time, but for the most part we are learning together and it seems to be going well as far as I can tell!

This blog has quickly shifted from my "European Adventures..." to sort of our ordinary life stuff, but I guess that's what happens! And I look at my life as an adventure anyways, so if you are sick of reading about baby stuff and ordinary every day life happenings, feel free to log out. No feelings hurt here!

The first "outing" we had with Eli was on Friday, August 19th which was my 27th birthday. I didn't really know what to expect but knew I needed to be over prepared so I could relax and enjoy myself. So I pumped some milk, packed it in the diaper bag, along with diapers, a change of clothes, some formula just in case, blankets, pacifier... the list goes on. So we went about 5 blocks away to our favorite restaurant here in Zagreb, Viva. We sat outside on the little patio and 4 of Andy's teammates were there eating which was nice because we sat and visited with them. I fed Eli before we left to allot myself at least 2 hours of time to eat and visit. So we got there, ate, visited and I even had a beer! Eli slept this entire time, and woke up at the end to eat the bottle of milk I brought. We sat after dinner for quite a while after until deciding to go over to our friends place for a while. So Andy and Eli and I took a quick trip home, put on his pj's, did a quick pump (sorry if that's too much info..) then went over to our friend Ryan's apartment where Eli slept in his car seat for a couple of hours while the big kids played! He woke up and I fed him there then went right back to bed! He was a good boy for mom's birthday! We ended up getting home around 12:30 and I NEVER thought it would have went as smoothly as it did. Sometimes I forget how much he really does sleep!

Since the day we moved into our apartment (July 26th) they have been doing construction of some sort on the top floor which is the 4th floor and we are on the 2nd floor. I was relieved when we got here when they were working, thinking "Thank God they are doing this now and now, so it will be done by the time the baby gets here!" Well two things... Eli came 17 days early AND I forgot these workers are on Croatia time not normal time. Which means this job will probably be going on for a few more months give or take.

I'm not kidding its EVERY day. Drilling, and hammering... and it almost sounds like they are hitting a metal pipe with a hammer. In fact right as I was typing that last sentence the drill started again.... and if there is a break in the action...which there are quite a few throughout the day for coffee and smokes... it just happens to be when Eli is awake. Right when he goes down for a nap...the circus begins again...

One last note on this and I'm done.... If Ty Pennington and the Extreme Makeover Home Edition crew can completely demolish, rebuild, decorate/furnish and landscape a new home in 7 days, why the Hell can't these people finish ONE SMALL apartment within a month?!! It just blows my mind. Ok sorry to you Croatian readers, but you know what I'm talking about.

This reminds me of something funny that happened the day we left the hospital... I probably shouldn't write this but since when have I censored. We were leaving and we told the nurse who to contact for the payments for Eli's birth and our stay in the hospital, so she calls and is told some bs about the payments... and gets off the phone and tells us, "It's ok, you can go, we will eventually get the money, this is Croatia and it's how things work." I'm not joking this is what she said. I couldn't believe it. So we took our baby and ran.

Well as some of you know, Andy's team left Sunday night for an 8 day road-trip. This was devastation to me. I was JUST getting comfortable with everything (with MAJOR help from Andy) and this gets thrown in the mix. So I'm a mess once again Sunday thinking about this LONG week ahead. Well Monday went pretty well. Eli is doing so well and is so cute and sweet. It's mainly my own insecurities and loneliness that makes it hard to be here without Dad!

To top it off, it's about 100 degrees outside and I don't like taking him out in this weather because he overheats so easily (which we learned the hard way by taking him for a walk over-dressed last week and came home with him screaming and completely drenched in sweat and his skin all red). SO I try to keep our outings minimal...which makes for a really long day. Yesterday we went to the grocery store (which again, feed him then quick get going so I know I have about a 2 hour window...) I only got enough food to fit under my stroller, which thank God my basket is huge. And we were home by like 9:45am. Now what?!! So we play and sing and read and cuddle and watch TV and nap... which is all great, but being in an apartment for 22 hours a day can be maddening. Today we went on a quick walk at 10am to get diapers and laundry detergent, it took us about 15 minutes total and we were back. I was already showered, dishes done, laundry in and walk done by 10:30am!

I'm very high energy in the morning, feeling really motivated and positive....then after lunch it's like...ok what the hell do we do now!? I guess I'm just so used to an on-the-go lifestyle that I think Eli needs to be on the go or he will get bored...but I need to remember he is 17 days old and is perfectly content sitting at home all day with Mom!

I have found that if I give myself a few tasks each day it helps.... like sweep, do my nails, catch up on emails, write the blog, or clean the bathroom. I'm such a list person, you should see my log of Eli's daily comings & goings... it is pretty much an excel spreadsheet, but hand written of what we have done at what times during the day. This helps me remember when he needs to eat and how long he's napped and what "activities" we have done each day. It keeps me sane to have my lists!

Well overall things are falling into place and we are very luck to have a healthy, sweet little baby boy. We go to the doctor on Thursday to have him weighed and measured to make sure things are progressing like they are supposed to.

Andy will be home Monday....only 6 more days to go!! Then he will be home the rest of the season for the most part, except a couple of nights away maximum!

I don't know how working mothers do this. I can't imagine giving Eli to someone to watch during the day!! I'm SO very lucky to be able to be home with him all the time! Side note- Andy told me he read that if you look back in old Russia a lot men (and women I guess) have flat heads on the back from their mothers never picking them up! I don't know why I just thought of that but it's interesting, I can barely put Eli down, I have to remind myself he needs time to play alone and let that brain do its work!

One last note- whoever said breastfeeding is such a "beautiful" thing... ok I know it's a great bonding thing for Mother and baby and it's the most healthy thing for your baby (which is why I'm doing it) But oh my goodness it's not pretty, you should see how awkward it is for us. Pillows propped up everywhere, me holding his head in place... what a mess. Hopefully it gets easier! Feel free to give me pointers & advise because I have NO idea what I'm doing.

Ok that is all for now, (drilling in the background....) will write again soon!!

PS- Happy Due Date to Eli!!! I can't imagine just having him now, seems like he's been part of our lives forever now!

Countdown to my mom and sister coming to visit!!!! 23 days!!! I might make a construction paper chain-link countdown... if I can get out of the house to get supplies... :)

Eli's Story

2011-08-14T10:19:00.011+03:00

Well we barely made it over to Croatia..we were here for 12 days when our baby decided it was time to come 17 days early!

It was a Saturday morning at 9:30am and I got out of bed for the day in good spirits because Andy was coming home today after being away for a WEEK in Slovenia with his team doing some training. I went to the bathroom and apparently my water broke. (I didn't know this was what it was...) so I just went about my day.. I showered, did the dishes and bopped around the house for a bit when I finally decided to call the Dr. to see what's up since the water wouldn't stop (sorry... I will try to keep this more PG than documentary..) So the Doctor said you should probably come in so I grabbed my backpack and put my laptop in it just in case I needed to skype home for some reason. I also grabbed my kindle to read since I knew I would probably be sitting around doing nothing in the lobby of the Doctors office. I hopped in the car and made a quick stop at the ATM just in case I needed some cash for later then headed to the hospital.

When I got there they hooked me up to the machine that has two suction cups, one to monitor baby's heartbeat, one to monitor contractions. So they did that for about 45 minutes and said "Well it looks like you're having contractions, lets go do an exam and an ultrasound and see whats up"... so we went into another room, had an exam which told Dr. Podobnik (actually, they call him professor...) that I was dilated 2 cm. Next he did another 4D ultrasound and it showed that he was starting to move down and things were progressing. I still didn't believe them at this point because I literally felt nothing.

I grabbed my phone and quick called Andy and let him know I was at the hospital and going to have the baby and Prof. Podobnik said it would probably be about 7-8 hours so don't feel panicked that you won't get here on time. So he said they were waiting for the team bus to pick them up any minute and they would be back in Zagreb within a couple of hours.

So they tell me I'm ready to go get settled in my room so I grab my backpack and start walking out of the room and they take my bag from me and make me go in a wheel chair to my room... We get there and they tell me to change into this gown and lay on the bed and they would be right back.. So I did that...still a bit confused and not realizing this was really happening. I skyped my mom, sister and mother-in-law to keep them up-to-date then just layed there waiting..

Finally a nurse and another doctor came in and decided it was time to give me some medication to help start induce contractions... it was a syringe of lotion/gel which I thought was weird, I'm pretty sure at home it's a drip that went in through a needle..but what do I know. So anyways about 5 minutes after that the contractions came... this was 2:00 in the afternoon. So I spent the next 3 hours in my room going through terrible contractions that had no rhythm at all....alone (Andy's bus was running late, so one of his team's owners went and picked him up and was driving him back to Zagreb... turns out they took a back way and went through an emergency border crossing because the line at the border was a 2 hour wait!!) Thank God he was with a Croatian that knew his way around and could communicate with the border patrol!

At this point I didn't care that I was alone, it was actually kind of nice to just deal with it without Andy having to see me go through that pain and not be able to help! My nurse, Marina was great, she kept coming in to check on me and would rub my back. Finally at 5 they decided I could have an epidural, I was dilated between 5-6cm at this point. So they tell me I can WALK to the delivery room to get my epidural. SURE they wheel me into my room when I'm feeling nothing but when I can barely take a step and my knees buckle every 30 seconds I have to walk down the hall, up an elevator to a completely different building!

I got there and they gave me the epidural right away which was amazing.... I wish I would have got it sooner!!! I don't know how people do it without one. If that's what you want to do..Ok.. but man... my friend Laura Guyer said it perfectly.. "Would you get a tooth pulled without Novocaine?" HELL NO. So I'm totally for the epidural and don't for a second regret getting it!!

Well Andy conveniently arrived just after I got my epidural and was feeling nothing... haha how perfect. So we sat there and talked for a couple of hours and finally around 7 decided we should probably pick a name for this little guy. We chose Eli Marko Sertich and shortly after that I pushed 2 times (didn't really know I was pushing, but I figured I was...) and he was here at 8:15pm on August 6th 2011 weighing 6lbs 8 oz and measuring 19inches long. My nurse Marina delivered him!

From here they took him and put him on me while Andy cut the cord then they took him to the sink, washed him off and gave him back to us. After this they took him away to check him out and make sure he was healthy and they wheeled me back to the room then brought Eli to us and we skyped family and friends. Around 10pm they took him away for the night to sleep in the nursery. They did this for 3 more nights and finally Tuesday night we kept him in our room for the first time. I wish I would have asked to have him stay with us sooner but too late for that I guess. I think the nurses liked having him :) They have dresser drawers full of baby clothes in the nursery and they brought him dressed up in something new each time they "returned" him to us. We went down to the nursery to check it out and there were 3 other babies in there and there was one very hairy little Croatian named Armando that was screaming the whole time.. I think Eli was ready to come to our room and be away from him!

In those 3 full days (Sunday-Tuesday) and part of Wednesday before we went home, they took him for immunizations, and would take him randomly to test his ears and eyes and bathe him. Wednesday at noon we headed for home, I was a wreck. I sat in the back seat and Andy drove better than I have ever seen him drive in our 10 or so years together.

We got home and since then it has been a whirlwind.. The first night was a bit stressful just because everything is new and a bit overwhelming and scary. But since then things have slowly fallen into place and he is on a pretty good schedule of eat, play, sleep throughout the whole day. I'm following the book "BabyWise" and trying to see if that helps establish a routine for him. I have a whole bunch of friends that swear by it so I figured it's worth a shot.

Every day we try to Skype with Grandma Sue and Grandma Carol back at home! Grandma Sue and Auntie Rhea will be here September 15th to visit for about 10 days and Grandma Carol is coming at the end of October for a couple of weeks so that will be really nice to have family around.

I find myself doubting almost everything I do and looking up questions and answers online and emailing and facebooking friends for advise... It's pretty scary how much you care about this little thing. I was literally sick to my stomach for the first few days, anxiety ridden and had no appetite..but things are starting to feel a bit more natural and safe and Eli seems to be happy and healthy so what more can I ask for really.

Andy is the best dad ever. He is so good with him and we've been reading to him and teaching him things already :) Today Andy read him the news and we showed him pictures of his Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles and cousins (AND Great-Aunts and Uncles LORI) and explained who they are so when we get home in April he's all set and ready to spend lots of quality time with them!

I'm not as tired as I thought I would be, I could still be running on pure adrenaline though. But really newborns sleep so much throughout the day that I definitely have opportunities to get some sleep. He gets up one time in the middle of the night to eat for about 45 minutes to an hour then is back to bed so I get a few solid hours before that time and a few solid hours after (for now..) SO I can't complain at all, he has been a happy playful baby that seems very content. I'm the neurotic one that questions everything and worries myself into anemia.

Well it's been quite the week, words can't explain how I'm feeling or my feelings for him. We have been going for short walks each day to get used to the world (and help mom ease into feeling secure having him out!!) I could just stare at him all day... and I have. The little expressions while sleeping make me want to cry every time. Weather it's a smile or a sad face. He has changed SO much in 1 week it's just unbelievable. Some days he looks just like his dad, some days like me! And I love the changes, makes each day new and exciting.

Hope you enjoyed our story and we will update again soon~

Zagreb, Croatia: Round 3

2011-08-05T20:21:00.012+03:00

Well it is that time of year again! We are back in Zagreb, Croatia getting settled and ready for a new hockey season... oh and a baby too! I am due August 23rd, so we have about 2.5 weeks to go! Our travels over here came a bit earlier than usual since I didn't really want to fly any later than 36 weeks. Neither my doctor in the USA or my Croatian doctor seemed to think it was an issue, nor did the airlines... so that made me feel a little bit better.

We took off from Minneapolis on Monday July 25th around 4pm after an amazing last weekend at home spent at my brother's wedding surrounded by family and friends. Our flight went from Minneapolis to Paris, France and took about 8.5 hours. I didn't sleep a wink. I was getting up to walk every 20 minutes or so, drinking lots of water and hiking up my attractive compression socks. Oh and using the bathroom every time I stood up of course!! The flight went great, we were in coach but had the "bulk-head" seat so I had a bit more room, Andy on the other hand ended up having less room since there was a wall in front of him and no where to put his feet under. Luckily the flight went by really fast for some reason!

We arrived in Paris around 6:30am I believe it was, and had about a 3 hour layover which was perfect, we were able to walk around a little, get to our terminal and relax for a little bit before heading onto our next and final flight into Zagreb.

The ONLY glitch we had in our travels was they "lost" our stroller for a bit. I was so anxious about this damn stroller getting over here too. We checked all of our bags in Minneapolis (we had 3 suitcases and 1 hockey bag... Andy fit his entire life and hockey gear in 1 hockey bag... that's my guy!) and I had 1 for myself (pat on my back for that....) and 2 for the baby!! Anyways, I took the stroller with me through the airport because I felt more comfortable with it getting "checked" at the gate and put under the plane right there so I knew where it was at all times... and sure enough when we arrived in Paris, I saw them take it off and they put it on a cart..so I asked a guy to get it for me and he assured me it was ok and I didn't need to bother with carrying it through the airport, it would go right to our plane to Zagreb... blah blah blah.... and We arrive in Zagreb and what is missing.... the stroller... of course. SO we go with the team management that is there to pick us up (around noon on Tuesday the 26th) and file a report that it is missing and all of that fun stuff.... I have little hope at this point that it will ever be found because it didn't have an actual luggage tag like checked bags do, only the one with my name on it... anyways to shorten this up a bit, they found it 2 days later and had it delivered to the rink and I can sleep at night again. (Not literally, I'm too pregnant for that.)

Next thing we do is get in the car with management and they bring us to our nice new apartment! I'm so happy with it, it is clean and big and has 2 big bedrooms and 2 bathroomsLast year we sort of got hosed on our apartment situation so they really made up for it this year. We are walking distance to the tram stop (about 5 minutes) and the rink (about 10 minutes) and a lot of cafes and grocery stores are around also. It's a much better feeling living here compared to our "fancy" living last year in the high rise outside of the city.

The next day, Wednesday, we headed to my 36 week Dr. appointment which was a relief, I wanted to make sure everything was ok from the flight and travel day. And it was just fine, They are so thorough here and make me feel so comfortable. The baby was a little small in weight at that appointment about 5lbs. but the doctor wasn't worried at all. Everything else looked great.

The next few days we spent just getting the apartment organized, grocery shopping, wandering around our neighborhood and fighting the jet lag.

On Monday Andy's team left for Slovenia to spend the week there doing "team bonding" and dry land training camp. This made me a bit nervous considering I'm 37 weeks pregnant, Andy is leaving and I forgot to mention we have no Internet connection yet... (I go to cafes to surf the net and write..) And of course we still don't have internet access at our apartment because.... "we're not in Kansas anymore" where people take pride in efficient work (sorry that's harsh) but sometimes the truth hurts.

So anyways- I've been trying to keep myself very busy this week to make the time go by fast! On Monday I went to Graz, Austria (a little less than a 2 hour drive) with a friend and her son and we hit up Ikea pretty aggressively. It's really the only place here that I find that has nice, cute stuff that isn't overpriced. So our apartment is all decorated and looks great! On Tuesday I headed to the city center with the same friend and another wife of Andy's teammate who is also pregnant, and we wandered around a bit, had some lunch and visited.

On Wednesday I drove just outside of the city about 15 minutes to the big mall (it's like Eastern Europe's mall of America) and I did my grocery shopping there, I like going there because the grocery store is huge and there is usually no one in there to bump into to you and make you feel like you're a fat, pregnant American with a cart full of un-necessary items such as Oreos. I had quite the list with me since I decided this week would be a good time to do some cooking and freezing of meals for when the baby comes and I don't feel like doing it! SO about an hour later I had my heaping full cart and made my way to the checkout with only a few funny looks from other shoppers (reminder: the grocery carts are like half the size here as they are at home...) and I didn't really buy more than I would at home either... but that is just not how they do it here. Also I've found that the grocery stores are generally filled with elderly people.. I think that they do all the cooking for the entire family possibly... ok off track.... back on....

I got home and put the groceries away and decided it was WAY too nice outside to stay in and cook all day so I put on my bikini and headed to the "man-made" lake called Jarun which is a great big park with cafes and play areas and walking trails.. And I found myself a spot on the beach and took out my blanket and pillows and my Kindle and water bottle and did some relaxing! Side note- there are NO sandy beaches here. Everything is rocks so it's not comfortable at all, I knew this ahead of time, so I had packed some pillows to prop up around me. It still wasn't that comfortable but I can't complain, I'm at the beach...in Croatia....and its 90 degrees out with very little humidity ( I like the sun :)

I took a little swim each time I got warm and made sure to stay nice and hydrated. I love people watching at these places... man do these Croatians LOVE to make out in public... It's just amazing. I also saw another pregnant lady down the beach from me, she was probably about 7 months along, Just puffing away on a nice smoke.. haha no shame at all. Ahhh how I've missed my blog where I can cast judgement and it's ok because it's MY blog :)

Next I headed home and relaxed the rest of the day.. I was pretty tired from going hard for 3 days. So I used Thursday as the Sabbath. I rested but I also did some cooking. I made 2 big pans of a chicken tetrazinni dish, one pan of shepherds pie and a bunch of taco meat. I had my next Dr. appointment last night at 8pm which I found was a strange time... and my Doctor is on "holiday" so I had a different doctor who just happens to own the hospital and they call him "Professor" for some reason..haha he was great, he explained everything to me during the 4D ultrasound and made sure I was understanding.. and informed me the baby grew very nicely in the past week, he is now about 3kilos, 50 grams which is a little over 6lbs so that's great. And in his words..with a thick accent "The boy is good." another side note.. I think the baby looks just like Andy... but each week he looks different, these 4D ultrasounds are just amazing. He is a bit distorted since his face is pretty much smooshed against me, but you can still tell he has his dad's eyes!) After my appointment I headed to a cafe to do some Internet correspondence and topped of the evening with watching the movie "Blow" with Johnny Depp which was on TV. What a great movie!

Today I had made plans to meet up with my friend Andre-Anne and show her how to take the tram to Jarun. So we met at the outdoor market and headed to the park. We got to Jarun and found a nice little cafe/pizza place to sit our pregnant asses in the shade and eat. She has a 2 year old daughter who was also with us. We ate and visited then her daughter played for a bit and we headed home from there. When I arrived home I decided to get my home-made chicken noodle soup going so I put that on and layed down on the couch with my Kindle and did some reading. I'm currently reading "The Help" which has been on my "to-read" list since last year but I kept putting it off... well I love it so far, I'm almost halfway done... After my relaxing I decided it was time to get up and find some Internet access and do some writing before I forget what I have done the past week and a half. SO that about sums it up!

Andy comes home tomorrow FINALLY, and my daily plans before he gets home are to walk to the grocery store and pick up some more milk and cheese then come home and get going on making my spaghetti, meatballs and lasagna. I would do some laundry BUT we're waiting on getting a dryer and the things I want to wash are baby things and I don't want to air-dry and have them be "crispy". Side note- the laundry cycle times on these European washing machines are just ridiculous. It takes about 2 hours for a wash cycle. How time consuming and inefficient is that?!! Same thing with our dish washer..about 2 hours. I would much rather wash them by hand... Ok well I think that is enough for now- Hope everyone enjoys reading and will post again soon!!

Random thoughts...

2011-02-22T20:53:00.006+02:00

Very rarely do I find myself bored (which you may thing is strange since I don't actually do a whole lot..) But I have found in my ripe old age of 26 is that even though I am an outgoing person, I really like to be alone too! I never used to be like this... maybe it just comes with a little more experience. Today for example I got up at about 8:15 with Andy, had some breakfast, dropped him off at the rink, hit the gym then came home around 10:30am and have been putzing around the house ever since! I remember the days where sitting at home was "un-cool" or "boring" but now I love it!

I baked sugar cookies today with frosting... I was in the mood to bake which doesn't happen very often (I'm almost always in the mood to cook though!). So I looked up a recipe on my favorite food website, www.allrecipes.com and found a home-made drop sugar cookie recipe. Let me just start off by saying that buying the pre-made, pre-cut Pillsbury cookie dough is much more efficient and just as delicious.. but anyways..I followed the recipe as best as I could considering I don't have measuring cups that measure "cups" and "tablespoons" (note to self...put on my "bring to Europe next year list") so I sort of guessed.. which doesn't really work the same in baking as it does in cooking! In any event... they turned out ok, kind of dry but I made home-made frosting which helped! If we don't end up eating them I can just send them with Andy to the rink and I guarantee they will get eaten!

Last Sunday a few of us girls hit the road to watch the guy's hockey game. We drove to Ljubljana, Slovenia which is about an hour and a half drive...tops. It was a nice day for a little road trip. We left Zagreb at 1 and were sitting down to eat a late lunch at 2:30 at a great little Asian Fusion restaurant called Da Bu Dah. I ordered a home-made cucumber and lime iced tea (amazing) spring rolls, a hot & sour soup (disappointing) and some beefy-noodly-vegetable dish for my meal! And of course dessert and a coffee after (I can have 1 coffee !! :) All of this food for around 20 Euros (about 24 dollars!) Great deal! From here we walked to the city center of Ljubljana. Luckily Eva had been here before, she ran a half-marathon here in the fall, so she knew her way around.

It's not a very big city, but any European city can be a bit confusing, especially with their poorly marked street signs. All of the shops were closed in the city (it was Sunday) but in the center they had a stage set up and lot of people holding balloons and wandering around. We later found out it was some sort of celebration for a Slovenian skier. After a short jaunt around the center, we headed to the rink to get ready for the game. It was a 6:00 game which is always nice. We got VIP tickets behind the net which were actually really good seats....usually those seats are horrible and you can't see anything. It was a nice change of view. Andy scored the first goal and we ended up winning the game in OT. We were back in Zagreb by 10:30.

Tonight our Medvescak Bears have their last road trip of the regular season. They are in Klagenfurt, Austria and are currently winning 2-0! Let's hope for this to continue! Klagenfurt is the #1 ranked team in the league and we are currently #8 (out of 10) and we need to keep this #8 spot in order to qualify for playoffs which start on Sunday I believe. Friday is the last regular season game at home vs. the Hungarian team; Alba Volan.

Ok well that is all for now- more to come soon...

Every-day life..

2011-02-15T17:14:00.008+02:00

"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito"- unknown.

Well after my month long hiatus, I'm back! There is no particular reason I didn't write, I guess I just got too busy doing nothing! Anyway- since I last wrote, not a whole heck of a lot has happened here in Zagreb. Except for the minor detail of finding out I was pregnant! Actually I found out in December but wasn't sure if I was going to write about it or not but I figured what the heck, it's something that is going on in my life, why not.

The week or so after Andy's family left, we didn't do much of anything but lounge around our apartment and relax. I was feeling pretty tired at that point and was taking a nap every day and going to bed early every night and getting up late (wait... I did that when I wasn't pregnant.... :) I was waiting for the "morning sickness" to sneak up on me but it never did... I only threw up one time and it wasn't even from being pregnant... it was when Andy and I watched a news re-cap on the 2001 Greenway Hockey season and their games at the state tournament. It was the funniest thing, I was there 10 years go (holy crap 10 years...) so I knew the result of the game.... (Andy scored with 12 seconds left vs. Eden Prairie to tie it up and go into OT then Gino scored in OT for the win!) and I still got up and threw up because I was so nervous haha. I thought for sure that meant I was going to get sick during this pregnancy but that was the one and only time. I am currently 13 weeks pregnant and feeling great, just feel the same as normal, just a little more full all of the time! Which is a bummer because I used to be able to eat and eat and eat without feeling full. Now I have to eat a bunch of small meals throughout the day or else my stomach hurts. We went to the doctor here in Zagreb and it is such a nice place, it's a private clinic and my friend Kim had her baby there 2 weeks ago. We got to see the baby in a 4D ultrasound last week which was awesome, and we go back March 9th to find out if we're having a girl or a boy. Crazy stuff!!

Our daily routine has been pretty much the same the past month, I drop Andy off at practice or he catches a ride there then I go to the gym and do a light workout, go to the grocery store and grab some food for the day, go home, have lunch with Andy then we either read or watch TV or go out and do something in the city then I make dinner and we eat at 5:30 like a couple of 75-year-olds! haha It seems like a pretty boring routine but we like it. It's very relaxing!

Game nights are always a good time too. Although the past month they haven't been home all that much. They played 5 games at home but they weren't even at our home rink. Four of them took place at "Arena Zagreb" which is the handball arena that seats about 15,200.

This was a promotion called "Arena Ice Fever" and it was actually really fun. They sold out all 4 of the games and it was loud and crazy! Their normal home rink seats around 6,000 I believe so it was a bit of a change. The other home game they played was at the outdoor rink called Salata (pronounced Sha-lot-ah) and that is always a good time. It was a beautiful night and we won the game! Last year when they played this outdoor game it was freezing cold outside and snowing.. and this year I think it was about 50 degrees at 5pm and a clear night.

It has been a very warm January/February. There was about a 3 week span where it was in the 50's and even in the 60's. One day it was so nice out I walked to a cafe while Andy was on the road, and I brought a book and sat in the sun and read and had a lemonade! It was so nice to get that vitamin D. It's amazing how good you feel after a little sunshine.

The last few weeks Andy's team hasn't been doing the best, but I still have high hopes for them to make playoffs and I know their unbelievably devoted fans do too! They are in Vienna, Austria today and home Friday night. Then 3 more games and the regular season is over! We won't know about playoffs until all of these games are done since so much can happen with other teams as well. SO everyone cheer for Medvescak!!

www.medvescak.com or www.erstebankliga.at

On another note, yesterday was Valentine's Day... so Happy Valentine's day (If you celebrate it). I remember how much I LOVED Valentine's day in Elementary school... decorating the big paper bag and taping it onto the front of your desk to get filled with fun cartoon valentines and treats!! But aside from Elementary school, Valentine's day just seems pretty obsolete in my life. And no I'm not opposed to love or showing your love. I just don't think there needs to be a designated day to acknowledge love. I know that my husband loves me and he shows me every day so no need for flowers or candy on February 14th... means much more if you get them on April 14th..when you are least expecting it. Ok that is all on that topic.

In other love news, two of my very best friends Sam and Sarah both got engaged (not to each other) while I've been over here in Croatia so I am very excited to see them and talk wedding with them when we get home! Lots of weddings to look forward to in the next couple of years! (Including my brother and my sister-in-law). One (my brother's) I will be 8 months pregnant for and the other (Courtney's) I will have a 10 month old. How weird is that?! Might need Grandma Sue to babysit that night.... :)

Well as crazy as it seems, this hockey season is coming to an end. It feels like we just got here! But the first half flew by (for me anyways) because I was traveling so much (I managed to go to Germany once for Oktoberfest, Austria 4 times, Slovenia 5 times, Italy 4 times, Malta, Greece, and Turkey in the past 5 months!! ), then we had family here, then I found out I was pregnant... now Andy has 5 games left in the regular season, playoffs then home!!

We are very excited to get home this year for many reasons. One being that we actually have a home to go home to! Also we are very excited to see our families and friends! We can't wait to see our niece and nephew; Jocelyn & Axl. Thank God for technology so that we have been able to talk to them and see them. One of Jocelyn's most recent comments was "Mom, is Katie's baby going to come out looking like an alien like in that picture?" Oh and that I needed to see her because she was "gittin' big". Another exciting thing this summer is that we are remodeling our bathroom, it is a much needed upgrade! We also have a few other small home projects but I'm guessing we always will! I love that stuff. Andy..not so much.

Ok well I think that keeps you up-to-date on what is going on here, not so much of a "European Adventure" as an every day life of the Sertich's. Thanks for reading- another post will come again soon!

Family Visit

2011-01-14T13:05:00.006+02:00

(pictures will be added at a later date, unable to upload them right now! Sorry!)

It has been months of anticipation for the big Sertich family trip to Zagreb and it arrived before we knew it! Andy's parents Carol & Steve, his grandpa Marko, his sister and her boyfriend Dan were our guest of honor. They arrived on Sunday, December 19th via Amsterdam with just a minor delay in their flight. Andy and I arrived at the airport extra early and picked up their rental car for them and patiently awaited their arrival.

It's funny, in Zagreb when you arrive you go through the security/passport check then you are in the baggage claim area. The baggage claim area in separated from the "family waiting area" by a glass wall. It is thee most awkward thing because you can see each other, but you can't hear each other... so you just sit and stare at each other until all the bags arrive. Haha anyways- we got all of their bags together and headed for the parking lot where we loaded up the two cars with all of their bags, and it was a tight fit let me tell you. These cars over here are so tiny, and after living here you sort of forget about it, until you have to fit more than 2 people in there, then you remember how nice and cozy it is at home inside our oversized SUV's and trucks. But For 3 weeks we get to deal with the Ford Focus rental and our Citroen C3. SO here we go...

Andy's mom found a great rental house online for a heck of a deal so she booked that for the 3 weeks they would be here so they would be a little more comfortable than sleeping in a hotel, especially over the holidays, and seeing that Grandpa is 89. We arrived at the fabulous house which is up the side of the mountain right near downtown Zagreb (the higher up the mountain, the nicer the houses.) So needless to say it was a really nice place. We got all of their bags put inside, visited for a bit then took them to Viva for dinner, our favorite restaurant in Zagreb. After this we took them back to the house to relax and catch up on their jet-lag since we would be hitting the road for Salzburg, Austria the next day. So Monday came rather quickly and we all loaded in the mini cars and hit the road.

The weather was great for the drive. I do need to mention, however that before our guests arrived, it was nice outside (in the 40's-50's) and the day they came, they brought the cold Minnesota weather with them. And oddly enough, the day they left it was almost 60 degrees... so thanks for taking the cold back with you guys too!! Maybe when we get back to Minnesota in April we can bring the warm weather with us so we can help melt the 10 feet of snow :) Ok back to the subject-

We are driving through Slovenia (the border to Slovenia is about a 5 mile drive from our apartment building) and we get to Jesenice (Yes-in-eet-say)about 2 hours later to fill up our gas tanks. This is where the adventure really begins...

Steve accidentally put regular gas in the diesel car (lots of cars over here are diesel for some reason). So we had to call a guy to help us out. Now in Zagreb, we had friends do this same thing last year and all they did was grab a hose and siphon out the gas and voila problem solved. But apparently we had "Americans'" written all over our faces because we had to have the car towed to an auto-body shop in the Slovenian mountains to solve this problem. It was dark out, and this drive was about 15 minutes off of the main highway in the depths of the woods, right at the foot of the mountains. Well it turns out these people were very nice, invited us in for a coffee and home made cookies while the car was being fixed.

So our road-trip had a little side 2 hour detour... but that's what makes memories right? After they were done with their thorough analysis and charged Steve the "American tourist price" we headed back on our journey. Our new auto-body friends gave us a shortcut over this huge mountain that would save us about 30 minutes, and thank God it wasn't snowing because this was a winding mountain pass with no guard rails. But it did the trick and the views (even though it was night-time) were beautiful. From here it took us about another 3 hours to get to Salzburg so by the time we arrived at our hotel it was after 9pm. Andy and the team were also staying at this hotel so we met up with him and had a late dinner in the lobby of the hotel before heading to bed. The next morning we got up, had some breakfast and got ourselves put together for our day of sight-seeing in Salzburg.

We didn't have much of a plan, but sometimes that works out for the best. We drove down close to the city center (with the help of our new, handy GPS which was a lifesaver) and found a parking ramp. From here we just walked until we found the river. Nice things about most European cities (and most cities in the world for that matter) are that they are build around waterways so you always have a point of reference. I have been to Salzburg a few times before so that was also helpful in getting around, plus it's a pretty small city so that also makes it easy. We crossed the river and did some major walking/sightseeing/window shopping then stumbled upon the huge Christmas market area where we spent lots of time browsing (the Christmas markets are a lot like going to a craft show/bazaar back at home, lots of home-made trinkets and fun things. The only difference is that these stands are outside. If we had these in Minnesota we would all be there still frozen to the ground..) It was however, really really cold in Salzburg, and we spent all day outside so all of us were chilled to the bone. After browsing the markets we decided to head up the mountain and check out the huge castle that overlooks the city. To get to the top you have to take this little cart that scales the side of the mountain..which I didn't like one bit. I'm not scared of heights but I'm still not 100% trustworthy of (modern) European engineering (we all know they had it right with the colosseum and all of their castles)... call me snobby.

We got to the top and walked all around the castle, it was very cool to see, it was like it's own city in there! After walking we decided to grab some lunch in the restaurant which was in the castle. The food was amazing!! After lunch I decided to step outside and take some "black & white photos" and after a bit Dan & Courtney came to find me and as I was taking a picture of them (which was really a video) Dan proposed to Courtney!! (Dan & I had this planned out obviously.) So I got the entire proposal on video! It was a great backdrop, in a castle, on top of a mountain in Austria, overlooking the city. Good job Dan!

After all the excitement and wedding talk the rest of the afternoon while wandering around the city, we decided to head to the arena a little bit early and grab some food & drinks. We went to the sports bar that is attached to the arena and had some appetizers and drinks and it was game-time before we knew it. It was an exciting game, we (Medvescak) beat Redbull in a shootout. After the game we hopped in the car and drove back to Zagreb. We didn't get into town until about 2:30am so the next day was for rest and relaxation!

Christmas was over the weekend so we went over the Sertich rental house and made some appetizers/snacks for Christmas Eve and sat around and visited. On Christmas day we had Chicken and mashed potatoes, salad, vegetables. It was a great meal and we all had gifts to open courtesy of Carol. She packed an extra suitcase of gifts! Which came in handy for all of their souvenirs on the way home!

The next week we headed to Linz, Austria for another hockey game. This time we drove there on game day, checked into our hotel, grabbed some dinner then went to the game. After the game we sat in the lobby bar and had some food and visited before calling it a night. The team left that night to head back to Zagreb but Andy got to stay with us. The next day we all got up and headed to the Mauthausen Concentration camp which is just right outside of Linz. Andy's grandpa was part of the 11th armored division of the United States military. They liberated this concentration camp in 1945. It was amazing to be able to go there with someone who was actually there. Concentration camps are one of those weird things in history that you don't know if you should talk about/look at.. but I can say I'm glad I went, and I don't need to see another one for the rest of my life.

After spending the day at the camp we drove to Gmunden, Austria where the 11th armored division was stationed during the war. This was also the city where Andy's grandpa was shot (downtown Gmunden right guys?!!) After our quick stop there we headed back to Zagreb.

The next week was filled with home games and sightseeing in Zagreb. We went down to the center and saw the tent, the Cathedral, the outdoor markets and made several stops at the souvenir shops.

During the time they were here visiting the team wasn't playing very well, and it ended up that they fired the coach and the old GM Doug became the head coach (for now). After this change the guys for some reason starting playing great together. Who knows if this is the result of a coaching change or just a general change of attitude within the organization or what... but anyways, the guys have been playing awesome ever since. They beat the number one seeded team Klangenfurt and the next game beat the number 2 team, Redbull. I think at that time we were in 8th place? We are slowly but surely moving up the ladder in the standings.

It was nice that Andy's family got to see so many games. They traveled to Salzburg, Linz and Villach in Austria and Jesenice in Slovenia. And also saw 4 home games.

The last week of their visit, Courtney and Dan and I went around the city center of Zagreb and I took a few engagement photos of them and then we decided to take a trip to Venice, Italy for a couple of days and take some pictures there. Us 3 and Andy's mom left for Venice on Wednesday morning and arrived there at about noon (it took us about 3 hours.) It was a little cold in Venice but nothing a few tough skinned Minnesotans' couldn't handle. (who am I kidding I'm a freeze baby...) We checked into our cozy hotel room. Everything in Venice is "cozy" meaning small. But that is what you get when you only have so much landmass to work with. Venice is after all made on a little over 150 miniature islands. After we dropped our bags off we ventured out and I took out my trusty Venice map which is one of the best 6 Euro investments I've made. Along our walk, whenever I saw an area that looked "picture worthy" I would tell Court & Dan to go stand there and I would take their picture. Courtney kept taking her coat off for the pictures and Carol was her personal assistant and was holding her coat during her shoots :) Well needless to say we got a lot of amazing pictures... it's pretty easy when you have a backdrop like Venice to work with.

We had a great day of walking around, going into and out of shops and sightseeing.. and when it was time for dinner we just happened to stumble upon the Hard Rock Cafe! I was so happy I was almost in tears. About this time of the year over here I just get absolutely sick of the food. I just wanted some greasy American food. And boy did I get it. We ordered Beef Nachos and I got shrimp fajitas. It was glorious. I was so happy they were ok with eating at and American restaurant in Italy. To be perfectly honest, every time I've eaten in Venice it has been sub-par and for those of you who know me, I pretty much eat everything and like it. I'm telling you Mom, your spaghetti sauce is still the best in the world, including all of the places I've eaten in Italy. And I'm not just saying that!!

After our fabulous dinner we walked back to the room where Carol & I retired for the night with our books and Dan and Court headed out for a bit longer to people watch. The next morning we got up and at it, had a little breakfast and wandered to the Rialto bridge area looking for some last minute souvenirs. It was a holiday in Europe that day. I don't remember the name of the day but I know they were celebrating the 3 wise men's visit to Jesus. Anyways there were all sorts of fun things going on in Venice. There were gondola races with the people in them dressed up in drag, and there were choirs singing and tourists everywhere! It was really neat to see. And what is really exciting is that I found some amazing fabric in a store there that I'm going to have curtains made out of for our house in Minnesota, so it was a good day!

We hopped onto our water taxi and got off at our stop by the parking garage and were out of there by 11am. It was a quick, but fun and successful trip. Everyone should see Venice at some point, it is the strangest place. You feel like you're on a movie set. Oh, and if you go there, try to go with someone who has been there, it is one of those places that you will be completely lost and confused if you don't!

Anyways that pretty much sums up our trips we took while they were here visiting. Otherwise we spent our days lounging before a home game or they took the tram down to the city center and did some sight seeing. All in all it was a great trip and again, I'm very glad they took the cold weather home with them! Love you guys! See you all in April!!

Friends, Italy, Life~

2010-12-09T12:34:00.024+02:00

The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you." ~Elbert Hubbard, The Notebook, 1927

Once again it has been a busy couple of weeks! The week after we got back from Malta was probably the most low key week we've had here this far, however. Andy had a few games at home which are always fun (I know I've mentioned it before but Medvescak has the best fans I've ever seen in hockey, hands down.) I also went to an away game in Graz, Austria with my friends Julia & Eva. Graz is about a 1.5 hour drive from Zagreb. We left a little early and stopped at IKEA, which was awesome. We all stocked up on some decorations for our apartments. Then we met my friend Meredith, whose husband played for Medvescak last year and she took us downtown Graz via the tram and we went to Subway for dinner. You don't realize how much you miss things like Subway and Chipotle until you can't have them for 7 months! So it was quite a treat. I got an extra one to give Andy after the game to eat on the bus. We watched the game then hit the road back to Zagreb. We also tried to road-trip to another game in Ljublijana, Slovenia but we got halfway there and had to turn around because the roads were so bad and it was snowing like crazy. Then of course we get back to Zagreb and there is not a drop of snow. Anyways- it has been fun going to the games, home or away- I mean , that's why we're here right?!!

For Thanksgiving we had over the Americans on Andy's team as well as the team's GM. I made two beer can chickens, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade stuffing. I made enough food for the whole team, but that was ok, everyone got to take home leftovers. After dinner the guys watched a football game of course!

After Thanksgiving, the Christmas decorations start to go up, which I love! Also the city center turns magical when they put up the tent, the stage for concerts and the outdoor skating rink. It's so nice to go downtown and just walk around and people watch and grab a sausage and gluwine and listen to the nightly music played on stage. It's especially nice being able to do this without freezing your butt off.

The weather here has been really nice! There were a couple of really cold days but that is it. It has snowed maybe twice but melts right away. It rains quite a bit, but I guess that is what you get when it is too warm to snow! Yesterday was beautiful outside, in the 50's. Andy and I walked to the mall and the grocery store and I was sweating because I had a scarf on. I hope the weather stays warm for our company that comes in 9 days!!! We are very excited to have family come over and I love when people come that have never been here, it's so fun to see everything through their eyes.

Last week I went to Italy to meet up with some girlfriends which was a blast. There are 5 of us that are all from Minnesota and our husbands/boyfriends all played hockey together in college at the University of Minnesota. And we all live over here in Europe somewhere! So we decided it would be fun to get together and decided on Bolzano, Italy where Katy & Danny Irmen live. I decided to drive there and it took me about 6 hours. It was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken! I went through Villach Austria into the northern mountains of Italy until I arrived in Bolzano.

When I got into Bolzano, I tried plugging Katy & Danny's address into the GPS but it wouldn't let me so I tried to call her...and my phone wouldn't let me call her so I started to panic just a little... I followed the signs to the city center and got as close as I could to the Christmas markets in the main square and found a parking spot on the street. From here I sent Andy a text (my phone let me do that thank GOD!) and told him to write to Katy on Skype and tell her to meet me in front of the Church at the Christmas Markets in the center. Luckily Katy was online, got the message and she and some friends left the house to come find me!! I waited nervously for about a half hour and finally saw her drive by so I ran up to her and felt a wave of relief! From here she parked and we walked into the Christmas Markets.

We waited here for our friend Emma to meet us, she was taking the train from Asiago, Italy where she and her boyfriend Matt DeMarchi live. So Emma found us and from here we decided to head to grab some dinner with a quick pit stop at the Grocery store to get snacks and wine for later on. We ate at a pizzeria (of course) and I had a pasta dish, everyone else had pizza.

After dinner we headed back to Danny & Katy's place and visited while waiting for Laura and Fallon to arrive. Laura and Fallon both flew from Norway to Munich then they took a train into Bolzano. Laura and Gino Guyer live in Lilihammer, Norway and Mike Vanelli and Fallon live in Stravanger, Norway. Anyways- We all were finally re-united and enjoyed the rest of the night catching up and drinking wine!!

The next day we slept in, then got ready and headed to Merano, Italy which is about a 20 minute drive from where Danny & Katy live in Eppiano. We basically just walked around the Christmas markets there, had a large lunch (pizza and pasta again!) and did some shopping and sight seeing!

From here one car-ful of us wanted to head into Bolzano to check out the Christmas markets there (Laura & Fallon didn't get to see it the night before). So we arrive in Bolzano and walk around there and pretty much just visit and people watch and enjoy a nice hot glass of gluwine! (It was cold out!) From here we went back to Katy & Danny's and we all played games and had snacks all night! It was so nice to visit and catch up with everyone!

The next morning I got up and headed back to Zagreb- Everyone else stayed 2 more days and they headed to Venice! When I got back to Zagreb I relaxed for a couple of hours with Andy then got ready to head out to see one of my favorite bands play in Zagreb! I picked up my friend Suzanne and we went down to the center. We were a little early which was perfect so we went to the tent and got some wine and listened to a band play at the center stage then we walked up my favorite street in Zagreb (it's really cute and has lots of little cafes) then we headed to the bar where the band was playing and stayed there till about 1:00. The band wasn't even halfway done with their show when we left, but over here people don't go out until really late and stay out really late. And I'm not used to that! Especially after driving 6 hours home from Italy earlier in the day!

The next day the guys had a home game and won! After the game we headed to McDonald's. It's the craziest thing, Andy's team is sponsored by McDonald's and they were given cards with their photo id on them and with that card they receive one free McMenu meal each time they visit any McDonald's in Croatia!! Probably not the best place to give your hockey players free meals...

Tuesday night we went down to the center again to hang out. There was a band playing (I'm pretty sure a band plays every night of Advent.) They actually played country music which was really good. They wore overalls and flannels which I thought was amusing.

It has been very warm outside lately and today I woke up to rain, which is pretty normal. Well, it started to thunder a little bit ago and now I just looked outside and it's snowing. What an odd change of weather, and so quickly!

Ok, well I think that is all for now, We have 9 more days until Andy's parents, sister, sister's boyfriend and Grandpa come to visit so I will get one more blog in before then!

Venice & Malta

2010-11-21T17:21:00.024+02:00

"It's a good Island. Until the grown-ups come to fetch us we'll have fun." -The lord of the Flies.

Well hello again- After our super-busy month Andy and I were lucky enough to go on a vacation together!! We have only been on two other trips alone: Our honeymoon up the North Shore of Minnesota and to Split, Croatia last fall. This year we weren't sure where we wanted to go but we knew we wanted to go somewhere that RyanAir flew to. RyanAir is a small airline that flies throughout Europe and it is unbelievably cheap. When we were looking at the places that RyanAir flew to out of Venice, Italy, we found a few that were prospective places. We narrowed them down to Dublin, Ireland and Malta. Well it just so happened that the time that Andy had off didn't work for the flight times for Dublin, so we were left with Malta! We booked out flights immediately. Which were something like 70 Euros total for the both of us...round trip. That is like $100 dollars. So we were on the bargain train and our next stop was hotels in Malta. I went to booking.com which is a nice website for booking hotels in Europe (similar to any of the travel websites we use in the USA). We found this cute hotel called the Bayview, got a great deal, and booked it! We were almost all set... next we needed to book a hotel in Venice the night before our flight. So I went back to booking.com and found us a nice place right in San Marco Square. Now we were all set!

Thursday, November 11th

We hit the road a little after noon and made the road-trip mandatory McDonald's stop. We made it through the border stop really quickly (unlike me and Kim's border issues on my last drive to Venice.. ugh). We arrived in Venice around 4pm and parked in the ramp that is right on the island. I have parked here 3 times now and it's a great location. I don't know what you do as a traveler/tourist and don't know what you're doing or where you are going in Venice, because it can be confusing. Luckily, the first time I went there, a friend let me use her Venice map and told me all the ins and outs so I was prepared. Anyways, getting back on track... We both packed very light because we knew that A. you need to for RyanAir since it's carry-on only (for free) and B. dragging luggage in Venice on and off of boats and over canal staircases is no-ones idea of fun. So we both had backpacks and got out of the car and walked over to the water taxi stop which is about 25 yards from the parking ramp. We got on and enjoyed the great views until we got to our stop at the Rialto Bridge. When we got off the boat I took out my map and we started to navigate our way through the tiny, winding streets of Venice. I had looked up our hotel online to see what the outside of it looked like so I was mentally zoned in on finding it. This isn't like taking the exit off the freeway when you see the Motel 6 sign... hotels are on the inside of an old building, and they all look alike in Venice! I found the building I thought looked like our hotel online but it was the wrong street.. so we kept walking and it turns out our hotel was on the street right behind that building they showed online. The reason they didn't take a picture of the actual front of the hotel was because the street is about 3 feet wide and there is no way a camera would be able to take a picture of the whole building!

We checked in and our hotel room wasn't even in that building! It was a few streets down in a different building. The worker escorted us there. It was a very cute room, right outside of our window when you looked down was a canal and there were gondolas going by right under us! We dropped our bags off then hit the streets right away.

We started walking out of our hotel room and headed right for San Marco's square. We walked around here and did some sight-seeing. Several of Andy's teammates and their wives were also in Venice this night and we had planned on meeting near the Rialto Bridge for dinner. So we started heading that way and once we got there we were really early so we sat down by the canal and ordered a bottle of wine. We noticed that there were little kids walking into every little shop or restaurant banging pots and pans with wooden spoons and singing and the clerks would give them candy, we were curious so asked our waiter and he told us that is what they do for St. Martin's day (I mentioned this holiday in the last blog). It is the day that the wines from that year are mature and ready to be opened for drinking. It was funny to see these kids running around going crazy with their pots and pans!

After our bottle we decided we were too hungry to wait (since we're 90 and eat dinner at 5pm) plus we knew everyone would be late since we were the first ones to leave Zagreb and it was already 6pm.. So we started searching for a place to eat... we ended up picking this little cafe that had pictures of the food on the outside... every restaurant should have pictures of everything on it's menu, makes decision making much easier. We had a Caprice salad to start then Andy had a seafood pasta and I had rigatoni in meat sauce. It was delicious. But Mom, your spaghetti and meatballs is still the best. Of the few times I've been to Italy, I would have to say that their pasta has been a disappointment. I think we Americanize what we think Italy is at home in the U.S... and they don't use loads of garlic and cheese like we do with cheesy Garlic Bread with butter to dip in your sauce.. Anyways it was good, but we all know I eat everything and am not picky so if you're looking for a food critic I'm not your gal.

After dinner we did some walking and ran into one of Andy's teammates and his family and decided to meet at this place called Harry's for these Bellini drinks that were supposed to be the best in Venice.. Andy and I got there early, took a peek at the drink menu and walked right out. It was 17 Euros for 1 Bellini which is served in a champagne glass... that's over 20 dollars for one drink, no thank you. So we found a little pub right by our hotel room and had some local beers which weren't very good but got better the more you drank.. funny how that happens :) We called it a night fairly early since we knew we had to get up and get to the airport the next morning.

We woke up at 7am, and went to the lobby to have our continental breakfast and check out. I love continental breakfasts in Europe, they are so weird. They have deli meats and cheeses and bread, lots of fruit, cereal, hard-boiled eggs, all different juices and coffees of course. I never know if I'm supposed to make a sandwich or just eat the meat and cheese alone...? After we ate we headed out, walked the grand canal to get on our water taxi. We hopped on and got off at the parking ramp stop. We paid, got out and made our way to the airport... which we had no idea where it was and didn't have a GPS. So this was fun...

There are two airports in the Venice area; Marco Polo which is the main one and Venice-Treviso which is the smaller airline one. We had to go to Venice-treviso and we knew this, BUT the airport signs are just green signs with a plane on it, so we followed that... and what do ya know we ended up at Marco Polo so we turned around and drove the other direction hoping we would find it.. well we found signs for Treviso and followed those and eventually made it.. but it was definitely not fun. Note to self- buy European software for our Tom-Tom and bring it over here!!

At this point we're in a bit of a rush because we have no idea how long it takes to get checked in so we park right in front of the airport which is 36 euros a day.. yikes. We go up and turns out it's easy to check in, so we do that and have time to spare so we go back outside and move our car down the road about 200 yards to the cheap lot and go back in and get ready to get on the plane! We didn't know what to expect with this plane since the flights are so cheap... I know Andy was a little scared... But we walked outside to board, and walked up the staircase into the plane and it was really nice! It had 3 seats on each side and about 60 rows so not the smallest plane I've ever been on. The flight was about an hour and half. We arrived in Malta at about 1:30pm.

Malta is a small island south of Sicily (south of Italy). For some reason this map I chose has Croatia circled on it..

When we arrived in Malta we got off the plane and pretty much just walked out into the airport lobby area... no passport checks or anything.... We walked up to the taxi stand area and I took out my little piece of paper with the hotel info and told them where we needed to go. You pay for your taxi up front right at the airport so we did that and were in a cab within minutes of getting off of the plane. It was warm out, in the 70's and sunny. We got in our cab (the steering wheel is on the other side of the car.. and they drive on the other side of the road..) so that was kind of fun to experience! We got dropped of right in front of our hotel in Valletta about 15 minutes later. We checked in and were once again escorted to our room, which was once again not in the same building as our hotel! It was like 4 blocks behind our hotel. We put our bags down, changed and hit the streets again! We were pretty hungry at this point so decided that was first on our agenda. We walked for about 2 minutes and found that the neighboring hotel along the water had a roof-top restaurant area so we sat there and I had a sprite and Andy had a coffee. The coffee was like an American coffee! Big and not espresso... and my sprite was fountain pop with lots of ice (In Croatia you get fountain pop only at McDonald's and with no ice!!)So it was quite refreshing to have a nice cold large pop with lots and lots of ice. It was amazing!! We ordered our meals- I had a beef wrap with lettuce and tomato and it came with fries and a salad. Andy had a deluxe cheeseburger with fries and a salad. The food was great and the prices were very cheap! The currency was Euros but everything was much cheaper than in other European Union countries that I have been to. I think my meal was 5 Euros and the portion was huge.

We sat up here for a bit and let our food settle then decided to walk. There is a boardwalk all along the marina so that definitely looked appealing. We walked all the way to the point that you see in the picture which is where the big mall is. We walked around in there then walked along the other side of the point in the picture and went down by the water. They don't have sandy beaches here, it is all rocks. I guess it makes sense- it is a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean without any land near it so there wouldn't be much sand. It was neat, the water erodes the rocks and makes little pools everywhere.

After we walked for quite a while we decided to head back towards our hotel. It took a while to get back since we wandered off so far. When we got back both of our feet and knees hurt! That is not a good sign..

We relaxed with our books for a while before heading back out to search for a place for dinner. We ended up picking a Chinese restaurant that was in our hotel lobby. I had Hot & Sour soup and Sezshaun Chicken and Andy had egg rolls an sweet and sour chicken and we shared a bottle of wine. Everything was delicious and we had leftovers! We had a hotel room with a kitchenette so we brought it back to our room then went out to a little bay-side bar and sat outside for the rest of the night.

The next day we slept in forever then decided to get up and wander around St. Julian's Bay in Silema which is just around the corner from where we were staying in Valletta.

I had done some research before our trip and found out that the bus system is the way to go in Malta. They are famous for their old-style busses. There are bus stops everywhere and you just get on, pay 40cents and get off wherever you want, you just have to pull a string above your head and it will ring a bell then the driver will stop. Oh I also forgot to mention that they speak English here- which makes sense- They drive on the left side of the road just like in the UK. They were occupied by the British for some time and this left a lot of British customs that still are used.

We decided to take the bus to this sushi place we had seen the day before on our walk. The bus took us right there- it was right along the water. We both ordered coffees (mine iced- it was hot out!) We sat outside and ordered our sushi rolls and enjoyed the sun. Neither of us could finish our food there was so much! I don't think I've ever been full off of sushi before! After lunch we got on another bus and took it until we got to St. Julian's bay, which was about a 5 minute ride. We got off the bus and walked along the water here. .

There were all sorts of colorful boats in the marina here. This area of town is known as the "night club district".... so you know where Andy and I weren't hanging out later that night :) we're not really "club" people. We pretty much just walked around this area snapping pictures for quite a while before sitting down seaside for a beverage break. We sat along the water and relaxed and watched a stray cat chasing a fly for a while.. Then we tried to feed it some of my iced tea but it wouldn't take any... when we were leaving the cafe to catch the bus we walked behind the cafe and there was a cat sanctuary with beds and food and all sorts of toys.. and here we were feeling bad for it. I won't make that mistake again...

We got on the bus and went back to our room and read for about 3 hours! Thats a real vacation when you can just lay there and read and not care about anything! We finally got going and went to find a place for dinner- We ended up going to the same hotel we went to lunch at the day before, but at the restaurant inside. They had a dinner buffet- we miss buffets!! So we stuffed our faces then headed out to find a place to hang out at for the evening. We ended up finding this really cool place right along the water. It was a sports bar/pub type place. We went inside and they were playing a college football game on a big projector screen so we sat there and watched that for the rest of the night! There were quite a few Americans' there watching. After the game we went home to bed then once again slept in! We went and checked out of our room at 11 and left our bags there while we grabbed a coffee along the water. It was really hot this day. In the 80's.. of course.. the day we leave! After our coffee we went back to our hotel, and got in a cab and went to the airport. When we got to the airport we went directly to the food court and had some KFC.. haha we had eyed it up when we landed and decided we would do lunch there before our flight back to Venice. So we enjoyed every bite of that (funny, we only had KFC one time this summer..never really think about it.. but when it's not there you miss it!) Flying out of malta is gorgeous, the island isn't very big, about 17 miles long and 9 miles across and the landscape is awesome. Along the opposite of the island where we stayed are big cliffs that drop into crystal clear water. There is amazing snorkling in Gozo which is the island right next to the main island of Malta.

We arrived in Venice around 4pm and hit the road back to Croatia right away and got back here on Sunday around 8:30pm. What a great little weekend get-away!

October-ish

2010-11-16T20:05:00.014+02:00

"Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience." Paulo Caulho

Well it has been quite the busy month and a half.. actually it's been busy since I arrived in Europe! After the cruise I thought things would settle down and we would go back to having a "normal" life. But that was just a fleeting thought- soon after that our days on the calendar started filling up.

A few of us girls decided to road-trip to they guy's game in Villach, Austria on Oct. 17th so we piled in 2 cars and hit the road. It only took about 2 hours to get there and we arrived a little early to have some pizza before the game. (I eat more pizza here than I have in about 3 years combined, oh and McDonald's too..) After the pizza we walked across the street to the arena and met one of the guys from the management of our team to get our tickets and we headed in. Turns out it was an awful game; we lost like 6-1 or something really bad and to top it off, my friend Kim got hit by a puck. She was holding her son Brock in her lap when the puck came and hit her in the hand; luckily it hit her huge diamond ring instead of her or the baby! Her ring got bent pretty badly and eventually the center diamond fell out but she has it and it is getting repaired. So that was an eventful road-trip.

The next day we got up and decided to go to Plitvice National Park (pronounced Pleet-veet-sa). We carpooled with another couple and drove the hour and a half to the park. It is in Croatia pretty much right in the middle of the country. We picked a pretty horrible day to go since it was cold and raining the entire time we were there but the guy's days off are few and far between so you have to take what you're given!

We got to the park and really didn't know much about it, just that you walk around and there are waterfalls to look at. Well, turns out it costs 120 kuna to go into the park which is $24 dollars. A bit steep if you ask me. But we all paid and made our way into the woods. It was such a cool place. There were waterfalls everywhere, clear blue water, fall-colored leaves and little wooden docks to walk all around the park. We followed the "B" trail which takes about 3 hours. The "A" trail takes 6 hours and there is an 8 hour trail too.

We started off on our "B" trail and walked all around through the caves, around the waterfalls, and finally came to a lake with a cafe. We warmed up in the cafe, had a water then we all got on a boat that takes you across the lake, which went about 1 mile per hour. Once we got to the other side we walked some more..and some more and finally came to a place where a bus took us back to our parking lot. It was such a cool place, I would recommend going there if you are ever in the greater Croatia area.

This next day I went to the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" with a few of the girls then grabbed dinner at the local greasy Mexican place called "Speedy Gonzales." If you haven't read the book "Eat, Pray, Love" I would highly recommend it before seeing the movie. After talking to several different people I have found that every one's opinion on this movie differs. Some loved it, some hated it. I personally really enjoyed it. But I'm not the best movie critic, I like anything really, except the gross scary ones that are a waste of time.... But honestly, how can you dislike any movie that inspires you to be a better person?

Wednesday rolled around and a bunch of us girls went to Kim Prpic's for coffee and banana bread and conversation. It's pretty nice that most of us all live in the same building, it makes organizing get-togethers a cinch. We've been trying to get together about once a week for coffee and a catch-up session which is pretty funny since we see each at least a couple of times a week.. but that's what happens when you mix lots of free time with a group of great girls! After coffee I had an appointment to go look at the house that Andy's parents are renting while visiting us over Christmas. I brought along my friend Julia since she speaks Croatian, and she lives right near there so that worked out perfectly. Julia was a huge help since Stipe didn't speak a lick of English. We toured around the beautiful house then went on our way.

Thursday came rather quickly and I didn't do a whole lot, went to Yoga class that night then on Friday the old Bears had a home game. On Saturday we went to dinner at our friend Krystie & Alan's place and the guys played some "Dance, Dance, Revolution," which is always a treat to watch. And Krystie is an amazing cook so it's always nice going over there for dinner! Sunday was another home game, followed by a Friday home game then a Sunday 2:00 home game, and it just happened to be Halloween!

They do not celebrate Halloween in Croatia so you can imagine the looks we got walking down the streets of Zagreb... We didn't wear our costumes to the game, but changed after the game at a restaurant (Andy was the cowardly Lion and I was the Scarecrow) First we headed over to one of Andy's teammate's cafes. He just opened it, it is called "Ice Freak." We all met there then walked together back to the rink to the team party. Attached to the rink is a Billiards room which is where the party was. It was decorated so cute, they had all the lights off leading up to the doorway through a dark hall with candles lit. And inside the main party room they had pumpkins and cobwebs and a DJ playing good music! They even had a little private room for us to hang out in with food and drinks. It was a really fun night, we all enjoyed the dance floor well into the evening!

After that busy week we were followed up by a pretty low key week. Went to coffee with a few people, went to the gym, grocery store, and Andy and I went to the movies. We saw "The Social Network." which was really good. I recommend seeing it if you're on Facebook. And if you're not I guess. Over that weekend the guys had an over-night road-trip to Salzburg. And all of us girls went to the Lady Gaga concert at Arena Zagreb. It was SO much fun, but man is she nuts. What a strange person. But I suppose that's why people like her!

This next week is the time that all the national-teams play in tournaments so all the teams over here get about a week off of games. So Andy' team practiced Monday-Thursday. On Wednesday night the team management organized a dinner for us outside of the city at this place that had "The Best Pizza in Croatia." It was really fun, the team bus came to our apartment building and picked us all up and drove us there.

When we arrived they had Coke and Fanta on the tables for us and shortly after had all different types of huge pizzas brought to us. After dinner they had a ceremony for "Christening the Wine." Thursday November 12th was Saint Martin's Day. Which is the day that all of the wines that had been made that previous year, are mature and ready to be opened and drank. Funny thing- they like to drink their white wine with sparkling water, like a spritzer and their red wine with Coke! These crazy Croatians had such a fun time with this ceremony. They were singing and drinking and dancing all night long! What a fun night!

Thursday after practice Andy and I hopped in the car and drove to Venice. I think I will stop this blog here and do a separate one about our trip!! On Deck: Vacation to Venice & Malta Blog

Cruising!!

2010-10-12T10:42:00.035+03:00

"There's no thrill in easy sailing when the skies are clear and blue, there's no joy in merely doing things which any one can do. But there is some satisfaction that is mighty sweet to take, when you reach a destination that you never thought you'd make"

Ok well this story starts off with my neighbor (and fellow hockey wife extraordinaire) running over to my apartment with her laptop in hand extremely excited saying, "I found this AMAZING cruise we HAVE to go!" And what do I say? "Ok, let's go!" Andy arrived home from practice and I told him about this great deal Kim found and we're going on a cruise for a week! He was very happy and excited for me (I probably should have asked him, not told him... but I know how much he loves a bargain so I assumed he would be pretty happy!) So Kim got busy making calls and booking our trip and I started doing some research on all the great places we were going to see.

Saturday October 2nd, 2010

We wake up and get our bags, passports, and the baby packed into our tiny car and hit the road. (Kim's son Brock who is 10 months came with us also). We think we're doing pretty well on time since we left at a little after 9:00am and it takes about 3 1/2 hours to get to Venice (this is where we get on our ship) and the ship leaves at 5:00pm. Well turns out our drive to Venice wasn't as hassle-free as we had anticipated. We get to the Croatian/Slovenian border and there is a huge line-up of cars, apparently everyone wants to get out of Croatia! We waited about 45minutes in line before we got to the checkpoint. So now it's about 10:30am. The guy who checks our passport is on a major power-trip and tells us that we need to have an international driver's license to be driving over here. Which I was confused about... what happens if you are just a tourist who is here for a week and rents a car for a few days? Do you have to go to the Embassy and get a driver's license? Oh and he also told us that our USA driver's licenses only allow us to drive trucks, not cars. Anyways, this guy was a real jerk and we have a feeling he just wanted us to pay him some bribe money so he could drink his face off at the cafe after his shift. But we didn't cave in, we just said ok we will go to the embassy when we get back and get this "so called" driver's license. He finally let us go... no wonder the line was so long to get through the border.. interrogating every innocent traveler..haha (I'm not bitter.) Ok moving along.

We are smooth sailing now it is about 10:45am and we are on the road cruising at a comfortable speed, listening to the ipod and having a good chat while Brock is watching his Wiggles video on the DVD in the back. We make it through Slovenia and have now entered Italy. We look ahead, and suddenly slam on the breaks because and traffic is stopped. Completely stopped. So we do the inch-by-inch forward movement for WAY too long, Kim has to get out a walk along side of the car because she is pregnant and needs some blood flow. She is walking way faster than the cars are moving so she has to turn around and get back in the car. By now it is after 1:00pm and the GPS tells us we still have 2 1/2 hours to go.. our 31/2 hour drive turned into about 5 1/2. So this is where we start to panic a bit, we have over 2 hours to drive without ANY traffic issues and once we get there we need to figure out where the port is (turns out it's not very hard to spot a massive ship.) We also need to figure out where to park, check our bags and all that crazy stuff. So it turns out the 3 lane freeway got slimmed down to 1 lane after about 5 miles and was 1 lane for a while then....smooth sailing again.. So we're in the clear after a minor panic attack. We arrive in Venice around 3:00 thankfully.

Once we get to Venice we have no idea where to park. I have been there before and used the parking ramp, trust me there are not many places to park on a city built pretty much on water. So we go towards the ramp and see a sign that says "cruise parking this way" so we went that way. This is where the luxury begins..

This friendly gentleman standing at the gate asks us which cruise-line we will be going on and we tell him "Norwegian Gem". He tells us to pull up around the corner, they will take our bags and we can park in parking lot 1 and enter in door 118. How easy is that. So we give the lovely people our bags, they put luggage tags on them and let us know they will be in our room when we get on the ship. How awesome is that. So we park our car, go in our gate and receive our room keys, which are also a payment key- you put a credit card down and you can use your room key to buy things on the ship that aren't free such as alcohol and pop and use it in the casino and the duty-free mall. So we get our magic cards and off we go. We take the red-carpet onto the ship where we are greeted and our hands sprayed with hand-sanitizer. Once we get on the ship they guide you through the 6th floor where they have vendors set up selling tour packages at our destinations, information on the kids-club, art work for sale, jewelry for sale.. and much more. Then after you walk through there you can go to your room. Our room was on the 8th floor out of 14 floors. We actually got a handicap room since we needed a bit more room for Brock. We also had a window which was nice! When we arrived in our room our hallway manager Christoper greeted us and carried our bags into our room. Then he asked if we needed anything else, which we needed a pack-and-play crib for Brock, he got that right away for us. Now we are all settled in our room and ready to eat then explore.

We go into one of the buffet-style dining rooms and I am in shock. There is everything and anything you want here. They have a soup area, pizza, pasta, a wok station, a deli area, a meat-carving area, Japanese, breads, cheeses, fruits, veggies and desserts. We made a couple of plates and sat down with a great view of the harbor in Venice and had our meal. From here we walked up to floor number 12, this is where the pool is.

Then to get onto floor 13, you need to walk up the stairs outside and it is just a viewing deck along the sides and on one end of the ship it is luxury suites, the other end a night-club then the 14th floor on each end is another luxury suite, then the command station.

We went to floor 13 and found a great view spot. The ship was moving now through the outer part of the Grand Canal in Venice, with amazing views.

After we were out at sea we did some more exploring of this massive ship. There is just so much do to on here, it is amazing. For example you can go bowling, go to 13 different bars all of which have live music at some point, there are jogging tracks outside on 2 different floors with mileage markers for you. You can play shuffle board outside on one of the decks, there is a rock-climbing wall on the very top of the ship, golf simulators and a basketball and tennis court outside, a big screen inside which the play movies on daily and also have art history lessons.

There is an art gallery inside, a full theater with 2 different show times each night, a duty-free mall area, a casino, 2 buffet dining rooms, 2 sit down-dining rooms, and 7 themed restaurants (Italian, French, Japanese-hibachi, sushi...) an outdoor grill for while you are sitting by the pool, you can just go grab a burger or hot dog, a salad or some BBQ chicken. You can play bingo each day for prizes and grand prize on the last day was a free cruise for 2. These are just a few things that come to mind. Oh did I mention everything is included in your trip, except the themed restaurants have a flat-rate fee anywhere from 10 to 50 dollars and you pay for drinks. But it is almost like pretend because you are using that magic card! (Andy won't be happy about that comment..). Ok anyways that is just a basic overview of the ship. Now let's get onto our amazing stops along the way (if you can get yourself to get off the the ship!)

Stop #1 Dubrovnik, Croatia.

After leaving Venice at 5:00pm on Saturday, we had an overnight trip to Dubrovnik. Once we arrived there the ship parked out in the ocean early in the morning and it is your choice if you get off, or stay on or when you leave. All you have to do is be back by the time they tell you, which was 8pm I believe. So we got up, had an amazing breakfast at the buffet- I love the omelet station and REAL bacon (they don't have it in Croatia). After breakfast we decided to get off the ship and tour Dubrovnik. To get onto land, you need to get onto a little shuttle boat from the ship and the shuttle brings you in. Some of the stops are large ports where the ship can pull right up to the docks, others the ship has to park out in the deep water and you need to shuttle in. Once we got on land in Dubrovnik we walked the main street then I told Kim we HAD to walk the city walls.

I have been here before and it is amazing to walk up there and see how beautiful the Croatian coast is. So I carried Brock in the Baby Bjorn which made for a good workout, but with Kim being pregnant, I wasn't going to make her carry around and extra 25 pounds of baby! We got to the top and walked around and took lots of pictures and chatted with the people walking by us.

When we got down from the city walls we walked into a few shops, bought some artwork and decided it was time to get back on the ship. So we got back into our water taxi and it brought us right back to our ship. When you get on and off of the ship they swipe your key card, this is how they keep track of who has left, and if you have come back. If you buy anything large or any alcohol,they take it at the security getting onto the ship and keep it for you until the last day.

After dinner, Kim went to the room with Brock and I wandered around talking to people. You make friends easily on the ship, and you see them all of the time. I think there were about 1500 passengers and about 1,100 staff members on board. I ended up meeting this girl Joanna from New York who is 23 so we hung out and went to one of the night clubs called "Bliss"

here we people watched and played the game "guess their story" so you look at someone and guess where they are from and what they do. It's really fun actually. So we saw this guy dancing, it was his birthday and he was out celebrating with friends (older friends). My guess was he was from San Francisco if you know what I mean. So later in the night we went and talked to him and he was from Australia and was on a 2 week vacation with his "partner" and his partner's business associates. And it just so happens they were staying on the 13th and 14th floors in the luxury suites. Turns out, Oprah stayed in this room, rented out the whole ship for 25 million dollars, brought her staff along and announced her retirement from the ship. Oh, we also found out she had them completely re-decorate the suite for her because she didn't like the decor, what a diva.

Ok so after meeting Peter and his friends we stayed out a bit longer then decided it was time for bed. Our next day was a day at sea, which is really nice. We slept in, had some breakfast then were poolside all day! We brought Brock's pack-and-play out by the pool so he could nap in there or play in there. We ate lunch by the pool and I napped, read a book and just relaxed! The next day we were stopping at Piraeus port, which is the port of Athens, Greece.

I really wanted to see the Acropolis and Kim had already seen it but she was going to come with me anyways. We didn't want to pay a bunch of money for a taxi or book a tour through the cruise (they rip you off, don't do it!) So we just got off of the ship and asked around how we get to the Parthenon and someone told us take the train. SO, we hopped on a city bus, asked how to get to the train station, it was only about a 5 minute ride, then we got to the train station and bought our ticket for 1 euro and they told us which stop to get off at. On the train we heard these guys speaking English so we started talking to them, turns out they are staff members on our ship! One was a dancer in the shows in the theater, one was a saxophone player in the theater band and the other the bass player. So we followed them since they were going to the same place as us. Once we got off, about 15 minutes later we just followed the crowd and started walking. The acropolis is on top of a mountain pretty much so we walked and walked, and where the ramp areas ended and the stairs began, Kim decided that she would stay down and shop around and go to a cafe with Brock since strollers don't really do stairs very well. So me and my 3 new friends walked to the top of the mountain and saw the Parthenon and all that good stuff, walked around a bit then headed back down to find Kim.

Once we were all re-united we took the train back to the depot, got back on a bus and got off at our port. All in all it was an awesome experience to see the Acropolis...but Athens...wow what a disgusting city. I'm glad I went but I don't think I will go back, unless of course Andy wants to go!

Back on the ship, heading out at 4pm to make the trek down the Greek Coastline to Izmir, Turkey. This is the place I was least excited about going to, because for some reason when I think of Turkey I get a little afraid. But boy was I wrong. It was by far my favorite stop. Kim and I got off of the ship and we knew we wanted to go to Ephesus, which was about an hour drive but we needed to figure out how to get there.. taxi rides were 120 euros round trip so we figured if we find 2 more people to share a cab with us, we're good to go. Finally we find 2 women who want to share a cab with us. They were from Wisconsin and on our ship. So me and our two new friends in the back and Kim and Brock in the front seat (yeah there are no rules here). And our smelly driver. We thought this cab ride was going to be like any other cab ride, drop you off where you tell them and that's it. Little did we know that our 120 euros (divided by 4 so our 30 euros) would get us a full tour of Ephesus. Our first stop when we get there is at a ceramics making shop where they greet us, offer us the traditional apple cider drink in Turkey then proceed to take us through the step-by-step process of making ceramics.

First there was a guy who made the pieces right in front of us, then they showed us how they hand paint them. Finally they lead us into the shop where we could buy some pieces. After we left here they brought us to a leather and fur shop where they make clothing, here Kim and I sat outside at the cute little cafe and had a Coke while our 2 friends were shopping. So many people from Turkey came up to us and were so friendly! After this shop we went to the Virgin Mary's house.

This was really cool. You are not allowed to take pictures of the inside, but it was pretty plain inside it was made of all stone and had an entry room, then a big open room which must have been the living area then in the back a kitchen area which is now an altar. Then you go right and there is a little entry or exit room.

After we left here we drove down the hill and got to see a few different ancient historical sites. There was the gladiator burial grounds, the remnants of The Temple of Artemus, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Which was destroyed after an earthquake, and a stadium/church area which is the site of one of the 7 churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelations. Also this is where Paul wrote his 1st letter to the Corinthians and it is also said that the Gospel of John was written here. It was so amazing to be there and think that we could be standing in the exact spot that Jesus stood. Pretty crazy stuff. Ok well we took our cab ride back and he dropped us off right in front of our ship. Everyone in Turkey was so positive and friendly!

We got aboard, put everything we bought away and went to dinner. This was the formal night on the ship so everyone gets dressed up. The meals at the sit-down restaurant were amazing. Kim and I each got appetizers, soups, entrees and dessert! We learned to order more than 1 appetizer because when they tell you you're getting egg rolls for example, you get 1. Everything is very small portions. Some of the things we had for dinner were- Salmon, lobster, Pecan crusted snapper, Scallops, Pasta, and amazing desserts!!

Each night after dinner we would walk around for a bit maybe sit in a lounge area with some nice light music and let Brock fall asleep. Then Kim would go to the room and I would go mingle. We met a lot of really nice people. The Australians invited us up in their suite for drinks one afternoon, we sat on their balcony where they have their own private terrace area with a hot-tub. Along with their 3 bedroom suite that was 5000 square feet. Wow, a bit of a change from our "big" handicap room! They were very friendly. One night after dinner I went to the Spinnacker lounge where they were having a "Dancing with the Gems" competition. Of course my new friend Peter joined. It was so funny.

Oh and another night in this same bar I was alone..and sang karaoke.. This might have also been the night of the 9pm Chocolate buffet. Everything in the whole dining room was chocolate, it was really cool!

The day after our amazing trip in Turkey we were headed back up to Greece and stopped at a great little island called Nafpilion. This was another stop where the ship had to be parked out in sea and we taxied in. We went into the town, walked around a little bit and went into some shops. It was a cute little place, it reminded me a bit of Venice, but with lots of flowers.

We didn't stay here too long, just enough to see the town and take a few pictures. We got back on the boat and Kim and Brock napped in the room and I found a cozy couch on the 12th floor right along the window and read my book and fell asleep for about 2 hours! After dinner I went to the white party in one of the big night-clubs, it was really fun. You basically just wear white and dance around.

The next day was another day at sea; we were headed from Greece back up to Italy. It was sunny all day! It was probably around 80 degrees and a little breeze from the sea. We spent the day once again by the pool, swimming, reading, listening to the different bands playing on the stage. This is our last night on the ship so we decide to go to the finale show in the theater. We have only seen glimpses of 2 of the other shows so far. One was an Elton John impersonator the other show was "Colors" so they danced and sang songs with colors in the name. The finale show was "Music around the world" so they dressed up and sang all sorts of different music from different countries. Then the crew went up on stage and sang, it was very cool.

If you were wondering how we know what is going on everyday throughout the ship, every evening when they turn down your beds, they leave you a pamphlet with all the events for the next day with the times and locations. They also give you information and history of the places we stop at. All this information is also on one of the TV channels in your room.

Just to show how efficiently run these cruise ships are, I will tell you our leaving-day agenda. First of all each area of the ship has a different color key-card. Ours was orange. You get luggage tags that match your key card-color. You put your luggage outside of your door the night before leaving or early that morning and they take it off of the ship for you. Each color stands for a time that you depart the ship, ours was 8:20am. This helps defer too much body traffic. When you get off of the ship you are in a baggage-claim looking building and your bags are lined up in zones according to your color.

Well all-in-all it was an amazing trip. Cruising is the way to go, you get to see so many different places and you don't have to lug any bags with you. There are so many ammenities on the ship that you really wouldn't have to leave the ship if you didn't want to! The staff is extremely friendly, we talked to quite a few of them and the majority of them are from the Philippines and they have a 10 month contract and they don't get 1 day off!!! A lot of them have families and kids they leave at home and don't see for 10 months!

I could go on and on, but I'm telling you- everyone needs to experience a cruise vacation!!

Slovenia, Austria, Germany.. in 3 days.

2010-09-26T12:03:00.030+03:00

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Well it has been quite the busy week! Last Friday, September 17th I went with my friend Sonja to Ljubljana (pronounced Loob-lee-aan-ah), Slovenia. We also went to Bled and Jesenice (pronounced Yes-in-eet-say). They are all within a two-hour drive from Zagreb. Sonja is from there and the guys had an away game in Ljubljana so we decided to leave in the morning, tour around a bit, then hit up the game Friday night. We went to Sonja and her husband Robert's house in Jesenice, ate lunch at a great little Slovenian place (I had horse meat.. it was good!) then we went to Sonja's parents house for a little bit then went to the game, where the guys won in a shoot-out. After the game we drove back to Zagreb. Saturday was spent relaxing at home with Andy.

This map of Slovenia will help you see the route we take from Zagreb to Ljubljana.

Above is my meal, it is horse meat in a gravy on top of some arugula with some potatoes, and to the right is me on Sonja & Robert's balcony, beautiful view!

On Sunday, September 19th, Me, my friend Kim, her sister Kristi and Kristi's boyfriend Shaun piled in our cute little car (we have Citroen C3's) and we hit the road!

This is what our cars look like, minus the bowl of fruit on the side. The cars are provided by the team. Our is a tan color. Some guys on the team have black and others have red.

Here is a map of Austria and surrounding countries. Now you can see the distance from Croatia to Slovenia, Austria and Germany.

Ok anyways-carrying on with our road-trip. We drove from Zagreb to Salzburg, Austria which took about 4 1/2 hours. It would have taken about 4 hours but there was a really long line at the border between Croatia and Slovenia so we had to wait. We arrived in Salzburg around 2:30, checked into our hotel and hit the streets of Salzburg! We walked over the river (not on the Sound of Music bridge, unfortunately.) The river-side was lined with little tents with people selling random things, sort of like a flea market. We actually ate lunch here, we all got Thai food and sat on a picnic table right along the river and ate. We continued to walk around the city with no particular place to go.

Ceiling of the church & us girls on a bridge with old town Salzburg in the background. You can faintly see behind us along the right side of the river, the market with the small tents.

We walked through a church, went to a cemetery, went to a rooftop restaurant/bar, then to an Irish Pub called Shamrocks where they were playing the Bears's football game. From here we found a nice restaurant called K+K for dinner (we had to go here since all of our maiden names were K.K it was Kim Kenning, Kristi Kenning and Katie Kessler). Kim and I shared a beef goulash which tasted like chili and another Austrian dish. After dinner we headed back to the Irish Pub to check out the football scores and visit with our friends we had made. We stayed for about an hour listening to a guy play guitar and sing. He sang all the American classics so that was pretty awesome, and we found out he was from Zagreb. It's always hard leaving a place when there is good music. But we had to get back to our hotel and rest up for our big day the next day...

Monday, September 20th 2010

We set our alarms and got up nice and early (around 7:45) so we had time to get read quickly, grab some breakfast from the hotel (which, by the way was delicious). Then hit the streets again. But this time hitting the streets wasn't so leisurely! We had to make it to the train station, buy our tickets and get on the right train to Munich, Germany all within about 15 minutes. Shaun ran ahead of us to get the tickets so by the time we got there we would be all set to go. Well...to make a long story short, we lost Shaun, couldn't find him anywhere, he doesn't have a phone since he's from the U.S. and we miss our train. BUT we came to find out that it was the wrong train anyways, so we were rushing for no reason. We needed to take the 10:12 train instead of the 9:02. So we got our tickets and waited patiently then boarded the correct train. Also, for anyone traveling in Europe by train- fyi it's not "cheap" like everyone tells you. If we would have taken the first train to Munich it would have been 66 Euro per person one way, so both ways about 175 U.S dollars. BUT we were told about this thing called the "Bavarian Pass" which is for up to 5 people and cost a total of..... drum roll..... 33 Euros for round trip. Divide that by 4 of us you math-masters. We saved some serious dough. This train takes a little bit longer, but we have all the time in the world so who cares.

Here is a map showing the distance from Salzburg, Austria to Munich, Germany.

We got on the train and chatted our way through the 2 hour train ride to Munich. They had a little cart come by with food and drinks to buy so we had a beer and some chips and got ready for our big day at Oktoberfest. We arrived in Munich at the big train station and pretty much just followed the crowd of people in Lederhosens. Here's a picture for those of you who don't know what that is...

Well sure enough we found ourselves at the entrance gate of Oktoberfest. It was not what I expected at all, I didn't realize it was a big fair. So that was pretty cool. It looks just like the Minnesota State Fair when you walk in. There are rides, vendors, games food...the whole works. Then you just throw in a huge tent every 50 yards filled with people drinking beer, singing, standing on tables and eating pretzels and chicken and you have Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany!

This is a video of some guy slamming his beer in the Hofbrau beer tent. Lots of crazy people here.. I found the most crazy were the Aussies.

Ok well we visited a couple of tents, drank some beer, ate some food and made some friends along the way. Then we decided it would be cool to see the real Hofbrau House in Old Town Munich where Hitler often held meetings. So we took the subway (we had to ask around how to get there). And we got off at our stop and this is what you see when you get onto the street after getting off the subway-

Munich is such a pretty place! Too bad we didn't have more time there. Ok so we got to the real Hofbrau House which was just as busy as Oktoberfest. We ordered some food and drinks and visited with our new friends that we picked up along the way who were- A 30 something guy whose wife was in Munich on business and he was wandering around Oktoberfest alone. He was from North Carolina. Then our other buddy was a 60-something German man who sat by us on the subway. We invited him to join us, he said yes.

After this Kim and I decided it was time to head back to Salzburg (we got a hotel there because Munich was all booked up, and it was much cheaper this way). So we left and Kristi and Shaun stayed. We found our way back to the train station, got on our train and were back in Salzburg in about 2 hours. We immediately went to bed!! Kristi and Shaun got back around 1am and we all got up and had breakfast downstairs around 10am. From here we got in the car and started driving back towards Croatia.

We decided to stop in Bled, Slovenia since it is about halfway between Salzburg and Zagreb. I am SO glad we stopped here; it is in the top 3 most beautiful places I've ever been. And pictures just don't do justice. We got to Bled, grabbed some lunch at this great grill then walked around Lake Bled for a while before deciding to rent a row-boat and go out to the island and explore a little bit! After lots of wandering and picture taking we got back in the car and made our way back to Zagreb. What a great trip!

Sonja told me it is a Slovenian wedding tradition to go out to the island here in Bled and have the groom carry the bride up the 100 stairs.

Ok to top this week off, we went to our friend's John & Julia's new apartment downtown Zagreb for dinner one night, I started going to a new pilates class and then Friday Andy's team had a home game vs. Villach. We won and Andy had a goal!

And finally, after the game Friday night, Andy and I went to the Guns N Roses Concert!

Ok well I hope you enjoyed the latest blog entry! More to come soon!

An Ode to my Greenway Friends.

2010-09-16T01:49:00.062+03:00

Well this post idea came to me in one of my many bouts of insomnia, but sometimes I feel that is when the best ideas come. It is however, a topic that has nothing to do with our "European Adventure." So if you're looking for a juicy piece about that, come back next week. For now I want to talk about a special group of people (you all will know who you are after reading this) that have been in our lives for quite some time now, and they don't seem to be going anywhere which is all the more reason to write about these great friends.

Now I know that everyone you meet and have a conversation with will always talk about a friend they have or a group of friends that they claim to be "the best" but I know, (and you know) that our group is the best. And I will continue on with examples from here on out. You ever notice that among all the friends you met in college (whom I LOVE all my college friends dearly) none of them really have many friends left from high school that they actually talk to? Well just ask any of our college friends..and I bet they can name at least 5 to 10 people from Greenway in our group. We like to travel in a pack.

I love how:

*In December we start a Facebook thread about 2nd weekend (which is in May). And how when that big day comes in May, we are all, for the most part, there together doing pretty much nothing and loving every second of it. OH and I should probably add that most of us have been doing this camping trip for about 8-10 years together. (We have t-shirts to prove it.) And I love how we ALL know that Saturday of 2nd weekend means hopping into the biggest vehicle we have and going to the Gosh Dam Place for drinks/food and a little 7-14-21. Oh and to watch playoff hockey of course.

*During "wedding season" if we need to get a hotel room we pile at least 6 of us per room (even though the majority of us are married/engaged/ oh and have enough money to get our own room... Just because it's fun to sit up late at night and have a sleepover and giggle like little girls.

*And ALSO during wedding season Josh and I not only do the ice auger dance at every wedding..but make a point to document it. I have no idea why.

*How every 2nd-4th of July is designated "Casey's cabin" time and we might not even ask Casey if we can come out there, we just show up. And this has been an annual event for us for about 12 years now. And you can't forget the annual 4th of July boat trip to Zorbaz.

*Wefest time rolls around (this one is declining in population in recent years, which.... I'm not happy about.) And we all know that beer darts is inevitable...along with Jamie doing the Zamboni. We all stand by each other and sing at the top of our lungs "Remember Yesterday" by Skid Row and no one within a 50 foot radius knows the song and is staring at us so we proceed to sing out "Hail Greenway."

*On my 26th birthday we have an impromptu night out in St. Paul, proceed to have a 8 person sleep over in a 1 bedroom apartment (with a man cave) and I get a surprise 2:00am Dairy Queen Birthday cake.

*We are all so busy all summer and the 1 weekend we have free we have a "family breakfast" at Forest Lake then go golfing together, followed by a steak BBQ in our back yard and a leisurely walk to the LockerRoom- Then the next day we go "fishing" then all pile in our living room, watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall then all sit around the table and have beer can chicken for dinner together.

*The 1st 3 Sundays we woke up in our new house, Jamie came out of "his room" in the morning, came into our room to wake us up, then we all had breakfast together at the table.

*When Owen and Molly's wedding weekend came around, we had a "welcome home" party for them 2 nights before the wedding, since a wedding wasn't enough :)

*We thought it would be necessary that before Gino and Laura's wedding we go 2 days early just so we can go to the horse track..together.

*When I open my Greenway Blast (Our yearbook.. for you non-Raiders) I see ALL of your pictures.

*We dominate the dance floor...together..at every wedding.

*Hey remember that one time when you all got together and decided to come visit us in Croatia?!! (HINT)

*Even though a lot of us are happily married, you may find one of our facebook profile pictures with another guy, who just happens to be one of our husband's best friends..as well as ours.

*Andy and I drove from Salt Lake City, Utah to Bemidji, MN to get to the Keg Races, but mainly just to be with our friends.

*Josh and Jamie drove 19 hours straight from Nevada directly to Casey's cabin on the 4th of July just so they wouldn't miss it.

*We all went with each other to high-school dances :)

*We can all be all over the country (or world for that matter) and arrive home, meet at the LR and we're back at it...together.

*I didn't go more than 1 day this summer without seeing at least 1 of you.

*I know what each of you drinks (windsor, captain, seagrams 7, bud light, bud light lime (gross), and soco..you know who you are) and that when we get to the LR, half of you are going to the Foosball table (Trav, Tanner, Josh..sometimes Jame) 1 of you to the Juke Box (Andy- looking for Party in the U.S.A). And for some reason the girls are the ones at the bar.

*We play in a volleyball league end up playing on different teams but still either end up watching or playing in each other's games.

*We have a Thursday night bowling tradition.

*Andy & Gino had the same wedding party, just the switch of the groom. And Casey's wasn't too far off!

*I know what your first car was. I really know Courtney's because I drive it now in the summers... haha

*You all have been to one of the famous Bonfire/sleepovers at my house at least 5 times, followed by a brutal clean-up in the morning.

*You came over on New-Year's eve 2001 even though Andy and I both had Food Poisoning and sat in my room all night.

*We all know who Cyndel, Millee, Zep, Buster, Casey, Cutie, Hershey and Mitzi are...

Ok Guys, I could go on and on.. (I actually had a hard time not putting more picture on here..you know me..)point is, we have something special and we all know it. I love our small-town bond. I love each of you and can't wait to see what the future holds for us (maybe that communal cabin we talked about hmm?!!!) anyways- have a great Fall and Winter at home or wherever you may be, see you at 2nd weekend :)

Add some memories you have in the comments if you want!

Back at it

2010-09-10T13:33:00.010+03:00

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them" Mark Twain

Hello again from Zagreb, Croatia! We are back into the swing of things after a great summer at home. It was such a crazy summer of house-buying, camping and wedding-going; but now that we're back in Croatia it feels almost as if we never left. In some ways, however, this hockey season will be much different than last. For example, we live in a new part of town in this fancy apartment complex with its own casino, restaurant, cafe, gym, dry cleaners, billiards room and it's right next door to the Konzum (grocerie store) and a gas station.

The downfall of living here compared to where we lived last year is that it is about a 10-15 minute drive to the rink whereas last year Andy could walk if it was a nice day. I never realized how much I was going to miss where we lived last year; such a great location. Also, our apartment is very small. We are patiently waiting to get moved into a 2 bedroom. Getting things done around here isn't quite as easy as at home. The work ethic and efficiency isn't quite like we're used to that's for sure! For example: Andy's teammate went and asked if he could have his mail-box key and the guy at the front desk replied, "Oh, we're not doing those." Haha, he eventually got one..but how do you not give someone their mailbox key? I have learned after being in this country for 7 months total that nothing can surprise me. OH, my favorite is when there is no parking spots around they will just stop in the middle of the road, put their flashers on and get out. Ok enough of those examples for now- more to come I'm sure.

The thing I will miss most about the 2009-2010 Medvescak season will be the people. We had such a great group of players & wives. I am so luck to have been able to meet all these great people who are full of adventure, I still keep in touch with pretty much all of them (which isn't that hard these days with Facebook and Skype.) I will miss all of you that will not be here this season with us but you will all have a special place in my heart. Luckily, it seems to me that all of the new players and their wives are a great time which will make the transition much easier for me!

Ok well so far since I've arrived here in Zagreb we have kept busy. I arrived here on Sunday, September 29th right around 1:30pm. I didn't sleep at all on either of my flights- I flew from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. Then Amsterdam to Zagreb. Andy picked me up at the airport with a little help from a guy who works on the team since they players didn't have their cars yet. From the airport we had to go to the practice rink where Andy had a "rehearsal" with Joel Prpic and the people from PAN Beer for their commercial which would be shot the next day. The "rehearsal" consisted of sitting at a cafe and having a coffee and saying, "Ok be there tomorrow at 2:00." From there we headed to our apartment and I started to get my things put away and organized. I slept a few hours that night, which was my fault for taking a 4 hour nap before bed. And since then I haven't slept an entire night for 2 weeks. Awesome. I usually wake up from 4-7am. Now that I know this, I just prepare for it and come out into the living room and read or browse the web. It will eventually fix itself.. I hope. The day after I arrived we had a team dinner at a nice restaurant at Jarun (the nice park with the big man-made lake and walking trails). Here we got to see who is on the team for the year and visit. The meal was a buffet-style of Croatian food. Lots of meat, some pasta, and these great potato things called croquettes. They look like a tator-tot and taste like a corn-dog without the "dog". Sounds funny but they were delicious. And then they had a dessert area with little shot-glasses filled with different cakes and mousse.

The next day we went to a World Track & Field event which was pretty fun I have never been to one. It was packed of course. We got seats in the VIP which was great. Not sure why we were VIP at at track event.. but we'll take it. Right in front of us was the men's long-jump which was really cool to see. It was so funny though because before they get their running start they look to the crowd and start an overhead slow clap so the crowd copies them, then they start running. The U.S.A won this event. The guy's name was Dwight. We were able to see quite a few events including the women's high-jump (won by Croatia I believe), women's 400 (USA), women's hurdles (USA), discus and shot-put which I don't know who won. It was really fun to see and to be able to cheer for our home country!

The next night we went to the movies. We went with a few other people and saw Inception. Wow what a crazy idea for a movie, it was really good. But it was about 25 minutes too long and needed to make Leo's wife a bit more like-able from the beginning. Oh, funny thing, we were sitting in the very top row of the theater and to our right there were 4 Croatian girls and 1 guy. They pretty much talked the whole movie, some conversations louder than others, in Croatian of course. I "shushed" them more than once. It was just crazy to me because it was definitely one of those movies where you need to be paying attention at all times to get it. And sure enough, at the end of the movie, the guy in the group says, (In English) "I don't get it." Well no kidding...

The next night was Friday and it was the first of 3 home pre-season games in a row. They won Friday, lost Saturday and won Sunday. There were about 1/3 of the fans there that will be there during regular season. And we got new seats this year, we're more towards the middle of the rink and a bit closer to ice level. I really like them. Tonight (Friday, September 10th) is the first regular season game in Graz, Austria. Who, may I remind you were the number 1 seed last year in playoffs and we were #8 and beat them out of the first round :) what a great series that was!! And then our home-opener is Sunday against Redbull Salzburg, who won the league Championship last year- Talk about a tough first weekend of the regular season! So good luck to the Medvescak Zagreb hockey team tonight, we will be watching on RTL Televizia.

Ok well I think that brings everyone up-to-date with what has been going on here. Other than our big "outings" we have had so far, we've been down to the centar once, to the grocery store almost every day since our apartment has a MINI FRIDGE. No joke. we also have been to a few different malls just to kill time and people watch. And let me tell you, the malls here are always packed. It's a Tuesday at 2:00pm; packed. I just don't get it. Well anyway- thanks for reading and I will post again soon- if you have any questions or suggestions of things you want me to write about here in Croatia just let me know!

Girl's Weekend in Slovenia

2010-02-13T12:07:00.017+02:00

Well, the guys had a road-trip a few weeks ago. Generally they just go to the game then come home that night arriving back home anytime between midnight and 4am. They were leaving on a Friday morning and coming back Sunday. So a few of us girls decided it would be a good weekend to find an adventure! We decided on going to Kranskja Gora, Slovenia. It is about a 3-hour trip and it is a very easy drive. So we have two cars filled with girls & dogs and after the mandatory road-trip stop at McDonalds, we were on our way! The drive from Croatia to Slovenia is a very pretty one, and is all freeway. We arrived at our hotel which was called Hotel Spic (pronounced Shpick) and checked into our rooms. From there we got settled in which wasn’t hard since the hotel was so nice and cozy!

We all met up not long after and headed into the tiny town of Kranskja Gora for some dinner. There was a fabulous little brick-oven pizza place we went to that I would recommend to anyone…if I remembered the name!

We proceeded to wander down the one main road taking in the beautiful views. This little ski town reminded me a lot of Park City, Utah just a little less up-scale and not on the mountain but on the foot of it. Anyways- it was cozy and cute and a perfect spot for our girl’s weekend! We walked for a bit then found ourselves at a great little bar right on the foot of the ski slope, called Vopa. We lucked out and got a great booth and spent the better half of the evening telling stories, laughing and singing at the top of our lungs to the great music played by the band. I mean they were playing some of the best “American” music there is- CCR comes to my head right away because they played multiple songs by them. As it got later in the night the bar filled up and we were really quite proud of our booth…but I guess that’s what happens when you get there at 7pm and it is empty! Well It was my duty to get drinks from the bar since I was closest to it, plus with my previous waitressing experience it was a piece of cake! I grabbed a tray, put all the drinks on there and maneuvered my way through the people no problem. This happened a few times before a got a German man’s elbow to the bottom of my drink tray and it literally flipped and spilled right on top of my head. Now, how is it that the wine and vodka goes right into my eyes but the 7-up and bitter lemon mixers seem to either stay standing on the tray or fall on the floor? Hmm.

Anyways I was laughing hysterically and the guy who hit me, instead of offering to help clean up and buy us new drinks, headed through the crowd to never be seen again. What a gentlemen. Well we got the drink dilemma solved by ordering more and continued to have a good time until we received some unwanted company at our table and had to leave the bar. Oh well, I’m sure we overstayed our welcome anyways! From here we caught the shuttle back to our hotel and called it a night.

Day two came barreling at us rather quickly and we decided to head back into the little town for some wandering and some lunch. We found a cute little restaurant, once again I forget the name, and we sat down for a nice lunch and great tea (which I needed since I lost my voice the night before trying to be the next American Idol.) After lunch we decided it was time to head back to hotel and relax a bit before our big sledding adventure later that afternoon. Back at the hotel a few of us decided to check out the spa. It was absolutely amazing. It was so nice and clean and I really felt pampered. We first of all sat on the hot chairs for a bit. They also have these chairs at our gym we go to in Zagreb, they are ceramic tile chairs shaped like a beach chair and they are heated. It is so relaxing! Next we went into the hot tub then headed into the steam room which was perfect because with the steam came nice vics-vapor rub smell which was great for my hurting throat and voice box! We were in there for a couple of minutes when a male worker came in and told us we couldn’t be wearing our bathing suits in there and we needed to take them off. We were a little confused and luckily Julia speaks Croatian, which is similar to Slovenian and was able to figure out what he was saying. So basically you are not allowed to wear bathing suits because they are “unsanitary” but you are allowed to wear your towel wrapped around you (thank God). I think that is the craziest/most stupid rule I’ve ever heard…since when is a naked body more sanitary than once covered up..I don’t know.. but it was definitely a culture shock. Moving along- we stayed in that great steam room for quite a while just relaxing and then decided it was time to head back up to the room and relax a little bit before heading back into town.

After our nice little rest we all bundled up in snow pants, boots, hats & mittens and went into town. From here we went to a little sled rental hut and signed our lives away for a 10 Euro toboggan. But let me tell you, it was worth it!! After signing our waivers and getting our instructions we all piled onto a bus and headed up the mountain. Once the bus arrived at our stop, we got off, were handed headlights and then got in line and were given our sleds and from there we were basically on our own.
Getting the first person to go was quite a feat since we were in the middle of nowhere on a mountain about to head down a trail that has no lights except every 25 yards or so there were little torches stuck in the snow bank; we also had headlamps. But, once we started going we realized how much fun it really was!! All of us were screaming and giggling like little kids. I, however, had a muffled scream because my voice at this point is completely lost and my throat a little painful. But that did not ruin my fun one bit! We proceeded flying down the trail almost falling into snow banks and off the edge of the mountain several times! We got to the bottom of our run and came upon a babbling brook for lack of a better description. It was about 20 feet wide and had a 2X4 board across it, which was our “bridge” to get to the other side.

At this point we really had no idea where we were going because we were literally in the middle of the mountains. Once we crossed the brook we came upon a big group of people (I don’t remember that many people being on our bus up the mountain…but I was also pre-occupied with adrenaline.) All of these people were standing around a big snow machine, which looked sort of like a bulldozer without the shovel and it had a sleigh attached to the back of it.

We noticed everyone getting on the sleigh or inside of the bulldozer-snow machines “cab” so we followed everyone else and before we knew it we were getting pulled through the woods on a very scenic trail with a bunch of people from all over the world. It was so much fun!!!

We stopped maybe 20 minutes later and we were at a “cabin” which I have no idea why it was this far out in the woods, but I’m not complaining because we got inside and there were bathrooms and 4 old women cooking and making gluhwine! We sat at a table and ordered a round of beers and just soaked in the unbelievable experience we were having.

After a short intermission, we were back out on our sleds. Now, we had to slide back down the same trail that the snow machine just drove us up. At this point we are roaring and ready to go; we got a little taste of how much fun the sledding was on the first run and we were ready for more! So you walk out of the cabin and literally the trail starts right out the door. Before you know it we are zooming down yelling “geranamo” and almost crashing into each other and having the time of our lives!

Once you get to the bottom area you are back where the snow machine picked us up. I was a little bummed it was over but then realized we were going back up for one last hu-rah. We got back on the sleigh and at this point had made some friends and we were visiting and laughing with them. Once we arrived at the cabin we were back on that trail flying around like a bunch of crazy kids on a snow day. It was one of the funnest things I have done in a long time! Ok but once we got to the bottom again, there was no snow machine to bring us back to the bus (plus there is a river, so how would it get across it?) SO, we walk back across the water, and proceed to walk all the way up the first run we took, to the very top where the bus was waiting. It was quite the hike, especially carrying a sled on your back.

Well once we got on the bus to head back to town we were all pooped out and hungry. We went back to the pizza place from the night before and had yet another great meal then decided to call it a night! We got back to the hotel and relaxed the rest of the night.

Oh one other little detail, our “girls weekend” that we planned for a couple weeks in advance wasn’t exactly how we had planned it since the team, out of all the hotels on the way to Salzburg Austria, decides to stay at the same hotel as us. No, it was fine, just a little ironic. We saw the guys randomly and had breakfast with them on Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon we decided it was time to hit the road and head back to Croatia. It was such a fun weekend and I will never forget the first night out with girls singing and sparring with our “unwanted guests” at our table then night number two with the amazing sledding adventure!!

Up-Hill...Both Ways.

2010-01-14T16:35:00.011+02:00

I figured it was about time to write about our little trek through the mountains we had last week. Looking back it was quite comical, at the time it wasn't so much.. so here is how the story goes...

We had heard that there was a big ski event up the mountain and so we did some research and decided it would be fun to go. This event was part of the World Cup of Skiing and the day we were going was the men's Slalom Championship. Andy had the day off so it was perfect. My friend Kate & I went online and bought our tickets (13 euros, which is about 20 dollars or 100 kune) which covered our bus ride there and free food & drinks while there.

Now here is how I visualized the trip to be:

We would take the tram to the centar, pick up our tickets and get on the bus. From there we would take the short bus trip to the foot of the mountain where there would be a large Chalet with skiiers walking around and beer tents and music. I think my vision was skewed because I was spoiled living in Salt Lake City for two years and going up to Park City (about a 30 minute drive from SLC where a majority of Utah's ski resorts are) where not only is it beautiful, but very well organized & efficient. Ok well anyways, I thought we would stand by the finish line and watch skiiers victoriously cross the finish line..

Ok now here is how it really went:

We took the tram from near our house up to the foot of the mountain..about a 25 minute tram ride,not that bad. From there we stepped off the tram to a crowd of people (all wearing ligitimate winter gear) cheering and screaming and blowing horns & whistles which got everyone excited and pumped up for the big event. We walked over to the tent and picked up our tickets and got on the appropriate bus. The bus ride was very windey and crowded and the kids standing by us kept blowing their dang horns back & forth. It was about a 40 minute bus ride. When the bus stopped and we got off.. it was not what I pictured it would be at all!! We were dropped off pretty much in the middle of nowhere with a little path that everyone somehow knew how to follow.. so we followed everyone in hopes that we would arrive at our destination within a few minutes. Well we kept walking, and it was a very scenic and beautiful walk but as you can see from the picture, it was quite packed down and icy and for us: the 4 ignorant North Americans, we didn't dress appropriately and our shoes we're exactly "winterized." Well moving along, we kept walking for about 20 minutes when we finally heard some music. This was pretty exciting for us.. ok well we kept going and finally came around a corner where we started to see people and there was a little lean-to set up with men in army garb were handing out hot tea with lemon wedges in it. It was SO good, and just what we needed after our little hike. Once we got to the "race track" or ski hill we stood around watching workers rake the track smooth in hopes that it was going to start soon. We pretty much just stood around watching people and waiting for about a half hour when we saw that one of the tables that was set up started to hand out sub-sandwiches wrapped in celophane. I walked over to the table to get a sandwich for Andy and I was was completely bombarded and shoved by people who were apparently so famished they had to get to the front of the line for their ham & butter sandwich. Well anyways, I made it in one piece and got our sandwichs. After a bit more waiting, we realized that we needed to be on the other side of the ski run, this is where we assumed the rest of the food & beer tents would be and where the finish line would be. We had to wait for a while but finally the guards ran a rope from one side of the ski run to the other and, it was pretty much like hearding cattle to get to the rope to cross the run. At first I didn't realize why they needed a rope, and why we couldn't just walk across...but once we got there I saw that the ski run was solid ice and we would all just slide all the way down to the finish line if we didn't hold on. Then it dawned on me that the skiiers in the race had to go down this mountain, on skiis, going 50 mph or however fast they go.. and a new respect for skiiers was established. Ok well once we got to the other side..we kept walking and realized that we were walking on the actual ski run (I'm assuming it is open for the public on non-event days). This means that we were going downhill, on solid ice in most places with street shoes on (I had on ugg-like boots, but they don't really have traction). Andy wore brown dress shoes. So...it was pretty funny trying to keep our balance and sliding down each little hill. We arrived at a little area that had tents and tables and a stage, here we stood in line and got bowls of soup and rolls. (Here is a photo of the little area we stumbed upon)

You could also get hotdogs and pancakes. But..no beer. None anywhere on the whole mountain. Which is fine, but when you're mentally prepared to have a nice fun day of beer drinking and then you find out that is not happening, its a little bit of a let down, BUT we all survived and tried to make the best of it. Well at this point we are all a little tired from sliding down the mountain but decide to keep going down to see if we can get to the finish line and catch a bus there to take us back down. Well.. as we rounded the corner, we saw this HUGE crowd of people and grand stands filled with people and flags from a bunch of different countries.it was amazing to see actually. It was a great place to people watch..but we couldn't see the actual skiing because there were so many people standing around; we could catch a glimpse of them coming down and around a corner at the top but after that we lost them in the flood of people. From here we decided it would probably best to head back UP the mountain and try to get out of there before the thousands of people did the same. Then we realized that where we got on our bus was on the opposite side of the track as we were on, and there was NO way we could get across during the race. So we decided to take the "Red" bus back home so we followed the trail towards the bus stop; another 45 minutes of endless uphill slipperly slopes. Andy's teammate who was with us actually slid down about 30 feet and had to start all over at one point haha. Looking back now, like I said it's pretty funny. We finally got to the end... where we needed to be and of course they have a stand here with water, beer and gluhwine (hot wine, sort of like cider). So I slammed a bottle of water and we got on the bus. We were lucky enough to get seats, and we made our way down the mountain, to the tram stop. And from there we got on our tram and headed to the warmth of our apartment!

I don't regret going to this awesome event but I do however regret not asking around about the details of it and being prepared for it. I would have: brought a backpack with supplies, wore snowpants and boots and most importantly been mentally prepared for what ended up being quite the workout..

Well that sums up our funny and memorable hike up the mountain, hope it was as entertaining for you as it was for us- thanks for reading Mom, Lori, Vicky, Carol, Steve, Marko, Joanne, Vint, Molly, Nicole, Courtney & whoever else stumbles upon this. More to come soon...

Holiday re-cap!

2010-01-09T12:15:00.006+02:00

Since Christmas was a few weeks ago and I've failed at updating on time, I have forgotten the details of what we did but I thought I would just give a little Re-cap of everything as best as I can. I wasn't expecting much for Christmas, since it is just Andy and I and we didn't even get a tree! But let me tell you, from what I've seen, Europe is magical during Christmas time. Both here in Zagreb and in Vienna (and in friend's pictures that I've seen from other European cities) the city is completely decorated with lights, trees, and "Christmas Markets" which are little stands set up in or near the city centar. Each stand sells something (it sort of reminds me of the craft or bazzars at home) but they are up for a few weeks and are outside. Also there is a Christmas Tent, which is filled with tables and a stage and sausage, beer and wine stands. These markets and tents are open pretty much all day every day. And there are always people around. I'm still trying to figure out how so many people either: don't work, or work weird schedules where they are able to be out shopping during the middle of the day. I'm not dis-respecting the non workers because I am in that category currently, but it is just mind blowing that there are SO many. Anyway, moving on.

The night before Christmas Eve some of the girls organized a dinner with just the team and their signifigant others. So we met at the tent (a common meeting place for us!) and we all visited and had gluhwein (hot wine). From there we walked to the restaurant we had reservations and sat down for a nice meal. Sitting right next to us was this group of men, maybe 10 of them and they befriended us and then decided to sing us a song!

Andy was sitting with the Croatian's most of the night visiting with them, which was funny.. a few of them spoke a little English but most of them didn't. After, Andy and I walked back to the Centar, which was only right down the street and got on a tram to go home. Christmas Eve day we had a luncheon scheduled with the team and staff. We got there and had a lunch of all seafood, which...to be honest, wasn't the most appetizing meal after a night out.. Then we sat OUTSIDE on the patio. It was December 24th and we sat on a patio. How strange.

We left the restaurant and headed home around 3pm then sat around our apartment with some friends and I made dinner. After dinner we headed back downdown to the tent to meet everyone. We hung out there all night then Andy and I took the tram back by our place and walked by a church at midnight where everyone was standing outside singing and listening to the service. We stood with them and listened (even if we didn't quite understand them, we got the gyst of it!). Christmas day we woke up and opened our gifts from each other and from our family. We got a Kindle which is awesome! Then later that day we headed over to the Letang's for Christmas dinner. Krystie made an awesome meal, it was basically an American Thanksgiving! Everything was delicious! We sat around their apartment playing games and eating most of the night.

So basically our holiday week was packed with events, and there were a few hockey games mixed in there as well! On New Years we all met at our friend's apartment then headed to a bar that we had reservations at. We had a little area to sit and had a buffet of food. It was really nice! It was a rainy night I remember which is also weird for January 1st! It was quite the month really, and it was really nice that the team did so many things together, it made it so much fun and actually made it feel like the holidays! I know nothing beats the holidays at home with family, but when you can't be there, it's nice to be somewhere where everyone is in the same boat as you and you make the best of it!

Vienna!

2009-12-29T15:07:00.008+02:00

Well it has been a very busy month for us! I thought it would be a "quiet" Christmas seeing as it's just the 2 of us here...but I was wrong!

Side Note: Christmas is "Bozic" in Croatian..except the z and the c both have little v's above them, which makes the letter have a "h" sound added to to it.. so it is pronounced Bo-zh-ich) it's a pretty tough word to say.

Anyways- skipping to the week before Christmas: A few of us girls decided to roadtrip to Vienna for the guys game. We left Friday morning around 11. There were 4 of us total and a dog. It was a very easy drive, if I remember right it was about 4 hours. Luckily Crystal had lived in Vienna previously so she knew her way around for the most part. It is a pretty big city and I would have had a hard time following the signs and directions to get to our hotel. She got us to our hotel no problem! We stayed at a fabulous 5 star hotel, Le Meridien Wien (Wien is how you say Vienna in German, the W is pronounced V). We got our hotel rooms on Hotwire.com so we got a great deal. The hotel was in a great location also, which was convienent since we walked everywere we went. We checked into our rooms, got ready and hit the streets, I think it was about 5pm or so. Right when we started walking I knew I loved the city right away, it is so pretty and clean. The very old buildings are well preserved and look "new". It was also really cool because all of the streets were decorated to the nines for Chrismas. Lights and trees everywhere. We walked for a while and decided it was time to grab a bite to eat. We went to Crystal's favorite bar in Wien which is called "1516". It is an Irish Pub type place, very relaxed atmosphere and good beer. I had spicy BBQ wings and fries for my meal.. they were SO good. I haven't had wings since I've been here. Crystal was able to bring her dog, Hugo with into the bar which was nice. People all over the city have their dogs and are allowed to bring them into stores and restaurants. So me, Crystal, Meredith, Jackie & Hugo enojyed our relaxing time in the pub and then decided to hit the streets for a bit. We wandered around and had some gluhvine (hot wine, which tastes like cider) and then went to the Christmas market and looked around. I forgot to mention we sort of lost track of time and didn't make it to the hockey game... oops.

Next we hopped on the subway system which is called the uhban (that isn't the correct spelling, but that is how you pronounce it) and head back to the hotel to drop the dog off and get ready for a night out. We sat in the hotel lobby bar which is very "modern" for a while then decided to find a place to hang out for the night. We didnt' really see a place that caught our eye so we ended up going back to 1516 and grabbed a table and visited for most of the night.

The next day we got up and headed to Starbucks. We dont' have Starbucks in Croatia so it was a little treat. I had some sort of toffee crunch latte and it was delicious. After our morning pick-me-up we hit the shops. We shopped most of the morning and I actually found a few things, which was exciting because I haven't really found anything I love and have to have since I've been here. Everything is either really expensive or really cheap and poor quality. I found a happy medium in Vienna. After our afternoon of shopping we sat in a cafe and visited for a few hours! Then we grabbed a sausage and walked back to the hotel to shower up and get ready for our night out! We had dinner reservations at a great sushi place called "Little Buddha" at 8:00pm.

We got to Little Buddha and stuffed our faces with edamame, soup, tons of sushi, grilled vegetables, noodles, wine.. it was a delicious meal. After dinner we headed to the basement lounge and tryed to make a decision weather to stay there for the night or go somewhere else. It was freezing outside so staying there seemed like the best option but there were no tables, and the open ones were "reserved" for people more important than us I'm guessing. Well... Crystal worked her East Coast charm and told the bartender we were leaving because we didn't have a place to sit and he immediately gave us one of the "reserved" tables and had a waitress come give us bottle service. It was the perfect place to hang out all night long and visit. We finally decided it was time to head home..but not without a stop at the sausage stand of course. We made some friends there from Ireland. I don't think they liked us as much as we liked them.. but anyways..moving on.

We got up the next morning and Jackie & I went to Subway while Meredith & Crystal went to Starbucks. On our way to Subway I looked in my purse and relized my passport wasn't there... I knew I didn't take it out and put it in the room.. so immediately I had that stomach ache with anxiety knowing it was gone. This is a bad thing. I got back to the hotel and we searched my bags and the room and it wasn't there so we got the number for the U.S. Embassy and I called and asked what to do. Reminder: it is Sunday and nothing is open in Europe on Sundays. How convienent. Well the Embassy said to file a police report that it was stolen so I could use that paperwork to get back into Croatia. So I did that and it was fairly quick and painless (thanks to Crystal who speaks a little German!) So we did that and hit the road... We got through the border of Austria and Slovenia no problem because they are both in the European Union so they have no border patrol... THen we get to the Slovenia/Croatia border and the Slovenian checkpoint is first, I hand them the paperwork along with all of the girl's passports and the dog's paperwork and they are sort of confused and question us for a second but then realize that it would be easier for the Croatian's to deal with me. So we drive about 100 yards and get to the Croatian checkpoint and they basically look at my police report with my MN ID and shake their head at me like I'm an idiot. (Which at this point.... I am an idiot). And they were like..ok what is this? You can't get into the country without a passport. So once again, Crystal pulls out her skills and basically says "The U.S Embassy in Austria told us to bring the police report and we could cross the border and the Embassy in Croatia would take care of getting me a new passport" and "Do you really want us to sit here inbetween borders" "What good is it going to do to keep us here?" oh and "Our husbands' play hockey for Medvescak" I think that was the kicker because they let us go after that. I'm not a big fan of the name drop..but If it's going to keep me from being stuck inbetween Slovenia & Croatia for 2 days getting questioned...I'm all for it. So...long story but I got back to Zagreb pretty painlessly.