Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Brooke Turns 6

Our oldest, Brooke Ashley Barnes just turned six years old. She is growing into such a beautiful and sweet girl. We love our adventurous, creative, practical, helpful, girl who never runs out of energy and wants to do it all. 
We spent the day at the pool, happy girl!


What does a travelling girl get for her 6th birthday? A coin purse, a fishing net, a travel journal, a floatie for the pool, and a travel backgammon game. 

She painted the happy birthday banner and although Jeff bought one, hers was much better. 
Ice cream cake, given by the lady who owns the building, so nice of her to give, and much prettier than our typical homemade cakes.

Yum!


I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect on her life and think about plans for the next year. How is she adapting to this life on the go and how does she feel about it? Difficult to answer I suppose, there are pros and cons of course... But, I think it is very telling in that her current aspiration is;

"I want to visit every country in the world and then go back and live in America and be a chef and teach people about food around the world." Pretty cool if you ask me! She does have really good taste and isn't afraid of trying new foods. I really love cooking with her. 
So, Brooke how do you feel about travelling and moving around like we do?
"Well... I like travelling because I learn a lot and learning a lot is fun. Like... if someone brought you something from another country you can learn about that country and those people."
 Brooke, how do you feel about homeschool instead of school?
"I like homeschool because I get to choose when I do things and what order. In school, you have to only do what the teacher says." Following an attendance of The Nutcracker Ballet. She says... going to school would be like going to a performance every day, that would be boring!"
She attended a reading class in Prague that was interesting to see how she adapted to a real school like setting. She says... "well, I didn't like when we had to sit in a circle in the beginning and end. I don't like sitting cross legged."  She's never really liked participating in circle time, even as a baby at mommy and me class. "And, we had to finish the writing part before we could color the picture" 
She also wants to read every book she can. No subject or length or difficulty is discouraging to her. We are currently reading Robinson Crusoe and many of the Beverly Cleary books, which I remember dearly from my childhood. I just have to try to find the best books to suggest and commit enough time to reading. We read at least an hour every night, its one of my favorite times of the day.

She is genuinely curious about most things she encounters. She doesn't typically want to know all the facts or details about a discovery, she wants to make it, create it, capture it, etc. She is definitely a hands on learner and I am glad I don't feel the pressure to suppress this tendency.

What about her education? Well, we have a variety of homeschool resources we  keep available for them to use when they are in the mood. Reading and math workbooks are considered activity books that are fun because I never require them to use them or enforce a schedule. She is really quickly learning to read and her  understanding of math quite astounds me. Everything I've read is proving to be true. Making learning natural and letting them set the pace, actually works!

True, if I only had one child we'd probably be more advanced academically. But, she is learning other things every day that I am starting to value much more. Good moral character and the ability to get along with her siblings. This is an ongoing challenge every single day, but there is clear progress. She is often saying lately, "I feel good when I'm nice to people!" What a revelation!

What about socialization then? People probably wonder... what about friends their own age? Well, I admit this is one of the cons of a life on the move. I would love to have more kids around to play with more often. We recently spent some time with some Australian kids that they really enjoyed. But, we also had a playdate last month with an English girl aged 7 that seems nice enough and after awhile of playing with her, Brooke says, I think I want to play with my sister now... Every day they get a little better at playing with each other because they have to.



Socialization come in different forms. At the moment, we have a new friend here in Croatia. She had been quite friendly to us despite language barriers. Brooke made her a card, I love how she does this... and the woman knocked on the door on Brooke's birthday with a beautiful plate covered in flowers, with a chocolate bar and a necklace. What a good life lesson, the kindness of strangers...

Brooke will undoubtedly help us lead the way as the first child blazing her own path through life and learning. We are very lucky to be along for the ride. 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Croatia

Getting Settled


After a long winter with (albeit some slices of beautiful sunshine in Italy) otherwise lots of rain and cold... the weather when we arrived was perfect. The first thing the kids did when we unloaded the bags was put on their swimsuits and ask to go to the beach. The clear blue water of the Adriatic Sea and the inviting palm frond covered tables right on the sand were just what we were hoping for. 


But, the apartment we'd rented for the month, was much smaller than we'd expected. Sometimes they have creative ways of estimating the size of places... One bedroom was open to the walkway where another apartment's guests would walk right by the door (where Collin was to sleep). The other bedroom was connected to the patio so if Jeff tried to work there, the kids would be under feet every time we came in or out. It did have a beautiful view of the sea and the owner greeted us with fresh greens from the garden, and, this beach was across the highway from it. But, we'd decided to change apartments if possible. Fortunately, the lady we'd rented from had some other apartments for rent so when we told her this just wouldn't work for us, we could hopefully rent her other place.

Despite her very limited English and us understanding only a little of her Croatian/mixed with German, we got this point across and she took us to see another place that morning. It was down the coast in a town called Omis, which was supposed to have some of the best kid friendly beaches on the coast.

This apartment didn't seem ideal at first, only one actual bedroom and the girls would be sleeping in the kitchen/living area, but it was much bigger and somehow, after we got settled in, it worked amazingly well for us. 


We said we'd take it for 5 weeks which was the max time she had available. Finally it was all settled, this Croatian lady was as nice as could be but we didn't think she would EVER stop talking. She didn't seem to care that we understood very, very little of what she was saying.

So, we headed to check out the beaches and get some lunch. Had imagined a waterfront pizzaria/grill for our first meal in Croatia, but this cafe with a playground won the vote.

Giant pizza with shrimp and chicken salad, first meal out in Croatia. Yum!






Five Weeks in Omis - The City of Pirates

After a week or so and I got used to to getting around with the kids here, I really started to love Omis and thought it turned out to be a perfect place for us to spend some time. It has two very kid friendly beaches, beautiful scenery (mountains, river, sea), a lovely shaded main street with a plentiful produce and fish market, several decent grocery stores, and a beautiful old town; all within walking distance of our apartment. 




Brooke already rode her scooter most places we went, but Savannah was in need of a new scooter. We also realized that we can never go back to drip coffee after getting used to espresso, and the kids needed summer shoes, so we drove up to the big mall in Split and bought these few things. 

The mall in Split by the way, has a huge indoor play area for kids that is FREE for two hours. Drop the kids off and shop or relax, just make sure they have socks. Awesomeness!! Europe has it figured out when it comes to family friendly. So many cafes and bars have attached play areas, its a shame the states doesn't have more of this, too many laws I guess. 

Cafe with playground attached very close to our apartment,
spent a fair amount of time here drinking a coffee or wine while the kids played. 

Beach with toys and slide with sand toys. Next to a bar.
Why I love Europe, a restaurant with a play area does not mean McDonalds!


Dinner in Old Town Omis. My favorite night out in Croatia. Big platter of grilled meats and  veggies, liter of wine...  Collin chased cats around, the girls rose their scooters up and down the cobblestone walkways. It was perfect.

The girls ride these scooters everywhere!
The natural beauty of Croatia is really quite amazing. I haven't seen water this clean and clear many places in the world that is anywhere civilization. 


The clear, clean water of the Adriatic Sea. One of my favorite things about Croatia.





These mountains are spectacular. 
Old Town Omis

There is a fort on the top of one of these mountain ranges that Jeff and Brooke hiked to. It doesn't look possible from a distance, I was quite impressed that Brooke did it. Of course, she fared much better than Jeff, who's knees were killing him on the way back down. I think Brooke was really proud and she came home excited to take the rest of us on a tour of the fort (another one at the bottom of the hill). So, she led the way from the apartment through town. 

This way!

Fort  in Omis - built to defend the city from pirates




We read as many pirate stories as we could find while in Omis - the city of pirates so it was fun to pretend we were watching out for pirates from the outlooks.





Fish Market in Omis. She says, "These were caught fresh this morning by my brother." 
Love getting really fresh fish. Everything we tried was great. 

The produce market  was daily and quite plentiful, but I did have to be careful choosing as a few times I spent quite a lot, not realizing what was a deal and what wasn't. Best deal by far, cherries! 




We grilled a lot at our apartment, which we all really loved.

Day Trip to Trogir

Trogir is a beautiful town on the coast. We enjoyed our morning there, walking and scooting the old town walking streets, eating lunch on the water, and perusing boats in the marina.
Beautiful handmade spring towys

Trying to keep up with my scooting girls...

Natural sea sponge, a popular souvenir

Hmm, which way now...
Lunch - Salad, chicken strips, and pizza


Which gelato to have today??


The boys

We'd been seriously scheming when and how we can move on a boat again. We'd hoped to charter or get aboard one here, but it didn't work out.


Dino Park Omis

This small Dino Park in Omis, made for quite a fun afternoon. Not totally cheap, but worth it for one time. The girls were in heaven and we learned a bit more about dinosaurs...




Aquazorbing - I'll have to try this one of these days

What, it doesn't go all the way around?? The daredevil girls were slightly disappointed...

T rex, complete with movements and sounds


Huge!

Collin was not a fan, he couldn't get out of that dino park faster. Huge moving scary creatures, not his thing. But, since then, he is very interested in dinosaurs.

Lucky girls
So happy!


This slide was fun as I experienced having to climb up and help Collin


Up the River from Omis


The river and mountains in from Omis were quite spectacular and we drove up a few times. We'd considered taking a boat trip up, but decided it would be too hard with the kids.

No need for extra concrete reinforcements in here, solid rock.

Beer garden restaurant on the river, quite beautiful

Nice spot for my Mother's Day lunch
Beautiful clear water, watched rafts float by, caught tadpoles, lots of fun...


Split

We were really impressed with Old Town Split and spent a great day there. Like many other parts of Croatia, its not undiscovered. There are lots of tourists, but also lots of things tourists enjoy... restaurants, ruins, beautiful architecture. It was market day as well and quite busy, we almost gave up trying to find a place to park near here, but glad we didn't.

Along the waterfront in Split







Best and Worst things about Croatia 

The best things about Croatia overall in our opinion:

-The beautiful clear water, which is mostly all public land and easy to find places to enjoy it. There is something like 3500 miles of coastline in Croatia if you count all the islands.
-The availability of fresh seafood. The fish markets have actual fresh seafood that was all delicious and if you like the little ones like anchovies (which were delicious on the grill) its pretty affordable. 
-The old towns are so impressive and lovely to walk through.
-The people are quite friendly and many speak very good English

The worst things about Croatia:

-The food in grocery stores isn't cheap. We find it to be about the same cost as the US, which is more expensive than Czech Republic and Italy, where we have been recently.
-Its not as easy to find accommodation as some other places
-Those locals that don't speak English, speak sort of a combination of Croatian and German that the translator doesn't decipher