5

The big guy turned 5 today. Where has the time gone?


We started the weekend with a party - a Lego City party, complete with outdoor water activities and a clown to do face painting (Ziza's awesome birthday gift to Hudson!).







Birthday cupcakes (AKA snicker doodle cupcakes) per the birthday boy's request.







Hudson and Ziza.  We LOVE her!



Cullen and Ziza.



We celebrated a birthday dinner out in Bascarsija.  Hudson wanted sardines, so we made our way to Dveri for an amazing meal, as usual.



And it wouldn't be a summer outing to Bascarsija if it didn't include ice cream.







Birthday breakfast of champions



Let the opening of presents begin!

Memorial Day Weekend 2013

We headed out of town this weekend to the Croatian coast - Zadar, to be exact. We had a wonderful time with our buds in Bosnia, the Roberts family. Hudson and Wyatt becomes fast friends from the moment the Roberts family landed in Bosnia, and Cullen has taken quite a liking to Lyla. This weekend he even added "Lyla" to the list of things he can say! Heather and I are convinced it's meant to be, and we wouldn't mind having a "family" connection later in life. So we loaded up the cars (vacation cupcakes - AKA snickerdoodle cupcakes - and all!) and caravanned out of town on Friday night. We drove along the winding roads of Bosnia, through a down pour of rain, and zipped up the Croatian speedway to spend a few days relaxing on the beach. With the exception of a a little rain, a sick kiddo and a trip to the hospital in Zadar, we had the best time. A few photos from our adventures....




No vacation is complete without LOTS of ice cream!

The littles were quite entranced by the music.

Zadar





Silly boys




The twins - Byron and baby Byron

This is Heather. She is an AMAZING photographer. We had a really wonderful time capturing moments from the trip. I am trying to learn as much about photography as I can from her. Maybe by the end of our tour I'll be about half way there. =) Check out her blog (http://livewhereyoureat.wordpress.com) for photos and thoughts on life in Bosnia.

Now that's what I call an AWESOME vacation!

Family Vacation: Kotor, Montenegro, Day 2

Today we toured a little more of Kotor Bay. There are two charming islands in the middle of the bay only reachable by boat. Since it's not peak season, there aren't any boats running regularly. Hudson really wanted to ride a boat, though, so we did what we could. When we arrived in the small town nearest the islands we saw some men working on the dock. Lucky us - we have a family member who speaks the local language. So he asked the men where/when we could catch a boat. Turns out a charter boat for a tour group had just left for the islands. The men phoned the boat, and boat came back and picked us up! We rode back to the mainland with the tour group a bit later. It was a lovely boat cruise and lovely scenery. Then later in the day, Hudson and Byron went exploring. They dropped in on the Kotor Carnival, went to a playground, explored the docks, and threw stones in the water. Then we all went to a nice dinner at a fish restaurant. Super fun trip with my super fun family.



Perast, the small town where we boarded the boat

Family Vacation: Kotor, Montenegro, Day 1

This weekend is a holiday weekend in Bosnia, so we hopped in the car for a road trip to Montenegro. What a beautiful country! We are visiting Kotor located on Kotor Bay. We arrived last night and took a quick walk around town before grabbing pizza for dinner and calling it an early night. This morning we hiked up to a fortress on the top of the mountain behind the town of Kotor. Needless to say, we needed naps this afternoon. Then we headed out to stroll along the water before dinner.

Goodbye, Bosnia

Hello, Montenegro







Made it to the top!


All that hiking will really wear you out.




At the local market




Look carefully and you can see the flag at the top behind the city. We all made it all the way up!