Lake Bled

You know it's bad when it's almost the end of August and you're still getting caught up on things from July! Oh well, I've been busy I guess. So here is the last post from when the family was here in July. We took an overnight trip to Lake Bled in Slovenia, and it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been...who would have thought! We stayed at a great hotel (it's in the background of the first picture) right on the lake and did some great hiking and exploring of the area.

So, here's me and Mom on a boat ride on the lake. That's our hotel behind us, and Uncle Bert is rowing the boat:)



Here's one with Claire...Bert's now rowing and being the photographer...who knew he was to talented. You can see the castle in the background too.



We went up to the Castle, and wandered around. The Castle itself was pretty small with not a lot going on, but the views were amazing. Here's Mom and me at our lunch spot overlooking the lake and the tiny little island with the monistary on it.







This is the view from our hotel. The next morning when we woke up it was cloudy and rainy...but it made for some awesome pictures of the Castle.



We also went hiking through a gorge nearby. It was very narrow in places, and the water was beautiful! There were a lot of people there, but it was still a really nice walk, here are some shots along the path...







On our boat ride in the late afternoon sun...it doesn't get much better than this...I will be coming back to this place!

Staying Cool in July!

July in Italy was hot...really hot! Without AC we were all looking for something to do to get out of the house and stay cool....well we founds "the river". About 20 minutes from the house is Lake Barcis (I posted some stuff about it earlier) and just north of the lake (feeding into it actually) is this amazing river! Mom was so hot she decided she would earn her adventure club badge and jump right in with her clothes on...it seemed like a good idea to me, so I followed suit! Here are some shots from the afternoon of river time...

Mom and I enjoying to water by the waterfall...we climbed up the rocks too...very daring for Mom:)



Before we got into the river we wondered around in this little town called Cimolias. It was a really cute little town with great views of the mountains! Here's Mom and I in front of one of the little churches...we're really on the hunt for good gelato:)



Another shot from the little town...I know we live close to the mountains, but I would LOVE to live that close, it was amazingly beautiful!



OK, back in the river...see I told you Mom climbed on the rocks! It was so great, we will be going back here evety summer from now on!



A different area on the same river...this spot was further up and on the "main" river rather than a branch, so the water was way cold! Gorgeous, but cold! (you can tell by the color).



Mom working hard in one of her first days of retirment;)

Lake Garda

So, I know I'm still way behind, but it takes so long to upload pictures on this internet! Another adventure we took with Steph's family was the Lake Garda to a little town called Sirmione. It's a small little town right out in the middle of Lake Garda (about 2 hours to our west). There was a castel literally on the water, and some 2000 year old Roman ruins...here are some photos...

So this first one may look random, but there is a point to it. The entire trip we have been making fun of the Moms for wanted to have a fanny pack to carry all their stuff in. Stephanie and I tried to convince them that was totally un-cool, and no one is actually wearing those anymore. Well, then these two chics walk by. They are in bikini tops, shorts with "dance fitness" written on the butt, and FANNY PACKS! We had to take a picture. We had also just stopped by the fresh fruit stand where you can get all kinds of fresh cut fruit for like 2 euro.



Here is me and Mom in front of one of the old windows in the ruins. It is built right on the water and at one point was a huge Villa for some ancient family (I really should try to read more of those signs...)



In honor of the Ancient Romans Stephanie decided that we should be dead Roman warriors...so here we are being teatrical on some old columns:)



You could climb all the way to the top of the tower in the castel...so of course we did. Here is a shot of Stephanie and me looking out over the city from the top of the castel tower.



We also took a boat ride around the city, so this is a view of the castel from our boat...it is really on the water! I think they would have parked their boats in that space originally. There was also a real drawbridge that we went under in the boat too!



This town also had the best gelato I have tasted to date...and I've done a lot of research! They even had the big waffle cones dipped in chocolate with sprinkles..you can't beat that!

Verona

Also with Stephanie and her family we went to Verona. It's about 2-3 hours from the house and was a really cool city! Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona and there is also an amazing colliseum where they still have Opera in the summer. Here is Mom and I on a bridge with the old city behind us. It's very cool the city has an old sections that is seperated by the river. It was about a million degrees that day though, so we are all really hot...



They still have "Juliet's balcony" that you can do see, and you can leave a letter to Juliet for love advice on the wall. I was really suprised that this area was really just a tiny little courtyard. I guess I thought it would be in a bigger area, but it was still cool to see.



Later that night we actually went to one of the Operas at the coliseum. It was so cool to be in an arena that old, and think about how it would have been back in Roman times. We sat up on the marble steps just like they would have in ancient times and watched Madame Butterfly. And, just like ancient times, my butt was killing me at the end...that marble is really hard!



The floor of the coliseum was split between the set for the Opera and more setting, we also had fun watching the fashion show of spectators with our binoculars. It was way to hot for sequins in my opinion, but there were some people doing it! There were also 5 harps set up in the orchestra pit...seriously, who needs 5 harps!?



Here is one of the scenes from the Opera. Basically it's about an American sailor who comes to Japan. He marries this woman, then leaves and comes back like 5 years later, but with another wife. She was secretly pregnant with his child when he left, so there is a little kid involved. She eventually kills herself because he's going to stay with his current wife...and he takes the kid. That's the Opera in nutshell:)

Local days with the VanDuynhovens

This summer has already flown by. I've been so busy this past month that I haven't really had a chance to update from all the travels we have been doing, so here's a start. My sister-in-law's family came out at the end of June for some Italian touring. We did so many great things, and I got to do a lot of day trips that were new to me, so that was really nice. Here are some pictures from around the local area and at Caorle beach (about an hour from the house). We wend to a great seafood place on the beach, and seeing as the menu is translated (sometimes not very well) Stephanie wanted to know what kind of fish she would be getting. The waitress didn't know the name in english, so she thought it would be easiest for all involved to just bring us the fish they planned on cooking for us to take a look at it. The staff at the restuarant was so great, they humored all our questions:)



We stayed one night down at the beach in a great hotel. This place was amazing. It's like you've been brought back to a hotel from the 60s the way they have it all decorated...it's hard to explain, but it was a great place. Stephanie and I loved the beach chairs in Italy. They all recline and have this awesome sun visor so you don't have the sun right in your face the whole time. I took a quality nap in this chair soon after this photo:)



We also saw some of the local sites right around the house. Here are all the girls at the Castello di Polcenigo. It is a cool little castel (more like a large estate) about 10 minutes from the house. You just walk around the ruins and look at some great views of the town.



We also went up to Lake Barcis. We started at the lake with a picnic lunch and then went on a hike along the ridgeline to check out the views. I got in serious truoble for telling all the parents that the hike was flat...in my mind it was flat...but I guess my scale might be a little different:) They forgave me though, I told them they can all have a star next to the "Adventure club hiking badge". Here are "the kids" at the last view point on the hike; Stephanie (my sister-in-law, in the middle) Amanda, (her sister) and me. I love the background of this picture. You can see the bright blue of the lake, but you can see that it's perched high up, almost on a cliff. It was really cool! Alright, more of our time with the VDHs to come...

Plums are better from your own tree

We have been waiting all summer to figure out what is growing on the tree in front of our house, and the other day we finally found out...they are plums! And, they are delicous!

The tree is really huge, so we got more than we could eat. Next year I'll do better with coming up with good recipes to use them all up, but not know what I was going to get I was caught a little off guard.

Here's me with the first of many bowls from the tree...no matter what I did this one would not turn the right way...so just turn your head. Ignore the fact that I'm filthy dirty, I just got finished mowing the yard...



You can see how big the tree is...we are going to have to pick some from the upstairs windows!

Mom's "Memorial" Garden

Mom and I have finally finished another project. Mom wanted to make the courtyard off our kitchen a nice garden area to sit when it's really hot. We have another patio off the side of the house, but the courtyard is about 10 degrees cooler, and always seems to have a good breeze. Mom decided that we should put up a plaque and call this area the Sherri Smith Memorial Garden. I pointed out that I'm pretty sure you cannot have a memorial garden unless you're dead. Mom thought that after all this work we've been doing she might actually be dead soon! :)

So here is what the courtyard looked like before we started working on it...Rocky likes to get in all the pictures:)



We found some great chairs...they only took us an entire day to assemble, and then we went crazy at the plant store. We put all the window boxes in, and weeded and planted the bed against the wall. We also put up the hanging baskets, but thankfully someone had already drilled the hooks into the wall for us...we don't have a very good history with drilling into concrete if you remember:) So, here it is, the finished "Sherri Smith Memorial Garden"...although we're still working on getting that plaque;)