Dubrovnik

 This weekend the kids and I and my Dad took an hour flight to southern Croatia and spent three days in Dubrovnik. This city is absolutely amazing and the kids had a ton of fun exploring the old town, city walls and forts. Adam loved the cannons and dungeons and Helen loved picking fresh oranges of the trees and chasing the kittens. They both liked hiking by the cliffs and climbing the old stair ways and rocks.  It was a too cold to swim in the Adriatic Sea but we could hang out by the beach and watch the fishermen.

  old town

 harbor

market

 citywalls

 view from hotel room

 Helen and Opa trying to pick oranges

 our hotel in the background

Venice, Italy

My friend Natalia, her daughter Ani, Helen and I drove to Italy for two days and spent a wonderful day in beautiful Venice. I took about 400 pictures with my real camera and deleted ALL of them while uploading to my computer. My heart physically hurt - I'm so upset. Now all I have is some random Instagram photos and a few pics my friend took on her phone. It was cold and foggy but even on a gloomy day the beauty of Venice blows me away. Haven't been to Venice in many years and it's just as amazing as I remember it. Helen and her little friend had so much fun walking the narrow streets and running over little bridges, watching boats and gondolas and people blowing them kisses left and right. Oh and the food and the shops and the people and the language... I have so much love for this city! Not so much for the 10$ Cappuccinos!