Slovenia

This past week was half term week (February vacation week) for the girls' school and our friends, Beanie and Guy, invited us back to their home in Slovenia for the week.  I was very excited to go to Slovenia again as we only stayed there briefly last summer.  I really liked Slovenia last summer and I would have listed it as one of the top places we have visited while in Europe.  This trip confirmed to me how much I love Slovenia and that it is absolutely beautiful.  While it is hard to say that there is one place in Europe that is my favorite since it is hard to compare cities to countrysides and every place offers something different, I would have to put Slovenia at the top.  Slovenia is so peaceful with huge mountains and big cliffs which run down to emerald green rivers.  In the winter you can ski and in the summer there are a lot of different activities on the rivers.  Drive forty five minutes and you can see a completely different side of Slovenia...the wine country that borders Italy with its rolling hills and row upon row of grapevines and views out to the sea.  When you want a little more Italian you can pop over the border into Italy for excellent food, cappucino, and nice shops to stock up on your olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We started our trip off at 8am so that we would have enough time to catch the car train through the mountains.  There was very little traffic until we were north of Munich and then it was stop and go traffic.  Fortunately our friends had their GPS (as did we) and we followed our friends off the highway and took back roads around the traffic.  We made it to the car train in Slovenia in eight and a half hours which gave us about twenty minutes to spare before the train.  We were the first ones to drive onto the train which was fun.  This time we also managed to get the train that went all the way to the village of Most na Soci so we were able to unbuckle and be silly in the car for forty-five minutes.  We danced and were silly going through the dark tunnels and enjoyed the views of the mountains when we were not in the tunnels.  The car train is an experience I am glad we did not miss.

After the long drive on Saturday we took it easy on Sunday and relaxed in the morning.  We decided to go to the Slovenian wine country bordering Italy for lunch.  It was a forty-five minute drive through windy mountain roads into the wine area.  Once we were in the wine area I was surprised at how different it was from in the mountains and how much it looked like Italy.  Unfortunately we were there off season so the two places we stopped to buy Slovenian wine were closed but we did go to a fantastic restaurant, Hiša Marica, in the village of Šmartno.  The food was delicious!  We started off with home made prosciutto, cheese, and salami with bread followed by gnocchi with bolognese for Jason, gnocchi with olive oil and Parmesan for the kids and mushroom risotto for me.  I only ate half my risotto since Ali really liked it so I traded half way through for her gnocchi.  Lunch wouldn't be complete without dessert so the kids had crepes with Nutella and the adults all had panna cotta with a coffee sauce.  We all left there very full and satisfied!  After lunch we climbed a tower to have a view over the countryside out to the sea.  The day was very overcast so it was difficult to see the sea near Venice but we were just able to make it out in the distance.  I can imagine it must be beautiful on a clear day.

After a day of relaxing we decided it was time to hit the slopes.  We headed to the ski mountain, Cerkno.  The mountain was about forty minutes from the house so we headed out at about 8:30 in the morning so that we could get the kids rentals and lessons taken care of so skiing could start by 10:00.  The interesting thing about skiing in Slovenia is that the rentals, lessons and bunny slopes are all at the top of the mountain.  Instead of parking at the bottom of the mountain and taking a lift up we drove to the top of the mountain every day.  It was a little stressful the first day driving up/down but once we did it and knew it was not really slippery we were fine with the drive.  Parking near the top and walking up one final steep road was preferable and easier with the kids.  The first day of skiing the kids (Sofia, Ali, Daisy and Bella) did great.  They had to get their ski legs under them and we hired an instructor, Kaya, who the girls really liked.  We met the kids at the end of their two hour lesson and Kaya said they did great but maybe Ali should be in a separate group b/c she is so young.  We just nodded and kept skiing with the kids for another run.  Ali was definitely tired and seemed slower than the other kids.  The second day of lessons we decided we would let Ali ski with the group for the first hour of lessons and then I would take her for the second hour.  We went back to the meeting point after an hour but the kids were there yet.  We gave Kaya a call and she said that Ali was doing great and was keeping up with everyone so we left Ali in the group.  We met up with the kids at the end of their lessons and decided to take them off the bunny slope.  Sofia, Daisy and Bella did great off the bunny slope.  Sofia was going very fast which made me a bit nervous so I made her slow down but she was having a blast.  Ali was very afraid of the bigger hill which was not surprising as it was quite steep.  I ended up staying with her and letting everyone continue on.  We eventually made it down the mountain and took the lift back up and then took another run down the bunny hill to boost her confidence.  After a good day of skiing we headed down the mountain and to the local town to Shock Bar for some hot chocolate.  Guy had told us the hot chocolate was very thick and he wasn't kidding.  It resembled Jello Chocolate pudding more than hot chocolate but it was still delicious!

On the way home from the mountain Guy pulled off the main road and we followed to an unknown destination.  This is the great thing with traveling with other people.  You get to share an experience you might not have stopped to see otherwise.  The turn led us to the Franja Partisan Hospital.  It is a hospital built into a gorge during World War II.  Most of the site was closed to reconstruction since it was damaged in the 2007 flooding but it was fascinating to see a small part of it.  To think that people risked their lives to help the injured and did it so brilliantly.  The gorge is so hidden in the woods and so deep that you would never think it possible to run a hospital there.  The people who worked there had to blindfold the injured and wade through the river up stream to bring the injured to the hospital.

After two days of skiing we took a day off to give the kids a break.  Our friend had a meeting in the morning as well so it was the perfect day to take a break.  After our friend got back from his meeting we headed to Italy for lunch and a bit of shopping.  We went to the small village of  Cividale del Friuli.  We walked down a typical Italian village road into an open square and went to a Pizzeria for lunch.  The Pizza was, of course, fantastic and the cappuccino was delicious.  After lunch we walked across the square for gelato.  It was too cold for me to eat gelato but the kids were very excited.  Ali looked at me in awe and said, "ice cream in the winter?!" since I always tell them we don't eat ice cream in the winter because it is too cold.  As usual we asked for very small cones but got very big scoops anyway.  The kids were happy!  We snapped a few pictures in the square and then walked through the village a bit waiting for the shops to open again at 3:30 (the Italian siesta).  We walked down to a Devil's Bridge and looked over the side down to the pretty river and the houses along the side of the river. 

We headed back towards the pizzeria to go to my friend, Beanie's, favorite shop for balsamic vinegar.  I can see why it is her favorite.  The man in the shop is incredibly friendly and clearly loves what he does.  We tasted different balsamics and olive oils as well as wine, whisky and chocolate.  Of course he is also a salesman so we bought a lot of stuff but while I think he has to sell it he also finds great joy in sharing his goods with people.  We are now fully stocked with five bottles of balsamic (3 different kinds) and two different kinds of olive oil.  Good balsamic is delicious and is usually expensive so any savings is great and this shop had good prices...savings from $10 -$15 a bottle.

After a day of relaxing and shopping it was time to ski again.  We decided to try out a different mountain for skiing.  The terrain on the mountain looked good and it had the added benefit that we could ski from Slovenia into Italy which would just be fun to do.  We got to the mountain and took the Gondola up to the skiing which was a very long gondola ride.  We got to the top and booked the lessons for the girls.  We only had three kids with us for skiing since Daisy came down with a cold.  She didn't miss out on anything.  The skiing at Kanin was not ideal.  The ride on the Gondola was long.  We booked the kids ski lesson and then took them out on the slopes since there lesson wasn't for another hour.  We started on the pommel.  It was the first time Sofia and Ali have been on a pommel and they did well.  We got to the top of the hill and got off the pommel but the wind was so strong that I was holding onto Ali and we got whipped around and I had to throw all my weight into my edges to stop us.  The lift over to the Italian side was closed because of the wind so that really left one trail that we could ski with the kids.  The trail would have been good except as we were coming to the end of the trail we realized it went back up hill!  Thankfully we only had three children so each adult could take one child and pull them up the hill on skis....a heck of a workout for the adults!  We took the kids down the little nursery slope with the pommel a couple times and called it a day.  The ski rental wasn't open until 3pm so we ended up going down into the town and having lunch until it was time to return the skis.  At least the ski rental place was in the town so we didn't have to go back up the mountain.  The only upside of Kanin was the views which were amazing!

After a not so great day of skiing at Kanin we brought the kids back to Cerkno for the final day of skiing.  We signed them up for an hour lesson with Tomas since Kaya wasn't available and then skied with them after their lesson.  They did great.  They were going down the intermediate slopes without a problem.  Everyone had a great final day of skiing since they skied well and the weather was fantastic.  A perfect end to a great week.  We headed back home yesterday but went via Linz, Austria instead of Munich to avoid the traffic.  We had no traffic and made it home in just over eight hours.  An excellent holiday with great friends in a beautiful country....we can't ask for more than that!

Click HERE for the rest of the pictures from our trip.

School Projects

Today I went into the girls school since they both had projects to present to the parents.  Sofia's class have been spending time building houses.  Each child built there own house which they designed and constructed on their own.  It was interesting to see what each child came up with.  Sofia had a great house and what I loved the most is it had a tunnel in side it that would shoot you up to the roof where you could then walk to the diving board and jump into the pool!  Quite an imagination..maybe I should build that into our next home or maybe I should make sure if we ever have a pool again that it is not close enough to the house for jumping!



In the afternoon I went back to the school for Ali's class presentation.  All the children in Ali's class had been making puppets.  They each chose what they wanted to make and drew it on paper.  They had to cut out the design and sew it together and then glue on any necessary pieces.  The children were then put into pairs and they had to give puppet shows.  Ali was paired up with her friend, Max.  Ali had a fish and Max had a jellyfish.  Their puppetshow was very cute.  It is hard to hear Ali but she does say a few things.



Tangled

Last weekend Jason worked on Saturday so the girls and I had lunch at Cafe Giraffe followed by going to the movies to see Tangled.  The kids school had a private showing of Tangled at the cinema in town and since Jason was working I decided to make a day of it.  Lunch at Cafe Giraffe means salad for me but Crepes for the girls along with fresh lemonade.  They are pretty consistent with their choices.  Sofia usually gets nutells and banana and Ali usually gets strawberries and vanilla ice cream and this time was no different.  I have to cut their crepes for them and I always charge for my cutting abilities and take a bite of each of their crepes.  My salad is very good as well but it is not nearly as yummy as a crepe!  After lunch we drove in to town for the movie.  The girls were excited to see their friends and I very quickly found myself sitting alone!  Sofia was across the aisle and down a row with her friends and Ali was up a row behind me with her friends.  I had to smile that my girls are growing up but then I had to frown becuase I realized it meant I had no popcorn for the movie since the girls had taken their popcorns with them to their seats!  I kept turning around and checking on Ali but I don't think her eyes looked toward me once.  She was perfectly happy watching the movie with her best friend Cianna.  Thankfully Tangled is a movie even an adult can enjoy!

Valentine's Party

Last Friday my friend Emily invited us over so the kids could have a Valentine's day party.  I did not tell the kids it was for valentine's day but just that we were going to Emily's so that there was no expectations.  The kids were so excited to go to Emily's since it meant playing with their friends Annalee and Oliver.  They were even more excited when I told them their friend, Kiera, might be there as well. They get so excited to see these friends since they do not get to see them every day because they go to different schools.  Since Emily and I had decided in the beginning of the week to get together on Friday and I told the kids they kept asking me the question, "How many sleeps until we see Annalee?"  You would think we were going on some grand holiday and not going a quarter mile from our house.  I did nothing for the party but Emily and my friend Kirsty really went all out.  The kids had valentines crafts to do, candy to eat and cupcakes to decorate.  The kids also each got two roses to take home!  It was a great way for the kids to celebrate Valentine's and since the kids are so happy to be together it meant that my friends and I had time to chat which is always nice.

Legos

The girls have been enjoying their legos.  They still need help with building things and figuring out how it all goes together but fortunately for them Jason also seems to have fun playing with legos.  After winning the two lego things from Burns night the girls were eager to put them together.  Sofia really enjoys putting things together and it is funny to watch her "help" Ali or "include" her in the construction. Needless to say, Ali doesn't get to do much of the constructing but she seems ok with that for the most part.  The girls (and Jason) were so proud of their construction that Jason took a picture so here it is...

Disneyland - Paris

We decided the kids were at the perfect age to go to Disneyland.  Since we are in Europe that really means Disneyland - Paris.  The park opened at ten in the morning so we go there just after it opened. We made a pit stop at the Starbucks in Disney Village so that Jason and I could prepare ourselves for the whirlwind of Disney.  The kids were very excited.  It was definitely the perfect time to bring Sofia to Disney.  She could barely contain herself.  You could see all this happy emotion running through her as she tried to rush from place to place.  We slowed her down a bit but didn't want to dampen her spirits.  She talked a mile a minute in her excitement.  As we entered the park we saw Mickey and Minnie so we walked over to stand in line.  As we were debating whether to wait in line Princess Tiana  and Prince Naveen came outside.  The kids quickly forgot Mickey and Minnie and we ran over to take a picture with the princess and the prince.  Ali was shy and needed some coaxing and help from her big sister to have her picture taken but once she had Sofia's hand she was ready. 


Jason and Sofia on Dumbo's Flying Elephant



After seeing the prince and princess the kids were ready for some rides.  The great thing about going to Disney in February is that there are hardly any lines for all the attractions.  If there was a line it was max ten minute wait which was perfect.  Ali was a little scared by a couple of the rides because they were dark and had some spooky sounds but overall she had a great time as well. 

Ali staring in amazement on the "It's a Small World" ride

Sofia is on the cusp on not believing but Ali believes it all.  We went on the "It's a Small World" ride and the kids looked around them in amazement.  After we finished that ride Ali said "that was all real right mommy?" to which I replied, "of course!".  Such joy and innocence in our children just warms the heart. We went on many rides, headed up into the tree of the Swiss Family Robinson, walked across suspension bridges on adventure island and went in Sleeping Beauty's castle. 

As we were finishing exploring the Swiss Family Robinson tree house we stopped to have a look at the map.  As I was looking at the map there was a man with his face next to mine.  I screamed very loud since it really startled me.  It turned out to be Jack Sparrow! He was on his way to the area where he does his meet and greets.  After scaring me near to death I told him he owed me a picture.  He was nice enough and stopped for a picture so I didn't have to stand in line (which i wouldn't have done).  We all had a good laugh at how loud I screamed.

For all the expense of going to Disney it is worth it.  Disney runs the park so well.  There were a couple parades to watch during the day as well as a performance and then another bigger parade at the end of the day that had all the princesses.  It was a very fun day for all of us!



Paris

Jason and I had decided that we would spend a weekend in Paris without the kids.  We figured Paris wasn't the best city for children and it would be nice to expereince Paris as adults....relaxing in cafes, leisurely dinners, stroll along the champs-elysees.  It was not to be though.  Sofia came home from school one day and asked if we were ever going to go to Paris becuase she really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower.  Jason and I looked at each other and gave a very noncommital answer.  We hoped that it would be a passing request and she would forget about it.  She did not.  a couple weeks later she came home with a book she had made titled, "My Holiday Destination - Paris".  She was excited about what she had made and showed me inside the book....information on the eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, weather in Paris, distance from Prague etc...all information she had compiled herself!  With this book we knew our romantic weekend was over.  We could not go to Paris without Sofia knowing that she had such a desire to see the city.  So we changed our plans and booked the Marriot just outside of Paris near DisneyLand.  When we booked the hotel we checked our calendars first to make sure we had nothing scheduled.  After booking the hotel we realized that we had Burns night to attend!  So rather than leave on Saturday as planned we left on Sunday morning after a restful :) 4 hours of sleep! 

We managed the drive even though we were tired and the kids behaved great which helped.  The drive to Paris is very easy and all highway so we got there in nine hours even with a couple bathroom breaks.  The hotel was very nice but our room was very cold.  We had all the heat turned up but it wasn't warming the space up.  We figured it would take a while since it was a two bedroom townhouse so we turned the heat up and went to bed.  When we got up in the morning it was still cold so we called the front desk.  We had noticed there was a space in the patio doors so when the serviceman came to look at the heat we showed him.  He agreed it needed to be fixed but in the mean time we stuck a towel in the crack and he gave us two space heaters to keep the place warm.  It did the trick and the rooms warmed up nicely.  He had the patio doors open for a little bit when he was working on them which apparently attracted the local swan.  After he had closed the door and close the drapes as well to block any draft I kept hearing something knocking.  I finally walked over to the door to see what it was and there was the swan knocking on the glass.  The kids thought it was hilarious and kept putting their hands to the glass.  We didn't want the glass to break and did want the swan to leave so we eventually closed the drapes again and the swan finally decided we weren't going to feed him and left.

Since it was such a long drive on Sunday we decided to just stay at the hotel on Monday and relax.  We went in the pool and then the kids went to the kids club where they made chinese lanterns and colored and played on the climbing structure.  The woman running the club, Mimi, was great and the kids loved her.  We had heard there was good shopping close by so we headed over to check out the outlets and the mall.  Ali was the only one who ended up with anything.  She really wanted new sneakers so she got a new pair of Pumas.  She was very cute in the store and ran down the aisle showing us how fast she could go in the sneakers.  After the outlets we headed to the grocery store and stocked up on cheese and snacks and headed home.


We decided on Tuesday we would take the train into Paris for the day.  The city is so big that you could spend weeks exploring so we just picked out the must see items and headed to those.  The first stop on our trip was the Arc De Triomphe.  Sofia was very excited to see it.  It was cold though so after standing outside seeing it for a bit I decided we should pop into a cafe on the Champs-Elysees for coffee/hot chocolate and croissants.  We warmed up and I took a couple pictures of the kids in the cafe so that when they are older they can say "i sat in a cafe on the Champs-Elysees" and have a picture of it.  Who knows maybe they will sit in the same cafe in 20 years!  After warming up we walked a little bit on the Champs-Elysees and then decided we should go to the top of the Arc De Triomphe.  

On Top of the Arc De Triomphe with the Eiffel Tower in the background



I was relieved when the man asked us if we would prefer the elevator with the children rather than walk up the 284 stairs.  We readily accepted the offer.  The elevator took us up to the gift shop and then we had to finish the short climb to the top.  It was not a great day for viewing Paris as it was foggy but it was still fun to be up on top.  We could see all the roads coming off the round about that goes around the Arc de Triomphe as well as the Eiffel Tower. 

Watching the traffic on the round about was very funny.  It is such a mad house and there are no lanes on the road so it is a complete free for all.  We were all excited for our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower (Jason had already seen it on a previous trip to Paris but it was a first for the girls and me).  After spending time looking around the city from on there we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower. 

We headed back to the metro and over to the Eiffel Tower.  The activity lady at our hotel had told us which stop to get off to have an unobstructed view of the Tower and I'm glad she gave us that information.  It was great seeing it in full with nothing blocking our way and it gave Jason a different view of the Tower as well since when he last came to Paris he approached the Eiffel Tower from the opposite side.  We slowly made our way over to the Tower while snapping loads of pictures and we stood in line to buy our tickets.  We could only go to the second floor since they were doing some kind of renovation work on the top.  This turned out to be fine though since it was a foggy day I don't think we would have seen much from the very top.  I can't imagine coming to the Eiffel Tower in the summer when the crowds are so big.  It took us 20 minutes to get the elevator down from the second floor and I think we were probably there during the slowest time of the year!

Surprisingly after only seeing two sights it was time for lunch so we walked from the Eiffel Tower to a restaurant on the way to our next destination.  We found a small creperie and stopped for lunch.  The girls and I opted for the banana and chocolate crepe while Jason went for a little more substantial, ham, egg and cheese crepe.  After lunch we walked down Rue Cler and checked out some of the shops.  We could not pass up the cheese shop so we stopped in and bought more cheese.  It is hard to resist buying cheese when there are so many excellent options to choose from! 

Jason and I knew we would only have one more stop left to see since the girls were getting tired as were we.  We decided to head up to Montmartre to Sacre Coeur rather than Notre Dame.  It was suppose to have a great view of Paris as well as an artist community and it would make our return train ride faster and easier so we opted to go there.  Of course once we got there we had to take a potty break which also meant coffee/snack break so we sat in a cafe at the bottom of the hill looking up at Sacre Coeur.  After finishing our snack we took the funicular up the hill and turned to see the view of Paris but unfortunately the fog was there so we couldn't see much.  We headed into the church and then walked around the neighborhood a bit to see if there were any paintings we were interested in but given the time of year and the cold there were not many artist around.  Oh well, maybe on the next trip to Paris we will come when it is a bit warmer!

After a full day in Paris we headed back to the train to go to our hotel.  We didn't really see that much of Paris but it took an entire day to see what we did.  We didn't get back to our hotel until around 6PM.  We made dinner of bread and cheese and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Burn's Night

Last Saturday was the annual Burn's Night Supper put on by the kid's primary school.  This was our fourth year attending the dinner.  Last year I was on the Burn's Night committee and the night was huge success and I had fun but this year I decided to just kick back and enjoy the night without any stress of working the event.  It was funny not being involved in the event this year after being so deeply involved last year.  I didn't even buy our tickets until a few days before the dinner!  We were prepared for a fun night out though.  We had our babysitter sleep over so that we didn't have to worry about getting back late.  The kids love when Iva sleeps over!  We called a cab, picked up friends on the way and started our night.  The night always involves alcohol and it always involves scotch whiskey.  I have my obligatory sip of the whiskey but that is all I can manage.  While Jason and a lot of our friends enjoy the flavor of Whiskey, to me it just tastes awful and it is really only good as cough medine.  This year I missed what was said for most of the toast to the lassies since the accoustics in the hall were not that good and the man giving the toast had a very heavy scottish accent that takes most of my concentration to understand even when there isn't a lot of other noise around.  I had a Scottish friend sitting next to me and he did "translate" some of it so it was still funny.  After the toast to the lassies and laddies and the toast to the haggis we sat down to enjoy our meal.  This year the serving staff didn't ask you what you wanted but just put heaping portions of everything on the plates.  As I did not feel like having a bloated belly this year I skipped the haggis and ate the potatoes and neeps.  Neeps, as far as I can tell, seem to be made from turnips but there also seemed to be some carrots in with it but I could be wrong.  There were two raffles this year.  The first raffle was for the bottle of Whiskey on the table and the second raffle was for a bunch of different prizes.  Our table all just put equal amount of money into the Whiskey raffle envelope and the opened the bottle and shared it among the table.  The second raffle everyone bought tickets for to see if we would win anything from the list of prizes.  It seemed our table was a lucky table as most people sitting at our table won some prize.  We came home with two boxes of legos...a helicopter and the jeep and green army men from Toy Story.  Once the raffle was finished and the plates cleared the tables were moved aside to make room for dancing.  We had a lot of fun dancing the Scottish dances.  I danced one with a Scottish friend who knew what he was doing but i still think that particular dance is very difficult even when I'm being dragged along by someone with knowledge of the dance.  The last Scottish dance of the night (I think it is called the Highland Barn Dance) Jason and I danced together and we felt that we finally figured out one of the dances.  It has only taken us 4 years to figure it out!  It was a fun night and we finally called it quits and got home around 3am.  We were grateful that Iva slept over so that we didn't have to leave the party any sooner!