I have decided to try and blog (journal to us older folks) on a regular basis. I don't expect anyone to read this or care that I'm blogging but in the future I'll be able to look back and see how my days went.
Yesterday was a blah day. Hot once again... it has been in the high 90's and even up to 108 for over two weeks. Craig and I are on S4L again and that is going well but is difficult sometimes. I was hungry yesterday. I'm hungry again this morning for that matter. I'm getting ready for fee payment at work which is Monday and Tuesday. With the new $90 participation fee, people are coming out of the woodwork wanting waivers and such. Yesterday a man laid into me because I said the waivers aren't that easy to get. He cursed. I told him that I didn't appreciate getting cursed at and he apologized and then hung up on me. Fee payment is going to be fun this year. Came home and walked at lunch. Walked again in the evening and then did 30 upside down sit ups plus some planks. Craig was working on TMT so I went to bed early.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
JULY 16 - JULY 20, 2011 SLOVENIA TO GERMANY TO HOME
SATURDAY, JULY 16, 2011 – ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT CHRISTOPHER AND TRAVIS
The place where we were staying didn’t have air conditioning and it was warm enough outside that we needed to have the windows open. No big deal because there weren’t issues with flies but we did have issues with mosquitoes at night. Apparently lots of mosquitoes. By now, all of us had mosquito bites and poor Jordan’s face was covered with mosquito bites. Miserable to say the least. On a positive note, the bites did dry up within a couple of days.
The only way that the island with the church in the middle of the lake could be gotten to was via rowboat, either a larger boat that someone else rowed (think Venice type of paddle) which cost quite a bit or a rowboat that an individual could paddle. We decided to go with the smaller rowboat. T&B’s family went in one boat although Travis tried to put one kid with us because he thought his load would be heavier. Christopher got stuck with Craig and me. I think he was really glad that we told Travis that we would still have more weight, even with only 3 people. It took CB quite a while to get the hang of how to row and we were behind the Thompsons for the trip out to the island but on the way back we pulled way ahead. Only because Becky tried to row and was getting all kinds of advice from her entire family. I didn’t envy Becky “getting” to row.
The island was lovely. We got off the boats and walked to the top of the hill where the church was and could hear a choir singing ever so quietly in the church. Craig, CB and I paid the money to get into the church and just heard the tail end of the choir’s performance. Only it wasn’t really a performance. Apparently individuals and groups make pilgrimages to this church and this choir happened to be one of them. When they were done singing the individual performers were so moved that they were crying… men and women alike. There is also a bell pull in the middle of the church and legend has it that long ago a widow commissioned a bell to be placed in the church to memorialize her dead husband. As the bell was being brought over to the island a storm came up and capsized the boat and the bell hasn’t been seen since. A new bell was commissioned and it is said that if you ring it 3 times while praying to a saint (can’t remember which one) your wish will come true. CB rang it and then I did. I couldn’t decide on what to wish for! World peace?Too trite.To be thin?Too self-centered.Happiness?Again, too self-centered. After all of that and more ran through my head I decided to wish for God’s will. I guess it can’t get any better than that. Left there to walk around the island. At one point, we saw a middle aged man wandering around in a very skimpy speedo. Ewww… On a totally different note, something that struck me was how the water looked like it was lit from underneath. It was so surreal.
That afternoon we headed to the beach. We had a great time. It was a beach which was kind of a swimming pool/lake combination. A sloowwww waterslide that Brady enjoyed, several small “pools”, a diving board and lots of rafts to swim out to in the lake. The water was chilly but very, very, very clear. There were a couple of huge fish swimming in one of the pools which made me not want to get into that particular area. Travis jumped into that pool and scared them away… just for fun. As we were heading back to the car the ducks and swans came up to get some food. Travis and the kids were feeding them when Jordan got bitten by a swan. You would have thought the world ended. The rest of the trip when Travis saw the swan he would call it “Jordan’s nemesis”.
That evening we went to the restaurant recommended to us by a couple of locals. It was OK but not as good as the first night’s food. It was also more expensive. Our walk back to the car was fun though (it always was fun). CB put Taylor on his shoulders and they ran along. He got her to hold out her arms and legs so and he held out his arms so that they looked like a spider in the streetlight shadow. Our after dinner walks were great!
SUNDAY, JULY 17, 2011 – CANYONING AND RELAXING
The morning was our canyoning morning. Craig was originally going to go and we were going to split into two groups so that someone was always back at the apartment with Brady but Craig decided it was too much for him so he opted to hang out with Brady. The rest of us piled into a van and headed out. When we got to the location we had to put on wetsuits that covered all of our bodies… feet, legs, body, arms, even heads. Donned old tennis shoes that they had for us to wear, helmets and life vests.Then started the hike up the mountain to get to the top of the canyon. The hike was kinda hard (again I thought that I had gotten pretty much in shape but not so) and at one point we got to a fairly level point and our guide stopped to give us directions. He tarried until he noticed that I was breathing OK again and then headed out. I don’t think that anyone else noticed that he was waiting for me to get my breathing back to normal but I did… a good guide. On the way up the hill, Taylor dropped her helmet and we heard it rolling, rolling, rolling… that’s how high we were and how much on the edge of a drop off. I was nervous. At the top of the canyon we rappelled down for a ways. (Sidenote: I LOVE rappelling but hate heights… go figure!) From that point on we swam the very cold water, jumped off cliffs, rappelled down cliffs and slid down a waterfall. It was great! The kids were scared about rappelling but by the end they did much better. At one point we had to “on belay” to a horizontal rope and walk on a tiny rocks over to the rappel position. Truly the rocks weren’t ideal and it dropped straight down. I wasn’t scared of falling all the way (I trust the equipment) but I am always afraid that I’ll slip and won’t have enough strength to get back up to where I belong. I made it and rappelled down with no problems. While CB was waiting for me to rappel he hung off of the rope and let go with his hands. He told me later he was trying to show the kids that the equipment is totally trustworthy. Smart guy. At the end of the canyon we had to crawl out of the water onto the edge of a cliff, step over to our guide who then hooked us up to a zipline and we ziplined down. To each of us he said, “bye, bye” in his neat accent. It was cute. We all really, really enjoyed canyoning and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
That afternoon CB, Craig and I went up to the castle to look around. The Thompsons opted not to go in because it was expensive and, as I’ve said before, castles are better seen from a distance. However, Craig got some really nice pictures and we took a walk around the castle. It was nice to spend some time with just the 3 of us. We found the Thompsons eating ice cream by the lake. We sat down with them and had a relaxing time by the lake. The Thompsons decided to head to a playground but we stayed beside the lake to relax. CB went running and didn’t come back and didn’t come back so we decided to walk the path near the lake to see if we could find him. It was a beautiful walk beside the lake. We didn’t see him so decided to turn around and there he was running toward us. He had gone 1.25 times around the lake. He was pooped but I think proud that he had done it.
That night was fantastic pizza. Yumm. On the way back to the car CB and the kids had to try perping. That is Christopher's term for hanging onto a street sign and pushing yourself horizontal (a trick CB’s Spanish Dad, Luis, does). CB is getting better at it and intends to perp all over Europe. The kids couldn’t quite do it. It isn’t easy.
MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011 – GOODBYE SLOVENIA; HELLO AUSTRIA AND GERMANY
Left Bled around 9:00am or so. Drove straight to Munich where we stopped for lunch at an expensive but not good restaurant directly across from the Glockenspiel. Didn’t see the Glockenspiel operate though… don’t know why. Walked around Munich for a little bit but I just don’t think we are hitting the right part of the city because it didn’t intrigue nor impress. Drove on to Augsburg which is on the Romantic Road. I had wanted to drive the Romantic Road but we ran out of time so this was a compromise. At first we all thought that Augsburg was going to be a bust… the edge of town was really disappointing but once we made it to the city center it was very charming. Lots of old buildings with a university in the heart of it all and plazas with shopping all around. Very nice. Craig took a bunch of pictures, we tried a dessert which was terrible and then we headed on. Got to Travis and Becky’s in the late afternoon.
TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2011 – HANGING OUT AT TRAVIS AND BECKY’S
We went to the market with Becky and had coffee with her at the local coffee shop. I really wanted to try the cheesecake while in Germany because it is everywhere but I didn’t. They had some at the coffee shop and I should have gotten some. We had Doners for lunch… yummm. I helped the kids make some crafts. Taylor and I finished her butterfly mobiles and Jordan and I discussed how he could make a mobile for his room. They really enjoy crafts. That night Travis and Becky treated us to a steak dinner at the house. We originally were going to eat under the patio but it was raining so we changed our mind but Taylor really wanted to eat outside so I “sided” with her and we got our way. I’m glad that we did. The meal was delicious, the wine was good (Slovenian wine that we purchased as a gift for them) and the company was fun. At one point Travis said to Brady that they would have a contest to eat some kind of vegetable (can’t remember what) and that caused Brady to eat up with no problem. Good thinkin’ Trav!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2011 – HEADIN’ TO THE STATES
CB and I took Craig to the airport around 10:00am or so and then we headed back to the house to wait for my airport departure. All 3 adults surfed the internet, ate leftovers and just relaxed in each other’s company. At one point I was sitting on the couch with Brady and mentioned that I was leaving that day. He looked at me kinda sad like and crawled onto my lap and gave me big hugs and kisses. When it was time to leave both of the older kids gave me great hugs, thanked me for working on crafts with them and said that they would miss me. Brady couldn’t be pried from his DS although Becky insisted he give me a hug which was halfhearted at best. Oh well... we had our goodbye earlier. CB dropped me off at the airport where I wandered around kinda lonely and sad. Not too sad though… I almost cried once but got hold of myself and shook it off. Flew to Dublin where I stayed overnight in a part of town that the taxi driver recommended I not venture off alone in (Loy was in the States and Wil was busy trying to get around to go to the States) so I stayed in and went to bed early. Got to the airport in plenty of time the next morning because the plane was an hour late taking off. Got to Toronto where an agent had to run me and about 10 other people through customs and security in order to make our connection. Then home.
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