Croatia Day 2: Slunj, Caves of Barac, and Rastoke

    Our second day in Croatia was pretty relaxed. While we were planning our day the previous night we realized the two places we wanted to visit were a 2 hour drive from our hotel. Since we had driven so much the first day and were driving to Slovenia the next day, we decided to skip them and just take it easy. We slept in until about 7:45, when Connor woke us up.

 The outside of our cute hotel. The owners lived on the first two floors and we {along with two other families} stayed on the third floor. Our apartment was spacious and included a private kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom, and bedroom. Way bigger than we needed, but the price was really good.

Croatia Day 1: Plitvice National Park

   This past Labor Day weekend Aaron, Connor, and I took a road trip to Croatia and Slovania. There was a lot of driving and so much traffic that we ran into, but we had such a great time exploring these two beautiful countries. 

   Our first day was Friday {9/2}. We woke up and left the house at 7, 30 minutes later then we planned. Not horrible, but still later than we hoped. The drive was only supposed to take us 5 1/2 hours, but ended up taking us 8 hours because of multiple unplanned stops and the GPS getting us lost. It was really the GPS's fault because we kept loosing signal on our phones and anytime we came out of a tunnel it would go crazy and take forever to reconnect. It made us so mad, and when we eventually got it to work, it took us the longest route possible.

    If the drive wasn't bad enough, just getting the money needed for parking proved to be a challenge. We didn't take any euros out before our trip because we planned on using our Italian debit card to pull the local currency {Kuna} out from their ATM's, but they didn't have any on site. We either had to walk to their hotel {we weren't sure where it was and it would cause is to backtrack once we got it} or find some in my car. We chose to find money in my car because it was closer. Aaron went and came back with 3 euros thinking it would be exchanged for enough Kuna, but I read a sign that had the amount needed for parking and told him it wasn't enough. So then I went to my car while Aaron and Connor stayed back and luckily found us enough. After 45 minutes of figuring all that out, we finally were able to go to the park.

    Plitvice National Park is a UNESCO world heritage site and the largest and oldest national park in Croatia. What makes it so beautiful are the 16 interconnected lakes that create waterfalls throughout the park. The color of the lakes changes often based on the minerals and organisms present in the water and the direction of sunlight. There are multiple paths to follow, but since we arrived later in the day we stuck to path H {one of he shortest paths}. A shuttle dropped us off at the beginning of the H path and we followed the wooden path downward towards the entrance we parked closest to.

 The start of our "nature walk." Connor kept telling us he loved going on a nature walk and he had never been on one before.

3 More Years

    That's how much longer we will continue to be a military family. When Aaron first joined the Army I was really nervous, but now I can say it has been such a great thing for our family. It has brought us so many opportunities and allowed us to travel to places we never would have dreamed to visit. {We have visited 13 countries and are going to add two more to that list this weekend.} It has also allowed me to take a break from nursing and stay home with Connor. I have been able to see him reach every milestone along the way and watch him grow over the last three years.

      About a month ago Aaron signed a contract to continue serving in the Army for three more years with the promise that Fort Hood will be his next duty station. When he is close to finishing up these next three years, he can decide whether he wants to commit another year or two. I just realized that I never posted the pictures we took that evening to celebrate another three years in and our move to Texas, so here they are!

Connor's First Soccer Practice

    This afternoon Connor had his first ever soccer practice. He has been so excited to play ever since we told him he was going to be on a team with his friend Noah. He said, "We're going to be the best ones." Haha! 

    When we arrived, the assistant coach greeted us and immediately gave Connor a ball to practice with. Connor went right out on the field and caught on really quickly. Aaron even overheard the assistant coach telling one of the other teams coaches that they were going to have to watch out for him.

 

Sunday Market

   Last Sunday we went to the market in Camisano Vicentino for the first time. We have been to other markets before, but this one was huge! There were all sorts of vendors. Some sold clothes, shoes, and home decor, and others sold fruits, veggies, hot food, and candy. Aaron and I decided we are going to go weekly to buy our produce and fresh flowers because it's so cheap.