Laowai

Mom and Jennifer and I have been looking through old slides and scanning the best ones. We sorted through photos from 1960 to 1993 and it was interesting to see photos of dad’s reflector oven pop up over and over. It got me thinking about how something can be so pleasing that you want to capture it and you never grow tired of it. Things like a vase of flowers on my window sill. Or photos of a batch of cookies or bread fresh out of the oven. I never get tired of the exact same scene year after year. We also saw so many photos of fish – dad would take a picture and then put it back in the water. They seem to be all the same but when you think of them taken over years and years it makes a meaningful collection.

Dad would bring the reflector oven when we cooked a meal over a fire. He was always very enthusiastic about it. I have great memories of the biscuits that we would make or sometimes we would put crescent rolls in the oven. I suspect dad made the reflector oven when he was a boy scout – it starts out flat and you slot it together with little bits of match sticks.

My girls and I have been going here and there and everywhere – seeing friends and family and enjoying USA summer.

Mabel’s mom planned a trip to the most kitschy charming mini golf place.

Then we had to say good-bye and we drove to Michigan. Chicago traffic lived up to expectations.

Bea made a new friend.

Soon after we got to Midland we drove up to Tawas to spend some time on Jennifer’s new boat.

The boat was great! So pretty and cozy and fun! Jennifer gave Bea and I the best sleeping spot. We got to sleep in the bow of the boat with the fresh air coming in the hatch above us all night – it was wonderful.

It was rainy when we arrived but then it cleared up and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

All of America is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing this summer so we just had to buy the special edition Oreos.

There was a massive hatch of Mayflies in Tawas and it traumatized some of our group having to walk over the crunchy insects. They were inches deep on some areas of the dock! They were everywhere! 

Jenna and Claire played cards.

Bea sewed some bitty food characters.

There was a lot of giggling with the pool noodles.

Here’s a photo of the inside of the Tawas Bay Yacht Club. Such a nice place to stay. There were friendly faces and friendly dogs all around.

And then we got to go sailing – Jennifer’s friend Rob treated us to a ride on his boat.

Jennifer is a good sailing teacher. There’s Bea hoisting the main sail.

Oh Michigan you really are beautiful!

Back on land – Bea made another friend.

When you go to Tawas in the summer you must get ice cream at Marion’s.

Bye-bye Tawas.

Brian sent me photos at intervals today – it was to reassure me that he was safe and hadn’t fallen off the side of a mountain. I’m only half joking.

Today was his birthday and he got to take himself on a much deserved bike ride. He went far and he went high! I think about him while he’e out there on his bike. I’m happy that he’s getting to do what he loves but I do worry.

Happy Birthday love – we’ll tell you that in person as soon as you get yourself to Michigan.

Claire and I had a really nice walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden. We strolled around in the middle of the hot day and it was beautiful and inspiring for my garden mind.

Summer is rolling along. Before we left for the US Bea and I got to go on a tour of the Zurich Airport. Bea’s friend Brady invited us for his birthday. He is super geeky about planes (I mean that in the best way) and it was fun watching him talk with the tour guide about all the plane details.

We got to see an Airbus A380 up close and then we watched it take off while standing in the middle of the runways. The A380 is the biggest passenger plane right now – I think it holds almost 500 passengers! The tour was very cool.

We said good-bye to Brian for a few weeks (sad face). Here he is with the girls – he took them for an outing while I packed and did some housework.

This picture sums up summer. We’ve been doing so much swimming. I don’t even put the beach towels away – they sit in a pile ready to go.

Here we are heading to the airport with Mabel and her family. 

And then the next morning the girls and I were up at a crazy hour so we got doughnuts and went to watch the sunrise at Lake Michigan.

When you get up at 3:30 am you get a lot done before 9:00 am. For example – you can weed the giant jungle that is your front yard. Look at that pile of weeds! 

We’re getting over our jet lag drama now and enjoying our time in Wilmette. I have so many feelings when I come back to our house… but we’ll talk about that later. Sigh.

I’m so happy that I got to see a bit of Croatia. We have Mabel and her family to thank because they chose Croatia and the town of Omis as their vacation destination and we followed along. Omis was lovely. It’s a bustling little town that is flooded with people looking to enjoy the beach. Plus it has a charming old town area and a unique river canyon that comes down from the mountains. The photo below is the path that took us between our apartment and the beach.

Here are a couple photos of the historic part of the town.

Saltwater sandals love – photobombed by Bea and her flip-flops.

When I hear the word Croatia I think of war – at least before this trip that’s what I thought. I tried to educate myself on the Balkans war and how Yugoslavia was broken up but honestly it is quite confusing. There is a war memorial near the beach in Omis and it is shocking to see the names of men who were born in the 1970s and died in the early 1990s. There were fresh flowers floating at the edge of the water that surrounded the memorial.

Claire and Brian and I took a hike to a fortress up on a rocky hill one morning. When we started off it was shady and cool but soon we were very hot and sweaty.

The Starigrad fortress was built in the 15th century.

There’s the main beach of Omis below.

Heading down – I liked this hike but I’ve never been so hot in my life.

Omis has a lore of being a town of pirates. They would go out to sea to steal from big boats and then retreat back into a the river canyon. We went for a fun boat ride up into the canyon one day.

I was too busy taking pictures of these beautiful girls – I guess I forgot to get a shot of the pretty scenery.

The next day we went to the city of Split. We wanted to see the amazingly preserved Diocletian’s Palace. Diocletian was a Roman Emperor and he built the palace as a retirement home. Today the palace is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s busy with tourists and it’s a little town area where a small number of families live.

The palace’s latest claim to fame is that it is one of the places where Game of Thrones was filmed. Mabel’s mom, Danea, was geeked out about the Game of Thrones connection. She said she felt like she had been there before. 

After the palace we tried to get a little relief from the heat at a park above the city. It was a beautiful park but I’m not sure it cooled us off. I feel like I complained about the heat just about every minute of this trip except when I was swimming.

There’s our group below. What a treat it was to travel with them. Every night when it started to cool down (slightly) we shared a delicious meal. I looked around and loved seeing the girls laughing and being goofy. 

Thanks Croatia – Your towns are beautiful, your water is cool and blue, your people are kind and helpful and your gelato is yummy.

Look at the cute clothespin holder I found at my grocery store!

We just got back from four days in Croatia. In the spirit of my recent favorite podcast, I give it a 4 out of 5. Basically it was fantastic and it was hot! But before I get into all the Croatian goodness I have to catch up on posting a few more summer photos.

It really warmed up here – I mean unseasonably warm. Since we don’t have air conditioning we really feel we have no choice but to go and spend a good chunk of our days swimming. Yes, I realize, the husband and other wage earners don’t have that choice to make. Anyway, part way through that heat wave Bea’s best bud, Mabel, came to visit with her parents. And so we took them swimming and showed them all about Swiss badis. I’ve got my beach bag packing routine down and it’s only just the beginning of July.

I have such fun watching Claire and her friends doing their thing at the badi. They lay out their towels and talk in the shade and later when they get hungry they run over to me (dripping) and ask for money for fries and chicken nuggets or for ice cream. They are independent and care-free. And seeing them run and leap into the water, it just puts a big smile on my face. 

On one of the nights that Mabel stayed with us I suggested a water gun fight to cool off before bed. It eventually devolved into them pouring buckets of water over each others heads. 

There’s Mabel and her family on the water trampoline with my girls. So fun!