Istanbul or Bust! (or anywhere else we can get to on standby)

Dubrovnik-site of a major meltdown where imitating the pigeons saved us from being thrown off the wall

Throwing stones in Mostar

Slovenian Beehives-Slovenia was a gardener's mecca

Enamored with the garbage boats in Venice

I've been feeling some deep anxiety about our upcoming, fly standby, not yet packed in any way, trip to somewhere in Europe trip with our soon to be one year old and our three (going on seven) year old. I decided that instead of moving forward on any preparations, I should instead check out the photos of our last trip to remind myself of just what an amazing time we had when we took our little urchin on a European vacation for the first time. It is so worth all of the work that is involved in taking little ones abroad.

Some of the pictures did remind me of some major tantrums that were thrown, and I expect there will be more on this trip, but we've got a better idea of what to expect this time. For example, when the parents need a little down time, just give the toddler the keys to the room, prop them up on a stool and let them work away at the lock.


In many ways it feels so important to keep up the travel because it feels like who Brian and I were when we first met and really how we spent the first years of our lives together. Sometimes it feels like this is the fantasy life that we are faking our way through. That sounds super cheesy, but there is a shred of truth in there and I'm too brain tired to make it sound less so.

We are determined to keep travel an important part of our life and to make it so interwoven into the boys lives that they won't really know any different (insert menacing laughter).

So here we go!

FYI I finally finished the Rick Steves book and it was excellent. It reminded me of why we sacrifice other things to travel.

Hope you enjoyed the photos from our last trip.

Spring Time

It's been feeling like spring around here for quite some time (although today it's dark and stormy). Here a a few of my favorite pics from the last month or so. This week is also the chickens one year birthday. Happy Birthday chickens! Another sign of spring we've been enjoying is the return of prolific layers. We're back to six or seven eggs a day! Luckily we have several families now that are getting eggs from us on a biweekly basis. We've got another very important one year birthday just around the corner. I can hardly believe Eliot will be a year old already. Look for some photos of our birthday preparations soon.