Bronzans On The Loose!

Author: Olivia (10) We have been doing so much these past few days in Croatia. The first day we went to a small town. We stayed there for a long time, then we went home to watch Croatia play in the world cup. They won against Iceland. It was fun to watch it in Croatia with family. The next day, we went to the Sokol tower. It was so awesome! The view was amazing! Another thing we went to was an old monastery that one of our ancestors is buried in. In the building there were 4 kittens that me and Luke played with. We also went for a walk near the buildings. The day after that, we went to a cemetery and saw a football field. After that for most of the day we hung around our house. We were a little bored so we went to a little town called Molunat  right by the water. We forgot our bathing suits so we could not get wet, but we did have a fun time watching the game and playing at the park. We even met a little dog that was wanting hugs. Today we had a fun time going to ...

Author:  Luke (7) In Croatia all the houses have orange roofs.  Half the time we have been here it has been hot and half kind of rainy.  There is a lot of green.  Plants and trees everywhere. We have seen a lot of churches.  We went to an old church that had little kittens running around.  They had their own room.  The room had a Christmas tree in it.  They were fighting and playing with each other. The food is different here.  There is so much seafood.  I told my Dad he can have only one meal with seafood per day. Today we climbed up an old stone wall.  It was really long. We have family in Croatia.  We are staying in the house next to their house.  They have a baby and there are two little girls up there. They have cats and kittens.  I like to feed the kittens.  In Cavtat we saw a pregnant cat. We have seen a few soccer fields.  I also got a Croatia jersey.  I got a Barcelona (Me...

Author: Tiffany (Mom) We have arrived in Croatia and it’s everything I remember.  The weather is a little rainy, but that’s ok because we had really hot weather in Spain.  The weather should get nicer next week and we plan on swimming then.  Today I woke up and had a great run (more on that on a different day).  We had a light rain all day so Brandon decided we should take a drive.  We went to a really great small town and had lunch and walked around, but I will let Brandon tell you more about that. Afterwards we decided to go to Fort Sokol, which we haven’t heard about and just saw it on a sign.  Wow!  To say it was amazing is not enough.  It was incredible.  It’s a natural fortress and castle that was built around 1373.  It was built into the mountains and the view was one I’ve never seen before.  You feel like you are on the top of the world.  The fort was an amazing part of history.  I think we saw 2 other familie...

Author:  Brandon (Dad) We made it in to Dubrovnik around 8:30 am on Monday, retrieved our luggage and headed over to the rental car area where our Opel Astra Wagon was out front and waiting for us.  The manager of the rental company, who I had been talking with via e-mail, is a good friend of our cousin Ivan, and is currently with Ivan in Russia following the Croatia team at the World Cup.  People are very excited about Croatia's early success at the World Cup, though they weren't too stressed about last night's game as the team had already advanced and they were playing a youthful lineup. Still got the 2-1 win over Iceland on a late goal! Sunday should be a lot of fun as the Croatian team plays Denmark in the knockout stage.  Back to our trip...  after greeting our cousin Mato at the house and having coffee with him, we pretty much laid around all Monday.  Even got in a little nap.  It had been a long day (3:30 am wakeup call), so we were due ...

Author:  Brandon (Dad) Like the first two stops on our trip, Barcelona was amazing and our time spent there was too short. What an amazing city. We spent hours and hours just walking the streets and alleyways of the Gothic Quarter, but even after four nights of doing so, we would still stumble upon sights we hadn’t encountered. Instead of long rambling sentences, I thought I’d just bullet point some highlights and observations from Barcelona…. · Every souvenir shop is exactly the same…and there are a lot of them. It is also a requirement that you display a child’s size Messi kit on the front door. · Many (most?) people who live in Barcelona don’t see themselves as Spanish. They identify themselves as Catalonian . We saw countless Catalonia flags hanging and more than a few demonstrations/marches. This is a bit similar to the feeling in San Sebastián, where they identify as Basque.   · Along major pathways you’ll see immigrants s...

Author: Olivia (10) Today is our last day in Spain. Last night there was a big celebration. There were fireworks and it was very noisy. It was like the 4th of July. In Barcelona the weather is very sunny. Is is around 80 degrees every day we have been here. My favorite part so far in Barcelona has been the stadium. Even though its the wrong team it still is very cool. We saw the field in the stands and there was a message on the other side. It said " What does mes que un club mean?" I will be honest I don't know what it means. The stadium was cool because they don't just have soccer they have Basketball, handball, roller hockey, hockey and ice skating, where you do it for fun. Yesterday we went to a place that was very pretty because there were flowers everywhere. It also had a awesome view where you could see the entire city. The food is not that different here at all. The only thing different is paella. That is it. We have been doing a lot of walking, ...

Author:  Brandon (Dad)/Livi & Luke It's about 10:30p on Saturday and the area around our flat is going crazy with fireworks, firecrackers, and what I'm pretty sure are WWII era bombs.  It's crazy out there and the kids can't get enough of it.  BOOM! (there goes another one).  Here's Luke and Livi with a bit of commentary....

Author:  Tiffany (Mom) Barcelona is a very big, very busy city.  We are staying in the middle of many, many alleyways that basically all look the same.  I was a little nervous about adventuring out to go running on my own, especially considering my recent track record.  After spending a few days here I thought I would give it a try.  I thought about following Lisa's advice and dropping breadcrumbs along the way for me, but decided that might not be the best course of action. I went running early because I was hoping to escape the crowds.  When I first got out there, La Rambla was pretty clear, with shops just opening up.  I went down to the water (turn left at the big Christopher Columbus statue, seriously, it's HUGE!) and ran where the really, really big expensive boats were.  It was a very peaceful run down there.  By the time I got back up to La Rambla, it was already very crowded. We did not make it to the library in San ...

Author:  Brandon (Dad) I'm writing this blog post right after the Croatia/Argentina game, so I'm on a bit of a football high. No blog posts for a bit... that must mean we've been busy.  After leaving San Sebastian on an early Wednesday morning train, we arrived in Barcelona in the early afternoon.  It was a very nice five hour train ride through the countryside in Northern Spain.  We found our way to our apartment, which sits in the Gothic Quarter.  It's a small place with a very lively neighborhood, about a quarter mile walk from La Rambla.  We spent most of Wednesday night wandering through the amazing alleyways of the district, popping in to a couple of bar/cafes to watch the World Cup matches.  La Rambla! With Spain playing a World Cup match, we didn't want to miss the opportunity to watch the game in a fun setting with locals.  We were able to find a nice spot, literally underneath the opera house on La Rambla.  Spain wo...

Author: Olivia (10) We have done so much these last few days in Spain! I have learned a lot of things are different here. 1) They eat a lot of food. First breakfast, then pinchos, after that, lunch. Later, pinchos again and then dinner. 2) Also all the girls do not wear tops with their swimsuits. Just bottums. 3)They have a lot of pubs. 4) They have awesome gelato and bread. 5) They love their ham,      and much more! I love Spain! It is so much fun playing in the ocean and looking at the awesome views. Tomorrow we are going to Barcelona. Well we I have to go pack so...... LIVI OUT!

Author:  Tiffany (Mom) There is so much to love about San Sebastian.  I think that what I love the most is the buildings and their detail.  Around every corner we turn, I see another building that I just love.  Every time I cross over a bridge, I admire the details of the pillars and street lights.  It's all very surreal because we just don't see that in the United States.  I've taken so many pictures that I don't want to overload you with them, so here are a few.  (If you are interested, I've been posting on my Instagram with the #bronzansontheloose). As I said before, you can't really get a sense of the awesomeness (yes, that's a word) from the pictures, but I just want to share them with you.  I just love this picture of Olivia (above), we are on the top of Monte Urgull, not a building, but still a great picture! Also, I went running with this cutie pie (below) and we did not get lost.  I think it's becau...

Author:  Brandon (Dad) It's official.  Our family is in love with San Sebastián.  You know it's a good spot when you spend time studying the advertisements at the real estate offices, figuring out if you could swing a house here. This city in Basque country has a bit of everything:  amazing beaches, spectacular architecture, history, tremendous food....   we're kicking ourselves for staying just four days here.  Here's a quick recap of the past two days: Sunday San Sebastián, known as Donostia in the Basque language, is home to three beaches, so we wandered by all three of them on Sunday, before settling in at Ondaretta (known as the "family" beach).  We rented an umbrella and spend pretty much the entire afternoon soaking in the sun and playing in the water.  The Bay of Biscay is very inviting, but pretty cold.  After the beach, we wandered around in the district we are staying in, Gros, experiencing the area's famou...

Author:  Luke (7) Now we're in Spain and they speak Spanish.  I can understand the Spanish because I go to a bilingual school called Cali Calmecac.  We're staying in a little apartment.  Yesterday we went to the beach.  I liked the beach.  At the beach I played soccer with some kids.  Today I'm going on a train to a soccer field.  I am going to get a soccer ball.  My sister wants these type of shoes called jellies.  My mom does too.  But I want to get a soccer ball. The food here is different.  When we sat down to do the blog this morning, Luke wasn't too keen on having his photo taken.

Author:  Tiffany (Mom) I went running and got lost!  I had a great little route planned out...it went according to plan until I decided to go just a little bit further to reach 6 miles.  I somehow got completely turned around and couldn't find my way back.  After walking and trying to figure out where the heck I was for about 45 minutes I asked another runner for help.  I asked "Do you know the green bridge?"  He looked at me with complete confusion...oh no, this isn't going well.   I decided to try for a different question.  "I'm pretty sure I'm staying in the old town, can you tell me how to get back there?"  He decided to run me there because he knew he couldn't trust me to find it on my own.  After running for a little bit, he said "you are a good runner, how fast do you normally run?"  I took that as a compliment, because he looked like a great runner too.  However, I only knew my normal pace in miles, he knew h...