August 2016 Catch Up

This August following our amazing travels and a super fun Girls Camp we had a few other fun (and sad) moments:

We said goodbye to our dear friends, The Campbells.

We attended the open house of the newly renovated Freiberg Temple

On our way home from the temple, we visited "Little Berlin," a tiny town that was divided in half between East Germany and West Germany. Parts of the wall and several guard towers still stand as part of an outdoor museum.

Erick and I went on a few bike rides together. Erick popped a tire on this one.

Erick was called into the bishopric of our ward/congregation. I know he will be amazing!

We had A LOT of family Nerf gun fights.

We participated in a color run on Post with several of our good friends.

School started!

Girls Camp 2016

Summer vacation: Driving in Europe

We had a few interesting moments on the road during our vacation that I wanted to remember. 

I photographed a few of the street signs and "welcome to" signs because the local languages and alphabets in eastern Europe are so foreign to me. I took photos of the two signs below while looking behind our car as we were leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina and entering Montenegro. 

Exiting Bosnia and Herzegovina was the only time we were held up at a border. The border guard was not familiar with the US Army in Europe (USAREUR) car registration. That is, if we buy a car in Germany, the German government de-registers the vehicle and we enter the car into the USAREUR system. When we handed him our car registration, he just kept saying, "Problem. Problem." He didn't seem to know any other words in English. We parked at the border while the guards made phone calls and figured out what was going on. 

Luckily there was a Romanian police officer at the border as part of a multinational relations-building rotation who spoke English. He was able to explain our registration to the other guards. He verified our VIN number on the car. After that, they let us go. It was an exciting adventure.

The stretch of the road just before and just after the border seemed to be a popular place for grazing cattle. We had to slow WAY down for these fearless beasts.

Lastly, I will always appreciate the calm way that Europeans deal with traffic jams (Stau in German). We hit some major traffic on our way home. People turn off their cars, get outside, and socialize. Many hop the freeway barrier to use the bathroom in the grass or bushes nearby. A good Stau can last several hours. 

Summer vacation: Lake Bled, Slovenia

On our way home from our amazing summer vacation, we decided to stop off to see Lake Bled, Slovenia. I'm so glad we did. This place looks a fairytale: a castle on a cliff, a 17th century church on a tiny island, a crystal clear lake surrounded by beautiful mountains and forests... You get the idea. 

We hiked around the lake a bit and had some fun. We even had a nice picnic lunch. It was a nice break after driving in the car so much. Have I mentioned lately that I love my family? They can be hilarious.

After spending time in the hot weather down south, this mountain lake felt frigid. That didn't stop the kids from kicking off their shoes and wading in. Brrrr!

Summer vacation: Herceg Novi, Montenegro

For the majority of our trip, we stayed in an apartment in Herceg Novi, Montenegro. We arrived after dark, and the view from our balcony looking out over the Bay of Kotor made me so happy. I loved it so much that I took photos from the balcony repeatedly morning and night. 

In the evening, we heard live music from a fancy nearby hotel. I was cracking up listening to the lyrics of popular songs sung by local cover bands. Some words were so close to being correct, but so hilarious. I wish I had it recorded. One night they even had fireworks!

Across the bay, we watched several cruise ships glide by on their way to Kotor.

We spent a couple of days just playing in the water outside our apartment. We were staying on Igalo Beach. Most of the beach space around us was privately owned or required payment.  We were very spoiled because our apartment had a private dock with beach chairs and umbrellas. We didn't even have to worry about our weird American need for personal space. Ha!

Igalo Beach has a city walk much like Venice Beach in California. There were shops and restaurants and food stands. We enjoyed trying local foods and watching people. We were the only Americans I saw the entire four days that we were there.

The best part of Igalo Beach was the awesome carnival that happened to be there. The boys climbed into huge plastic bubbles and tried to walk on water. It was hilarious. Joey, Bailey, and TJ rode an exciting ride that would have made Erick and I sick. They loved it! We shared a giant cotton candy. We also enjoyed very affordable slurpees. Yum!