Heading into Cetina Canyon...

The following day, 19 of us got up early to catch a bus to the small village of Zadvarje. When I told Paola that we’d like to arrange something adventurous, she suggested that we go canyoning. She found a location that was on the way to our next port, which allowed the Nikola and the other 12 passengers to continue onto Makarska.

Our bus was met by the guides from Adventure Dalmatia. We were fitted out in a long wetsuit, neoprene jacket, life vest and helmet. All that gear made for a very hot walk down to the canyon surrounding the Cetina River.

While logically it made sense that the hike down to the river would be steep, frankly I was shocked just how steep it was. We really worked up a good sweat winding our way down.

Although we couldn’t wait to get into the refreshing water, first we had a safety briefing. The rules were simple: when in the water, lay back and keep your feet pointed downstream.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

After all the teams finished the race, we headed to Pizzeria Fortuna, Split’s oldest pizzeria.

All smiles after another fantastic day in Croatia.

Our wonderful travel agent, Paola from Elite Travel, had pre-arranged with the restaurant to bring out a birthday cake for Andrew.

And the Winners Are...

The final task was to climb to the top of the bell tower of Cathedral of Saint Domnius, which was built in 1100 AD. By the time they’d gotten here, the teams had covered every corner of this wonderful historic city.

It was fitting that the birthday boy was on the winning team, who got to the top first. Ironically, they were the only team that never had a map.

Unfortunately for the boys of Team Venus, they were running behind and got to the cathedral too late to climb the bell tower, so they missed seeing this view.

Entertaining the Tourists in the Main Square...

Another task was that one player had to keep juggling in the main square until someone put a coin in the team’s hat. Team Dalmatia were rubbish at juggling, so Ashlynn approached a real juggler that was working the square and suggested that he might want to pay them to stop so they don’t steal any of his tips; amazingly, it worked! 

Max and Veronica were much better jugglers and quickly earned their tips.

After the completion of the race, Jimmy and Veronica juggled with the real entertainer.

A Mixture of Tasks...

Each team carried a camera so they could take photos to prove they had found certain places such as Jupiter’s Temple, where they had to ask a stranger to take their photo next to the John the Baptist Statue.

After finding the ancient wishing well, the kids had to talk to the shopkeepers in the shopping area in the basement of the palace to find the next clue. Olivia took over for Carla and scored at this jewelry shop.

After finding the slushie machine just outside another of the city’s gates, two of the players had to chug down their slushie. The strongest player had to buy a slushie after the other two were finished and then drink it while balancing in Split’s narrowest passage known as Let Me Pass Street.

Reflections on our 8th Year - Part 2...

As always, we’re happy that our list of highs is considerably longer than our list of lows:

• Family Travel: Aix en Provence - visiting Curt and Vero, meeting little Nils, Veronica showing us around town, the girls watching a movie in French; Croatia - 20th anniversary, walking the wall in Dubrovnik, the Nikola and its crew, jet skiing, Veronica going clubbing with Grace, canyoning, watching shooting stars, renewing wedding vows, Father John, partying on the rooftop, Veronica singing at the big party, adventure race, jumpy castle in the water, swim breaks, kids’ nights out, Ashlynn’s run with Andrew, Pina Coladas, Sladoled (ice cream), Wreck This Journals, Veronica sharing room with Grace and Olivia, Jimmy swimming under the Nikola, watermelon polo, everyone getting along; Garmisch - snowshoeing, Melissa finally discovering a winter sport that she likes, night sledding, Ashlynn flying off sled and doing somersaults but still loving it, skiing in powder, breaking the news to Ashlynn that we’re getting a dog instead of a ferret; London - BBC TV Tour, photo safari, Old Spitalfields Market; Port Grimaud - sunshine, relaxing, breakfast and happy hour on the rooftop terrace, Jimmy and Ashlynn’s killer run, amazing VIP Tour at Marineland including meeting an orca trainer, geocaching in Grimaud and an impromptu hike at the river; Slovenia - day-long adventure in the Alps, car train, water park; US - girls’ two-week trip to California including chilling with Grandma and Grandpa, scrapbooking, watching TV, San Francisco, university tours with Grandpa and Darlene & Mike, IMAX, shopping with Auntie Lee-Lee, sleepover with Monique and Sarah
• Parent/Daughter Travel: Jimmy & Veronica to Belgium - urbexing at Wanson factory near Brussels and in Antwerp; Melissa & Veronica to UK - shopping in Glasgow, train ride to the Highlands of Scotland, seeing the Glenfinnan Viaduct used in Harry Potter, touring University of East Anglia in Norwich
• Jimmy and Melissa Time: Brussels - hanging out, day trip to Ypres to learn about World War I; St. Tropez - amazing parties at Kube Hotel and Pironi for Terri’s 50th; Stockholm - 50th birthday lunch at Hermans, 50-Bun Salute on fancy cruise ship to Helsinki for Eurohash; Tallinn, Estonia - urbex on Eurohash trail, locating outlet store to buy awesome grapefruit chocolate, great party on overnight ferry to Stockholm including woman hitting on Jimmy
• Solo Trips: Ahrweiler, Germany (Ashlynn) - room at youth hostel, bus rides, chocolate factory, Formula One Museum; Ypres, Belgium (Ashlynn) - wreath-laying; Outward Bound Adventure Camp in Highlands of Scotland (Veronica) - gorge walking, expedition, making friends; Silver International Award Expedition in Ardennes, Belgium (Veronica) - team building, ropes course, great friends, kayaking, swimming in river; Bonn, Germany (Jimmy) - hanging out with Jim; US (Jimmy) - visiting with family before going to conference in Orlando, playing Frisbee in the Atlantic with Johnny and Jimmy, spending quality time with Dad, seeing GrandMom
• Kati: we all love our sweet dog; very lucky she adjusted right away to us, coming to our bed for hugs and kisses the first morning; Jimmy built custom-made doggy ramp to Ashlynn’s loft bed; Da Dog Walkahs (Georgia, Liv, Jason, Lucy, James, Ashlynn and Kati); dog training; walks with neighbor Gillian and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Beauly; first big outing was Queen’s Day in Leiden
• Performances: Fame during school’s International Festival; girls dancing/singing in Cinderella Panto - Thriller was awesome!; Veronica in a scene from Anger Management for GCSE Drama
• Ashlynn Sports: winning €100 for 1st place for girls under 15 in 5K circuit; coming in 6th woman at Amsterdam 8K
• Daughters growing up exactly as we hoped. Our long dinner discussions are great!
• Jim moving back to Europe
• Neighborhood block party
• Family TV Nights: Sherlock, Once Upon a Time, Elementary, Under the Dome
• Veronica: GCSE excitement with fantastic results; hosting end-of-exam and farewell party, photographing Bye Bye Blue without Daddy and Year 13 Reception; Year 11 (10th grade) Ball and photo shoot, boat ride and slumber party; running club and Ultimate Frisbee; hosting Halloween party; IB classes and being a 6th Former; getting a school garden; becoming head of Environmental Committee; being accepted into THIMUN Press and Nepal Gold Award Trip; having first date; Hunger Games Premiere; getting ears pierced; experimenting with HDR photography with Daddy; Queen’s Night in The Hague; Color Run with Daddy
• Ashlynn: being chosen for ISTA (International School’s Theatre Association); new friends in Voorschoten; trick or treating for Halloween; hitchhiking by innertube with Daddy on the Vliet; joining Voorschoten 97 Athletics; getting ears pierced; first kiss

Reflections on our 8th Year - Part 1...

Our 8th anniversary in Holland was on November 22nd. We had to postpone our traditional anniversary dinner at La Lantera Pizzeria in Scheveningen until the following night when Jimmy returned from a business trip to Florida. As usual, between courses (including this year’s addition of limoncello tiramisu for dessert!), we reflected on the highs and lows of our 8th year. Let’s start with the lows:

• Uncle Gery’s death
• Eden and Grandpa each needing yet another surgery (luckily, they’re both in great health)
• Digital photo management!
• Foot injuries for both Jimmy and Melissa
• Lack of visitors
• Temporarily misplacing special forks
• Croatian cruise wasn’t two weeks long
• Good friends moving. Veronica misses Fiona, Ziyoda and Miguel, while Ashlynn misses Marianna, Anton and Avery. 
• Melissa: nearly constant bickering between daughters (afraid that I was right last year that predicting this would be a repeat entry), growing pains of new AWC Board
• Jimmy: Not being able to run for over six months
• Veronica: Getting overly attached to someone and then being ditched, GCSE stress, not getting on Team Kenya at school, IB class choices, Rachel not coming to Croatia, 6th Form (11th/12th grade) insanity, missing old teachers
• Ashlynn: Veronica acting like my mom, getting sick on ski trip, English teacher teaching more history than English

First Tasks...

We designed the tasks so they weren’t all about speed, but counted on resourcefulness and wits. The first task showed a photo of a giant toe. The kids had to find this statue just outside the city walls. It might look like a wizard, but is actually Gregory of Nin, a medieval bishop who introduced using Croatian instead of Latin in church services in opposition to the Pope.

The kids had to rub the statue’s toe, which is rumored to bring good luck.

The next task was to find a mosaic floor, then toss a ball without dropping it before searching the area for the next clue.

Jimmy came up with this clever task. The kids had to first find the Roman guards who stand in the main square (the entire area is Diocletian’s Palace, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, dating from the 4th century).

Then they had to say something in Latin in order to get the guard to hand over the next clue. Ironically, both Veronica and Andrew quoted a line from the same World War I poem that they’d learned in Year 9 (8th grade), which was over two years ago for Veronica. Bummer was that both Max and Julius knew some Latin, but the Roman guards had taken a break so there was only Nina around to impress.

Asking for Directions...

Jimmy brought a few parents into town ahead of time to work on some logistics. I merely played photographer. Finally it was time to brief the kids and get the game started. Each team was given a list of guidelines and then their first clue.

It was interesting watching how the kids asked folks around town for directions. A few of the parents were concerned that we’d opted not to provide the teams with a map. We started the race right outside of the tourism office and assumed most of the kids would think to go inside for a map, but only Max and Julius actually did. Veronica got this map from her videographer Tony who broke down and gave it to the team after they completed their fourth task.

They asked waiters and shopkeepers where to find landmarks for various tasks.

This tour guide was asked by multiple teams for help throughout the game.

Our Own Amazing Race...

Last summer when we visited Croatia, we tried to think of something special to do for the kids while celebrating Andrew’s 14th birthday. We came up with the idea of doing an adventure race in the historic city of Split fashioned after the TV show Amazing Race. We had a blast spending half a day roaming around Split designing the tasks that we’d assign the kids. Jimmy explained the concept to the kids and their parents before we departed the Nikola.

We split them into three groups, trying to balance age and speed with the rule that the team is only as fast as its slowest player. Each team was also assigned one adult as their videographer. The birthday boy was with Ashlynn and Ariana in Team Dalmatia.

Team Diocletian was David, Veronica and Carla with Olivia along as Carla’s German translator.

And ironically, the all boy team of Hagan, Max and Julius was Team Venus.

Great Friends...

We were all so impressed with how well the kids got along. Julius met Ariana, Max, David and Andrew at the Chateau in 2007 and hadn’t seen our girls since 2010, but was instantly part of the teen gang. Hagen and Carla often kept to themselves on the Nikola because of the language gap, but they joined in all the activities onshore.

Ashlynn really treasured having time to hang out with Andrew, who’s one of her closest friends.

Since Veronica played photographer much of the evening, she’s hardly in any of the photos, but she also loved dancing until after 2 a.m.

Time to Boogie...

We were thrilled that the kids joined in and danced. Here they are doing the Macarena.

Shout is always a very lively song that everyone can get into.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...

Jimmy and I did a lot of dancing at the beginning of our relationship, but don’t get much of a chance these days. Even though I’m not very good at swinging, we always make an attempt. Here we are dancing to I Had the Time of My Life, which was our final song at our wedding reception.

Sally, on the other hand, competed in ballroom dancing at Oxford and definitely knew what she was doing. She and John don’t get many chances to dance either and clearly enjoyed themselves.

A Rooftop Terrace to Ourselves...

The location also met with the kids’ approval.

I surprised Jimmy by having Veronica sing one of his favorite songs, Come What May from Moulin Rouge. It was too dark to videotape her, but someone managed to record her singing, which she then used for a photo montage to surprise us which you can see here.

We danced and partied for hours.