The difference a day makes...

June 3rd--We woke up this morning to blue, sunny skies so that only meant one thing for the kids....swimming. I believe they had their bathing suits on by 8:30 and were at the pool. (Side note: Austin calls his bathing suit a bathing "soup") The pool was still pretty chilly, but that didn't stop Abby from getting in. She was in and out of the pool all day long. Mike ran into town again to go to the fruit/vegetable market and picked up some wonderful fresh items. He came back with potatoes that still had all the dirt on them. That's some fresh potatoes. Everything he came home with was so good. We had lunch at the apartment and continued to hang out in the sun. We went down to the beach and threw rocks for a while. The beach area here is covered with little rocks almost pebbles, but we like it because we don't have to worry about washing the sand off everyone. When we came back up from the beach, several other apartment guests were hanging out by the pool. We hung out around the pool for a while interacting with everyone. There's a couple from Germany, another young couple from Poland and another couple who currently lives in Germany but are from Poland. The owner's were also here. We were joking about being able to solve all the worlds problems and have our own United Nations meeting right here in Croatia. They were all very nice and a lot of fun to talk to. One lady, Doris, teaches 3-6 year olds so she really got attached to Abby and Austin. She talked with them, sang with them, and colored with them for a good while tonight. After relaxing all day long, we grilled out on the wood burning oven. Dragor, the owner's father-in-law, who lives on-site, was cooking a Dalmatian meal for one of the other guests. We had some spices that we bought in Morocco, so we used that on some chicken we bought and added it to the grill. It was great and so nice to have an outdoor area to grill and "hang out".

June 4th--Today was basically a repeat from yesterday which was just fine with us. Another relaxing day by the pool and beach. Mike drove the young couple from Poland into Trogir and picked up some more fresh fruit. When he got back, I was engaged in a political conversation with Donutta, originally from Poland, but lives in Germany now. The whole conversation started by me telling her that we were from Texas and she associated Texas with George Bush. If I didn't gain anything else from our conversation, it was that she is a big fan of Obama...very impressed with his make peace, not fight approach. Mike got back from town and engaged in the conversation as well. We have definitely picked a really good time to be Americans traveling around the world because we have encountered many Europeans that are really glad to see Obama as President. It was then time for lunch so we all came inside the apartment for lunch and immediately went back outside. The kids are loving the freedom of being able to come in and out as they please and to be able to run and play too. Austin and I hung out at the beach for a little while throwing rocks while Abby continued to swim in the pool. She is such a fish. We can barely pull her away from the pool. The young Polish couple, Michael and Dominica, were out by the pool during the afternoon and we enjoyed talking with them. They had been to the market and bought a bottle of local wine. It was local made and sold in a soda bottle in the market. They had some earlier in the day and were not sick so we determined it was ok to drink. It was actually really good wine. We chatted with them some about their background. Interestingly, today celebrates the 20th anniversary of independence in Poland, which began the fall of communism. It was very enlightening to listen to them talk about their childhood and some of the tough situations they encountered. They talked about not having money at the end of the month and being given "vouchers" for necessary items (like bread, milk, etc.). However, even if they received a voucher, they might not get the items because the stores might not have enough to go around. Thank God for democracy! It was a quiet evening around the apartment tonight. It appeared that most everyone was eating out so we had the grill to ourselves. We grilled hamburgers tonight and really enjoyed our home cooked meal.