Recapping the End of the Trip: City of Lights - Split, Croatia

Around the first of December, the city of Split started decorating the city with lights in preparation for the Christmas season.  Every where we walked, whether it be the larger walkways or the small narrow passages, was adorned with lights over head.  It was quite beautiful.  Looking back at these pictures, seeing each type of light reminds me of the individual street in which it hung.  

The walk from our apartment to the Riva.

One evening we happened upon a live concert in front of the Town Hall in the People's Square (Narodni Trg).  We saw the lights set up, with a table, and various wine glasses dispersed.  We did our best to translate the sign with information and decided to wait to see what it would be like.  We were glad we stuck around as they played Jimi Hendrix, Depeche Mode, and other rock/blues songs.  What was fun is that they sang in English but talked in Croatian in between each song.  For about an hour we  were highly entertained while the kids ran around the square while dancing to the music.

Heading down to walk through the Christmas town on the Riva became a favorite evening activity for the Walkers.  By the end of our stay we were recognized by many vendors and were often greeted warmly as we walked by.  One of our favorite places to eat dinner was called Vegeton.  It reminded us of a restaurant that could have easily survived in Athens, GA with it's combo of vegetarian food, indie music, and hipster clothed waitstaff.  We loved eating the veggie burger covered with grilled cabbage, the bean stew, and the pumpkin soup.  On our last night in Split, the owner offered us dinner for the family for free which was incredibly generous.  Amelie made a Christmas card for the staff at Vegeton that said "Merry Christmas" in both English and Croatian.  The owner hung her card front and center of their booth which made Amelie happy.

Amelie's card hanging up at Vegeton.

Don't we look like we fit in?  As long as we didn't speak I'm not sure you would know we weren't a local.

Liam loved pointing out the "ABC's" on the drain covers as we would walk on the Riva.
I am glad my kids do not have to learn to spell in Croatian…look at that word! ;)

Has it only been 6 weeks since we were there?!  I can't believe we were able to live in this beautiful city for a couple months!  Making summer travel plans?  Go to Croatia!!  Trust me, you will not be sorry you took my advice.

Gulf Shores Christmas

Gulf Shores has had quite a few family friendly Christmas activities so far this month.  We have had fun learning the ways of a Gulf-shorian in December.  As you can see below, I had a hard time narrowing down the number of pictures to include.

Boat Parade down the Canal

Large boats, small boats, pirate boats, shrimping boats...all types of boats covered with lights!  Some had Santa, Rudolf, Angels, Christmas trees. Some shot off cannons, had people yelling "Merry Christmas", or blared music. All were beautiful. 

While we sat on the bank of the canal eating our picnic dinner of PB & J's, we marveled at the sights and sounds. 

 Angel Christmas Breakfast at Gulf Shores United Methodist

The church associated with Amelie's preschool held an Angel Christmas breakfast.  Angels served tiny angel pancakes covered with powdered sugar and candy, little sausage links, and canned fruit (very health conscious). We sang some Christmas carols and listened to an angel story.  As you can see from Amelie's sugar crazed look, she had a blast! After the program, she (and her friend Claire seen in the white dress) ran laps around the fellowship hall.

Picture with the angels.

 Gulf Shores Christmas Parade

Amelie jumped up and down waving at everyone float that passed by once she realized there was candy involved.

Before and after the parade there were other activities set up for us to do.  Amelie's favorite was the Jump House and Slide.  We also decorated cookies, had a picture with Santa, saw stable animals including a 2000 lb camel, and more.

Liam had a great view (and vantage point over dad)!  The parade was at the same time as the UGA vs AL SEC Championship game.  Bobby was wearing his GEORGIA t-shirt and received lots of comments throughout the evening.  There was a tent set up for us to be able to watch the game.  Other than being totally out numbered, this reminded me of one of our experiences watching the GA/FL game outside the stadium in 2002. It was a test of our character to be around so many AL fans after the tough game. ;)

Santa came in on the fire truck seen in the background.  The other characters came up and Amelie just ran close to get a good look.  Santa held out his arms and Amelie jumped into them!  Fun picture!  Later she was able to sit on Santa's lap.  She loved the experience of being near Santa, Liam on the other hand did not.

Gulf Shores City Open House (City Hall, Museum, Library, etc)

The City of Gulf Shores has an open house in which you can walk around town enjoying Christmas treats and doing fun activities like writing letters to Santa and making ornaments.  Liam does not like characters in costumes! Santa came on a blaring fire truck which was the high light of the evening.

Fun in the Sun at the Beach....in DECEMBER!!!!

The weather for the last weekish has been in the 70s and sunny!  We have reverted back to spending our mornings, afternoons to sunset at the beach.  We are trying to soak in as many rays as possible!

Love the sunsets!

Liam is walking (and running) so good in the sand.  We have had more beach added so there have been bulldozers around.  He loves finding tire tracks and walking in them. I love this shirt too! 

Favorite things: building mounds to stomp in and digging holes to climb in and out of.

It's been so warm that we put on bathing suits and played in the water.  Liam follows after his big sister, running in and out of the ocean unafraid of the waves.

This is SO much fun!

Bobby made a contraption to slurp up ghost shrimp.  Ghost shrimp are the perfect bait because all fish love them AND it's free!

Sunset on the pier.

Bobby has caught a lot of really good fish recently.  Pictured here are his first red fish.

 Can you tell that we are loving beach life?  However, we are counting down the days until we head back to Georgia to visit family and friends.  Amelie has started talking about not wanting to leave Gulf Shores.  We are trying to encourage her that more adventure and fun things await us in the next city, but we understand that the unknown can be daunting.  We also know that these past few months have been our own little paradise.  Gulf Shores has definitely grown on us...or maybe it is more about the beach and less about the city....either way we are determined not to be away from the beach for too long!
We are learning that we can make fun family memories and traditions that will just look a little different from city to city.  What fun things have you been doing this month?  Any traditions that you would like to share?  We'd love to hear!! ;)

~Kelly