Venice

We just returned from a 10 day vacation that was planned months ago. The original plan started in Lake Bled Slovenia (post below), continued to Northern Croatia, and ended in Venice, Italy. We didn't make it to Croatia because we were turned around at the Border check point for not having passports for the kids (FAIL!!) We had to do some last minute planning on the spot after the initial disappointment. This landed us staying one night in Trieste, Italy (we DON'T recommend). From there, we drove to an island outside of Venice called Lido. It happened to be very lovely. It had a perfect beach, the town was small, quaint, quiet, very family-friendly, away from too many tourists, and just perfect! In fact, it might have been our favorite spot all of vacation. Although, I did really enjoy Lake Bled. After our 2 days in Lido, we went to the city of Venice itself which we also really liked. Venice is very small and picturesque in every corner. We had a great time eating Italian food. We had pizza and gelato everyday, often times twice a day! Luke is still talking about pizza and was very disappointed pizza twice a day can't be an everyday occurance.

One of the many canals in the city:

Famous Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal:

On top of the Campanile Tower in San Marco's square, great views of the city: 

View from Campanile Tower:

San Marco Square in front of the Basilica (wish we had a better picture but part of it was under construction): 

On top of the Basilica (which was beautiful inside):

On top of the Basilica with a view of the Lagoon:

Venice is famous for masks and Addy had to have one:

Posing:

Only a few pictures of the beach, here is the Lido Beach: 

Lake Bled

Our first stop on our 10 day vacation was to Lake Bled, Slovenia. Lake Bled is a glacial lake in the Julian Alps in Northwestern Slovenia. The Lake surrounds Bled Island which has several buildings to include a very charming church. The picturesque lake also has a medieval-era castle and is surrounded by mountains and forests. It was a great place to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather! We spent 3 nights and three full days. Our highlights include swimming in the lake, taking a paddle boat out to the island in Bled, a little hike around Vintgar's Gorge, and the kids favorite: Toboggan sledding down the mountain! We loved Bled and would love to visit again. Maybe even experience a different season!

Island in Bled

This was after our paddle boat adventure touring the island:

Church on the Island:

On top of the toboggan mountain, beautiful view of Bled Castle:

Toboggan ride! We went twice down this mountain. Addy and Luke are STILL talking about it a few weeks later:

Vintgar's Gorge was a lovely little hike through waterfalls with a nice cool breeze. We enjoyed the nature walk and the pretty water views:

First Day of School

Luke's first day of preschool and Addy's first day of Homeschool Kindergarden! Luke will be going to a program on post 2 days a week for 3 hours. Addy will go to her German Kindergarden a few days a week, and the remainder of the days she'll spend at home with me doing an American Kindergarden curriculum. This allows her some time to spend with friends and also time to keep up her German! So excited for the year ahead!