The sad result of poring rain and 553 steps!!

Slap Savica near Lake Bohinj

Jimmy finally saw some of the Julian Alps today. He actually had an entire day off in the middle of the week due to "The Day of Uprising Against the Occupation of World War II." I guess his coach has more respect for war then he does for religion - Jimmy had to work on Christmas! And, of course, it pored down rain from morning till night. That's OK, the crazy Oliver's hiked up to see the waterfall at Savica. All 553 steps in the rain! It was beautiful, even in the crappy weather. I can only imagine what it looks like when the sun is shining. As we left, Peyton looked back and said "Bye-Bye Waterfall, Thank- you for letting me look at you." We tried to drive over the Alps via the Vrsic Pass - think Hemingway's "Farewell to Arms" - but we only got part way across because of the heavy snow. Apparently, it doesn't open completely for another 2-3 weeks, they are still plowing snow up there. We turned around and explored the area's of Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj, instead. It was nice just to get out of Ljubljana. Kali is on another school break for the next week. I now understand why they keep the school year going until June 23rd - they have half a dozen week long "holidays" throughout the year. Oh well, we'll make the best of the break. We are hoping Jimmy has Sunday off so we can drive to Zagreb to visit friends. I believe there is another trip to the Alps in our near future, as well. Jimmy got just a glimpse of the mountains and the gorgeous river and wants to see more! All we have to do is wait for the rain to stop and the snow to melt. Hope springs eternal!

Tip Toe-ing through the "Tulips" of Tivoli

Jesus, Mary and The Turks

Well, we completed another hike up Smarna Gora (669 m). Not only did we make it to the top for donuts, we got there by hiking the path of Jesus, Mary and The Turks while surviving a killer thunderstorm! All in a days work here in Slovenia. Kali hiked by herself, with the help of her hiking poles and Peyton rode most of the way up on Jimmy or Dave's shoulders. The only problem was the mud. By the time we finished the hike my kids were a filthy mess. When it was time to get dressed and go to church I realized just how dirty they were and just couldn't bring myself to throw a dress over the caked on dirt and take them to mass. We didn't have time to go home and clean up, so we just went to get a drink with our friends and let the kids play some more and get even dirtier. Drinks turned into dinner, as it usually does here, and Jimmy barely made it to practice at 7:30. When we finally got home, I hosed the children down and they fell into bed. I'm hoping that the candles we lit at the Church of the Holy Mother (on top of the mountain) along with the prayers that go with said lit candles are enough to keep us in His Grace this week.

Turtlenecks and Sweaters for this Easter Sunday!

Even Mommy and Daddy cleaned up for Church!

Getting Dressed in our Easter Best for Mass

Well, Easter is behind us. One step closer to returning to Akron! As you can see, the girls had a great Easter. It really makes all the crap I dragged over here worth the sore back and broken nails!! Jimmy had Sunday off. We truly had a wonderful day, even though it was dark and gloomy outside.

I spent Saturday making Kali's favorite - white cupcakes with white frosting! As they were cooling we went to the market for a couple of kilos of fresh strawberries and we soaked in the Center of Ljubljana, complete with the Native American Indians having some sort of musical Pow-wow, the Hari Krishna's doing their Hari Kari Dance (as Jimmy puts it) and the Mormons out in force! All of this in front of our Franciscan church! A very strange Holy Saturday, indeed. Kali enjoyed the Hari Krishna spectacle, while Peyton was more impressed by the Native Indians. The poor Mormons got lost in the crowd - they need a gimmick to hang in Presernov trg!

Jimmy had an away game Saturday night, so I was stuck doing all the "Easter Bunny" preparations by myself. Except, Jimmy "hid" the plastic eggs so high in our closet that I couldn't reach them. He was stuck hiding 60 eggs around the house at 3 am when he got home!
The price he pays for putting things out of my reach!

The girls were up at 6am on Sunday morning! Poor Jimmy was working on about 2 hours of sleep! They were so excited that the Easter Bunny found them in Slovenia! Kali was thrilled she could eat candy after 5 weeks of Lent. It's a very good thing that "Easter Bunny" left electric toothbrushes in the baskets! Peyton raided everyone's basket for the pastel Life Savers! She ate more candy them the rest of us combined! It was a Dora Easter for Peyton and a Diddlina Easter for Kali - the great big smiles on those sweet faces made all the effort worth it and then some!

We went to Mass at 5:30 and then went out to dinner with our monk and some of the others "parishioners." It was our 1st Slovenian restaurant in the 7 months we've been here! We passed on the "game" plate and blood sausages, but Jimmy enjoyed his mixed grill plate and I loved the specialty of the house "Turkey Sokol" - a turkey filet covered in a cream sauce. The highlight of the meal was the soup! It was served in bread bowls and was fabulous. Jimmy had mushroom, I had onion. We will be trying that place again after church. It will be a hard decision every Sunday between that place and Joe Pena's, the Mexican restaurant we love. If only that was the worst of the dilemmas we faced here in Slovenia!

Snickerdoodle Our Easter Bunny!

Our Honey Bunnies!

Yippee! The Easter Bunny found us!!

Easter Masterpieces!!!

The girls are all smiles as they admire their handiwork. Look at those beautiful Easter eggs. (Make note of the fabulous egg holders Kali made in her pottery class?!?!) I have no idea what I'm going to do with the almost 3 dozen eggs we colored (of course, Peyton ate a couple as we went along!) Kali's friend Demi helped us, so she went home with a basketful. Nevertheless, we have over 2 dozen eggs to eat! That number might actually tide Peyton over for the weekend ;)
Today we are on a mission to find this ham we had last year in Croatia. That goes over really well here. The Slovenes eat mostly cured ham and I can't stomach it. The ham we had in Croatia for Easter last year was smoked. It wasn't exactly "honey-baked," but it was pretty good. We have been asking around about the "Croatian" style ham, we have a couple "good leads" that we will follow up on this afternoon before Brownies and Kali's "Portfolio Night." These people really are not helpful. I understand it's a bit of a national pride thing - we like the Croatian ham better - but to turn it into this week's episode of "Law and Order" is ridiculous. I'm grateful that Jimmy is "on the case," his appetite is more than helpful! I told Jimmy I'm ready to just throw in the towel and make filets for Easter dinner. I can see you all shaking your heads, I know - It's not Easter without ham!!!! We are trying!!!!

Going to church on Palm Sunday

Kali and Peyton make the climb up to the doors of The Franciscan Church of the Annunciation - or as most people call it - The Pink Church by the Triple Bridge. We are so happy to have finally found the elusive English Mass. Although, we were palmless on Palm Sunday. Evidently, in Slovenia it is BYOP (bring your own palms). We are currently without a palm tree, but most churchgoers improvised with an array of leafy sticks. A family from Kali's school shared their branches with us - olive, I'm thinking.

Yesterday, Jimmy arrived home early from his trip so he was able to come to church with us and continue our month long tradition. First, we drive around trying to find a parking space. Did I mention the church is smack dab in the middle of the Center? Then we have to pay 40 SIT a person to pee before church starts. While we fork over a quarter to use the bathroom, Jimmy buys freshly made spiced almonds for "Peyton" to eat during the service. Then we shlep the stroller up the stairs, run Peyton past all the candles in front of St. Francis while she is singing "Happy Birthday" and find our way to the little chapel that we celebrate mass in. The monk who celebrates mass every week is wonderful. Seeing as Jimmy and I were married by a Benedictine, we are partial to monks of any kind.

Although our methods might seem a little "unorthodox", the "soul food" we receive at The Pink Church is just what we need to get through the last couple months of living here.

Trying to fill big sister's hat!

Kali's Special Easter Bunny!

A Kali Sandwich!