Little Lins!

Hi. Ava is now 79 weeks old…

Daycare is still crappy for Ava since returning from our vacation. Dan drops her off every morning and as soon as she starts eating her breakfast, she realizes that her Dada is about to leave and her face melts. It seriously melts. It’s hard to look at without crying ourselves so here is a picture of Ava with some breakfast, pre-meltdown.

By the time afternoon rolls around, she is so ready to get out of there. And thank goodness our ‘Ava weeks’ begin on a Friday… because that means we are that much closer to weekend time with Ava.

We started off the day with a trip to the coffee shop since we were still waking up way too early for work. As soon as we walked into the coffee shop, I knew we were going to be in trouble. There was a huge bin of stuffed animals in the entrance of the place. I walked up to the counter and ordered one vanilla latte with a side of some mystery stuffed toy that Ava has yet to pick out. After Ava’s eyes bugged out of her head and she handed Dan about 15 different animals, I asked Ava to pick just one for the road. She slowly started putting all 15 of the animals away. She was on a roll. Then there were just two left and Ava was not budging. She refused to pick between one of the two stuffed cats she had under her arms. If I tried to pry one of these cats from her football grip, I might be banned from my favorite coffee place in town. So, I started to reason with her. With my 18 month old. I told her she could only have the cat in her right hand because the left one belonged to the barista behind the corner. I told her it was Barba’s mačka (Uncle’s cat). She looked at me for a second and then appeared to buy it to understand. She said “Barba meow” and looked at the barista. My reasoning worked. It was a small miracle. Later that day after daycare, as soon as Ava saw us walk in the door, Dan handed Ava her new cat friend. Did she say thank you? No. She asked where the Barba meow was.

We almost forgot that Ava had her 18 month old appointment this week. She weighed 26 pounds 4 ounces (74%), was 32.25 inches long (63%) and had a head circumference of 19.5 inches (98%). Her weight actually dropped 2 ounces from her appointment before vacation, probably from all the sweating. We always have the same nurse during the appointments who measures and weighs Ava. After entering Ava’s stats into the computer, she noticed that Ava’s head was in the 98% range and asked us if she always had a big head. Hehe. Yes, Ava has always had a big head. I think Ava should take it as a compliment. Her head doesn’t look as big as her stats say it is.

Ava’s doctor’s appointment is over. You know what that means? The weekend is here. Yeah!

And that means it’s time for Ava to dance with her monkey friend. Who’s leading who here?

On Saturday morning, we hit up the farmers market for some peaches, strawberries, blueberries and an assortment of veggies. While we were there, Ava received a long distance phone call from her Nona Ester. Ava was mostly quiet during this call. She seemed to just want to listen to Nona’s voice. But Ava did mutter ‘Dida?’ a couple times. As soon as we got back to the States, Ava starting asking for Nona, Dida and Mahky. It hard to explain to her that they are away from us. So I tell her that Mahky is at his house and Nona and Dida are still on the sea.

We decided to walk to farmers market with a stroller for Ava and her wagon for our purchases. It is a good 2 mile walk each way. And no, I did not complain on the walk. I was still in Croatia walking everywhere mode. Well, I might of complained a little bit when I got my ‘itchy leg disease’. Does anyone else get that? What the hell. So weird. Anyways, the walk was a good 2 miles and there was a newly remodeled park on our way home. Ava had a good time even though she acts so serious there, sorta like how she looks when she sits in her stroller or wagon. No expression but I know she is having a good time because she refuses to leave. Here we are picking up rocks, just like we did a couple weeks ago in Stiniva. Oh Stiniva, we miss you and all of your rocks too.

And of course, next on our list was to visit her best friend Grace. We met up with Grace and her family at Snapper Jacks for some fish tacos. Here they are reading about Dora and her backpack. Ava actually started saying Grace’s name when she saw her. It’s too cute.

After lunch we headed out for Pirate Days at the Ventura Harbor. Ava had on her pirate shoes and was ready to yell Arggghhh. Oops. No she wasn’t. She fell asleep on the car ride over. Oh oh. But as soon as we put her in her stroller, she was awake and ready for the festivities.

Hi Pirate Days. We’re here. Oh. This is Pirate Days? Pirate Days suck. Let’s get out of here.

I think Michelle must of thought Pirate Days sucked even worse than we thought it did because it sent her in labor a couple hours later. On Sunday morning, our first stop was the hospital to visit Grace’s new baby brother, Cole. Congrats Michelle, Dan and Grace!

Hurry up elevator! We have to meet baby Cole!

Finally. Elevators are fun.

Nicole also drove up for the very special occasion. Ava used to have a hard time saying Nicole’s name so she shortened it to Cole. We were thinking that it was going to be confusing for Ava so we practiced Nicole’s name a few times together and sure enough, Ava said it. Nee-Cole. And when we asked her to say Baby Cole, she said immediately. Like she’d said it for years. Other notable words of the week also include remote and pupak (Croatian for belly button).

And then we got to meet Ava’s newest and youngest friend, Baby Cole. What a cutie pie. He is so cute that he made Ava’s tongue stick out and top lip disappear.

Just before our trip, Dan made me fire the gardener. Dan didn’t like his ‘work’. I didn’t mind it. He did a much better job than we did and that was all that mattered to me. So, after 3 weeks of no gardener, our front yard looked pretty terrible. Instead of pulling out weeds, our old gardener just mowed over them to keep them at bay. Sneaky gardener. So, part of our weekend was spent pulling weeds and trimming back plants. Ava had fun picking up all the cuttings and walking around the yard like they were princess wands.

After a couple dozen photos, Ava shot me the ‘keep working, no more pictures’ look. Okay Ava. You’re the boss.

Ava loves her Dora chair. And this week, Ava loves her portable Dora chair.

She carries it around the house until she finds the perfect spot for it. But she doesn’t carry it in front of her. She carries it behind her so she can sit down at a moment’s notice.

I’ve been on the search for the perfect chair and table set. I can’t find it. It’s like the three little bears with their porridge. Some are too tall. Some are too small. Some are too obnoxious. Some are too expensive. By the time I find a set, Ava is not going to need it. I swear I will buy one next weekend. But in the mean time, we ran across this 99 cent store chair and Ava loves it.

Wherever we went on the day we bought it, she carried it with her.

Silly Ava.

Ava is really starting to become a copy cat. Here she is wiping the cabinets while she says briši (Croatian for wipe). After each meal, Ava cries if I don’t let her try to wipe her face first. She cries briši briši briši, over and over again. I can’t seem to explain to Ava the concept of turns. Me first.

A lot of Ava’s books have Dada/Mama/Baby themes in them. So, when she sees groups of animals in her books, she points to the different animals and identifies them as Dada, Mama, Baby, Ava or as other family members. I think it’s hilarious when she points to the tiniest animal on the page and calls him Dada. Hehe. And this identification things doesn’t only work for animals in her books, it also works for the artsy marbles stuck in the neighbor’s concrete. Ahh-va.

This week we are also learning the difference between big and small things. Here is Ava stretching her arms and saying veliki.

And then for small, Ava puts her hands together and says mali. So cute.

This big and small lesson really came in handy when I had to explain to her that she was going to sleep in her small crib for the day.

On Saturday, Ava would not go down for a nap. The jet lag was throwing us all off still. After a good amount of crying, I went into her room to check on her. Pee-you! Ava took a dump. So I cleaned her up, put her into her crib again, closed her bedroom door, and sat at Dan’s desk in the kitchen so I can try to catch up on my blogging.

I can hear Ava crying from the kitchen. I try to ignore it. Then all of a sudden, her crying got really loud. I’ve never heard it that loud before. Ever. I had a strange feeling about this. Something was not right. So, I got up immediately, opened her bedroom door and found her standing next to the door.

What the?

She was standing there in sleeping sack with snot running down her face.

What the?

Ava fell out of her crib and walked to her door. No wonder it was so loud. Poor thing. I kinda freaked out and called Dan to come inside the house. After comforting her, I pushed down on her ribs, head and all over to see if she would say ouch. She did say ouch once when I touched her ribs but when I retouched it, she said nothing and smiled. This could of been bad. Really bad. She must of fell at least 4 feet from the top of her crib. Thankfully, she must of landed just right. Probably on her bottom.

So, I put her into her crib again to see what she would do and she immediately put her foot on top of the railing. No Ava. Ahhh. The weird thing is that her crib is on the lowest possible setting. What kind of recalled lead paint crib did I buy? Geez. So, Dan took the whole thing apart and instead of having the mattress sit on the lowest setting, he removed the mattress spring holder thing completely. And there is NO way she can put her leg on the rail from this new set up.

So, before we figured that part out, Ava spent the night sleeping in her little crib, right next to her big crib.

I felt so bad for Ava. To try and make up for it, we took her to the beach…

…and went to the our favorite duck pond in Santa Barbara…

…where Ava screamed quack quack…

…and we even went shopping for a backpack. A Dora backpack, or course.

I think she forgave us. After coming back from Croatia, Dan and I are trying to live simpler lives with less things. No more shopping trips for stupid things. We have a garage sale planned too. But, we had to get a Dora backpack for Ava. We just had to. Especially after our layover at London where this little girl walked past Ava with her Dora backpack and Ava screamed. She screamed Dora and Boots with such joy. And then the little girl was gone. We had to ‘alk’ through the airport for a good hour. Looking for Dora. Looking for Boots. We had to give up because we finally got our gate assignment. As we walked away from our seats to our new gate, we saw the little girl and her backpack. Ava got to say good-bye to Dora and Boots and didn’t mention them again… for at least two hours.

By the way, we are finally up to date with Ava’s weekly blog posts. (Not counting the special vacation ones to come, of course.) I think I deserve a pat on the back… or at least a comment or two. Someone please leave a comment. Don’t by shy.

*****

Has anyone seen my cup sticker around?

I thought it was around here somewhere?

Oh god. I’m funny.

Hi again. I know. I know. We are still behind on our posts but are catching up as quickly as we can. Here is Part 2 of Ava as a 18 month old (aka 78 weeks old).

On her second to last full day in Split, Ava got to visit with a cousin she hadn’t met yet. She had a blast playing in her outdoor house. Looking at this picture, I think Ava was loving her one-on-one cousin time. And playing with girly toys didn’t hurt one bit either.

Ava got a lot of books while on vacation. Most of them were old nursery rhymes. Have you ever tried to read Little Red Riding Hood to a little kid before? Let’s just say it is not a pretty story. I had to skip most of the gruesome details and quickly get to the ‘the end’ part. Good thing Ava doesn’t mind short stories. She really likes pointing to the pictures a lot more than actually hearing me read.

It was then time for one last stroll on the Riva. Here is Ava making the most of it. Run Ava, Run.

After working up quite an appetite on the Riva, we had to refuel at local Pizza Parlor down the street. All the pizzas here are personal pizzas. No medium, large or extra-large pizzas here.

Another great Croatian sunset with Ava and her Nona. Thanks for all the baby sitting. You rock!

After Ava went to bed, we mustered enough energy for one more crazy night out on the town with the boys and their ladies. Here we are at the Terrace Bar, overlooking the Riva. (Mike- STOP SMOKING when taking pictures! Geez!)

This summer was the 10 year anniversary of when David and I met these crazy guys who became our best friends. There was just one missing link this summer. No David.

After one too many bevandas, we headed to Martin’s bar, Quasimodo, for some more fun.

We had a blast signing along to David Bowie as Sale played his guitar.

And when the guitar went missing, a broom stick did the job too. My cousin Goran, the rock star!

Can believe Mike was in a Pink Floyd video? I didn’t believe it either but here is proof.

At the end of the night, Mike and Martin thought it would be funny to try to move these sidewalk-street dividers. It was all fun and games until the police showed up and yelled at them. After Martin showed them his ID, the policeman knew he was a local bar owner and left us alone. I guess the policeman knew we were harmless sing-a-long friends at the end of our one last crazy night in Split. Thanks smartass.

Don’t worry. You are still in the right place. Ava’s blog. Excuse all the going out on the town pictures that keep littering the blog. They will be gone soon enough.

The next morning, Ava enjoyed some milk in her sippy cup with her Dida, who was on his 10 minute break from fixing something in the apartment that needed fixing. Not sure why but when you work on the house, you must wear an all white outfit.

So, it was finally time to pack up. We had a 4am bus to catch for the airport in the morning.

All of Ava’s toys were packed away. Poor thing. Here she is playing with a little angel figurine.

The eight of us met up one last time for a farewell dinner. What? No smoke in the picture. It’s a miracle. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. It only took 3 weeks too.

Sooooo… do you know why Martin is the best?

On the way home, he fit 8 people in 1 car. Yes, 1 car. Not a truck. Not a van. A car. Without anyone in the trunk either. It was a long 15 minute car ride home. But a fun one! Thank goodness for Mike and his self-portrait abilities. This was the one time in the trip that he really needed to take one like this. I guess all those others were just practice for this one shot.

Thanks to Goran, Martin, Marina, Sale and Maya for showing us a good time as always.

We will all be friends forever, without a doubt.

4am arrived sooner than we wanted. We dragged ourselves and our suitcases to the Riva, said good-bye to Nona and Dida, and said good-bye to Croatia too.

Can you tell we were excited for our long day of traveling?

The key to traveling is to stay well hydrated with lots of water. But not this much water. Nice one Dada. This is a split second before Ava got soaked.

We made it back to the States safe and sound. Yeah. Carrie and David were kind enough to pick us up from the airport and take us back to San Pedro to see Yoda. Yoda really missed us. And she missed Ava too. Check out Yoda letting Ava pet her. It’s a miracle. Wonder how long this will last?

Ummm, not long. Within a few minutes, things were back to normal again.

We decided to spend the night in town so Ava could have a drum lesson with her Uncle David, who is no longer called Day or Dee. Ava now calls him Deets.

We also stopped at Ava’s great grandma and grandpa’s house for some grapes and strawberries… and to wish Nona Vinka a speedy recovery for her broken arm.

We also stopped by Nona Dinka’s house, where playing with Rocky’s bird toys is always a hit.

Then we were finally home. We needed to get back to reality of work and school. Ah shucks.

As soon as Ava saw her favorite moose on Noggin, Ava screamed out Moose. In addition to Deets, Noah and Moose, her words of the week are: wow, alk (for walk), alah (for avion, Croatian for airplane), ID (for letters- this stemmed from her favorite bath letters QID), daj mi (Croatian for gimmie), and baci to (Croatian for throw that away).

So on Thursday we were back to the daily grind… and we were still jet lagged. So we all went to sleep at 7:30pm and woke up super early the next day. So, to kill some time before work and school, we visited our favorite coffee shop.

Daycare was a little rough for Ava. We were really out of our daily routine and it really affected her at daycare. Her teachers said that she cried for us a lot. And here she is at pick-up, too sad and happy to look up from hugging my legs for a picture. I missed you too Ava. The weekend is just around the corner. I promise.

So to brighten her mood (and to restock our fridge), we headed to the grocery store and Ava got to ride in the car grocery cart. Someone was still too jet lagged for a smile.

Time for our daily walk. See you later!

Hi. Grab a seat. Ava is now 78 weeks old.

So, our week began with another 5am bus ride. Good bye Zastražišće. Until next time.

Thanks to the minimal people on the bus and to the air conditioning, Ava and I were able to ‘stretch’ out on the bus ride to Split and take nice little nap. It was Dan’s birthday the night before so we didn’t get as much sleep as we would of liked. (Separate post to follow).

So we were back in Split and had lunch plans with Noah. His mom was kind enough to have us over for some yummy food. Ava actually started saying his name as soon as we got to his house. How cute is he?!?!

Ava was happy to be able to play with different toys but soon realized that boy toys suck.

After an hour or so, Ava noticed that there was a polar bear sitting on the couch. Finally! A girl toy! She would not get off of this thing without a fight. And she rarely plays with stuffed animals at home.

That night, there was a friendly soccer match in town between Hajduk (the local Croatian football club) and Napoli (aka Naples)… so Mike and I joined Martin and Dino at the stadium… while Dan stayed home to work on his laptop in some peace and quiet.

Since Mike and I were a bit wiped out from our late nights and early mornings, we decided to sit a few sections away from the dedicated Hajduk fans, which are called Torcida. These are real soccer fans. They supported their team through songs and flares and M-80s for the entire game. One flare even made it to the field. Mike was impressed with the dedication but was still happy to be sitting in the quieter section.

I guess Mike is scared of a lite torch or two. What a wimp! Just kidding Mikey. I was scared too.

The view of the sunset from the stands of the stadium was amazing. And so was the score of 1 to 0. Yeah Hajduk!

The next morning was park time. Nona park time to be exact.

Here is Ava giving the ‘follow me’ look.

And here she is marching with the birds after convincing the camerawoman to follow.

You know what happens after park time? Getting ready for the beach time.

Looking good Ava. Crooked sunglasses and all.

This time around, we got a little smarter and walked a little further down the the coast to a new beach with rocks and a lot less people. We even paid to sit in the shade under these umbrella. It was well worth 20 kuna (or 4.44 dollar bills ya’ll). And it showed. Look at our smiling faces now.

Being a mom means lots of things… but one thing it means for sure is that you always have snacks in your purse.

And this time, Ava got a juicy peach at the beach.

Another thing she got to do is meet Sale and Maya for the first time. Ava was in awe of his red sunglasses.

There was some type of event at the beach on this day and they were passing out balloons. One of the employees walked up to Ava and gave her this purple balloon.

And what a coincidence. Ava just turned 18 months old! Perfect timing.

And then Ava remembered that she has legs and ran off to the playground that was next to the cafe at which we were relaxing.

Here is Ava on her first seesaw. Weird, right? She’s 18 months old and has never been on a seesaw? But it’s not my fault, people. The parks back home don’t have seesaws. And they don’t have metal 3-story red rocket ships either. Remember those? Oh how we all miss the unsafe 1970s. How did we all survive.

Here is Dan with a really old boat. Poor guy. There are too many reminders here that he couldn’t sail on this trip. What was even worse were all the reminders in the sea. And what made it annoying is that a lot of sailboats didn’t have their sails up. A lot of people just used them to motor around the islands. I know Dan is shaking his head as he reads this.

So to change his sullen mood, we went out for a drink. That’s Dan’s hand in the picture. I think he feels better already.

Sale was kind enough to go out with us and show us more of the sites. To document the old city, I took a great picture of Mike and Sale next to this old doorway thing.

OK Mike. My turn with the old doorway thingy. Thanks Mike for taking a great picture. Can’t wait to see it. Doh!!! Put your cigarette down next time!

The city was setting up for some type of production that night. Mike sneaked into this coffin prop when the workers weren’t looking. We are really mature of our age.

And then later that night, Dan decided to swing on a rope that was holding the ferry boat to the dock. So so mature for our age.

And before all of these Croatia posts are done, I should mention Mike and his photos. And I am not talking about his pictures of us with cigarette smoke over the lens. I’m talking about his self-portraits. We would make fun of him each time he took a picture of himself. (CPO!!! Inside joke. Don’t ask.) But after a while, he got pretty pretty pretty good at them. This is all for now. See you in a couple days for 18 months old (Part 2)!

Where have you been? Never mind. No time for that. Here is part 2 of Ava’s 77th week.

We successfully made it from Split to Hvar again. Here we are walking on the tiny path between the vineyard to our house in Zastražišće.

Yeah. We’re back.

And our professional barbecuer was back too. Meat fest time.

Did I already say that it was good to be back in the village?

I was going to mention something about Ava starting to drink juice on this trip and how she doesn’t drink as much milk here since it tastes different. But then I realized that her drinking picture for this week is next to our empty beer bottles area. Oops. Who’s turn was it to return the empties?

So, we were back into our routine and back at our favorite beach. I love this photo. It perfectly reflects our mornings at the beach. Coffee. Sippy Cup. Drawing with Dada. Peace and Quiet.

We also made sure to visit Nathan right away. Ava missed playing with kids while we were away. So much so that she didn’t mind when Nathan tried to take her down like a mini football player.

And then back to Mate’s. I know it seems like all we do at the beach is sit at Mate’s Cafe but I thought I would spare you from too many bathing suit pictures. You’re very welcome Internet. You owe me one.

During nap time, we would place Ava in her stroller and walk around a bit until she fell asleep. Most of the time she would sleep with her hand over her head or on her chest as if she was ready for the Pledge of Allegiance. But on this day, she decided that her sippy cup was worth sleeping with since her favorite prairie doggy was back at home. (More on Ava’s crazy sleeping in a separate post. These vacation blog posts are already getting too long.)

When we got out of the the car on our first day back, Ava stepped out of the car, looked at the sea and said “Hey More”. We died laughing. She missed this place too in the few days that we were away. So much so that she said hey to the sea. Little things like this is what brightens our days. Thanks for making our hearts smile Ava.

The boys were also excited about the sea, especially since Bobby and Glen finally got their jet skis tuned up and into the water. Here they are posing with the jet skis, whom were named after Borat, ‘Sexy Time!’ and ‘Iz Nice!’. hehe.

I think Mikey had a little too much fun on ‘Sexy Time!’.

We made sure that Ava had tons of food and snacks for our day at the beach. Here she is enjoying a bowl of gnocchi. Did my dad and Mikey have matching swim trunks this whole time? How did I miss that? How did Dan miss that? Oh, what a great picture I could of had with those two.

Ava’s still eating. And Mikey is still trying to recruit people to join his speedo club. Kid in the bright ass green speedos? Run.

So glad to be back on rocks instead of sand. So glad.

The one part of visiting hot and humid vacation spots around the world that is not pleasant are the bugs. And the bugs that love the humidity here are the mosquitoes. Ava did pretty well with the bites though. She only got a handful or two and her skin didn’t react to them too badly. You should of seen my mom. She looked like she had chickenpox with bright red bites the size of quarters.

Since we were only at the village for a few more days, we had a few visitors stop by the house. Here is Ava reading with my cousin Tanja. And that’s her son Hrvoje hiding in the back. He ended up playing soccer with Mike for a good amount of time downstairs in the dirt field. We heard him shrieking ‘Mama Mama’ and we all ran to see what happened. Poor kid. He had to go pee and didn’t know how to tell Mikey to stop kicking the ball. Lol. After a quick pit stop, he was back downstairs, making Mike work for those goals.

We also strolled around town to say hello and good-bye to a few of our favorite people.

And no walk in Croatia is complete without saying hello to a cat or two.

This is Ava with Barba Pjerac.

She made sure that he checked out her cool sandals….

…and her peek-a-boo skills.

Where’s Ava?

Ava also made friends quickly with Teta Senija, whom fed her a non-stop supply of yummy watermelon. I’m so glad they had a chance to met. We just found out she passed away on Saturday. Our thoughts are with Barba Pjerac and their family.

The next day we made a quick trip to the city of Hvar to check out the Hvala Hvar Castle. The view of the tiny islands just off the the coast and the sailboats in the bay is just amazing. I love how Dan looks like he is photoshopped into this picture.

Here is the mandatory sitting on the cannon shot. Mike thought we were pulling his leg when we told him that he needed to pose with it. So Dan proved that we weren’t lying to him by sitting on it nicely riding it like a bull.

Here is Dan sad that he wasn’t on a sailboat. At least he found a new pirate friend who was sailboat-less too.

Here is Ava giving us the ‘Where have you been?’ look.

Sorry Ava. Forgive me. I brought you some pasta. Ahhhh.

As soon as her belly is full, she’s off to the sea.

Ava tried to give the sea a big hug but her arms are just. not. long. enough. Or the sea is just too big. I can never remember which one it is.

It took just a couple days to get back into a normal routine with Nathan. Help, he’s pinching me!

Luckily, Super Mike came by and scooped Ava up. Ava sure is going to miss Mahky when we get back home.

Our beach day was cut short as soon as my aunt Mary found us on the beach to tell us that our well went dry and my dad needed help ASAP. So off we went. The four amigos to the rescue. A dry well means no running water in the house. No showers. No water for pasta. No flushing. No! So, Goran’s family was kind enough to let us ‘borrow’ water from their well. Here is the team hooking up hoses and running them from their well, down the cobble stone dirt path to our well. Goran saves the day.

And no good deed goes unnoticed around here. It was time for coffee and some homemade liquor…

… and for some dancing too. I love Dan the Ballerina in the background of this picture.

And my mom and Dan still dancing with Ava from their seats. hehe.

Halo? You guys still there? I know it’s a long post but I refuse to make a Part 3. Let me squeeze in some new words for this week.

Ava said her first bilingual words now. Hat. She can say it Croatian and in English. The other day she kept pointing to someone’s head and repeating šešir over and over again. No one was reacting so she screamed out hat to get everyone’s attention. It worked.

A commercial came on for Sesame Street. It had Ernie doing something for a few seconds and then poof, it was over. She started freaking out and screaming Ernie. Poor kid. She doesn’t usually even like Ernie. Everyone but Elmo freaks her out. But she misses cartoons. If we watch any TV here, it’s water polo, soccer or great reruns of 90210.

She also said jaje (Croatian for eggs), pas (Croatian for dog)… and Mommy. I don’t know why she keeps calling me Mommy. It’s especially strange that it happened while on vacation, while we are away from anyone or anything that says Mommy. I am trying to correct her and tell her my name is Mama. Maybe that’s wrong to do. I don’t know. I would just rather be Mama. Silly I know. Saying Mommy makes her sound so grown up. Can you say denial?

Oh, and last but not least, we have a great big milestone to document. Ava started to say her own name! Crazy, right? A month or two back, on our daily walks, Ava would point to our shadows and say Mama and Dada. While walking to Nathan’s house with her, she pointed to her own shadow this time and said Ava. Well, she didn’t say Ava. She said Ahh-va. It’s the European pronunciation and we are in Europe. Yes Ava, that’s right. Ahh-va.

So, the next day was our last day in the village and it was Dan’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Dada!!! So to make the day last as long as we could, we showed up at the beach bright and early.

We spent a lot of time in the water together…

…and scooping up rocks too.

We took a quick break to say more good-byes in town.

Bye bye chickens.

Bye bye beautiful sun that made me have really tan legs.

Bye bye Nathan.

Bye bye Maryann and Glen.

Bye bye BABI!

Good bye Stiniva.

Hi there. Excuse the ice cream mustache. Ava is now 77 weeks old.

So, Ava’s week began at 4:30am. That’s the time we had to wake up in order to catch the bus back to Split. We had more sightseeing to do. Ahh, who am I kidding. We were taking Ava to see Nona so Ava would stop asking us where she was a million times a day. Just kidding. Or am I?

Mike and Dan vowed never to take the same bus route again since their last experience was not a pleasant experience. Remember the old lady with tissues in her boobs? Yeah, that one. But since having someone drop us off at the ferry was way too much trouble than it was worth, they sucked it up and we took the bus route again. And low and behold, who shows up to pick us up? The same exact bus driver with the same exact bus with the same exact air conditioning problem. Lol. Mike almost pissed himself. He was convinced that the bus driver was out to get him. I think the heat officially got to his head. This was the first time Ava and I were on the bus and our first order of business was to strip her down to her diaper cover. Byebye cute dress. It was time to show Croatia her boobies. Hawt.

About 2.5 hours into a trip, we got a 5 minute break at the Makarska bus depot. We quickly put Ava’s dress back on, grabbed some kuna (Croatia’s currency) and bought some bureks. Cheese, no meat, please. Ava went nuts for it. It was hard for me to get a bite in without getting the evil eye from her.

We finally made it to Split. It got pretty toasty on the bus as it got closer to 9am but it was no where as hot as it was for the boys on that other bus ride. Thank goodness our bus picked up at 5am. Did I just say that? Anyways, we had to lug our stuff up a block from the Riva to get to the apartment, the newly air conditioned apartment, that is. Here is a paparazzi shot of us in the crosswalk.

After cooling off in the cold apartment (brrrr), we got our beach gear together. Cartoon character juice. Check. Ladybug floatie. Check. Ok, ready for the beach.

The closest beach to us is just a couple blocks away and is called Bacvice. It’s a pretty popular beach in town… maybe because it never gets deep (not kidding) or maybe because it is the only sand beach around (imported sand, of course). It was a little too crowded for our taste. I don’t know what crowded beaches at home look like anymore, but this was a high school meat market slash Olympic handball tryout arena. But that wasn’t going to stop us from swimming in the Adriatic some more. Well, it stopped Mike from getting in. He refused to swim in that much pee. Here we are looking like tourists, huddled in the shade.

And here is Ava, who is much braver than Mikey, swimming in ‘pee’. How daring of her. Check out all those kids behind Ava, in the ‘deep’ end. I told you it never gets deep here. The water at this beach isn’t nearly as clear as Stiniva, due to the sand.

After almost getting Ava knocked out several times by loose handballs, we took her out to play in the safety of the sand.

We still had her in her sea shoes at this sand beach, out of habit I guess. We bought them to protect her feet from the rocks at all the others beaches.

On the second day of this stay in Split, Ava spent the day with her grandparents in the park. Where did Mama, Dada, and Mahky go?

Oh, we spent the day in at the Plitvice Lakes National Park. (Separate post to follow.)

Day three of this Split stay was spent as a sight seeing day.

We walked to the main part of the palace to check out the church and its climbable tower.

Ava and I didn’t join the boys as they climbed the tower because I am crazy scared of heights because Ava was seconds from falling asleep.

Martin told us that walking around the town around noon was a death wish and he was right. We quickly retreated to one of my favorite air conditioned restaurants in town, Fast Food Palma. My brother and I discovered this place ten years almost to the day and ever since it has been our tradition to take of picture of ourselves in the mirror above our table. So here you go.

One of the domestic sodas of Croatia is called Pipi. Well, it might be the only domestic soda. Who knows. David loves it. He even orders it with vodka sometimes. Everyone thinks it’s a funny name for a soda. Fast Food Palma serves its non-alcoholic drinks in these glasses even if you didn’t order a Pipi. My drink of choice is a gusti sok, which translates to thick juice, but it is actually peach nectar and Ava and I love it.

Not sure if it was the thick juice I was drinking without her or the air conditioning, but our sleeping beauty finally woke up… and got some tickles from Mikey.

Thank goodness for that. Or we would of missed getting a picture of Ava is the mirrored ceiling. Wow. That was a close call.

Ava slept right through lunch so we went straight home so she could enjoy some homemade soup. I don’t know why but Croatians eat a lot of soup, summer heat or no summer heat.

We left her travel high chair back at the village. So, when this little one wanted to eat with both hands, from both bowls, she was banished to the balcony.

Once it became late afternoon and the temperature outside was more tolerable, we strolled onto the Riva (Split’s waterfront) again for some entertainment.

First stop on the Riva was a small cafe… for some beers and coffee, of course. Croatians usually order a water with whatever drink they order… and we followed suit. It really helps keep you hydrated. So here we are. The Four Amigos. Enjoying every second of our vacation together.

Ava enjoyed every minute of her vacation too. Ava hugs are the best.

What trip is complete without some family scenery photos. Here you go Internet. Enjoy.

We were all set on renting a sailboat during this trip in order to explore the many coves of the islands off of the coast. Maybe just one or two islands. We could never see them all. There are over a thousand islands off of the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia. What we didn’t except is the one week minimum rentals and the high cost. So, the plan was to maybe rent a boat for a day or two if they had any last minute deals. We headed to the harbor to check it out. It took forever to get there. Strollers plus cobblestones does not equal speed walking. By the time me got there, I’m sure things were closed. We got lost. Mike had to pee in a parking lot. Ava was ready to run around like a mad women. We give up. Let’s go get some refreshments instead and take pictures on the terrace with boats in the background.

Ava was so sad about us not leaving her to go sail. Not. So Mike had to cheer up. Fly Ava, fly.

As we left the Marina and made our way back to the Riva, we ran into Ava’s Nona and Dida. Here is her Dida tickling Ava. Tickle Ava, tickle.

Do I look like everyone’s toy? Geez.

Ava got away from the flying and tickling for good amount of time and ran and ran around the Riva. She would stop to stomp her feet like a River Dancer. She made a lot of people giggle on that night. It was way past her bedtime and she had a case of the sillies.

And so our break in Split came to a close and all of us were headed back to Hvar by bus. And this time, we had a new bus driver and an air conditioned bus. Mike’s prayers were answered and Dan remembered to sit on the left side of the bus, the non-sunny side. Here we are enjoying the 10 minute break before getting onto the ferry.

Ava is drinking juice here, I swear. That straw is not in that beer bottle.

Then it was ferry time once again.

If we had a paparazzi shot, this would be it.

The ferry rides are so relaxing to me. I love the view of the coast as we pull away from the dock with the Croatian flag flapping from the back. Ava loves the ferry too. It was her chance to stretch out those legs and do a River Dance or two.

It was also a good time for Dada kisses.

Guess what? Yup, that’s right. You got it right on the nose. Part 1 is done and we’ll be back in a couple days with 77 weeks, Part 2. Bye!

Welcome back. Here is the continuation of Ava as a 76 week old toddler.

During the second part of week 76, Martin and Marina left for their trip to Disneyland and my mom and dad skipped town and headed back to Split in order to start fixing up the new apartment… which meant saying goodbye to Ava playtime and saying hello to paint fumes. So, breakfast, lunch and dinner were in our hands. And when I mean in our hands, I mean in Dan’s hands. Didn’t you know that Ava, Mike and I brought him along as our personal chef? Here is Dan in the old fire pit house that is just a few steps from the main house. I just love the walls in this tiny house.

Yummy meal once again. Thanks Dan.

My cousin Goran was kind enough to cook a superb dinner for us too during our stay. Here he in his old fire pit house. It’s a tad fancier than ours. And his has cell phone coverage too.

And for this special guest chef, a meal on the terrace with a sunset was a must.

In the mornings, Ava would usually wake up sometime between 6-8am and we would eat breakfast, play a bit, take a quick nap and then head down to Stiniva. We brought this blow up bath tub with us so Ava could take baths in it since the house here only has a shower… and Ava is not a big fan of showers. But things were different here. She loved showers. It was due to the fact the shower head was removable and she could control how much water would sprinkle on her… or on me. So the bath tub turned into a pool and it was part of our morning playtime routine.

Ohh, I forgot to add papi to her word list for the week, which means eat. During the first part of our trip, Ava didn’t eat as much as she normally does, due to the heat and time zone change. After a week or so, she was back to her old self for the most part. But her milk consumption was still down from normal. She actually asked for milk a lot more when we were there but she just didn’t drink nearly as much of it.

After her morning nap, we would head down to the sea for a day of fun and relaxation. As soon as we got down there, we would find a nice and shady place for our padded beach towels, snorkel gear and stroller…

…and then head to ‘Kod Mate’ for a noontime coffee (and beer or two)…

…and then for snack time…

…and then to look cool in our sunglasses…

…and then to stare out at the sea…

…the beautiful Adriatic Sea.

Oh, and a day at the beach won’t be complete without some tickle time too.

Mate also had a couple pinwheels stuck into his flower garden that would entertain Ava for quite a bit of time. She loved staring at them and making them stop spinning too.

Did I mention that Hvar is known for its lavender? The lavender cutting season was just starting as we arrived on the island. Because it just started, we were lucky enough to get to see a lot of plants in town before they got their haircuts.

The church in Zastražišće sits on top of a small hill and therefore is a focal point of the village. Mike mentioned that we wanted to make sure we visited it before the end of the trip and Dan and I wanted to say hello also… but walking down the street and up that hill in the heat was keeping us from crossing it off of his list. One morning, we were all awake at 5am. Not because we were awakened by Ava. Not because we needed to start picking olives because our oil supply was low. Not because we just stumbled in from a night out on the town. But because the electricity in the village went out and the ceiling fans stopped working. Oh man, did it wake us up. 5am was a little too early for swimming so we decided that this was the best time for a hike to the church on the hill.

The summer days are longer in Croatia than back home. It would get dark around 9pm and the sun would start peeking out at 4:30am. We usually saw an owl, called ćuk on the island, sitting on top our our neighbor’s abandoned home every night, hooting and hunting. I think it was a Eurasian Pygmy Owl. But enough dorky bird identification… on this morning, we were awake so early that we got to see the owls before their bedtime. Here is a baby owl sitting on the concrete steps on someone’s house as we walked to the church. Probably waiting for his mommy to bring him a tasty field mouse.

Did I mention it was 5am and we were going to church? Dida Slavo would of been so proud of us.

Here is Ava and her buddy Mahky cooling off in the shade on the stone steps.

And here is Ava at the Jerkovich grave site that sits just behind the church.

So, once we got back to the house, the electricity was still off so it was going to be an early beach day for us.

Goran was now back in town and met up with us at Mate’s place. I must say that every one took turns drawing on Ava’s magnadoodle. I guess the phallic pen didn’t bother anyone after we agreed that there was just one ball at the end of it. Did I just say that? Sorry dear readers.

So, we brought just a hand full of toys with us on this trip, which were mostly for entertaining Ava on the flights, and some of her favorite books too. Her Nona had a few surprise toys for her too but they got old after awhile. We quickly adapted to full on exploring mode. Ava got to check out the grape vines in the village… and even tried to eat them, unprovoked by us. But she quickly spit the grape out once she realized that they were still too young too eat.

Here she is on the steps near Goran’s house, jumping up and down. Not as soft as the couch, huh Ava?

And she spent a lot of time looking at giant black ants carry crap into their underground city.

We also took morning walks to the bakery to pick up a fresh loaf of bread. We also made pit stops at Nathan’s Great Grandma house for some coffee and to peek at her chickens. But there were a few days she refused to walk alone and I had to carry her… so out came the stroller. She loved it as much as she did when we bought it. She especially loved putting the seatbelt together. Buck. Ol.

We also spent a lot of time looking around for the village horsey. Ava loved pointing and screaming neigh. This part of the village, which sits just below our balcony, used to be a happening spot back in the day. There were always lots of people here playing balote (bocce ball), sitting on benches, socializing, and kids were running around being kids. People used to drive from other villages just to play balote here on Sundays after church. It was a hot spot. But those days are long gone. The village is so empty now compared to when I was here as a kid. I can’t even imagine how many people were here when my dad was a kid. I bet it was even more fun. It’s kind of sad that the population dwindled so quickly as everyone moved on with their new lives. I can’t imagine how it will be once the oldest generation that still lives here fades away. It breaks my heart. Maybe that’s why I want to move back here. To revive the place. To help keep it going. Hopefully I can one day. But for now, Ava is the kid in the village… looking for the horsey… making her own memories that she will hopefully cherish as she grows older too.

So Ava and Mike, whom she calls Mahky, really became buddies on this trip. He has spent a good amount of time with Ava back at home but they weren’t buddies, per se. It took Ava a few days on this trip to eventually warm up to Mike and they became friends. Mahky would tickle her and Ava would laugh. Mahky would read her stories and Ava would point at the images. Mahky would party a bit too much at night and Ava would put in eye drops to keep the red out. Good friends those two.

Also visiting the village this summer were my aunt, uncle, Maryann, Glen, Nathan, and Bobby. As soon as Ava realized that she can say Bobby, she did. And she didn’t just say it. She screamed it. Like this. BABI! And she wanted his attention too. Here they are playing peek-a-boo together on the day he arrived into town. Wondering where Mahky is in this picture? He’s out of the picture because he had tears in his eyes because his buddy has a new friend.. with a louder name no less. Babi!!!!!!!

All the screaming was getting to us (jk) so Bobby look Ava away from Mate’s and to the water.

What is everyone looking at?

Oh, a photo op. Glen and Nathan joined Bobby and Ava in the water. Bobby took Ava in the deepest she has ever gone and she didn’t let out a peep. I thought for sure she would freak out a little. Just a little bit. But no. Not with Bobby. This is the day that Ava became comfortable with the water. Thanks Babi!

After that day in the deep end of the sea, Ava started wanting to swim. She would throw herself forward and we would have to carry her as she ‘swam’. There were a few kicks here and there but she mostly lounged and we carried her like a little mermaid princess. And when our arms grew tired, we had this little innertube to help.

That pretty much summarize our beach time. I said pretty much. It was not a true beach day for us unless we took handfuls of pictures of Dan with baby sunscreen all over him. Baby sunscreen is made with zinc or titanium oxide and does not wash off easily. It is like a large tube of Zinka from the 80′s. You know that stuff people (probably people like Jeremy, I imagine) would put on his nose before hitting the pool. Well, Dan didn’t put it just on his nose. He put it all over his entire body. Head.

To.

Toe.

Dan asked Mike and me everyday if we had enough pictures of him as a smurf. Mike and I would look at each other, open our eyes really really wide, smile, and scream “NEVER”!

The one thing that was funnier than Danny Smurf was this guy. A German tourist, I think. He shoved his t-shirt into his Speedos, put on his flippers and snorkel gear, grabbed his spear gun, walked into the water and disappeared. We almost died laughing. I walked really close to him because I was brave because it gave Mike an excuse to take a picture of him.

Ok. Week 76 is complete. Time to pick up Ava. She wants up.

Welcome back. Our little Ava is now 76 weeks old and still living it up in Croatia.

After two days in Split, the heat was getting to us.

Poor Ava still had a comb over and we hadn’t had a good night of sleep.

So we packed up our belongings and left Split in the dust for beautiful Hvar, the sunniest island in Croatia.

Did I mention that Ava got a pretty bad cough the first night in Split? Yes, I said cough. So the good news is that Ava is not allergic to our Tab Trailer camping trips but is actually allergic to vacations overall. Perfect. Just perfect. The next night she sounded better but the cough lingered for a good portion of our trip.

Ava and I got a ride down to the trajekt (car ferry) in Martin’s car while the rest of the crew took a bus. Did I mention our car was air conditioned while the bus was not. It is still a sore subject with Dan and Mike. Don’t mention this part of the trip to them unless you want to hear about old women putting tissues between their boobs, old women shoving their armpits into the only bus vent and how the bus driver didn’t open the bus door to get some ventilation until the end of the bus ride. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.

Ava passed the time on the ferry by reading her Dora books and drawing on her portable magnadoodle. Dan picked this item out at Target since Ava loves the full scale version we have at home. He was so proud of himself. The first time Ava pulled the pen out of the holder and started to draw with it, our eyes bulged out of our eye sockets. Never in my life have I seen a more phallic pen. Never. Good buy Dan. Good buy.

After about 3.5 hours on the rode, we finally arrived to my Dad’s village on Hvar called Zastražišće. It a pretty hard word to pronounce. You’re lucky this blog doesn’t give pop quizzes on the pronunciation of the Croatian words I am introducing. If it did, you might sound silly. Believe me. I have Mikey as proof. Not only did he butcher Croatian words, as anyone would expect for a first-timer, he also starting butchering English words. Good Ol’ Mike said more funny words on this trip than anyone could ever predict. He said peecher of beer. He referred to Marky Mark and the funky bunch as Marky Mike and the funky bunch. He said Maryon instead of Maryann. He called the Hvar castle, the Hvala castle… which translates to the Thank You Castle. He said bukass instead of burek, which a delicious pastry. After a while, Dan and I would let a few mispronounced words slide for a minute or two… to let Mike think that we didn’t notice… but then we would repeat the word casually back to him… which caused him to throw his arms in the air and scream ‘Why?’.

Ok, back the story. We finally arrived at my Dad’s village on Hvar called Zastražišće. So, first item on the to do list once we got to the house was to open all the windows and doors and enjoy the peace and quiet. Here is Ava’s Dida showing her the balcony of the house he was born and raised in many years ago. How lucky is she to be in a house with so many memories…and here she is adding to them.

So, the second item on the to do list is to check the antique kitchen cabinet for olive oil, vinegar, wine and homemade liquor. Check. Check. Check. And Check. Did you think that the Jerkovich household would not be ready to party? Ha. Good one.

And last but not least, third on our to do list was to eat. We set up the table outside in order to enjoy the sun which was setting over the hillside and the cooling breeze that couldn’t of been more welcome. Check out these comedians.

So, for the past few months, Ava’s vocabulary has been growing by 5 words or so a week. I keep track of them in a little notebook so I can document them in her weekly blog posts. But while we were in Croatia, Ava said sooo many new words that I was unable to keep track of them all. It was a word explosion, I tell ya. Not sure what it was. The Adriatic Sea? The three weeks of Mama and Dada time? The way Mike pronounces English words? I guess we will never know for sure. But here is a list of the many words Ava said this week: hello, yummy, šešir (Croatian for hat), tick tock, riba (Croatian for fish), Olivia (her favorite pig book character), Babi (for Bobby), mats (for map), nose, sok (Croatian for juice), rock, muha (Croatian for fly), splash, bus, buckle and more (Croatian for sea). Oops, I almost forgot her favorite word…. Mahk (for Mike), which eventually turned to Mahky.

So, Dan and I rarely go out anymore while we were at home. But not in Croatia! We had a blast with our old buddies and I’m sure it shows. For our first night on Hvar, we went to a new bar called Libido in the town of Jelsa… where we had a blast with Martin, Marina and my cousin Goran. We took so many pictures of Ava on this trip… and a few while out on the town. Here is a cute picture of me and Martin… until Mike sneaked in!

And a cute picture of Dan and Marina… until Mike sneaked in!

Ahhhh. Finally got one without Mister Sneakypants.

The Adriatic is so beautiful. It is hard to resist in the daytime. And after a great night out on the town, it is hard to resist in the nighttime too. Here is Mikey swimming in the moonlight in Stiniva. For those lucky enough to be in the ‘club’, this is the night that Mikey became the Speedo King.

So, the next day was our first full day at the village so we headed down to Stiniva to enjoy ourselves with the crew.

The boys had fun being synchronized divers. Wait a minute. Where’s Dan?

Oh yeah. He was first to jump in. I guess he was not a fan of having bird poop on his back.

Ava did pretty well in the Adriatic Sea, especially since it is much warmer and calmer the the scary Pacific Ocean.

So, since Martin and Marina were with us in the village (without Noah) and they were going to be gone for half of our stay in Croatia due to a previous booked trip to Paris and Berlin, I decided to suck it up and leave Ava for the first time with her Nona and Dida for a 24 hour period. Oh man. Saying good bye to her that night was sooo tough. My heart broke a little. She knew we were leaving too. She started crying and screaming Mama, over and over again. I had to hand her over to my mom and walk away. All of us were tearing up. It sucked and I’m not going to do that again for a very long long time. Sorry Ava. We ended up driving about 45 minutes to the main city of Hvar. The city gets more and more expensive each time we visit due to the rise of popularity with Croatia. We try to stay away from the annoying bars pumping out techno beats with all the ‘pretty’ people showing off their dance moves. We did eventually find a cool bar called Kiva that had a great vibe…

…and great drinks…

…and some great tunes…

…and special drink called the Tequila Boom Boom, where you put on a helmet and they slam a shooter on the helmet with all of their might and make you drink it. Let’s just say the boys had some bruises on their heads the next day.

After a few more of those, Dan and Martin were in awe of Mikey and bowed and yelled “All Hail the Speedo King” all night long. They even created a secret hand shake.

We spent the night in the city of Hvar that night at Marina’s relatives’ place so that we could catch a boat the next morning. After a couple hours of shut eye, we boarded for a boat excursion that would take us to the Green Cave and the Blue Cave.

To get to the Green Cave, we had to jump off of our boat into the water and swim to it. Dan almost killed someone when he jumped off the upper deck of the boat while another guy jumped off of the lower deck. Close call.

The Green Cave was beautiful and had a small opening near the top that allowed a single ray of light into it.

The next stop was the Blue Cave, which is on a tiny island called Biševo, just off the coast of Viš. In order to get into the cave, we had to take a tiny boat that just barely fit through the cave opening.

Here is the Blue Cave. You will never see a prettier blue in your life. Dan and I have both been to this cave before but it still takes our breath away.

The cave has an opening near the bottom which allows the sunlight to reflect off of the sea floor to create this wonderful color. When my brother and I were young, we were allowed to swim in this cave for as long as we wanted.

The final stop of our excursion was Komiža on the island of Viš. This the birthplace of my great grandparents and of my Nona Dinka. We walked through town as I showed off the sites and then dropped the group off of at the beach so I could hike up the hill to visit the church. The church has a beautiful graveyard and it is were my great grandmother, Nona Ivka, is buried. My biggest regret of this trip was not taking Ava to visit her, especially since she meant so much to me and Ava is her namesake. It will the first thing on our to do list the next time we visit.

So, it was off to the boat again for a ride back to Hvar. We functioned pretty well on only two hours of sleep… but it sure caught up to us on the ride back home. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

As soon as I stepped into our house, Ava screamed Mama and would not get off my lap. We sure did miss each other on our first day apart. She had so many stories to catch me up on…

…and I will catch you up on a few more as I continue the story with “76 weeks (Part 2)” in a couple days.