Losing it.

Scuba Steve

Todd won the "whitest guy on the beach" award

Girls love Juki the owner of the apartment 

  
 



So in an effort to not become a made for TV movie getting lost at sea with our family on a boat, we opted for another beach.  The people we were staying with were so nice they offered to drive us to a "better beach" which was on the other side of the island.  So we all piled into the back of their 5 seat BMW and said a lot of prayers as we took the narrow winding road across the island.  The beach was part of a campground and was actually perfect for the kids.  There was shade, a restaurant, even an trampoline.  We grabbed some shade and the kids dove in.  It was quite warm again and so it made for a great day at the beach.  We met a family there currently from Germany but the mom's from South Africa, dad's from London, kids were born in America and Germany so they were pretty international.  We called Joki and her husband came and picked us up.  Joki had offered to watch the kids so Todd and I went out to dinner.  We got a bunch of sea food which was great.  They brought us the dish which had 2 whole fish on it.  As a kid I had eaten a lot of whole fish that we caught at my grandmas so I am familiar with how to take bones out of a fish but normally it involves lots of fingers which is not really that classy so our waiter kindly offered to do it for us which was entertaining to watch.  Dinner was great and we made it home to find everyone in one piece and enjoying more American TV.
The family who owned the rental place was incredibly nice, it was more like we were visiting friends than renting their apartment.  They even offered to drive us across the island again to catch the ferry we were taking in the morning.  It turned out her son had to work so he couldn't drive us which actually was fine because I didn't really want to be in the back of a car again with all of us.  So in the morning we caught a bus that drove the 20km across the island.  There we met the car ferry that would take us to Dubrovnik.  It was to be a 9hr ferry ride.  It had sounded great, 9 hours on a ferry vs a 2hr ferry ride then 6hr on a bus.  Plus I felt lucky because the ferry only goes from Hvar to Dubrovnik on Saturday and that happen to be the day we were leaving.  However, when we got on the ferry I felt like I had just boarded a train in India.  It was packed, not only that it was a serious issue to find a place that was either inside or in the shade.  We found a spot on the back of the boat that was in the shade at moments but it was still so hot and there was no way that it was going to be comfortable for 9 hours.  I was trying to keep it together but Todd was beginning to look like he was going to commandeer a life boat and abandon ship.  I took the boys in the cabin and found a place on the floor.  Truthfully it was basically at the feet of some poor people who were reading books looking very at peace in their air-conditioned spot but I really didn't care at that point if I was bugging them.  So  I gave the boys a movie to watch and told them to stay put.  The girls had made some friends on the boat and were busy playing.  About 4 hours in we made our first stop.  Todd had noticed some people were getting off so he grabbed a couple seats and we slowly found a place in the air-conditioned cabin to sit.  At that point he also got off the ship and got us some food, also saving the day.  We finally made it to Dubrovnik and decided to walk to the apartment.  With 6 of us it normally means we have to get 2 cabs which is a pain and expensive so if we can walk we usually do.  It was about 4km which is a ways but we would get to walk through the best part of town so we thought it may be fun... famous last words.
Turns out there is a hug hill you have to go up, also we failed to appreciate it was still like 90 degrees at 6:30.  So about 1km in Todd and I are carrying everything and while the kids are being great, but frankly I am done, totally done.  I don't even have to say anything and Todd flags down a cab.  He takes us, I don't know if he just didn't count us all when he pulled over but he let us in so we were saved.  He said they are pretty strict about taking no more than 4 people but I think because we looked like we were about to die he had mercy on us.

We made it to our apartment which is wonderful.  We have a view of the ocean and the city and it's right above the Hotel Villa Dubrovnik, which is one of the swankiest hotels here.  So I like knowing I have the same view for like 1/10th of the cost.  The owners are nice, they have twin boys who are 10 so hopefully the kids will have a play mate.

The little shade we found, it's still like 90 degrees out

Jackson and I watching them unload cars noticed our own shadows

View from our apt.

Trying to stay cool sitting under a table eating ice cream

Ferry crowd

I strut 

Last night I decided I would walk to the store.  Todd never gets what I want so I thought it better I go.  I left here at about 8:00.  The road is narrow and walled but beautiful to town.  I found the store and was able to get a bunch of food.  I filled 2 really big reusable bags with stuff.  They I started back home.  I don't know if it's because it had gotten dark in the mean time or what but I ended up on the wrong road.  I realized I was not recognizing where I was and I was too high up the hill.  I checked on my phone to see where I was and noticed that about 1km back I had missed the turn off to the road I was supposed to be on.  I also saw that about that same distance forward was a road that lead back down to the road.  Not wanting to backtrack I pushed up the hill to find this other road.  I kept walking, and walking , and walking.  Keep in mind I am caring like 50lbs of groceries too.  So I can see this ship that I know is right out front of where our house is but now I am way way too high up the hill and way too far past it and still no road.  Then all the street light end and I check my phone again, I am past where the road is supposed to be.  I am annoyed and head back, finally I get to where it says I am and where the road should be...no road.  Todd had texted me to see if I was still "alive."  I was so mad I called him and then something happened that has never really happened before.  I completely lost it.  Like crying, hysterical, blubbering lost it.  I don't remember everything I said but there was a few "I wanna go homes,"  "I hate this place,"  "My phone is stupid"....  I think I reached my whits end. The day had been long.  I guess longer that even I could appreciate.  And I was done.  Todd asked (surely while trying to withhold laughter) if he could do anything.  I knew where I was and that I had to just go back to where I got off track and it's not like he could rescue me with 4 kids in various states of dress.  So I put on my big girl pants and made it home.  The groceries suffered my wrath but other than that I was glad the day was over.