Spring Break!

What a great way to celebrate Easter! The past couple of years Grandma and Grandpa Burton came to visit in DC for Easter/Spring Break. This year we had double the fun. My parents and Andrew's came to Belgrade to see us (well, mostly the kids). I have to say I was a little surprised that Mom and Dad were able to make it. This was their first time getting a passport and crossing an ocean. The first time going to a place where everyone around them spoke a different language. I found myself wishing before they came that their first overseas experience could have been to a place a little more polished (like our Paris trip), but in the end I'm glad it was Serbia. Just take a look at the pictures and you'll see why. We started them off with the Knez Mihailova, Belgrade's main walking street. And, of course, we had our Easter celebration. We threw in a few pictures from the Embassy Easter Egg Hunt that was the week before our parents came out as well. The kids had a great time and were majorly spoiled by the Easter bunny. Fox told Andrew that he thought the Easter Bunny was so awesome because Mommy said that the lego ship was too expensive but the Easter bunny got it for him. Sigh...the sacrifices we make. We took our parents to church with us too. It was neat for them to be able to meet the members of the branch here and listen to the talks translated through headphones. Before we left, someone passed out hardboiled eggs that had been painted for Easter (red is the color of choice here). Each person knocked their egg against someone else's and whoever's egg cracked lost their egg to the winner. It was interesting to take part in one of their customs. The next day we headed to the Kalamegdan fortress. It's in a huge green space at the end of the walking street that is also home to the zoo. We did a lot of walking that day (thanks for being a trooper, Mom!). Check out the lion. Doesn't he look like John Bon Jovi? Someone had to have given him that haircut. We also took to Rab island on the Croatian coast. Andrew and I went to Dubrovnik last fall and were so dissapointed at how crowded it was even off season and we were a little worried that it would be the same here. Boy did we luck out. We felt like the only ones on the island. I'm smiling now just thinking about how much fun we had wading in the water, exploring the island, walking through the old town, and collected sea glass along the shore. Well, not Andrew. Andrew got sick. He got sick last time we went to Croatia too. What gives? If he gets sick the next time we go there, then I'm declaring him persona non grata there! We also participated in a little Yugo-nostalgia. We visited Tito's masoleum and the adjacent museum. Want a window into a cult of personality? Check out the countless batons made for children to run relays every year across Yugoslavia to celebrate their dictator's birthday. We also hung out around the house, visited parks and other sites, and, of course, took our parents to our favorite restaurants. I think they were really impressed at how well we eat here. The day before Mom and Dad left we headed out to one of our favorite countryside places- the Perkov Salas. It's a country farmhouse where you can hang out and linger over a meal while the kids play outside exploring beautiful Serbian farmland. It's very picturesque and we had some of the best food from the whole trip there. After Mom and Dad left, Jan and Gary stayed on for another week. We were glad not to have to say goodbye to everyone all at once. We stayed low for a day or two and then took another road trip. This time to Mokra Gora, a southern village close to the border of Bosnia. I refer to it as "dragon country." Green forested hills, low hanging clouds, a farm here and there. It was an incredible sight to behold. Across the border in Bosnia, we found a monastery tucked away in the hills and decided to pull over. The vista was gorgeous as you can see. It was interesting to see people tending their fields and animals, wearing more traditional clothes. The drive there was along these steep, winding mountain roads where everytime you rounded a corner the view just took your breath away. As you looked out you would sometimes see a little house at the very top of a distant hill and you have to wonder how they even built it there. Is there even a road to it? What do they do in the winter? We had a great time at the lodge there. They had a pool and a salt room and the rooms were really kitchy and cute. Not the beds. Those were terrible! Even though it rained the whole time we had a great time (Translator's note: Mokra Gora means "Wet Mountain," so what did we expect?). Oh, Eden and I also got carsick for the first time ever. Our only complaint about having family come visit is that they didn't stay long enough. But hopefully we'll get some more visitors before too long. As a parting thought, here are a few pictures from a weekend trip we made just before they came. We visited the church where most of the old Serbian royalty are burried. And the kids had a Spring Fair at school (which I was in charge of organizing--I could write a book about that, but will spare you). Fox won a raffle for a basket of dress-up things, including face paint. He and Eden broke it out while I took a nap. They kind of went overboard.