Party time

We decided to have a rather impromptu BBQ on our fabulous deck today.
What a treat to have the weather cooperate with us! We had a headcount of 37 people across five zones of the house: the deck (of course), the ping pong table, the badminton pitch, the trampoline, and the football (soccer) pitch down at the bottom of the yard.

By all accounts it was a fun gathering that came to an end around 10 pm. It was a bit chaotic on the BBQ front because we asked people to bring something to put on the grill, but then we didn't keep track of who had brought what. But most people didn't care too much about that, and we had plenty of food to go around! At least now our deck has seen some use before the summer season comes to an end.

Playing hookie in Brighton

I took today off work and we drove ourselves and our bikes down to Brighton marina, then went for a 8 mile ride along the waterfront. It was a gorgeous day and felt extra good to be out playing in the wide world when other people were at work.

 We rode along the coastal path towards Eastbourne and went through the village of Saltdean before getting to our rest stop and turnaround point at the Smuggler's Rest cliff top pub.

 We sat on the deck of the pub overlooking the beach and had some refreshments

 Then we rode back to Brighton Marina, where we had a very late lunch at Five Guys burger place!

It was truly a wonderful day.

Neighborhood adventure

Today we worked hard to try and finish up the deck (didn't quite get there), and had the added incentive of meeting up with Cat and Bruno to go on a bit of an adventure which would involve dinner. We played with a few different ideas, but in the end decided to take a nearby public footpath that most of us had never been on and walk the longish way to the Red Lion for dinner.

The path was "a little bit" overgrown with stinging nettle and thistles, and most of us were wearing shorts and sandals. Rhodri took on the task of trying to use a stick to machete the offending plants out of the way.  We got out of the nettles and had to go through a field of fierce looking sheep!

 

 Eventually we got to the pub and by then we definitely felt as though we had earned a refreshing beverage! We sat outside for awhile in the lovely weather, and actually some of our other neighborhood friends joined us for a bit. Then when it was time for food, we moved indoors. We had a great meal here actually, and all too soon the night was over.

Another great Saturday in the Gate!

Good times with Soph & Osc

The kids have had some good times lately with Sophie and Oscar - nothing too exciting, just hanging out and playing in an old school sort of way as well as the new techy kid way. One of the hot things to do right now with Rhiannon and her girlfriends (roping the younger brothers in normally too..) is making lip sync videos on music.ly. They have had so much fun videoing themselves lip syncing to funny sketches and songs.
 

Nordic Life work at home

Today one of Rhodri's suppliers came over to the house to showcase next winter's clothing samples. It was a nice day and I happened to be working from home that day as well. They put the deck to good use!

Home and haircuts

We were happy to come home last night.
One of the best things about this holiday was knowing that Bentley was being well cared for by someone who loves him and was at the same time staying in our house with him. Lovely Hellie stayed here with her senior dog Peaches and also Bentley. By all accounts they had a great time here together. Poor Hellie wasn't feeling well, so she was bundled up on the couch for a few days. But our house is nice for situations like that because it is pretty cozy and peaceful.

So then today we figured it was high time that we got our hairs cut! Here are the before and after photos.

Now they are ready to start school again (in a few weeks time)!

Slovenia back home

We said goodbye to Sandro and left Koper at 10 am, hoping to get to Postojna Caves for our 11 am tour. In fact there was some accident on the road so the journey took a lot longer than planned, and we arrived too late for the 11 am tour. So then we went on this great tour at noon instead. We were really impressed with how well it was organized.

 Then we finished the tour and raced off to the airport. Again we had some road closures on our route that meant we had to detour and get a little anxious about getting to our flight on time. But we made it in the end and returned the car, then waited for our flight which was delayed by an hour. Eventually we made it home around 8pm.

 What a trip! 

Slovenia: Day 7

Today was our one day on the coast, and we headed to the tiny, lovely town of Piran. It was a dramatic day - really hot with giant clouds moving across the sky and sunshine in between. But first we had coffee on our little terrace while enjoying the interesting view of the Adriatic sea and the various ships moving around on it.

Sandro had given us the local tips on getting to Piran and where to park, and that was extremely helpful! We parked in a garage and took a free bus into Piran proper, where we started exploring. The kids were begging to swim from first moment, so we found a spot and they jumped in. Soon they had hooked up with some other kids and they were all collecting jellyfish and making a pile on the concrete. Apparently they weren't a very stingy type of jellyfish because nobody was complaining about it.

Then we did some more exploring of Piran, including walking up to the church which had a nice view over the town. By then we were pretty hungry so we found a cafe that had comfy seats in the shade and had lunch there. Rhodri actually dozed off and the rest of us just relaxed and took turns going out to the waters edge or jumping in and then returning. Eventually we abandoned our spot and walked to another stretch of coastline where we all went swimming. That is when we started to see lightning strikes off in the distance over Croatia! A big storm was approaching so we got out of the water and in good time, too.

This big crazy front moved in and everyone fled the waterfront. There was a huge fierce wind that blew through, knocking down umbrellas and funneling debris down the alleys. We ran with other people down an alley and ducked into a bar for shelter.

We watched the debris flying through the alleys outside for about 10 minutes and then we decided to go get some ice cream.

 By then it was sometime after 5 pm so we figured we would head back to the flat. We took the bus back to the car and drove to Koper. It was still raining and we had a slow trafficky journey back to the flat.

We spent our final night in Slovenia listening to music and playing cards round the dining table. Its been a really great week here but I think we are nearly ready to head home.

Slovenia: Day 6

This morning we had a bit of a lie in, but not much since we needed to get packed up and moved out, breakfasted and downstairs ready for adventure by 09:30! That is when we started our canyoning adventure which would see us through 12:45. Here is the website for the place we stayed/ played with: http://www.top.si/en/canyoning/

We didn't take any photos ourselves during this fabulous adventure, but other people have shared their photos and videos on the www...

Basically, we got a ride from the center to the river car park area. We stripped down to our swimsuits and booties, tied our helmets, harnesses and wetsuits around our waists and then hiked up the canyon for about 30 minutes. There was a bit of gravelly scrambling down a drainage to get to the starting point where we had a pee break, drink some water, and put on our gear. From there we got some instruction from our guide (there were 6 other people in addition to our family of 4) on how to slide and how to jump. Then we were off! Tryfan was grinning ear to ear and trembling with giddy joy the entire time. Rhiannon was super excited and fearless for the most part (there was one big optional cliff that she didn't want to jump off and I was glad to skip it with her!). Rhodri enjoyed it and so did I, but I was also kind of glad when it was over...

So at the end we just changed into our dry clothes and drove back to the center, then said goodbye to the team there and drove off to find a place for lunch. We found a little cafe place and sat outside. It was really hot and we were all quite tired, but the food was good. Then we headed off to Koper, which was a 2+ hour drive away.

It was a beautiful drive along the western border of Slovenia, very close to the Italian border. Eventually we reached the town of Koper and the lovely accommodation provided by Sandro and Dunja (Airbnb). We settled in and then did some grocery shopping, which is always fun! Then we walked down to the beach and went for a swim.

And then we went back to the house to shower, make dinner, and relax for the evening. Another epic day in Slovenia!

Slovenia: Night 5!

So after our lonnnng, long day of walking however many miles, swimming, and then driving 3+ hours, we were really hungry and tired and ready to relax for the evening. I had booked a place that had very good reviews and happened to be located above a river rafting center (and we had been thinking about going rafting or something in the river...).

In fact, this is the place I booked: http://www.booking.com/Share-HCACWQ. However, since by the time we were approaching the spot on the map, the office at the place was closed, the nice lady had called me to explain how to get into the room: "From the car park, go around the back of the center up the stairs, and the room is on the left. Keys are in the door."  
So we found the car park, found the stairs, found the room on the left with a key in the door, and this is what we saw...
A dark, dusty room with 9 mattresses scattered around the floor and two dodgy chairs. We all stood there, stunned, in silence for a few long seconds. Rhodri said, "We can't stay here. Let's get back in the car and find somewhere else." I felt pretty sick in my stomach about it because I thought I had missed a crucial detail (like the absence of a kitchen in the first place!).

We drove to a nearby hotel that looked decent and I sulked in the car reorganizing our bags while Rhodri talked to the nice lady Julia inside. Sadly, there were no vacancies at this place, or at any of the other hotels, hostels, b&b's, etc anywhere in the vicinity! In fact, the nearest place with a vacancy for the night was 1.5 hours drive away. I suggested to Rhodri that we ask the nice lady to let us rent some sheets so we could make the dodgy place work for the night, but he refused. Then someone (probably Rhodri) suggested that I call the owners of this place to let them know of its unsuitability and to cancel the canyoning activity i had booked for the next morning. I didn't think anyone would answer, since the office closed at 6pm, but someone did answer. I tried to tactfully explain that the room wasn't what we were expecting and that we were quite disappointed. But then he interrupted me to explain that his colleague had given us the wrong directions! It wasn't the door on the left, it was the door on the right and then once inside the building it was the room on the left! That was a huge relief but also kind of funny. At least we had only lost about 30 minutes in all that drama, and we had met the lovely Julia, and when we finally got into the room, it was exactly as the website had advertised and perfect for us. I whipped up some pesto pasta while Rhodri and the kids hung up our wet clothes and we had dinner, then went to bed. What a day! And night!

Slovenia: Day 5

Today was a big day. And although Rhodri gave us all earplugs to sleep through the night, mine fell out at some point and I woke up to hear all the noises that our bunkmates were making, which actually was almost nothing! The room was very, very quiet with no audible snoring or farting noises. Anyway, we woke up really early (like the rest of our bunkmates!), got treated to a stunning sunrise of light on the peaks, and then we had a really nice breakfast downstairs.

In fact, they made a new variation of breakfast by cooking the bacon into a skillet with the fried eggs, so it was a plate of eggs and bacon cooked together. Beautiful.

 

So then we hit the trail to make the long walk back to the car (after a family photo)..

We actually made really good time and it was a clear, gorgeous day that was fairly cool - perfect for our long walk out.

 We left the hut at 8:10 am and got to the car at 3:15 pm, treated ourselves to an ice cream each (actually the kids had been bribed with 2 each!), jumped in Lake Bohinj to cool off, then drove 3+ hours around the mountains through Kransja Gora, Trenta and Bovec to get to our accommodation for the night. But actually, that is a whole nuther story so I'll post that as a separate entry!

Slovenia: Day 4

It was a really stormy night, but we were safe and dry in our little room.  In the morning, we packed up and had breakfast downstairs. However, we didn't have a whole lot of cash and we needed to ration our money since we have another hut to stay at tonight. So for breakfast we each had an egg and a piece of bread, and we got some meat and cheese from our snack supplies, got some free hot water to brew coffee that we had brought as well, and then we indulged and bought another 2 eggs. We were still a little bit hungry as we hit the trail, but we survived!  We saw some marmots, some chamois and also an ibex! Ibex are pretty rare and this one was regally standing on top of a bluff in a most photogenic manner, so we were absolutely thrilled. It was a really nice morning of walking on a relatively easy stretch of trail.

It was misty for the first couple of hours, but then the skies cleared and the peaks around us came into view. We hike up past a couple more of the "Triglav lakes" and had plenty of breaks along the way.

Soon the hut came into view on the crest of a ridge!

It was thrilling to see the hut on the ridge and approach it, then be rewarded with this incredible panorama

We decided to treat ourselves to a cold drink each (even though we were short on funds), and when we dug out our money to pay, the very nice lady running the hut asked if we wanted to pay by credit card! This was SUCH a celebratory moment and we felt so rich all of a sudden! No more scrimping to save coins. So then we ordered hot meals for lunch and relaxed outside for the better part of the afternoon.

We did go for a walk later in the day, up to a saddle on a nearby ridge that had been looking at us all afternoon.

Afternoon excursion with the hut in the background

We had a nice dinner and then played cards, and eventually gave up our prime real estate at a table so that other people could sit and eat. We went up to our bunks and played quiet cards up there for a bit, then went to sleep.

 We shared the bunk room with 35 other people, and we were really impressed with the quality of the bedding: fluffy pillows, nice thick blankets, soft sheets, and firm but comfy mattresses.

Family teeth brushing session outside the hut in the waning evening light