Dober dan!

We traveled to the western Balkans the past few weeks and I must say, I sure like those people. We stopped in Turkey for a night then headed to Sarajevo, Bosnia to see our fun friends - Mary, Todd, and Liam. Liam is a few months older than me, a few inches taller than me, and has a lot more red hair than me!

We arrived into their city and headed out to the old square. I heard my mom and dad talking to Liam's parents about the architecture, the damage and rebuilding from the war, and how  much they liked the old city. Liam and I took turns chasing after pigeons and having our cheeks squeezed by total strangers (the Bosnians LOVE children).

The next day my dad and Liam's dad went for a "killer bike ride" through the Bosnian hills. Their streets are built into the mountain, so the hills are like 10x's steeper than San Francisco's! You need to be careful when you go off the main roads in Bosnia because there are still active land mines left over from the war - signs are posted in some of the areas to make sure you don't get hurt.

While they were avoiding land mines, Liam and I went on our own bike ride. The only land mine we encountered was an elderly Bosnia woman who gave my mom a very long lecture (in Bosnian) for allowing me outside without a hat - it was pretty funny.

The next day we headed south to Mostar - the city with the famous old bridge, Stari Most, that was sadly destroyed during the war but has since been rebuilt. We ran through the old cobble stone streets chasing stray cats while total strangers chased after us pinching our cheeks (again!). The bridge is made of a very slippery stone so Liam and I decided to scoot down the whole bridge - apparently that's not the typical way to do it because people thought we were pretty funny.

After Mostar it was on to Croatia. My last name is Italian, but all of my dad's ancestors came to the U.S. from Croatia - so this country and I have a connection. Let's be honest - what's not to love about Croatia? Water, beaches, beautiful architecture, and lots of people who wanted to pick me up and pinch my cheeks (good grief people!).

The highlight of our trip was our visit to the island of Korcula. This is the island my great grandfather grew up on and the same island my great grandmother was born on. It is spectacular. A quaint old city, beautiful vineyards and orchards, and cozy little beaches. We took a car ferry to the island - who knew you could drive a car onto a boat - so cool! Our apartment was in the old city, just a few blocks from the building where my great grandfather grew up.

Only one relative still lives on the island, my grandfather's cousin, Vali. After showing us to the beach so we could swim and throw rocks in the Adriatic Sea, she invited us to her home for the day - a really neat village with orchards, sheep, turtles, turkeys, chickens, and cats.

We ate figs off of her tree, chased after the animals, and dined on a turkey that she said, "was just too loud yesterday..." This information encouraged me and Liam to be a little bit more quiet.

I learned about my great grandfather's home and played in the same courtyard that he did - right next to the home where Marco Polo was born. After seeing how wonderful the island was, the only question I have is why would anyone ever leave? Perhaps it was because their mom put them in the car and drove back onto the car ferry and headed south to Dubrovnik! At least that was my reason for leaving.

The weather continued to be perfect and we walked on the old city wall. Liam and I got super cool Croatian soccer balls in Korcula. We decided it would be fun to kick the balls as we ran the city wall (never mind that there are over 700 steps). At one point I picked up my ball and decided to test my throwing skills - the walls were taller than me and I wanted to show Liam how strong I was. Next thing I knew, my awesome Croatian soccer ball sailed over the city wall, dropped down the 150 foot cliff, and landed in the Adriatic Sea (if you blow this picture up you can see the tiny yellow dot in the water). Um, who knew I had the strength of Hercules? Serious bummer. My dad gave me a lecture on consequences while my mom tried to cheer me up by saying the ball decided to go swimming - really mom, a swimming soccer ball? Either way there was no retrieving my ball - I hope it's a good swimmer.

From Dubrovnik we headed back north to Bosnia. We passed by the town of Stone. I think it got it's name because they built a stone wall around their city on the hill. If all towns were named after the stuff they have most of, I think I'd like to live in the town of ice cream (good idea, huh).

My parents went to see the tunnel the Bosnians dug under the airport during the war. This is such an incredible story and if you have a minute, I encourage you to learn a little about it. Then we hung out some more with Liam, Todd, and Mary, had a few more strangers pinch my cheeks, then headed to the airport for one more stop in Turkey.

We arrived in Turkey and headed down to the beach to play at a park for dinner while the sun set. In the morning it was back to the airport for the 11 and a half hour flight home. We departed about 90 minutes prior to the 7.2 earthquake that hit Turkey, so we didn't even know it had happened until we landed back in DC.

I was a champ on the flight - my mom says the travel gods hooked us up because we had four seats to ourselves for both the flight out and the flight back - a guy my size can really stretch out in four seats! So I was able to sleep and play and even watched the movie Rio.

Learning about your relatives is fun. And if this is considered geneolgy work, I could definitely get into it. I hear my grandmother's family is from Greece!

The Color of Miracles

James McBride wrote a book called "The Color of Water." The book describes itself as a black man's tribute to his white mother. During her life she was married to two black men and had twelve children. She raised these children in poverty, often being the only white person in the neighborhood. By the author's desciption, none of the children looked like his mother and he, himself, had a hard time believing this white woman was his own mother because they did not have the same color skin. The title of this book is derived when the son asks his mother the color of God, and his mother replies ‘The color of water’.

I absolutely love this book for so many reasons, but mostly because of this response; it connects with me.

I was again reminded of this wise woman's words as I watched more than a hundred children and their families play at the annual pediatric heart picnic this past weekend. Fairfax hospital hosts an picnic each fall to bring the cardiac kids and the surgeons together for a reunion - it's pretty incredible. Every race, culture, and socioeconomic background is represented at this gathering. Keep in mind that most of these heart procedures cost between a quarter of a million and a half of million dollars to perform. (This is Dr. Shen, the surgeon who repaired Bodie's heart)

All I could think as I looked at these little kids faces was the color of miracles is like the color of water. God offers miracles to every one of his children - and we've been lucky to receive more than our fair share.

Trick or Treat

The Halloween "tricks" came early to our house. And before I get blamed, let me tell you my side of the story. I was tapping a 2" plastic toy on our front storm door - okay, maybe banging, but it was a plastic toy! Then all of a sudden, pop! crackle! uh oh! Lots of broken glass. Bummer.

Anyway, I felt terrible and kept saying, "I sorry daddy" (mom wasn't home when it happened). Dad didn't even get mad because he could see I felt awful and that it was a total accident. But we were in a hurry so my dad lightly shut the door and called my mom to warn her so she wouldn't get cut when she got home.

It was cheaper to replace the door than get new glass, but the door won't be here for another 10 days. My friend Noah's mom suggested my mom make the duck tape covering the broken glass into a spider web design and pretend it's a Halloween decoration - BRILLIANT! Looks pretty cool, huh!

I Heart Fall

Fall, I love you. Not only is the weather the best and it's football season, this season is when all of the farms open to the public! We love Cox Farms and this year we went with a bunch of our friends. If you've never been, you need to go. First it's huge. Second there are like 10 billion gigantic slides. Third there's THE BEST hay ride on the planet. And fourth, they give you a free tiny pumpkin when you leave. Can it get any better than that!?!.

Look at my dad's face. My mom says this picture captures their parenting skills perfectly - fun first, safety second. Should I be worried? Clearly with parents like mine, going down a 100 yard slide by myself seemed like a perfectly good idea - yes, that teeny, tiny dot mid-way on the slide is me. I quickly figured out I could log roll from my back to belly and shoot down even faster - that was awesome.

Here are some photo highlights of the day:

And no week is complete without a good football game. We went to Annapolis to watch the Navy vs. Air Force game. Navy lost in overtime 34-35 in the sold out stadium - the place was packed!