Finn's First Birthday!

Where did the time go?  It was hard to believe that a year passed since our sweet baby boy was born!  We had a low key celebration with a few close friends in Warsaw to honor his big day.  We kept it simple with Pizza and beer....and of course, cake.  Finn did a great job digging into his first taste of birthday cake.  We are so glad that my parents were able to be here to join in the celebration!  Happy birthday Mr. Finnegan!  You fill our hearts with immense joy!  We love watching you grow into such a little person.

A cupcake to celebrate on his actual birthday!

What took you guys so long to let me try this?

Yum!

Party time!

How did our little guy grow SO fast?

Finn's own mini cake

We love this little munchkin..

Finn's favorite babysitter - Miss Marta

Making quick work of his cake

Yummy!

Pure HAPPINESS

We love you Finnegan Oliver!

Easter Fun in Croatia & Slovenia

We decided to use the long Easter weekend to head to Croatia and Slovenia.  We had been wanting to get over to this part of Europe and were very excited that the flights worked out.  We flew into Zagreb, Croatia and spent two days exploring the sights in this cute little Croatian town.  We loved walking around the Old Town and seeing the famous religious shrine to Mary outside of the castle wall.  It was also great to see the Croatian people celebrating the Easter weekend with basket blessings similar to that in Poland.  

We left Zagreb and headed to the Plitvice Lakes national park in Croatia.  This was one of the most unbelievable places I have ever seen in my entire life.  It is a massive park with tons and tons of gorgeous natural waterfalls.  The park is laid out in a super unique way too that allows you to walk on simple wooden paths (without any handrails/guards) that take you over, under and through the falls.  It was so cool to literally be walking amongst the falls...and sometimes even scary to be doing it!  I am positive that they would never allow anything like this in the USA due to possible liability issues.  But, man it was cool to see!  We opted for the shorter route and we were still hiking for over 5 hours through the park.  Finn was a trooper and hung out in the baby carrier and took in the views.  If you ever have the chance to get to this park we highly recommend it!  The falls and water are just stunning!  After a long day of hiking we headed back to relax in Zagreb for the evening.

We were up early the next day and headed off for a short drive to Slovenia!  We met up with some great Warsaw friends in Slovenia so we picked them off and headed off for more natural beauty.  Our first stop was Lake Bled...a famous lake in Slovenia known for its picturesque views.  It was so pretty.  We rented a paddle boat and went for a ride in the lake.  Then, we warmed ourselves up by sampling some famous Lake Bled creme cake in a cozy cafe.  After that we were off for more mountains, waterfalls and hiking in Slovenia.  It was a gorgeous afternoon. Who knew for being such a small country Slovenia had such an amazing range of beautiful natural surroundings.  After a big action packed day we headed to our hotel in Ljubljana and managed to snag a babysitter for the night.  We went out to dinner with our friends, Becky and Eric, at a local Slovenian restaurant and enjoyed one of their local specialties....black truffles!  yum yum

Our final day in Slovenia we headed out to find a castle that was actually built into the side of a cliff...a pretty incredible sight to see!  The, we headed into town and enjoyed an afternoon exploring the city of Ljubljana.  Its an adorable little town and we made our way up the big hill to see the castle.  We ended our day with a late lunch and then were off to the airport to head home to Warsaw!

Another great trip and it was so nice to rejuvenate our souls with some beautiful water and nature!

Off on another family adventure!

Zagreb in full bloom

Old Town Zagreb

Finn loving the attention from the wait staff at dinner

Off to the Plitvice Lakes

Ready for exploring

Amazing waterfalls - the pictures don't do them justice

A good example of the "trails". This one was flooded due to lots of rain.  The water to Tom's left side went straight down into a 50 foot waterfall drop!

So much beauty

Crossing the falls by boat

Finn was exhausted from all the stimulation

Done with our hike...the view from the top

Ready to rent a boat in Lake Bled, Slovenia

We put Finn to work rowing the boat

Lake Bled

Lake Bled from above

Tom loved the Alpine slide down the mountain

Yummy pizza lunch while hiking

Someone had fun....

Hiking waterfalls in Slovenia

We made it!

We took the ski lift to the top of the mountain in Slovenia...gorgeous and cold!

Breakfast time

The castle built into the mountain

Castle Silliness

Downtown Ljubljana

City view from the castle

Tired traveler

Famous Lake Bled cake

Lake Bled boating