Romeo and Juliet Castles

Ok, so I thought this trip was going to be awesome. I thought we'd be able to go into the castles and enjoy the architecture. I was wrong. Don't get me wrong, the view from the top of the hill was amazing and the castles were neat but you can't go in Romeo's castle at all unless they are having a play or something going on there and Juliet's castle is nothing but a restaurant. We went not knowing what to expect and we were a bit bummed after we got there. Here's a few pictures we took.

Romeo's Castle....this is all we were able to see of it.

The small church that you aren't allowed to go into.

The view from the castles

Here's Juliet's Castle, in the walls it's just a restaurant area. It's pretty and I'm sure the food is awesome but with the three kids we were not about to sit and find out.

The menu for Cupido's Restaurant

After walking around the Castles a little bit we went into Montecchio Maggiore (the town underneath the castles) and found a market so we walked around and enjoyed ourselves more then we did at the castles. I love the open markets here, it's one of the main things I will miss about this great country!

So, would I recommend going to the castles??? Maybe if there was a play going on or for single couples that want to eat at the restaurant, but otherwise, not so much. Yes it's beautiful scenery but not really worth the trip with the three kids. We did, however, still have a wonderful day enjoying the warm weather and beautiful sites of Italy!

Another adventure awaits us around the corner.....

Bike ride out the back gate.

Today we decided to take a bike ride. Well, the kids rode their bikes while the hubby and I walked. Easier to watch them near the roads that way. There is a nice gate out of our housing area where you can walk/ride out and in when you want to (hopefully the gate works lol). This first picture is what you see when you head out the back gate, amazing isn't it?

Along that path there is corn on both sides of the road. I have passed it many times and never had my camera but this time I did so I got me some "children of the corn" pictures. My hubby however, would NOT get in the corn for a picture LOL



The bike path has benches after you get down it a ways so we took this opportunity to stop and rest, take a drink of water and pictures of the kids. I love my crazy kids.



We aren't going to get views like this when we move back stateside.....

Awe, I think we wore Benjamin out! He rested his head on his handlebars and peddled his way home. Poor boy!


It was the perfect summer day for a bike ride today! We are still planning on going to the big park and maybe if the clouds go away we can hit up the big swimming pool too. I love vacation time with the family! Living up our last 22 days in Italy that's for sure!!!!

Lago di Fimon

Woke up today, didn't have to do what we had planned so we decided on doing something else. There's a lake close, Lago di Fimon that has a walking path all the way around it so I thought it might be a good place to see. I've talked about it with a friend before but the kids ended up getting sick so we didn't go and then I found it on the "self tours" part of the MWR website
and printed it out so this is what we did.

It's only about a 20 minute drive from here, maybe less, in the hilly area's of the Veneto Region. Being our first time there we had no idea what to expect but it looked like this.


We got out of the van and started walking and there was a Swan out on the water. We went over to get a closer look and noticed there was a family of 4. I'm guessing mom, dad and two babies. However, the babies weren't really babies no more but they were still cute!


The lake was COVERED in lily pads! I've never seen so many and they looked awesome! The kids kept asking why there weren't any frogs on them, must have been to hot out today.

Brandon decided we should take a picnic lunch and we packed sandwiches and chips and strawberries and water for our little excursion.


We could have walked around the whole lake but it was hot out and the kids were super whiny today for some reason so we only went about 1/4 of the way and turned around and headed back towards the van. On the way back I took lots of pictures of the berries growing on the trees in the area. Wish I knew more about what was edible and what wasn't.




So there ya have it, Lago di Fimon in just an hour and a half trip. Could prove to be a great time when the kids are in better moods.

CAKE POPS

Have you ever heard of cake pops? I hadn't until I happened across a blog posted by someone else, I can't even remember who it was or I'd post their link too but I do remember they were from Australia! I searched in yahoo on how to make them, found a vague recipe and followed it with guessing how to do the parts that weren't real well explained. Here's what we did to make our Cake Pops!

We started with just a regular chocolate cake. Nothing special about it just a box cake mix. I've got a while cake mix I want to try too but we have to eat all the chocolate ones we made first!

We baked the cake according to the directions on the back of the box. Used water, oil and eggs and the cake mix of course and put it in the oven and baked it.

When it was finished I let it sit out over night so it could cool off really good. I just left mine in the pan covered with a kitchen towel and it worked just fine for me.

After we had everything out and sorted we took two forks and chopped the cake into little crumbs. The smaller the crumbs the easier it was to make the cake balls.

Once the cake was all crumbled in a large bowl I took a tablespoon and poured two scoops into my hands. I rolled and kneeded with my thumb and squashed and rolled some more to make round balls. Some don't turn out so you just re-do them but that's ok. It takes a few times to make sure you get them perfect. After the balls were laid out on the wax paper on a cookie sheet we took wooden skewers and put them in the center of the balls. Then we put them all in the freezer to harden up.


While they were in the freezer we melted the chocolate. We didn't know what to start with so we melted semi-sweet bakers chocolate and white bakers chocolate in the microwave. After they were melted we took the cake pops out of the freezer one at a time and dipped them in the chocolate.


Then covered them with sprinkles right away.




After we did a bunch with sprinkles we decided to try the drizzling with white chocolate so after the chocolate set on the ones we had done we took the white chocolate, a spoon, and drizzled it on the cake pops. They turned out the best I think.




These are our Cake Pops. I hope you try them for yourself because they are super fun to make. There's millions of things you can do with them, any kind of cake, chocolate, sprinkles, etc. Make them your own!!!!

Plitvice National Park

WOW, what a vacation we had! Can't even believe we actually got to see this most amazing place! AND I got the exact same pictures of the falls that I took offline to make my post earlier, how cool is that?! I've heard people say it's like the Grand Canyon in the US but with vegetation and boy were they right. It is a HUGE area with lots of vegetation and the most beautiful water I've seen since our cruise to Greece!

We started at the bottom, the lower lakes, with the largest waterfall and walked our way up to the top lake where the River feeds the lakes. It was a total of about 9km walking, we took the B and C walking paths. Basically the easy part since we had the three kids. The letters go all the way up to G and that's a lot more walking, hiking, etc. And I'm sure the views from those paths are even more incredible but the kids really enjoyed looking at the fish and walking right next to the lakes the entire way.

About half way up the lakes there is a nice little rest area that had food, drinks, places to rest or run around for the kids, bathrooms, gift shop, etc. The best part is the whole time you are there, it's not a timed thing. You can take however long you want to make it through the Park. Right at the rest stop is where you can get on a water ferry and take it across the lake. You can walk as well but what fun is that. The ferry is part of the ticket to get into the park so you don't have to pay for it. When we got on the ferry, Benjamin missed his footing and almost fell between the boat and the dock, scared the CRAP out of me, but he was ok. Got a little scratch on his hand but that was it. I felt horrible as a parent not keeping a better eye on him and all the looks and stuff that we got but oh well. It happens.

On the other side of the lake you can choose to go right to the "train" or you can walk more, we chose to walk more! Went walked through to see more waterfalls and wonderful sights. There were thousands of waterfalls connecting the lakes. Along this path was one where the mist from the waterfalls actually got us a little wet. That was nice. I have never seen so many waterfalls in my life.

At the end of the lakes there's another small rest area with a snack bar and the "train" that picks you up and takes you back to the lower lakes. It's a long and windy road back down but well worth it. Saved my legs from having to trek all the way back!

When we got off at the Parking 1 area we still had a ways to walk back but it was up top this time. We got to look out over the lakes from the top and that in itself was awesome! They are the most beautiful color and seeing all the people walking along the pathways next to the falls was really neat to see. The pictures I got were just amazing. For some reason they aren't wanting to load on here but I have them all on my FB page. Well, not all of them, but 80% of them anyways.

To anyone thinking about taking this little vacation, I highly recommend it! It was the most fun we have had on a vacation since, well, our last one I guess! We love getting out and the walking was a great workout. There really is something fun for everyone at this National Park. The little ones like the water and fish and the bigger ones like the walking and the falls. A GREAT VACATION for sure!

Castle Miramare

I'm so glad I have the internet to look up the "cool" things before we go on a vacation! I found this castle online and thought "How cool would it be to go to the castle, walk around the gardens, have a snack at the bar, see the castle that's built on the shore and enjoy a new experience with the 4 most wonderful people ever." This Castle was amazing! We would have liked to gone inside but the kids weren't really up for the whole being quite and standing still thing so we just toured the outside and took lots of pictures!


The Miramare Park (Gardens) covers 22 hectares of a rocky promontory, which was originally devoid of any vegetation. The reclamation of the site, including the Castle, was commissioned by Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg, who was to become Emperor of Mexico. He bought the land between 1855-1856. He set out to transform this bare spur of land not only into a garden and an experimental botanical centre, but also, into a place of meditation where nature and art are in permanent communion. Miramare, which is the only place still featuring Maximilian today, mirrors his personality and his passions.


Amongst the Gardens there are a lot of paths and sitting areas. There is a Cafe, or Bar as they are called here, where you can get a snack and something to drink. There are statues everywhere and all kinds of small animals from birds to cats. Castle Miramare is also a great place for wedding photos among the Italian culture. There were two couples all dressed up and getting their pictures taken all over the Castle grounds. Once I saw them I thought they had a GREAT idea! I've always wanted to run around Italy all dressed up in wedding clothes and getting our pictures taken. Maybe one day we can do the same as they did...

Brandon says he's going to build me a Castle like this one day. You think if we build it in the states it would stick out like a sore thumb and become a HUGE tourist attraction? I don't think we could ever get it to be so breathtaking. The pictures don't really do it much justice but the memories I have of Max's Castle will be in my head forever!!!

Our 4th of July Vacation

I'M SO VERY EXCITED!!!!!

So this trip I have wanted to do since I seen it on the Yahoo 10 most beautiful lakes in the world and since we've done Lake Garda (which was also on there) A LOT, this one is going to be even more fun. Some of you might remember me talking about this trip, but if not, here's a sneak peak of what we have planned!

It's a 5 1/2 hour drive to our destination and halfway there is Trieste, Italy. I don't know much about Trieste but I did some searching online and found this wonderful Castle that is surrounded by beautiful gardens and the Sea. What could be better then this for our 1/2 way potty break, leg stretch, bar (restaurant) stop!
Of course when we get back I will be posting my own pictures! This one was taken of the online sight about the Castle. Can't wait to see it and experience more of Italy we haven't seen yet!

There's other places along the road we could stop at too but I didn't want to cram too much into day 1 on traveling. We check into our Apartment between 2 and 11pm on Saturday the 2nd so we have plenty of time to get there. I of course want to get there in enough time to buy some food, find our way to the National Park we are going to see and get settled in before the sun goes down. So where are we going????

PLITVICE LAKES NATIONAL PARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never heard of it? Look it up, it's going to be AMAZING! Here's a little about it, in the national park there are 16 lakes and they are all connected! Not by streams or rivers but by WATERFALLS! Can you imagine? I try and think about how it's going to look all the time and looking at pictures just makes me even more curious if that's how it actually is. Here are a few pictures of the waterfalls.....




Beautiful isn't it? Across several of the lakes are walking paths made of wood with no railings (we'll see how that works with the kids) that actually go close to the waterfalls themselves. They say it is like the Grand Canyon in the states but with Vegetation!!! I can't wait to go and take pictures (Can't forget to take my tripod and my claw for the camera). Since we'll have the kids with us, and it's going to be a bunch of walking, we can stop to take breaks (picture opportunities) more often :) Not that I have to have a reason to take pictures but hey, it helps!!!

So, what do you think??? Think we'll have an incredible time? I can't wait for it to get here! Only two short weekends away and we'll be on another adventure of a lifetime!!!!! YAY!!!!