Car photos

Many months back I bragged about how we were pleased with our new (used) car, and stuff. Believe it or not, I still haven't had a chance to snap a picture. Probably because the car is dusty just about all the time. The fact that it is black doesn't help as it shows dirt readily. But, we also do a good bit of driving on several unpaved roads. The city seems to be under perpetual construction. You're bound to run into a road that's being repaved, fixed up, sewer system or gas lines being put in, etc. And sometimes these construction projects take a while (think months). In the meantime we have no choice but to drive around or through it so a car gets dusty even after we give it a nice wash. We're not known for washing the car too often to begin with. :) So, I decided to get a couple of nice, professional shots online and post them.
Cars here a good bit different as they have to be made for city driving and crazy narrow roads. That's why we picked a short but relatively tall car so we still have lots of headroom, we're higher up off the ground to see traffic better, yet we can still squeeze into most parking spots. The trunk is short but high so we still have a good bit of room for things.

Horsing around

Here we are just horsing around on the couch, watching TV as any good Americans would. :) I think that we owe the grandparents some more pictures so here they are.

Since pictures speak more than words, I'll try to post more, even if it's just kid snapshots.

Birthday party notes

I wanted to share a few pictures from Mia's birthday party from a few days ago. She was so delighted by that whole birthday week. She had a birthday cake made by my sister on the actual day of her birthday.
Then we sent some cookies to school with her to share. Then, she had an actual birthday party at one of the local playrooms. I believe that she enjoyed it quite a lot.
She picked the Little Mermaid cake but she also wanted a "zebra" cake. We don't know why she's been fascinated by zebras lately. So we decided to give her both. In one of teh photos, you'll notice her gingerly licking icing off of one of the zebras that were guarding her pink cake.
At home after the party it was time for present opening. She did it under the watchful eye of her big brother. He wouldn't leave her side for a second until all of the toys were out in the open.
Up to this point Mia asked whether it was her birthday every day. Since the party, she hasn't asked once. I believe that she's "birthdayed" out for a few weeks and I am sure she'll be back to the birthday countdown in no time. Now it's Ivor's turn. He's getting very impatient and hates to have to wait for 7 whole weeks before it is his turn to celebrate. :)

More Americans in Zagreb

The whole last week a group of some 14 Americans came to visit Zagreb. About half of them are from Birmingham and the rest from all other parts of the country but it seems that they all know each other through UAB. Majority of them radiologists. They went to visit castles one day, got a tour of the old town, went to national park Plitvice, and then a couple of days to Dubrovnik. I managed to get together with them over dinner one night. It was really late already. I left at 9:00pm and managed to find them even though they were in a part of town which was difficult to access by car. I didn't want to walk as it was late and I was by myself. Chris stayed home with the kids. We stayed out until after midnight when the restaurant closed. They seemed to really enjoy the stay. We had great fun over dinner talking about all sorts of things. We knew one couple as their daughter went to daycare with Ivor. Just so you know that Croatia makes a great place to vacation. :) Ann Marie, my sister in law is next. She'll be here in 2 weeks. Then Doug, a friend of mine, in 4 weeks. Heard a rumor that Noel, a friend and colleague might visit too sometime in June. Who's next? Any takers. You're missing out. :)

Labor day

Happy (Croatian) Labor Day! Labor Day is celebrated on 1st of May in Croatia and many other countries around the world. It is a holiday here so people are enjoying their day off. Many people took an extra day off and most left the city for the beach. We stayed home but enjoyed the outdoors today as we spent a nice morning at the park.