Susan read that there was a castle only 20 minutes away from our home in Warsaw, so we took a trip out there. We liked it so much we returned this weekend to catch a Medieval Faire going on!
Breck takes advantage of airport wifi, while missing his big sister (symbolized by the empty seat next to him). This will be our first new home as a family of only 3, and it already feels weird.
So there was soooo much going on – we traveled to Chicago (in the previous post), we drove out to Montana with Christy and the girls, she and Rob got married, we prepped Alea for college, and we finalized everything for our move to Poland. Couple with that the fact that our truck threw its transmission and we were without a vehicle for the last week, and you’ve got a pretty crazy period of time. Here are a few pictures from all those adventures…
Susan, Breck, and I ran over to Chicago this past weekend to see Robert and Christy and all the kids. We managed to squeeze in a day at Great America, a visit to the Field Museum, and a Cubs game, so I think we did pretty well!
After 12 years, Breck and Alea drove with me to school this morning for the last time. Alea graduates on Saturday, leaves on Monday for the US, and enrolls at Montana State University in the fall. Breck, Susan, and I are in Jakarta for another 2 weeks before summer vacation in Minnesota/Montana and then a move to Warsaw. Life as we’ve known it is being shaken up.
As is our tradition, the kids took a picture together before heading off. It is certainly a bittersweet moment, as it is the final one of them together at the end of a school year. In the next post down, I’ve compiled all the pictures from when they started together in Belgrade, oh so many years ago.
We’ve had a tradition of taking a “first day of school” and “last day of school” picture of the kids through the years, and it has been really fun to watch them grow up. Here are the shots, taken in Serbia, the US, India, and Indonesia over the past 12 years:
Our final spring break in Indonesia, and we went to one of our favorite places for a week of diving and relaxation.
Come into the deep blue see for some diving pictures!
Alea and Breck will be your guides today…
Mom and dad just try to keep up…
Susan took most of the really cool pictures.
And Dave just tried to figure out our new camera.
Spotted ray
A school of fish – we ran into tons of “swarms” during the week.
Bright light!
Yes, this is fish butt, but I just liked these guys a lot.
Nemo says “Hi!”
A turtle and his remora friend take a break to savor the view.
Hmmm…
Chilling in the shade.
This guy almost smacked Susan in the face.
Know what that is? It is an octopus!
Octopus hanging from the rocks.
Octopus hiding in the rocks.
Octopus coming out of the rocks.
I like eels. Except as meals. And the way they feels.
Swirling in the current.
First nudi picture (don’t worry, there are plenty more).
Two shrimp.
Another nudibranch.
Another moray eel – we saw more eels of all kinds on this trip than ever before….
A little porcelain crab.
Another porcelain crab.
Pygmy seahorse – that”s our guide”s hand, so everything is ok. No great close up…
Wonder why they call these sweetlips?
Just a fun scene over an anemone.
Met up with a guy at our dive shop who gave me some tips about playing around wi…
Met up with a guy at our dive shop who gave me some tips about playing around wi…
Peek a boo.
Two cuttlefish in this picture. We saw lots of them on this trip (and Alea spells them “cuddle fish”)
Another cuttlefish.
I really like scorpionfish. There are a couple more shots in the album where they are even more hidden than this one.
Lionfish.
A turtle resting among some coral.
We were told that “baby sharks don”t count,” but I don”t care. Here are two baby sharks hiding uder a rock.
Here”s an adult swimming around.
There were actually 2 of the adults in the area, but I wasn”t able to get them both in the same frame.
Again, just a lot of fun to try to get fish pix.
This baby fish is about as big as my pinky.
A little puffer fish, hiding from me. It reminds me of a little cat sitting in a corner all curled up.
Another nudibranch – really cool!
So wiggly and fun to watch.
At the end of one of our dives, we came across this huge swarm of glass fish. I love the pictures, but am not sure they do the fascinating scene justice.
Another view of the glass fish.
This was so cool!
Just an all around fun place to be.
Mantis shrimp.
Another one, out in the open.
Oh hey – time for another Nemo shot!
A school of unicorn fish.
Big, bad, triggerfish.
Leaf scorpionfish.
Go home turtle, you”re drunk!
Funky textures.
Lionfish – love all the little horns and things.
Hi, porcupine fish!
Hi, puffer fish!
Another nudibranch – this is a kind our guides really liked and said they hadn’t ever seen before.
I actually got some video of this one crawling along the bottom.
A couple other nudis hanging out.
Nemo’s family at home.
Lion fish in full regalia mode.
A clam being illuminated by our guide”s flashlight. Gives you an idea of what things really look like deep underwater.
A very cool velvety purple nudibranch.
A close up of this one”s antennae.
A crab hanging out.
Brain coral grooves.
A pinnacle full of sea life.
Cuttle fish face.
Here”s the cuttlefish with his buddy the nudibranch in the corner.
Lobster and shrimp. Two great tastes that taste great together.
Seascape.
Turtle in a seascape.
Two little crabs in a coral.
Blue ribbon eel upset at being disturbed.
Alea and Breck explore the deep blue.
Another turtle in full resting mode. Never had seen this before, saw it twice on this trip.
“Hey dude”
Scorpionfish – a face that only a mother could love!
I really do like these guys.
These guys, though, are the real deal!
Here”s a spotted moray checking us out.
A couple of shrimp.
Totally cool colors – I dig the red and yellow together.
Another cuttlefish.
Probably my favorite nudibranch picture – and Susan is the one who took it!
Zoomed in view of the previous shot.
So this is apparently a ribbon of nudibranch eggs!
Reminds me of those little troll dolls with the funky hair.
Cow boxfish – saw these on our first ever muck dive.
Black ribbon eel.
Another first for us – an Indian Walker (aka the Devil Stinger). He’s “hiding” behind a plant.
Another scorpionfish.
Action around an anemone.
Another kind of lionfish.
Glass shrimp.
Here’s a squid guarding its bundle of eggs (the white clump on the right)
Another cool nudibranch.
Another cool ray.
Another Nemo face.
Another nudibranch.
Ninja divers Breck and Alea really did a great job, and we had an all around wonderful time. Thanks to the whole family for a great final week in the Indonesian sun and surf!
We are missing mom, as she’s back in the US for the month, but are grateful to friends here for hosting yet another spectacular Thanksgiving dinner. Dave and the kids were all excited to get dressed up for the occasion!
Breck and Alea are all set for their high school UN day. Breck is sporting good ole cowdude duds, while Alea’s got a USA neck kerchief, bangles from India, a Serbian hat, Indonesian skirt, and Honduran scarf/belt – all the places she’s gone to school!
Breck and his cousin Aiden, with a guest-starring role played by Susan, made a little video this past summer. We just now got it uploaded to Youtube, so here it is!
In addition to all the cool diving that we did, we also had the chance to see some pretty extraordinary sights over spring break. This album is all from our “above water” camera, to complement the diving shots posted the other day…
We took a few snippets of video of our dive to Manta Point. Here’s a 2 minute look at what we saw (with bonus narration!). Susan, Alea, and Breck are all in here (if only fleetingly).
We headed to the Indonesian island of Flores for a week in the sun. One of our “must do in Indonesia” items was to see Komodo dragons in the wild, so that was the impetus for this trip. The first pictures, however, will be from our diving adventures. We left from Labuan Bajo and went under the sea on 3 days (only 2 with a working camera!), and saw some wondrous stuff.