Where Have We Been?

We know, we know. It’s been over two years since our last blog post. Between homeschooling, work, travel, and life in general we’ve not kept it up. Sorry? Not sorry. Sometimes we need a break from things, even things we love. Ken and I have been discussing getting back into the swing of things recently so here’s our first attempt.

The last you heard from us, we were somewhere in Mexico, and that was about 24 months ago. Here's a list of the places we've been, and a taste of what you might read about if/when we write a blog post on that location. 

* Isla Mujeres - Snorkeling with Whale Sharks. They're not sharks, but the world's largest fish. 

* Playa del Carmen - Ahhhhh. Hot! Warm Caribbean Sea. Cenotes galore.

* Placencia, Belize - Tag spied a manatee swimming above the water and the rest of us saw it while snorkeling. Majestic.

* San Miguel de Allende, Mexico again - Hilly town with fresh fruit on every corner. Tag loved it.

* Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore and a lot of other stuff in the area - We had to buy winter coats for the kids, and we've gotten a lot of use out of them. 

* A visit home, Kirkland, Washington, USA - Thanksgiving 2016 and a lot of rain. What else would you expect from the Pacific Northwest?

Europe!!! Goodbye car. Hello airplanes, trains and buses. For the time being, we are done with Central America and Mexico. It’s all about Europe and Africa.

* Iceland - Icebergs are so cool.

* England - Ela and Tag took care of a lot of dogs (yes, we did more housesitting), and walked more than they ever had in their lives. There was a dungeon that Ela wasn't too fond of too. 

* Netherlands - Some of the best art in the world. Ken and I love big cities, and Amsterdam didn't disappoint. 

* Malta - Likely the oldest place we've ever been. Historic and beautiful. 

* Cyprus - More driving on the left and awesome Greek food. 

* South Africa - The animals. We're officially done with zoos and aquariums. It's animals in the wild, in sanctuaries or not at all. We'll do our best. 

* Croatia - Home of the most beautiful national park ever. And there was a good quiche/pizza take-away around the corner from our temporary flat.

* Gran Canaria, Spain - Ken was invited to speak at a conference, and there was no way he was going without us. We ended up staying 2 months on this lovely island where Christopher Columbus stopped on his way to the New World.

* Romania - Cold. So cold, but we loved Romania. This was our first road trip in Europe and I yearn to go back.

* Germany - An unplanned 12 hours in Frankfurt and the best Christmas Market ever. This was followed by a huge refund check on our flights. Gotta love European laws.

* Greece - Athens for a week. Dare I say the Parthenon isn’t all that? I know I shouldn’t, but we all felt that way.

* Kenya - A solo week away for only me, a necessity for all moms, but especially for those that don’t send their kids to school 6 hours a day.

* Italy - Rome. A weekend away for Ken and I, and later followed by a very costly lay-over. Mistakes happen. Suck-it-up and move on.

* Georgia (the country) - The kids complained that we hadn’t taken a vacation in a looooong time. Another eye roll, but we indulged them with a week at a lovely resort. Then we spent 3 weeks discovering the country itself.

* Czech Republic - Prague. Oh, Prague! We love you! The kids liked The Candy Store with traditional goodies from Britain and the US (think peanut butter cups, jelly bellies, Red Vines, Apple jacks cereal). Ken and I loved the parks, the easy-to-use public transportation, and the 1000 things to do.

* Albania - Our first home base since Guatemala. We have a nice apartment, Ela is taking guitar, art, soccer, swimming, and Tag participates when he feels like it. Seriously. Also, it’s now the end of September and it’s still hot. 90s hot (low 30s for our metric friends). We’re more likely to blog since we spend daylight hours in the apartment hiding from the heat.

As you can see, we've haven't slowed down and we have no intention of doing so. We’ve been doing it as a family for over 4 years now. We hope you enjoy our travels, and that maybe they inspire you to do a bit of traveling too. Thanks for reading. 

Ken, Mickelle, Ela & Tag