Summer Holiday to Lefkada Island, Greece with Aunt Stacey

Sorry for the delayed update from our side but all is well with the Kirkbride's in Kosovo. Summer break has kept our hands full but Rea is in a new daycare 1 minute walking from our house and Adi has also joined the full day program for several months of the summer to get better with his Albanian and let mom and dad have some time to work. We are both busy juggling several consulting assignments each but allowing us to be local for the most part since mid-June for me. We have moved into a new house about 10 minute walk from the in-laws and just outside the city in the wonderfully breezy hills surrounding Pristina. We can mountain bike and walk directly to the city park and do a 2.5 hour mountainous loop around the park followed by a nice lunch or machiatto at the park restaurant.

A highlight was Stacey's visit with us for about a month. And one week we drove 9 hours south to the wonderfully 'pimpled' (pebbled) beaches with great seafood, low key fishing villages, clear sky's and an economy that is just holding on (paid cash for everything). We found the perfect seaside condo run by a wonderfully hospitable Greek family. Otherwise we have been enjoying the local sites for day trips, visiting pools, spending time with friends and family and enjoying the warm weather.

Day out at the local 'California' pool outside Pristina.

 Work Trip to Dubai with a Twist

Well, the best work trip yet with Pranvera joining and kids left at home. For a week in 47C we melted away 6 days at the 5 Star Grand Hyatt. Certainly a playground in the dessert everything reminded me of Vegas, except the tallest building in the world and the massive race to add as many skyscrapers  by 2020. Although my days were spent training the Energy and Water Agency and partners, nights were enjoyed poolside, at very expensive restaurants both inside the hotel and out with two different sets of friends. The extreme heat certainly limited our pure outside enjoyment but with shopping malls containing 1200 stores, ski mountain, skating rinks, aquariums, who needs to go outside? Although a nice experience not the scale, temperature or modernity that would be desirable long-term.

Adi's Mother Day Performance at School

Rea turns 1

And in style with the entire Recica family in celebration. From her cute birthday dress to the lady bug cake she knew it was a special occassion and was all smiles. Hard to believe a year ago we were with my sister in Nelspruit South Africa welcoming our princess into this world. Happy Birthday big girl;-)

Winter Wonderland

Ironically after renting a house on the mountain slopes of Brezovice (Kosovo) for 4 days to ski and board,  the meter of snow we had dumped on us while we were there prevented us from making it up to the mountain top to do so. But it was Adi's first real immersion into snow and he loved it, as the photos show. At one point he was trying to swim in it as we went were 'walking' around the neighborhood enjoying the fresh air, mountain silence and falling snow.

Despite not being able to ski, we had our snow shoes so we headed out onto the trails while leaving the kids with Pranvera's mom. As we headed up the mountain we came across a trail that ended up at a house with their own tow rope and hill for kids to ski on. As we chatted with the owner who turned out to know Pranvera's mom, we were invited back the next day so Adi could practice skiing despite not making it up to the resort. And after I carried him up the hill the next day he enjoyed hours of skiing with their girls as we had tea and lakuma with the family. True Kosovar hospitality.

We loved being back in the mountains, wood burning stove, fresh mountain trout dinner and just family time.