Wednesday – July 19
We slept late (well, later than we usually slept) and made our way down to the included breakfast buffet, which was only available from 9-11am. It was typical fare, except they had bacon, which Monki has recently discovered, so she was rather excited to pile it high on her plate. They also had smoked bacon, which I was sure was raw, but Rasa insisted it wasn’t. It still took me two days to try it.
Continue reading “Šventoji – Summer 2023 – Part 2”
We needed a vacation, this much was certain. So far, we’d been having a summer of uncertainties. We had been looking for a place to buy, but prices were soaring, way above what they should have been, so we were stuck in a holding pattern there. Rasa was working on finishing the details for her defense of her dissertation and Monki had graduated from first grade, but now we were looking at different summer camps and things for her to keep her occupied for the summer.
Continue reading “Šventoji – Summer 2023 – Part 1”
It started a couple of days ago.
Even though we’re non-religious, Rasa loves the Christmas season. She loves decorating the house and putting up the tree and doing all the stuff associated with the holiday. At least the non-secular version. To be fair, when I was a kid, I really loved going to friends’ houses to help them decorate their trees. It’s a great family thing.
After our recent trip to England, we weren’t sure we’d get another chance to go anywhere this summer. Rasa certainly wanted to maybe take a day trip to the beach, or we could hit the labyrinth park again, or really, just anything to get out of the house. Thing is, with the economy the way it is, not to mention our work schedules, it just didn’t seem likely anything major would happen.
Day 7 – June 30
Thursday was the last day we had anything planned or pre-booked. Today’s adventures were a boat ride to explore the “Jurassic Coast” and then meeting up with Rasa’s colleague Dai and his wife. The boat was leaving from Poole, a little bit further along the coast than Bournemouth (where we had been a few days earlier and where we would be meeting up with Dai) and since it had a precise departure time, so did we.
Day 4 – June 27
Monday morning came and Amy had to go to work. Luckily, we were up early enough to say good-bye and thank her and Clive once again for their generosity. We also had to say goodbye to the cats.
Prologue
Back in February or March, Rasa was informed of a conference in her field coming up in Manchester, England at the end of June. We talked it over and decided it would be a good idea to go. It would be her first in-person conference as a PhD student (due to the pandemic) and was scheduled to include a number of big names in her field as participants, including her unofficial supervisor (whom she would be able to meet in person for the first time).
It started with the car radio.
Since we got the new car, Rasa has been slowly learning all the ins and outs, the bells and whistles (and the weird little oddities) which make up our “lightning car.” One of those things was learning how to set the radio presets, which also means she spends more time in the car actually listening to the radio (which also means Monki hears more songs which I then have to get for her to put on her playlist so she can listen to the music she desires, as opposed to mine, which she has a healthy distrust of). Continue reading “Finding our way”
Day OneThis year, our joint birthdays started on Saturday the 10th of July. Since we had booked a trip away to start on the 12th, and since Monki wanted a party of some sort, we decided to do it on the Saturday before. Rasa got a Barbie cake and we invited most everyone Monki knew to come and help her celebrate. Continue reading “Birthdays: 2021 Edition”
This seems like an odd question to me. “Tell me about an adventure you’ve been on.” Sure, but really, isn’t that the same as a number of the questions I’ve answered already? I suppose it depends on what we consider an “adventure” right? But also, due to my having blogged about trips and travels regularly since the summer of 2013 (and a bit more haphazardly before that) haven’t I already covered most of my adventures?
Do I take the easy way out and just say “well, life is an adventure” and leave it at that? I don’t think that’s in the spirit of the game. So no, I need to think of an adventure I’ve not talked about before or delve deeper into one I have. But this also means I need to explore the idea of what, exactly, an adventure is. Continue reading “Tell me about an adventure you’ve been on”
Here it is, my first question from StoryWorth and already off to a rocky start. I read the question and immediately started pondering what was meant by “big trip?” How far back did I go? Was it in reference to an important trip or one of a huge duration? Naturally, it was Rasa who solved the dilemma. Continue reading “What was your first big trip?”
School starts next week. For me. For Monki, it starts the week after. Yup! She’s not only enrolled in kindergarten/preschool, but she also starts ballet classes on Monday the second of September. Now, those events will probably warrant a post of their own, but in the meantime, this is my last weekend before the semester starts and I have to knuckle down and get stuff done.
Therefore, we decided to take a little break and have some fun family time. This decision was aided by the fact that one of Rasa’s good friends was getting married and we wanted to go and congratulate the happy couple. Continue reading “Adventure Weekend”
On Sunday, June 9th, I did something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now – participated in the annual Kaunas Marathon. As I said recently, I’ve been running on the treadmill and was interested in trying it out in the world. To kill the suspense, I didn’t run a marathon. I didn’t even run the 5k, as I’ve been practicing in the gym. Nope, instead, I ran, along with Rasa and Monki, the family 1.5km run.
And it was great! Continue reading “And we ran…”
Not sure I’d ever get the chance, or if I’d want to if I did, but some of these really look like fun.
Others… not so much.
When we got up this morning, we had a choice to make. We could do our normal Sunday activities, which would involve work, or we could have a bit of a family day.
Now, to be honest, family days are hard to come by, mostly because work is not only ever-present, but increasing and increasingly complex. At any given point, I’ve got at least three different sets of job responsibilities so taking time off isn’t easy. Continue reading “An Impromptu Day at the Zoo”
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 