Bringing in the New Year

To ring out the old and bring in the new, we chose an end of year hike together on New Year's Eve day.

With the temperature hovering near freezing here on Hvar (they say it hasn't been this cold in 22 years) we bundled up and headed out.

Someone walked by just as we were leaving so I handed over the camera to get a photo with the pretty surroundings. I'm not kidding when I say that out of the four photos he took, this was the best one!

What was he thinking?! I'm not sure if he thought it'd be more interesting if we were all doing something different, or just didn't notice everyone wasn't looking as he snapped the pictures. In any case, it makes me laugh every time I look at it!

Speaking of laughter, you know what else gives me the giggles? This!

The apartment we're staying in has one air conditioning unit that doubles as a heater and it's in the kitchen. With frigid cold bedrooms, and no living room, we've spent our time hanging out here, with the air conditioner trying to pump out heat, and the oven on to give us some extra warmth! Sure didn't expect it to be so cold.

But it sure is pretty!

We decided to walk the coastline on a small trail that takes you down near the water, as well as up high on the cliffs.

The views are spectacular no matter where you are!

Caleb hadn't been back to Croatia in three years, so he was soaking it in any way he could!

We walked and talked, laughing and exclaiming the whole way as it was just so pretty. There was literally a cool place for a photo around every bend, so we made a lot of stops as we hiked!

Our destination was the campground that we've been camping in for the past six years. It's just around the corner, on the other side of this pretty vineyard.

Ah the joy of walking into that familiar place! It was fun to show Haley this special place where many wonderful family and friend memories were made over the years.

But the highlight was heading down to the beach. Oh what a magical place that is, even in the winter when it's cold.

The campground dog followed us down to the beach and hung out the whole time we were there. In fact, later on he even walked us back to the village we're staying in, nearly 3 kilometers away. He's very friendly!

The wind died down while we were at the beach, and the sun was warm against the rocks making it easy to stay as long as possible.

None of us wanted to go, not even this one!

So fun to share it all with Haley, who'd heard about this special place through the years as she and Caleb grew in their friendship and love!

This place is definitely a gift from the Lord to us, our "happy place"!

We've had a lot of special memories in this place, to which we added a new one yesterday.

Claire found a gorgeous starfish and a piece of sea glass that looked as if it was glowing. Those are going back to Chicago to remind her of this beautiful place!

With the sun setting, and a hike still ahead of us back to the village, we took one last look and then bundled up again and headed for home.

With some new precious memories in our heads to remember these sweet days by!