We celebrated Rocco today! His birthday is actually tomorrow, he is turning 5! And these 5 years of his life have been fast forward. We opened gifts as per tradition in bed this morning, and we went through the procedure already yesterday evening. “when I wake up, I have to pretend to sleep, so you can surprise me by singing happy birthday and giving gifts”. And this we did!

Favorite gift was a Transformer from Mommo and Moffa, second place small LEGO police car, police, thief and motorcycle box.

He got to choose lunch place and as we had discussed bear meat during the week, that was of course his wish. Neither one of us had eaten bear before so we were all excited. We went over to Slovenia, had an accidental crossover in Croatia where it was snowy. A friends had provided us with a good restaurant suggestion for bear as that seems to be popular here. The food was delicious, pasta with truffle, pasta with porcini and bearsteak with polenta. The bear however had a very particular taste, was not my personal favorite but was an interesting new taste for us all.

The surrounding was beautiful, the day sunny, and all in good mood.

We stopped in Umag late yesterday afternoon for an “appetitivo” and a slow stroll on the seaside. It is so silent in the beach villages this time of the year. We found one restaurant/bar open serving hot beverages with warm quilts to wrap around you, catching the last warmth of the setting sun.

The air is crisp and the winter sun is throwing random warm rays of light over the beaches of Croatia, silenced in the wait for new tourists. The kids are playing with some toys and sand. Our nostrils fill with the scent of salt water and ripe flavorful mandarins. We peel and the children pick them faster than the motherbird feed its babies.