Vacation Time !!!!

We saved up our funds this year to visit a beautiful place in the Mediterranean.............................Malta!!!

It is a small island (actually 3 small islands) off the coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.  Their national language is English, so communication was very easy.  They have warm weather and beautiful tropical waters which we beautiful.

Kirstin's parents decided to join us there for our vacation.  There's nothing better than being in a beautiful place with those you love.  We had a great time seeing a new place and spending time as a family !!!

The most stunning beauty we saw was the Azure Window......

We have some Polish friends who now live in Malta, so we got to meet up with them and see their city!

We spent lots of time in the water.....................

We did something BIG to celebrate Mommy's birthday this year -- parasailing !!  We weren't sure our kids would want to go along, but they did and had a blast !!!

Mommy and Kaleb together....

Albert and Arin together.......

After our time in Malta, Nana got to return to Krakow with us to enjoy the last week of summer before school started.

We cheered our daddy on during one of his last games with the Tigers, where he actually got to suit up and play with them !!!

Then we got to celebrate the first days of school together.....

And they are off for another Fall adventure......

AGM

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) this year was in Poland !!!  It was located in Jelenia Gora, where we spent a weekend as a family last year celebrating Kirstin's birthday.  It is a beautiful area of Poland. 

On our free family day, we went hiking to a waterfall with one of Kaleb's VBS teachers and some colleagues.

  

Then we went on a toboggan sled ride !!  It was the best one we have been on yet !!!

As usual, our kids got a chance to show was they learned during VBS that week !!

This was Kaleb's last opportunity to take part in VBS, so we soaked up all the memories we could.  So thankful for an organization that prioritizes funds for us to have this spiritual enrichment and encouragement !!!

  

 

  

  

Kayaking

We had a chance to do language immersion on a kayaking trip this summer with people from our church, Misja Laski !!  We had gone on a trip like this about 3-4 years ago, and have great memories, as well as great cultural stories, as a result of that trip.  So, since we now have an even better grip on the Polish language, and our kids are now old enough to help paddle, we thought it would be a great family adventure !!!

We had a group of 11 people, and we spent most of the first day travelling to the first site by train.  Our guide met us there to orient us for the week of kayaking and camping along the river route.

Here's some of our group getting ready to set sail.....

Arin and Albert 

Kirstin and Kaleb

We usually kayaked about 12-20 kilometers each day along the Polish rivers......about 4-6 hours.  Then we would set up our tents, walk to the local shop or farms for food, cook and eat together, then fellowship until bedtime. 

The rivers and lakes were amazing!!!  It's the only way to see those off-the-beaten-path sites of our country.  Some days we had to maneuver around obstacles like fallen trees and rocks in the river.  Other days we paddled across huge lakes.  We had occasional rapids that were tons of fun, but they were small.

  

We deepened relationships, took in some beautiful sites of God's creation, and practiced ALOT of Polish.  It was a blessed trip........one of my favorite weeks of our summer !!!!