Ciao ciao, Mali Lošinj

Well, all good things...

Today is our last full day in Croatia, and since we've fallen into a nice pattern, we kind of stuck with it. I guess we only have one regret: Geoff was hoping, at one point, to rent a boat and go farther out around the island, but, oddly, the available boats are few and the rental fees are exorbitant, and not just because of the poor exchange rate.  So we made do with our neon yellow plastic raft.

Ella and I took that raft out into the bay today, and, with a little nudging, I convinced her to stick her face under the water, once more, using her goggles.  We'd kicked together out to a pier, where I knew that there would be a lot of fish swimming around, and it was so cute to see her body start to wiggle with excitement when she noticed them.  She stuck her head underwater again and again...and she seems to have a surprisingly large lung capacity.  When she finally came up for some real air, she started waxing poetic: "Oh mom! Buying me these goggles was like giving me the key to another world!"

We kicked our raft across the bay to some cliffs where I'd seen several schools of fish.  Eventually, I reminded Ella that she could let go of the raft and chase after the fish if she wanted: she didn't need to be told twice. She was off the raft and underwater before I finished my sentence, and after that I could barely keep up with her, tugging her raft behind me.





Ella was eager to swim with Dennis, too, and explore more of this "other world," so I took the boys for their choice of activities. Alex wasn't at all interested in swimming today, but he thought the trampolines next to the beach looked exciting, so he and Joey gave those a try.  And he'd also been campaigning to play miniature golf: we took our last chance to do that, as well.

We'd been putting golf off because the course wasn't impressive (the putting greens were concrete, painted green) and there was a per-person charge.  The family ahead of us avoided extra charges by sharing a single club and ball among the five of them; the boys quickly got tired of waiting for them, and soon the three of us ranged across the golf course, trying out the holes that caught our eye, each using our own signature techniques.  Joey tended towards whacking patiently at the ball, and resetting it, no fewer than twenty times, before finally calling "Mommy, I needa hand!"  Alex does his best to line up the club and ball and shoots carefully...except on the holes with hills and slopes.  Then he would push the ball in by any means available: his club, his foot, his hand.

Although the golf wasn't so great, the view rivaled any course in Palm Springs.  And the company was spectacular.

After we finished playing our game, I tried to convince Joey to go for a swim with me in the pool, but on our way there he got distracted by a little trail of ants swarming around a melted ice cream.  There was no prying him away from that one, and Dennis eventually found me, resignedly watching Joey watching the ants.  Since Joey wasn't interested in swimming, Dennis took him to the camp to play with Ella and Alex and Kael.  And I joined Brie and Geoff, getting my baby fix with Juniper while they snuck in one last swim in the ocean, before taking a turn myself.

When we picked up the kids, it was clear that Joey wasn't going to make it to dinner: once again, we tucked him in before eating.  And Ella, too, seemed pretty tired after dinner; only Alex wanted to go to see the sunset and play at Pino's Goodbye Party.

I have to say, I love dancing with my ever-enthusiastic Alex, and he seems to have captured the affection of a few of the counselors.

After they finished their dances, they had the kids line up to play hot potato and a sort of Simon Says. After any given round, they had any child who was "out" say his name into the microphone, and then the rest of the kids were to chorus "ciao ciao!"  Bye bye!  Poor Alex, though: he was one of the first ones out in hot potato, and he apparently has never seen a microphone.  When it was offered to him, he tried to eat it, much to the MC's amusement and mine.

It's funny how Alex goes and goes and goes, and then, all of the sudden, he stops, completely exhausted. He was bouncing and laughing and dancing, and then, out of nowhere, turned to me and said "Okay, I'm ready to sleep now." And so that was it for us.

So long, Pino! Ciao ciao!