My dad’s sister and her family live in Bosina I Herzegovina, which is where we visited next. It was a bit of a drive, but Archer did really well sleeping in the car, so that was a relief. We were there on my dad’s birthday, so he bought a lamb which the men roasted in the back yard. We met my cousin, his wife and their (now grown) kids. They were so hospitable and welcoming, even with the language barrier.

One of the only family pictures Brad and Archer and I got was on our way to our family’s property near their house in Tuzla. They had a small shack up there at the time, but have now built a bigger shelter. They grow pear and plum trees which they harvest in the fall to make rakija, or plum wine.

My cousin’s son actually came to Canada a couple of years and stayed with us, so it was nice having had met him before. More on that in another blog!

From Tuzla, we drove through Sarejevo, towards the coast. Brad and I strained from the back seat of my dad’s town car to catch our first glimpse of the ocean. We had never explored that part of the world together before and will definitely go back and do the trip a little more our way.

The coast of Dubrovnik is breath-taking. The water that surrounds Stari Grad (old city) changes from green to blue to green again. It sparkles with beauty. Brad, Archer, my dad and I walked around the whole wall surrounding the old city. We climbed many stairs up and down and stopped mid-way for a picture of my boys in their Whitecaps jerseys. The Whitecaps had a contest for Whitecaps around the world so we clearly had to participate when we were in such a beautiful place so far from home.