Pre-Deployment time: France / Croatia

My mind has been creating a new post for the past couple of months, but my heart has had a hard time with making me sit down and write.  Today, as I walked Tatzie and talked to MJ I realized that when I don't communicate the difficulty of deployment is harder.  So, even though my extroverted self prefers face to face conversations; my physical location requires writing.
This past summer was pre-deployment.  Sean was in TX / AL for 6 weeks while the kids were in the states (Russell - TN & CO, Clark and MJ - NJ, PA, VA).
Once we all returned home in last August (kids) and September (Sean) we took a long weekend together, including Tatzie in the Alsace region of France.  A great area, because Tatzie was able to be with us, as we took long walks and enjoyed time together.  We were on the wine route: Rorschwihr, Beblenheim, Orschwiller, Saint-Hippolyte, Kintzheim and Ribeauville.  Beautiful old half-timbered houses and soaring castles.  The most fun was feeding the monkeys, we were able to just stand there and hold out food, they would come up to us and eat.  It was great seeing my teens acting more like kids than teens.

The most unexpected find was the memorial to Audie L. Murphy - where he won the Medal of Honor, at Holtzwihr.  We continued walking after finding the memorial to see a memorial to some British who were lost when their plane went down (Memorial du Lancaster).
Photos from our time in France.

After we returned home from France, Sean and I took a few days just for the two of us in Split Croatia.  September is the perfect time to go - no crowds and beautiful weather.  I love Croatia.  Much of it had to do with the guide we ended up with too, Mr. Peter with Private Guides Croatia.  Absolutely, a man who loves his country, but more than that he loves to teach.  I was pretty sure that Sean and I would drive him crazy at first, but once we got to know each other, it was awesome.  Our 1.5 hour tour of the city turned into 4 hours.  Our tour of the waterfalls was extended by another 2 hours - he took us to the places that aren't for tourists - the houses that are still waiting to be rebuilt after the war of Croatian Independence (1991-95) and the fields that are still mine fields.  He taught us about sustainable fishing in the area.  He even found a slice of tomato to help take the pain out of a wasp sting.