Croatia Day 8: Dubrovnik & Elafiti Islands

Summer with big kids and a full-time job is a bizarre mix of slow moving anarchy for the children (2 of whom can now drive and are thus literally anywhere in DFW/Texas at any moment) and an absolutely packed calendar for me (but packed in a way that is fun and fine because I don't have any kid-commitments to do). I am so busy at work, but I also have plenty of lunches and events, and with no school and my free-range children milling about at odd hours and going to bed after I do, I can commit to so many more after-work social events and that is a lovely treat. It's like the early 20's corporate life I thought I'd have before I decided that starting my career with a 1-year-old would be better (it was). I billed nearly 60 hours last week. But I also got lots of time with random children musing to me while hanging out on my office couch, I got time with James when kids were at swim practices and we no longer have to drive them, I made it to five weights workout classes, and I hosted a pool party on Saturday afternoon for my badass women friends with no husbands or kids involved. I also hosted a summer associate event at my house Monday night to watch Center Stage, my favorite movie of all time, after I learned not a single one of our associates had seen it. (It holds up; they loved it, and not just because I told them they had to.) It was a great week.

But let's go back to Croatia! We're on Day 8 and it's the one the kids were most excited as it involved 8 hours on a boat and nothing else at all.

We met our driver at the hotel to take us to Old Town Dubrovnik and the harbor. As in Split, it amazed me how much the truly ancient and incredible landmarks were so active and USED.

We walked through the high walls of the fortress to meet our boat captain, knowing we'd be coming back the next day for our tour to actually learn about the history we were casually strolling through.

We met our captain, climbed onto our boat, and headed out into the Adriatic Sea! The beautiful walls of the city (and many a Game of Thrones scene) behind us.

Our captain asked what we'd like to do and see and of course the kids yelled, "jump off cliffs into the water!" "I can do that!" our captain said as we sped off.

We stopped at our first cliff about 5 minutes later. Landon immediately jumped in the water and off the nearest cliff.

James followed.

It was very breezy in the morning from the storm that rolled in the night before, so the girls and I thought we'd wait a bit before jumping into chilly water. It was only 9:30 am after all. We boated all around the Elafiti Islands, soaking in the beautiful Adriatic sea, and marveling at the thousands of years old buildings that periodically appeared on the shore around us.

We boated inside a cave.

We stopped at a lot of spots our captain said he normally doesn't get to stop at because people can't climb the rocks to get up to the jumping spots, but Landon is a little spider monkey and there were many times it took me a minute to spot him on the rocks. His brown swim shorts really blended with his habitat.

The girls quickly got into the jumping and climbing. Here's Claire!

And Cora.

There was a lot of swimming and jumping and climbing. On repeat. There are SO many cliffs you can jump off in that area!

At one point Landon scaled a particularly high cliff where a broken tree was jutting out and he jumped off it to the claps of people on the other boats around us.

Our captain stopped at a favorite island of his so we could get some lunch. I was still dry because I was playing the long game.

We had a great meal with an even better view and I can't believe that was our reality only a couple weeks ago. The protein bar I ate at my desk today didn't quite hit the same.

Aperol spritzes are gluten free!

After lunch we boated more! The water remains ridiculous and the kids were almost always in it.

And I got in!

Graceful as ever.

It was such a fun day.

We got back to the hotel about 4:30 pm, rested a bit, and then got dressed for our last dinner in Croatia!

We had a beautiful meal overlooking the water and the sunset.

This was our last dinner in Croatia and it was a really nice cap on our stay. This trip was in part to celebrate Landon's graduation and in each day's adventures I was very aware that he wouldn't be doing much traveling with us for a while. In fact, we just planned our Spring Break trip for 2027 (taking the girls to Paris!) and there's only four people on the itinerary. I know going to college doesn't mean we'll never see him again, but with swimming he is pretty tightly regulated on when he can come home. 3 days at Thanksgiving. 6 days at Christmas. Not at all for Spring Break (NCAA's is right after). And we're not yet sure if he'll come home to train in the summer or stay in Bloomington (a lot depends on if he improves enough this year to stay on the team; with the transfer portal, nothing is certain and so many people get cut after each season so coaches can start fresh with people coming off a good year somewhere else. It's a lot of pressure and uncertainty).

We are so, so excited for him, and we've already booked tickets to take the girls up to Indiana to watch one of his meets in October, but this is a huge transition and there's some grief. As I sat at dinner - and every meal on that trip, frankly - and looked around the table at these kids I grew and we raised and we have truly loved traveling the world with, it all just felt a little bittersweet. So happy, so fun. So... wow. I met James my first day of college. I don't think I ever vacationed with my family again in a traditional sense. We're still very close, but it was immediately different.

I know, truly, that we have soaked up every phase of the Landon-lives-at-home chapter of our lives. Which doesn't mean every moment - there are some I do not miss and wasn't sad to leave behind - but the chapters, the phases, I feel a lot of comfort knowing we squeezed out all we could from each of them. For me, a big part of that was our travels. As a working mom, it was our time away from everyone's schedules and demands and there is a lot of bonding in experiencing new things together. It's also been the time Landon spends sprawled on my couch when I work in my office at night. It's the time he spent chatting to me while I was cooking when we lived in Fort Worth. It was car rides and reading books before bed. It was family walks and pool days and watching Christmas movies on the couch for the whole month of December when they were little and we were otherwise super mean about TV time.

We loved Croatia, and I still have one more day to share, but as I look at these pictures of one of our favorite days, I remember that even in the moment, it all hit a little different... a little more, knowing it was one of our last full Fike fam adventures for a while. And even though it was not good that he missed a week of practice (even though he found a pool at very stop and did his own!) and his coach is probably still mad at me for making him go, I am so so glad we got these days together. And this night - this meal - watching the sun set and laughing and talking together after a day on the water... it's bright in my mind and will be for a very long time.