Aww, my last “official” post about Dunja and fam’s visit. Sadness. I’ve been subconsciously putting off writing this. I’ve really enjoyed writing the recaps and reliving the memories, and didn’t want that to (formally) end (on the blog).

Apparently I was putting it off so much that when I went to open this draft, it was empty! I hadn’t even selected and added photos yet. But now that’s done, and it’s time to write! Spoiler: most of the photos are of the cats. They got so much love while our guests were here.

Thursday, August 21st

After our flight Thursday morning, we had a mostly chill day around the house, focusing on spending time together before they went home on Friday.

After lunch, the kids and I painted and watched Pitch Perfect, while Dunja and Christian went to a few shops, and Steven went to an appointment. Originally we all (our guests and me) were going to go to the shops, but the kids wanted to stay home and hang out with me and Steven, which was really cute and touching! So just Dunja and Christian went, and Dunja said she’d hurry back so we could maximize our last day together.

When Steven got back, he and Nicholas tried to do a project with the skid-steer loader, but it hadn’t charged so they couldn’t use it. Sad face.

Clarissa and I took Apollo for a walk,

then played a few rounds of First to Worst! I guessed hers 100% right three times! Woo hoo! We had fun playing! The one-on-one time with the kids was really nice!

Dunja and Christian came home and showed us their goodies (I am very proud to say I influenced Dunja into buying some Goodrs, the ones she is wearing here!), then we ordered Chinese food and immediately sent the boys out to retrieve it. Ha ha.

After dinner we hung out doing, English and German tongue-twisters, and asking each other questions from a TableTopics set I have.

We begrudgingly went to bed, even though we wanted to hang out longer. Clarissa moved her bed to the living room to see if the cats would sleep with her (Apollo did at first, and when I got up in the middle of the night, Starbuck was there! awwww).

Friday, Friday 22nd

Dunja, Clarissa, and I started the day with one last WWM class!

We were so tired from not getting enough sleep all week! Worth it though.

Oh! And one last trip to Starbucks—we went every day (when on vacation, amirite?!) and I still have their order memorized.

After class we made the most of our morning before they had to leave at noon. We had pancakes for breakfast, they finished packing up, then we played Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza.

Ha, the kids and I did a few practice rounds before their parents joined us, so we were all a bit quicker than them and kept laughing at Christian for being “last.” I definitely need to send them more games from this series.

When they packed the car up to leave we saw the light Steven had ordered for the skid-steer loader had arrived so the boys installed it real quick,

while Clarissa made sure to say goodbye to all the kitties.

We said our goodbyes and there were some tears.

Then they took off, Steven went to work, and I took a nap. The house felt so empty with them gone.

We had such a wonderful week together and made so many amazing memories. I feel grateful and lucky that our rock Instagram accounts randomly brought us together, that Dunja spent so much time with us while we were in Europe, and then that she was so generous with her and her family’s time to spend an entire week of their summer holiday with us! And, that we all clicked so extremely well. The same amount of curiosity, silliness, sense of adventure, similar interests… we all just fit together. I can’t wait until we get to spend time with them again!