A promise is a promise

My daughters, Lena and Laura, were impatiently anticipating the morning, not being able to sleep, as their dad had promised to hire a house right by the sea this year. We departed no earlier than at the end of September (mind you this is an exceptional time for sailing) and my daughters could not hide their added joy of not having to attend kindergarten during this time. Imagine the excitement that followed, when we arrived at a pier instead of a front door in the morning.

Guess how many hidden spots we found on a sailboat

We entered the saloon down the stairs. Lena could not stop being amazed at the size of the sailing boat. With sincere curiosity, she went through the shelves and was astounded by how many small and large drawers were available. Laura, on the other hand, fiddled with the blue and white pattern covering the saloon sofa. She soon joined Lena and together, they searched for suitable rooms for their toys: this is where my doll will sleep and here my teddy-bear Ban. When we finally began to unpack and put away our clothes, it all seemed irrelevant, as it was more important to take the toys, moor at the first bay and uncover the secrets the island had to offer. We had a television set, though we only turned it on a couple times during our holiday, always concluding that the deck offered a better programme. We made the voyage more interesting by playing the Black Peter card game and interestingly enough, Laura and Lena just happened to win all the time.  

Shells, saltwater lake and a donkey

All of us were most impressed by the Telaščica Bay, where we went for a short walk to the saltwater lake, picking flowers on the way and combining some of them with shells to make our uncle a portrait and leaving some good will for future visitors. After arriving back, we were welcomed by two very pleasant donkeys. We immediately found something for them to eat, which enabled us to pat them at will. During our walk, we met a nice couple (Anna and Karl) with which we soon started a pleasant conversation.  It was time for us to leave, however Lena and the small donkey were inseparable. When Anna tried to persuade her to leave by telling her a story, where supposedly a donkey had almost eaten her, Lena replied in an unruffled manner: "Why are you afraid? It’s obvious that he doesn’t like you". Seeing that our children are sometimes too smart for their own good, the donkeys did us a favour and left on their own to "go to sleep", as was later explained by Laura.  

Their "goodbyes" could be heard for quite some time in the background as we departed the bay: "Hee-haw, hee-haw".

Many unforgettable moments and never a boring moment – though unfortunately it all went by so quickly. Well, at least we have our memories: our kitchen wall is now adorned by a photo of our moment at the saltwater lake.