Bulgaria

I was reading the boys a bedtime story a few months ago and the boys, I realized, didn't know what snow was.....because they have never experienced it! Well, not since they were babies, and Eli, not at all. We gotta give them a taste of their roots--they were born in Michigan after all! So, Matt and I decided right then and there that we were going to take a winter vacation someplace over Christmas break when they were out of school. Matt has 6 weeks of leave per year. 3 in winter and 3 in summer. He has to take them--there is no 'cashing in' or opting to work instead. Bummer:) he got one week off right before Christmas this year and we decided to head to Bulgaria and experience the snow and skiing. Why Bulgaria? Well, it's close and cheap. Two winners when toting around with a young family of five. As far as snow clothing goes, we had most of it, believe it or not! Michelle and Larry let us borrow some adult jackets and pants and then we were set to go. We bought snow gloves for everyone once we got there. 3 pairs for $8. Not bad.
We arrived at the airport, checked our luggage, and were given tickets--yay, always happy travelers when standby works out! We were going through customs when the Qatari guy says "No, go back. This is expired" pointing to Matt's passport. It turns out that his Multi-Exit Visa had expired and they won't let you leave the country without renewing it. Matt made some phone calls, I went on towards the gate with the boys, and we both hoped and prayed that he would be able to come with us! Minutes before they finalized boarding, Matt comes running up to the gate, and we all hop onto the bus that took us out to the plane. whew. close one.
Once we landed in Sofia, Bulgaria, we hopped into our rental and drove about 1 hour to the resort town of Borovets.

 

 

This was our hotel, the Festa Winter Palace and our view towards the slopes from our balcony. We were the only guests there for the majority of the trip! It had a great and free 'English Breakfast' each morning which we all gobbled up. We stayed in a suite, on the second floor on the right. You can see our balcony from this picture. The slopes are right down this road, not far to walk. We ran into another family on the slopes with 3 children and chatted with them for a bit. Turns out they are from Palestine. We didn't mention that we live in Qatar....

 The boys first time in the SNOW! They kept saying "this is the best day ever" and "thanks so much mom and dad!" James knew just what to do--snow angels!

 Whacking sticks into branches with snow is fun for all ages.

 I spy 4 boys.

 

 

 

 Sooooo, it turns out that 'ski season' totally depends upon the weather! crazy! They officially opened 'ski season' on the 13th of December based on weather forecasts. And when us desert rats got there we thought, 'looks like plenty of snow to us!' But apparently, really the best time to ski is Jan-Feb. So, we mostly sledded and stayed on the bunny hills. Jake and James and Matt and I all got skiing instruction, but walking back up the hill in skis is quite a bit of work! The bunny hill lift was not operating, so up and down we went all day long. This was the first time I had ever been sledding, and it was so fun! You get going so fast, it's almost a little bit scary!

 

 Playing inside of the ice fort.

James wanted to pack his Santa hat and he totally wore it, I loved it!

 Jamsey up on ski's for the first time!

My wipe out!

 Go James, GO!

 

 Matt's first time on skis!

 This spiderman sled was a huge hit. We also had another one that we nicknamed the 'green bullet'.

 Fighting. Sigh. James and Jake couldn't agree on how to build the snowman, so we had to separate them for a time. Oh well, that's real life.

 Merry Christmas!
 We took a rickety 24 minute Gondola ride to the top of the mountain. You could ski all the way back down but since we are all beginners, we decided to play around at the top, get some hot cocoa, and ride back down. The boys thought the lift was pretty cool; but I was scared to pieces!

 

Panoramic iPhone camera photo.

 Ah, the food. Bulgaria is an interesting mix of cultures. It has Greek influence (feta, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes). Turkish influence (flat bread, shwarma, lamb). And Eastern European influence (hearty stews, shnitzel, root veggies). So the menus varied with all of these things for a party in your mouth! One of their signature dishes was called Sach. It was enough food to feed our whole family, but of course Matt only ordered it for himself. It was basically 'everything but the kitchen sink' kind of a dish. Too random for me, but Matt was in culinary heaven. They even threw in 3 toothpick umbrellas for good measure. Go ahead, eat your heart out, honey!

 

 How cool is that wooden menu?

 This was another authentic restaurant --right in the heart of Sofia. They brought out this sampler salad platter and hung it from the ceiling! It was delish! Matt ordered the kavarma, which is basically a meat and veggie tomato based stew served warm in an earthenware pot. So, so yummy. Plus, we ordered pork whenever we could--extra good since we are deprived in Doha.

 And, after. Ate it all right up!

 We went to a few markets and at one the boys insisted we take their picture near this statue. "It's a statue, take our picture!" Then I hear James directing the others, "Ok, let's play. I'm the king of the jungle, the Lion. Jake-you're Scarr. And, um, Eli, you're the mouse." As in, the mouse that Scarr eats up for lunch. It was hilarious. Eli was all for it, too. Such a good little third wheel!

 On the way to the Rila Monastary. We took one day and visited a working Monastary waaaay up in the mountains about 2 hours from our hotel. They call it "Bulgaria's Jerusalem". It was an interesting place. The Monks have such a different philosophy on life. They deprive themselves of everything; marriage, internet, career, family life, and live a life devoted to God, kind of shut away up in the mountains. But, how does that do much good? You have a Godly person that is able to do much good, but doesn't because he's in his room worshipping all the time and removed from the world. I don't quite understand it, but respect it nonetheless.

Whaaaa?! These signs are in Bulgarian!? j/k

 The frescos on the walls were impressive.

 

 We saw Monks and drank spring water. Good times.

We had more hot cocoa on this trip than I have had in the past 5 years combined!

Jake asked as we were driving back to our hotel "Is this Utah?" Haha, honestly, it could have been, looked very similar!

 Peeing on the side of the road. It's easy being a boy.

 On Sunday, we went to church in Sofia. There was a branch meeting close to our hotel. It was all in Bulgarian, but we had a translator and a headset. It's amazing to me that almost anywhere we travel to, we can meet with members of our faith. I love it!

 Some sights of Sofia on a really, really chilly day!

 

 The Lion and her Cubs. Uncanny resemblance, I know.

 Random Snail House, check. I think someone actually lives there. The boys thought it was so cool.

 Statues and posers:)

 Fun times on the slides at the park. We always stop sight-seeing for a bit and just give the boys time to play and run around. They would gather up leaves at the bottom and slide right down into them. Then repeat.

 

 

All in all, it was a good trip. The boys keep asking to go back and play in the snow. Today in Doha James asked if we could go to the pool and swim and I said that I thought it was too cold since it's winter time. He said "It's not winter here!" Touche. Now they know:)
Getting back to Doha was tricky since all the flights were so full. We could get into Bucharest, Romania, but then we'd be stuck there since all the non-rev's were coming back to Doha from there. So, we went on Turkish Airlines red-eye flight through Istanbul and arrived back in Doha on the morning of the 23rd of December. Just in time to have Christmas at home. Until next time Bulgaria!