Plitvice Lakes National Park

Alternate post titles included: 

The most beautiful place I've ever been

Heaven on Earth

Watch out Grand Canyon

You get the idea, right?  Geologists call Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia "The Perfect Storm." Between the waterfalls, lakes, and amazing turquoise colored waters, I have to wonder why only 1 million visitors make it here each year (as opposed to the Grand Canyon's 5 million or Yellowstones 3 million).  Oh yeah - it's probably because it's in Northern Croatia, not nearby any airport or cruise port.  I was feeling so lucky to be able to experience this place, and I kept reminding my kids of how very blessed they were to be there too.

Right as you enter, BAM...

Here are some closer pictures of these waterfalls...

No matter how many angles or different lenses used, I don't think I could really capture how incredible this place was.  The size of those waterfalls (even from as high up and far back as our trail was, they were massive), the sound of the rushing water, all of the mini-rainbows from the spray of the waterfalls, it was just surreal.

As we started off on the very first trail, I could tell I was in for a day of mom-anxiety.  These narrow trails rarely had railing, and you can't really tell from this picture, but the drop off on the right side of that trail is STEEP.  I kept screaming "Everyone stay to the left" as Ryan led the way and I watched from the back.  My kids kept looking back at me like I was crazy, but I saw their little lives flash before my eyes at least a dozen times that day.

Our views from the trail...

The water, I tell you!  Clear turquoise perfection...

After a stop about half way through, we had a quick picnic and hopped on a boat to cross one of the larger lakes.

We met a really nice LDS couple from the US on the boat who had come to Croatia specifically to see Plitvice.  We often get stopped by people who admire us (or offer their condolences to us) for traveling with so many young kids.  This couple had lived in Germany years before with their young kids, so it brought back some memories for them to see us traveling with so many little ones in Europe.

Part 2 of the day didn't disappoint.

The trail on the right gives you an idea of what an adventure this was for us with the little people.  Check out that water fall though - totally worth it!

We did some frog spotting in this marshy area.  The frogs blended in so well with the tall grass, we would throw stones near them to determine whether or not a frog was really there.  The kids loved spotting all the different animals.

A closer look at the clear water

The cutest cup holder of all time

At one point during the day, we met some friendly Asian tourists.  As is often the case, they loved that we had a "big" family ("big" because 5 kids is not even a big family to some of our friends, haha).  The next thing we knew, we were posing for pictures with different combinations of people from their tour bus for the next 30 minutes (ok, it was a solid 20 minutes, but it felt like 45).  We would smile and nod our heads, and then someone else would jump in.  They were so friendly though, we just couldn't say NO.  Also, they wouldn't have understood us if we did say NO.

We were finally able to get them to take a picture of just our family...

On to more and more and more beautiful waterfalls...

We finally made it to the end where we could take much needed bathroom breaks, have a quick drink, and then hop of the shuttle bus that took us about half way back.  We retraced our steps the rest of the way back to our car.  It was a long and satisfying day.

A friend recommended this rental to me - a cabin out in the countryside.  The property had horses, tons of trees, and 2 of the friendliest dogs I've ever seen.  The kids loved hanging out here more than anything else we did.

Our cozy cabin

Game time

I spy Carver climbing in that tree!

I hope these kids never forget the magical time we had here.