Luce In Prague

New Blog Finally!!

2011-06-14T03:27:00.002+01:00

Here is the link to the new blog.

http://growingupluce.blogspot.com/

Next Stop U.S.A.

2011-05-04T20:26:00.000+01:00

This ends our blog of "Luce In Prague" since we are no longer in Prague! Stay tuned for the new address of our blog when I start blogging about our adventures in America.

See you later Prague

2011-05-04T20:24:00.000+01:00

I have learned in this process of leaving Prague that it really isn't "good-bye" but rather "see you later". We have loved all of our time in Prague and enjoyed living in such a beautiful city. Who knows where life will bring us but I'm sure we will travel back to Prague again some day. We have said good-bye to people we are friendly with and see you later to our good friends becuase our true friends will never be gone from our lives. We have not lost our friends but rather we now have the opportunity to make new ones......and as our friends move on to their next expat assignment or back to their home country it just gives us a good excuse to travel around the world.

Last, Last, Last.....

2011-05-04T20:18:00.000+01:00

So many "last" things to do.... After leaving Beckiland we headed home and I did some more packing and we waited for Iva to arrive. The kids were excited to see Iva just as they are every Friday night. They were extra excited because Petra was also coming to say good-bye to the kids and Watson. They arrived and not only to Iva and Petra come but also Iva's son, Michal came as well to say good-bye to Watson. They have watched Watson over the last 4 1/2 years and have really taken to him as a family pet and with Petra moving out of Iva's house Michal didn't get to see him as often so he wanted one last time to say good-bye as well. It is nice to know that Watson has been so loved while we were traveling. Petra did break down and started crying but as Iva was having none of it Petra was able to pull it together. Jason and I said goodbye to Petra and Michal and headed out for a last dinner at our Italian restaurant. We had debated if we would go there on our last Friday or if we would stay closer to home but since the owners invited us back for out last dinner on the house we couldn't pass it up. We had a fantastic dinner as usual and I held it together until the end...leaving our Italian home away from home put me over the edge and I finally let a few tears fall. Funny the things that tip the balance. If I'm ever back in Prague you can be sure I will be having dinner at Cicala! We came home and said our final good-bye to Iva which was also difficult since she has really been like a grandmother to the kids and a mother to us while we have been in Prague. I finished up my last hours packing all the last minute things and finally got in bed about 1am and up at 5:15am to catch our early morning flight out of Prague.

Last Day of School

2011-05-04T20:08:00.000+01:00

Friday was the girls last day of school (15 April) and they had a half day. At the end of the morning the school had a end of term assembly in which they also said good-bye to all the students that were leaving. I was surprised that there were quite a few kids leaving at the end of term. It was sweet to see how they said bye to each child. Sofia had been fine with leaving, at least on the surface, but I saw a moment where she waivered and fought with her emotions after she had been called up and given her good-bye. She sat back down and kept her head down looking at her leaving book. I thought she was going to lose it and break out in tears but she managed to pull it together and her friend Matilda was perfect with a jovial grab of the arm and a quick comment and Sofia was back to being happy. I am definitely grateful that Sofia has some good friends.

Rather than go home and spend time sad that we were leaving Prague we decided to head to Beckiland for one last time with a bunch of friends. It was great for the kids to run around and have fun and it was nice for me to have another time to chat with my friends.

Kids Good-Bye parties

2011-05-04T20:00:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday and Thursday before the end of the school term we had parties for the kids in each of their classes as a farewell party. Sofia had hers on Wednesday and shared it with her friend Bella who also left school at the end of term. We brought in cake, chips, juice etc. and let the kids have fun eating together. The kids also performed their part of the upcoming school play that they have been practicing so Beanie and I were able to see the part that our kids would have played if we had stayed at school for the last term. It was nice to see what they had been working on. Sofia's teacher put a book together for both Sofia and Bella in whch every child in the class made a page for the book. It was very cute and Sofia loved it.

On Thursday afternoon I headed into Ali's class for her farewell party. I was, of course, loaded down with all the goodies...cake, treats, chips, popcorn...as well as the plates, napkins and drinks. Ali was happy to have a party in her honor and her teacher also had the kids in her class make a page each for a book just for Ali. They also gave her a stuffed animal school bear which she loved. Also her best friend Cianna's mom also gave her two photographs. One of the photos is of Ali and Cianna's first sleepover together. Ali loves the picture and it has traveled with us so she can always see it.

I have pics and video of the parties but I'm not sure if I have them with me or if they are on our computer traveling the ocean. Therefore, I will have to wait to post them.

Parties Parties Parties

2011-04-12T17:38:00.000+01:00

There have been a lot of parties and nights out since my last post. I will start back on the first of April since I just realized I left off Quiz night. On April 1st the school held a quiz night at a bar in town following by the Sixes Band and dancing. We had a great time with our friends even though we came in seventh place. I hit the back of my head on a shelf behind my chair which has taken over a week to not be sore. I didn't let it slow me down though. We danced the night away and didn't get home until after midnight. It was a good night. The next week Sofia was invited to her friend Francesca's house for Francesca's birthday. I figured I would just take Ali with me to do something fun since she hadn't been invited to the party. When we arrived to drop off Sofia Franscesca's mother and grandmother (I assume it was her grandmother) wouldn't let Ali come with me and insisted she stay for the party. They both had a really fun time and when I picked them up they didn't want to leave. Sofia was given her party bag and Ali a balloon and then to my surprise I was handed a plate of warm freshly made Korean food. I was a great goodie bag for the adults! Sofia was sad the next day to find out that we had eaten all the noodles since she really likes them as well.

On to the next party that was for me on Friday morning! I had no idea but my friends had organized a party for me as a surprise. They completely pulled it off as I didn't expect anything. Our friend Kerry (she moved away in December) was in town from the UK and we were all getting together to have coffee with her so you can imagine my shock when I walked in and was told it was all for me. I totally thought they were joking with me but they weren't. I have some great friends here and I'm really glad they did not let me leave Prague without a leaving party. They made an amazing picture for me as well as giving me a voucher to a shop in Prague. The picture is a picture of me from the Half Marathon that they uploaded to a website called moonpig where they inserted the picture on to a spoof magazine cover called "Running Today" and it has items on it like "Mary Luce's top running songs" and Win a years training with Mary Luce". They put it in a nice frame and all signed the matting. It was really a group effort as well since you can only send the moonpig items to UK addresses so they all worked together to gather the photo, upload it, write the content, frame it, fly it from the UK and sign it. Definitely made me feel well loved by my friends. Today I went and spent my voucher at Artel and got a beautiful glass bowl.

Friday afternoon Sofia and I joined our friends Daisy and Bella for birthday/leaving party at the bowling place near us. It was pure mayhem but the kids all had a lot of fun. I even bowled a few times since I would stand in for kids who were too busy playing on the trampoline or slide. Ali did not join us for the party becuase she went to her friend Cianna's house for her first sleepover. I was a little nervouse for her but she was nothing but excited. She had a fantastic time and Cianna's mom sent me a couple pictures which just really showed how happy Ali was. She was absolutely beaming in the pictures.

After bringing Sofia home from the party and getting her settled in with Iva, our babysitter, Jason and I went out to dinner with friends to our favorite Italian place. We had debated if we would go there again on Friday as the last time or not. We hadn't decided but at the end of our meal the owners invited us back for next week on the house. That made our decision for us! So our final meal in Prague will be with our Italian home away from home.

After getting home late on Friday night I had to get up and bring the kids to the Easter Egg Hunt put on by their school. The hunt is in the local woods and actually requires quite a bit of walking through the woods and not just on paths. Jason had to work (which he has had to work on the Easter egg hunt for the past three years!) so I was on my own with the kids. Ali came to the hunt with Cianna so I ended up sending Sofia in to the woods with her friend Matilda while I waited for Ali so in the end I only had one child to watch out for during the hunt. We met up at the end and had a picnic with friends before the girls and I headed into town to buy Czech hand painted Easter eggs. While we were in town we also stopped and bought a Czech glass fish and Czech glass dolphin for the kids. This is our time to buy all the things we haven't bought in the last four and a half years! It was a busy day. Even though the the day was over the night was just beginning.....On to the next party...

Saturday night was the leaving party for my good friends The Speirs and The Waddells. The Speirs are heading back to the UK and the Waddells are heading up to Poland. I don't get to see Kim (Waddell) to often but Beanie is my best friend here and we spend a lot of time together. Our families get on well together and have had great time on Holiday together. We are sad to part ways but rest assured while this was a leaving party it is definitely NOT a good-bye! The party was a lot of fun and Jason managed to get out of work on the earlier side (10:30pm-ish) to join in the fun. We stayed until the end and hopped in a cab and got home around 3:30AM. We left Sunday morning open so that we could just relax a bit and not have to do anything while we were so tired but Sunday afternoon brought on the next party!

Sunday afternoon we dropped Ali off at her friend, Max's birthday party. The party was at a rock wall climbing place. I got Ali into her climbing shoes and then headed off with Jason and Sofia to the mall so Sofia could use her gift certificate to the toy store that she had gotten for her birthday. After much internal debate Sofia ended up choosing a stuffed animal, 2 mood rings, a pet shop and some balloons. We headed back to pick up Ali from her party. She apparently did amazing at climbing. I'm not really surprised since she has such amazing upper body strength. For such a little person she is very strong. This is the picture of the card that Ali made for Max all by herself.

It has been VERY busy and this week isn't slowing down either. Today I brought Watson to the vet to get his pet passport. Tomorrow I am bringing cake etc into Ali's class for her leaving party and then we are going to a friends for dinner. Thursday I have to drive to the basket lady to pick up the baskets I ordered then be back by two for Sofia's parent/teacher conference followed by the leaving party in Sofia's class. Friday is the end of term assembly where they say goodbye to all the kids that are leaving. So, we will be busy busy busy right up until we get on the plane on Saturday morning. Time is flying by!

Gymnastics

2011-04-03T09:39:00.000+01:00

Petra, Sofia, Ali and Pani Ucitelka (Mrs. Teacher: Dasa)

This last week may have been the girls last gymnastics class. I say may be b/c Ali might go next week but Sofia has a birthday party to attend so I'm not sure if I will bring Ali to gymnastics or not. The girls gave it their all this week. I took a video of the first round of holding themselves up on the bar. As you will see in the video Ali held herself up for the count of thirty four in the first round. On the left hand side of the video you can see a little girl, Ester, is not happy when Ali reaches 34 because it meant that she beat Ester. Well the rounds went on and Sofia, Ester and Ali really competed for first. Sofia and Ali eventually beat out Ester with Sofia having 45 and Ali staying up for 52! Needless to say they had some sore arms. Ali woke up at 2:30 in the morning because her arms were aching. They did a good job though. It is nice to see my competitive spirit in them. Ali was nice though and when it was all done and Ester was upset Ali went over and gave her a snuggle. It is nice that she is not a sore winner because I'm sure if the shoe was on the other foot Ali would have been doing the same thing as Ester.

Busy Week

2011-04-03T09:29:00.000+01:00

This past week has been crazy busy for me. The insurance for our move requires that I inventory everything that we own. Yes that means me counting how many books are in the house and how many pairs of socks the kids have in their drawer. It is a huge pain and very time consuming. In between doing the inventory Jason and I had to try to sell our car again. The person who was going to buy it backed out leaving us with 3 weeks to sell our car. Needless to say we were not very happy. I quickly posted our car for sale on czechinfo.net which is a huge email distribution list. We had two responses the next morning and since Jason is at work it meant that I had to show the car. This definitely cut into my inventory time since it meant cleaning the car and then showing it. The first people looked at it and wanted to bring it to their mechanic which of course required more time. Unfortunately those people completely low-balled us which was very irritating since we didn't really have the time to be wasting. The second people that came to see it where perfect. They came, saw the car, drove it and bought it! It is a huge relief to have the car sold and it is now fine that the other person backed out since we got more money for the car then we would have gotten if we had sold it to a friend.

In between all of that I did have time to have coffee with some friends. While I may have had my last big family dinner with my friends Emily and Kirsty that doesn't mean I won't see them again before we leave. We made time for a quick coffee this last week. It was nice to have a short break from all my "to do" items. Emily's mom was visiting as well so we took the opportunity to take some photos together. It is nice to know that I will have some nice pictures of my friends for when we are back in the States.

The Castle

2011-04-03T09:10:00.000+01:00

Sofia asked to visit the castle one more time before we left Prague. As she put it "the castle is so beautiful and we don't have any castles in America." so we headed back to the castle for one last trip. I took the time to take more pictures of the small detail of the castle and we enjoyed just walking around. We watched the changing of the guard and noticed some thing swe hadn't before and thought about how long it has been since our first trip to the castle. Here is a picture of the kids on our first trip to the castle and then a picture from last weekend. Times have definitely changed....

Dinner with Friends

2011-04-03T07:23:00.000+01:00

After going to the market last Saturday we came home and picked up the house a bit and prepared dinner. Our friends Kirsty & Radek and Emily & Radek came over for dinner along with their children. We always have fun with them and the kids have a blast together. We started a little later than usual so the younger kids were tired but the older three (Sofia, Kiera, and Annalee) had a grand time playing together. It is one of many "lasts" that we will be doing in the coming weeks so we tried to enjoy it as much as possible We had hoped the nice weather of the week was hold through the weekend and we planned a BBQ but the weather didn't hold. It was fine though we just brought the BBQ inside.

It was funny to watch the kids play together as Sofia Kiera and Annalee play well together and at times Ali joins in with them and has a great time but at other times Ali really enjoys playing with Oliver so she splits off from the girls and has fun with him. This time it may have been that they were both (Ali and Oliver) hungry since they both kept coming into the livingroom for snacks. They both tuckered out early also. Oliver fell asleep in the livingroom and then Ali decided it was time for bed and left the party and went to her bed and fell asleep. It was a good night all around. We will definitely miss our friends when we leave.

Spring Market

2011-04-03T07:07:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday my friend had told us about a spring market being held at Okor. I have written about Okor many times before but it is a ruined castle very near to our house. We decided to check out the market and see what the stalls would be selling. Unfortunately the day was not very nice and we did misjudge how cold it was so we didn't stay at the market for very long. The market was held on the grass area in front of the castle so we followed the circle of stalls and checked out everything that was for sale. We finally bought the kids Easter whipping sticks which they have wanted in past years. We also had to stop for some mini donuts and of course a trdelnik. We finished our time there with the kids having a ride on the merry go round swings. We ran into some friends while we were there and had a quick chat before we headed home and out of the cold.

Easter Bake Sale

2011-03-27T14:20:00.000+01:00

On Friday the girls school had its Easter bake sale. Since it was last bake sale we will attend at their school I decided to make cupcakes. Most of the bake sales I don't make anything and opt to help set up instead but this time I didn't want to have to do any work so making the cupcakes the night before was easy. Anyway, the weather was nice outside so as soon as the kids were done having their faces painted we headed outside with their sweets to enjoy the day. I got there early to browse the different stalls and finally bought some baskets from the basket lady. These baskets are made out of plastic and I have looked at them for a while but have never bought any but I decided to buy two of the smaller baskets to go in the kids bathroom of the house we don't yet have in the United States. Haha, at least I'll be ready when we find a house!

The Dump

2011-03-21T15:28:00.000+01:00

Over the last week I have been cleaning out closets and drawers and donating the things that are in good condition to a food and clothing drive that is being held by the kids school. It really came at the perfect time for me! Over the weekend Jason and I attacked the attic and the basement to get them all cleaned out for the move. The attic was fairly simple as we only had a few boxes up there but the basement was a little more involved. We did manage to get it all cleaned out and had piles for "move back to US", "give away" and trash/recycleing. Most of the trash/recycling was easy and just went in our outside trash can but we did have 4 old winter tires and the old crib mattress from Ali's crib which couldn't just go out with the trash. They needed to be disposed of separately and since I knew where the dump was I headed there today to see if I could get rid of the tires and mattress. I found my way to to the dump and went into the office building that was there. Noone spoke English so I used some horrible czech since my automobile czech and dump czech are not my best and got my point across that I had tires and mattress to get rid of. They found a man to help me and the rest of easy. He brought me over to the "little house" where i drove the car onto the scale to be weighed. We went inside and filled out some paperwork. The man then came out with me and directed me to drive to deposit the different items. After dropping off everything I had to drive back to the "little house" and drive onto the scale again. I then went inside and paid about $12. I guess it doesn't matter what you dump since you pay for how much it weighs. It was an interesting experience and even after four and a half years in Prague I still get to do new things.

Flights booked!

2011-03-17T12:24:00.000+01:00

Jason and I have started the moving process in full now. We have made our to do list and have divided the items to complete. It feels much better having our lists in place and knowing when everything has to be completed. Last night we booked our flights back to America (the girls and I on April 16, Watson on April 18 and Jason on April 23rd) . Finally booking the flights was a big hurdle for me. It makes it seem real and definite. I wanted to feel excited about the flights but I actually felt sick to my stomach. I realized that I felt like I was in a sort of limbo...I can't stay/don't want to stay but also am nervouse about making the transition back to the States so it is a can't stay but not ready to leap forward yet either. Today I am feeling better about it but am still a bit torn. As I have said to the kids and Ali repeats back to me often, "it is happy and sad". Either way the limbo feelings won't last forever though becuase come April 16th the girls and I will be on a flight bound for the United States. Even as I write this a smile comes to my face...maybe my limbo feelings will end sooner than I think! We're coming home!!!!

Outside playtime

2011-03-17T12:15:00.000+01:00

The weather was absolutely beautiful over the weekend. Jason was in Chamonix and Melissa left on Saturday morning so it was just me and the girls. The kids are at an age now that they don't need me outside with them which gives me the flexibility to get things done in the yard or in the house and I don't have to worry. The girls love being outside and they have such great imaginations that even in a small yard like ours they can spend hours. On Saturday they were outside for about 4 hours and Sunday they spent the entire time from after lunch until 6pm when I called them in for dinner just playing together in the yard. I am happy that they enjoy the outdoors so much and I am thrilled that they are such good friends.

Chamonix

2011-03-14T18:25:00.000+01:00

While Melissa and I finished out week of sight seeing in Prague Jason headed off to Chamonix, France for skiing with his brother. His brother had asked him if he was interested in joining him and a group of his friend for a guys ski weekend. Jason thought about it for a while but I told him he should definitely go since when would he have the opportunity to ski in Chamonix again? No time in the near future for sure! He decided to make the trip and he had a great time. The snow conditions weren't great since apparently it was a bad snow year for Chamonix. They still skiied it and they had a Chamonix Guide for the day on Saturday so they got to see things they wouldn't have seen had they just done it on their own. After hearing of crevases I'm glad they had a knowledgeable guide with them. Jason may post more about his trip but in case he doesn't here is a picture of Jason, his brother Graham, and the Chamonix Guide Robert. Jason and Graham looking a little worn from their day of skiing with the guide.

Tour of Prague

2011-03-12T11:36:00.000+01:00

Melissa and I toured the city while she was here. It was nice to see the sites again. We did not sight see every day but the days we went into town we spent the entire day walking around the city. We were able to see Prague Castle, Old Town Square, the Powder Tower, Obecni Dum, Wenceslas Square, Strahov Monastery libraries, Petrin Hill, Mala Strana, and my favorite view of the city from Letna Park. We ate at our favorite Italian restaurant twice and had lunch with my friends one day so Melissa got to know some of my friends as well. It was nice to catch up with her after not seeing each other for two years. It is nice to know that nothing has changed between us and we fall right back in where we left off. I guess that is the benefit of being friends since third grade! I'm glad she had the chance to see my life here so that when we move back it won't seem so abstract and she will be able to picture things when I tell stories. Being here for a week does make it a bit of a whirlwind tour for her but I'm glad we fit in as much as possible. It was a fun week.

1st Lost Tooth and 2nd lost tooth

2011-03-12T11:24:00.000+01:00

Sofia lost her first tooth last Sunday! The tooth (lower middle) has been loose for a while and she has been playing with it non-stop in hopes that it would fall out. She is the last of her friends to loose a tooth. Some of her friend have lost multiple teeth so she didn't understand why hers weren't falling out. I told her it was because her baby teeth didn't come in until she was a year old so since she got teeth late she would loose teeth late. I don't know if this is an accurate assumption but it was the best I had and she did seem to buy it. I'm happy that she finally lost a tooth. She was very excited. The American Tooth Fairy came last night and left her $1. I have been playing up that their are different fairies for every country since some of her friends received expensive toys from the tooth fairy so I thought it only fitting that she would receive American money.

Quickly following the lost of the first tooth Sofia lost her second tooth. She lost the second one at school. It is a little unclear to me if she just fell on her own or if she was pushed during some game the kids were playing but either way she fell and smacked her face on the ground. Since the tooth was already loose the impact with the ground knocked it out so now she is missing her two bottom middle teeth. The American tooth fairy is making a lot of transatlantic flights!

Melissa arrived!

2011-03-06T14:51:00.000+01:00

My best friend, Melissa, arrived this morning from the U.S. I'm excited that she was able to make it over to visit before we move back. We will be dropping the kids at school everyday and seeing the sights of the city. It will be a good chance for me to see everything another time before we leave. I'll keep you posted on our adventures.

Taxi driver excitement

2011-03-06T14:48:00.001+01:00

On Thursday night Jason went out for drinks after work with some friends. He took a taxi home since he was out after the last bus left the city. The taxi drove him to the end of our road where Jason told him was good enough. The driver told him the price but the price was too high. We know what the price should be since we have taken taxis many times. Jason asked the driver to show him the meter. The driver refused and got angry. He started to back up so Jason immediately jumped out of the car as it was reversing. He repeated to the driver that he wanted to see the meter and then he would pay him the fare. The driver got out of the car and pushed Jason. Jason's was holding his phone in his hand at the time and his phone fell to the ground. The driver picked up Jason's phone and got back in his car and locked the doors. he again told Jason to pay but this time he had to pay if he wanted his phone back. Jason again repeated he wanted to see the meter and if not he would call the police. The driver didn't believe him though because he then drove away with Jason's phone. Jason came in the house and got my phone and called the police. After speaking on the phone for a while with the police we waited for the police to come out to our house. When they arrived they brought Jason back to the police station with them to fill out a police report. When he got to the police station he was told they had already recovered his phone (since Jason had the taxi number) but his phone was at a different station. Jason got back home at 5am and we went to sleep for two hours before waking up at 7am for Sofia's birthday. We went to the police station in Prague 8 in the morning to pick up his phone. After waiting over an hour Jason was told that they did have the phone but could not give it to him since it needed to be sent back to the station where the complaint was filed. So now we are waiting from a call from the police station to call us so we can pick up Jason's phone. So in the end, Jason is fine, his phone will be given back to him and the taxi driver will have a problem with his taxi license.

Happy 7th Birthday Sofia

2011-03-05T23:01:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Sofia's 7th birthday! I can't believe that she is seven years old. She was very excited for her birthday. Jason and I gave her a Nintendo DSi for her birthday that she has really wanted. It will actually arrive tomorrow so we wrapped up a picture of a DSi and gave that to her yesterday. She was happy to know that it will be here soon. She opened that present as well as presents from her grammie in the morning and then went to school. Jason came to read for the mystery reader which was extra special for her birthday. After school we picked the kids up and headed to a bowling place in Horomerice for her birthday party. The kids jumped on the trampoline at the bowling place and also bowled in between jumping. After about an hour of play the restaurant served the kids chicken schnitzel and fries (kureci rizek, hranolky) which was yummy and eaten up fairly quickly. Next we brought out the double layer cake that I had made and sang happy birthday to Sofia. It was great to see her so happy and surrounded by friends. After cake the parents came to pick up their kids and we headed home to open presents. Sofia was very happy with all her gifts. It was a good 7th birthday. Now she is just waiting for her first tooth to fall out...I'll keep you posted.

Mystery Reader

2011-03-05T22:48:00.000+01:00

Every friday in Sofia's class a mystery reader comes to read to her class. I have been the mystery reader twice but yesterday was the first day Jason was the mystery reader. Since it was Sofia's borthday we both went to her class. She was so excited to see Jason that she didn't even say hi to me. I didn't take it personally though and I was glad she was so happy to see Jason. I sat in the back and chatted a little with Sofia's teacher while Jason read to the class. He chose two books that were both a hit and the kids were very involved with the story. I took a short video with my iphone to share with you.

Gymnastics

2011-03-05T22:40:00.000+01:00

After a few weeks off from gymnastics becuase of our holidays and the czech holidays we finally went back to gymnastics this week. The girls always have a lot of fun at gymnastics and have made friends even with their limited Czech. There is a little girl in the class, Ester, who is taking English lessons too so she often tries to say a few words in English to me and the girls. I finally downloaded the app to my iphone to take short videos so I took a couple videos of the girls on the bars.

We are moving.....

2011-03-05T22:17:00.000+01:00

BACK TO AMERICA!!! Yes, you read that correctly, We will be moving back to the United States at the end of April. We have had a wonderful four and a half years in Prague but it is time to say good-bye. We have always struggled with when to move back home. We came here thinking it would be for two years but arrived here and just loved it. There was no way we were going to move back after only living here for two years. We were happy. The kids were happy. Watson was happy. We all had good friends. Why would we leave that? So, we kept putting off the decision to move back home. After four and a half years the kids have grown a lot. While we all still love it here the kids are at an age where we want them developing their relationships with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We also want to move them into a school system in the U.S. before cliques form and it becomes more difficult to make friends. With the girls finishing up kindergarten and first grade (Year 1 and Year 2 here) it finally makes sense to move back. While we all feel sad about leaving we are also looking forward to the next chapter in our lives.

Slovenia

2011-02-28T20:22:00.001+01:00

This past week was half term week (February vacation week) for the girls' school and our friends, Beanie and Guy, invited us back to their home in Slovenia for the week. I was very excited to go to Slovenia again as we only stayed there briefly last summer. I really liked Slovenia last summer and I would have listed it as one of the top places we have visited while in Europe. This trip confirmed to me how much I love Slovenia and that it is absolutely beautiful. While it is hard to say that there is one place in Europe that is my favorite since it is hard to compare cities to countrysides and every place offers something different, I would have to put Slovenia at the top. Slovenia is so peaceful with huge mountains and big cliffs which run down to emerald green rivers. In the winter you can ski and in the summer there are a lot of different activities on the rivers. Drive forty five minutes and you can see a completely different side of Slovenia...the wine country that borders Italy with its rolling hills and row upon row of grapevines and views out to the sea. When you want a little more Italian you can pop over the border into Italy for excellent food, cappucino, and nice shops to stock up on your olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We started our trip off at 8am so that we would have enough time to catch the car train through the mountains. There was very little traffic until we were north of Munich and then it was stop and go traffic. Fortunately our friends had their GPS (as did we) and we followed our friends off the highway and took back roads around the traffic. We made it to the car train in Slovenia in eight and a half hours which gave us about twenty minutes to spare before the train. We were the first ones to drive onto the train which was fun. This time we also managed to get the train that went all the way to the village of Most na Soci so we were able to unbuckle and be silly in the car for forty-five minutes. We danced and were silly going through the dark tunnels and enjoyed the views of the mountains when we were not in the tunnels. The car train is an experience I am glad we did not miss.

After the long drive on Saturday we took it easy on Sunday and relaxed in the morning. We decided to go to the Slovenian wine country bordering Italy for lunch. It was a forty-five minute drive through windy mountain roads into the wine area. Once we were in the wine area I was surprised at how different it was from in the mountains and how much it looked like Italy. Unfortunately we were there off season so the two places we stopped to buy Slovenian wine were closed but we did go to a fantastic restaurant, Hiša Marica, in the village of Šmartno. The food was delicious! We started off with home made prosciutto, cheese, and salami with bread followed by gnocchi with bolognese for Jason, gnocchi with olive oil and Parmesan for the kids and mushroom risotto for me. I only ate half my risotto since Ali really liked it so I traded half way through for her gnocchi. Lunch wouldn't be complete without dessert so the kids had crepes with Nutella and the adults all had panna cotta with a coffee sauce. We all left there very full and satisfied! After lunch we climbed a tower to have a view over the countryside out to the sea. The day was very overcast so it was difficult to see the sea near Venice but we were just able to make it out in the distance. I can imagine it must be beautiful on a clear day.

After a day of relaxing we decided it was time to hit the slopes. We headed to the ski mountain, Cerkno. The mountain was about forty minutes from the house so we headed out at about 8:30 in the morning so that we could get the kids rentals and lessons taken care of so skiing could start by 10:00. The interesting thing about skiing in Slovenia is that the rentals, lessons and bunny slopes are all at the top of the mountain. Instead of parking at the bottom of the mountain and taking a lift up we drove to the top of the mountain every day. It was a little stressful the first day driving up/down but once we did it and knew it was not really slippery we were fine with the drive. Parking near the top and walking up one final steep road was preferable and easier with the kids. The first day of skiing the kids (Sofia, Ali, Daisy and Bella) did great. They had to get their ski legs under them and we hired an instructor, Kaya, who the girls really liked. We met the kids at the end of their two hour lesson and Kaya said they did great but maybe Ali should be in a separate group b/c she is so young. We just nodded and kept skiing with the kids for another run. Ali was definitely tired and seemed slower than the other kids. The second day of lessons we decided we would let Ali ski with the group for the first hour of lessons and then I would take her for the second hour. We went back to the meeting point after an hour but the kids were there yet. We gave Kaya a call and she said that Ali was doing great and was keeping up with everyone so we left Ali in the group. We met up with the kids at the end of their lessons and decided to take them off the bunny slope. Sofia, Daisy and Bella did great off the bunny slope. Sofia was going very fast which made me a bit nervous so I made her slow down but she was having a blast. Ali was very afraid of the bigger hill which was not surprising as it was quite steep. I ended up staying with her and letting everyone continue on. We eventually made it down the mountain and took the lift back up and then took another run down the bunny hill to boost her confidence. After a good day of skiing we headed down the mountain and to the local town to Shock Bar for some hot chocolate. Guy had told us the hot chocolate was very thick and he wasn't kidding. It resembled Jello Chocolate pudding more than hot chocolate but it was still delicious!

On the way home from the mountain Guy pulled off the main road and we followed to an unknown destination. This is the great thing with traveling with other people. You get to share an experience you might not have stopped to see otherwise. The turn led us to the Franja Partisan Hospital. It is a hospital built into a gorge during World War II. Most of the site was closed to reconstruction since it was damaged in the 2007 flooding but it was fascinating to see a small part of it. To think that people risked their lives to help the injured and did it so brilliantly. The gorge is so hidden in the woods and so deep that you would never think it possible to run a hospital there. The people who worked there had to blindfold the injured and wade through the river up stream to bring the injured to the hospital.

After two days of skiing we took a day off to give the kids a break. Our friend had a meeting in the morning as well so it was the perfect day to take a break. After our friend got back from his meeting we headed to Italy for lunch and a bit of shopping. We went to the small village of Cividale del Friuli. We walked down a typical Italian village road into an open square and went to a Pizzeria for lunch. The Pizza was, of course, fantastic and the cappuccino was delicious. After lunch we walked across the square for gelato. It was too cold for me to eat gelato but the kids were very excited. Ali looked at me in awe and said, "ice cream in the winter?!" since I always tell them we don't eat ice cream in the winter because it is too cold. As usual we asked for very small cones but got very big scoops anyway. The kids were happy! We snapped a few pictures in the square and then walked through the village a bit waiting for the shops to open again at 3:30 (the Italian siesta). We walked down to a Devil's Bridge and looked over the side down to the pretty river and the houses along the side of the river.

We headed back towards the pizzeria to go to my friend, Beanie's, favorite shop for balsamic vinegar. I can see why it is her favorite. The man in the shop is incredibly friendly and clearly loves what he does. We tasted different balsamics and olive oils as well as wine, whisky and chocolate. Of course he is also a salesman so we bought a lot of stuff but while I think he has to sell it he also finds great joy in sharing his goods with people. We are now fully stocked with five bottles of balsamic (3 different kinds) and two different kinds of olive oil. Good balsamic is delicious and is usually expensive so any savings is great and this shop had good prices...savings from $10 -$15 a bottle.

After a day of relaxing and shopping it was time to ski again. We decided to try out a different mountain for skiing. The terrain on the mountain looked good and it had the added benefit that we could ski from Slovenia into Italy which would just be fun to do. We got to the mountain and took the Gondola up to the skiing which was a very long gondola ride. We got to the top and booked the lessons for the girls. We only had three kids with us for skiing since Daisy came down with a cold. She didn't miss out on anything. The skiing at Kanin was not ideal. The ride on the Gondola was long. We booked the kids ski lesson and then took them out on the slopes since there lesson wasn't for another hour. We started on the pommel. It was the first time Sofia and Ali have been on a pommel and they did well. We got to the top of the hill and got off the pommel but the wind was so strong that I was holding onto Ali and we got whipped around and I had to throw all my weight into my edges to stop us. The lift over to the Italian side was closed because of the wind so that really left one trail that we could ski with the kids. The trail would have been good except as we were coming to the end of the trail we realized it went back up hill! Thankfully we only had three children so each adult could take one child and pull them up the hill on skis....a heck of a workout for the adults! We took the kids down the little nursery slope with the pommel a couple times and called it a day. The ski rental wasn't open until 3pm so we ended up going down into the town and having lunch until it was time to return the skis. At least the ski rental place was in the town so we didn't have to go back up the mountain. The only upside of Kanin was the views which were amazing!

After a not so great day of skiing at Kanin we brought the kids back to Cerkno for the final day of skiing. We signed them up for an hour lesson with Tomas since Kaya wasn't available and then skied with them after their lesson. They did great. They were going down the intermediate slopes without a problem. Everyone had a great final day of skiing since they skied well and the weather was fantastic. A perfect end to a great week. We headed back home yesterday but went via Linz, Austria instead of Munich to avoid the traffic. We had no traffic and made it home in just over eight hours. An excellent holiday with great friends in a beautiful country....we can't ask for more than that!

Click HERE for the rest of the pictures from our trip.

School Projects

2011-02-18T18:07:00.000+01:00

Today I went into the girls school since they both had projects to present to the parents. Sofia's class have been spending time building houses. Each child built there own house which they designed and constructed on their own. It was interesting to see what each child came up with. Sofia had a great house and what I loved the most is it had a tunnel in side it that would shoot you up to the roof where you could then walk to the diving board and jump into the pool! Quite an imagination..maybe I should build that into our next home or maybe I should make sure if we ever have a pool again that it is not close enough to the house for jumping!

In the afternoon I went back to the school for Ali's class presentation. All the children in Ali's class had been making puppets. They each chose what they wanted to make and drew it on paper. They had to cut out the design and sew it together and then glue on any necessary pieces. The children were then put into pairs and they had to give puppet shows. Ali was paired up with her friend, Max. Ali had a fish and Max had a jellyfish. Their puppetshow was very cute. It is hard to hear Ali but she does say a few things.

Tangled

2011-02-17T14:57:00.000+01:00

Last weekend Jason worked on Saturday so the girls and I had lunch at Cafe Giraffe followed by going to the movies to see Tangled. The kids school had a private showing of Tangled at the cinema in town and since Jason was working I decided to make a day of it. Lunch at Cafe Giraffe means salad for me but Crepes for the girls along with fresh lemonade. They are pretty consistent with their choices. Sofia usually gets nutells and banana and Ali usually gets strawberries and vanilla ice cream and this time was no different. I have to cut their crepes for them and I always charge for my cutting abilities and take a bite of each of their crepes. My salad is very good as well but it is not nearly as yummy as a crepe! After lunch we drove in to town for the movie. The girls were excited to see their friends and I very quickly found myself sitting alone! Sofia was across the aisle and down a row with her friends and Ali was up a row behind me with her friends. I had to smile that my girls are growing up but then I had to frown becuase I realized it meant I had no popcorn for the movie since the girls had taken their popcorns with them to their seats! I kept turning around and checking on Ali but I don't think her eyes looked toward me once. She was perfectly happy watching the movie with her best friend Cianna. Thankfully Tangled is a movie even an adult can enjoy!

Valentine's Party

2011-02-17T14:49:00.001+01:00

Last Friday my friend Emily invited us over so the kids could have a Valentine's day party. I did not tell the kids it was for valentine's day but just that we were going to Emily's so that there was no expectations. The kids were so excited to go to Emily's since it meant playing with their friends Annalee and Oliver. They were even more excited when I told them their friend, Kiera, might be there as well. They get so excited to see these friends since they do not get to see them every day because they go to different schools. Since Emily and I had decided in the beginning of the week to get together on Friday and I told the kids they kept asking me the question, "How many sleeps until we see Annalee?" You would think we were going on some grand holiday and not going a quarter mile from our house. I did nothing for the party but Emily and my friend Kirsty really went all out. The kids had valentines crafts to do, candy to eat and cupcakes to decorate. The kids also each got two roses to take home! It was a great way for the kids to celebrate Valentine's and since the kids are so happy to be together it meant that my friends and I had time to chat which is always nice.

Legos

2011-02-17T14:40:00.000+01:00

The girls have been enjoying their legos. They still need help with building things and figuring out how it all goes together but fortunately for them Jason also seems to have fun playing with legos. After winning the two lego things from Burns night the girls were eager to put them together. Sofia really enjoys putting things together and it is funny to watch her "help" Ali or "include" her in the construction. Needless to say, Ali doesn't get to do much of the constructing but she seems ok with that for the most part. The girls (and Jason) were so proud of their construction that Jason took a picture so here it is...

Disneyland - Paris

2011-02-09T15:44:00.001+01:00

We decided the kids were at the perfect age to go to Disneyland. Since we are in Europe that really means Disneyland - Paris. The park opened at ten in the morning so we go there just after it opened. We made a pit stop at the Starbucks in Disney Village so that Jason and I could prepare ourselves for the whirlwind of Disney. The kids were very excited. It was definitely the perfect time to bring Sofia to Disney. She could barely contain herself. You could see all this happy emotion running through her as she tried to rush from place to place. We slowed her down a bit but didn't want to dampen her spirits. She talked a mile a minute in her excitement. As we entered the park we saw Mickey and Minnie so we walked over to stand in line. As we were debating whether to wait in line Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen came outside. The kids quickly forgot Mickey and Minnie and we ran over to take a picture with the princess and the prince. Ali was shy and needed some coaxing and help from her big sister to have her picture taken but once she had Sofia's hand she was ready.

Jason and Sofia on Dumbo's Flying Elephant

After seeing the prince and princess the kids were ready for some rides. The great thing about going to Disney in February is that there are hardly any lines for all the attractions. If there was a line it was max ten minute wait which was perfect. Ali was a little scared by a couple of the rides because they were dark and had some spooky sounds but overall she had a great time as well.

Ali staring in amazement on the "It's a Small World" ride

Sofia is on the cusp on not believing but Ali believes it all. We went on the "It's a Small World" ride and the kids looked around them in amazement. After we finished that ride Ali said "that was all real right mommy?" to which I replied, "of course!". Such joy and innocence in our children just warms the heart. We went on many rides, headed up into the tree of the Swiss Family Robinson, walked across suspension bridges on adventure island and went in Sleeping Beauty's castle.

As we were finishing exploring the Swiss Family Robinson tree house we stopped to have a look at the map. As I was looking at the map there was a man with his face next to mine. I screamed very loud since it really startled me. It turned out to be Jack Sparrow! He was on his way to the area where he does his meet and greets. After scaring me near to death I told him he owed me a picture. He was nice enough and stopped for a picture so I didn't have to stand in line (which i wouldn't have done). We all had a good laugh at how loud I screamed.

For all the expense of going to Disney it is worth it. Disney runs the park so well. There were a couple parades to watch during the day as well as a performance and then another bigger parade at the end of the day that had all the princesses. It was a very fun day for all of us!

Paris

2011-02-06T18:46:00.000+01:00

Jason and I had decided that we would spend a weekend in Paris without the kids. We figured Paris wasn't the best city for children and it would be nice to expereince Paris as adults....relaxing in cafes, leisurely dinners, stroll along the champs-elysees. It was not to be though. Sofia came home from school one day and asked if we were ever going to go to Paris becuase she really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. Jason and I looked at each other and gave a very noncommital answer. We hoped that it would be a passing request and she would forget about it. She did not. a couple weeks later she came home with a book she had made titled, "My Holiday Destination - Paris". She was excited about what she had made and showed me inside the book....information on the eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, weather in Paris, distance from Prague etc...all information she had compiled herself! With this book we knew our romantic weekend was over. We could not go to Paris without Sofia knowing that she had such a desire to see the city. So we changed our plans and booked the Marriot just outside of Paris near DisneyLand. When we booked the hotel we checked our calendars first to make sure we had nothing scheduled. After booking the hotel we realized that we had Burns night to attend! So rather than leave on Saturday as planned we left on Sunday morning after a restful :) 4 hours of sleep!

We managed the drive even though we were tired and the kids behaved great which helped. The drive to Paris is very easy and all highway so we got there in nine hours even with a couple bathroom breaks. The hotel was very nice but our room was very cold. We had all the heat turned up but it wasn't warming the space up. We figured it would take a while since it was a two bedroom townhouse so we turned the heat up and went to bed. When we got up in the morning it was still cold so we called the front desk. We had noticed there was a space in the patio doors so when the serviceman came to look at the heat we showed him. He agreed it needed to be fixed but in the mean time we stuck a towel in the crack and he gave us two space heaters to keep the place warm. It did the trick and the rooms warmed up nicely. He had the patio doors open for a little bit when he was working on them which apparently attracted the local swan. After he had closed the door and close the drapes as well to block any draft I kept hearing something knocking. I finally walked over to the door to see what it was and there was the swan knocking on the glass. The kids thought it was hilarious and kept putting their hands to the glass. We didn't want the glass to break and did want the swan to leave so we eventually closed the drapes again and the swan finally decided we weren't going to feed him and left.

Since it was such a long drive on Sunday we decided to just stay at the hotel on Monday and relax. We went in the pool and then the kids went to the kids club where they made chinese lanterns and colored and played on the climbing structure. The woman running the club, Mimi, was great and the kids loved her. We had heard there was good shopping close by so we headed over to check out the outlets and the mall. Ali was the only one who ended up with anything. She really wanted new sneakers so she got a new pair of Pumas. She was very cute in the store and ran down the aisle showing us how fast she could go in the sneakers. After the outlets we headed to the grocery store and stocked up on cheese and snacks and headed home.

We decided on Tuesday we would take the train into Paris for the day. The city is so big that you could spend weeks exploring so we just picked out the must see items and headed to those. The first stop on our trip was the Arc De Triomphe. Sofia was very excited to see it. It was cold though so after standing outside seeing it for a bit I decided we should pop into a cafe on the Champs-Elysees for coffee/hot chocolate and croissants. We warmed up and I took a couple pictures of the kids in the cafe so that when they are older they can say "i sat in a cafe on the Champs-Elysees" and have a picture of it. Who knows maybe they will sit in the same cafe in 20 years! After warming up we walked a little bit on the Champs-Elysees and then decided we should go to the top of the Arc De Triomphe.

On Top of the Arc De Triomphe with the Eiffel Tower in the background

I was relieved when the man asked us if we would prefer the elevator with the children rather than walk up the 284 stairs. We readily accepted the offer. The elevator took us up to the gift shop and then we had to finish the short climb to the top. It was not a great day for viewing Paris as it was foggy but it was still fun to be up on top. We could see all the roads coming off the round about that goes around the Arc de Triomphe as well as the Eiffel Tower.

Watching the traffic on the round about was very funny. It is such a mad house and there are no lanes on the road so it is a complete free for all. We were all excited for our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower (Jason had already seen it on a previous trip to Paris but it was a first for the girls and me). After spending time looking around the city from on there we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower.

We headed back to the metro and over to the Eiffel Tower. The activity lady at our hotel had told us which stop to get off to have an unobstructed view of the Tower and I'm glad she gave us that information. It was great seeing it in full with nothing blocking our way and it gave Jason a different view of the Tower as well since when he last came to Paris he approached the Eiffel Tower from the opposite side. We slowly made our way over to the Tower while snapping loads of pictures and we stood in line to buy our tickets. We could only go to the second floor since they were doing some kind of renovation work on the top. This turned out to be fine though since it was a foggy day I don't think we would have seen much from the very top. I can't imagine coming to the Eiffel Tower in the summer when the crowds are so big. It took us 20 minutes to get the elevator down from the second floor and I think we were probably there during the slowest time of the year!

Surprisingly after only seeing two sights it was time for lunch so we walked from the Eiffel Tower to a restaurant on the way to our next destination. We found a small creperie and stopped for lunch. The girls and I opted for the banana and chocolate crepe while Jason went for a little more substantial, ham, egg and cheese crepe. After lunch we walked down Rue Cler and checked out some of the shops. We could not pass up the cheese shop so we stopped in and bought more cheese. It is hard to resist buying cheese when there are so many excellent options to choose from!

Jason and I knew we would only have one more stop left to see since the girls were getting tired as were we. We decided to head up to Montmartre to Sacre Coeur rather than Notre Dame. It was suppose to have a great view of Paris as well as an artist community and it would make our return train ride faster and easier so we opted to go there. Of course once we got there we had to take a potty break which also meant coffee/snack break so we sat in a cafe at the bottom of the hill looking up at Sacre Coeur. After finishing our snack we took the funicular up the hill and turned to see the view of Paris but unfortunately the fog was there so we couldn't see much. We headed into the church and then walked around the neighborhood a bit to see if there were any paintings we were interested in but given the time of year and the cold there were not many artist around. Oh well, maybe on the next trip to Paris we will come when it is a bit warmer!

After a full day in Paris we headed back to the train to go to our hotel. We didn't really see that much of Paris but it took an entire day to see what we did. We didn't get back to our hotel until around 6PM. We made dinner of bread and cheese and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Burn's Night

2011-02-06T09:32:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday was the annual Burn's Night Supper put on by the kid's primary school. This was our fourth year attending the dinner. Last year I was on the Burn's Night committee and the night was huge success and I had fun but this year I decided to just kick back and enjoy the night without any stress of working the event. It was funny not being involved in the event this year after being so deeply involved last year. I didn't even buy our tickets until a few days before the dinner! We were prepared for a fun night out though. We had our babysitter sleep over so that we didn't have to worry about getting back late. The kids love when Iva sleeps over! We called a cab, picked up friends on the way and started our night. The night always involves alcohol and it always involves scotch whiskey. I have my obligatory sip of the whiskey but that is all I can manage. While Jason and a lot of our friends enjoy the flavor of Whiskey, to me it just tastes awful and it is really only good as cough medine. This year I missed what was said for most of the toast to the lassies since the accoustics in the hall were not that good and the man giving the toast had a very heavy scottish accent that takes most of my concentration to understand even when there isn't a lot of other noise around. I had a Scottish friend sitting next to me and he did "translate" some of it so it was still funny. After the toast to the lassies and laddies and the toast to the haggis we sat down to enjoy our meal. This year the serving staff didn't ask you what you wanted but just put heaping portions of everything on the plates. As I did not feel like having a bloated belly this year I skipped the haggis and ate the potatoes and neeps. Neeps, as far as I can tell, seem to be made from turnips but there also seemed to be some carrots in with it but I could be wrong. There were two raffles this year. The first raffle was for the bottle of Whiskey on the table and the second raffle was for a bunch of different prizes. Our table all just put equal amount of money into the Whiskey raffle envelope and the opened the bottle and shared it among the table. The second raffle everyone bought tickets for to see if we would win anything from the list of prizes. It seemed our table was a lucky table as most people sitting at our table won some prize. We came home with two boxes of legos...a helicopter and the jeep and green army men from Toy Story. Once the raffle was finished and the plates cleared the tables were moved aside to make room for dancing. We had a lot of fun dancing the Scottish dances. I danced one with a Scottish friend who knew what he was doing but i still think that particular dance is very difficult even when I'm being dragged along by someone with knowledge of the dance. The last Scottish dance of the night (I think it is called the Highland Barn Dance) Jason and I danced together and we felt that we finally figured out one of the dances. It has only taken us 4 years to figure it out! It was a fun night and we finally called it quits and got home around 3am. We were grateful that Iva slept over so that we didn't have to leave the party any sooner!

Birthday Party

2011-01-23T14:12:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for the girls friend, Kiera. We are good friends with Kiera's parents and the girls have been friends since we first moved to Prague. The kids don't see each other as often any more since they go to different schools but we try to get them together as often as we can since they have such a good time together. Sofia was a little nervous going to the party becuase she was worried that all the kids would speak Czech since Kiera speaks Czech and goes to Czech school. Once we
arrived though all of Sofia's fear evaporated and she jumped right in playing with everyone. It is always interesting to be at these events to watch the kids and adults switch back and forth between languages. There never seems to be a problem with languages and even when the same langauge isn't spoken you can still converse in a limited way. The kids had a lot of fun coloring, dancing, joining in the conga line, trying to bite a donut from a string and some of the adults joined in for a little limbo game as well. It was a fun party. We all left the party tired from all the fun.

Ali playing

2011-01-23T13:44:00.000+01:00

Ali really enjoys playing with her dolls and is very good at pretend play. I am often amazed at how she can create a pretend world. She dressed one her dolls up the other day and decided she was going to dance and sing a song. It was very cute and kind of funny since Ali just kept singing the same words over and over.

Miss Susie...

2011-01-23T13:38:00.000+01:00

When I was little my friends and I would slap hands to "Miss Susie had a steam boat the steam boat had a bell...". We always had a lot of fun doing this and I wondered if kids still played this same game. Well, they haven't learned miss Susie yet which is fin with me since I don't want her figuring out the meaning of that one yet but I was very excited when her friend Bella came over to play the other day and the two of them showed me one they had learned! Apparently there is another way to do it but they have made up this version themselves to be silly.

Deer

2011-01-21T14:10:00.000+01:00

In front our our house is an old apple orchard that I have written about before. Well, there are deer that live in this orchard and the surrounding fields as well as the orchard across the field. I have seen the deer quite a bit this year. Sometimes I see them through the backdoor looking at the field across the way, sometimes on our road, and most often I see them at the end of our road. Watson is usally oblivious to the deer when they are around. He just doesn't seem to hear them which I find amazing. The other day he did see them but the deer ran down a steep hill and Watson couldn't figure out how to get down the hill to give chase. Today was a different story. He spotted the deer before I did and took off after them. They ran up hill and back into the orchard with Watson in hot pursuit. I don't actually mind that he chases the deer what I worry about is that he didn't have a collar on and I was afraid he would get to the main road and get hit by a car. I quickly made my way up the hill into another open space but Watson was no where to be found. I stood there just calling his name so that he could eventually follow the sound of my vioce and come back to me. It didn't take him long to find me and I was relieved he came back so quickly. Since he never headed out into the road and came back on his own unharmed I'm glad he had a little excitement in his day. He came back out of breath and seemingly happy. It is fun to see the deer all the time!

It's Cold Again

2011-01-21T12:27:00.000+01:00

Our short lived burst of warmth has come to an end. We had light snow this week but it has already melted. It made the drive to school yesterday less than ideal. I had training from 6am-7am yesterday and it took me an hour to make a drive that normally takes about 8 minutes. Once I finally reached home I picked up Jason and the kids and took the kids to school. This is about 4.5 miles from our home and it took us about an hour to get to school. So to recap....I drove two hours and didn't actually go anywhere! The roads were incredibly icey and of course no sanding or salting of the roads had happened so there were accidents everywhere. I was happy that the roads were much better this morning and it was an easy drive to school. We have nothing planned for this weekend which will be nice. The weeks go by so fast. With the kids in school and having after school activites the day flies by. They also have homework every night so from 3:15 until 7pm it seemed like we are constantly going. Once I pick the kids up from school and bring them to their next activity, we still have to come home and the kids have to do there homework and have dinner. I also try to make sure they have time to play. Fortunately they get to play most nights while I make dinner. I know they feel like they miss out of they don't have their free play time so last night I made Sofia put down her book and go play. She really wanted to finish her book but I knew if I let her read until bedtime she would regret it when I said, "ok time for bed.". It was the right decision since she went upstairs and played in the playroom with Ali becuase they had such a great half hour of play before bed. I am not worried any more about creating a love of books with Sofia. That girl is definitely hooked!

It is warm!

2011-01-16T15:16:00.000+01:00

The last few days have been so warm! Nothing crazy but 8-10C (46-50F) but it feels so warm after the very cold and snowy month of December. I even had to break out my sunglasses today which I haven't had to wear in a long time! Today Jason went for a run which he hasn't done in a while and then we all went outside and did some clean up...raking the yard, fixing the pool cover, sweeping the patio. It felt like we were starting spring clean up. I'm still surprised that the sun is still shining. I'm hopeful that this weather will last into next week so that I can enjoy a few runs in springlike weather.

Catch Up

2011-01-12T13:35:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted since the New Year but not much has been happening either. The girls and I had a lot of lazy days around the house. I'm happy to say though that even with three weeks off school the girls did not seem to get on each others nerves and played very well together. I did send the girls outside every day to play in the snow. They would complain about having to go outside but once they were dressed and out they had a great time and would stay out there for two to three hours digging tunnels, sledding, rolling down the hill etc. We had no major injuries which was a bonus. The girls did fall over the back of the bench swing in the back yard but luckily it was just a couple bruises and a little bit of a fright. I think they have learned there lesson about using the swing properly.

The snow has begun to melt and it is nice to see grass starting to poke through the snow. It feels like spring is coming since the snow is melting and it has warmed up a bit but I'm sure we have more snow in our future. The girls went back to school this week and were very excited to go back and see their friends and teachers. I'm excited to be able to get things done around the house. Cleaning while the kids are at home is useless since I pick up one room and then another and by the time I'm finished with the second room the first room is a mess again. Cleaning is never fun but at least when the kids aren't home there is a sense of accomplishment when the house is all clean.

So onward we move into 2011. The kids will have school, construction club, gymnastics and Czech lessons to keep them busy. I have the kids, the house, and my new fitness course to keep me busy and Jason will be busy with work. While life will be busy we will still have lots of fun so I will keep you posted.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T10:26:00.000+01:00

We had a fun relaxed New Year's Eve again this year but this year we didn't spend it at home! We went to our friend's house to celebrate the New Year. We took the kids with us so that they could play with their friends too. We brought the kids pajamas and had them change into them after we had eaten a few snacks since we assumed they would fall asleep at some point. We were wrong. The kids stayed up until midnight!! They were very excited to be up so late but behaved very well. We lit off some of our own fireworks which took about 2 minutes and then we let the kids play with sparklers. They had a great time making circles with the sparklers and it was fun to watch them. At midnight the real fireworks started in true Czech style. We could see fireworks in all directions from firework displays put on by local villages to fireworks put on my local people from their yards. We watch fireworks for about 40 minutes and then decided it was time to get the kids home to bed. As we drove home we watched fireworks from the car but they were mostly over by then so it was mainly a good way to keep the kids awake searching for the five minute car ride. UnfortunatelyI left my camera at home so I don't have any pictures but it was a fun night!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-29T11:17:00.000+01:00

This was a very fun Christmas with the kids. They are at such a great age. Sofia was completely amazed watching Santa's journey on noradsanta.org. We had to make her leave the computer becuase she was just sitting at the computer waiting for Santa to reach his next stop. On Christmas morning the kids woke up and we headed downstairs to see if Santa came. He definitely made a stop in Prague to deliver presents. We open our stockings and then took a short break for Jason and i to get some coffee and to cut up the Holiday sweet bread (I have made this every year since living in Prague and it is part of our Christmas morning tradition) so that we would have something to sustain us through the gift opening. It did not take the kids long to get through all their presents. They were going through them so quickly that it was hard to snap pictures and pick up the wrapping paper so that they would be able to see the gifts. They got a lot of legos, K'Nex, polly pockets, and littlest pet shop. They also received books. I'm happy that the girls are just as excited to receive books as they are toys. Sofia received her Magic Fairies books and has already started reading one of them. She wanted to start right away but we told her she had to finish the book she was currently reading before starting on a new one. She complained a bit but then finished her Katie the Kitten Fairy book and has started on Zoe the Skating Fairy. We have allowed her to read in bed with a book light the last two nights and she has read a chapter a night. We will see if she can continue to do this since the last two nights she hasn't gone straight to sleep after reading so we may have to put a hold on this kind of reading until she is older.

After opening presents and having our traditional Christmas breakfast of bacon, eggs and homefries we got dressed and went to our friend's house for brunch. Ali was very excited to see her best friend Cianna and it was nice for us to celebrate Christmas with friends. As soon as we got there (which took about 2 minutes since they live just down the hill from us), the girls took off with their friends. We only saw them briefly when they came into the kitchen for some food and drinks. It was nice to catch up with everyone and see how everyones' Christmas went and how the kids were all excited.

After that we headed back home for a leisurely afternoon. We had some light snacks since after a large breakfast and some brunch food we didn't need a full lunch. We played with Legos and Operation and then I started to get dinner ready. I made the same beef tenderloin with Gorgonzola cream sauce that I have made the last few years along with potatoes and salad. It was delicious!

It is hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone. The day after Christmas we took our tree down which we do not normally do but this year our tree died about 2 days after we got it so it was looking pretty bad. I have started to clean up the toys but it seems as soon as I put them away the kids have them back out again to play with. I guess I will just have to accept that the new toys will be strewn about the house until the kids are back in school. I'm glad they are enjoying themselves.

Bye Bye Christopher

2010-12-29T10:24:00.001+01:00

The kids have been on school break since we went to Berlin. We have mostly just relaxed and hung out at home with a few exceptions. I got a haircut (nothing big just a trim) and the kids went into town with Jason, we went to my friend Beanie's so the kids could play with their friends (and I could chat with mine). They actually were able to play with their friends a second day as well since Daria (our friend's Nanny) agreed to watch the kids while Beanie and I went together to get some shopping finished. It made my life immensely easier as doing a giant pre-christmas grocery shop in a busy grocery store with the kids is not a lot of fun. Other than that life was quiet here.

It says " To: Christopher Pop-In-Kins
I will miss you Christopher when you are back in the North Pole.
From: Alessandra

Over the course of the week we started prepping Ali for the departure of Christopher Pop-In-Kins. We did not want a repeat of the tearful goodbye of last year so we wanted to make sure she knew that he was leaving on Christmas Eve. There was some sadness and Ali wrote a letter to give to Christopher before he left that was very sweet. She started to cry before dinner on Christmas Eve but we told her that Santa was not going to allow Christopher to come back if Santa knew that Christopher made children so sad that they were crying on Christmas Eve. This definitely did the trick because while she was still sad to see him go she pulled herself together and stopped crying. After dinner we watched A Year without Santa Claus and we allowed both of the kids to take turns snuggling with Christopher. I know that technically the children aren't suppose to touch him because he loses his magic and has to go back to the North Pole to replenish it but we justified touching him since he had to go back to the North Pole that night anyway.

Berlin

2010-12-21T10:36:00.001+01:00

This past weekend we headed to Berlin. It is a city that was not on our original list of things to see while living in Prague but after living here for a few years it made its way on to the must sees before leaving Europe. Somehow living here had increased my desire to see Berlin and to see the Wall to envision what life was like during that time in history. Anyway, we decided to combine our yearly trip to a Christmas Market with seeing a bit of history and we headed to Berlin. The trip there was a a bit (about twice as long) longer than normal since we drove in a snow storm and had to divert around a road closure on to unplowed roads but at least we made it there safely. After making it to the hotel we found that our rooms were not ready yet which would normally really annoy me but the receptionist at the Marriott was very friendly and immediately offered us the use of the executive lounge for the length of our stay. We took that as a good deal, because really what else were we going to do. It worked out great to have access to the lounge since it meant we did not have to wait in line to be seated for the breakfast buffet in the main dining room and if ever we needed a snack or the kids wanted food or a drink it was readily available.

We headed up to the lounge to relax while they prepared our rooms and then we went out to the KaDeWe department store. I was looking for boots that I thought they might have but unfortunately they did not have what I was looking for. It was not a wasted trip though as the department store is huge so we spent some time in the toy department since Jason's mom gave us money to spend on gifts for the kids. Her prerequisite was that we buy things for them that we would not normally buy. This is actually a hard rule to follow since when they pick up things that cost a ridiculous amount of money my first instinct is to say no but we did let them browse and only said no to a few things. After spending time in the toy department we went upstairs to the gourmet food hall. I could have spent the entire day on this floor. We ended up buying some cheese and bread to bring back to the room and grabbed a quick dinner of sausages for Jason and the girls before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday was our big day out in Berlin. We took a two mile walk with the girls which was very interesting for all of us. We stayed right in Potsdamer Platz which was formally the No Mans Land area between East and West Berlin. There are parts of the old Wall still standing here so we stopped to discuss what this meant for the people of Berlin. We then followed the line on the road which marked where the wall used to stand until we came to another long section of the wall. We stopped again to talk about what this meant. Having the actual wall still remaining makes the history lesson very real for the kids and for Jason and me.

We continued our walk towards Check Point Charlie and came across the demarcation of the wall again on the side walk. I had the girls stand on either side of the marked space so that they could see what it was like for families who were separated by the wall. I forget which one said it but they definitely summed it up with , "I would not have liked the wall!".

We continued on to Check Point Charlie and our walking history lesson. It was strange to walk past the sign saying "You are leaving the American Sector" and knowing that we were walking into an area that we would not have been able to walk in twenty years ago. It is amazing to see that in twenty years any distinction between East and West ( at least on this road) has been obliterated. It is one city again and if you didn't know the history you would assume it had always been one. This is really the first city we have visited where the kids could physically see the after effects of war and world politics and it wasn't some theoretical discussion that they couldn't understand. They definitely understood that the wall was not a good thing and that it separate friends and families. They also understood that they wanted to be on the "good side" (as they called it) of the wall and be free.

After our history lesson we ended at one of the Christmas markets for a little more light hearted fun. We looked in all the stalls, bought some cookies, apple chips (dried apples but they were crunchy like chips), souvenirs and warmed up with mulled wine and kinder punch. I loved buying warm drinks at the Christmas markets because the mug is also a souvenir. You pay for the drink and you pay for the cup but if you don't want the cup you return it when you are finished drinking and they give you your money back for the cup. Some markets don't have this option like Prague. Some markets have only one type of mug for all the markets in the city and some markets have a different mug for every market in the city. Berlin had a different mug for every market in the city so we have mugs from Gendermenmarkt, Operpalais, and Postdamer Platz markets.

The Berlin markets do a good job of including things for adults and children so we would spend time looking at the market stalls but then also going on carousels, ferris wheels and we also took a few trips sledding down Europe's biggest mobile toboggan run. I've realized that things I would not have thought twice about doing without children now stress me out. Going sledding wouldn't have bothered me before but sledding down the hill holding onto to Ali's inner tube next to me and worrying that we were not going to stop when we came to the wall at the end of the run really stressed me out. Of course we did stop and it wasn't a problem but its funny how much self preservation and child preservation differ. I kept my worry to myself though and let the kids be kids and have fun sledding. How often do you get to go down a massive sledding hill in the middle of Berlin??? You just can't pass it up when given the chance!

On Sunday we decided we would go back to KaDeWe to buy the kids toys that they wanted and to pick up a few things from the gourmet floor and then drive home. Unfortunately the shop did not open until 1pm which threw off our plan. Our goal was to get through the mountains before sunset in case the drive was bad like it was going to Berlin. We could not leave though without "Hannah" the doll Ali had picked out in the toy department. We had not wanted the girls to spend all their money from Grammie on Friday since we thought they might find something in the markets that they wanted so while we had been in the toy department before we hadn't bought anything. We have never seen Ali want anything as badly as she wanted Hannah. She talked about this doll all weekend and anytime she saw something else she liked she would then say, "but I want Hannah more." We couldn't in good conscious leave without Hannah so we waited until 1pm and went into the KaDeWe and bought Hannah. Sofia also picked up her things that she had picked out on Friday as well. We picked up a few other gifts for the kids for Christmas as well as some things from the gourmet floor for us and then hit the road. We did not make it thought the mountains before dark. We didn't even make it to Dresden before dark so we ended up driving through the mountains in the dark in a snow storm. Fortunately there were no road closures and it only took us 5 hours to drive home ( still an hour and a half longer than it should have). It was a great weekend and well worth the drives in snowstorms.

Creative Writing Award

2010-12-16T19:21:00.001+01:00

This year Sofia's teacher has been teaching the kids about writing books. She has them brain storm, draft, edit and rewrite their own books. She has taught them NEPR which stands for Nice beginning, Event or change, Problem, Resolution. I had not seen any of the work that Sofia had done on her book since they do not bring the stories home. Her teacher was really giving them time to use their language and writing skills while using their imagination so if they finished a book they could start a new one. I didn't realize that an award would be given for any writing but in the school assembly today Sofia was awarded the Creative Writing Award. The award certificate will be framed and hung in the library along with her book. She also received a gift certificate to an English language book store in town. We are extremely proud of her and love to see her beaming with pride over a job well done!

YAHTZEE!!!!

2010-12-12T20:47:00.000+01:00

We played a few rounds of UNO today with the girls. They really enjoy it and Jason and I have fun playing it with them. After playing a few rounds we decided to introduce the kids to a different game...YAHTZEE!! They still need a little help understanding the different combinations...full house, small straight etc. but they loved it! It is great for practicing their math skills as well so it is fun and educational. Sofia won our first ever family YAHTZEE game. She ended up with two YAHTZEEs!! Jason and I taught them the appropriate response when you get a YAHTZEE! Here is a picture I snapped of Ali when she got her first ever YAHTZEE. It was a lot of fun playing with the girls and we are looking forward to many more games of YAHTZEE!!!

Santa Claus!!

2010-12-12T20:36:00.000+01:00

Santa came to town on Friday and stopped at the kids school. The girls were very excited to see Santa. We, fortunately, got to Santa early enough that there was no line and the girls went straight in to see him. Sofia decided she would see him first so she walked in and headed right to Santa but once on his lap she could not think of any toys that she wanted. It was very cute.

Ali was a little more timid about walking up to Santa but once she was on his lap she had no problem telling him she wanted a doll with yellow hair. They are at such a great age since they are old enough to understand the magic of Santa but not old enough to not believe in that magic. When they were all finished talking to Santa they were given a small present which turned out to be a yo-yo. They have never used yo-yos but with a little practice they can now make their yo-yos work.

Not only did the girls see Santa they also received a video message from Santa. Santa has come a long way from my childhood! The kids are very observant though and Ali immediately noticed that the Santa from school had a much shorter beard than the Santa in the video. I told her that Santa must have cut his beard some before he came to their school so that the kids wouldn't sit on it.

To watch Ali's message, click here: Ali's video message from Santa

To watch Sofia's message, click here: Sofia's video message from Santa

Christmas Tree Decorating

2010-12-12T19:23:00.000+01:00

Every year the girls school gets a christmas tree and each class makes a different ornament and each child hangs the ornament they made on the tree. The kids love making their ornaments and they really enjoy decorating the tree. The parents make hot chocolate and cookies for the kids so after the kids have hung their ornaments they get to have a treat too. This year I made chocolate chip cookies for Sofia's class. I wasn't sure what was happening for Ali's class so I brought enough cookies in for both classes but another parent brought in the cookies for Ali's class so I just set aside my cookies. We didn't need the kids on sugar overload from too many cookies!

Sofia's reading

2010-12-11T16:12:00.000+01:00

Sofia's reading continues to amaze us. She is reading chapter books. She wanted to read a Beverly Cleary Ramona book and so we decided to let her give it a try. She did great with it and got about half way through the book but found it a bit boring. Since we had bought her another book already we decided to let her stop reading Ramona and try a new book. I'm glad we did becuase the book we bought her was "Storm the Lighting Fairy" and she loved it. It is part of a series of books called Rainbow Magic. She is now on her third book from this series of books and is reading about one book a month. The books are about 70-80 pages long and she reads it when she gets home from school. She still likes to be read to though so at bed time Jason and I read other books to the girls. I'm thrilled that Sofia really seems to enjoy reading. She is already asking to read in bed with a bed side table to put her book on and to have a lamp. As the girls are currently sharing a room it isn't possible but maybe when she is a little bit older we will give them each their own room so Sofia can read to herself before she goes to sleep.

Grace Grace Grace

2010-12-06T14:05:00.000+01:00

Our friends, Karen & Matt, flew back to Prague this past weekend to attend the Broken Silence Ball on Saturday night. It was so nice to see them. On Sunday a bunch of our friends met up in town for lunch. Karen and Matt were going to the lunch and they were bringing their kids Lucy and Grace with them so we weren't going to miss the chance to not only see our friends another time but also for Ali to see Grace. Ali was so excited when I told her Grace was in town and that we were going to have lunch with her. She immediately got busy making Grace a card to take back to England. We all went for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe which was great. St. Mikulas was there so the kids were entertained by him, the angel and the devil. They got tons of candy from him and legos which seemed to keep them all entertained before their food came and after they were finished eating. It worked out perfectly. Ali was fine with saying goodbye to Grace again. I think seeing her again was a good lesson in "moving away doesn't mean gone forever".

The Christmas Season

2010-12-06T13:32:00.001+01:00

We kicked off our family christmas season yeseterday. We went into town yesterday to have lunch with friends and then after lunch we walked into Old Town Square to look at the Christmas markets, the christmas tree, to pet the animals and to get one of many Trudlo that we will eat this year. Old Town Square was beautiful as always. The markets are not my favorite in Europe since the majority of the stalls are food but it is still nice to look at and we do enjoy Trudlo. The girls were more excited this year about the animals than in years past so we stopped and let them pet the horse.

Ali did not want to pet the horse but then changed her mind later so we headed back to the horse again so Ali could pet it. We assumed she didn't want to pet the horse becuase she was afraid. It turns out she just didn't want the horse to eat her trudlo! After making our way around the market we headed home to buy our Christmas tree. We went to our local garden center and chose our tree. It was the same man as last year at the garden center and he was very friendly. After tieing the tree on top of the car we drove home without any sudden stops or turns so we managed to keep the tree on top of the car. We had some difficulty getting the tree into the stand so we had to get the saw out and go to work. It didn't really seem to help much though since we just could not get the stnad to hold the tree upright. We eventually gave up and we tied the tree up to the door handle behind the tree. The kids were very excited to decorate so we got through all the decorations very quickly. The girls danced and sang all around the tree once it was finished. Now our tree is up and we are living in a winter wonderland of snow with snow forecasted for the next ten days. We are definitely ready for Christmas!

Broken Silence Ball

2010-12-05T08:07:00.000+01:00

Last night was the annual Broken Silence Ball. The Broken Silence Foundation holds a charity ball every year to raise funds to support the National Hearing Screening project. This is the first year Jason and I have gone to the event and it was a blast. This years theme was fairytale in a winter wonderland so Jason and I dressed up as snowman/woman. The other costumes worn last night were amazing. Some people really went all out and only a very few did not dress up but chose to wear black tie. It is quite a party and a lot of money is raised. During the evening there is a silent auction, a live auction, a tombola as well as a three course meal, drinks and dancing. The items up for auction were amazing such as tickets to South Africa with hotel and game rides. They were all out of our price range but I'm happy there were people there with money to spend so that the charity can raise a lot of money. One of the auction prizes went for 220,000CZK ($11,800USD) so I think the charity will be very happy with the funds it raised last night. The ball was held at a nice restaurant also so the food was actually good. It was open bar so the drinks flowed all around....from the bar or the vodka flume or the servers walking around with trays of drinks. Also one of the men sitting at our table works for Red Bull so he had the red bull and vodka filling up everyone's glasses at our table. Given my experience at the 80's party we went to I kept the alcohol to a minimum last night so I did not have a repeat experience. It was much easier to get up on four hours sleep without a lot of alcohol that is for sure!

Snow Snow Snow

2010-12-04T11:28:00.000+01:00

It snowed again!! The snow started in the afternoon on Wednesday and continued through Thursday morning. It did not stop until it had left another 6-7 inches (15-18cm) !! It is only the beginning of December and we already have a foot (30cm) of snow on the ground. It has been enough to disrupt our schedules. We kept the kids home on Monday because of the snow, we skipped gymnastics on Wednesday afternoon, skipped school on Thursday and no Czech lessons on Thursday. While the kids school did not close we chose safety over school and kept the kids home anyway. The school is horrible about clearing parking lots and pathways and I refuse to drop my children off on a main road to cross the street and walk up a side street by themselves in slippery, snowy condtions. I wouldn't allow that in good conditions so I certaily wouldn't allow it in snowy conditions. The kids did not mind having a snow day though. They spent a lot of time outside and loved it. On Monday they spent two hours out on our road with me while I shoveled and they didn't complain once. When I was finished shoveling we came back into our yard where they played for another hour. On Thursday Jason also stayed home and even though he was working it meant I could leave the kids in the house or in the yard while I went out to shovel our road again. They did take some time inside but by the time I came back from shoveling they were sledding in the back yard again. It is nice to see them thoroughly enjoying the snow. It is also great that they have reached the age to play together and have a really good time. While the kids enjoyed playing I did some not quite so enjoyable work and shoveled our road for three hours. For reasons unfathomable to me the people on our road do not shovel so I do the entire thing myself. One of the men our our road spent an hour trying to get his car up the hill through 12" (30cm) of snow! It would have taken him less time to shovel the entire hill!! The lady a little further down the hill was outside with a BROOM!! Who shovels that much snow with a broom??? I then went past her and shoveled out in front of her house. I did feel like I made some progress though when I got to the bottom of the hill and the lady I saw while I was shoveling after the first storm came home and took a brand new snow shovel out of her car. Now, I didn't see her use it but it is progress over the digging shovel she had the other day. Maybe by the end of winter I will have a little help shoveling the road. I will admit though that it is very gratifying to drive on our road now and know that I cleared all of it. It definitely gives me a "job well done" feeling.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2010-11-29T10:37:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday to a great Dad and Grandpa! We hope you have a wonderful day. We love you!!

Christopher Pop-In-Kins

2010-11-29T10:13:00.000+01:00

Along with the snow last night came Christopher Pop-In-Kins. The girls love him and were very excited last night when we told them that maybe he would come during the night. Sure enough he made it through the snow storm and arrived at our house sometime last night. The girls looked all around the livingroom this morning and finally found him on top of the bookcase. As it is the first time they have seen him in almost a year we let him touch him but since we don't want to make him go back to the north pole all the time to replenish his magic they won't be allowed to touch him until Christmas Eve when they say good bye to him.

SNOW!!

2010-11-29T10:08:00.000+01:00

Winter had begun in Prague! We had a small amount of snow on Friday night but last night the snow started in earnest. We woke up this morning to find about five inches (12cm) of snow on the ground and it is still snowing. This does cause some problems for us since we had not put our winter tires on the car yet and our summer tires are less than ideal for driving in the snow. I went out this morning to the cash machine to get money so that I could bring the car to the tire shop but unfortunately the bank machine had no money so I turned around and headed home. By the time I headed home the traffic was so bad heading in to town that I made the executive decision that the kids would have a minimum one hour delay. Well, I have moved that to a two hour delay after speaking with a friend who told me the traffic is still horrible going in to town. Once I bring the kids to school (if I bring them) I will head all the way into town to a cash machine and then head to the tire place to have new tires put on. That is problem number one which will hopefully be solved later today. Problem number two is waiting in the wings and that is our septic. We were holding off to empty it until mid December so that it would be ok for most of the winter and we would not have to worry about the septic man being able to make it down our road. Well, let's hope this doesn't become a problem and this first big drop of snow melts enough to allow access to our house so the septic can be emptied. The third problem which isn't really a problem but more of an inconvenience is all the shoveling that is ahead of me since just like last year I will have to shovel our entire road. Such is life, at least I get to enjoy the beauty of the snow. The trees are all looking beautiful with the snow resting on all their branches and their is a definite peace in the air when the snow is falling and everything is pristine.

Play Date

2010-11-29T09:39:00.000+01:00

On Friday we invited Sofia's friend, Matilda, over to play after school. It is such a nice age for playdates since the kids just go off and play with each other and require little interference from me. We got home and Matilda and Sofia took off their jackets and headed upstairs to play without even a second glance for me. They played nicely together and really seemed to enjoy each other. They eventually came downstairs as part of their imaginary game to play and to put on their mermaid bodies. Here they are sitting in front of their mermaid rock together.

Thanksgiving leftovers

2010-11-29T09:34:00.000+01:00

It has been great to have Thanksgiving leftovers all weekend. I invited some girlfriends over for leftover lunch on Friday. It was nice to sit and relax with friends. It started to snow a bit on Friday night which made for a perfect Saturday. The kids played in the yard a little bit and since there wasn't enough snow to make an actual snowman, Ali decided to make a snow Peep. Peep in the Big Wide World is a PBS TV show that the kids have enjoyed for a long time and Jason and I enjoy it too. After playing outside for a little while we called the girls in for leftover lunch. The girls really like eating the legs and wings from the turkey so they were happy to see I had put a wing on each of their plates. While it is definitely not polite to gnaw on a bone in public it is perfectly acceptable to do it in the privacy of ones own home and Jason and I had to laugh at the gusto to which the girls ate their chicken wings.

A letter for Sofia

2010-11-26T23:10:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned before, Sofia's good friend Lars moved away this past summer. I knew they were friends and, of course, were going to be married but I did not really truly understand the depth to which Sofia enjoyed Lars' company. Since he has left she rarely talks about him but I find little things every few days that tells me she still misses him. A letter in her bag that she wrote to him, a heart that says, "I love you Lars", a card that tells him she misses him...it really is heartbreaking to find these little glimpses of my daughters feelings. I'm glad she has a way to express herself though and doesn't just keep it all inside. We did send a letter to Lars along with the Flat Stanley Project that Sofia's class is working on and we will wait to get the Flat Stanley back but today a letter arrived for Sofia from Lars. I was very excited for her when I picked up the mail and saw the letter and I couldn't wait for her to open it. I knew she would be excited to receive the letter. It is so nice that Lars and Sofia are both at an age where they can write letters and can maintain their friendship. She has read the letters multiple times since she came home from school and I'm sure she will keep them in a special place.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-25T23:04:00.000+01:00

Thanksgiving Day in Prague always feels different since to most people here it is just another day. While we still send the kids to school Jason and I still want to celebrate and enjoy Thanksgiving. It is not as easy to celebrate with all the fixings but with a good scavenger hunt I managed to come up with all the necessities for a good Thanksgiving meal. To find all the things we needed for dinner I had to go to the British shop to order the turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. After the British shop I headed to the fruit and vegetable shop near our old apartment to find butternut squash and sweet potatoes. I managed to get the sweet potatoes but not the squash so the search continued to the Bio shop which did not have it either. I decided to try one other bio shop and I was in luck because they had three squashed left. Since the squashes were enormous I only bought one and headed home. I sent Jason to a shop in town to buy pureed pumpkin and another shop to buy pecans. At least after almost four years here I know where to go to find everything we need.

We invited two families to join us so we had six adults and eight kids and we all had a great night. Jason and I prepared the house and figured out where to seat everyone for dinner. I made the sweet potato casserole, squash, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, chocolate cream pie and custard pie yesterday so today Jason put the turkey in the oven and we figured out the timing for all the side dishes. It all worked out great and we served, turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potato, gravy, green beans, stuffing and the above mentioned pies. I had cranberry sauce but in the rush of getting the kids food and sitting for our adult dinner I forgot to put it on the table. We did have a brief power outage just as we were finishing up making all the sides but we figured out the problem and continued on with dinner. We had such a great time talking that I completely forgot to take pictures so the only pictures I have are the ones I took before our guests arrived. Such is life, I guess I was having so much fun I did not think to take pictures.

Velka Kunraticka

2010-11-14T17:05:00.001+01:00

Today I ran the 77th annual Velka Kunraticka, which is a unique race run in a public forest in Prague. The race is unique because it is only two miles but is on a forest trail with three stream crossings and three successively larger hills to climb up and back down: 90, 120 and 180 foot climbs. I have wanted to run the race the past three years but the last two it just didn't work out so I really felt I needed to do it this year. Mary and the girls came to cheer me on and we were fortunate to have an absolutely beautiful day that felt more like September than November.

Because the race is on a narrow trail runners are started two at a time every ten seconds. For me, number 1316, that meant I started about two hours after the first runners went. With the nice weather it didn't really matter and before long I started the race down a completely muddy rutted trail. After running through the first stream (that's me in the stream in the photo to the right) and gettnig up the first hill I knew I was in for something interesting. . My surprise came when I got to the second big hill - on the other side of a stream again - and noticed it was very steep and had a rope run up the side to help runners get up. It was steep and slippery enough that I had to hold and pull the rope most the way up. After another stream an even bigger hill climb and a much needed stretch of flat runing the trail went down to the finish. I was tired, wet and muddy but thrilled I did the race. The other victory for me was that I got to run the race at all and felt fine doing it. Since last Saturday night I have been suffering from we assume was a bout of food poisoning. I felt terrible most of the week and wasn't sure I'd be able to run. My weight was even down about ten pounds after day four. However, on Friday I felt things were largely better and yesterday my stomach was fine although I still felt a level of exhaustion. I am very happy that I recovered in time to run. I'd like to think my time would have been a couple minutes faster had I not been sick all week but this race wasn't about the time, just the experience of participating in a long running Czech tradition and getting the chance to run through the woods and get muddy.

Reading

2010-11-14T15:48:00.000+01:00

The girls are doing well with their reading. Sofia is currently reading Rainbow Magic collection of books which she loves. She has reading homework every night and is allowed to read the Rainbow Magic books. When she completed a chapter the other night I couldn't believe how much faster she is reading I thought for sure she would only get two pages read but she proved me wrong. It is nice to see her enjoying her reading so much. Ali has also improved in her reading and has moved up from stage 1 books to stage 4 books in just two months. I took a video of her reading. She has come a long way!

End of road excitement

2010-11-13T14:19:00.000+01:00

Our road turns off the outside edge of a U shaped bend in the road. You have to slow down a lot to make the bend. We surprisingly had not seen any accidents here until the last couple of weeks when there have been two. The first one we did not see but only saw the aftermath. The car must have come down the road in the middle of the night and rather than follow the road around the U shape it shot straight off the road, jumping the ditch on the side of the road, going through some small trees, across our road and through the fence of the first cottage on our road. I am amazed every time I drive past it since I can't imagine how fast this car was going to clear the ditch and how lucky the driver was to miss all the large trees and bricked electrical box. I'm sure the driver isn't feeling very lucky though as he/she must have been very sore and the car must have been a complete wreck. Last weekend a truck that had an additional back end attached to it must have come around the U bend to fast and tipped on its side. It took about five hours to clear the road. Jason had gone out to the store but then could not drive back to our road since it was blocked by a fire truck. He ended up driving to the next village and across a bike path and up to our village pub where he parked and then walked home. We all decided to see some of the excitement and headed down our road to watch them finally get the truck upright which they pulled upright and right into the ditch on the opposite since of the road. We did not stay to watch them get the truck out of the ditch or to get the trailer upright since it was cold and drizzling outside but I'm hoping with two accidents and a road closure that people will start driving more cautiously especially with winter approaching.

Fireworks Night

2010-11-09T12:40:00.000+01:00

Every year the kids school puts on an amazing fireworks display during the weekend closest to Guy Fawks Day. We didn't go to the fireworks when the kids first started at school becuase they were too afraid of the loud noises made by the fireworks. It wasn't worth it to bring them to something they would not enjoy. The last two years we have gone to the fireworks and they absolutely love them. Ali still covers her ears becuase it is so loud but the looks of pure amazement on their faces is worth a million dollars! The fireworks display is amazing. It is constant fireworks without any breaks for at least fifteen minutes. The safety precautions that we have in the U.S. are not in place here so we aren't placed an entire football field away from the fireworks. We stand far enough back to be safe but we are close enough that when we got home I realized all our jackets and clothing smelled like the sulphur from the fireworks smoke. The entire area was covered in smoke so this isn't surprising but as kids we were never allowed to be close enough to any fireworks that we would be in the smoke! While the kids do love the fireworks I think they are a bit overstimulating since Sofia was almost asleep in the car on the way home at 6:30 and they were both in bed and asleep by 7pm which is unheard of for Sofia to fall asleep in the car for a 5 minute drive. It was a great night.

The only downside of the fireworks night has been for Jason. This year and last year he had a hamburger which is provided by a caterer hired by the school for the night. Both times now he has been horribly sick for days after. I don't know if there is something bad in the burger or if they put something in that bothers his stomach but given the three days of feeling sick I'm guessing it is food poisoning. Luckily the girls and I were spared!

The Napkin

2010-10-31T22:02:00.000+01:00

Recently I was sitting at our kitchen table enjoying dinner with Jason and the girls when I found myself staring at my daughter in shock. It is nothing serious or bad but it is a habit that has now crossed from Didon (Jason's father) to Jason to Sofia. For those who knew Didon you know exactly what I'm talking about....the napkin folding!!! It caught my eye when I noticed Sofia folding her napkin over to wipe her mouth. She then proceeded to fold it a few more times and tuck it under the side of her plate. Does that sound familier???? I turned to see if Jason noticed only to see his napkin folded neatly under the side of his plate! For those who don't know how this plays out, it isn't just folding the napkin over once. It is folding the napkin over and over into a tiny square so that the entire thing will fit under the edge of your plate. Sofia hasn't quite mastered it well enough yet to get the entire thing under the side of her plate but I'm sure she will get there soon enough. So Grandpa Didon's fidgety-ness has passed all the way down to his grandchildren. It's good to know he lives on in his son and grandaughter!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:52:00.000+01:00

We have not done many fall things this year like decorate the house or make jack-o-lanterns. Our schedule was very hectic and then I was away and then the kids were on break and wanted to just relax which was fine with me as I was dealing with jet lag. Today we found ourselves at Halloween already and the time for pumpkin carving had passed. We didn't completely fail as parents however becuase I did bring back costumes, face paint, and glow in the dark bracelets from the U.S. for the girls to dress up as witches. So come 3:30pm Jason and I got the girls dressed up in their witch costumes, pinned their witch hats to their hair (since the hats where made for a child with a head the size of a pea!), and painted their faces green and headed to my friend Laura's house for pizza with friends befre heading our for trick or treating. As the development (which is just down the hill from our house) is really enclosed we did not have to worry much about cars which was nice. Everyone (those celebrating Halloween) in the development all went together in a big group and whoever was the owner of the next house to stop at just ran ahead to be able to answer the door for the kids. The kids had a lot of fun and it was nice that the outside time was all completed in an hour since the temperature started to drop and the kids started to get cold just as we finished. Overall a very sucessful halloween!!

Power Outages

2010-10-27T15:07:00.000+01:00

We have had a number of power outages lately. The one that kicked it off was at the beginning of October. Jason was working and the girls and I had gone to a friends house for the afternoon. When we arrived home most of the power in the house was out. We had randowm power....the livingroom lights, the cooktop and the fridge in the kitchen. I went to the fuse box and checked everything and everything seemed in order. Just for good measure I flipped all the switches and flipped them back on but that did nothing. I went to our main power switch outside and flipped it off and on but that did nothing. I then called the landlord. They came out to the house and did all the things I had done to no avail. She called the electrician who said he could come but wouldn't be able to come until around 8:30pm. I said that was fine so our landlords left and I waited for them to come back at 8:30pm. Well, the electrician was running behind and he eventually came around 11pm. He looked at the fuse box, checked all the switches and then went outside to the main box. Now, there are two boxes outside. One that houses the main power switch and then abother box. I have never been in the other box and don't know what it does but fortunately the electrician does. He opened that box and found that apparently during the day someone had come and stolen a piece out of the box which caused our power outage! I couldn't believe this had happened! Who steals pieces out of electrical boxes??!! Since this power outage I am much more sensitive to any outage. Whenever the power goes out I immediately run outside to see if anyone is stealing anything from our electrical box! Fortunately, the recent outages haven't been for theft. We had a pipe of some sort break in the basement which left us without water for a day which also tripped the breaker. It took us a while of hunting before we went down into the basement and saw the water on the floor. We called the landlord and had that fixed. Our latest outage has to somehow do with the fan for our woodstove. I'm not really sure what the problem is but the boiler guy was here today and he said it was an electrical problem and that the electrician will come. We shall see what he says but I don't have high hopes. My guess is that there is some clog in the pipe somewhere but who knows. I will wait and see what happens.

Grilling Adventure

2010-10-27T14:55:00.000+01:00

Before I went to the States I was making dinner on the grill. I was very organized and had marinaded salmon for the girls and I to eat and then one piece of salmon that I could throw on the grill for Jason when he got home from work. I made salad with home made dressing and rice to go with the salmon. I prepared everything put the salmon on the grill and flipped it over. I went inside to prepare all the plates and then went back out to the grill to take the salmon off. I started to lift the lid and to my surprised flames came shooting out everywhere! I was quite startled and dropped the lid back on the grill. I thought that I must have imagined all the flames so I tried to open the grill more cautiously but no, I had not imagined all the flames. The enire inside of the grill was on fire. I turned the gas off hoping this would stop the flame but it did not. I then noticed that the flame was coming from the grease catcher under the grill and realized that the flame was not going to go out on its on since it was a grease fire and it had an entire pan of grease to burn from. I decided to use the long grill spatula to tap down the fire and luckily that worked.. Once I had that flame out I cautiously, using the spatula, lifted the lid of the grill. There were still spots of flame inside the grill so I poured baking soda on all the flame areas and successfully put out the fire. While I was proud of myself for fixing the problem I was very angry becuase now I had no salmon for myself and the girls to eat for dinner. It was already late and getting close to bedtime so I fed the girls salad and rice for dinner which they didn't seem to mind. I however, was very angry and didn't even feel like eating at this point so I got the kids ready for bed and waited for Jason to come home to figure out dinner. Since we couldn't sue the grill until we cleaned it out Jason decided to just cook the salmon in the oven. After preheating the oven however, we lost power. When the lights went out Jason gave up on the salmon also. It was a good thing we had leftovers in the fridge!

Back from the U.S.

2010-10-26T16:44:00.000+01:00

Last week I spent a whirlwind week in America. I had not been back to the States in one year and eight months and it was time for me to make a trip home. Since Jason had been back to the U.S. about five times in that same period we decided that I would go back by myself and save the money of bringing the entire family. I only went for 9 nights which is not enough time to bring the kids through the jetlag. As I wasn't bringing the kids I had a vision of relaxing but that did not happen. To many stores to go to and family members to visit that my days were spent rushing from one place to the next. It was good to see everyone though even if I had to rush to do it.

We managed to fit in some family exercise while I was there. On the Saturday after I arrived (I arrived Thursday night) my mother, aunt, and both of my sister-in-laws ran a race together. My Dad and one of my brothers came to watch and cheer us on. Unfortunately my other brother had to work that Saturday but it was nice to have most of my family together for the event. The race was a 5K race for lung cancer that ran through Roger Williams Park in Providence. The park was very hilly but despite the hills, not having trained for speed, and battling jet lag I still did well in the race. I came in 2nd in my age group for women, 11th among 254 women and 29th among all 370 racers. It was not my best pace ever (8:12 min/mile) but I'm happy with my results and it was fun to run in Roger Williams Park and it made me happy to see my Dad, brother and nephews at the finish line. I had to laugh though after the race when my family told me, "there was noone as old as you that came through before you. Every girl that came through before you was young." Of course they were right because the woman who finished in my age group before me was only thirty but I had to stress that I was not old!

Now, I'm back in Prague and I'm exhausted! My jetlag when I arrived in the States was acceptable but my jetlag upon my return to Prague has been awful. I have not been able to sleep at night. Yesterday evening I was sitting on our couch and I put my head on the coffee table for a minute and I actually fell asleep I was so tired! Unfortunately that sleepiness did not carry over to bedtime and I was up until 3AM! The kids have been great though and have been entertaining themselves. I have at least been able to relax during the day even with my kids home from school since they have school break all week. This afternoon I decided to get out for a walk with the girls. I figured it would be a good way to reward them for having such good behavior all morning and I'm also hoping it will help reset my circadian rythm by being out in the sunshine. We had a fun walk through the woods on a beautiful fall day.

Firewood

2010-10-05T13:36:00.000+01:00

Last year we did not need to spend any money on firewood since our landlords had a big stack at the back of the yard that they said we could use. We went through all that wood last year. It was great to use the woodstove since it is connected to a back boiler which in turns sends hot water through all the radiators thereby heating the entire house. Since our heat is electric heat and can be expensive it is nice to keep it as low as possible and mainly heat with the woodstove. It is also just cozy and nice to have a fire going in the livingroom. It has been quite chilly here for a while now and the girls have been asking for a fire. We managed to come up with enough wood on Sunday to have a fire which was enough to take the slight chill out of the house. The nights have been getting down into the high 30's (4 C) and the days have been in the high 50's (13-16 C) so the chill has definitely started to set into the house. We have not yet turned our heat on since Jason and I like to hold off until November if possible before turning on the heat. Knowing that the cold was setting in I knew I had to find somewhere to buy wood. A friend gave me a name of a company outside of Prague that delivered wood. We checked their prices and they were cheaper than going to Hornbach (a Home Depot type store) so I gave them a call and fumbled through my order. They were going to deliver last Friday but they didn't so I waited for them to come today. The company called me this morning and asked if they could come around 4pm which wasn't a good time since I had to pick the girls up so they offered 3pm which I took since I didn't want to have to wait another day. I decided to run some errands before they came but of course as soon as I was in the check out counter at hornbach they called becuase they had arrived at 1pm! I guess deliveries are the same everywhere in the world...you never really know what time they will arrive! I rushed back home and showed the men where I wanted the wood. The stacked it where I asked and then left. It is nice not to have to stack the wood myself. After I pick up the girls today I think it is time for a roaring fire!

Negative

2010-10-04T16:48:00.001+01:00

Normally I don't like to receive negative news but I was very happy when I called the Public Health office today and they told me the the tick that was attached to Sofia tested negative for Lyme. It is nice to know I can stop worrying about that.

The Latest Craze

2010-10-01T10:58:00.000+01:00

No, not fashions or kids toys....this is more about me and my latest craziness. I picked Sofia up from school yesterday and her PE teacher told me she found a tick on Sofia's head after swim practice. This definitely sent me into a tailspin of crazy! Having had lyme disease myself and having a parent who is now on a six month course of antibiotics for lyme disease it is something that is very real to me and quite stressful. I definitely don't want my daughter to get lyme and not be diagnosed for years. I immediately took the tick out of her head and put it in a bag. I called her doctor and made an appointment for a bloodtest a month from now. After getting off the phone I decided this was not acceptable and I called the doctor back. Her doctor was good and told me to bring Sofia in to her office in the morning. She also told me that she spoke with a collegue and found out where in Prague I could bring the tick to be tested. Last night I got my ducks in a row (thanks mom) and had all my arguments in place as to why I believed she should start antibiotics as soon as possible. I went to bed but did not sleep well and had a lot of dreams about ticks and other insects. I obviously did not do a good job of hiding my concern from the kids since Ali woke up in the middle of the night in tears becuase she thought she had a tick on her head. I dutifully checked her head and sent her back to bed.

We headed to the doctor this morning and the doctor agreed to prescribe antibiotics for Sofia for a 12 day course of medication. I then left to bring the tick to the Department of Public health to be tested. I will know on Monday or Tuesday if the tick had lyme disease or not. If it did have lyme then I will insist her medication be continued for an additional 16 days. I'm not as concerned about getting the doctor's approval anymore though so it doesn't seem as stressful. I'm hoping that the test on the tick itself will tell me it did not have Lyme and that Sofia is safe.

Apple picking, Burčák and Friends

2010-09-27T09:09:00.001+01:00

Last year we tried to find some place to pick apples. Apple picking is something that I love to do especially becuase it marks the beginning of fall. The smell of baking apples, a fire in the fireplace and hanging out with friends is something to look forward too. Unfortunately last year we didn't find anywhere to pick apples. It seems it just isn't done here. This is probably becuase it seems everyone has apple trees in the gardens. We have an old apple orchard in front of our house that did not produce any fruit last year. We just assumed that the trees were so old and uncared for that they just stopped produing fruit. To our surprise this is not the case since this year they are loaded with apples! They are not the big pretty apples, they are small and have many blemishes but they are delicious! The girls ask everyday when we get home from school if they can pick an apple to which of course I always answer yes and I grab one as well.

Since the apples are so tastey and apple picking is difficult to come by here we invited some friends over on Saturday to pick some apples. We also thought we would walk to our neighboring village and pick up some burcak, a fermented young moravian wine only available at the start of the harvest. Our friends had never had Burčák so it was the perfect weekend to pick some up. Unfortunately we didn't get to go for our walk since it was pouring out so we just drove over and picked up the Burčák. We did manage to pick apples although we didn't stay out for as long due to the rain. The rain really didn't matter though becuase we had a great time with our friends. The girls were excited to have their friends over and they all played nicely. Fortunately for us they did keep most of their play upstairs so that the adults could hear each other over the clomping around of dress-up shoes and excited girl voices. It was our first real fall meal of the season with pumpkin soup, spezzatino toscano (an italian veal stew), potatoes and menelik (a piedmont version of Tiramisu) for dessert. Good friends, good food, happy kids...can't ask for much more than that!

More celebrating

2010-09-27T08:51:00.000+01:00

This past Friday Sofia was celebrated at the school assembly which she corrected me was only for the lower school and not the entire school. Sofia was celebrated for being "a super assistant and helping friends". I'm proud of her and she was very happy to be celebrated. I was surprised when Ali showed a little bit of her competitve streak though since she was upset that Sofia now had more celebration certificates. I had to explain that the ones Sofia earned last year don't count to this years total. My only hope now is that they stay pretty even on the awards for the rest of the year!

Fitness blog

2010-09-23T10:12:00.001+01:00

I have started a blog for training so if you are interested to see what I'm currently working on or if you are looking for fitness information please take a look at my Outdoor Fitness blog. As I have only just started the blog there are only a few posts but I will be posting there regularly going forward. All family related things will still be on this blog though.

Houses, points and awards

2010-09-23T10:06:00.000+01:00

If you have seen any of the Harry Potter movies then you know about schools having "houses" and every student belongs to a "house". At the girls school there are three houses, Komensky, Karel, and Hus. Siblings are always in the same house and our girls are in Hus. All the kids try to earn house points and every week the points get tallied to see which house is in the lead. Both kids have earned house points since the start of school but Ali has earned a lot of house points. She earned them for being a good helper, listening well and working really hard. She worked so hard last week that she was celebrated at the end of week assembly in front of the entire primary school. The school gets told why she is being celebrated and she goes up to the front to collect her certificate. Her certificate says, "Super Dooper Work Award for amazing behavior and hard work all week! She was excited to receive the award and I'm very proud of her and all the hard work she is doing.

This week Sofia wasn't celebrated but she did win a heart from her teacher. Sofia's teacher tells the kids everyday that they have all done a great job and they all have stolen her heart. She gives everyone a sticker. She goes one step further though and says that they have all stolen her heart but especially "child". That child who especially stole the teachers heart gets a heart cut out of construction paper that says "You stole my heart today! Thank you for being a great kid!". It is such a good idea and the kids love it. It really does make them feel special.

Happy Anniversary

2010-09-21T04:26:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. I can't believe another year has past! I'm so happy that we made that decision 13 years ago. I couldn't have asked for a better husband. Last year we went out for dinner but this year we stayed in and cooked one of our favorite meals, orange chicken. It is was great to have dinner together and snuggle up on the couch. I am excited to see what the next year brings as I'm sure whatever it brings we will meet it together.

Personal Training

2010-09-16T11:00:00.000+01:00

After enjoying running and fitness for years now and turning friends on to running and helping friends train for races I have decided to finally make the jump and become a personal trainer. Being a trainer gives me the flexibility to do everything I need to do around the house and for the kids but also lets me do something that I love. Not only do I love fitness but I believe it should be a part of everyone's life. Fitness doesn't have to mean the drudgery of a workout at the gym and being a personal trainer means I can help people find the fun in fitness. As adults and parents I believe that we have a duty to our children to show them how to live a healthy life and if we can have fun in fitness then so can our children. My training programs are all back to basic programs. By that I mean all my exercises can be done outside in a park. Being out in nature in the fresh air while using your own body weight to get fit. By exercising this way your fitness routine can travel with you. If you go on vacation just bring your exercise clothing and you don't need to miss a workout. If you bring your children to the playground you can also use the playground for strength training!

So in addition to getting the kids settled back into a routine this year I am also finding my new routine. I am training five women on Tuesdays and Thursdays in my Beginning Fitness class as well as I have an individual client that I train with once a week. I am hoping to increase that over the next couple months but I'm off to a good start.

Beginning of School

2010-09-14T10:14:00.000+01:00

We have made it through the first week of the school year and have started the second. The girls are so happy to be back at school and they absolutely love their teachers. I am amazed at how well Ali has adjusted to year one. She was half excited about year one and half afraid it was going to be boring becuase she would have to do math and reading which she wasn't a big fan of last year. In the first week of year one her teacher, Ms. Willets, has actually changed Ali's tune and now she is having fun with both math and reading. Her reading skills have improved greatly. I'm now not sure if she could have read more over the summer but just played us for fools and pretended she couldn't or if Ms. Willets somehow found the right button to push and turned Ali's brain on to learning her words. Ali brings home a book every night and we sit and she reads it to me. It is still not a fast read but it is nice to see her making strides. Ali also comes home every day talking about the math they did in class. As we spoke about it yesterday I asked her how she knew where to put the number in the game they were playing and her response was brilliant. She said, "because I'm smart." I love seeing that confidence in her.

Sofia's teacher, Mrs. AuCoin, is from the States and is new to the school this year. She has such amazing energy and really seems to have a passion for teaching. I think she will challenge Sofia this year which will be good since I don't think Sofia was very challenged last year. Sofia also brings home a book to read every day and there is a comments card that comes home as well which the teacher will write on and I can also write on to give feedback to the teacher. Her teacher is now focusing on intonation and punctuation with Sofia which she needs help on since she will just rush through reading the story. Her reading comprehension is getting better as well so I will let Sofia read her story by herself while I'm working with Ali and then I will ask her questions about her story to see if she in fact read it and understood it. I'm waiting to see what Sofia will have for spelling homework this year since she already completed all the year two key words last year. The spelling from last year was also easier for her and she never had to study them after school to get them right on her quizes. I think she is up for the challenge this year especially becuase she seems to love her teacher.

Overall it has been a great start to the new school year. The kids will start their after school activites this week so it will be another week of adjustment but all in a goof and fun way.

Soccer/Football

2010-09-11T13:02:00.000+01:00

This year we have decided to sign the girls up for soccer at school. I was asked to help coach this year and since my girls were interested I agreed to coach. I played soccer from age five until I was sixteen and it is a sport that I loved as a child and I hope my girls will love it too. Today was the first soccer practice. I headed to the field by myself though since the girls had a birthday party to go to for Ali's friend, Cianna. I must admit, even without my children there I had a good time. It is fun to watch the kids play the game and move in a big bunch down the field. It is also fun to help the kids figure out how to move the ball. I'm looking forward to coaching this season.

First Day of School

2010-09-08T20:24:00.001+01:00

On Monday the girls started their new year at school. They were both very excited to go to their new classes, Ali in Year 1 (kindergarten) and Sofia in Year 2 (1st grade). We put their clothes at the end of their beds the night before and made lunches. When Jason and I got up in the morning to go in to wake the girls up they were ready. Ali got right out of bed and started to get dressed and apparently Sofia had woken up earlier and put her clothes on and then got back in bed! After having breakfast the girls were ready to go. Sofia started to put her jacket on but I had to stop her since we still had twenty minutes before we had to leave. It was nice to have a leisurely departure. I was excited to have the girls be in the same building so I only had one drop off and one pick up. There was no rushing to make it to Sofia's school site in time to put Ali on the bus to the other school. Even if we are late getting to school now there are no repercussions. This was a good feeling when we started to leave for school leisurely and I realized we hadn't taken any first day of school photos. I turned the car around and headed back to our house to get the camera. Even with the delay we still made it on time. Once we reached school and walked to the classrooms, without rushing to get the bus, it was an added bonus to see that their classroom are literally across the hall from each other. I left the girls at school and had coffee with some friends and headed to the grocery store alone. It was nice! The girls had a great first day and didn't want to leave when it was over. It looks like it will be another good school year!

Fire

2010-09-08T17:39:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend we went for a drive to a near by town. On our way home we make a left onto a dirt road to come home on a short cut. As we made the turn onto the dirt road, which has fields on both sides, we noticed the field was on fire. As we were close to our friends house and they speak Czech we decided to drive there and tell them about the fire so that they could call the firemen. Our friends were not home so we called first the wife who didn't pick up so we called the husband who also didn't pick up his mobile. Next I called another czech speaking friend who lived nearby only to have her not pick up her mobile either. We didn't feel like we could just drive away from the flames without trying to get help so we saw a couple sitting in their yard. I got out of the car and tried to explain to them that there was a fire. She clearly did not understand and was trying to send me to a fire station. Fortunately someone else must have seen the fire becuase we heard the sirens coming so we drove back towards the fire to make sure the trucks were actually going to the fire. They were there and had it under control so we continued on our way home. Having this happen made us realize that we need to have the emergency numbers for all services available and at least cursory phrases readily available. Now I have that information in my phone with the statements such as "there is a fire" translated on my phone notepad. I'll be ready for the next field on fire!

Back to Life

2010-09-03T08:43:00.000+01:00

This week has been busy with getting back to life. The girls start school next week so we needed to get haircuts. I am not very good about having their hair cut regularly so they hadn't had it cut since February. They definitely needed to be cleaned up. Fortunately the place I bring them had availability and we were able to get in on Monday. The haircuts were in time to have Ali's new passport pictures done since we have to renew her passport. Her passport doesn't actually expire until next summer but because we have to renew our visas this fall and the passport has to be valid for the entire visa period (1 year) we have to renew her passport now. That lead us to our next task of going to the U.S. Embassy. It is a fairly easy task since you make an appointment online and then show up. There is no waiting and it is, of course, all in English. The only difficulty is in getting to the embassy. Becasue of all the construction in Prague we were going to have to take the metro to a tram but to our surprised the construction at Hradcanska is finished and they have reopened the tram lines so we just hopped on the #20 tram and headed to the embassy. Other than that this week has been filled with laundry and going through all the fall clothes in preparation for school. Today we have school orientation. I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine.

Return to Prague

2010-09-03T08:32:00.000+01:00

As we left Innsbruck on our way back to Prague it started to rain. I think after every holiday we have we come back to Prague and are greeted with rain. It is depressing! As we neared Prague though it actually stopped raining which was a pleasant surprise. We got home and I went to pick up Watson and takeout dinner since we had no food in the house. It was nice to see Watson again and he was excited to see us. He had a great time with Petra and Tom as usual. He went to the mountains with Petra's language school and played with all the kids and he went for a camp out with Tom. They hiked 30K (18 miles) and camped out. I'm told Watson was very happy to sleep on the ground next to Tom and didn't bark all night. He did get a little cold as it got towards morning but Tom put his jacket on him to keep him warm. I can't picture Watson getting cold since he sits outside in the snow in freezing temperatures for long periods but I think it is sweet that Tom gave him his jacket. Anyway, Watson playing in streams and learned to jump from rock to rock across waterfalls. He was apparently unsure of this at first but eventually figured it out and then had a lot of fun. He, as usual, came home happy and exhausted.

After going to the grocery store on Saturday morning we just pretended we were still on vacation for the rest of the weekend. We played a lot of tag with the girls. They love playing tag and it is good exercise for all of us. I love hearing the happy squealing as the kids run away from whoever is it. I am always surprised at how fast the girls are getting and how they really understand the aspect of trickery in tag. We finished our game and came inside just before the rain. We had a nice surprise though since it was raining and sunny I went out on the patio to check for a rainbow and sure enough there was a beautiful rainbow over the fields.

On Vacation - Innsbruck, Austria

2010-09-02T19:03:00.002+01:00

After five nights in Piedmont we started our travels toward home. Since it is a ten hour drive from Piedmont back to Prague we decided to fit in one more night of vacation and stop in Innsbruck which happened to be perfectly situated between Piedmont and Prague at the five hour point in the trip. I had really wanted to see Prague as my father proclaims it to be the most beautful place in Europe. As we left Piedmont and drove past Lake Garda the drive alone was beautifully stunning. Driving between mountains in the Trentino/Alto Ridge area of Italy is amazing. The highway runs down the center with villages and vineyards along either side up to the base of the moutains. As we came into Austria you could see snow on some of the mountains which in August I assume were glaciers. You continue on this highway right into Innsbruck where we were surrounded by mountains. We checked into our hotel and went up to our room on the eleventh floor and looked out our windows to an amazing view of the mountains. Dad was right...it is truly a beautiful place.

While I'm not sure I would call it the most beautiful place in Europe it definitely ranks up there. After checking into the hotel and marveling at the view from our window we headed into the old town. The old Town was small and easily walkable. It is what I picture when I picture being in Austria...walking around a village and being able to look around and see massive mountains. After walking around a bit it was time for dinner. We stopped at a beer garden for dinner since it was simple. The food was fine although I did not eat what I ordered. I ordered a sausage but when it came in a plate of boiled water it did not look appealing and after one bite I couldn't get over the texture. It wasn't that my food was bad but rather not something I was willing to eat. While we ate dinner there were drummers in dress-up clothing along with what appeared to be the King, Queen and their court. It was fun to watch the drummers especially because they practiced in a tunnel so the sound was even louder. The girls were fascinated by it so after dinner when we saw the drummers marching through the town playing we walked along with them on the way back to our hotel.

On Vacation - Piedmont, Italy

2010-09-01T21:05:00.000+01:00

After leaving Lake Como we headed south west to Piedmont in the Monferrato Hills. This area is known as undiscovered Tuscany. To that we can attest there were very few tourists anywhere. Our apartment rental was nice and had a lovely pool that the kids really enjoyed. The owners also had two dogs and two cats which the girls just adored. I was not happy when we found a cat in our apartment since I'm allergic but otherwise I was happy for the animals to be around. They were all very cute and tollerant of being petted a lot. We spent the mornings traveling around to see different towns and the afternoons by the pool. The mornings were definitely more difficult than our last trip to Tuscany. The first reason is that we were there in August when everyone in Italy apparently is on vacation so many shops were closed and towns were like ghost towns. The second reason is becuase it is undiscovered there are really no books out there listing the towns that are must sees. We did our research, albeit only two days before we left, and came up with a list of towns that people had recommended online. Some of these towns were a hit and others were not. We drove about an hour south to Alba since it is one of the main towns in the area and we thought it would be a good place to start. Unfortunately the day we were there was the day that all shops in that town are closed. Fortunately we had other towns we wanted to see so we headed out.

The driving around Alba was beautiful as it was hill after hill of vineyards. If I were to go back I would definitely find a rental in this area. We stopped in the town of Barbaresco which was basically deserted except there were two wineries open. One had just opened and the man there had just gotten back from Holiday and the other was a local family winery. We stayed there for a while and Jason chatted it up with the the man while tasting the wines. I didn't worry about the girls being in the winery since the guy running the shop had a small boy who was pushing a stroller around and crashing into everything and the man was completly at ease.

We all had to laugh when he picked his son up and had him smell the wine and the little boys face lit up in joy. He gave him a quick sip and the boy was off to play. Jason bought some wine and then we kept talking and the man ended up giving us a free gift which was another bottle of wine. I'm glad Jason remembered what it was becuase when we got home we realized that it was a completely unlabeled bottle. It made for a nice end to our exploring that day.

During the middle of the week we had a chef come to our apartment one night and teach us how to make a piedmont meal. Paolo was great. The kids really liked him and he was really good at including them in the cooking and having them help. We made a ricotto/olive mousse with toasted bread, vitello tonnato, cheese risotto and tiramisu. They were all wonderful and we made so much that we ate it for three days! I'm looking forward to making them again since Paolo also gave us his cookbook. It made such an impression on Ali that since we have been home she has asked to help me cook a lot.

The day after Paolo came we headed to Torino. It is where Paolo is from and he made a good argument and told us exactly where to go. It was not my favorite city though and dragging to kids around a city on a hot day didn't last long before we headed back to the apartment and the pool! On our last day we went to another random town and ended finding a great little village. Not a foreginer to be found and daily life just happening around us. We stopped at the local bar for our coffee and then went to the bread shop, cheese shop and salami shop. It was a nice way to end our visit to Piedmont.

On Vacation - Lake Como, Italy

2010-08-29T10:32:00.000+01:00

the "road" to our apartment

After spending the day in Venice we did not feel the need to go back into town in the morning so we packed up and headed to Lake Como. The drive was mostly highway and we didn't have any traffic so it was uneventful. It took us about four hours which now seems simple after our 12 hour trip to Slovakia last year and our 8 hour drive to Slovenia on this trip. The girls do well in the car and keep themselves busy with their leapsters, coloring, watching movies or talking to each other. After leaving the highway at the southern end of the lake we followed the road along the lake until we came to Menaggio and then we started heading up the hill. We wanted to see Lake Como and have a balcony to enjoy the view so in order to get that in a rental that was in our budget it meant we had to head up hill. I'm glad we did becuase the apartment we rented was in a tiny village where we may have been the only English speakers. It was a very cute village complete with farmers and roosters. It seemed every night there was a soccer game on the the town field which we enjoyed seeing from a distance. Around seven every night our neighbors were out on the street talking and laughing which was fun to hear even if we couldn't understand what they were saying. My only problem with the apartment is that there was something there that I was very allergic too. It also bothered the kids allergies but not to the extent that my allergies were irritated. In the end it was fine though since we spent most of our day outside.

We usually started the day with breakfast on the terrace. It was such a beautiful view of the lake but you definitely needed your sunglasses! In the picture to the left, Ali and Sofia forgot to bring their sunglasses up to the terrace so the picture of them isn't the best but you can see our wonderful view. In the mornings we would wake up hearing the village rooster and then shortly thereafter we were here the tractor fire up. The buildings are so close together though that you couldn't actually see anybody from our terrace except for the people in the house above ours on the hill or on the roof terrace on the house below ours. It was a very quite village so while on the terrace and walking through the village we had to institute "village voice" with the girls so that we were disrupting everyone actually living there.

After we settled into our apartment we headed back down the hill into Menaggio. We walked along the boardwalk and stopped for some go-kart riding. I have such fun memories of riding go-karts on vacation that I was excited for the girls to give it a try. Sofia has ridden them before but it was Ali's first time. Sofia rode laps around Ali but Ali did well for her first time. After getting her going in the right direction she slowly got going faster as she went around the track. We kept trying to get her to smile but she was concentrating so much that she looked very serious. She did say though that it was a lot of fun.

After exploring Menaggio for a bit and having dinner we had to stop for a gelato. You can't be in Italy in the summer and not partake in a gelato! There were so many flavors to choose from but through the trip we seemed to choose a lot of the same flavors..lemon, melon and mint with an occassional variation from these three. After choosing our flavors we went for a walk along the boardwalk to enjoy the setting sun over the lake and mountains.

After breakfast everyday we went out to explore. We started by taking the ferry to Bellagio. Bellagio is really very small but by the time we took the ferry there we needed to stop for a snack to power up for our sight seeing. This was how we went for the remainder of the trip...breakfast, get dressed, head out to destination, stop for coffee/snack, sightsee, then lunch and one (or sometimes two) cones of gelato. After our snack we decided to follow a walking tour itinerary we had for Bellagio. Our first stop was to go by a pillar that had the marks of previous floods which we couldn't find so we continued on to walk by the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni and out to the tip of the promotory called "Punta Spartivento". It gave us amazing views of the lake looking towards the northern mountains as well as Menaggio and Varenna. There were steps down to the water which the girls wanted to go down and touch the water. When I could no longer resist myself we allowed them to take there shoes off and step into the water. There is just something fun about putting feet into a new body of water.

After playing in the water for a bit it was time for lunch. Fortunately one of the restaurants that we had read was good was right on the point so we were able to eat lunch by the water. It was an excellent lunch. Once we were finished we headed into the town and walked around the few streets that make up Bellagio. The town is very small so this didn't take long. After exploring a bit we headed back to the ferry and enjoyed our trip back across the lake to Menaggio. After a cool morning the afternoon had warmed up. It didn't make sense to drive back to our apartment for bathingsuits so we let the kids go in the lake in the underwear. Along the boardwalk in Menaggio and most towns we visiting there are steps down to the water. For the most part people were not swimming in these locations but there was one in Menaggio that had a couple swimmers so we figured it must have been acceptable for kids to jump in the water there. The girls were very happy to be in the water. I wanted to join them as well since it was hot but I didn't think that would be appropriate. :)

We visited the village of Tremezzo and Villa Carlotta and Varenna all in one day. It was a full day since we spent about two hours on the ferry. It was nice to be on the ferry as there was a good breeze to keep us cool. We started with Villa Carlotta which Ali claimed was her house. We explored the beautiful gardens and then Ali gave us a tour of "her house". It was cute to see her going from room to room and decided what happened in each room. She claimed her bedroom but then changed her mind when she saw the next bedroom. It would be nice if we could give her this house upon her marriage like Carlotta received but for now we will just pretend she already owns it. After visiting the villa we walked into the village of Tremezzo for lunch and then back on the ferry to cross back across the lake to Varenna. After having our after lunch gelato and walking around the village a bit, which was a really cute village, we hiked up the hill to Vezio Castle for a bird show with hawks and owls. It was a 15 minute hike uphill but worth the trip. There were some amazing views over the lake and it was fun to see the hawks and owl flying around and landing on the trainers arm. After watching the show for about a half an hour we decided to head back down the hill for a short play at the playground while we waited for our ferry back to Menaggio.

The next day we headed to the village of Lenno. I think this was my favorite village on Lake Como that we visited. It was small and not busy with a lot of tourists. There was not a major road between the restaurants and the boardwalk so it was very peaceful. We parked the car in a lot across the main road and headed to an olive oil producer we had read about. As we walked into the parking area there were three giant dogs laying around which I was a little unsure of but we moved slowly until we got to the office and found someone who worked there. He assured me the dogs were very friendly and the girls were off to pet them while Jason and i decided on how much olive oil to buy. We had read good things about this oil and this producer has been making olive oil since 1850. It is also fun to try olive oiles from different regions becuase they all taste slightly different. After buying our oil we headed down the hill across the main road into the village. We walked along the boardwalk towards Villa Balbianello (where part of Casino Royale was filmed) but the day we were there you could only see the villa by boat since the garden entrance was closed. We didn't feel like committing the money and time to see the villa for an hour so we decided to check out the Lido. After looking at the quite lido we decided we would skip the lido in Lenno since it was more couples and small. We didn't want to have to worry about the kids making a lot of noise and disrupting people. So we walked back along the boardwalk and found a cafe on the water for our morning coffee/snack. After walking around the town a little more it was time for lunch. We went to a restaurant that we had read about and had a nice meal. Jason had fish, the girls had ravioli and I had a pasta with a gorgonzola sauce with pieces of melon. It sounds odd but it was delicious.

After a good morning we decided it was hot enough that we needed to hit the beach. We went to the Lido in Menaggio. The Lido had two pools, a couple restaurants, cabanas and a few other sport activities. You needed a swim cap to go in the pool which we didn't have so we stayed by the lakeside which was fine with me. there was a small rocky area to enter the water where the kids spent all their time finding interesting rocks and smoothed glass.

Becuase the lake drops off so quickly the cement wall that meets the lake can be jumped off without touching the bottom. This is where I spent all my time in the lake since unlike the kids I found walking on the rocks very painful. Sofia wanted to make the jump from the corner of the cement pictured right but in front of the cement there is another walkway of cement just under the water and we didn't think she would be able to clear it so she swam off the lido in front of where Jason is standing in this picture. It was very interesting to me that there was no big beach area to enter the water. It just never ocurred to me that the lake would get so deep so quickly. It is so different from any swimming we did as kids and so different from any swimming we have done in Spain. The girls didn't seem to think anything of it and were just happy to be in the water finding treasures. I love giving them these opportunities to see how different things are in different parts of the world.

On our last full day staying on Lake Como the weather was not as nice so we skipped the beach and decided to drive over the border into Switzerland to Lake Lugano. The lake had a very pretty green/aqua color to it but once in Lugano it is not a cute village but a large city so it did not have the same appeal as Lake Como. They did, however, have paddle boats that we thought would be fun so we tried to find parking to give it a go. Unfortunately, we could not find parking. We kept following signs for parking but never seemed to actually find any so we gave up on the idea of going on the paddle boats and headed to the Migros grocery store. I was excited by this trip since ever since last summer when my friend Tim brought back Frey chocolate from a Migros store in Switzerland I have tried to figure out a way to get more. It is that good! We went into the shop and bought a large quantity of chocolate. Now that we are home I recognize I may have over done it! The shop also had 7Up light so I bought some of that as well. The parking lot for the grocery store require us to pay 1 swiss franc to get out of the lot but we didn't have any so I had to go take money out of the bank. I went back into the Migros to ask where I would find a bank. To my surprise everyone that I asked did not speak English. After being sent to a few different places someone finally pointed me in the direction of the bank which was apparently right next to the Migros! The smallest bill the bank machine would dispense was a 50 which is approximately $50. So I went back into the grocery store to spend the money since we were not planning on coming back to Switzerland. I spent it well and came out with 1.50 francs remaining...enough to pay to get out of the parking lot. We headed back to our apartment and beganpacking up for our next destination...Piedmont, Italy

On Vacation - Venice

2010-08-28T20:42:00.000+01:00

In Piazzale Roma - The beginning of our
trip down the Grand Canal

After relaxing in beautiful quiet Slovenia we headed southwest to Venice, Italy. It is just over a two hour drive from our friend's house in Slovenia to Venice so it was an easy trip. We found our hotel which is on the continent side of Venice and not on the islands themselves. It was cheaper to stay off the islands and just a lot less complicated given that we had our car. After checking in and dropping our stuff off in our room we headed out to catch the bus over to the Piazzale Roma. This is the lauching point for taking any boat into venice so it was quite busy. We eventually figured out where to buy a ticket for the water bus. This was the cheapest way to take a trip down the Grand Canal. By cheapest I do not mean cheap. It cost us 36 Euro (and that is with lieing about the kids ages...they were 3 and 4 during our time in Venice!) which gave us some insight as to the expenses of visiting Venice. We took the boat all the way to Piazza San Marco. It was fun to be on the boat and see the Grand Canal and the girls loved being on the ocean. They kept commenting that it smelled like the beach and also wanted to know if they could go swimming. We had to tell them that swimming was not an option and after a while they finally stopped asking. As we arrived at Piazza San Marco we could not believe how many people where there. Since we were all hungry because it was lunch time and neither Jason or I are big fans of crowds we snapped a couple pictures and tried to get out of the crowds. This was a little difficult given the number of people in Venice but we did manage to slip into an uncrowded restaurant for lunch.

Sofia and Ali taking a minute to emjoy

one of the many canals.

After lunch we had the energy for more sight seeing and found some less crowded streets. It was quite pleasant and very pretty when we could walk at a leisurely pace and look at the buildings and canals. It was fun to wind our way through the streets always unsure if it was going to lead to a dead end with a canal or to a bridge over the water. We let the girls choose our directions for a while since they like to be the leaders. It allows us time to enjoy our surroundings and not feel like we are dragging the kids around. After the quiet of the side streets we braved the crowds again to see the Rialto bridge. We had to take a walk over to it since on the boat ride on the Grand Canal the kids were very excited to see it because it is in one of the episodes on Little Einsteins that they like to watch.

I thought this was going to be the shop
but they decided on white and it wasn't
available in this shop.

We made our way through the crowds and stopped in a bunch of shops along the way since the girls wanted to get a carnival mask. As the masks were so fanciful I didn't blame them for wanting one. They had a tough time choosing but in the end they both ended up with pretty white masks. We finished our day in Venice with dinner. Our friend had recommended a restuarant so we went in search of the restaurant but unfortunately it was closed for the weekend. Fortunately there was a restaurant next to it that was open with outdoor seating. The restaurant was in a big open piazza so while we waited for our food and once the kids were done eating they were able to chase the pidgeons all around the square. It was a busy full day. I'm glad we stopped and saw Venice for the day. It is an amazing city. I would recommend going to Venice if given the chance but I would recommend it only if you could go in a time other than August as August is too hot and way too crowded.

On Vacation - Slovenia

2010-08-28T09:42:00.000+01:00

I have not blogged for over two weeks and that is because we have been on vacation. The past three summers we have vacationed in Spain but this year we decided to do something different. This year we traveled to Slovenia and then onto Italy and Austria. We started our trip off by heading to our friends house in Slovenia. We packed the kids in the car and headed out at 4am. We wanted to avoid as much traffic as possible and we also wanted to catch the car train. We did get off on time but we hit some rain and then traffic around Munich but we made it just in time for the car train.

We did not want to miss the car train because it would mean driving over the mountain on some narrow winding roads which would make the eight hour trip even longer. We also did not want to miss it becuase we had really talked it up with the kids. Fortunately we made it with a few minutes to spare and there were only two cars behind us on the train. We were breathing a sigh of relief that we were not the car that was turned away because the train was full. If you are waondering what a car train is, it is a train that you drive your car onto, turn the car off and pull the emergency break. You then sit in your car as the train travels along the tracks. This car train brought us through the mountain rather than over the mountain so the majority of our time was spent in a pitch black tunnel. It was really fun and the kids enjoyed it. The train that we caught only brought us part way through the mountain pass though so instead of having a five minute drive to our friends house we had a forty-five minute drive down the mountain. I didn't mind this part of the drive though and just enjoyed the scenery as much as possible while driving down a windy mountain road. The eight hour drive was well worth it. My friends house is absoultely beautiful even in the rain. The kids were excited to see their friends and quickly separated from us and off they went for a fun filled weekend. I was also happy to see my friend Beanie since I hadn't had a good chat with her since school let out. Another set of our friends, Colin and Kim, were staying for the weekend as well with their son, Bryn, so we had a lot of fun just hanging out. We chatted, had great lunches and dinners and shared a lot of laughs.

On Saturday morning we all went out to the pool since the sun was shining. Our friends have a natural swimming pool which is now on my wish list of things to have in my yard. A natural swimming pool doesn't require any chemicals and makes you feel like you are in a beautiful pond. There is no fiddling with chlorine and Ph and there is no concern of the kids eyes stinging or their skin getting irritated. It was great! After time playing in the pool we headed in for lunch. During lunch the clouds rolled in and the rain started. That didn't stop the fun though.

We all headed into a nearby town for the boys to do a bit of bridge jumping. I did not take part in the bridge jumping since my bikini would not have stood up for the jump (9 meters or 29 feet) into the water and even if I had a one piece I'm not sure I would have the nerve to actually make the jump. I'm usually nervous about jumps into unknown water but our friend Guy had made this jump before so I knew it was deep enough but also the town had a platform installed on the bridge for this specific purpose. The Soca river is a beautiful river that is torquise in color and even in the height of August it is still very cold. Jason guesses it was probably about 60 degrees (15 C). I did my part and took pictures of Guy, Jason and Colin making the jump.

We all had a great time visiting with friends and seeing Slovenia. Slovenia definitely tops my list of one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Final Good-Bye

2010-08-12T20:13:00.000+01:00

We said our final good-bye to the Noordhuis Family yesterday. We met them at the playground in our village and let the kids play while Inge and I chatted. When it was time to go the kids all gave hugs and were silly with each other which was nice to see. I gave Inge a hug and squeeked out good-bye past the lump in my throat. It is hard to say bye to friends here since it means that you are usually saying good-bye forever. I hope though that Inge's next move or the move after that will bring her back to the States where we can reconnect. Sofia seems okay with Lars leaving since she definitely sees it as temporary and when they are adults they can find each other again. It is a great way to view it. In the meantime she plans on writing lars regularly to keep in touch. Here is the picture of all the kids playing at the playground. They must have felt sympathetic to me becuase there was no complaint over the photo taking.

Stolen

2010-08-11T08:07:00.000+01:00

I'm sad to say that Jason's bike was stolen from our house yesterday when I took Watson to the vet. I don't know who comes down a dead end dirt road to steal a bike but they did. I'm happy that nothing else was taken but still upset at the loss of an expensive bike. I'm sad that our family bike rides will be put on hold until next summer and I'm a little creeped out that some stranger was here.

Family visit

2010-08-10T14:12:00.000+01:00

Last week we had our family here for a visit. We were so busy sight seeing and hanging out together having fun that I had no time to blog. The girls had such a fun time with their cousins. To spend every day with their cousins and then to have them sleeping in their room was just pure bliss. Bed times were blown away and the kids didn't get in bed until nine almost every night and then they would stay up talking for a while until we finally pulled the plug. We revisited the Prague castle, Wallenstein gardens, old town square, Wenceslas Square, the Powder Tower, Mala Strana and Charles Bridge. We also took a trip to the Torture museum which we had never been to before. It was quite fascinating to see all the old torture instruments. I'm happy I didn't live in a time when they were used! I was a little concerned that the girls would be scared in the museum but they seemed equally fascinated and would just say things like, "ouch, I wouldn't want that." or, "they would be dead right mommy?" or, "of course that would hurt.".

We did have one warm sunny day so after some sightseeing we headed back home so the kids could hit the pool. They didn't seem to find the cold temperature and jumped right in. After they had gotten cooled off and had come out of the pool I couldn't take it anymore and had to jump in myself. It was refreshing after a warm day in the city. The boys followed my lead and had some good brotherly time in the pool. Jodi and I couldn't resist capturing it in a picture. Such a touching brotherly moment when you realize they are really very similar!

One of the great things about having family with us was that we also got to celebrate Jodi's birthday (her 27th I think??). I made the cake and Jason and Matt prepared orange chicken. Orange chicken is one of our all time favorite dishes that we make and is often the request for special occassions so we offered this to Jodi for her birthday dinner. It is time consuming but well worth it. This time around Jason had Matt's help in the kitchen. Another moment of brotherly bonding.

On their last day with us we took a trip out to Krivoklat Castle which is about 45 minutes outside Prague. The kids loved seeing another castle. We took the tour that was in Czech but they gave us reading material in English. Keely and Sofia were the most interested in the reading material so I read a lot to them. One room in the castle was about the lady Philipa, the merchant's daughter, who married the Arch duke Ferdinand. Given their differences in status they married in secret and kept their marriage a secret for 19 years while having four children. The girls all really liked this love story and I had all their attention.

After finishing the tour we went for a walk around the castle. There are marked walking routes in the area of the castle so we took the one that was the shortest at about 4km. It was a pleasant walk through the woods that brought us to a zipline and playground area near the half way point in the walk. We let the kids have fun on the zipline but then even the adults had to have a turn.

We finished their last day by walking to our local pizzeria. The kids had a blast playing around the pond at the pizzeria and seeing the baby ducks. We decided to take the path up to our house rather than the road since Matt, Jodi, Keely and Alaina wanted to see what it was like. We decided to give it a try and see if it was just too overgrown to walk through. To our surprise it was well (relatively) maintained this year. The kids got to see a lot of slugs and a snake during the walk. As Keely said, it was the best day of the trip! I'm glad we ended on a high note! They left yesterday morning and we were all sad to see them go. It was really a lot of fun to have them here and I'm sure we will be hearing about how much fun Sofia and Ali had with their cousins for the foreseeable future!

Cousins Cousins!!!

2010-08-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

Today marks the arrival of Keely and Alaina. They are the girls' cousins. Of course, Matt and Jodi are also coming but for Sofia and Ali the important event is the arrival of their cousins. They have talked about it for the last two months at least. I have repeatedly answered questions like, "when are they coming? How many days? How many sleeps, When they get here can we do (insert any possibility)? Can we save this strawberry for when they get here?". The questions have been endless. I love that they are so excited for their cousins to arrive but I will be happy to stop answering the unending questions. Jason and I are also excited to have everyone here. It is fun to share Prague with our friends and family. I'll post all the adventures we have over the next week. I'm sure we will get some priceless moments with the kids.

Sunflowers

2010-07-30T09:20:00.000+01:00

I went for a bike ride this morning and brought my camera with me so that I could capture some of the beauty of my ride. I had biked this route two weeks ago and came across a few fields of sunflowers that I wanted to capture. I'm glad I decided to ride today becuase some of the sunflowers are already starting to pass. I kept putting off getting pictures of the fields of poppies and then the fields passed and I missed my chance so I'm glad I didn't miss my chance with the sunflowers.

Week recap

2010-07-30T09:08:00.000+01:00

Summer has left Prague this week. I have been wearing jeans most days and making the kids where their sweatshirts/fleece when we go out. We have had a good week though despite the cool weather. The upside of the cool weather is that the kids have been sleeping really well and catching up on much needed sleep. I thought the week would drag by since the kids couldn't be in the pool but our week has been filled with two birthday parties, a trip to the movies to see Shrek and a trip to the zoo. It was actually fortuate that it hasn't been hot since our pool has not been swimmable. Our chlorine levels had dropped to zero so I went to the pool store to ask them what to do. They told me to shock the pool and sold me the chlorine and told me how much to use. They obviously did their math wrong becuase we are over a week later and the chlorine levels are still too high although it is getting closer to a swimmable level. The weather is suppose to warm up over the weekend which should time well with our chlorine levels. Then we will just need some sustained high temperatures to raise our pool temperature which has dropped again below 70 (F) .

Beans

2010-07-21T19:10:00.000+01:00

This year in Ali's class the kids all planted their own "bean stalk". Ali would talk about it from time to time and would occassionally bring me outside to look at it growing. The end of the year came and the plant was still small and it was sent home with us. I eventually got it transplanted into a bigger pot and have been very good about watering it. I didn't want the flood of tears that would have gone along with a dead plant. Ali would check on her plant and ask, "will it grow all the way to the sky?". To which I delicately answered since I didn't want to burst her excitement for a beanstalk like Jack and the Bean Stalk. All my watering and tending of this "bean stalk" has paid off this week. The kids came inside all excited to tell me there were two beans on the plant. I assumed they were small since I hadn't noticed anything but they were, in fact, two full size beans. I have not picked beans since I was a little girl so I wasn't sure when to pick them. I told Ali she would have to call Grammie and ask her so we gave Grammie a call and with Ali's very limited phone ability the girls learned they could pick the beans and eat them. I think that was the beginning of green beans entering our household meals. I cooked beans tonight and the kids loved them so my green bean ban must come to an end. I even tried to get away with not eating any green beans but the kids noticed and asked me why I wasn't eating any. I told them there wasn't many and I wanted them to be able to enjoy them since I've had them plenty before. They weren't exactly happy with that so I did take two beans and eat them. Luckily this satisfied the girls and they ate up the rest of the beans. I will admit I don't hate green beans with the passion I did as a child which I guess is a good thing as I will be making them more often.

Bike Ride

2010-07-17T19:39:00.000+01:00

It was overcast today and not a great pool day so we decided to go for a family bike ride. We originally thought we would go to the next village and back but the kids were doing so well we continued on the path and we went a total of six miles. We did take a couple stops along the way to look at different things in the woods but none of our stops were very long. The kids liked seeing a new path that they hadn't seen before and they liked hearing about Watson's favorite spots in the stream. Jason and I were a little worried as the return three miles were on a slight uphill most of the way but the kids did amazing. On some of the steeper uphills Ali had to walk her bike but as soon as she was able she hopped back on to ride. As Sofia pointed out , "it is good exercise, very tiring but also a lot of fun".

Pool Time and Bubbles

2010-07-17T19:26:00.000+01:00

The last week has been hot so the girls and I have really been enjoying the pool. (Jason enjoys it as well but since he has to go into the office he only gets to enjoy it after six o'clock.) The pool has warmed up to a lovely 75F (23C) and is so refreshing. Ali still uses her short wetsuit to stay warm but it means she stays in the pool for a long time. She is now swimming down "like a whale" to get dive sticks off the bottom of the pool and swimming along the bottom so her belly touches. She surprised me the other day with an excellent canonball. I had to run inside to get the camera so I could take a picture of her cannonball since she had such good form! Besides dive sticks and cannonballs the girls just enjoy swimming sround the pool, playing on the floaties and noodles. They love doing "motor boat" which is a fun thing that I played as a child with my mom. I love that I can pass down a memory to them so even when I'm tired of doing "motor boat" I do it again as I'm sure my mother must have done when I was little.

We had a slightly cooler day on Thursday so we didn't spend the entire day in the pool. The kids played in the playroom for a while but I like them to be outside in the summer so I had to think of something to entice them outside. I started with bubbles that they could play with which they very quickly used up. I was pretty proud of my mothering skill when I thought about making my own bubbles. I made LOTS of bubbles that day. I even used pipe cleaners to make giant bubble wants so the kids could make big bubbles which they loved.

Watson

2010-07-15T12:05:00.002+01:00

This week we took Watson to the Vet and the groomer. It was time for his check up, or so I thought, so I stopped by his vet and scheduled his apopintment. We went in yesterday and I found out that I was suppose to have brought him in earlier so we are basically starting his vaccinations over again. We will be back at the Vet next month and then again in November. At least I know now what I need to do for him and the Vet gave him a good bill of health so we are all set. I brought him to the groomer today for a hair cut because he has been so hot lately that he has not been himself. He is very lethargic and while he is still willing to play fetch, we can't play it with him for long for fear of him getting too hot. He has been so hot he willingly stands and gets sprayed by the hose! Anytime he hears the hose turned on he comes running to drink from it. He does have water in his water dish but he just loves the water from the hose. Anyway, I called a new groomer to make an appointment since I didn't want to drive to the groomer we used last time and I wanted to save some money since the new groomer would cost less than half of what I paid last time. Unfortunately I got what I paid for! I specifically said I would like his hair short but NOT shaved. Well, Watson is pretty much shaved. Ali thinks he looks great but I think he looks a bit silly. At least Watson doesn't know what he looks like and seems much happier now that he is cooler. Here are pictures of Watson before and after his haircut.

The Dentist

2010-07-14T10:53:00.000+01:00

I have not been as good about going to the dentist since we have moved to Prague. It is a bit overwhelming to find a dentist. There are the many expat dentists that charge an arm and a leg which I paid the first time I brought myself and the kids to the dentist. I had amazing sticker shock though when we had our teeth cleaned for the first time in Prague that again I waited longer than recommended to go back to the dentist. Fortunately my friend gave me the name of the dentist that she used for her daughter so I didn't have to go back to the same dentist and spend a small fortune. I went yesterday for my cleaning. I was very impressed with this dentist. She used a laser to clean the plaque and tartar of my teeth and then polished them with some kind of water system. I feel like my teeth are cleaner than they have been after any previous cleaning and they seem a bit whiter also. The big bonus though was that it didn't hurt. There was no horrible scraping of the teeth just the laser moving over them. It was easy. Today I brought the girls in to have their teeth checked. Sofia did great and sat in the chair without any problem. Ali was afraid of the dentist so the dentist let Ali sit on my lap for the exam. Sitting on my lap gave her the courage to open her mouth big and wide for the dentist. I'm happy to report that we are all cavity free. Since I'm not overwhelmed anymore with finding a new dentist or with the cost, we will be visiting the dentist again in six months.