Playing with friends

It was another cool day in Prague today. We put on our warm clothes (the girls are already wearing fleece!) and headed to the park to meet up with some friends. My friend Emily and her daughter Annaleee and son Oliver (along with her husband) live across the city from us. Luckily the city isn't that big so it is no problem to get there. We met them at Reigrovy Sady, a park in Prague 2. We have been to that park once before so I knew where I was going. Sofia was excited to see Annalee since we haven't seen them much this summer. Emily had Oliver in May(I think. I can't remember.) and then they went back to the US for a month and a half so we haven't seen much of them. It is nice now that they are back so we can get together. Annalee is a good friend for both Sofia and Ali since she is pretty much in the middle of them in terms of age. They seem to have fun together. This picture is of Ali and Annalee running around the swingset. Annalee was being funny and copying Ali with her thumb in her mouth. It was a fun morning and the kids burned some good energy.

No Water

This morning, starting at 7am, until tomorrow morning at 5am we have no water. When I say "we" I don't mean just our apartment or our building. I mean the whole district! It is amazing to me that they would shut down the water to such a large area. I have just never heard of such a thing. I don't know how problems get fixed in the U.S. but I assume they put in temporary pipes so that they can just switch the water to the temporary pipes while the fix whatever the problem is. However, this could be a false assumption since I really don't know. The only thing I have heard about water pipes in the U.S. is when they make the news for bursting! Anyway, last night we filled up a couple buckets of water and then filled the bathtub this morning so that we would have water to flush the toilet, wash hands etc. There are water trucks (pictured here) throughout the district where you can bring a container and get drinking water but we just filled up a few bottles of drinking water from out Brita filter last night. Sofia enjoys reading the numbers on all the different trucks. I thought it was interesting that she even noticed the numbers. Anyway, we have gotten through the day without any problems. I just hope that the water will actually come back on tomorrow morning.

5-K

Last night I signed up for a 5K race. This will be my first real race since the 8K that Jason and I ran earlier this summer was actually a "fun run". Since it was a fun run there were no recorded times to see how well we did against other runners. The 5K that I signed up for will actually be timed with chips so I will know how well I actually did against my own time as well as against the other runners. It will be interesting to see how I compare. I'm looking forward to the run. It is a good distance for me since I am running around 8K three times a week. I'm hoping with the shorter distance I can pick up my pace some and decrease my time. We shall see. If nothing else it will be fun to run the race. It is actually the first night race in Prague. Here is the race route if you want to take a look.

No Delvita??

Today I walked to Delvita, our local grocery store. It is bigger than the little shops right near us but smaller than Tesco. It is about a half mile walk from our apartment and I go there once a week. Today I made the walk and it was closed. THey must be changing over from Delvita to Billa supermarkets. I decided I would head to the Albert grocery store up the hill. I didn't want to walk another mile and a half so I decided to take a bus. Well, I got on the wrong bus. I wasn't sure what bus would get me there so I took a guess...I guessed wrong. I ended up out in Nebusice which is a small village outside of town. There was an Albert there so I did do our grocery shopping but it was a small store so I couldn't get everything. Once I was done with the shopping I had to wait 35 minutes for the next bus. Since Nebusice is further out of town there is not as frequent bus service as there is on routes that our in town. Oh well, it took longer and I couldn't get everything I needed but at least I got to see something new.

Mom goes home

Today the girls and I took my mom out to the airport. Rather than send her in a cab by herself we all took the bus to the airport. Taking the bus is so easy and it gave us some more time together. We waited in line with her to check in and then left her when she crossed through passport control. I think it was harder to say bye this time than it was when we left the U.S. to move here. I think I was so excited about moving here and we had so many unknowns I was focused on that but this time I was only focused on the fact that my momn was leaving. I know nothings changed and I will be fine tomorrow but right now I am sad. It is not that I'm homesick but that is was conforting to know my mom was not an ocean away. I obsessively checked arrivals and departures online this afternoon just to make sure her flight took off/landed and took off again ontime. There was something inside me that was very sad when I finally saw "departed" show up for her flight from London to Boston...she was no longer on the same continent as me! I know I'll talk to her tomorrow and will be happy. I'll be interested to hear what she tells people about Prague. I think one of the things she found the funniest about being here is that we ordered a peperoni pizza one night and she was actually expecting pepperoni like in the states but here a pepperoni pizza doesn't have pepperoni on it but peppers. If you want a pepperoni type pizza here you have to order salami.

A yucky ending to a great day

My mom, Sofia and I went to church. I was excited to have my mom meet some of my friends and see where I go to church. I knew she would like it and I thought it would also let her see that her baby is indeed safe in Prague and not being converted by some cult. (The church is Presbyterian.) Since church service is at 4:30 I have not brought the kids in the past since it gets us home close to bed time but I decided that as long as I hustle out of church at the end we can be home by 6:15 which should be enough time for the kids to settle down. So, this week I brought Sofia with me. (Ali stayed home since she was still napping when we left.) Sofia was a little reluctant at first and wanted to stay home with Daddy and Ali. I told h er it wasn't an option and we went on our way (after a little tantrum). We got to church and I held Sofia while we sang songs and then Sofia got to go off to children's church. When I went to get her after church she was so happy and had had a great time. She had made a drawing with Miss Heather the teacher that she was very proud of and was going to hang it on the fridge. On the way home she told me, mommy, I LOVE church!". I was very happy for her. We got all the way back to our apartment building and I was putting the key in the lock when I heard this splat. I turned around but didn't see anything so I went back to unlocking the door. Sofia then said, "mommy, what is that???". I looked back at her since I had her on my hip and saw she was pointing to her hand and leg. I now knew what the splat was...a bird had pooped on Sofia!!! It was large too...it was on her hand, leg and her new awesome picture that she had just drawn. She was temporarily distracted from the damage of the picture b/c she was really focused on the poop itself. (She had a good cry about her picture once all the poop was gone.) I put her down to get wipes out and while I was getting the wipes Sofia started to gag. She just kept gagging but luckily didn't actually vomit. Then she kept asking, "why am I coughing?". She just didn't understand that her gagging was her bodies involuntary reaction to having bird poop on it. My mom and I were trying hard not to laugh b/c we knew this was pretty weird to Sofia but it was still pretty funny. It isn't the bird poop itself that was funny b/c that is really gross but Sofia's reaction to it. She talked about it some today and even after explaining to her why she was "coughing", she still doesn't get it. I guess it is just a little beyond the comprehension of a 3 year old.

Rose garden

Today we took my mom up the funicular railway up to Petrin Tower. We didn't actually climb the tower but we walked through the park at the top of the hill. Jason and I hadn't been there in the summer yet and I had only caught a glimpse of it while running in the winter. IT was beautiful There is a huge rose garden there. We walked along the paths and stopped to smell the roses all along the way. The kids enjoyed smelling the flowers as well. There is also pony rides available and Ali really wanted to ride one so we let her (with me walking next to her holding her leg). She had a lot of fun and kept saying how big the pony was and that it was wobbly. Sofia sis not want to ride the pony but she did get to pet it which she liked. After seeing the ponies and walking through the rose garden we stopped at the little grill and had hotdogs and klobasa for lunch. I was so hungry and my klobasa was excellent. (I'm not sure if it was really that good or just that I was starving.) When we had finished our lunch we continued walking and went to Strahov monastery so that my mom could see the libraries there. Jason and my mom went in and the girls and I just played on the grass outside. It was such a beautiful day so it worked out perfect for us to stay outside. The girls picked flowers (weeds) for me and ran around the flag poles. It was a great way for them to burn some energy. We headed home after that by way of the castle. I just love that we can take a short cut through a castle to get home. Of course by then Ali was sleeping in the stroller so I carried her up and transfered her to her bed. Now Jason and my mom are dozing on and off in their chairs. It was another full day.

Sightseeing

We started my mom off sightseeing today. We brought her up to the castle. Since the weather wasn't great we got a slightly late start which meant the castle was absolutely packed! The line was so long to get into the cathedral that we skipped it and I will bring her there early one morning to see it. Other than the cathedral she got to see everything up at the castle. We spent a couple hours walking around. There were a lot of people so some things I would just entertain the kids while my mom went in to see things. Since we have already seen it and it is so hard to get through the hords of humanity with the stroller it was just easier to let my mom take a look by herself. We are back from our morning excursion and my mom and Ali are both napping. I guess it was a busy morning!

My Mom is here!!!

My mom arrived yesterday. I haven't seen her since we moved here so it is great to have her here. I took the bus out to the airport to meet her. I waited for about an hour after her planed landed for her to come through the doors. As I had assume, her luggage had not arrived and that is why it took her so long to get through customs. She had to go to the luggage office and give them her information so that when they found her bags they would be able to get them to us. Once she did that and came through customs we hopped in a cab and headed back to the apartment. We stopped at the baguette shop and picked up a sandwich and then walked home. The girls were excited to see grandma. Ali had just gone down for a nap before we got back but it didn't last since she heard grandma and wanted to see her. After a littl ebit we headed out to show my mom the neighborhood and pick up stuff for supper. The airline people called to tell us they had her luggage and would deliver it. We hung out in the apartment with the girls playing with grandma and waited for the luggage to arrive. The driver called and didn't speak English so I tried to figure it out in Czech. I thought I had figured it out that he said he was here so I said ok and went downstairs. He wasn't there. I was a little dissappointed b/c I thought I had understood but I thought maybe he said he was on his way so I stayed down there for a little bit. When he hadn't shown up I decided to call him back and ask him when he would be here. I was trying and then finally gave up and asked a stranger walking by if they spoke English. Luckily she did and so I asked her to ask the driver when he was going to be here in Czech. So she took my phone and spoke to him. From her conversation and her telling me when she was done speaking to the driver I learned that he was in the wrong place and he would be at our apartment in 5 minutes. So, my mom's bags showed up and I carried them upstairs. The girls were in heaven! My mom brought so much stuff for them since she we had told her to not worry about Christmas last year she just brought Christmas with her. The girls were so happy. We got the kids to bed after opening all the new toys, princess dresses and clothes. They wanted to keeping playing but it was late so we had to stop them. They were excited to know that grandma was going to be here in the morning to play.

Great pool day

The girls and I have been at the pool a lot this summer. We have been so much that now I can rate my pool days. Today was a great pool day! We arrived and saw that the parking lot was pretty much empty. We went into the pool and found that most people were at the big pool so we had the kiddie pool mostly to ourselves. The other people that were there were our friends except for 1 or 2 other Czech kids. It was nice for the kids to have the run of the pool. Once of our friends had brought polly pockets to the pool which Ali loved. I don't think I have ever asked Ali if she wanted a snack and got a response of "no". She was too busy playing with the polly pockets!! Sofia's friend Matilda was there today. We met her last week at the pool and learned that she will be in Sofia's class in September. They had a great time playing together today. I played motorboat with them for a little it but then they just had a blast playing ring around the rosy in the water. It was a very relaxing pool day.

Watson's ears

About a month ago Watson started shaking his head a lot and scratching at his ear so we brought him to the vet. He had an ear infection. We gave him the medicine and brought him back in to be checked and he was fine. Two weeks ago Watson started shaking his head again so last week so we brought him to the vet. Another ear infection. It seems even our dog can't escape the family misery of ear infections! (For those of you who don't know, both Jason and I had a lot of ear infections as children and Sofia had a lot of ear infections her first year.) We brought Watson to the vet last Monday and they gave us medicine and we brought him back today to be checked. His ear infection was still there so we have more medicine to give him. We will bring him back on Tuesday to be checked again. The doctor has told us that Watson should have ear surgery since he is having recurring ear infections. The surgery will stop the ear infections. Well, 1 in 10 surgeries are not effective in preventing ear infections. We have gone online to research what we can about this type of surgery and it seems pretty common. I guess we will make our decision next week. First we have to get the current ear infection out of his ear. They can't do anything until his ear is completely healed. Either way I just want Watson to feel better...ear infections are no fun!

Metronome

Jason and I frequently run past the metronome in Letna Park. The metronome is very large and replaced the giant statue of Stalin. We never saw the metronome running in the winter but since summer began I have noticed that is was painted and it is regularly working. Of course it doesn't really matter if it is on or not but since we went so long without seeing it on I feel like I have seen something special. I look forward to that part of my run...will it be on or won't it?.

Zamek Hluboka

Since we had the rental car for the full weekend on the weekend we went to Kutna Hora we took advantage and took a second drive on Sunday. We decided to go to Hluboka Castle. The drive was slightly longer and took us about 2 hours to get there. Again we drove through a lot of farm country. We needed Johnathon, my nephew, there to tell us what the machinery was in the fields since Sofia wanted to know and I didn't really have an answer for her. She loved seeing the big rolls of hay of which there were many. (I spoke with Johnathon today and tried to describe what I saw and he informed me that it was probably straw and not hay that was all rolled up in the field. He tried to tell me what the machines were as well but since I couldn't answer all of his questions he gave me a few possibilities. Next time I will have to take better notes on the machinery so that I can give him all the details!) Anyway, we arrived in Hluboka Nad Vlatvou, the town below the castle, in time for lunch so we stopped at a little pizza shop and had a quick bite to eat. We then took the big walk up to the castle. It was a pretty steep hill to get up to the castle but you are rewarded when you get to the top and see the castle. It is huge and beautiful! It is amazing to think people actually lived in it. We walked into the courtyard of the castle and the girls immediately started waltzing. They really put on a show for everyone that was sitting in the courtyard. They love cinderella so whenever we are in a castle they "waltz". As you can see in the picture, Sofia even hold her dress up just like Cinderella does! After their waltz, Jason and Sofia climbed the steps up the tower. They had the number of steps posted where you bought tickets and I immediately decided I wasn't going to carry Ali up all those steps so Ali and I just walked around the courtyard and waited for Jason and Sofia to come back down. After that we waited for our tour to begin. It was a 60 tour but we decided we wanted to see the inside of the castle and just hoped the kids would do ok. The tours are only given in Czech and German but we were told that we could have the text in English. The tour started and we weren't given anything in English so after the first room I asked the tour guide before she started speaking again if we could get the text. Unfortunately, we needed to ask for them at the beginning and she couldn't get them for us at this point so we just stood and listened to her say everything in Czech. Oh well, it was still great to see the inside of the castle. Ideally we would have just walked through on our own so we wouldn't have had anyone tell us anything so we figure we really didn't miss out on anything. We kept the kids busy looking for picutres and statues of babies and dogs which it seems are in abundant supply in all castles and churches. At about the 40 minute mark the kids started to fuss some so we had to do a little more heavy entertaining. Ali wanted to get down (I had been holding her the entire tour) so I let her get down. She was doing fine and staying right at my feet. I turned away for a second and she fell. I'm not sure how she fell but she did. There was a low post next to her which had two hooks on either side. Somehow she managed to get the hook through her shirt and skinned her neck. My heart went through my chest when I turned back and saw her but once I had her unhooked and wiped the blood off her neck and knew she was fine, I was fine. We finished out the tour and headed back outside so the kids coud run around some more before we got back in the car. The castle was really spectacular and well worth the drive.

Back to the pool

Yesterday and today have been hot so we went to the pool. Yesterday was nice at the pool since it wasn't very crowded. Today it is hotter outside which brought everyone to the pool. We go to the pool in the morning to avoid the worst of the crowds. It also works out well with Ali's nap time. Today we left the pool a little early b/c it got crowded early than usual. The kids still had fun. Sofia likes playing the "wave game". This is a game that was made up by one of my friends which I now have to carry on. The wave game is when I sit in the water and make waves with my arm so that Sofia can jump off the side of the pool into the wave. She finds it very funny and it is good for her since it gets water all over her face which I think is helping her get ready to put her whole head in the water. The game keeps me cool too since I get to sit in the water and everytime Sofia jumps in I get splashed.

Where or where has summer gone??

Apparently summer only came back to Prague briefly. It has been in the 60's all week and cloudy. Tonight we went to a company party for Jason's work. The party was at a place on the Vltava River which would have been perfect for summer. Unfortunately summer has dissappeared again! It was so cold tonight that after we ate some food Jason and I walked to the mall and bought sweaters. Yes, sweaters!! I'm still amazed that I had to go out and buy a sweater on August 3rd. How can this be??? (The upside is that I did get a nice sweater.) I keep hearing about heatwaves across Europe yet somehow the heat is bypassing us. Maybe the rest of Europe is sucking the heat away from Prague. Wherever summer has gone I hope it comes back and stays for a while.

Daily Life

Sofia has been sleeping later lately (7:30ish) which is nice. Today she got up and just wanted to sit on my lap for a little bit for some snuggle time which was fine with me. After she was done with snuggle time she got up and started to play some. Ali started to cry all of a sudden and sounded really upset so I went in to the bathroom to get her thinking she had hurt herself. I immediately picked her up and felt wet...she had had an accident. She was crying because she had peed in her underwear (and of course all over the floor). It is amazing how upset she was that she had peed. We told her it was ok and that she was just learning and we sat her on the potty to see if she had to pee anymore. She was still upset but perked right up when I asked her if she wanted a shower. She loves showers! With Ali and I taking a shower I had assumed that Jason fed Sofia her breakfast since Sofia is usually quite hungry in the morning and wouldn't let us forget to feed her. I didn't realize she hadn't been fed while I was in the shower until we were walking to the playground to meet friends. She said, "I'm reeeeeaaalllly hungry." I asked her, "Didn't you have breakfast?". She responded, "No, daddy forgot to give me breakfast." I felt terrible. I couldn't believe that neither one of us gave her breakfast. I texted Jason right away to see if he really hadn't given Sofia anything to eat. Of course the answer was no and Sofia was telling the truth. Thank goodness for all the bakeries around. I quickly stopped into a bakery and bought her an apple danish. After that everything was fine and we were off to the playground. We met up with friends and the kids had fun playing in the playground. Ali had her second accident of the day. That is the most accidents she has had since she started going diaper free. I changed her and let her keep playing but kept checkinf with her to see if she needed to pee. Eventually she said she had to and so I let her squat between the stroller and the bench to give her a little privacy. She squatted but nothing was coming out so I told her ok we can get dressed again and she adamantly told me, "still peeing!". So I let her keep trying. I didn't want to rush and then have her have another accident. I couldn't believe my eyes when she started pooping! It is the first time she has pooped without a diaper. I was very proud of her yet also mortified that my daughter ws pooping at the playground. Good thing I had given her some privacy so that noone could see that she was pooping!! She has brought a new meaning to "nature tinkle"!! I guess she missed the meaning of tinkle. She finished and I quickly picked up the poop, cleaned her up and got her dressed. I'm hoping that experience will carry over to her pooping in the potty.