The Bee Sting

No, it wasn't the girls so don't worry. It was me! I hate bees and now I know why. Yes, this post is looking for sympathy. I was minding my own business, just standing there waiting in the bakery shop. The girls wanted ice cream and it is a hot day and they had been good girls trekking to the embassy. They already had their fruit for the day so I decided to reward them with ice cream. I decided on going to the bakery since the cones were a little smaller and I would save money. So, let's review, I'm a good mom and I am watching our budget and I'm waiting patiently for the counter lady to help me when out of nowhere a bee stung me on my lower back just between my shirt and my skirt. I was flailing about of course once I was stung trying to get the bee off me and the people thought i was crazy. I decided to just say in English that a bee stung me since I couldn't even think of the Czech word for bee at the time. Miraculously a customer in the store spoke English and she quickly spoke with the counter lady and they gave me a slice of lemon. I didn't care b/c it was cold and would do the trick but then she asked me if there was something I would put on it and I told her ice. She relayed the message and the counter lady brought me ice. I held the ice to my back and bought the kids ice cream and tried to make light of my sting since the girls were looking at me in bewilderment. Sofia proceeded to tell me that I should have just stayed still and the bee would have flown away. I tried to explain that I didn't know the bee was there but I think she still thinks she knows how to avoid a bee sting. I'm glad she doesn't seem afraid. Now we are home and I've applied benedryl and have taken advil but it still hurts quite a lot. Luckily the girls are content with drawing right now and don't need my attention.

Rainbow

The weather here changes so fast. There are many times that I will leave our apartment and it will be sunny and by the time I get to Sofia's school (about 3 miles from our apartment) it will be pouring. I have seen more hail storms here in the past year and a half than I have seen my entire life. The storms come in from nowhere and then leave just as quickly. Last Saturday we went to Matilda's birthday party and had nice sunny weather. We got home and came inside and in a matter of minutes there was rain storm. During the storm you could see the sun in the distance. I immediately went to the patio to see if I could see a rainbow and sure enough there is was. If you look closely you can acutually se eit is a doube rainbow but the one on the top is very faint.

Matilda's birthday

Last weekend we went to Matilda's birthday party. Matilda is one of Sofia's friends from school. Sofia was excited to see her friend since she hasn't seen her since the last day of school. She was also excited to be at someone's house. We drove out to Statenice, which is a village just outside Prague where Matilda lives. It was nice again to have a car since otherwise we would have taken a taxi there. There are busses but on the weekend they are few and far between. Their house was beautiful but I was particularly envious of their yard. They had a nice sized yard with an inground pool. The yard was beautifully landscaped and well maintained. I thoroughly enjoyed taking my shoes off and walking barefoot in the grass. The girls had a blast at the party. They went swimming, went in a bouncey castle, bounced on the trampoline, and played in the giant doll house. In between playing with all those things they had cake and had fun with the pinata. The time flew by and before we knew it it was time to go.

Back to the Aqua Palace

We had so much fun at the water park on Saturday that we went back again Sunday. We brought our camera but never even got it out of the locker since we were having so much fun in the water. We headed down the lazy river and made our way over to the slides. We were just as excited as the kids. I headed back to a slide I had been on the day before. It is a completely enclosed slide that is dark inside. You start down the slide into darkness but then you see a red light flashing so you can still see in front of you but once you leave the red light behind you are in complete blackness until you reach the next lighted area of stars and then back into complete darkness. It is a little disconcerting but after going on it a couple times I decided the girls could do it as long as they were sitting on our laps. The girls loved it and we went on it a coupe more times. We also tried this orange slide that has no turns but isn't that steep or long. I went first and decided Sofia could go on it too so we went down at the same time since the slide is wide enough. She loved it. After seeing Sofia do it Ali wanted to give it a try. Ali hit the water at the bottom of the slide so hard it flipped her over so that she went face first. After that we decided she definitely could not do it again. We went out to an outside kiddie area for a while to give the kids a rest from the slides. Jason and I would take turns checking out different areas while the kids played. We both went down the rapids. Jason enjoyed it much more than I did. I didn't find it much fun to get slammed into stone walls but somehow Jason found it enjoyable and went on three times! We all had a great time at the water park though. After 3 hours of playing in water we decided to head home. We played a lot and when I woke up this morning my body was sore from all the activity. I guess I was using different muscles than usual.

Fun in New and Old Czech Republic

Today we had a busy and entertaining day that mixed some great new and old sites. We started the day with a drive to Konopiště castle (more information here), about 50 km south east of Prague. The castle was originally founded in the 13th century and its most well-known modern inhabitant was Archduke Franz Ferdinand. We took a horse drawn wagon from the parking lot up to the castle (because Sofia seemed so excited to do it) and then enjoyed a picnic lunch on a bench just outside the castle. The castle itself is not a fairy tale castle like Hluboka or a large sprawling castle that is almost its own town like Prague Castle but it is indeed impressive and it's always interesting to think about the amount of history that has been seen and lived inside those walls. We took a tour of the castle and it is fascinating inside. The castle has a great collection of weapons and hunting trophies. The girls did a great job on the tour but after walking around outside and then taking the tour they were ready to go. We got a snack before getting in the car and then both girls were quickly asleep. When I packed things up this morning I threw together everyone's swim things just in case we wanted to go to a pool. As we were driving back Mary remembered that Aqua Palace, a new waterpark, is on the way back so we decided it was worth stopping.

Aqua Palace (check out their site) just opened in May and while I heard some good things about it I was stunned by what we found there. For startes the place is enormous. When we entered we were sent to the blue locker room area. The place is so big there are three different locker room areas and you are assigned to one. The kids were initially thrilled that there was a "river" weaving around a large standard pool set up a bit higher than the river. The river was about a 1.4 meter deep narrow channel with a current that you can swim in but the girls could just float and got pushed right along; great fun from the start. Before long we found the next big section of the complex: this is filled with a pirate ship with small water slides, a pool area with spraying fountains, a little kids pool area with a variety of mini slides and spraying entertainment, and a large wave pool. I think Mary and I were as excited as the kids so we quickly jumped around from one thing to the next exploring everything there. Mary suspected there was more there so we followed another river that carried us from that indoor area outside for a while, past other pool and eating areas and then back inside to the water slide area. I think there are seven or so different water slides in this indoor area. At first Mary went on a slide and then went to take Sofia on one while Ali and I continued to drift around and play in the river surrounding this section. One of the slides turned out to be perfect for both kids (and Mary and I thought it was fun too). After a few turns, Sofia and Ali were both going down by themselves and loving it. Mary and I then went by ourselves on what they call the "water bowl" slide. This is a steep narrow covered slide that shoots you into what is essentially a large bowl with circling water. You shoot out of the slide into this bowl, slide all the way around a few times before losing speed and dropping through the bottom into the pool below. I can only assume this is similar to being flushed down a toilet. I had a great time but Mary, with her lesser mass, couldnt get up as much speed and as result received a less then smooth ride, dropping down the hole at the end head first.

We arrived at Aqua Palace at 4:30 but had to be back in Prague for 7:30 because Mary was meeting someone to go grocery shopping together so they could share a car. We stayed as long as we could and then rushed out the door, drove back to Prague and the kids and I were jumping out of the car at 7:28, just in time for Mary to meet as planned. Overall, it was great to be able to tour a castle originally built 700 years ago and updated over the centuries and then move on to the largest, most modern water park in the Czech Republic.

Dentist

Today I took the girls for their first visit to the dentist. I had debated for a while if I should bring them to a Czech dentist or pay the money and bring them to an ex-pat dentist. I eventually decided to pay the money (40Euro each and that is only for an exam, no cleaning) and bring them to an expat dentist. Yes, I could have brought them to a Czech dentist but I wanted their first visit to the dentist to be easy. I didn't want to have to explain what I wanted in broken Czech and I didn't want to ease the fears of going to the dentist on top of explaining to the kids what the dentist was doing. In any event, I'm happy with my decision since the visit went great. Both kids were happy and did not show an ounce of fear. The dentist was really nice and was great with the kids. I wish I had brought my camera since the girls looked really cute laying int he dentist chair. The dentist gave them glasses to wear while they were in the chair so that the light wasn't too bright in their eyes which made them look even cuter. The dentist said that their teeth look great too so all in all a very successful trip. Now I have to go on Tuesday...hopefully it will be as easy.

Weather update

Weather Update: The weather STINKS!!! It is now July 24th and it is still cold out and today mother nature is just rubbing salt in the wound by raining. The weather had been calling for 86 degrees and sunny for tomorrow but when I looked at the weather forecast this morning it says 77 and partly cloudy. My hopes are slowly being dashed for a nice day tomorrow. I need sun and warmth. At this point I will even take 70 and sunny. I won't be greedy and ask for pool weather, just something that resembles summer.

New Car Seat

Today we went out and bought Sofia her first booster seat. Since our friends are letting us use their car this summer while they are in the States we had to break out the kids car seats and use them. When Sofia climbed into her car seat she seemed too big for it so when we got back inside I measured her height, weight, and seated height. She had an inch to spare on height, 3lbs to spare in weight but she was an inch over on the seated height. Now, if we had been in the U.S. I would have broken out the consumer reports and read up on what was the best booster seat. This would make me comfortable knowing that I did my research. Well, here we don't have consumer reports. Even if I could see the U.S. Consumer Reports it wouldn't really matter since most of the models are different here. So I basically had to go on brand recognition. Now this doesn't make me very comfortable but there isn't much I can do about it. I have to believe that the car seats are approved by the EU regulatory body that oversees this stuff. Sofia loves her new booster seat especially becuase she is buckled in just like me.

Vacation Bible School

This week the kids went to Vacation Bible School at our church. Ali was very excited to go to "school". On the first day she told me that she was a big girl now and that she is big enough to go to school. She told me she wouldn't cry or bite anybody. Ali does not bite often but she will occassionally bite Sofia. The last time she bit Sofia I told her that she would not have any friends at school if she bit them. Apparently she must have taken my words to heart since she recalled them upon her first trip to school. Surprisingly Ali did better with the separation than Sofia did. The first two days Sofia was clingy at drop off and Ali was ready for me to leave. They both loved going to "church school" as we called it. The VBS was taught by six interns who are here for the summer. The kids loved their teachers. Ali particularly like Jeremy (or germy as Ali called him since Jeremy is apparently a tough name for a 3 year old to say) and Sofia would often talk about Hannah but they really enjoyed their time with all the teachers. I'm not sure how Ali will be on Monday when I tell her there is no more school for a little while. I guess I will start having to talk up the czech intensive school they will be attending in August for a week.

While the girls had school I took the time to get a haircut which was very overdue. I hadn't had a haircut in 12 weeks so it was a desperate situation. I ran a few other errands as well but mostly I got to hang out with friends. It was so nice to have just adult time. We sat and had breakfast and talked for hours. It was very nice. Here is a pic of my friend Joanna, me, and my friend Laura enjoy a leisurely breakfast. I had to copy the pic from Joanna's blog since I kept forgetting my camera every day.

The Taxi Driver

Every day I walk Watson down to the end of the street around lunch time for his mid-day walk. More often then not I don't have anything for him to play with and I just let him off leash on the grass so he can do his stuff. The area that I go to is also next to the taxi parking. the taxi drivers are all very friendly and say hi to me and the girls. We converse in basic Czech and they all love Watson. There is one driver in particular who really loves Watson. He usually will break a stick off the tree for Watson and will throw it for him. This will continue until Watson breaks the stick. I have seen this taxi driver in other parts of town when I am running and he honks and waves to me. I'm sure it isn't me he recognizes but Watson. Today when I brought Watson to the end of the road our taxi driver was there. Watson saw him and perked up. I let him off leash and Watson greeted the driver. The driver then opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a ball to throw for Watson. It is great. I don't have to try to give my dog exercise anymore while I'm also trying to watch the girls b/c other people will do it for me. Watson has a lot of friends here and I don't mean just other dogs. He has the taxi driver, the bank security guard (who has given him half of her lunch) and other random people who we see regularly who always stop to pet and talk to him. I love that Watson is so well loved here.

Where oh where has summer gone??

This weather stinks!!! It is July 17th and it is in the upper 50's!!! How can that be?? I have spent this week dressing with more and more clothes every day until today when I finally had to cave and wear pants, a sweater shirt and a JACKET!!! This is not right. Where did summer go?? The kids are in vacation bible school this week and I should be spending my mornings at the pool relaxing without children. This isn't fair!!

The Best Laid Plans

We had one day that began very cloudy so we decided to check out a market. The market was about an hours drive from where we were staying but we figured we could see the market and then stop into Puerto Banus (a very wealthy port with huge yachts) for lunch and then head back in hopes that the clouds would clear out and we could spend the afternoon at the pool. We arrived in Estepona for the market and we didn't see one. We stopped in at tourist information and learned that for some reason the market wasn't happening this week. This was a bummer. Now what do we do?? We saw an advertisement for an aquarium so we decided to drive another hour and fifteen minutes to get to the aquarium. Once we were in the town we saw signs for Selwo Marina and we thought oh this must be the place so we drive there and park. We wait in line and pay to get in. Once we are in it is of course lunch time so we get food. After fueling up on food we start to wander the park. We look at the schedule of events and it appears we are late for most shows (dolphin, sea lion etc.) and the next set of shows isn't until late. We then start wondering were all the fish, crabs, sea stars etc are and we realized that we aren't at the aquarium at all. We decide that since we had missed most of the shows that we would bag it and go find the aquarium. Before we left the "marina" the girls did get to ride dolphins though. Ok, they weren't real but the girls had fun! We headed over to the marina and the day finally started going right. The aquarium was perfect. It was nice and cool inside which was nice since it had gotten pretty hot and humid outside. The kids loved seeing the sharks and tortoises and jellyfish and all the rest of the marine life. They really enjoyed the interactive area since they got to touch sea cucumbers, starfish, snails etc. The thing that I thought was great was that at the interactive area there was a sign saying that you could touch everything in the tank. After we touched some sea anemones the monitor there said, "Don't touch those they will sting you." So much for the "you can touch everything" sign. Luckily we didn't get stung. We finished the aquarium with a stop at the gift shop. The girls chose balls filled with water which had plastic fish inside. Unfortunately both balls started leaking water before we even got back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel and went to the pool. The girls forgot about their leaky toys and the day of plans gone awry ended with fun pool time.

Ronda

We took one day and drove to Ronda. It was a pretty drive on a windy road through the mountains. You could see quite a distance from the mountains since it was such a nice day. We could just barely make out the coast of Africa and the Rock of Gibraltar. We arrived in town and drive around and around looking for parking. We kept seeing signs or parking which we thought would lead to a parking garage but we soon realized the big "P" signs were just signs saying you could park on the road. We eventually lucked out and found a good spot and got out to see the town. We fortunately parked across from a chocolate shop so we stopped in for a little sugar boost. He headed to the tourist information office for a map of the town. The main attraction of the town is the bridge. The Puente Nuevo crosses a nearly 330ft (100m) deep gorge. It was a beautiful gorge and amazing to think about how this bridge was built. After seeing the bridge we stopped for a quick lunch and then walked though the old part of the town. It is a very cute town. We continued on into the new part of town to go back to our car but first we needed to stop for some churros y chocolate. For those of you from the U.S. who are about our age you may have had a Spanish text book called "Churros y Chocolate". This always sounded good to me since how can fried dough dipped in chocolate ever be bad?? We learned that churros is eaten for breakfast and is not generally served in resaurants in the afternoon. Luck was on our side though and we came across a Churreria which served Churros all day. We finished our day in Ronda eating our Churros and then headed back to the hotel for more pool time.

Back from Spain

Today we arrived back in Prague. It was quite a change in weather. We left sunny 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degree Celsius) sunny Spain and we were greeted in Prague with clouds, rain and 57 degrees Fahrenheit ( 14 degrees Celsius). We had a wonderful 11 days in Spain. We spent most of our time at the beach and the pool but we also took one day to drive to a town called Ronda and another day to visit an aquarium. We also met up with some friends who were also on vacation in Spain.

The day after we arrived we headed over to a friend's condo. Sofia's friend, Thomas, was staying with his Mom and Dad 5 minutes from where we staying. They own a condo in Spain and vacation there about 5 weeks a year. They invited us over for a BBQ and we accepted. It was fun to see friends while on vacation as well as enjoy a nice BBQ. Sofia had a blast playing with Thomas. He is actually 2 years older than Sofia but that didn't seem to matter. Thomas had Sofia making running leaps into the pool soon after we arrived at their condo. It was nice for us too to have adult conversation while our kids had fun playing together.

After our visit with friends we had the rest of the vacation for family time. We headed to the beach most mornings. The kids really liked playing in the sand at the beach and collecting shells but they were still a little hesitant about the waves. When I say waves I do not mean big swells. I mean small waves that seem big to a 3 and 4 year old. Although they were happy to go in the shallow water with us, it didn't really matter if they did since they had a great time playing in the sand. After time at the beach we would head back for lunch and nap. The afternoon was pool time. They both loved the pool. We started the week in the kiddie pool with small bursts of time in the big pool. Once Sofia figured out how to swim without her floaties on we spent the majority of our time at the big pool. This was a lot of fun for all of us since it meant we could really play in the pool as a family. When Ali saw Sofia's fingernails painted she kept practicing her swimming without her floaties. She is so close to swimming on her own. She goes completely underwater and blows bubbles and kicks really well but she just hasn't figured out how to get her head completely out of the water to get another breath. Maybe she will get it by the end of the summer. (That is if we get weather warmer then 57 degrees!) If she doesn't learn by the end of summer it is fine. She is having fun just going under water and blowing bubbles and waving to me. Here is a video of the girls jumping in the pool. Sofia was starting to get fancy with her spinning jump. By the end of the vacation Sofia was even jumping in without her floaties since she was so proud to show off her swimming abilities.

Great Achievements

Today Sofia swam all by herself. She has been working on it since we came to Spain and today was the day she succeeded. We are very proud of her. The video above is Sofia swimming all by herself. She was very excited to be able to swim alone not only for the ability but also because it meant she could have her fingernails painted. I promised her if she learned to swim by herself that she could have her nails painted. She has been asking forever and I have always said no so it was a big enticement for her. After her success today we headed to the salon for her first manicure. Can you imagine a 4 year old getting a manicure?? It was very cute. She even sat still for 30 minutes after to let the polish completely dry. She is very excited to have the same polish as mommy.

A Final Goodbye

As I sit here on my patio in beautiful Spain it doesn´t seem possible but my family has suffered a great loss. A woman who some people called wife, mother, cousin, aunt, friend but Grandma by me passed away. She was an amazing woman. When I was a child, grandma was always there for us. I remember big wonderful family meals with all my aunts, uncles, and cousins. For those of you who don´t know, we have a BIG family so dinner was a hectic affair yet some how grandma made it all seem seamless, at least for us kids. Thanksgiving and Christmas were times of great joy at Grandma´s house. There was always lots of talking and loud laughter.

Grandma used to cut our hair. She would make us clothes too and yet still waitressed full time. After I had my first waitressing job I remember going home to grandma and telling her how amazed I was that she could feed nine children on a waitressing salary. She must have been exhausted! I was exhausted from working just for spending money. When I told her how amazed I was with her she just gave a little chuckle like it was nothing of great importance. She just did what needed to be done. After having my two daughters and having two in diapers I was again in awe of my grandma. How did she have 4 kids in diapers at once?! I still don´t know how she did it. Grandma was always calm.

Every year my family would join together for "beach week". When I was younger that meant that Grandma and Grandpa would rent a two bedroom house near the beach and all my aunts, uncles and cousins would pack in. Every available space on the floor and couches was taken up with sleeping people yet somehow Grandma made this fun. She would take the kids (me, my brothers and cousins) with her on her daily walk first thing in the morning. We thought this was great fun especially because she would buy us an egg, sausage and cheese breakfast sandwich. I realize now that she was probably getting us out of the house to give the adults some space but at this time we loved her attention. Her time with us didn´t end there though. She would take us to the tennis courts and patiently "play" tennis with us. She played with us over the years from when we couldn´t really play at all until we would hit our rackets on the ground in frustration. She kept with it every summer while we learned. Her patience and understanding really knows no bounds.

Her house was always open and you could stop by unannounced and be greeted with joy. Before we moved to Prague we knew that Grandma would probably die before we moved back. Not because she was old because she wasn´t. We knew it because she had cancer. Grandma understood my desire to move abroad and gave me the freedom to follow a dream. She could have been silent and I would have wondered if I should go or not but in her great goodness she said, "Mary, go to Prague and enjoy life. I have lived mine." Doesn´t that just say it all about the selflessness of the woman?! Since she is in heaven now she can see and hear us. I would like to tell her thank you for being a wonderful grandma. Thank you for giving me a sense of family. Thank you for teaching me to be loving, patient and kind. I love you and I will miss you greatly.

Grandma making me laugh
4 Generations: Grandma, Mom, Me, Sofia and Ali

Preparing for Spain

I can't wait to make our return trip to Spain. We will be staying in the same place as last year so there is no stress about figuring out where we are going or where to find the grocery store or pharmacy. We also have a direct flight this year so hopefully our luggage won't get lost. Since the flight was cheaper to fly direct it made sense for us to stay some extra nights in Spain. I would rather spend my money on the hotel than on an indirect flight so we ended up with 4 additional nights this year so we will be there for 11 nights. I am looking forward to enjoying the beach and pool every day. We will probably take one or two days to sight see but this is basically a beach vacation. We definitely need a vacation. We have just been very busy lately so it will be nice to get away. Sofia is really looking forward to this vacation as well. Every day she tells us how many days left until we get on the plane. She remembers our Spain trip last year and in excited about the beach and pool. I have most things packed and the dogsitter is all set to come and take care of Watson. Now I just have to wait. I can't ever remember being packed early for a trip. I guess I'm looking forward to it as much as Sofia.