Merry Christmas

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

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

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

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!!!!

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!!

 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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

Christopher Pop-In-Kins

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!!

 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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.