Swimming

Sofia is really doing well at swimming.  She still goes every Wednesday after school for her swim club practice and this term she has started swimming on Thursday afternoons during the school day.  I think swimming with her class with her PE teacher whom she loves has really improved her confidence.  Her swimming group on Wednesday has only older children in it so while I could tell she was doing great she often felt like she wasn't doing as well becuase the other kids could swim better.  I kept telling her that she was doing great and that it wasn't surprising the other kids were swimming a little better b/c they are older and bigger than she is.  It didn't really make an impact on her.  Since she started swimming on Thursdays with only the kids in her class she has really started to blossom.  She loves swimming now and you can see how much better she is getting just because she enjoys it.  On Wednesday we went to her swim club practice and she was excited to get in the pool.  Her coach split her team into two lanes and had them swimming relay races, once swimming on their stomachs and once on their backs.  You could really see Sofia's competetive nature kick in.  The first lap that Sofia raced was on her stomach.  She had a little bit of a head start over the girl she was racing with and was going strong but then about half way she started to slow down until she caught sight of the other girl next to her.  It was funny to see her kick in those little legs and go for it.  She lost that race by a hair.  She was not to lose the second lap though.  The second lap was swimming on her back and her relay team didn't give her any lead on the other girl so they started even and Sofia took off.  I couldn't believe how well she swam nevermind that the girl she was competing against was almost 2 years older (as Sofia said, "she is seven, almost 8!") than she is and much taller!  I've very proud of my little swimmer.

Unknown plants...to eat or not to eat??

Growing up in America we were always told, "Never, EVER eat anything in the wild if you are not 100% certain what it is!"  This was beat into us as children.  As a parent I completely agree with repeating this over and over to our girls.  I don't want them to eat a poisonous plant by accident.  I find this is even more important to reiterate here becuase our children see people eat things from the wild often.  One of my friends popped a wild plum into her mouth last summer and before she did she said, "I think these are the wild plums I was told about but don't qoute me on that."  I was shocked that she would just so easily risk eating something if she wasn't sure.  I was reminded again of this practice of trying things today from our neighbor.  I was doing weeding in our garden and there is a plant that is coming up randomly throughout the garden.  It has some pretty large roots.  We were wondering maybe if it was horseradish.  We looked it up online and the leaves looked different but maybe this was another variety.  I brought the plant next door to ask our neighbor.  I had to laugh (to myself) when he took the root and bit into it to taste it.  He chewed on it and spit it out and told me it wasn't.  He then came over to see the other plants and told me definitely no it wasn't horseradish.  He is a very nice neighbor and it is nice to have him around again now that the weather is getting nice (his house is a summer cottage).  The Czech way of eating things in nature still amazes me and I have to laugh at how differently we must have been brought up.

Cinnamon Buns

I have often thought of making cinnamon buns but have always been slightly intimidated.  I also would think of them in the morning and every recipe I have found calls for starting the dough the night before.  Anyway, I have never made them.  As I said before, while we were in England Beth made cinnamon rolls.  Seeing her make them with ease gave me the courage to give it a go so last night I prepared the dough and placed the cut cinnamon rolls in the refridgerator over night.  I took them out this mornng and they looked beautiful.

 I waited the designated thirty minutes for the dough to warm to room temperature and then put them in the oven for thirty minutes.  I was very happy with the end product as were Jason and the girls.  Making cinnamon rolls won't be a frequent event since they are just so decadent but it is nice to know I can make them without worry in the future.

Bike Riding

Yesterday was sunny with blue skies and no wind with temperatures in the high 50's (14 C).  It was beautiful!  We decided to take the kids down to the river for some bike riding.  Sofia has her new big girl bike which she was slightly nervous to ride and she still needed to figure out how to get it started.  I decided that yesterday would be Ali's turn to try riding a bike without training wheels.  It was a big learning day for the girls.  They both did great.  Sofia figured out her new bike...how to get it going but also how to stop it since the only way to stop is with a hand brake.  Ali still needs a little help getting started on her bike but once she is going she can ride it without training wheels!  Jason and I were both impressed by how well the girls did yesterday.  After fun bike riding we stopped at a local cafe for lunch and then headed home.  The girls had so much fun riding their bikes that they took them out again and road them on the road for a little bit.  After that it was playing in the yard enjoying the sun.  It was a great day!

24

No, not the tv show.  Twenty four is the number of ticks I took off Watson today!  The ticks are out in force this year.  We have only seen a handful of ticks on Watson in the three years that we have lived here so as I kept taking them off him today I was shocked.  We had been seeing more on him this season and was surprised at how many but today just stunned me.  He will no longer be allowed in the apple orchard next to our house.  I have him scheduled for a haircut next week which will help us see the ticks on him.  I really hope this level of tick activity does down soon.  I keep feeling the heebie-jeebies ever since taking all the ticks off him today.  I don't want this feeling everyday!  I guess the daily tick checks will begin in our house.

Spring in the playgrounds

The weather last week was very nice here and it really felt like spring had arrived.  That feeling has definitely left us this week but we enjoyed it last week.  The nice weather meant that during Sofia's Czech lesson Ali and I could go to a playground.  As I was standing there watching Ali play on the playground and in the sand box it ocurred to me how much our lives have changed since we moved here.  We used to spend time everyday at one of the playgrounds near us.  I would try different ones to keep things interesting for me and see if there was anything new the kids might enjoy.  Now that the girls are in school and we have a yard to play in so we don't go to playgrounds as often.  I forgot how much the playgrounds are used here.  Last Thursday the playground was packed with kids having fun.  It was nice to be reminded how much enjoyment is had even at simple playgrounds.  I can't imagine having moved here without kids and missing out on all the beauty of the many playgrounds.  I am happy that I had the opportunity to see a side of Prague that many don't get to see and enjoy.

Car Brakes

On Wednesday I had a very productive day planned.  Unfortunately my plans all fell apart when the car started shaking very badly.  I loaded the girls into the car and we went to the grocery store.  This had to be my first stop after picking up Watson from his sitter since we needed food in the house after being away for a week but I also needed fabric softener before I could start the laundry.  As we were nearing the crocery store the car started to shake.  It was very strange but since I was already near the store we stopped and went in.  We got back inthe car to head home and I couldn't believe how much the car was shaking. I knew it had something to do with the brakes since it only happened when I had to use the brakes but I also feared that maybe the tire was going to come shooting off at some point.  IT was very stressful to drive the car like this with the kids in the car with me.  I dropped the groceries off at home (since it was on my way) and headed to the dealer who had done work on our brakes in October.  At first eh man told me they would work on it tomorrow so I asked him if it was safe to drive.  He took it for a short drive with us in the car and his immediate response was "very bad, very bad".  They took it in then  to have a look at it.  I told him they had worked on the brakes in October.  Apparently though they had only replaced a part of the brake and he showed me what was wrong...the rotor was corroded... which was a different part from what they fixed in the fall.  He told me to pick it up on Thursday afternoon.  The nice thing about this dealer is they give a max cost for the repairs so you know what to expect.  With the way the car was shaking I was expecting a max cost of 20,000Kc or more so I was pleasantly surprised at a max cost of 6000KC ($320).   That tells you had bad the car was shaking if I thought $320 was a relief!!  After the dealer the girls and I had took the tram up to the baguette shop for lunch and then took the bus home.  As we were walking down the road I realized I left my house keys with my car keys at the dealer.  The dealer is only about an 8 minute drive from our house it would take us about an hour to get there on the bus which means two hours round trip.  Since it was a beautiful day we decided to just play in the yard for three hours for Jason to come home rather than spend all the time on public transportation.  Needless to say my productive day didn't happen given I was locked out of the house until 5:30pm but at least I got to enjoy some sunshine.  We picked the car up on Thursday and they showed me the corroded rotors now that they were off our car and they were, in fact, extremely corroded and flaking apart.  I guess a major piece had flaked off on the way to the grocery store which was why it was shaking so bad all of a sudden.  I'm glad they are fixed and I can feel safe driving our car again.

Easter in England

This year we spent Easter in England with our family.  The Easter bunny in England definitely raised the standard.  The English Easter bunny (Aunt Beth & Uncle Graham) provided a lot more candy, toys and a book than we have previously given the kids.  They also laid out a piece of string that went through multiple rooms that the kids had to follow in order to find their easter baskets.  After finding the easter baskets and eating a bunch of candy we were served a big breakfast with bacon and eggs as well as homemade cinnamon rolls.  It was delicious!  After breakfast we headed out to Great Windsor Park for a nice walk to burn off some of those calories we ate at breakfast and some of the sugar the kids consumed from their Easter baskets.  The kids loved playing in the park and our walk ended at a playground which made it even better. 

In the afternoon Jason and I hid the plastic eggs filled with candy in the yard and then sent the kids out for an Easter Egg hunt.  They all had a blast.  There is still one egg remaining in the yard since none of the kids could find the last one and Jason and I couldn't remember where we hid it.  It will give the girls cousins something to look for over the summer.  It was a fantastic Easter day with family.  I will have to think about what to do next year so that the kids enjoy it just as much.

London

The kids are on school holiday and we took the chance to go to London to visit Graham (Jason's brother), Beth, Alex, Justin, and Keira.  We have never been to London except to fly through Heathrow so we were excited to go.  We also hadn't seen our family in a year and we were excited to catch up with them.  The kids had a blast playing with their cousins.  It didn't really matter what we were doing as long as the cousins were along our girls were happy. 

One day Jason and I headed into London without the kids.  There was no sadness though since it meant the girls got to stay home with their cousins.  They had a very full day which included a four mile walk and a trip to a pool.  When I ask Ali what her favorite thing in London was she will say, "the Pool".  Now this is not some fancy indoor ppol with slides etc but a pool at a local club.  She had such a good time though that it was definitely her favorite.  She was so tired by the time they got home that she went to bed without pajamas or dinner and was asleep by 5:30 and slept through until 7am.  We were so grateful to Graham and Beth for watching the kids for the day because it gave Jason and I a chance to walk all around London seeing and doing what we wanted without dragging the children with us.  We were able to see the big sites like Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abby (although only outside as it was closed for Easter services), and Buckingham Palace (again only outside as it is closed since the Queen is in residence).  We were also able to see my smaller sites.  These smaller sites won't mean much to a lot of people but as I am a big reader of books that are written based on Regency Era (early 1800) England I had a number of things I wanted to see so that I could have a better image while reading.  Sites such as The Serpentine (a pond in Hyde Park), Rotten Row (a horse track in Hyde Park), White's Gentleman's Club, Hatchard's bookshop (a bookstore near Picadilly, which is still there with the same name even though it is now owned by Waterstones) and then the big shopping streets of Bond, Oxford and Regent.  It was fun to see them all.  The shops on Bond Street were fun to go in as they were shops such as Prada and Burberry etc.  We made the turn onto Oxford Street and I couldn't believe the mayhem.  This shopping street is so busy I was shocked.  It felt like I had been plunged into the mall at Christmas time.  I was defintely not prepared for the number of people and it was a bit overwhelming.  I did, however, managed to buy a few items as did Jason. 

We didn't always leave the kids behind though when we headed into the city.  We took the kids into the city twice while we were there.  Our first stop in London with the kids was the London Eye.  The girls always ask to go on ferris wheels when we happen upon them at fairs and we always say, "No!".  I just do not have enough faith in carnival rides to put my children on one that goes so high.  I also do not have faith in my children to sit still and not slip out of the seat.  I figured the London Eye was a great chance to see the city as well as quench our children's thrist for a ferris wheel while keeping them safely enclosed in a bubble that they couldn't fall out of.  They loved it!  We also enjoyed it since it did have amazing views.  I gave an excellent view of Parliament and Big Ben.  I am now curious, however, to see the movie European Vacation again because I cannot figure out how they were going around a rotary and seeing Big Ben and Parliament as there is no nearby rotary. (I just checked and the traffic circle is down at the next bridge so I guess it was accurate although I feel like they made it seem much closer.) After the London Eye we headed over to the Tower of London.  We joined a tour which was interesting but in hindsight we probably should have skipped it so the kids could have seen more parts of the castle.  After the tour though we did go in to see the Crown Jewels which were amazing.  Our second trip into the city with the kids brought us to Harrod's and the Natural History Museum.  Harrod's was obviously not for the children but we both wanted to see it so we dragged them along with the rest of the family as well.  Once in Harrods we all went through the food halls together which were amazing.  I wanted to buy all the food but held back and just bought some tea biscuits and strawberry jam.  After the food halls I separated off from the group so that I could spend the next 45 minutes shopping.  The store is so massive though and I kept getting lost even with a map of the store.  The store is very expensive and has a lot of designer clothing.  I was in awe when I found myself in the "shoe boudoir" where each shoe had its own pedestal and the first pair I picked up costs 1000 Euros!  Anyway, the 45 minutes wizzed by and I met back up with the family for lunch and then off to the museum.  The Museum was packed as it was the beginning of school holidays in the UK and it was also a bank holiday so I guess a lot of parents were looking for things to do with their kids.  Our intention was to viist the dinosaur exhibits but once inside the museum and weaving our way through the musuem to the dinasour exhibits we found a line that was an hour long.  We decided to skip the dinosaurs and checked out some other areas of the museum instead.  The kids really enjoyed it and our girls wanted to stay and see more but the rest of us were exhausted from making our way through the crowds so we headed home.

The rest of the time in England we stayed close to home. We took the train to Windsor with the kids and Jason's parents on our first day but didn't get there early enough to go into the castle so I took the opportunity to peek in a few shops and then we went to the Crooked House of Windsor for Tea.  We had scones and hot chocolate for the kids and tea for the adults and then headed home.  We made it back to Winsdor without the kids (becuase cousins win out over castle viewing) another day and actually went into the castle.  The castle is huge and you only see a small section of it but it was interesting to see.  It is strange to think that the Queen still lives there part of the year.  I just kept thinking it would be a pain to get the kids from the playroom if it was on the other side of the castle! What if you had left your room to go to the other end of the castle and then as you reached the other end you realized you forgot something.  I guess that is what servants are for becuase with the size of Windsor castle I have to imagine if you got to the other side and forgot something you would just say forget it!  

Graham and Beth live close to the Windsor Great Park so we spent a lot of time walking around the park.  One day we walked to the top of the Long Walk (but didn't walk the remaining 2.65 miles to the castle).  It was an amazing view to see this straight long path leading directly to the castle.  The kids enjoyed seeing all the horses being ridden in the park and have since been running around like horses. 

There are huge shrubs in the park that the kids loved to climb.  They were pretty cool since they seemed to be their own fort behind the leaves.  I managed to snap a quick pic of the kids before they continued running through the shrubs. 

The park itself is beautiful and at 1,000 acres it has a lot of areas we didn't even see.  We enjoyed a picnic in the park on our last day as the weather was perfect.  After our picnic we walked through the park and I couldn't believe the number of daffodils.  Ali was in heaven with so many flowers around and given the number available I did let her pick a couple.  I will definitely bring my running clothes for our next visit so that I can enjoy more of the park.