Halloween

The kids have been talking about Halloween for the last two months so it was with great excitement that they got dressed to go trick or treating. This year the girls decided to stray from the princess costumes. Ali dressed up as the wicked witch of the west and Sofia dressed up as a pirate. When Jason had gone to the U.S. a couple weeks ago he brought back costumes for us since we were going to a costume party after trick or treating. When he got back to Prague and opened the Adult medium package it had a child's small costume inside. We were disappointed but it ended up working out well since Sofia was excited to be a pirate. She made a good pirate and walked around saying "arrrgggghhh". Jason and I tried to teach Ali to say, "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too". We thought she had it down until we started walking to our friends house and Ali said, "I'll eat you my baby". We started off our celebrating at our friends house with pizza, cookies and candy and then we headed up to the trick or treating neighborhood. Yes, there is one neighborhood known for trick or treating here and it is often called "little America". It is a little out of town but our friends gave us a ride and it was well worth the trip. The kids had such a great time running door to door. It is quite a crazy hour as there are hundreds of kids in this small neighborhood running from door to door trying to get candy before the candy runs out. After hitting all the houses and the kids happy with their treats we headed home to put the kids to bed. Our babysitter arrived and Jason and I headed out to our costume party. Since Jason's costume from the states was obviously too small he went earlier in the day to a costume shop to rent a costume. It ended up working out really well and he made a great pirate. We had fun at our party and the kids had fun trick or treating. Another Happy Halloween!

Enjoying vacation

The girls have school vacation this week. Last week I was trying to think of things for them to do to keep them busy and entertained while they had time off from school. It is already half way through their vacation and I have realized that they don't need me to entertain them. They have both been happy to just stay home and relax. They have been staying in their pajamas a lot. On Monday I let them put their rain gear over their pajamas so we could take Watson out for a walk. They thought that was pretty funny.

We have had a few things to do this week though. We took Watson to the vet on Monday becuase he has been limping for a few weeks now. The had to give Watson medicince to make him sleep so they could take an xray of his leg. That meant we had to kill an hour of time so I walked the girls to Hornbach. Hornbach is the Home Depot of Czech Republic. It is so similar that if you were standing in a Hornback or a home depot and didn't look at the spelling of things you would not know which store you were in! I was amazed...I wonder which came first? In any event, the nursery section of Hornback also had a lot of decorations (which I know is not in Home Depot). The girls and I chose some fall decorations and then we browsed the Christmas decorations. We decided we would need to go back with Jason to pick up some new decorations for this Christmas. We headed back to the vet to find out that Watson has a chipped bone in his shoulder joint. He is on pain meds this week and we have to bring him back next week. If he is still limping then he will need to have arthroscopic surgery to remove the chip.

Yesterday was the National Holiday as I already posted and we spent time walking around and just hanging out in our apartment. Today we had friends over for a visit. The kids had a really fun time playing and just running around crazy in the apartment. I had fun talking with my friend, Wendy. Our schedules have been so busy lately that we haven't had a lot of time to talk at pickup from school so it was nice to finally have time to talk. I was happy to learn that her husband's contract has been extended so they will be here for at least another year and a half. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of the girls playing.

Public Holiday

Today is The Day of Establishment of the Independent Czechoslovak Republic and is a National Holiday. Holidays are always nice since it means that Jason has the day off from work. Yesterday our street was cleared of parked cars and huge tents were set up. The huge tents have restaurants in them where you can sit and be served food. Also along our street are vendors of beer, wine, hotdogs, sausages, ham, trdlo, potato pancakes etc. There was also the roast pig which seems to be at every holiday event we have been to in Prague. The weather today is not great but we ventured out anyway. We had our fill of food and then walked to the end of the road to watch the parade. Since it was so chilly Ali and I decided to get hot chocolate. It is so nice that she is old enough to share a hot chocolate eith me. By the time we got there it was packed. I could barely see anything and we had the kids on our shoulders. It was an interesting parade and very different than parades I have seen in the States. The parade was essentially a military parade so we saw a lot of trucks, tanks and missle launchers. Ali was tired and cold so we headed home before Jason and Sofia but that was fine with me since I couldn't really see anything anyway. It is always fun to be out in the festive atmosphere and it is always nice that the festivities are right out our front door. There is a stage set up about 50 yards from our front door so I am looking forward to hearing the music later today. Until then I will relax and digest all the yummy food I ate earlier.

Out to Lunch

Today we had a lazy day after a busy week. The morning had gone by before we new it and it was time for lunch. We felt that we should get out of the house so we decided to head out for lunch. We thought about heading into town to a pizza place that has a pizza buffet and the kids eat free but by the time we were ready to go it was already after noon and we didn't want to miss Ali's nap. We decided to try out the Lebanese restaurant around the corner from our apartment. When we head out to restaurants with the kids it always strikes me how much our children are experiencing from living overseas. I don't think I knew there was Lebanese food when I was little nevermind trying it but our girls were excited to head to the Lebanese restaurant. The both really love hummus which they ate with gusto. I ordered a puff pastry filled with spinach which ended up coming loaded with onion too so I didn't eat it but it didn't go to waste since Ali loved it! I'm happy that we can expose them to all different cultures and I'm happy that we have children who love to try new foods.

Reading and Cooking

This week has been very busy. That seems to be the theme lately..busy, busy, busy. I had intentionally made this week busy becuase this was the week Jason was suppose to go to the States. Since I was planning on bringing the kids to school everyday I decided this would be a good week to sign up for reading with Sofia's class and cooking with Ali's class. Yesterday I spent some time in the morning reading with the kids in Sofia's class. I read stories to about 2 kids at a time. It was fun to read to them and interesting to see the difference in sounding out words as well as attention span. The girls were excited to read with me and the boys really just wanted to play. Sofia's teacher gave me a list of kids to read with but there were other girls who also wanted to read with me. I was happy to read to whomever wanted to listen. The boys on my list needed some coaxing to sit with me to read. It is interesting to see the difference between all the kids.

This morning I cooked with Ali's class. I thought about what I could cook that would involve 12 kids. The thought was a little daunting since it is enough work to bake with my own two kids never mind 12 kids. I decided to make cookies but I made the cookie dough in advance. This worked out perfectly. I gave each child a piece of dough to roll out with a rolling pin and then I had cookie cutters so they could choose what shape they wanted. This took just the right amount of time for the attention span of a 3 year old. It was nice to see Ali interacting with her classmates. The kids came to the table to make the cookies in groups. Since I was the mom doing the cooking, Ali's teacher let Ali go first and to pick 3 friends to start with her. It was interesting to see who Ali chose. Two of her choices were not surprising as she always talks about Clark and Nils but her third choice of Cianna was surprising as I never hear her talk about Cianna. It was nice to have a little insight into Ali's life at school.

The Pumpkin Patch

Last week, on Ali's only good day, the girls and I went on their class trip to the Pumpkin Patch. The nursery kids are required to have a parent present but the reception kids are not so I sat with Ali on the bus while Sofia sat way in the back. It was strange to be there but not to have to parent Sofia. She had a great time playing with her friends. She took her turn walking with the goat and feeding him apples. She picked out the pumpkin she wanted by herself and ate up all of her pumpkin soup. It is nice to see the change in her from last year to this year. Last year I had to constantly be with her and checking on her and this year she was just off by herself. When we arrived Ali went to go check out the rabbits. I guess she remembered them from last year. She spent most of her time with the rabbits last year but this year it was just a quick peak at the rabbits and then onto the pumpkins. She couldn't decide which pumpkin she wanted. I also enjoyed my time at the pumpkin patch and took the opportunity to stock up on squash. You can't buy squash in the store here so this is my opportunity to buy some. Last year I didn't know you could buy it until we were there and I ended up carrying a plastic bag of squash home that kept ripping. This year I came prepared with my cloth bag!

Today we finally had time to enjoy our spoils from the pumpkin patch. The girls and I carved pumpkins today. Well, the girls drew the face they wanted on the pumpkins and I cut them out. They were very excited to make jack-o-lanterns. Sofia helped scoop the seeds and goop out of the center of the pumpkin but Ali decided it was too messy and wasn't going to stick her hand in the pumpkin. After making the jack-o-lanterns, I decided to make some pumpkin soup. Sofia really enjoyed the pumpkin soup we had at the pumpkin patch and has been asking for it since. It is actually quite easy to make pumpkin soup. Next up I will be making acorn squash and butternut squash.

When it rains it pours

This is not a weather forecast but rather what happens when Jason leaves town. It seems when Jason heads out of the country the kids are sick or watson gets sick or both. This time was no different. As I have already blogged about, Ali had hives when Jason was heading out of town. We thought we were on the mend the day he flew out but no such luck and we ended up with Ali getting a cortisone shot. I thought everything was in the clear after that and I had our days planned out for the week. The girls had a class trip to the pumpkin patch (which I will post about later), we had our swim lesson and they were both in school and happy. Then things really came to a screeching halt on Wednesday afternoon. The school nurse called me and told me that Ali had woken up from her nap and was screaming and crying uncontrollably saying her leg hurt and she couldn't walk on it. Now, Ali had been complaining about her leg during her bought with hives but I just assumed it was because she had hives on the back of her knee. Apparently it wasn't the hives that was hurting her knee so I immediately brought her to the doctor. We went to one hospital and had it checked. They checked it and wrote out a slip for us to go to the children's emergency room at another hospital (Luckily the two hospitals are right next to each other). We go to the hospital and very quickly we find out that Ali is going to have to stay overnight. They originally thought it was inflammation of the knee caused by the bacteria from her ear infection. They put a needle in Ali's knee to withdraw some of the fluid. This was very painful for Ali and they weren't able to take out any fluid. They admitted her into the pediatric unit and we waited for other doctors to come. The staff was very nice and there was at least one doctor around who spoke English. The nurses were nice and since they couldn't tell me things in English they would just bring me to wherever I had to go. It was unexpected to have such help but very nice. We shared a room with another mom and daughter. The mother was very nice and also spoke English and she often translated for me with the nurses. She had been in the hospital for 7 days with her daughter. In our room there were two cribs, one bed and a chair. I slept in the chair. It was not very comfortable but I wasn't going to sleep away from Ali. Anyway, as it turns out, Ali didn't have fluid in her knee she just has swelling around her knee. They believe the swelling is caused by the allergic reaction to the augmentin. We will keep her on antihistamine and motrin for the next week. We were released from the hospital tonight which I am very grateful for. I'm happy that there is not major problem with Ali and I'm also happy that I don't have to sleep in the chair again. It was a pretty stressful time for me, especially with Jason away but we managed to get through it. I'm not sure how I would have done it with out some pretty great friends. Our friends Emily and Radek watched Sofia for me last night and took her to school this morning. They brought clothes for Ali and me as well as food and drinks and books and toiletries. Our friends Phil and Shanna are taking care of Sofia tonight (since we didn't get home until late and we weren't sure if we would even be home tonight) and they also brought us books and food and a much needed phone charger so I could stay in contact with everyone. Our babysitter picked up keys from our landlord so that she could come to our apartment and pick up Watson and take care of him. In addition to that there were so many friends who texted me to make sure I was doing ok and to see if they could help in any way. Even friends who are traveling have unknowingly helped us by letting us borrow their car while they are away. I had no idea how much mayhem would ensue with a stay in a hospital. Now I know and I'm so grateful to all of our friends who love us and take care of us. It has been a whirlwind week and I can't wait for Jason to get home.

Hives Update

Ali's hives flared up again this afternoon so I brought her to the doctor. The doctor said it was probably a reaction to the Augmentin she was on for her ear infection. They gave Ali a cortisone shot. This was the first shot Ali has had in her rear end and it was not pleasant. She screamed for the entire injection which seemed like forever to me so I can only imagine how long it seemed to take for Ali. She cried and cried which is unheard of for Ali. I do not think she has ever cried for any shot. Now, of course, her bottom is sore from the shot but her her hives seem to be getting better. I have other medicine to give her and a cream to put on her so hopefully this will fix the problem and she can get a good nights sleep tonight.

Hives

On Friday afterschool I noiced Ali had about 10 mosquito bites on her legs. I thought this was odd and couldn't figure out when she would have gotten them. I chalked up to her sitting outside during recess. Jason and I went out to dinner and when we got home Ali was making noise in her bed so I went in to check on her. I felt her belly since she said it was itchy and there were welts all over it. I got the flashlight out (her room was dark and Sofia was sleeping) to check her and sure enough she had hives. What I thought had been a few mosquito bites turned out to be hives and had drastically increased in size and number. I gave her some claratin since we didn't have any children's benadryl. This seemed to help some but was still not great. In the morning I picked up some benadryl from a friend and gave that to her. That also helped a little but not as much as I would have expected. We have kept her on the antihistamines all weekend. Last night was defintely the worst. Her belly was one giant hive. She as so itchy and the antihistamine didn't seem to be doing anything. I finally decided that I would bring her to the doctor this morning but when I got back from my run and she was awake her hives were alredy going away. We sent her to schoool and told her teacher to call if the hives flared up again. I hope that they just go away. I have no idea why she got them since she hasn't had anything different to eat and her schedule has been the same so she hasn't been exposed to new bushes/leaves. I will just hope that this was a one time event.

Harvest Assembly and Bake Sale

Friday was the kid's school harvest assembly in the morning and the bake sale in the afternoon. The harvest assembly is a great time for the kids to learn more about giving and what it takes to grow food...kind of like the U.S. thanksgiving. The school collects food donations and gives it to a local charity. The kids get to sing songs about the harvest and the older kids get to have little skits acting out the harvest. It was fun to watch the assembly. Sofia was very excited about it and kept asking me if I was going to be there. It is the first time that she has really talked up any event. In the afternoon the PTA put on a bake sale. I got there early so I could help set up for the bake sale. Of course in my rush to get out the door I forgot to bring the cookies I had made for the bake sale. Oh well, Jason is happy there are plenty of cookies here for him to eat now. The school bake sales are really more than bake sales. There are games for the kids and face painting and coloring and a little stall selling little trinkets for the kids as well as fruit stalls and card stalls etc. It is a lot of fun to attend. The kids love eating the sweets but they also love having their faces painted. Here are a pictures of the girls during the harvest assembly as well as them with their friends after face painting.

Busy, Busy

This week has been very busy. I can't believe it is already the end of the day on Thursday!

Week in Reveiw:

I brought the girls to the doctor again to have their ears checked. As I've mentioned before, when you bring a sick child into the doctor here and they prescribe medicine they want to see the child again for a "control" check so they can ensure the child is better. This is a good thing since that way I know if the ear infections are gone but it is also a pain in the rear end. The girls control appointment was on Monday morning at 8am which means leaving our apartment by 7:30am. This was a bit of a struggle but we made it and I got the girls to school by 9:30. The girls still had ear infections on Monday so we just kept them on the antibiotics. Hopefully the infections are gone by the end of the week.

Since I am class representative for both of the girls classes I have been quite busy with school things. I have had to gather data and compile spreadsheets with parent contact information as well as organize birthday presents for teachers. This week I organized a coffee morning for each class. This is a time for the parents to get together in the parent room at school and have coffee/tea cookies etc and chat and get to know each other better. Sofia's class has 7 new kids in it so it was a great opportunity to get to chat with them, although not all of them came to the coffee morning. Ali's class has some moms that already have kids at the school but there are a lot of new faces. Since some kids get picked up at noon and some at three you don't always get to see everyone nevermind have time to talk so it was great to see everyone. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone over the course of the year. Two of the other moms and I are going to run together after drop off next week. I'm excited to find other moms who can run with me. It will be nice to make new friends and it will be a new expereince for me to run with others since I always run by myself.

On Wednesday I met friends at my italian restaurant to celebrate my birthday. It was nice to have friends to celebrate my birthday with as well as have lunch at my favorite restaurant. It has made my birthday into quite a celebration this year.

This morning I was finally able to get together with a friend that I haven't seen in a while. She has been busy building a new house and I have been so busy with the girls that our schedules just haven't matched up. Well, we finally made it happen this morning. It was nice to just hangout and have tea and cake with a friend. Since everything has been so busy this week I completely forgot Sofia had Czech lessons today until I picked her up from school and she reminded me. It's a good thing she remembers her schedule otherwise we would have completely missed her lesson. We rushed home to get her Czech book and I dropped her off at her lesson. I came home and baked some chocolate chip cookies for the school bakesale tomorrow. Now I have to prep my running stuff for tomorrow so I can get up early and run before bringing the girls to school. Jason usually brings the girls to school but I am going in tomorrow as well since the girls will be singing in the Harvest Assembly. Sofia is very excited about singing and keeps checking with me to make sure I'm going to be there so I can't miss it.

A nice birthday weekend

My birthday weekend was great. Jason brought home pad thai and spring rolls for dinner on Friday as well as cake and my birthday present. I had been saying that I wanted the new iphone but assumed I would not get it. Jason surprised me though when I opened my present and found an iphone. I was very excited. I'm not generally a gadget person but the iphone was so attractive to me. I would have my phone, music and calendar all in one place. I was only listening to my ipod when I ran and just never thought of bringing it with me else where. I often forget my calendar on my desk at home so I never know if I'm available to do things while I'm out. I did always have my phone with me so if I could have everything on my phone then I would always have it with me. On top of all that I liked the odea of having my phone as part of my music so that when I am running I have a phone with me. When I was only runing 3 miles it didn't feel like I needed it but now that I am running 9.5 miles I just feel better knowing that I could call someone if something happened. It also has maps on it so if I'm running and get lost I can check the map rather than stopping a farmer from tilling his field! Anway, it was a great present. Then I opened a present from Jason's parents which was two shirts which I desperatly need. Sofia was funny though. She said, "Why does mommy only have three things on her birthday and I get a lot?" I had to laugh.

Anway, on Saturday we decided to check out a creperie that we had just heard about. I called one of my friends to see if they wanted to come over in the afternoon to hang out and let the kids play. She said yes and that they could come to the creperie with us too. It was lot of fun and the kids (and I) really enjoyed the chocolate and whip cream crepes. We came back and just hung out at our apartment and filled ourselves with junk food. . . cheese and crackers, nachos, buffalo tenders and cake. It was a fun day.

After getting lost on my run on Friday I was itching to try it again. This morning I decided I would run the route in reverse so that it would be less likely to get lost. It was a great run! I will definitely keep that route in my running schedule. It was tough since there are some steep uphills but it is worth it to run through city, woods, farm and village.

All in all, a great weekend.

Birthday

Today is my birthday! For those who have already sent me birthday wishes, Thankyou! I love when people remember my birthday. I have a had a nice day so far. Jason took the girls to school this morning and I had a lesidurely morning mapping out my run. Then I headed out for my run. Since I had nothing to do I decided to try a new route today. I planned on running 9.5 miles but sometimes the best laid plans go awry. The thing with running is that you have to look at a map before you go and then remember the route. That can sometimes be tricky. I've fairly comfident in my ability to get home though so I just go for it. My run started out fine. the second to 6.5 miles were all up hill which was a bit difficult but it was an interesting run. I then somehow missed my turn and ended up lost. I asked a couple people and they would point me in a direction and would keep running. My last stop was a farmer. There was a farmer in a HUGE tractor like this one. He was tilling the land I guess...the tractor had something attached to it that looked like a giant rake. Anyway, he was on the edge of the field and I put my pointer finger up in they "you got a minute" sign. He gave me the nod and I jumped over the ditch between the road and the farm and asked him for directions. He gave a slight chuckle and gave me directions. It got me where I needed to be so I was happy. I continued on my run and found the park I was looking for but unfortunately I took the wrong path in the park. I ended up walking/hiking down a pretty steep rocky path and at that point decided to walk the rest of the way back to the tram. The park was peaceful and beautiful. Watson loved exploring and going in the stream next to the path. It was a nice run and being lost just added to the adventure.

More ear problems

This cold that Sofia and I have is a very strange cold. It has impacted us differently and I am pretty much all better. Sofia is still not better and is on antibiotics for her ear infections. Last night the cold struck again. Ali was up crying last night and saying her ear hurt. After dosing her with decongestant, motrin, tylenol and ear drops she was still crying and saying it hurt. She did finally fall asleep but it made for a very long night. This morning I packed the girls up and headed back to the doctor to have Ali's ears checked. Sure enough, Ali has ear infections as well. This is another oddity of this cold. Ali has never been susceptible to ear infections the way Sofia has. I think this might be her third ear infection in her life. I will happy when this cold leaves our home.

Sometimes things just go right...

Prague is introducing the "Open Card". This will be the new method used for the public transit system. You can also use it for paid parking and the library and in theory they will add more things to it over time. Since we don't have a car the parking doesn't matter to me and I don't go to the library here either but I do use the transit system every day so I new we needed to figure out what we were suppose to do to get the new Open Card. We had an added incentive to get it this month since they were offering a discount on the yearly transit ticket if you bought it during the month of September. Jason and I met up last week and went to the Open Card office and completed the application for the card. We were told it would take 10 days for it to be processed and sent to us via the mail. We were a little disappointed since that meant we would not be able to buy the transit ticket by the end of the month since you have to physically have the Open Card for the transit people to apply the yearly ticket to your card. Well, today I was surprised to see a note in my mailbox that I had two certified letters to pick up at the post office. I figured they had to be the open cards since who else would send us a certified letter? I went to the post office to pick them up but was told they were still out with the post lady and I could come back after three o' clock. I figured no big deal since I wouldn't be able to do anything with them before that time. On our way back home the post lady stopped me and asked me my name. I was a bit surprised since we were a few blocks away from our apartment but I guess we have a very recognizable dog. She pulled out the letters for me and had me sign them. I couldn't believe my luck! I was so happy not to have to go back to the post office. Jason ended up coming home early today since he had to pick up Ali from school. I didn't want to wake Sofia up to make the trip to get Ali since she wasn't feeling well. After he got home we decided I would head into town to try and get our yearly passes for the transit system since that way Jason could still do work from home. I brought both of our cards but had little hope that they would allow me to buy yearly tickets for both. I also brought my book with me since I thought I would be standing in line for hours. I dressed warmly as well since I thought it would be chilly in the metro station. I decided to check the one place not in a metro station to buy our tickets and I lucked out! It was in a nice clean warm building and I only had to wait 15 minutes and they let me purchase passes for me and Jason! It was just a whirlwind of success. Sometimes things just work out much better than expected.

Another ear infection

So, the adenoid removal was not the miracle I had hoped for. It did stop the snoring and Sofia does sleep much better and she can sleep on a flat bed which are wonderful things by themselves but I was hoping we would see the end of ear infections. I was wrong. The cold has rolled into Prague and has brought all the wonderful germs with it. Sofia and I have been sick for the last couple days. My illness was very minor compared to Sofia. The poor girl has ear infections in both ears and 103.9 fever. This is Sofia's second cold since adenoid removal and it is her second ear infection as well. So, while removing the adenoids took care of the constant ear infections it hasn't stopped the ear infections everytime a cold arrives. I guess it was too much to expect. Hopefully she will grow out of the ear infections soon. If she is like her parents though she is doomed for many more.

Oscar Returns

You may remember that I posted about Oscar here. Well, Oscar has made a return trip to our apartment. Ali is the first child this year to have Oscar for the weekend. She was very excited when I picked her up on Friday. After picking Ali up from her classroom we headed over to Sofia's classroom. Sofia was very excited to see Oscar as well. There were a few tears when Sofia realized it was Ali's turn to take care of Oscar but she soon got over it and was also excited to have Oscar at home. Yesterday we took Oscar for a bike ride. It was finally a nice day yesterday so we took advantage of it and spent some time outside. Oscar didn't have a very good nights sleep last night though since the kids were up a lot between complaints about ears hurting, coughing, dry throat, and peeing the bed. Today we are all just relaxing and watching movies. A low key weekend for us and for Oscar! Jason will have to write in Oscar's journal tonight about all the fun Oscar had this weekend. There is a little more pressure this year on our journal entry since it is the first one and will give those that follow us something to base their entry on.

School

The girls have been in school for a few weeks now. Both are very happy and love going to school. Ali had been going half days so that I could get her home to have a nap. Half way through last week as I was dragging Ali back and forth from school it occurred to me that I was making her travel for an hour and a half just so she could get an hour nap. It just didn't seem worth it and was really hard on her. I spoke with Ali's teacher to find out more about the rest period. (I never bothered to ask last year since Sofia hadn't napped since she was about 20 months old.) The kids get a 35 minute rest period where they have to lay down on their blanket the entire time and if they fall asleep during that time they will let them sleep for an hour. This sounded much better to me than dragging Ali 1.3miles to get almost the same amount of sleep. I signed her up for full days and she started today. Ali was very excited to stay the entire day. I think the thing she was most excited about though was having soup for lunch. I wasn't sure if she would like soup since she has never had any but I signed her up for the soup lunch. I'm glad I did because she apparently LOVED her soup. All in all everything went great for her. She had her soup and took a nap and didn't have to walk over a mile to do it. She was tired at the end of the day but was still very happy.

11 Years

No, that isn't how long we plan on staying here so don't worry. Eleven years is the number of years that Jason and I have been married. It is hard to believe that September 20, 1997 was 11 years ago. Time has definitely flown by. I guess it is true that time flies when you are having fun. We were laughing when we thought about the last eleven years and realized that in that time we have lived in five different places and owned 4 different cars. Life has changed a lot since we got married. We have gone from married with only ourselves to worry about to having two kids and one dog living in a small apartment in Europe. While that is a lot of change, a lot has still stayed the same. We still love each other. We still respect each other. We still enjoy a lot of the same things like skiing, hiking and reading. We still laugh, a LOT. I wouldn't change anything about the last 11 years. We have had a lot of fun while also learning more about each other. We are blessed to have found each other.

Let the Party's Begin

With both kids in school I'm sure we will have a lot of birthday parties to attend. I actually enjoy hese parties b/c it is a chance to see the kids playing together and it gives the parents a chance to chat. We went to our first birthday party of the year on Friday. A little boy in Ali's class, Nils, invited us to his party. His mom, Inge, is very nice and we have known each other since last year since Nil's brother is in Sofia's class. It was a nice party and Inge had invited all of the nursery class so that the parents could have a chance to get to know each other a little more. They live slightly out of town which, without a car, could have been a pain for us but luckily we caught a ride to the party with some friends. It is nice to have such a great community at the school. Anyway, it was a very great party in a nice house with some very friendly people.

Cold, Cold, Cold.....

It is so COLD here!!!! Where did the warm weather go? Has fall completely bypassed us? These are the questions I have been asking myself lately. I was hoping that Monday was a fluke and the weird rainy and low 40's (fahrenheit) weather was just going to be a one day event. Well, I was wrong b/c today, while not rainy, was still very cold. The high was only in the 40's again! I shouldn't be seeing my breath when I run in September. I should not be sitting in my apartment wearing a sweater AND a fleece. (I know I could turn the heat on but I refuse to do so in September.) Don't get me wrong, I'm all for cool fall weather but this is just a bit extreme. If you have seen fall somewhere please send it back to Prague.

Morning in Old Town Square

I love going to Old Town Square in the morning. It is so quiet and empty. I find it very peaceful. On Sunday morning before Graham left we met him in Old Town Square so we could have breakfast together. We got there a little before Graham did so we had a little time to enjoy the peace of the Square. Jason and Sofa hung out on a bench, Ali chased pigeons and I just looked around. It is nice to not have to worry about people around us or making sure the kids are within arms reach. It is always hard to believe the Square can be so empty when it is such a busy place during the day. On Sunday morning it was weird to think that the night before there were over 2,000 runners plus all the people here to watch the races.

Welcome Picnic

On Saturday the kids school had their Welcome Picnic. It is a nice time for everyone to get together and catch up with all the things that have happened since last year. Every family brings something to put on the buffet so there was quite a selection of things to eat from all over the world. Since Jason's brother was here this weekend he joined us for the picnic. The girls loved showing their Uncle their school. They also loved playing the games that were set up for the kids. I volunteered to work at the buffet table for 30 minutes since I'm getting more involved in the PTA this year. I wasn't sure what I was going to have to do since it seemed to be running itself but the 1/2 hour I chose ended up being the time we were switching over from main course to dessert so I was very busy moving the main course dishes to one end of the table, removing empty dishes and putting out new dishes with desserts. I had no idea I would be so busy but it made the time go by quickly. After visiting with a few friends and watching the girls play for a little bit we decided it was time to head home. Ali was exhausted and fell asleep in my arms on the walk home. I think we were all ready for a rest and enjoyed a quiet afternoon.

Tesco Grand Prix Race

Last night was the Tesco Grand Prix night races. I ran the 5K last year and had a great time. I ran faster than I thought I could and was thrilled. This year Jason and I decided we would both run. Jason would run the Men's 10K and I would run the Women's 5K. We had the added bonus that Jason's brother, Graham, was going to be in town and was going to run the 10K with Jason. Jason can now add another "never thought I would do that in my lifetime" to his list since who would of thought he would get to run a 10K in Prague with his brother. It just added another element of fun to the race. Graham is also a very good runner and I think having him there gave me a little extra push to go harder. Anyway, we all did great with our races. Jason and I both gave ourselves a realistic goal and a reach goal before the race and we both reached our reach goals! I ran the 5K in a 5min/km pace and finished the race in 24 minutes 59 seconds. That is 1 min 19 seconds faster than last year! I'm very happy to have finished so well and in the top 1/4 of the race. Jason also did great and finished his race in 47 minutes 42 seconds and in the top 1/2 of his race. (The men's race had almost twice the number of runners as the women's race.) It was fun to watch the races even if it was quite chilly last night. We all had a great time. After the races (about 10PM) we had dinner before coming home and going to bed. It was a great night!

Whole Wheat

Lately I have been watching what I eat and trying to be a little more healthy. I have also been trying to figure out ways to give the girls healthy snacks. I made zucchini muffins a few times which the girls love but I was concerned about all the sugar and oil in the muffins. It made me think about ways to make the muffins healthy. This has become my new obsession...making healthy treats. I have started using whole wheat flour to bake with and applesauce in stead of oil. Yesterday I made cookies with whole wheat flour, oats, no sugar and no oil. The applesauce replaced the oil and honey replaced the sugar. Now they are no chocolate chip cookie but they are still tastey and the kids still think of them as a treat so the recipe is a keeper. So if you know of any whole grain type dessert recipes that you like then feel free to pass them along.

Swimming Lessons

Jason and I wanted to sign the girls of swimming lessons this fall because we didn't want them to go the entire winter without swimming. We feared that not swimming for so long would set us back to square one. I started to look around for swimming lessons but most group lessons are in Czech and therefore not an option. I did find one group lesson but they wanted 4,500Kc per child for a 60 minute session and the group would have 5 kids in it. So basically each child gets 12 minutes of instruction since at this age they can't really do big group things in the water. We decided there was no way we were going to pay 9,000Kc ($530USD) for our kids to get a total of 3 hours of lessons each. That just seemed ridiculous to us. I decided that instead I would bring them to the pool every Tuesday after school and teach them myself. Today was our first trip to the pool. The lesson went surprisingly well. Sofia was swimming half way across the pool by herself. While the pool is not a large pool it was still nice to see her progressing with her swimming. Ali also did a good job. She isn't swimming by herself yet but she is very close. She loves jumping in off the side and swimming to me. I have to give her a slight lift to get a breath and then back under she goes and keeping swimming. If she could just figure out how to get her head back out of the water she would be all set.

Visit with friends

Today we had a very busy day. We went to the pool in the afternoon since it was a beautiful sunny day. The kids had a great time (as did we) and Sofia did a great job with her swimming. We left the pool at 2:30 so that we would have enough time to get home, shower, change, make a salad and dessert and be at the bus for 3:55 to go out to our friends house out of town. Our friends recently finished building a house just outside of Prague and this is the first time we had been to their house. They met us at the bus stop and we walked to their house. Their house was beautiful. I'm sure we will all be longing for a house and yard for the next few weeks. The kids loved playing in the yard. The sprinkler was set up and the kids just had some good old fashion sprinkler fun. We didn't have swim suits so the girls just played in the underwear and eventually were just naked. This is one of the things I love about living here is that kids can just be kids. They had a blast and it was fun to see there complete care-free play. At dinner, our friends had a small kiddie picnic table that the kids ate it in the middle of the yard. This was pure heaven for the girls. The kids also loved seeing all the airplanes that went by. Our friends live out towards the airport so there are a lot of planes that go by but surprisingly the noise is not loud. I did notice the airplanes but not because they were loud but becuase every time one went by either Ali or Sofia (and sometimes both) would yell, "airplane, airplane...look look." Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera today so I can't show you how much fun we all had. We finally had to leave since the girls were exhausted. We caught the bus home and Jason and I carried the sleeping girls home and put them in bed. Another great day had by all!

A Great First Week

Today was the end of the first week of school. The girls both did great adjusting to their new school schedules. We were a little concerned about Ali's adjustment to school but she did great. Today was the first day that I went to school with her in the morning. I was afraid that she would through a fit when I left her classroom but I was pleasantly surprised. After she took her jacket and shoes off (here people don't were shoes inside just slippers and that rule even goes for school) Ali immediately went to the table with the play-dough and sat down to play. I walked over and gave her a kiss and said bye. She said bye but didn't even look at me since she was too busy with her play-dough. It was nice to see that she is happy to be there without me, even if it means my baby is growing up. Jason and I have also adjusted to our new routine. We didn't miss any running days this week which is great. When schedules change it is hard to stick to our run routines. I have managed to have my Czech lesson at night, go shopping with a friend, attend a PTA meeting and clean the apartment. It is amazing what can be done in a couple hours without children around.
Jason and I were suppose to go to a dinner at a friend's flat tonight but we decided after our busy week that we just needed some alone time. We decided to go to our Italian restaurant. Again, I must say, this restaurant is fantastic. They always make us feel so welcome. There were a couple of things that stood out to us tonight. When we walked in the waitress (not his daughter but the other one) was going to bring us to a table at the back. The owner immediately stood up and asked us if we wanted to go back there or if we wanted the table at the front. We, of course, took the table at the front. It has taken us some time to build up to a table at the front. The tables are generally set with paper napkins but the owner came over and took our paper napkins and gave us real clothe napkins. Since our table is usually reserved for us (since the owner usually takes my reservation and knows who I am) we don't normally see the paper napkins. The other nice things that happened tonight was I was just able to order what I wanted which wasn't on the menu. Last week they had a huge trays of porcini mushrooms in the refrigerator case. I have been thinking about them all week. When we sat down today I looked over and they weren't there. I immediately turned to the owner and asked him where they were. He told me not to worry that they had more and I could have some. Phew, what a relief. My next dilemma was that they weren't on the menu so I didn't know what to ask for. The waitress came over to take our order and in my best Czech I asked her what they made with the porcini. She basically said whatever and offered some suggestions so I made my choice and sat back. I have never just ordered something that wasn't on the menu. It was fun. In between our appetizer and our meal the owner brought us over some chunks of cheese. This, of course, is not charged. It is just something that the owner gave us. The cheese was a excellent. At the end of our meal he again gave us free limoncello. It isn't that the extra things are free that makes this restaurant so nice but rather that he makes us feel like part of the family. It was the perfect dinner to finish off a busy week.

First Day of School

Sofia started back to school yesterday. She was very happy to be back in school. Jason dropped her off in the morning and he said he barely got a good-bye from her since she was so busy playing with her friends. Ali and I stayed home yesterday since her teachers were coming to our home for a visit. Even though Ali knows the teachers from picking up Sofia last year the school likes to come to every nursery child's home so that it will help ease the transition into school.
Today was Ali's first day of school. Jason brought her to school this morning. I would have liked to have gone as well but Ali has been very attched to me lately and we thought it would be better for her if Jason took her. We were right and Ali was very excited to be in nursery. She, like Sofia, barely gave Jason a good-bye since she was so excited to be there. She knows many of the kids in her class from being on the playground at pick-up time last year so there were many familiar faces for her. I'm glad that both kids have had a good start to the school year.

Running

I haven't posted about running in a while so I thought I would give an update. I'm still running 3 to 4 times a week. It is still a great release for me to be out by myself. Well, I still usually have Watson but since he can't talk to me it is like being by myself. I've begun to increase my mileage again to see if I have it in me to run the prague half marathon. I ran 7 miles today and while I was tired it still felt good so I will run this distance for a little while before I move up to 8 miles. Luckily I have plenty of time to increase my distance since the half marathon isn't until March. In the mean time, Jason and I have signed up for the night run in Prague on September 13th. I will run the women's 5K and Jason will run the men's 10K. Apparently women can sign up for the men's race but men are not allowed to run the women's race. I'm happy to run the women's race though and have no desire to run the men's race. In addition to being longer the men's race doesn't start until 9:30 at night. That is just way too late for me. The women's race is at 7:30pm which is late enought for me. I'm hoping to beat my time from last year but not sure if that will happen. I will post our results after the run.

Slugs

I know I have posted about the slugs and snails on the way to Sofia's school but I felt the slugs at the pool needed mentioning. There are slugs at the pool and they are enormous slugs. Sometimes they are on the edge of the pool or in the pool first thing in the morning. If I see them I just clean them out and throw them in the bushes. Today the slugs were especially friendly. The kids had pizza for lunch and left their crust on the plate. The plates were sitting on our blanket. I hadn't picked up the plates since I thought the kids might come back and eat the rest of the crust. To my surprise not only are the slugs at the pool big they are also very fast movers. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked down at the plate to see a slug on the crust! I had no idea slugs like pizza too. (This one was the shorter slugs of the pool variety but still fat. It must be all the pizza he eats.)

The Pool The Pool!!!!!

Our exciting news today is that the sun came out of hiding and it was warm! I was so excited that it was a pool day. I received a text message from my friend to see if we were going to the pool and I gave a happy YES!. She was a little concerned that it wasn't going to be warm enough but I wasn't about to be picky about my pool days when we have had so few. I was determined to go to the pool. I'm so glad we did becuase it was a perfect pool day. The sun was shining, the kids were playing nicely and the moms were able to chat in the sun. It was so nice. I'm hoping for another pool day tomorrow. Tomorrow will be our last chance for the pool during the week since the kids have orientation on Friday and then school starts on Monday for Sofia and Tuesday for Ali. It is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end.

The playground

Yesterday was a day for playgrounds. It was cloudy and cool so not a pool day. The girls and I went to the playground at Puskinovo in the morning. The girls love playing on the playground and in the sand. Since the area is small I can also tie Watson to the outside of the fence and he is still close enough to me that he doesn't whine and bark. So the upside for Watson is he gets to sit outside for quite a while. After playing in Puskinovo we headed home for lunch and nap. After nap I decided to bring the girls back outside. We went to the playground at Kafkova. This playground is becoming more fun for the girls since there are pull up bars and balance beams that they can really play with now. Ali is such a little monkey that she spent almost the entire time we were there climbing up the bars. I couldn't believe how long she was climbing for.

Hair Cut

Sofia has been asking me for a while if she could get her hair cut short. First it was like Anna's, then Elisabetta's, then Lucy's. I kept telling her no b/c her hair was very nice long. I was also afraid that if she cut it she wouldn't like it but then there would be nothing I could do about it. I finally decided that her hair is hers and it isn't something I want to dictate to her. With a little subtle hinting ..."No, I don't think it would look very nice if you cut it above your ears."... I brought Sofia to the salon today and let her get her hair cut. I asked her to show me how short she wanted it and I told the stylist. This is a picture of her new haircut.

Time with Friends

Prague has apparently decided to skip summer. I was hoping for some nice weather upon our return from Scotland but, alas, still no summer. The cool weather has given us the opportunity to spend some time with friends. On Saturday I went out for brunch with friends to celebrate my friend Laura's birthday. We went to a restaurant that I hadn't been to before which was nice and the food was good. After brunch a few us decided to hit a coupe of the shops in town. I lucked out and finally found a fall/spring coat. I have been looking for one for a while but I have a very hard time finding any that fit so I jumped at the chance to buy one when I actually fit me well. After shopping we headed home. I didn't want to end the fun there though so we invited our friends Phil & Shanna along with their children to come over for dinner. It is the first time we have ever had anyone over for dinner except family. We have always been hesitant to have people over since our apartment is so small but I'm glad we did it. We had space for everyone to eat and everyone had a good time. It was nice to sit and talk with Phil and Shanna since they have been away all summer. Sunday was a day of relaxing which was nice. Today Jason went back to work and the girls and I headed over to Shanna's house. Shanna had sent Clark on a play date with Owen so it was just a girls day. Two of Sofia's friends from school were also there so the girls had a great time playing with all their friends and I had a great time talking with Shanna.

Scotland Photos

To accompany Mary's great post about our Scotland trip I have uploaded our Scotland photos to our SmugMug site.

Since I was way behind I have also caught up by adding pictures from our July vacation in Spain as well as our day to day photos from this summer.

Scotland

I know some of you were wondering why I hadn't posted in a while and it was because we have been in Scotland. We had a great time in Scotland. This was our family get together vacation and Jason's family flew over from the States and we all met in Scotland.

The House: We rented a large house so that we could all stay together. I couldn't get a picture to capture the size of the house but here it is from the front. The house was perfect since it had two living rooms (one for the kids and one for adults), 7 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a large dining room and a large kitchen. We had plenty of space to spread out and with 6 kids running around plus a baby we made use of all the space. The yard was nice too. There was area for the kids to play and jump on the trampoline as well as woods to walk through and lochs to look at (We could have fished but the weather wasn't great and I really had no interest) . The kids enjoyed looking for little lizards and frogs. The house was really a terrific gathering place. The house caretaker is also a trained chef and cooked for us on some nights and on other nights someone would cook dinner for the family. The kids got to eat at the kids table in the kitchen. I remember being relegated to the kids table when I was little and it was so much fun and it didn't seem like things have changed since the kids seemed to have a blast having dinner. We fed the kids around 6pm so that by 8pm we were ready for our adult meal. It was great fun to gather around the dining room table. We don't get to be together as one group very often so when we do everyone has fun laughing, joking and telling stories. It was also nice to know on the nights we had Simon (the caretaker/chef) to make dinner we didn't have to do any dishes after the meal.

Hikes: There are plenty of hills to hike around in Scotland and they are all full of magnificent beauty as well as a LOT of sheep. I have never seen so many sheep in my life. Jason and I took turns hiking with Sofia since we didn't feel Ali was quite up to climbing up the big hills. The first hill we climbed was quite high and with all the heather it was not easy. Add in some steepness and poop avoidance it was a tiring walk. Sofia did amazing. She would have made it all the way to the top but since we were slower than everyone else they were coming back down again before we got to the top. Sofia asked to continue to the top but since everyone said it was very windy up top and I didn't want to press my luck I decided it would be better for us to head back down. Sofia was happy though to just be with her cousins so we started back down. It made me laugh at different times when Sofia would stop and say, "Isn't it beautiful mommy?". It was so precious and I am thrilled that she can see the beauty around her. Of course, she also noticed all the sheep poop around (since the sheep just roam the hills) and proceeded to take a picture of it. It was quite amusing. Jason took Sofia on her second hike. She again did a great job. She had fun watching her cousins run after the sheep on the mountain while they hiked.

Out and About: Our first day was spent at the house and grocery shopping. At the cheese shop the owner told us about a fish festival being held in Arbroath over the weekend. There was apparently a famous fish called the Arbroath Smokie which is a smoked haddock. It sounded interesting so we decided to head there the next day. The festival wasn't quite what I would think of as a fish festival but the Arbroath Smokie was very good. The kids loved playing in the grass and dancing around with their cousins. It was also just nice to be on the water. That thick salty air is just so nice and yes I am serious. It was interesting to watch the water over the time we were there b/c the sea was definitely picking up and by the time we left there was water splashing over the break wall. It would be interesting to see the water during a real storm. After leaving the festival we decided to go to Glamis Castle. It was an interesting castle and is the first place that we have gone to where the tour guide has told us the ghost stories and legends about the castle. It is fun to think about secret rooms and ghosts. There is an extra window on the outside of the castle that can't be accounted for on the inside and there is a legend that goes along with it about there being a secret room behind the wall. I couldn't help but think, if I were the owner of the castle the first thing I would do would be to drill a hole in the wall to see what is there. In any event it was a fun tour. We had great plans to go to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Inverness. The only one we made was Inverness. I really wanted to see the Highlands of Scotland so on the day we were going to go to Stirling we decided to skip that castle and head to the highlands. We had lunch in Inverness but decided we wanted to take the scenic route back through the mountains. It was a beautiful ride but 5 hours in the car for one day made us cancel plans to drive the 2 hours to Glasgow or the 2 hours to Edinburgh or the 2 hours to Stirling so the rest of the time we either spent at the house doing hikes and playing in the woods or exploring smaller towns close to our house. The ride up to Inverness was nice but we took the major highway (a two lane road) and so it wasn't as scenic or pleasant since we were driving at highway speed. Don't get me wrong we still ooowwwwed and ahhhhhed all the way up the highway. After having lunch in Inverness we decided to head for a castle. On the way to the castle we got side-tracked by a sign for Fort George. Jason was interested in it and it was going to be on the water so we headed that way. When we arrived we realized they wanted $26 per person to enter and it just wasn't worth that to us so we decided to continue home. Having navigated to Fort George though the TOMTOM gave us a new route to get home which sent us via Nairn. Nairn is right on the coast. When I am near an ocean I just need to touch it so when we saw the sign for the harbour we followed it and found a beach. Sofia and I rolled up our pants and took off our socks and shoes and went into the Moray Firth. It was a little chilly since the water temp is somewhere around 15 degrees (59 F) and it was windy and rainy when we went in but it was still fun. After that we headed home through the mountains which were absolutely stunning. We also went to Blair Castle. the girls enjoyed this castle and pretended it was theirs. This was the only castle we have been to that we weren't required to be on a tour. This is ideal for us with kids b/c we just want to walk through and the kids don't want to hear some long winded explanation. They had a lot of fun telling us that this was their bed and this is where they have tea with their friends and that this bed was their prince's bed etc etc. It was very cute. This is a picture of the girls standing in "their garden" at Blair Castle.

The Animals: I couldn't leave this post without adding some of the pictures of the animals we saw this past week. The sheep were so cute but I think my favorite is the Highland Cow.




The Car: This was the first time that Jason and I have ever driven on the "other" side if the road. It was very different but once you get use to it then it is fine. The only unnerving thing is that the roads are so narrow. Many roads are single track, windy, hilly roads and people drive fast or at least it seems fast when there is barely enough space to pass even when it is a two lane road. The nice thing is that there are spaces to pull over periodically so we utilized those spaces to stop to take pictures of sheeps, highland cows, and the beautiful countryside.

Now we are back in Prague and hoping that we will have some nice weather to finish out the summer. We will have the pictures from Scotland posted soon.

Control, Control, Control...

Control....that is what I had to keep telling myself when I walked into the shop at Red, Hot & Blues. It was all I could do to not spend a fortune. Red, Hot & Blues is a restaurant in town that also has a little store connected to it. The little store sells American products like, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Betty Crocker cake mix, frosting, Jiff, Crisco, Pam, Toll House chocolate chips, pop tarts....basically all things that are bad for you but taste ohhhhh sooooo goood! My big excitement though was diet rootbeer. I know, it doesn't sounds like much but you can't get rootbeer here. Most Czech's have probably never even heard of rootbeer so to be able to get DIET rootbeer is amazing. The only two sodas that I drink are diet Sprite and diet rootbeer and since you can't get either one here I was very excited by my find. My second excitement was marshmallows. Again, I know it doens't sound exciting but the other day I wanted to make rice krispie treats but my hopes were dashed when I realized I would never find marshmallows here You can imagine my excitement when I saw the object of my desire. The man at the counter laughed at my gasp upon seeing the marshmallows. I finally gained control over my desires and made it out of the shop with my diet rootbeer, marshmallows and triscuits at the exorbitant cost of $56USD. As I sit here and drink my diet rootbeer it is well worth the cost to splurge every now and then.

Czech School

This week the girls are going to Czech school (Czech language school). I'm excited for them to learn more Czech. It is not necessarily that I think they need to learn Czech since they will probably never use it when we leave the Czech Republic but learning a language at this age will, I hope, make it easier for them to learn languages in the future. Our babysitter's daughter runs a language school that teaches Czech, English, and German so the girls already know one of their teachers which makes it easier for them. They are excited to go to Czech school every day. I'm hoping that they can keep attending Czech lessons after school when school starts in the fall. This week also gives me a taste of what life will be like in the fall when both kids are in school. It is amazing how much more I can get done and how much less stressful it is to do things without dragging the kids along with me. Today I went and had my haircut and my eyebrows done and it was so nice to not have to worry about picking the kids up from Jason who needs to get to work. I have time to take Watson out for his mid-day walk without the kids complaining every step of the way. It was nice.

House of Friends

We have had a pretty slow week this week given Sofia's ear infections. We hit a couple playgrounds during the week which was nice. Sofia's ears are much better since we started the medicine so on Friday we had a house full of friends. My friend Laura and her son Owen came over to play as well as Sofia's friends Vivianna and Michelle from school. I realized during this playdate that Sofia and Ali are much louder than Vivianna and Michelle (they are sisters as well). The kids had a lot of fun playing together..drawing, dress up, stuffed animals and movies. A good time had by all.

Ear Infections...

Sofia has been complaining for the last couple days about her ears. At first I thought she had an ear infection but then it only seemed she complained about them when she was in trouble so I thought maybe she was not telling the truth. She kept throwing me curve balls though since on Monday she took a nap for one hour and forty-five minutes which is unheard of for Sofia. Last night she had a major meltdown and I asked her if she wanted to skip dinner and go to bed since she seemed tired and to my surprise she said yes. She was asleep by 6:15 and slept until this morning. She told me she felt fine this morning but I could tell she wasn't since she would have a crying fit over the smallest things. I decided that she must be telling the truth about her ears and I called our doctor but she couldn't see Sofia until tomorrow so this afternoon I decided to take Sofia to a different doctor. So, even with the removal of her adenoids, Sofia is still susceptible to ear infections. She has infections in both ears. She will take an antibiotic, ear drops, nose drops, plus her allergy medicine. I hope this is an isolated ear infection and doesn't mean she will have a lot this winter.

Back to the playgrounds

When we first moved here the girls and I spent a lot of time at the many playgrounds around our apartment. Since the summer heat is not in Prague this summer we haven't been to the pool a lot. I have been fighting the lack of summer and have been in denial. I have finally accepted that this summer is going to be more fall-like than summer-like and the last couple of days the girls and I have returned to the playgrounds. During the school year the girls would just play on the school playground after pickup so there wasn't a need to go to the local playgrounds. It is nice to go back to the playgrounds now. The weather is perfect for sitting at the playground and the girls are old enough now that I can read my book. After the playground this morning we had lunch at the baguette shop at the end of our street and enjoyed sitting outside with our lunch. I'm not minding the weather this week also since Sofia is sick and we can't go to the pool anyway.

Liberec

On Sunday we decided to drive to Liberec. We thought it would be a nice way to combine sight seeing with fun for the girls since there is an Aquapark in Liberec. The townhall is a stunning building but most of the town was not that exciting. The girls seemed tired so after walking over to the castle (which was not impressive) we decided to get in the car and drive over to the botanical garden rather than walk. The botanical garden was fun. The girls love seeing all the flowers and plants. We paid for an hour of parking since we thought that would be enough time to see everything. We did leave at the end of the hour but we definitely could have spent more time in the gardens. After that we headed to the Aquapark. The Aquapark was ok but I think we have been ruined for other parks becuase of Aqua Palace. Babylon Aquapark was much more compact and it was very crowded when we arrived. They do have these cool caves that you can swim into though and those weren't as crowded so we stayed in there for quite awhile and let the girls swim around. At some spots in the caves there were fake stalactites. Ali did not like them and kept saying they were scary monsters so we had to make sure we were in a part of the caves that did not have any stalactites overhead. After a while we decided to check out the slides. The kids (and Jason and I) loved the slides. The kids had to go down the slides on our laps but they didn't mind. Sofia would go down the slides with Jason and Ali would go with me. Sofia gets a little more nervous and likes to have both of Jason's arms wrapped around her and if she has that then she has a lot of fun and doesn't find it too scary. Since I like to have a hand free to stabalize us if I need to Sofia prefers to be with Jason. Jason checked out a couple of other slides that he deemed not good for kids so we just kept going down the big yellow slide. By 6pm we decided it was time to go since it was about an hour and a half drive to get home. All in all a good day.

BBQ

On Saturday one of the people that works with Jason had a BBQ. The weather was a little questionable but the BBQ wasn't canceled and Sofia was very excited to meet Daddy's friends from work so off we went. The house was just outside Prague and we could have taken public transportation but it would have taken quite a while so it was nice to just hop in the car and go. The area the house was in was very cute. One of the things I love about going just outside of Prague is that the houses will all be clustered together and around them will be giant fields. It just seems so peaceful to me. Anyway, it started to rain just after we got there so everything was moved inside but twenty minutes later the rain stopped and the sun was shining so we moved everything back outside. The food was very tasty. I never realized how much I love BBQ food. A hotdog just tastes so much better on the BBQ. The girls had fun playing in the yard and playing with "daddy's friends". We had fun eating and talking with friends. It was a very nice BBQ.

Pool!!

YAY!!! Today was finally nice and we went to the pool. This summer has had a limited number of pool days so I was very excited this morning when it was sunny out and we had no other plans for the day. We got to the pool at 9:30am and enjoyed out time at the kiddie pool before it got crowded. We spent the last half hour at the pool in the big pool. The kids love the big pool now so we spend more time there than we used to. I was happy to be in the big pool today as well since it is really hot here.

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.