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.

Cannonball!!

My children gave me the "good job, mommy" in passing yesterday but my accomplishments didn't compare to the fun they had with their friends.  Lucky for me I have some great friends because with Jason in the States and both of our babysitters unavailable all my training for the race could have been out the window if I didn't have friends to step in and help.  Our friends, Hanley and Vanessa, immediately offered to watch the girls.  My friend Beanie's husband, Guy, also offered to take the kids.  I didn't want to overlaod anyone with kids since Vanessa and Hanley have 4 of their own and Guy and Beanie have 3 as well.  It worked out perfectly and Vanessa and Hanley hosted everyone at their house.  The girls were thrilled to be with all their friends.  Guy and Hanley offered to bring the kids down to the race when we would be close to the finish but as it turned out none of the kids (except Beanie's youngest who had no choice) wanted to come see us finish.  I wasn't surprised that my girls didn't make it down to the race.  When pitted aginst an indoor heated swimming pool, a trampoline, wii and good friends I know that I ranked pretty low.  The kids are still talking about all the fun they had at Louis and Sophia's house (Vanessa and Hanley's kids).  Louis even taught Sofia how to do a cannonball.  She had been talking about Louis' cannonballs before we went to their house so now that she knows how to do them she is pretending all her animals are doing cannonballs all over the house.  I'm happy they had so much fun and I'm glad that I have friends that will take my kids without my even asking and will treat them as one of their own.

Prague Half Marathon

Yesterday was the Prague Half Marathon. I am very happy with my race this year.  My goal was to beat my time from last year of 1:59:43 with a target of 1:57 and I'm proud to say I did it in 1:57:48!!!  I also kept my pace very even this year which was another focus for me.  Last year my split times were all over the place but this year I was fairly consistent and even able to run negative splits except for between the five and ten kilometer when my split time was a little faster. 

The training for the half this year was more difficult than last year since we had such cold weather and so much snow but it was made easier since I was training with friends.  My friend Beanie and I started our training together in January (even though we run together all year we actually had a structured training plan in place starting in Jaunary).  Our friend Pernille joined us a little later in the training since her training partner had to stop training.  We spent many hours together out in the cold and getting our bodies ready for the race.  This was their first half marathon and despite getting colds the week before the race and myself getting the stomach bug we all did really well.  I'm very proud of our running team!  I can't wait to run with my friends again in a less structured more social way.  There is nothing like having a good chat while we excercise.

This year the race was absolutely packed. There were 8,447 runners registered to run this year. That is about 2,000 more runners than last year. It felt like it too. I was never in a place by myself and was constantly moving around people and having people move around me.  It was still a good race though.  The temperature was 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees F).  It was mostly cloudy with sun peaking through at times and no rain.  The forecast had been calling for rain so I'm glad it held off until after the race.  Given how hot I was last year in the race I decided to just be cold at the start this year and I wore 3/4 length pants, short sleeve shirt and a visor so I could let the heat escape from my head.  It was perfect. I was still a little hot but that is to be expected when running 13.1 miles.  (I had already changed out of my sweaty clothes before the picture above and put on my regular hat since once I stopped running 10 degrees felt quite chilly!) My breakfast of egg and toast followed by a banana worked out well and I had no stomach problems during the race.  I had a slight twinge at about mile 11 but at that point I had a lot of twinges all over!  I drank some water and that seemed to settled my stomach back down.  Figuring out what to eat before the race is difficult since I usually have food and then run an hour later but with the race not starting until noon I needed to have a completely different routine.  I'm glad it all worked out.  Running the half is similar to child birth I think in that when you finish it is a relief and you think, "I'll never do that again!" but a year later you find yourself back on the start line!  Somehow over the course of eight months your mind forgets how difficult the race is so that by January you find yourself signing up again and starting training.  At this point I am still thinking that I'm done with the Prague Half Marathon but I won't rule it out until next year comes around.

Sadness

Jason left this morning for the States.  We got the call yesterday that his Dad was not doing well and that Jason should come home as soon as possible.  We rushed around to find a flight to get back to the States but the earliest flight we could get was this morning, departing out of Prague at 8am arriving in Boston at 4pm Boston time.  Unfortunately it wasn't fast enough.  Jason's dad passed away last night (prague time).  Please keep Jason and our family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.  We all have a lot of fond memories of Didon (our affectionate name for his dad) and I hope that we can remember these funny stories and celebrate his life during our sadness.

Obituary from Adams-McFarlane Funeral Home:

Jonathan Richard Luce (1938-2010)

Jonathan Richard Luce, a resident of Farmington, Maine for most of his life, passed away on Monday, March 22, 2010 at Franklin Memorial Hospital after a long illness.

Born in Farmington in 1938, Jon was a descendant through his mother, Rachel Norton Luce, as well as his father, C. Richard Luce, of two of the original founding families of the Farmington area. 

Jon attended both Farmington High and Kents Hill School, from which he graduated in 1956.

After serving in the U.S. Army, based in France, he graduated from University of Maine at Orono and then the University of Maine Law School.

On returning to Farmington after law school, Jon founded a law practice on Main Street. His law office was one of the most diversified and successful practices in Franklin County. Jon also found time to serve part-time as County Clerk of Courts from 1968 to 1970. From 1971 through 1974, he served as County Attorney for Franklin County, the last before institution of the full time District Attorney system.

Throughout the 1970's and into the early 1980's, Jon was legal counsel for the Town of Farmington, where he also served on a number of its committees including as Chair of the Farmington Budget Committee. In the early 1990's, Jon served on the Farmington Board of Selectman, including a year as its Chair. He also owned the Colonial Valley Motel on the Wilton Road.

Jon was actively involved with the local Lions Club, the Elks and the Masonic Lodge, as well as the Volunteer Fire Department of West Farmington.

In earlier years, Jon was an avid skier, golfer and tennis player, but his lifelong passion was boating. From a childhood spent at his parents' summer cottage on Boothbay Harbor to a succession of sailboats and powerboats he owned and enjoyed with his family throughout his adult life, Jon was never happier than when enjoying the ocean with his family. When not actively boating, Jon enjoyed reading about boats and boat design, and planning future cruises.

Jonathan's family and friends will remember him for his energy, love of life, and irreverent sense of humor.

Jon is survived by his beloved wife, Barbara, six children and step-children, and twelve grand-children as well as a sister, Suzanne Twitchell. Additionally, he was predeceased by his brothers Roger and G. Norton Luce.

A memorial service will be held at the West Farmington Elks at 126 School Street on Friday, March 26 from 4pm to 7pm. Donations in Jonathan's memory may be made to Franklin County Animal Shelter, 550 Industry Road, Farmington 04938. Arrangements under the direction of Adams~McFarlane Funeral & Cremation Services, 108 Court St., Farmington.

Easter Egg hunt

This past Saturday was the annual school Easter Egg Hunt.  The kids really enjoy the easter egg hunt and look forward to it every year.  This year, I think, was the most difficult yet.  The teachers head off into the woods with the chocolate and the kids have to find each of the eight locations.  Once they find the teacher they have to answer a question and if they get the question correct then they get a few pieces of chocolate.  This year the teachers were really spread out and after hunting in the woods for an hour we gave up and headed back to the picnic area having found only six of the eight locations.  The kids were fine with this since they had gotten about three pieces of chocolate at each of  the six stations we found plus the bunny rabbit (Sofia's teacher in costume).  Their bags had plenty of chocolate and they were hungry for lunch.  The picnic was nice but very windy and I was tired (as per my previous post the stomach bug was settling in on me.)  After walking for so long Ali was also tired so we headed home with tummys full of food and bags filled with chocolate.  Another successful easter egg hunt!

Stomach Virus

The dreaded stomach virus has run through our family.  Ali started off the virus last Wednesday night and into Thursday.  We were surprised that it went through her so fast and we were happy that noone else got it.  We rejoiced to quickly though since on Saturday afternoon I came down with it, quickly followed by Jason on Sunday morning and Sofia by Sunday night.  At this point I am hoping it is the same strain as Ali's stomach bug so that she won't get sick again.  In any event we are using hand sanitizer a lot and trying to keep the germs to a minimum.

Return to Coffee

For Christmas I bought Jason this Nespresso Machine.   Since the only coffee maker he has had to use since we have lived in Prague is a French Press I figured it was time to get a real coffee machine.  I wanted to make sure I got him something he wanted so we discussed the options before Christmas.  He decided that he wanted a nespresso machine since it had really good reviews and was simple to use thereby allowing for week day morning coffees.  We made the trip to Dresden to buy the machine since it is significantly cheaper across the border.  Now, I have not been a coffee drinker since before Sofia was born so this really was a gift for Jason's use.  The nespresso coffee smells so good though that I started to have sips and before I knew it I had to admit that I am back on coffee.  My tastes have changed signifcantly though from when I used to drink coffee.  I don't like normal American style coffee (as would be made in a french press or drip coffee maker) but rather now I prefer an espresso or a cappucino.  I am surprised by this since the strong taste of espresso and cappucino was something I really did not like when I did drink coffee.  I find though that even the "lungo" type of coffee for the nespresso machines, which is a full size cup of coffee, still has that strong, creamy thickness of the espresso. In the end a gift to Jason has now become something that I can also greatly enjoy.  So for anyone looking into new coffee machines I highly recommend the Nespresso coffee machines.

Exclusive Club

Sofia and I have started an exclusive club here in Prague.  It is unusual to become a member and slightly painful.  It is the "Large objects falling on you Club".  As I'm sure many  of you remember a couple years ago our kitchen cabinets fell off the wall onto me so I was the first member of this exclusive club.  I was hoping I would be the only member but unfortunately Sofia joined this club yesterday when the lockers in the pool locker room fell on her.  I will start off by saying that she is fine.  It was a bit shocking.  I had just finished getting her changed for swimming and turned my back to put our things in our locker when a locker from the other wall fell over and onto Sofia.  I'm not sure how the locker fell over but it hadn't been secured to the wall in any way so I'm not sure if there was a breeze or a slight shake that sent it falling. I am assuming the doors to the lockers were open which probably contributed to the fall as it tips the balance of gravity.  Since the doors were open though by some miracle Sofia actually ended up inside the locker rather than completely under it.  She has a few bruises on her legs and a sore knee as well as a bruise on her forehead but overall she is surprisingly fine.  My heart was in my throat when it happened.  I pulled her out immediately and checked her over.  Jason came to swimming for the first time yesterday so I ran into the mens locker room to get him.  I'm sure the men in there thought I was crazy but I didn't care.  My entire body was shaking and I was completely enraged.  I went out to the front desk and yelled at the lady in half Czech/ half English to get someone to come to the locker room.  They came and said "they must have been playing with the locker" since it wouldn't fall by itself.  I couldn't believe they would actually blame a six year old for lockers falling on them.  Luckily there were people in the locker room that spoke czech and stood up for us.  As Sofia ended up inside what would have been the top of the locker had it been upright, their theory wasn't even possible.  Sofia's friend Michelle also got bumped on the head from it but is fine and my friend Kelly also got hit by it and has her own bruises and sore body today.  I will now be placing the children in a location that is protected from falling lockers whenever we go to swimming.  I did see the benefit though to me being the initial member to our club.  I think it made this expereince a little easier for Sofia.  After I pulled her out of the locker and saw she was ok she said, "it wasn't as bad as yours mommy."  I had to agree with her that mine ended up with more bumps and bruises but what I didn't say was that emotionally this experience was much worse.  I would take the cabinets falling on me all over again if I could have avoided the locker falling on Sofia.

Spring, running and swimming

Things have been plodding along here.  The weather is still bad and spring has definitely not sprung yet but I have hope.  The weather forecast is calling for a warmup by Thursday.  I've already started Spring Cleaning in anticpation of the the warmer weather.  I finally bought some frames for pictures and also managed to pick up a couple decorations for Easter.  The windows are next on my list of things to clean so that I will be able to see the bright spring sunshine when it does arrive!

My half marathon training is still continuing.  This year I am training with friends which is nice since I don't have to go out in the freezing cold wind and snow alone.  Unfortunately, last week my achillies started to hurt after an 8 mile run in hills and snow so I'm hoping that it will feel better by the time the race comes.  Luckily all my long runs are completed now until the day of the race.  The training this year has been a bit of a drag since the weather has been so awful so I am looking forward to the race being completed and taking some time off.  It will be nice to just enjoy going for runs again rather than worrying about my pace and if I have done enough distance in a week.  Spring is also a great time for running and more of my friends will join in for runs when the weather is nicer.  It is always fun to mix socializing with excercise.

Sofia is making great strides in her swimming.  Her coach has her working on her stroke which is at times funny to watch and at times frustrating.  She manages well at first but then her kickboard ends on on top of her head while her other arm is completing the stroke.  When her coach is watching her he can correct it but he is often times busy with the other children in her class.  I never know if I should step in to correct her or just let it be.  One of the things that is interesting about lessons in Czech is that typically parents are not in the room while the lessons are taking place regardless if it is swimming, gymnastics, etc.  So I walk the line between correcting the kids and not being the crazy american mother.  I also know that for Sofia my corrections can easily be the catapult to a breakdown so sometimes I correct her becuase I just can't help myself and other times I let it go.  Anyway, she has been doing really well and last week she made a big break through and started to go in for dive sticks.  She tried a couple times last summer in our pool but was really too afraid to do it.  Even having her little sister getting the dive sticks wasn't enough incentive to get her down to the bottom of the pool.  This last week though at swimming lessons she finally did it and kept doing it.  She was so proud of herself and even came over to me to tell me about it.  She did it one more time just for me before her coach moved her on to something else.  She is finally getting more comfortable in the water and less afraid.  Her confidence is growing which is great to see.  She has asked me to take a video of her this week so I will post it after her lesson on Wednesday.

VZP - A master of complexity

Just when I thought I had the hospital all figured out I was thrown for a loop today.  Apparently as of March 1st our insurance company (VZP) has changed their rules for visits to the doctor.  Previously my visits to the hospital ear, nose and throat, (or ORL in Czech) went like this:

Step 1: Arrive at the hopsital and find a parking space.  This is more complex than it sounds since the parking is extremely limited and therefore often requires a longer walk from a distant parking lot.  If I'm lucky I get a spot close to the building.

Step 2:  Go to the Detske Poliklinika kartoteka (children's hospital check in) and take a number.  Once the number comes up, I go to the appropriate window and present the insurance card for whichever child is seeing the doctor and tell them ORL which, in turn, they correct my pronounciation with a loud Oh R(rolled r) Le.  They then go and find the file and tell me with five fingers held up "patek".  To which I respond with a smile and Dekuji (thankyou) and head to the elevator.

Step 3:  Arrive at the fifth floor and check in the with the nurses (Sestra).  The nurses only speak Czech so I fumble through with my hospital czech and then they ask me if I checked in downstairs.  I tell them yes and they tell me to sit down.

Step 4:  Wait, Wait, Wait (this step is occassionally short but it is highly unlikely)

Step 5:  See the doctor

Step 6: leave the hospital

Well, with the new VZP rules I need to add a few steps to the above.  I will list them below:

Step Pre-1:  Call VZP before the visit to the hospital to ensure coverage for the visit. (Even though I have an insurance card that says I have coverage through November 2010!)

Step 1: as above

Step 1A:  Go to the Foreigners desk, fill out a form and take the form with me to the Detske Poliklinka to check in

Step 2, 3, 4, 5: As above

Step 5A:  Bring completed form and doctor writeup back to the foreigners desk

Step 6: As above

I found this change today when I took the kids to their doctor appointment.  I had to call VZP while sitting at the foreginers reception.  (After figuring out in broken CZech that the lady at the poliklinika check-in was telling me to go to the foreginers desk.) The man from VZP told me that it makes the process easier and better for the hospital and for VZP to which I responded, "but it makes it more difficult for your clients!"  He told me he understood (of course) but this was the new way things were to be done.  There was obviously nothing I was going to say to change it so I just got off the phone with my approval for the visit.  The woman at the desk that was helping me told me that they do not like the new procedure either since it makes a lot more work for them.  They were happy when they didn't ever know I was in the hopsital.  I had to laugh since basically that meant the new process only makes it easier for VZP itself.  I have to question that as well since it means people will be calling VZP all the time creating yet more work for VZP.  The extra work created all around by this new procedure is astounding!  Oh well, here is to hoping that I won't need the new procedure again for another month.

Birthday Party

Today we had Sofia's birthday party at Beckiland, a local indoor play place.  With so many friends from in school and out of school we decided we needed to limit who we invited to the party this year since we were having it at Beckiland.  We wanted to limit our costs but also we needed to limit how many kids Jason and I could watch by ourselves since we were having it as a drop off party.  We decided that we would limit the party to all the girls in the year one class from school and their sisters.  Some girls couldn't make it and so we ended up with nine girls which made for an easy party.  The girls all get along so well that there really wasn't much for Jason and I to do except walk around keeping an eye on everyone.  We both found the trampolines irristible so we enjoyed playing on them with the girls.  The kids all found this hilarious since, given our weight difference, the kids were able to bounce much higher.  The two hours were over very quickly and before we knew it it was time for all the children to leave.  It was a successful party...no tears, no fights, fun food (nuggets, fries and ice cream cake), and kids having a blast.  Happy Birthday Sofia!

Happy 6th Birthday Sofia!!

Today is Sofia's sixth birthday.  I can't believe she is six years old.  It doesn't seem possible that six years have passed.  She has been eagerly awaiting her birthday.  This morning we started off with opening presents before we did anything else.  This of course made us rush around to get to school on time but well worth it.  I made a cake for Sofia today and brought it into school so that we could have a party for her in her classroom.  She was excited to have the disney princess tableclothe and napkins and little mermaid plates.  I know they don't match but I figured they were all part of the disney family and she was happy to have them.  I was going to make cupcakes for the class party but she specifically requested a cake and wanted me to decorate it.  Today I had to run out to buy the decorating kit since my frosting decorating kit somehow lost a piece which was unfortuntaly a critical piece.  I was happy when I was able to find what I needed in the first store I went to.  Anyway, I finished decorating and the cake was a big hit in her class.  After school Sofia had her Czech lesson but we pulled her out a little early to go out for a birthday dinner.  We joined some friends for dinner (the same ones we went to Austria with) since our friend, Kelly, also has her birthday today.  Sofia lucked out with sharing her birthday with Kelly since she was able to have more cake at dinner since Kelly and Michal brought a gorgeous cake topped with Strawberries to the restaurant for Kelly.  We stll have Sofia's actual bithday party on Sunday which she is looking forward to.  I will post more about that after the party.

Doctor advice

Sometimes, in my many trips to the doctor, I think, "the medical care here is pretty good.".  Then there are days like yesterday.  I brought Sofia in to the doctor because her ear was still hurting.  We were not able to see her regular doctor but I didn't care.  I just wanted someone to look in her ear and tell me if it had another infection.  The doctor we saw was very nice and spoke some English which is a bonus.  I did have to question her doctoring though when she asked me, "have you been in the mountains?".  I answered yes and she nodded her head and said, "yes that is why she has the pain.  It is negative pressure and the clean air.  She will be fine just keep her home for four days and do not go outside with her and if you have to go out then don't let her go out in the sun."  I smiled and nodded and we headed on our way.  Once we were outside and the sun was shining (which is remarkable in itself), Sofia said oh no I can't go in the sun.  So I proceeded to tell her that it was fine if she went in the sun.  Then had to continue with explaining that mommy and daddy decide if we will follow the doctors advice or not and that some doctors are behind the times in medicine.  I'm not sure if she believed me or got tired of my ramblings but she let it go and didn't question her ability to be out in the sun.

Spring?

The weather has been very spring-like lately.  It is a nice change from the cold snow we have had all winter.  I was even happy to see rain this week as it meant it was warm enough to not be snowing and it was melting the snow on the ground.  Yesterday the sun was shining and I headed outside with only a vest.  Since we have been so busy Jason and I had been looking forward to an easy relaxing weekend but with the sun shining I had a hard time relaxing.  I kept feeling like I should be outside doing something to enjoy the beautiful weather.  Fortunately i have a good friend, Emily, who lives close by who called me to go for a walk.  It was great idea as it gave me something to do that was also very relaxing.  I headed out for a a few mile walk with my friend.  It was nice to be able to walk through the woods in the sunshine and just chat.  Since the weather was so nice we decided to head back to our house and have a cup of coffee while sitting on the patio.  It gives me hope for the coming spring and summer and all the fun we will have in our yard this year.  While Emily and I were chatting, Jason decided the day was too beautiful to waste too and he took the girls and Watson on a walk in the woods as well.  I dropped Emily off at home and headed to the grocery store to pick up a couple things I needed to make sushi.  When I got home I found Jason cutting limbs off a tree in our backyard.  I guess he was seeing the enjoyment of spring and summer in our future as well and wanted to clear a few branches from our view of the surrounding area that we have from our patio.

Ear Tubes

Last week we went to the doctor for Ali's control visit and Sofia's monthy ear tube check up.  Ali has had multiple ear infections lately and has now had about 8 ear infections over her life.  I knew the appointment was not going to be a simple control visit since she had been sick while we were in Austria.  I was right.  Ali apparently has a sinus infection.  She is now on antibiotics again.  The doctor told me that once this was cleared up we would need to discuss/schedule tubes for Ali.  We will see how that goes when we go to the doctor at her next control appointment.  The doctor then checked Sofia and I was surprised to learn that the tube in her right ear had already expelled itself from her eardrum and was just sitting in her ear canal.  The doctor removed the tube and check both ears and said they were both doing great and her ear drum fuction was very good.  On one hand I was happy for the expulsion since it meant I didn't have to worry about that ear for swimming or bathing.  On the other hand I am a little worried that it happened too fast and the ear infections will start again.  Last night Sofia came in our room in the middle of the night complaining of ear pain in her right ear.  I gave her some ibuprofen and she went back to sleep.  I'm waiting for the medicine to wear off this morning so I can see if her pain comes back.  If it does then off to the doctor we go again.

China

China? No we aren't going to China.  "China" was Ali's answer to her teacher's question, "Where were you born?".  She also continued to tell her that she used to have two dalmations but they died and that she does not have a dog now.  We know Ali lives in her own world a lot of the time and she randomly makes things up but I must admit I was a little surprised by this.  I usually just let Ali's imagination run wherever it take her but I decided to question her on this one since I wanted to make sure she knew where she was from.  So, Ali said she couldn't remember where she was born so we discussed that and now she knows and as far as the dogs go she said she was just joking.  So the upside is I think she knows that she is just making things up since at times we wondered if she even differentiated between fantasy and reality.

Austria

The girls had school break last week and we headed to Saalbach, Austria for a week of skiing with friends, Kelly and Michal and their two girls, Vivi and Michelle.  The trip started out as most trips.....mommy, my ear hurts...but this time it came from Ali instead of Sofia.  We debated taking Ali to to the doctor but in the end we decided that it wouldn't be worth it to go to the doctor since her ear hadn't been hurting long enough for the doctors to do anything about it if it was in fact becoming a true ear infection.  Once we mentioned the doctor, Ali decided that her ear was fine as well so we packed up the car and headed to Austria.  The drive was suppose to be five and a half hours but since it is school break week for the Germans, Dutch and Austrians the trip took us nine hours.  Luckily the kids travel well in the car so the journey wasn't too painful.  Once we reached Saalbach we stopped in quickly to the ski shop to pick up the kids rentals for the week and make sure their ski school was in order and then headed to our apartment. 

The first day of skiing started out questionable as the kids ski school seemed very disorganized and we couldn't figure out which group they should be in and none of the instructors seem to know either.  Once we got them situated, Jason and I headed for the slopes.  We came back early to check on the girls only to find that they really hadn't been doing any skiing and that the group they were in was really a kindergarten where they don't do much of anything.  This was incredibly frustrating so we tracked down someone from the ski school and finally figured out that the school really didn't have any group to brindge the gap between the kindergarten and already knowing how to ski.  They did give us our moeny back and only charged us half price for the rentals for the week so at least it wasn't a total waste.  We left that ski school and headed over to the ski school at our apartment.  The apartments we stayed at are owned by a dutch company.  Separate from the apartments, behind the reception building, the same company runs a ski school on a bunny slope.  We checked with them to see if they had any space and luckily they did so we signed the girls up.  This turned out to be a great decision.  On the bunny slope there were three classes.  The girls both started in the beginner group.  By noon, Sofia was pushed up to the next group and by the next day she was in the next group taking the rope tow up the entire hill and skiing down.  Her instructor, Lisa, was Dutch but spoke English well and Sofia loved her.  Ali missed her first day at this ski school since that initial ear pain turned into a fever.  She was fine the next day though and was eager to go to ski school.  Ali enjoyed school and really warmed to her instructors, Neils and Jan.  Jan was a super nice guy and really engaged Ali to the point that the next day when we arrived at ski school she asked. "Where's Jan?".  Ali didn't progress the way Sofia did though.  She just couldn't turn left.  On Thursday, the last day of ski school, the ski school holds races for each group where they award medals.  Everyone gets a medal but the top three get special medals and get to stand on a podium.  Ali, not being able to turn left, skiied her race with Neils holding her.  She came in eigth place out of eight but was still happy to get her medal.  Sofia was very excited about the race and as Lisa told me, "She is fast.".  She did a great job and placed second.  She was excited to stand on the podium and was quite proud of herself.  On Friday, Jason and I took to the girls to the big mountain and went up the bigger slope.  This was much bigger and steeper than the bunny hill near our apartment but they were ready for it.  Jason skiied with Sofia and they played follow the leader.  I took Ali and we tried many different ways to help her figure out skiing.  We eventually settled on me skiing backwards and Ali continually skiing to me.  This seemed to work and she actually started to get it and was making turns in both directions.  Sofia asked to switch so I headed down the hill with her and Jason worked with Ali.  By lunch time Ali was playing follow the leader as well and was very excited.  She was getting so frustrated when she wasn't putting it all together because basically she just wanted to ski fast and so was very happy to have finally put it all together.  After lunch we had a few more runs of follow the leader with the Sofia leading the way and then we headed back to the bunny hill near our apartment so the kids could ski with their friends, Vivi and Michelle.  Ali had progressed so much with her skiing that we let her lead the way in follow the leader.  The kids really had a great time skiing and made such amazing strides in the skiing abilities.  Here are videos of the girls skiing.  The video of Ali shows her race at the end of ski school.  Unfortunately I didn't take any videos the last day of Ali skiing so well.  The video of Sofia is from the middle of ski school.  She eventually mastered that hill and moved to the big slope on the mountain.

As I mentioned we went to Austria with our friends which made the trip even better.  We didn't really ski together (except I skiied with Michal the afternoon that Ali had a fever since Jason skiied the morning) but we spent our evening together.  This was perfect.  We would take turns making dinner and the kids would eat and then play in the bedroom leaving the adults to watch the Olympics, hang out and chat.  We ate at the restaurant one night but it was better to eat in as it gave the kids more space to play and we didn't have to worry about bothering others in the restaurant.  We went to the pool together one day after skiing but since the kids were always so wiped out after skiing they were happy to just play in the bath.  By the time we would head home from Kelly and Michal's after dinner, Ali would usually be asleep in my arms which was a true test of strength given there were 108 steps and a hill between our apartment and Kelly and Michal's apartment.  On days we had dinner at our apartment, Ali would be asleep by the time Kelly and Michal and the kids went home. By Friday night even Sofia was exhausted and she fell asleep in Jason's arms on the climb back up the hill.  We had very fun filled days and nights

Jason and I took one day off from skiing and went to Zell am See, a village close to Saalbach.  The village was very cute and the ski lifts were right in the center of town.  The views of the mountains from the lake were beautiful as well.  It was a nice relaxing day off from skiing.  Other than that one day, Jason and I did get to ski quite a bit on this vacation.  The thing that I found so interesting is that the skiing was so different here compared to in the States.  Not only are there a lot of gondolas or lifts with heated seats but there are not many black trails and it is mostly long groomed trails.  The day I skiied with Michal I was amazed at the difference.  I saw the opportunity to hit a couple little jumps but I seemed to be the only one on the trail doing so.  There wasn't even a smoothed line between the jumps which there would most assuredly be in the States.  I commented on this to Michal and he simpy said, "we just don't do that here.".  I was shocked.  The differences really stood out to me.  There were a couple mogul trails but noone was on them so I would hit the moguls and meet Michal at the bottom of the moguls section which wasn't very long.  The next day however I went across the road to the opposite mountain where there was a mogul trail that runs about 600 meters (2000ft) vertical.  Jason and I hit that mogul trail a few times and it was great.  The bumps were nice and again there was noone on the trail.  This felt like American skiing to me.  I could hit the lip at the edge of the trail between the groomed and moguls and get little jumps going and then head back into the bumps.  It was perfect!  My thighs, however, were burning.  Fortunately, there is a nice mid mountain restaurant. (the 2000ft vertical mogul trail ends at the midmountain restaurant).  We stopped and had lunch in glorious sunshine.  It was sunny and warm everyday that we skiied.  So warm in fact that by the end there were quite a few grassy patchs showing on the mountain.

Overall, despite Ali's fever, it was a fantastic vacation. The days were filled with excellent skiing and glorious sunshine and the evenings were spent having fun with friends.  It doesn't get mcuh better than that! You can view all the pictures from our trip HERE.

Back in Prague, ready for vacation

I have returned from my trip and am ready for some good family ski vacation time. I was asked on Thursday to fly to the U.S. for work, booked flights Friday afternoon and was in all day meetings Monday through Wednesday before flying out again Thursday. It was a very hectic, although productive, trip and I am now excited to go to Austria and spend a week relaxing and skiing.

Fun within the sickness

So last night Sofia came in and woke me up to tell me that her tummy was hurting.  This was not something I wanted to here since everytime she says this in the middle of the night it means vomit is coming.  Luckily she is becoming well versed in the ways of vomit and knows to make it to the toilet or get it in the bucket.  So my hours between 2am and 5:30am were spent with Sofia throwing up and having diahreah.  Not pleasant and exhaustion is not my forte.  I was deeply missing Jason last night.  After finally getting to sleep at 5:30 I just couldn't bare the thought of getting up at 7am to get Ali to school so I called it a sick day for all of us.  As is the usual case, Sofia was absolutely fine when she woke up in the morning.  It was as though the previous night hadn't happened except if you looked at me!  So we hung out at home today until Ali's doctor's appointment at 1:30.  We had her blood drawn so they can test it for Lyme.  After the doctor we headed for a snack in the baguette shop before Sofia's haircut and since we had time to kill we also stopped in a ski shop and picked up ski socks and balaclavas for the girls.  As I sit down tonight and think, "man what a crazy week and it is only Tuesday!", I have to also acknowledge that we have also had fun since Jason left. 

On Saturday after lunch I took the girls to Beckiland, an indoor playplace.  I figured it would be a good way to take their minds off Jason and it was exhaust them so it would be easy to put them to bed.  We met up with some friends there and the kids were off while I got to chat with my girlfirends.  It was the perfect afternoon.  The kids love Bekiland and it is nice that they are old enough that I don't really have to worry about them getting seriously injured.  Sofia even met a new friend that she brought over to meet me.  It is nice to see them being so sociable.  The both tried out the climbing wall and really loved it.  Ali climbed up so many times she had to put her socks back on since the wall was starting to hurt her toes.  On Sunday we had a relaxing day at home and went to church in the afternoon.  The kids love going to children's church and I'm glad we didn't miss it this week since there was an entire skit prepared for the kids and Adam and Eve came to children's church!  Even by the end when I picked them up they couldn't stop talking about it.  Even knowing the Eve was actually Miss Talitha (someone they already know from church) it didn't stop them from being amazed.  Ali just kept staring at Talitha (Eve) while I was trying to get her out the door.  It was very cute.  Sofia couldn't stop talking about the fact that she knew it was Miss Talitha and how fun it was to sing so many songs in Children's church. 

So, as I think about how much has happened the last two days (EEG, blood test, and vomit), I also try to keep in mind the fun we have also been having.

EEG

I brought Ali to the Neurologist today for an EEG becuase of her headaches.  I am happy to report that everything was normal on the EEG.  Ali was quite nervous going to the doctor and then seeing the boy before her with all the wires to his head didn't help her nervousness.  When it was her turn she clung to me but did allow the doctor to put the electrodes on her head without making a sound.  Ali is a bit like a deer in the headlights when she is scared. She stays completely still and doesn't make a sound.  After about the first ten minutes of the EEG though she relaxed a little and started talking.  By the end of the EEG she even let go of me so I could take her picture.

Ali's Haircut

After putting off getting haircuts for the kids I decided that Ali needed to have her hair cut. With her headaches happening and then her complaints that her pigtails were hurting her I decided to lighten her load. If my long thick hair was giving me headaches I reasoned maybe this was part of the problem for Ali. All of Ali's previous haircuts had been done at the barber shop. It was quick, convenient and cheap. They did not do a very good job though. Whenever I straighten Ali's hair I can see how uneven they cut it. I decided if I was going to have her given a real haircut I would need to go to a salon. I still did not want to part with a lot of money so I went to a czech salon where no English was spoken. I described to the girl what I wanted and she really did a great job. The haircut took almost an hour and Ali fell asleep for the last five to ten minutes of the cut. I had her hair cut shorter and layered and i am happy with how it turned out. She looks very cute and she seems to really like the haircut too.

Sprinkles on toast

Does that sound strange?  Well, in the Netherlands that is a common breakfast item.  My friend, Inge, gave us some chocolate sprinkles (jimmies) for the kids to have at breakfast.  She said she always brings a lot back with her when she goes home becuase her kids love to have it on toast for breakfast.  It was so sweet of her to think of us while she was back home.  The box she gave us even had princesses on it which made it even cooler for the girls.  Sofia and Ali love having chocolate sprinkles on their toast in the morning.  Since this kind of breakfast food isn't something that is from America they completely accept (without whining) when they ask for more and I say, "Inge said you don't put a lot on your toast.  This is how it is in the Netherlands."  It is great and the kids get to have a fun breakfast treat! Thanks Inge!!

Burns Night 2010

This year was our third Burns Night.  Since I had so much fun the last two years I decided to join the committee to make Burns Night happen.  There is a lot of organization and work involved with putting on a successful Burns Night but all our efforts paid off.  Here is a picture of the Burns Committee.  We had a great time working together and I think most people had a really great night.  I was quite busy for the first half of the night with my Burns Night duties.  I missed the soup service since my major responsibilty was the raffle which meant selling tickets and collecting money during the serving/eating of the soup.  We had a lot of great prizes and we raised a lot of money for mama help which is a Czech organization that helps women with breast cancer and their families.  The highlight of the night for me though is the Scottish dancing.  I, of course, have no idea what I"m doing during the dancing but it is still a lot of fun.  I think "Stripping the Willow" is my favorite dance but that could be because it is the simplest and I can get through it without messing up too much.  I started out with my friend Kim's husband, Colin, who is Scottish.  It always help if you have someone who knows what they are doing to make things seem easier.  By the end of Stripping the Willow I had to take a break because even though I'm in pretty good shape I was definitely winded by the end of that dance.  Jason and I went back out for the "Gay Gordons" dance and it was a mess.  In theory Jason thinks we should be able to do it but I just can't seem to make any sense of it.  The good thing is that a lot of people are in the same boat as us so everyone just laughs and has fun.  It was a great night of dancing and laughter and I'm looking forward to next year. 

Headaches

Over trhe last week Ali has developed headaches.  On Thursday I picked her up from school and she had such a headache she started to cry.  We took her home and put her to bed.  We assumed it was because she was tired.  She woke up the next day and was fine.  The headache came back Sunday night though.  She woke up in the middle of the night crying form the pain.  We gave her medicine and put her back to bed only to have her wake up 4 hours later from the pain again.  We kept her home from school and she napped during the day but only to wake up in pain again.  I called the pediatrician since this seems very strange for a four year old.  The pediatrician immediately referred us to a neurologist.  Unfortunatly we won't see the neurologist for a couple weeks so hopefully Ali won't keep getting these headaches.  I'll post an update after we see the neurologist.

Cold Cold Cold

It has been very cold here which, I guess, goes hand in hand with the unusual amount of snow.  For the past three years it has rained a lot here and the temperature in the winter has hovered around 32 degrees F (0 Celsius).  The first year we were here we thought our thermometer was broken since the temperature didn't vary much in the winter and it never really got that cold.  Jason and I used to say, "imagine what it would be like if it was just a little colder and all this rain became snow?".  Well, now we know.  It is cold and snowy every day!!  It seems there is a snow flurry every day and today the temperature was down to -16 celsius (3 degrees F).  Today was a run day for me so I bundled up and went for my run but the first 20 minutes or so were not pleasant.  By the end of my run I had warmed up but I did have frost on my eyelashes and eyebrows.  I hope this cold snowy patch comes to an end soon!

Daily Life, hearing tests and running

I know it has been a while since my last post. Life has been moving along here. We have gotten back into our routines. The girls have gone to gymnastics, swimming and czech lessons after school. Actually Ali skipped her Czech lesson this week since she had a headache and was absolutely exhausted. I'm not sure if it is just getting back into the routine or if she is having a growth spurt but she has been very tired this last week. Swimming is going great. We bought Ali a shortie wetsuit for swimming lessons and it has made a big difference. She isn't shivering and asking to get out of the pool after fifteen minutes. Sofia has her ear plugs for swimming and she is also doing really well.

We finally had Sofia's hearing tested last week as well. She has moderate hearing loss in the very lowest pitch (frequency) in her right ear and mild hearing loss (or moderate depending on whose chart you look at to determine the ranges) in the lower pitches in her left ear but she is in the normal range for all the other frequencies. I'm not sure if they will do another hearing test in six months or not but either way we will be going back to the doctor for checkups on her ear every month for the next six months.

I've started my half marathon training. It has been slightly difficult given all the snow we have had (the largest amount of snow in Prague since 1979!). The upside of all the snow is that I get some good cross training activity as I shovel out our road repeatedly! (I'm just trying to put a smiling face on all the shoveling. If I say it enough times I might believe it myself. Haha) The temperature has dropped again making things a bit more difficult for running since it just froze everything to ice in the parks. My friend, Beanie, and I are perservering though and have managed to get in most of our runs. My Christmas present finally arrived so I have been wearing my new garmin GPS training watch for our runs. It is fun to see how my pace changes throughout a run. It is also nice not to have to come home and map out my run in order to find out my pace. Hopefully we will get a little warm up soon to help with the running and melt a lot of ice but as I look at the forecast, I'm not that optimistic.

More about the snow

Coming from the New England we are used to having lots of snow. People plow, shovel, or snowblow their driveways and walkways at the end of the storm and sometimes even during the storm to alleviate some accumluation. The towns clear the roads with massive snow plows which also sand and salt the roads. Even after major storms the roads are cleared by the following day and life continues as usual. Here it is very different. The big parks have had their paths plowed but many roads still have not been plowed.(The snow ended Monday morning and it is now Thursday night.) Parking is horrible b/c there are no parking bans in place so that the snow can be removed. Even if you find a spot to park you have to wonder if you will be able to back out of the spot or if you will be stuck in the pile of snow that you just bravely decided to pull into.

The problems with the snow go even beyond parking issues. On Tuesday I went to my guitar lesson and my teachers apartment had water leaking through the ceiling. I felt bad that she was having so much water damage. She had fixed a tarp to the ceiling over her bed and computer desk that dripped the water down into multiple buckets. I was shocked when I went there today and found the conditions even worse. I had assumed that her problem would be fixed right away. I'm not sure I know anyone who would live sleeping under a plastic tarp catching water (unless of course you were camping outside in a tent!). Today I arrived just after the tarp had broken free of the ceiling and the water had come pouring down onto her bed, books and computer. She was very upset and who can blame her. I would be so angry! I stood there while she spoke with her neighbor and she was one the edge of tears. I felt heartbroken for her. She is such a sweet lady. I told her that we didn't need the lesson today and I asked if I could help her instead. Her apartment is tiny and she lives there with her fifteen year old son. Without seeing how cramped this apartment is it is hard to believe but it is basically a one room apartment with a bathroom you walk through to get to the kitchen. In the one room that is smaller than our livingroom she has two twin beds (one for her and one for her son), a dining table, two bookcases, and armoire, desk and piano. We sit in front of the table at two chairs with music stands for my lesson. I just kept thinking this poor woman is going to have to pay to replace these things that have been ruined and she clearly does not have much money. I just felt so bad for her. So instead of a guitar lesson today I helped her move one of the beds and clean up the floor and reattach the tarp to the ceiling in an effort to send the water into one bucket. After I did everything I could to help I started to get my things together but she, in her kind way, sat me down with her guitar to look at a lesson she wanted me to practice for the next time. I can't even imagine caring about someone's lesson when half my apartment was in shambles. After leaving guitar lesson I ran into my friend, Sharon, who is renting our old apartment. She told me they started having the same issue in her sons room. She said that this morning drops of water started falling on her son's bed. This is amazing to me since that means the melting snow went through the roof and then through one floor. I'm sure there will be many people who will be happy when this snow is gone!

Still snowing!

As I was fairly confident we could get the car out today I was surprised to see it had snowed a few more inches overnight and was still snowing. My confidence faltered. Our car barely made it out yesterday since the snow was so high it was touching the underside of the car. With a few inches on top of that I figured there was no way we were getting the car out easily this morning so I kept the kids home from school. Jason left for work since he takes the bus and the girls and I headed outside for some shoveling. Well, the girls played and I shoveled. I shoveled for about an hour and a half and still have about another hour to go before I will be able to easily drive the car out of our road. The girls were cold though and needed to come in to warm up. After lunch we will head outside again and I will finish shoveling out to the road from where we are parked and then just create a single walking path all the way to our house. That way I don't have to shovel all the way to our house and we won't have to trudge through a foot of snow to get to our car every day. As much as shoveling isn't fun and it is slightly irritating that noone else on our road is helping me shovel (especially as Sofia keeps asking, "why are you and daddy the only ones who have to shovel?), it is still nice to be outside and the snow is beautiful.

Shoveling

We woke up this morning to even more snow. It has continued to snow lightly all day. Siince Jason has to go to work tomorrow and I have to drive the girls to school in the morning today was our day to dig out. Our car is parked at the end of the road since we couldn't make it up our hill so after clearing out in front of our house we headed to the end of the road. We cleaned off the car and dug out around it and in front of it and then gave it a go. I made it to the end of the road with only having to rock back and forth a few times. Jason then did more shoveling at the very end of the road where all the heavy slush/snow had built up. I'm confident we can get the car out in the morning even though it is still snowing while I'm writing this. The girls and I also managed to fit in some fun time of sledding, making snow castles and a snowman. Jason fit in a couple runs down the hill in the sled but unfortunately for him he spent most of the day shoveling.

A Big Snow Storm!!

We finally have had our first big storm here. It is not big by Nor'easter standards but big for Prague. We probably have about 8" on the ground so far and they are calling for more snow tonight and then again on Monday and Tuesday. It is great to see everything covered in snow. We didn't quite belive that a big storm was coming since the weather forecast never seems to be accurate here. The storm was suppose to start on Friday night around midnight but we woke up on Friday morning and it was snowing by 8am. By 6pm there was still only about 3 inches on the ground though so we decided we would still go out to dinner with friends. We had a fun dinner and then drove home. The drive home was very slow since plowing of the roads seems non- existent. The isn't quite true since there was a plow in front of us for part of the drive home but the plow didn't seem to be removing any snow from the road! Anyway, we pulled into our road which does not get plowed at all. Since there are only five year round houses on our road there is also not much traffic. The snow had piled up while we were at dinner but we decided to give it a go and drove down our road. We made it about half way up our hill before we started sliding backwards. I backed it up to the bottom of the hill, got slightly stuck which required Jason to do some pushing and then gave the hill another go to no avail. I got to the same spot on the hill. At that point we gave up and parked near the end of our road and just walked home.

This morning we woke up to more snow. We had made plans with some friends to go ice skating on the local pond so we headed out for some skating around 11am. The kids loved skating and playing in the snow with their friends. After a little bit we headed into the pizza restaurant at the pond for lunch. We ended up meeting up with another group of our friends at the restaurant. The girls were excited to have even more of their friends around and they all played together and had a blast. After lunch we headed out for more skating. I was a little surprised that the kids wanted to go back out skating but they absoultely love the snow and ice. Having their friends there made it even better. They played until about 4 and then we all walked over to our friends house for coffee/tea/hot chocolate. We ended up walking home in the dark after a fun filled day. I'm looking forward to heading back out in the snow tomorrow!

Redneck sledding

We had some snow the other day. Actually, we have had a little bit of snow everyday for the past few days but it only amounts to maybe an inch on the ground. I decided it was enough for some sledding but unfortunately we did not have a sled. I made do with a cookie sheet! The kids didn't care that they were sledding on a cookie sheet and we all took turns. Hopefully I will get around to getting a real sled soon but until then we will just continue our redneck sledding.