Cousins day out

On Sunday, Leah and I left the kids with Jason and headed out to see some sights. It was just easier given the sites we were going to see and it also was going to coincide with Ali's nap. We had three things left to see on Leah's must see list. We headed up to Petrin tower but once we got there seeing it was enough. Neither of us felt like climbing all the steps to get to the top of the tower. Since we were up there though I suggested we check out the mirror maze. We had never been to the maze but I had heard about it so it was great to be able to check it out before I bring the kids. We had fun in the mirror maze so I can imagine how much fun it will be for the girls when we bring them. After you go through the mirror maze you come to a room with funny mirrors. They make you tall, short, fat etc. Here is an example of us looking very short. We had some good laughs and then headed out and off to the Strahov Monastery. We realized when we got there that it was closed for lunch hour so we decided to get lunch as well. We ended up in a small cafe near the castle and had lunch and hot chocolate to warm up. We decided after lunch to check out St Vitus Cathedral since Strahov wasn't going to be open again until 1pm. As we got to Hradcanske Namesti it was very crowded and there was some event. Then we realized it was skiiing! I never expected to see skiing in Prague. They had brought snow in and made a race course for cross country skiing. It was crowded but we got through and went to St Vitus. After St. Vitus we headed back through the crowd in Hradcanske Namesti. The crowd must have doubled in size since it was nearly impossible for us to get through the crowd. We finally did and made it to Strahov. After Strahov we stopped for one more hot chocolate and then headed home. It was a fun day out.

Showing Leah the sites

Today Leah, the girls and I headed up to the castle. Leah wanted to see St Vitus and didn't really care about the rest of the castle so it was going to be an easy trip. I was surprised at how many tourists were at the castle. There aren't nearly as many as the summer but more than I expected. I guess I will have to wait for January for Prague to be empty. Anyway, we got up to the castle and took pictures and got to the cathedral and I noticed the doors were closed. Unfortunately for us the cathedral had just closed. I thought, oh well, another day. We decided to head down to the Charles Bridge. As we headed out into Hradcanske Namesti we had to wait for the changing of the guard. It was interesting to watch since we hadn't seen it before. While in Hradcanske Namesti I did my job as an excellent tour guide...."that house is famous.....i think it is maybe the arch bishop's house. That house is also famous....I don't know whose it was but I like the art on it". Leah was very impressed with my guiding skills. (HaHa) Anyway, we headed down into Mala Strana and Leah took pictures while the girls and I slowly walked. We headed across the Charles Bridge where Leah stopped to buy some gifts. By this time it was getting late and it was dark and cold so we headed back to the tram and home for dinner. It was a slow start to the the wonders of Prague but we all had a good time.

Things I've learned from my cousin

When we were younger I did not like my cousin. This is for no real reason other than she was 6 years younger than me and followed me everywhere. I, of course, wanted to be with the big kids who probably hated having me tag along after them! It wasn't a big deal though since I did not see my cousin much. She lived in Connecticut, which for Rhode Islanders might as well have been Florida. I saw her at holidays and the family gathering at beach week. The last time we saw each other was at beach week 2 years ago. It was the first time that I had really spoken with Leah since we became adults. I was surprised to learn that we had things in common and I enjoyed my time with her. I regretted that I couldn't spend more time with her but I had the kids to take care of and naps etc. and she was just in for a couple weeks from Uzbekistan so she had to get in all her visiting.
Being so close we invited Leah to join us for Christmas. I was excited that I would get to spend Christmas with some family. I have realized since Leah has been here that it is also an added bonus for me since I have found out things I didn't know.

1. I like my cousin and we really laugh a lot
2. There are things about us that are just from our moms' family.
3. Even though we didn't see each other much growing up we have a lot of the same things to laugh about that happened in the family.
4. She didn't go to American University as I had been told
5. I learned my other cousin has moved in with his girlfriend and the girlfriend is having their baby in a week!!! (Keep in mind I talk to my mother multiple times a week and this had NEVER come up!!)

There is more that I have learned and I'm sure I will learn even more over the course of the next week. I'm glad she is here. Even with the cabinets falling this has been one of the best Christmas' ever.

Enjoying the holidays with a BANG!!!

You can see the picture....did you think, "earthquake"? Well, not quite. As I was walking out of the kitchen the cabinets decided they had been on the wall long enough and wanted to come down. They came crashing down with a very loud crash. Unfortunately for me I was in the kitchen when it happened. The cabinets landed on me so I was under the heap of mess you see in the picture (although not at the time the picture was taken). Luckily I was the only one in the kitchen at the time. After I found myself under the cabinets I yelled for Jason who was having his sleep in day. He was already out of bed because he had heard the crash (as had, apparently, everyone in the building). He came to the kitchen and asked where I was since he couldn't see me. The "under here" helped him out and he lifted the cabinets off of me. I got up carefully since I happened to also be at the point in the cabinets that housed our glassware so there was a lot of broken glass on and around me. I was dazed and uncomfortable but I immediately went next door to our landlords apartment. I think I was probably in a little bit of shock since looking back on it I probably could have waited a minute before heading next door. I went next door with my pants soaked in wine (which had fallen from the cabinets and shattered all over me) and covered in broken glass to try and explain the unbelievable. They saw me and new something was wrong. I tried to explain but even if she understood the words it just wouldn't make sense. How do you explain that kitchen cabinets came falling off the wall. It just doesn't even sound believeable. Our landlady came back to our apartment with me to see what I was talking about. She saw the destruction and with a "Jesus Marie" gave us hugs and said she was sorry. She went back and got her husband and her son to take pictures and talk to us. They insisted on bringing me to the hospital which I had to agree was probably a good idea. Before we went to the hospital though she insisted that we have breakfast at their apartment. It was very nice of her but unnecessary. Our landlord brought me to the hospital and spoke Czech to everyone so it was easy for me. While we were at the hospital Jason, our landlady and the cleaning lady from our building started cleaning up the mess. My x-rays showed that everything was fine. They gave me a special cream for my arm and bandaged it up. I wasn't really sure what the cream was supposed to do but I left it on for the day anyway. Sleeping was not ideal but it is a little bit better today so in a few days I'm sure I'll be able to rest my head back on a pillow.

We have found places to put everything so that our kitchen is at least usable. We will have to have new cabinets installed as well as new counters and flooring. The cabinets broke the counter when they fell and also took big dings out of the linoleum flooring. In addition to the dings in the floor there is also a giant yellow stain as well as a purple stain. I guess linoleum doesn't like wine, vodka, vinegar, balsamic vinegar and oil sitting on it. We still have to figure out how we will deal with the damage to our glassware, kitchen table and new counter/drawer thingy we just bought but I'm confident it will all work out. For now we are just trying to enjoy our Christmas.

On a happier note, Leah (my cousin) arrived on the 23rd from Uzbekistan. She will be here for 10 days. It is great having her here. It is the first time we have ever been together as adults without any parents/aunts/uncles around. We are having a great time hanging out. I'll post more about what we do over the next week.

Little Monkeys

Sofia has been learning a lot of new songs at school. She teaches me the songs she learns. It is fun for me to learn her songs since I remember doing the same thing with my mother. I also remember getting frustrated when my mom couldn't remember the words I just taught her so I really try and focus when Sofia is teaching me (and try to be understanding when she gets frustrated). Here is one of her songs...it is also one of my favorites. Just click on the picture below to play the video.

Winter Wonderland

It has been quite cold here lately but we haven't had any snow. I keep hoping to wake up in the morning to see the ground covered with snow but nothing yet. Today the girls and I had to bring Watson to the vet since his ear is bothering him again. The vet that we use is in Bila Hora which is about a 25 minute tram ride from our apartment. As the tram started to head away from our stop and further out of the city I noticed in the distance that the trees at the top of the hill looked white. I wasn't sure if they were really white or if it was just fog. As the tram continued the ground and all the trees where covered in snow! It was so beautiful I wish I had had my camera. the girls were excited as well. It was all I could do to keep them moving so that we could get to the vets office. Once we were done at the vet I let the kids and Watson play in the snow. Sofia kept trying to make snow angels even though there really wasn't enough snow for that. It was weird to see the different weather conditions but very enjoyable.

Christmas rush

Here it is, December 19th, and I have not finished my shopping. That is putting it nicely...it isn't that I haven't finished it is more that I have barely started. You would think that this isn't a big deal but I know that come the weekend my shopping will get limited. I have to get my gift shopping done and my food shopping done. I decided to cancel my Czech lesson for tonight and go into town and do some shopping. I want to finish the gift shopping done so that I can do the food shopping tomorrow. Luckily I pre-ordered the meat so I can pick that up on the 23rd. I was surprised that they even have pick up on the 23rd since most shops are closed on Sunday and then shops are closed the 24, 25, and 26th. I guess since the shop I ordered the meat at is a shop that caters to expats they are open. I will be happy when it is all done. It is not like me to leave everything to the last minute.

We have also been pretty busy this week with dr. appointments, vet appointment, and grooming for Watson. Today was Watson's grooming. He desperately needed to be bathed and to have his hair trimmed. While we waited for Watson the girls and I hung out at a playground. It makes me laugh when I think, "I can't get anything done b/c I'm playing at a playground.". I guess if that is my only complaint I can't really complain. The girls had a great time even though it was freezing out. I've learned to be wise in my dressing of the girls. They go out with many layers and when it is cold like this they go out with snow pants on. I don't want to hear "I'm too cold" so I bundle them up. Now we are home and I'm exhausted so I guess I better try to rest before my shopping frenzy tonight. :)

Photo Updates

I have finally gotten all caught up on getting our photos uploaded to Smugmug, the photo site we use. For about the last year and a half I have been uploading photos to the site for everyone, including ourselves, to enjoy but since this summer I began to fall behind. Today I spent a lot of time going through photos from Autumn and Winter and our two week trip to the Loire Valley and Tuscany. I still need to go through and add captions to the photos but now that they are uploaded I can slowly work on doing that.

The autumn pictures include photos of Sofia's first day of school, school trip to the pumpkin patch, girls' haircuts, Halloween, Thanksgiving and a variety of other photos. Click here to see our autumn photos.

In October we spent one week in the Loire Valley, France and one week in Tuscany, Italy and had a fantastic time and took lots of pictures. Click here to see photos from France and click here to see photos from Italy.

I also have our most recent photos uploaded now, including visiting friends, the girls trimming the tree and visiting Santa as well as Sofia's school Christmas party. Click here to see our most recent winter photos.

Enjoy!

Sound of Music

I'm excited because the girls are watching Sound of Music. I love that movie! I have waited for them to be old enough to watch it and yesterday I was playing the soundtrack for them and they were excited about that so I put the movie on. I told Sofia that it is in Austria and she was excited since her friend, Kiera, has been to Austria. She wants to go to Austria so she likes seeing a movie with scenes from Austria. Tonight for their pre-bedtime movie Sofia asked for the Austria movie with the kids in it. My heart rejoiced and I eagerly put the movie on. As they were watching it I started to sing along with the nuns as they were singing the "Maria" song. Ali said, "No mommy! It is only for the Muns!" It was all I could do not to laugh. Apparently the "muns" from the airport are still in Ali's memory. We will have to work on her pronunciation of Nun.

Santa

Sofia's school had Santa come to school and they sold tickets to see Santa for 60Kc per ticket. This seemed pretty cheap to me and an easy way to have the kids see Santa. Ali was a little afraid of Santa and wouldn't look at him or talk to him. She really didn't even want to go into the room with him. Sofia was a little shy but not nearly as much as I thought she would be. Santa eventually got her to talk a little. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she responded with, "presents". He told her that he is sure he can take care of that. After seeing Santa and receiving a lollipop and a small present we headed downstairs to the bake sale the PTA was holding. The kids enjoyed a chocolate muffin and their lollipop. An added bonus for me was that they were also selling used books at the bake sale for 30Kc a book. This was very exciting for me since I read a lot and buying books here is expensive. The cheap books are at least 180kc so when I get a chance to get 30kc books I jump at it. I bought 5 books so I won't have to venture to the bookstore this month.

Aspiring actress

Sofia had her first acting experience yesterday. (Well, I should say her first formal acting experience since she performs all the time at home!) Her nursery class put on a performance of the Nativity for all the parents. Sofia had to say, "Mary and Joseph stayed in the stable and baby Jesus was born." She was a little distracted at first b/c she wanted to know what I was holding. (I was holding the baby brother of one of her classmates.) Anyway, the play got started and Sofia stood there quietly awaiting her turn to speak but it took too long and she started to stare off around the room. When it was her turn her teacher had to say her name a few times before Sofia realized it was her turn. It was very funny. Once she realized it was her turn she did a good job. They sang some songs and then the play was over. It must have been exhausting for Sofia b/c she fell asleep on the couch after school yesterday!

Holiday Spirit

As a follow up to Mary's post I wanted to post to say that I too am feeling truly in the holiday spirit now. The last couple months have been very busy at work but now that the city is filled with lights and music and we now have our Christmas tree and decorations up I am enjoying this great time of year. It will be sad not being around all of our extended family for Christmas but being here and enjoying all the fun, and sometimes not so fun, challenges of a new country has really brought us together as a family so this will be a special Christmas season.

Dinner with Friends

After we moved to Prague two of Jason's colleagues in Maynard also decided to make the move. We finally got together for dinner with one of them. Kelly, her husband, Alain, and their children Paige and Colby invited us over their apartment for dinner. They have decided to live in Prague 2 which is across town from us so we hopped on the tram and headed over. Sofia and Ali were a little shy at first but after a little bit they had a great time playing. The girls were happy to see Paige's collection of princess dresses and shoes. While the kids played we enjoyed adult conversation with our friends. The girls were also entranced by Kelly and Alain's cat. Ali kept looking for the cat who wisely removed himself from the reach of the kids. We had dinner and then let the kids watch a movie while the adults finished eating and talking. Ali obviously was very comfortable by this time since when I happened to look into the tv room I noticed she had taken her pants, tights and underwear off! Oh well, at least she is comfortable with her body. Unfortunately she also peed on the floor. Luckily it was a wood floor and Kelly and Alain were very understanding. Paige was very cute too. She said, "that's ok, I have accidents sometimes too.". All in all it was a fun night. We will have to have them over to our apartment next. Jason and I realized that we have never had anyone over our apartment for dinner so we want to change that.

December in Prague

December in Prague is wonderful. At the end of November you see all the workers out preparing everything for December. On December 1st it is magic...all the Christmas lights turn on and the tent is set up at the end of our street with performances daily. Christmas music is played on speakers all the way down our street so you can hear music when you step out the front door. Old Town square is all decked out with lights and the giant Christmas tree as well as the vendor huts and the stage for performances (The high school kids from Sofia's school will perform a concert there this month as well.) Wenceslas square has its tree and vendors and so does Namesti Republiky and Andel. There are Christmas celebrations all around the city like the one at the end out our street. It is amazing to me how much Christmas is celebrated here. They have added more stuff to the celebration at the end of our road this year. This year they have included a nativity scene, an ice rink, a food stand, and a telephone hut to call baby Jesus. Yes, call baby Jesus. The Czech tradition is that baby Jesus brings the presents on Christmas day so the kids ask baby Jesus for presents. As we walked by yesterday they appeared to be having an old car show. It is nice to have such a festive atmosphere around.

"Wait your turn!"

You always see dads on TV who are the long suffering males in a house full of women. We have joked about it in the past that that will be Jason when the girls are older. Unfortunately for Jason the "when the girls are older" has already started. The other day Jason asked Ali if she had to go potty. She said, "no". He asked again. She said, "no". So Jason said, "ok, Daddy is going to go potty then". Ali immediately ran to the potty, pushed Jason out of the way and said, "Wait your turn!". Poor Jason. Being pushed aside for the bathroom is already happening. (The only upside is at least she did actually use the potty.) By the time the girls are teenagers we will have to make sure Jason has his own secret bathroom.

1 year anniversary

It was one year ago today that we arrived in Prague. It is hard to believe that a year has gone by. It is hard to even remember those first few days in Prague. We arrived bleary eyed off the plane and we were met and transferred to our apartment. I had no idea what to expect since I had never been to Prague before. Our apartment was empty. Our stuff hadn't arrived from the US. Everyone spoke a language we couldn't understand. We had left all our friends in the US but we were still happy and excited to be here. A year later many things are different.

We are still happy and excited to be here. Comparing today to a year ago is amazing. We were at a birthday party for our friends children and therefore we were surrounded by many of our new friends. Hard to believe we have made that many friends since we arrived. We had to go across town to go to the birthday party and we knew where we were going. We didn't have to worry about how to buy a ticket for the metro or where to get off the metro. We didn't need a stroller to get there. (We still use the stroller at times for Ali but a lot of times we can no go stroller-free). Our apartment is no longer empty but filled with our stuff. We have finally begun to truly decorate and even have curtains up now. We still can't understand a lot of the language but we can speak some and understand some. We have also learned enough to make ourselves understood in many situations. The language isn't nearly as scary anymore. We have figured out the grocery store (mostly) and where to get hard to find items (this sometimes means having it shipped from the US). I can even offer newcomers to Prague helpful hints....who would have thought I would be able to do that??

We are looking forward to our next year in Prague. We have found a place where we love to live. Yes, there are things that would be easier if we lived in the U.S., but there are a lot of things that are easier here. Coming here we have found many things to the thankful for. We have a nice apartment, great landlords, wonderful friends, a beautiful city at our doorstep, a great school for the kids, a teacher that Sofia loves, and babysitters for our children and our dog. Jason and I get to have a date night every Friday and we get to exercise in the morning without having to get up at 5am. We have children who get to experience a different culture here in Prague as well as the chance to travel to many different countries (5 in the last year). Sofia figures out how far things are by how many planes it takes us to get somewhere. For example, Spain is two planes and a car. Sofia gets to go to school and have kids in her class from all over the world. There are children from Prague as well as Mexico, Holland, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, New Zealand, and the US as well as a teacher from Canada and a teacher from Scotland. Ali will have the same opportunity in school next year. For now Ali gets to play with her friends that we have met over the course of the last year. They are also from different places...two friends who are Czech/American, a friend who is Czech/Australian, and friends from the U.S.

I will keep posting on the blog to keep everyone updated on our adventures. Please feel free to leave comments if you have questions or want further detail on a post (or if you just want to say hi). Thanks for reading about our adventures.

We are sick

There isn't much going on here since we are all sick. The girls and I have been sick for about a week. We all went to the doctor today. I was a little worried about bringing the girls to the pediatrician since I knew that pediatricians here do not deal with kids ears. I was worried that she would send us to an ear, nose and throat doctor. The reason I was worried about that was because I know that the Czech method for dealing with ear infections is to pop the ear drum. I am not on board with that method so I didn't want to go to an ear nose and throat doctor b/c I didn't want to deal with the argument. Luckily our pediatrician just listened to what we said and checked a couple things on the girls (although not the ears) and decided to write prescriptions for a lot of medicine...Augmentin plus ear drops, nose drops and eye drops for Ali and Augmentin plus an expectorant for Sofia. My doctor wrote me a prescription for Augmentin as well as some gargling solution. Jason is also sick but not as sick as the rest of us and since his just started he hasn't needed to go to the doctor yet. I went to the pharmacy on the way home from the doctor. It makes me laugh when dealing with hospitals and pharmacy here since there idea of expensive and my idea are nowhere near the same. The pharmacy was concerned about me having to pay for all the medicines. The way that our insurance works (since we have the foreigners insurance) is that we pay upfront for all prescriptions and then anything over 100Kc we get reimbursed (that is about $5.50USD). While it is nice to get the money back the prescriptions here are so cheap that I'm not even concerned about it. We got 7 prescriptions for about 1000Kc or $55. In the US that would have been a minimum of $70 if you consider a $10 copay per prescription. The reality is that I'm sure some of them wouldn't have been generic and would have cost more then $10. It is just another interesting difference between the US and the Czech Republic.

Thank you Auntie Carlene!!

The girls love getting mail. They love cards. The really love when packages come in the mail. Yesterday a package came from Auntie Carlene. It was all the girls could do to wait to get upstairs so they could open it. We got upstairs and I let them sit on the floor and tear into the envelope. Sofia knew right away that it was an apron. I don't know how she knew. I can only guess that she has seen aprons at school. She wanted to put it on and, of course, Ali wanted to do the same as her sister. They loved that it was Santa and a snowman. Sofia asked why? I told her that Auntie Carlene sent them so that they could help mommy make cookies for Christmas. The eyes lit up and she asked, "Can we make them now??" How could I resist. Here is a short video of the girls with their aprons. Just click "Play" and hopefully you will have sound on your computer as well so you can hear the girls.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

No, the Czech's do not celebrate our American Thanksgiving but we did! Our friends hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for about 70 people. I thought it was suppose to be about 40 but there was definitely more than 40 people there. In order to have enough food to feed everyone many people made food. We were tasked with making a turkey. I thought, "no problem". Then the reality started to set in.

My friend gave me the turkey to prepare. When she dropped off the turkey she said, "there may be feathers still on the bird that you need to take out. Also, the neck may not be cut off like they are on American turkeys so you may have to trim that. Also, keep in mind that the ovens here are convection and not like US ovens so the turkey won't take as long to cook.". At this point I thought, "oh my! What did I get myself into??". I brought the turkey upstairs and put it in the fridge. It did fit on the bottom shelf of the fridge as long as I took everything off that shelf and moved the next shelf up. I decided to see if it would fit in the oven. It did fit but just barely. I realized I needed a pan to cook the turkey in so I measured the oven and went to the local kitchen shop. It took a little bit but I found a pan and headed home. I went to put it in the oven to double check that it would fit and guess what? That's right. It didn't fit! It was just a hair too big. I decided I would wait until the morning and head to Tesco to find a new one. I asked Jason if he could stay home from work on Thanksgiving day rather than take a half day so that he could help me with the turkey. I felt like this needed to be a team effort. He agreed to stay home after he checked his work schedule and saw there was nothing critical. I was very thankful! I headed to Tesco in the morning looking for a big roasting pan, although not too big since it had to fit in our oven, and hopefully a turkey roasting bag. We had hopes of brining the turkey but we didn't have anything big enough to hold the turkey but I couldn't find any turkey roasting bags. Since we couldn't brine the turkey we decided on putting salt, pepper, butter and herbs under the skin o the turkey to keep it moist. So, after I plucked the feathers out of the turkey, Jason put the butter/herb mixture under the skin and we put it in the oven. the turkey barely fit in the oven...the legs were actually touching the side of the oven. It all worked out great and we had a nice moist tasty turkey when we were finished. I took the turkey off the bone and we brought it to our friends for dinner.

We had a great dinner with all the fixins...turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing plus a lot of pie. Sofia had her first taste of jello and loved it and Ali had a chocolate chip pie which she thought was very good. The kids had fun playing with the other kids that were there. Clark and Lucy's rooms were definitely not as neat and tidy when we left as they were when we arrived. All the kids had a blast playing in their rooms. It was a great Thanksgiving and a great time to say thanks for having such great friends in Prague.

Cooking frustration

We finally have our stove working again. I was excited to be able to use it and decided to make meatloaf with sweet potatoes and asparagus. I bought the meat yesterday at the grocery store and went to eh potraviny near Sofia's school today to get sweet potatoes and asparagus. All was ready to start making the meatloaf. I took the meat out of the refrigerator and opened it and my hopes were dashed...the meat was BAD!! How can this be?? I just bought the meat yesterday! Well, apparently you can have the package date and use by date the same. I have been burnt on expired products before but it has been kept to the dairy aisle. I am always aware of the use by dates on dairy products because of that. Now I have learned I have to be the same way with meat from the grocery store. Another reason to just go to our local butcher. Oh well, I guess we will just have to wait until tomorrow for meatloaf.