Apple picking, Burčák and Friends

Last year we tried to find some place to pick apples. Apple picking is something that I love to do especially becuase it marks the beginning of fall. The smell of baking apples, a fire in the fireplace and hanging out with friends is something to look forward too. Unfortunately last year we didn't find anywhere to pick apples. It seems it just isn't done here. This is probably becuase it seems everyone has apple trees in the gardens. We have an old apple orchard in front of our house that did not produce any fruit last year. We just assumed that the trees were so old and uncared for that they just stopped produing fruit. To our surprise this is not the case since this year they are loaded with apples! They are not the big pretty apples, they are small and have many blemishes but they are delicious! The girls ask everyday when we get home from school if they can pick an apple to which of course I always answer yes and I grab one as well.

Since the apples are so tastey and apple picking is difficult to come by here we invited some friends over on Saturday to pick some apples. We also thought we would walk to our neighboring village and pick up some burcak, a fermented young moravian wine only available at the start of the harvest. Our friends had never had Burčák so it was the perfect weekend to pick some up. Unfortunately we didn't get to go for our walk since it was pouring out so we just drove over and picked up the Burčák. We did manage to pick apples although we didn't stay out for as long due to the rain. The rain really didn't matter though becuase we had a great time with our friends. The girls were excited to have their friends over and they all played nicely. Fortunately for us they did keep most of their play upstairs so that the adults could hear each other over the clomping around of dress-up shoes and excited girl voices. It was our first real fall meal of the season with pumpkin soup, spezzatino toscano (an italian veal stew), potatoes and menelik (a piedmont version of Tiramisu) for dessert. Good friends, good food, happy kids...can't ask for much more than that!

More celebrating

This past Friday Sofia was celebrated at the school assembly which she corrected me was only for the lower school and not the entire school.  Sofia was celebrated for being "a super assistant and helping friends".  I'm proud of her and she was very happy to be celebrated.  I was surprised when Ali showed a little bit of her competitve streak though since she was upset that Sofia now had more celebration certificates.  I had to explain that the ones Sofia earned last year don't count to this years total.  My only hope now is that they stay pretty even on the awards for the rest of the year!

Fitness blog

I have started a blog for training so if you are interested to see what I'm currently working on or if you are looking for fitness information please take a look at my Outdoor Fitness blog.  As I have only just started the blog there are only a few posts but I will be posting there regularly going forward.  All family related things will still be on this blog though.

Houses, points and awards

If you have seen any of the Harry Potter movies then you know about schools having "houses" and every student belongs to a "house".  At the girls school there are three houses, Komensky, Karel, and Hus.  Siblings are always in the same house and our girls are in Hus.  All the kids try to earn house points and every week the points get tallied to see which house is in the lead.  Both kids have earned house points since the start of school but Ali has earned a lot of house points.  She earned them for being a good helper, listening well and working really hard.  She worked so hard last week that she was celebrated at the end of week assembly in front of the entire primary school.  The school gets told why she is being celebrated and she goes up to the front to collect her certificate.  Her certificate says, "Super Dooper Work Award for amazing behavior and hard work all week!  She was excited to receive the award and I'm very proud of her and all the hard work she is doing.

This week Sofia wasn't celebrated but she did win a heart from her teacher.  Sofia's teacher tells the kids everyday that they have all done a great job and they all have stolen her heart.  She gives everyone a sticker.  She goes one step further though and says that they have all stolen her heart but especially "child".  That child who especially stole the teachers heart gets a heart cut out of construction paper that says "You stole my heart today!  Thank you for being a great kid!".  It is such a good idea and the kids love it.  It really does make them feel special.

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary.  I can't believe another year has past!  I'm so happy that we made that decision 13 years ago.  I couldn't have asked for a better husband.  Last year we went out for dinner but this year we stayed in and cooked one of our favorite meals, orange chicken.  It is was great to have dinner together and snuggle up on the couch.  I am excited to see what the next year brings as I'm sure whatever it brings we will meet it together.

Personal Training

After enjoying running and fitness for years now and turning friends on to running and helping friends train for races I have decided to finally make the jump and become a personal trainer.  Being a trainer gives me the flexibility to do everything I need to do around the house and for the kids but also lets me do something that I love.  Not only do I love fitness but I believe it should be a part of everyone's life.  Fitness doesn't have to mean the drudgery of a workout at the gym and being a personal trainer means I can help people find the fun in fitness.  As adults and parents I believe that we have a duty to our children to show them how to live a healthy life and if we can have fun in fitness then so can our children.  My training programs are all back to basic programs.  By that I mean all my exercises can be done outside in a park.  Being out in nature in the fresh air while using your own body weight to get fit.  By exercising this way your fitness routine can travel with you.  If you go on vacation just bring your exercise clothing and you don't need to miss a workout.  If you bring your children to the playground you can also use the playground for strength training! 

So in addition to getting the kids settled back into a routine this year I am also finding my new routine.  I am training five women on Tuesdays and Thursdays in my Beginning Fitness class as well as I have an individual client that I train with once a week.  I am hoping to increase that over the next couple months but I'm off to a good start.

Beginning of School

We have made it through the first week of the school year and have started the second.  The girls are so happy to be back at school and they absolutely love their teachers.  I am amazed at how well Ali has adjusted to year one.  She was half excited about year one and half afraid it was going to be boring becuase she would have to do math and reading which she wasn't a big fan of last year.  In the first week of year one her teacher, Ms. Willets, has actually changed Ali's tune and now she is having fun with both math and reading.  Her reading skills have improved greatly.  I'm now not sure if she could have read more over the summer but just played us for fools and pretended she couldn't or if Ms. Willets somehow found the right button to push and turned Ali's brain on to learning her words.  Ali brings home a book every night and we sit and she reads it to me.  It is still not a fast read but it is nice to see her making strides.  Ali also comes home every day talking about the math they did in class.  As we spoke about it yesterday I asked her how she knew where to put the number in the game they were playing and her response was brilliant.  She said, "because I'm smart."  I love seeing that confidence in her. 

Sofia's teacher, Mrs. AuCoin, is from the States and is new to the school this year.  She has such amazing energy and really seems to have a passion for teaching.  I think she will challenge Sofia this year which will be good since I don't think Sofia was very challenged last year.  Sofia also brings home a book to read every day and there is a comments card that comes home as well which the teacher will write on and I can also write on to give feedback to the teacher.  Her teacher is now focusing on intonation and punctuation with Sofia which she needs help on since she will just rush through reading the story.  Her reading comprehension is getting better as well so I will let Sofia read her story by herself while I'm working with Ali and then I will ask her questions about her story to see if she in fact read it and understood it.  I'm waiting to see what Sofia will have for spelling homework this year since she already completed all the year two key words last year.  The spelling from last year was also easier for her and she never had to study them after school to get them right on her quizes.  I think she is up for the challenge this year especially becuase she seems to love her teacher.

Overall it has been a great start to the new school year.  The kids will start their after school activites this week so it will be another week of adjustment but all in a goof and fun way.

Soccer/Football

This year we have decided to sign the girls up for soccer at school.  I was asked to help coach this year and since my girls were interested I agreed to coach.  I played soccer from age five until I was sixteen and it is a sport that I loved as a child and I hope my girls will love it too. Today was the first soccer practice.  I headed to the field by myself though since the girls had a birthday party to go to for Ali's friend, Cianna.  I must admit, even without my children there I had a good time.  It is fun to watch the kids play the game and move in a big bunch down the field.  It is also fun to help the kids figure out how to move the ball.  I'm looking forward to coaching this season.

First Day of School

On Monday the girls started their new year at school.  They were both very excited to go to their new classes, Ali in Year 1 (kindergarten) and Sofia in Year 2 (1st grade).  We put their clothes at the end of their beds the night before and made lunches.  When Jason and I got up in the morning to go in to wake the girls up they were ready.  Ali got right out of bed and started to get dressed and apparently Sofia had woken up earlier and put her clothes on and then got back in bed!  After having breakfast the girls were ready to go.  Sofia started to put her jacket on but I had to stop her since we still had twenty minutes before we had to leave.  It was nice to have a leisurely departure.  I was excited to have the girls be in the same building so I only had one drop off and one pick up.  There was no rushing to make it to Sofia's school site in time to put Ali on the bus to the other school.  Even if we are late getting to school now there are no repercussions.  This was a good feeling when we started to leave for school leisurely and I realized we hadn't taken any first day of school photos.  I turned the car around and headed back to our house to get the camera.  Even with the delay we still made it on time.  Once we reached school and walked to the classrooms, without rushing to get the bus, it was an added bonus to see that their classroom are literally across the hall from each other.  I left the girls at school and had coffee with some friends and headed to the grocery store alone.  It was nice!  The girls had a great first day and didn't want to leave when it was over.  It looks like it will be another good school year!

Fire

Over the weekend we went for a drive to a near by town.  On our way home we make a left onto a dirt road to come home on a short cut.  As we made the turn onto the dirt road, which has fields on both sides, we noticed the field was on fire.  As we were close to our friends house and they speak Czech we decided to drive there and tell them about the fire so that they could call the firemen.  Our friends were not home so we called first the wife who didn't pick up so we called the husband who also didn't pick up his mobile.  Next I called another czech speaking friend who lived nearby only to have her not pick up her mobile either.  We didn't feel like we could just drive away from the flames without trying to get help so we saw a couple sitting in their yard.  I got out of the car and tried to explain to them that there was a fire.  She clearly did not understand and was trying to send me to a fire station.  Fortunately someone else must have seen the fire becuase we heard the sirens coming so we drove back towards the fire to make sure the trucks were actually going to the fire.  They were there and had it under control so we continued on our way home.  Having this happen made us realize that we need to have the emergency numbers for all services available and at least cursory phrases readily available.  Now I have that information in my phone with the statements such as "there is a fire" translated on my phone notepad.  I'll be ready for the next field on fire!

Back to Life

This week has been busy with getting back to life.  The girls start school next week so we needed to get haircuts.  I am not very good about having their hair cut regularly so they hadn't had it cut since February.  They definitely needed to be cleaned up.  Fortunately the place I bring them had availability and we were able to get in on Monday.  The haircuts were in time to have Ali's new passport pictures done since we have to renew her passport.  Her passport doesn't actually expire until next summer but because we have to renew our visas this fall and the passport has to be valid for the entire visa period (1 year) we have to renew her passport now.  That lead us to our next task of going to the U.S. Embassy.  It is a fairly easy task since you make an appointment online and then show up.  There is no waiting and it is, of course, all in English.  The only difficulty is in getting to the embassy.  Becasue of all the construction in Prague we were going to have to take the metro to a tram but to our surprised the construction at Hradcanska is finished and they have reopened the tram lines so we just hopped on the #20 tram and headed to the embassy.  Other than that this week has been filled with laundry and going through all the fall clothes in preparation for school.  Today we have school orientation.  I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine.

Return to Prague

As we left Innsbruck on our way back to Prague it started to rain.  I think after every holiday we have we come back to Prague and are greeted with rain.  It is depressing!  As we neared Prague though it actually stopped raining which was a pleasant surprise.  We got home and I went to pick up Watson and takeout dinner since we had no food in the house.  It was nice to see Watson again and he was excited to see us.  He had a great time with Petra and Tom as usual.  He went to the mountains with Petra's language school and played with all the kids and he went for a camp out with Tom.  They hiked 30K (18 miles) and camped out.  I'm told Watson was very happy to sleep on the ground next to Tom and didn't bark all night.  He did get a little cold as it got towards morning but Tom put his jacket on him to keep him warm.  I can't picture Watson getting cold since he sits outside in the snow in freezing temperatures for long periods but I think it is sweet that Tom gave him his jacket.  Anyway, Watson playing in streams and learned to jump from rock to rock across waterfalls.  He was apparently unsure of this at first but eventually figured it out and then had a lot of fun.  He, as usual, came home happy and exhausted. 

After going to the grocery store on Saturday morning we just pretended we were still on vacation for the rest of the weekend.  We played a lot of tag with the girls.  They love playing tag and it is good exercise for all of us.  I love hearing the happy squealing as the kids run away from whoever is it.  I am always surprised at how fast the girls are getting and how they really understand the aspect of trickery in tag.  We finished our game and came inside just before the rain.  We had a nice surprise though since it was raining and sunny I went out on the patio to check for a rainbow and sure enough there was a beautiful rainbow over the fields.

On Vacation - Innsbruck, Austria

After five nights in Piedmont we started our travels toward home. Since it is a ten hour drive from Piedmont back to Prague we decided to fit in one more night of vacation and stop in Innsbruck which happened to be perfectly situated between Piedmont and Prague at the five hour point in the trip. I had really wanted to see Prague as my father proclaims it to be the most beautful place in Europe. As we left Piedmont and drove past Lake Garda the drive alone was beautifully stunning. Driving between mountains in the Trentino/Alto Ridge area of Italy is amazing. The highway runs down the center with villages and vineyards along either side up to the base of the moutains. As we came into Austria you could see snow on some of the mountains which in August I assume were glaciers. You continue on this highway right into Innsbruck where we were surrounded by mountains. We checked into our hotel and went up to our room on the eleventh floor and looked out our windows to an amazing view of the mountains. Dad was right...it is truly a beautiful place.

While I'm not sure I would call it the most beautiful place in Europe it definitely ranks up there. After checking into the hotel and marveling at the view from our window we headed into the old town. The old Town was small and easily walkable. It is what I picture when I picture being in Austria...walking around a village and being able to look around and see massive mountains. After walking around a bit it was time for dinner. We stopped at a beer garden for dinner since it was simple. The food was fine although I did not eat what I ordered. I ordered a sausage but when it came in a plate of boiled water it did not look appealing and after one bite I couldn't get over the texture. It wasn't that my food was bad but rather not something I was willing to eat. While we ate dinner there were drummers in dress-up clothing along with what appeared to be the King, Queen and their court. It was fun to watch the drummers especially because they practiced in a tunnel so the sound was even louder. The girls were fascinated by it so after dinner when we saw the drummers marching through the town playing we walked along with them on the way back to our hotel.

On Vacation - Piedmont, Italy

After leaving Lake Como we headed south west to Piedmont in the Monferrato Hills.  This area is known as undiscovered Tuscany.  To that we can attest there were very few tourists anywhere.  Our apartment rental was nice and had a lovely pool that the kids really enjoyed.  The owners also had two dogs and two cats which the girls just adored.  I was not happy when we found a cat in our apartment since I'm allergic but otherwise I was happy for the animals to be around.  They were all very cute and tollerant of being petted a lot.  We spent the mornings traveling around to see different towns and the afternoons by the pool.  The mornings were definitely more difficult than our last trip to Tuscany.  The first reason is that we were there in August when everyone in Italy apparently is on vacation so many shops were closed and towns were like ghost towns.  The second reason is becuase it is undiscovered there are really no books out there listing the towns that are must sees.  We did our research, albeit only two days before we left, and came up with a list of towns that people had recommended online.  Some of these towns were a hit and others were not. We drove about an hour south to Alba since it is one of the main towns in the area and we thought it would be a good place to start.  Unfortunately the day we were there was the day that all shops in that town are closed.  Fortunately we had other towns we wanted to see so we headed out. 

The driving around Alba was beautiful as it was hill after hill of vineyards.  If I were to go back I would definitely find a rental in this area.  We stopped in the town of Barbaresco which was basically deserted except there were two wineries open.  One had just opened and the man there had just gotten back from Holiday and the other was a local family winery.  We stayed there for a while and Jason chatted it up with the the man while tasting the wines.  I didn't worry about the girls being in the winery since the guy running the shop had a small boy who was pushing a stroller around and crashing into everything and the man was completly at ease. 

We all had to laugh when he picked his son up and had him smell the wine and the little boys face lit up in joy.  He gave him a quick sip and the boy was off to play.  Jason bought some wine and then we kept talking and the man ended up giving us a free gift which was another bottle of wine.  I'm glad Jason remembered what it was becuase when we got home we realized that it was a completely unlabeled bottle.  It made for a nice end to our exploring that day. 

During the middle of the week we had a chef come to our apartment one night and teach us how to make a piedmont meal. Paolo was great. The kids really liked him and he was really good at including them in the cooking and having them help. We made a ricotto/olive mousse with toasted bread, vitello tonnato, cheese risotto and tiramisu. They were all wonderful and we made so much that we ate it for three days! I'm looking forward to making them again since Paolo also gave us his cookbook. It made such an impression on Ali that since we have been home she has asked to help me cook a lot.

The day after Paolo came we headed to Torino.  It is where Paolo is from and he made a good argument and told us exactly where to go.  It was not my favorite city though and dragging to kids around a city on a hot day didn't last long before we headed back to the apartment  and the pool!  On our last day we went to another random town and ended finding a great little village.  Not a foreginer to be found and daily life just happening around us.  We stopped at the local bar for our coffee and then went to the bread shop, cheese shop and salami shop.  It was a nice way to end our visit to Piedmont.

On Vacation - Lake Como, Italy

the "road" to our apartment

After spending the day in Venice we did not feel the need to go back into town in the morning so we packed up and headed to Lake Como.  The drive was mostly highway and we didn't have any traffic so it was uneventful.  It took us about four hours which now seems simple after our 12 hour trip to Slovakia last year and our 8 hour drive to Slovenia on this trip.  The girls do well in the car and keep themselves busy with their leapsters, coloring, watching movies or talking to each other.  After leaving the highway at the southern end of the lake we followed the road along the lake until we came to Menaggio and then we started heading up the hill.  We wanted to see Lake Como and have a balcony to enjoy the view so in order to get that in a rental that was in our budget it meant we had to head up hill.  I'm glad we did becuase the apartment we rented was in a tiny village where we may have been the only English speakers.  It was a very cute village complete with farmers and roosters.  It seemed every night there was a soccer game on the the town field which we enjoyed seeing from a distance.  Around seven every night our neighbors were out on the street talking and laughing which was fun to hear even if we couldn't understand what they were saying.  My only problem with the apartment is that there was something there that I was very allergic too.  It also bothered the kids allergies but not to the extent that my allergies were irritated.  In the end it was fine though since we spent most of our day outside.

We usually started the day with breakfast on the terrace.  It was such a beautiful view of the lake but you definitely needed your sunglasses!  In the picture to the left, Ali and Sofia forgot to bring their sunglasses up to the terrace so the picture of them isn't the best but you can see our wonderful view.  In the mornings we would wake up hearing the village rooster and then shortly thereafter we were here the tractor fire up.  The buildings are so close together though that you couldn't actually see anybody from our terrace except for the people in the house above ours on the hill or on the roof terrace on the house below ours.  It was a very quite village so while on the terrace and walking through the village we had to institute "village voice" with the girls so that we were disrupting everyone actually living there.

After we settled into our apartment we headed back down the hill into Menaggio.  We walked along the boardwalk and stopped for some go-kart riding.  I have such fun memories of riding go-karts on vacation that I was excited for the girls to give it a try.  Sofia has ridden them before but it was Ali's first time.  Sofia rode laps around Ali but Ali did well for her first time.  After getting her going in the right direction she slowly got going faster as she went around the track.  We kept trying to get her to smile but she was concentrating so much that she looked very serious.  She did say though that it was a lot of fun. 

After exploring Menaggio for a bit and having dinner we had to stop for a gelato. You can't be in Italy in the summer and not partake in a gelato!  There were so many flavors to choose from but through the trip we seemed to choose a lot of the same flavors..lemon, melon and mint with an occassional variation from these three. After choosing our flavors we went for a walk along the boardwalk to enjoy the setting sun over the lake and mountains.

After breakfast everyday we went out to explore.  We started by taking the ferry to Bellagio.  Bellagio is really very small but by the time we took the ferry there we needed to stop for a snack to power up for our sight seeing.  This was how we went for the remainder of the trip...breakfast, get dressed, head out to destination, stop for coffee/snack, sightsee, then lunch and one (or sometimes two) cones of gelato.  After our snack we decided to follow a walking tour itinerary we had for Bellagio.  Our first stop was to go by a pillar that had the marks of previous floods which we couldn't find so we continued on to walk by the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni and out to the tip of the promotory called "Punta Spartivento".  It gave us amazing views of the lake looking towards the northern mountains as well as Menaggio and Varenna.  There were steps down to the water which the girls wanted to go down and touch the water.  When I could no longer resist myself we allowed them to take there shoes off and step into the water.  There is just something fun about putting feet into a new body of water. 

After playing in the water for a bit it was time for lunch.  Fortunately one of the restaurants that we had read was good was right on the point so we were able to eat lunch by the water.  It was an excellent lunch.  Once we were finished we headed into the town and walked around the few streets that make up Bellagio.  The town is very small so this didn't take long.  After exploring a bit we headed back to the ferry and enjoyed our trip back across the lake to Menaggio.  After a cool morning the afternoon had warmed up.  It didn't make sense to drive back to our apartment for bathingsuits so we let the kids go in the lake in the underwear.  Along the boardwalk in Menaggio and most towns we visiting there are steps down to the water.  For the most part people were not swimming in these locations but there was one in Menaggio that had a couple swimmers so we figured it must have been acceptable for kids to jump in the water there.  The girls were very happy to be in the water.  I wanted to join them as well since it was hot but I didn't think that would be appropriate. :)

We visited the village of Tremezzo and Villa Carlotta and Varenna all in one day.  It was a full day since we spent about two hours on the ferry.  It was nice to be on the ferry as there was a good breeze to keep us cool.  We started with Villa Carlotta which Ali claimed was her house.  We explored the beautiful gardens and then Ali gave us a tour of "her house".  It was cute to see her going from room to room and decided what happened in each room.  She claimed her bedroom but then changed her mind when she saw the next bedroom.  It would be nice if we could give her this house upon her marriage like Carlotta received but for now we will just pretend she already owns it.  After visiting the villa we walked into the village of Tremezzo for lunch and then back on the ferry to cross back across the lake to Varenna.  After having our after lunch gelato and walking around the village a bit, which was a really cute village, we hiked up the hill to Vezio Castle for a bird show with hawks and owls.  It was a 15 minute hike uphill but worth the trip.  There were some amazing views over the lake and it was fun to see the hawks and owl flying around and landing on the trainers arm.  After watching the show for about a half an hour we decided to head back down the hill for a short play at the playground while we waited for our ferry back to Menaggio.

The next day we headed to the village of Lenno.  I think this was my favorite village on Lake Como that we visited.  It was small and not busy with a lot of tourists.  There was not a major road between the restaurants and the boardwalk so it was very peaceful.  We parked the car in a lot across the main road and headed to an olive oil producer we had read about.  As we walked into the parking area there were three giant dogs laying around which I was a little unsure of but we moved slowly until we got to the office and found someone who worked there.  He assured me the dogs were very friendly and the girls were off to pet them while Jason and i decided on how much olive oil to buy.  We had read good things about this oil and this producer has been making olive oil since 1850.  It is also fun to try olive oiles from different regions becuase they all taste slightly different.  After buying our oil we headed down the hill across the main road into the village.  We walked along the boardwalk towards Villa Balbianello (where part of Casino Royale was filmed) but the day we were there you could only see the villa by boat since the garden entrance was closed.  We didn't feel like committing the money and time to see the villa for an hour so we decided to check out the Lido.  After looking at the quite lido we decided we would skip the lido in Lenno since it was more couples and small.  We didn't want to have to worry about the kids making a lot of noise and disrupting people. So we walked back along the boardwalk and found a cafe on the water for our morning coffee/snack.  After walking around the town a little more it was time for lunch.  We went to a restaurant that we had read about and had a nice meal.  Jason had fish, the girls had ravioli and I had a pasta with a gorgonzola sauce with pieces of melon.  It sounds odd but it was delicious. 

After a good morning we decided it was hot enough that we needed to hit the beach.  We went to the Lido in Menaggio.  The Lido had two pools, a couple restaurants, cabanas and a few other sport activities.  You needed a swim cap to go in the pool which we didn't have so we stayed by the lakeside which was fine with me.  there was a small rocky area to enter the water where the kids spent all their time finding interesting rocks and smoothed glass. 

Becuase the lake drops off so quickly the cement wall that meets the lake can be jumped off without touching the bottom.  This is where I spent all my time in the lake since unlike the kids I found walking on the rocks very painful.  Sofia wanted to make the jump from the corner of the cement pictured right but in front of the cement there is another walkway of cement just under the water and we didn't think she would be able to clear it so she swam off the lido in front of where Jason is standing in this picture. It was very interesting to me that there was no big beach area to enter the water.  It just never ocurred to me that the lake would get so deep so quickly.  It is so different from any swimming we did as kids and so different from any swimming we have done in Spain.  The girls didn't seem to think anything of it and were just happy to be in the water finding treasures.  I love giving them these opportunities to see how different things are in different parts of the world.

On our last full day staying on Lake Como the weather was not as nice so we skipped the beach and decided to drive over the border into Switzerland to Lake Lugano.  The lake had a very pretty green/aqua color to it but once in Lugano it is not a cute village but a large city so it did not have the same appeal as Lake Como.  They did, however, have paddle boats that we thought would be fun so we tried to find parking to give it a go.  Unfortunately, we could not find parking.  We kept following signs for parking but never seemed to actually find any so we gave up on the idea of going on the paddle boats and headed to the Migros grocery store.  I was excited by this trip since ever since last summer when my friend Tim brought back Frey chocolate from a Migros store in Switzerland I have tried to figure out a way to get more.  It is that good!  We went into the shop and bought a large quantity of chocolate.  Now that we are home I recognize I may have over done it!  The shop also had 7Up light so I bought some of that as well.  The parking lot for the grocery store require us to pay 1 swiss franc to get out of the lot but we didn't have any so I had to go take money out of the bank.  I went back into the Migros to ask where I would find a bank.  To my surprise everyone that I asked did not speak English.  After being sent to a few different places someone finally pointed me in the direction of the bank which was apparently right next to the Migros!  The smallest bill the bank machine would dispense was a 50 which is approximately $50.  So I went back into the grocery store to spend the money since we were not planning on coming back to Switzerland.  I spent it well and came out with 1.50 francs remaining...enough to pay to get out of the parking lot.  We headed back to our apartment and beganpacking up for our next destination...Piedmont, Italy

On Vacation - Venice

In Piazzale Roma - The beginning of our
trip down the Grand Canal

After relaxing in beautiful quiet Slovenia we headed southwest to Venice, Italy.  It is just over a two hour drive from our friend's house in Slovenia to Venice so it was an easy trip.  We found our hotel which is on the continent side of Venice and not on the islands themselves.  It was cheaper to stay off the islands and just a lot less complicated given that we had our car.  After checking in and dropping our stuff off in our room we headed out to catch the bus over to the Piazzale Roma.  This is the lauching point for taking any boat into venice so it was quite busy.  We eventually figured out where to buy a ticket for the water bus.  This was the cheapest way to take a trip down the Grand Canal.  By cheapest I do not mean cheap.  It cost us 36 Euro (and that is with lieing about the kids ages...they were 3 and 4 during our time in Venice!)  which gave us some insight as to the expenses of visiting Venice.  We took the boat all the way to Piazza San Marco.  It was fun to be on the boat and see the Grand Canal and the girls loved being on the ocean.  They kept commenting that it smelled like the beach and also wanted to know if they could go swimming.  We had to tell them that swimming was not an option and after a while they finally stopped asking.  As we arrived at Piazza San Marco we could not believe how many people where there.  Since we were all hungry because it was lunch time and neither Jason or I are big fans of crowds we snapped a couple pictures and tried to get out of the crowds.  This was a little difficult given the number of people in Venice but we did manage to slip into an uncrowded restaurant for lunch.

Sofia and Ali taking a minute to emjoy

one of the many canals.

 

After lunch we had the energy for more sight seeing and found some less crowded streets.  It was quite pleasant and very pretty when we could walk at a leisurely pace and look at the buildings and canals.  It was fun to wind our way through the streets always unsure if it was going to lead to a dead end with a canal or to a bridge over the water.  We let the girls choose our directions for a while since they like to be the leaders.  It allows us time to enjoy our surroundings and not feel like we are dragging the kids around.  After the quiet of the side streets we braved the crowds again to see the Rialto bridge.  We had to take a walk over to it since on the boat ride on the Grand Canal the kids were very excited to see it because it is in one of the episodes on Little Einsteins that they like to watch. 

I thought this was going to be the shop
but they decided on white and it wasn't
available in this shop.

We made our way through the crowds and stopped in a bunch of shops along the way since the girls wanted to get a carnival mask.  As the masks were so fanciful I didn't blame them for wanting one.  They had a tough time choosing but in the end they both ended up with pretty white masks.  We finished our day in Venice with dinner.  Our friend had recommended a restuarant so we went in search of the restaurant but unfortunately it was closed for the weekend.  Fortunately there was a restaurant next to it that was open with outdoor seating.  The restaurant was in a big open piazza so while we waited for our food and once the kids were done eating they were able to chase the pidgeons all around the square.  It was a busy full day.  I'm glad we stopped and saw Venice for the day.  It is an amazing city.  I would recommend going to Venice if given the chance but I would recommend it only if you could go in a time other than August as August is too hot and way too crowded.

On Vacation - Slovenia

I have not blogged for over two weeks and that is because we have been on vacation.  The past three summers we have vacationed in Spain but this year we decided to do something different.  This year we traveled to Slovenia and then onto Italy and Austria.  We started our trip off by heading to our friends house in Slovenia.  We packed the kids in the car and headed out at 4am.  We wanted to avoid as much traffic as possible and we also wanted to catch the car train.  We did get off on time but we hit some rain and then traffic around Munich but we made it just in time for the car train. 

We did not want to miss the car train because it would mean driving over the mountain on some narrow winding roads which would make the eight hour trip even longer.  We also did not want to miss it becuase we had really talked it up with the kids.  Fortunately we made it with a few minutes to spare and there were only two cars behind us on the train.  We were breathing a sigh of relief that we were not the car that was turned away because the train was full.  If you are waondering what a car train is, it is a train that you drive your car onto, turn the car off and pull the emergency break.  You then sit in your car as the train travels along the tracks.  This car train brought us through the mountain rather than over the mountain so the majority of our time was spent in a pitch black tunnel.  It was really fun and the kids enjoyed it.  The train that we caught only brought us part way through the mountain pass though so instead of having a five minute drive to our friends house we had a forty-five minute drive down the mountain.  I didn't mind this part of the drive though and just enjoyed the scenery as much as possible while driving down a windy mountain road.  The eight hour drive was well worth it.  My friends house is absoultely beautiful even in the rain.  The kids were excited to see their friends and quickly separated from us and off they went for a fun filled weekend.  I was also happy to see my friend Beanie since I hadn't had a good chat with her since school let out.  Another set of our friends, Colin and Kim, were staying for the weekend as well with their son, Bryn, so we had a lot of fun just hanging out.  We chatted, had great lunches and dinners and shared a lot of laughs. 

On Saturday morning we all went out to the pool since the sun was shining.  Our friends have a natural swimming pool which is now on my wish list of things to have in my yard.  A natural swimming pool doesn't require any chemicals and makes you feel like you are in a beautiful pond.  There is no fiddling with chlorine and Ph and there is no concern of the kids eyes stinging or their skin getting irritated.  It was great!  After time playing in the pool we headed in for lunch.  During lunch the clouds rolled in and the rain started.  That didn't stop the fun though. 

We all headed into a nearby town for the boys to do a bit of bridge jumping.  I did not take part in the bridge jumping since my bikini would not have stood up for the jump (9 meters or 29 feet) into the water and even if I had a one piece I'm not sure I would have the nerve to actually make the jump.  I'm usually nervous about jumps into unknown water but our friend Guy had made this jump before so I knew it was deep enough but also the town had a platform installed on the bridge for this specific purpose.  The Soca river is a beautiful river that is torquise in color and even in the height of August it is still very cold.  Jason guesses it was probably about 60 degrees (15 C).  I did my part and took pictures of Guy, Jason and Colin making the jump.

We all had a great time visiting with friends and seeing Slovenia.  Slovenia definitely tops my list of one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Final Good-Bye

We said our final good-bye to the Noordhuis Family yesterday.  We met them at the playground in our village and let the kids play while Inge and I chatted.  When it was time to go the kids all gave hugs and were silly with each other which was nice to see.  I gave Inge a hug and squeeked out good-bye past the lump in my throat.  It is hard to say bye to friends here since it means that you are usually saying good-bye forever.  I hope though that Inge's next move or the move after that will bring her back to the States where we can reconnect.  Sofia seems okay with Lars leaving since she definitely sees it as temporary and when they are adults they can find each other again.  It is a great way to view it.  In the meantime she plans on writing lars regularly to keep in touch.  Here is the picture of all the kids playing at the playground.  They must have felt sympathetic to me becuase there was no complaint over the photo taking.

Stolen

I'm sad to say that Jason's bike was stolen from our house yesterday when I took Watson to the vet.  I don't know who comes down a dead end dirt road to steal a bike but they did.  I'm happy that nothing else was taken but still upset at the loss of an expensive bike.  I'm sad that our family bike rides will be put on hold until next summer and I'm a little creeped out that some stranger was here.

Family visit

Last week we had our family here for a visit.  We were so busy sight seeing and hanging out together having fun that I had no time to blog.  The girls had such a fun time with their cousins.  To spend every day with their cousins and then to have them sleeping in their room was just pure bliss.  Bed times were blown away and the kids didn't get in bed until nine almost every night and then they would stay up talking for a while until we finally pulled the plug.  We revisited the Prague castle, Wallenstein gardens, old town square, Wenceslas Square, the Powder Tower, Mala Strana and Charles Bridge.  We also took a trip to the Torture museum which we had never been to before.  It was quite fascinating to see all the old torture instruments.  I'm happy I didn't live in a time when they were used!  I was a little concerned that the girls would be scared in the museum but they seemed equally fascinated and would just say things like, "ouch, I wouldn't want that." or, "they would be dead right mommy?" or, "of course that would hurt.". 

We did have one warm sunny day so after some sightseeing we headed back home so the kids could hit the pool.  They didn't seem to find the cold temperature and jumped right in.  After they had gotten cooled off and had come out of the pool I couldn't take it anymore and had to jump in myself.  It was refreshing after a warm day in the city.  The boys followed my lead and had some good brotherly time in the pool.  Jodi and I couldn't resist capturing it in a picture.  Such a touching brotherly moment when you realize they are really very similar!

One of the great things about having family with us was that we also got to celebrate Jodi's birthday (her 27th I think??).  I made the cake and Jason and Matt prepared orange chicken.  Orange chicken is one of our all time favorite dishes that we make and is often the request for special occassions so we offered this to Jodi for her birthday dinner.  It is time consuming but well worth it.  This time around Jason had Matt's help in the kitchen.  Another moment of brotherly bonding.

On their last day with us we took a trip out to Krivoklat Castle which is about 45 minutes outside Prague.  The kids loved seeing another castle.  We took the tour that was in Czech but they gave us reading material in English.  Keely and Sofia were the most interested in the reading material so I read a lot to them.  One room in the castle was about the lady Philipa, the merchant's daughter,  who married the Arch duke Ferdinand.  Given their differences in status they married in secret and kept their marriage a secret for 19 years while having four children.  The girls all really liked this love story and I had all their attention. 

After finishing the tour we went for a walk around the castle.  There are marked walking routes in the area of the castle so we took the one that was the shortest at about 4km.  It was a pleasant walk through the woods that brought us to a zipline and playground area near the half way point in the walk. We let the kids have fun on the zipline but then even the adults had to have a turn.















We finished their last day by walking to our local pizzeria.  The kids had a blast playing around the pond at the pizzeria and seeing the baby ducks.  We decided to take the path up to our house rather than the road since Matt, Jodi, Keely and Alaina wanted to see what it was like.  We decided to give it a try and see if it was just too overgrown to walk through.  To our surprise it was well (relatively) maintained this year.  The kids got to see a lot of slugs and a snake during the walk.  As Keely said, it was the best day of the trip!  I'm glad we ended on a high note!  They left yesterday morning and we were all sad to see them go.  It was really a lot of fun to have them here and I'm sure we will be hearing about how much fun Sofia and Ali had with their cousins for the foreseeable future!