Czech, please!: God Save the Queen! (or America the Beautiful... you be the judge...)

It’s been a great week or two since we last posted and we’re starting to feel even more settled in. We've made some great friends and are keeping busy with all Prague has to offer.

The kids were still on Easter break after we returned from Vienna, so Don had a fun week exploring parks and hanging out with friends. Here are a few pics from their adventures.

Train rides in the park with Jacob

Double Foofas

Rainy days don't slow these 2 down

Playground fun

The kids were back at school this week and started their new after school clubs, including floor hockey, kick boxing and for Burke: ballet!

We’re finding ourselves eating out much more than we did in the States, mostly because it’s so inexpensive and easy to eat at restaurants, but the Kids' Corners certainly don't hurt either...

Playing at an outdoor Kids' Corner
at a restaurant near our home

On the Charles Bridge on our way
to a restaurant

Czech restaurant near Charles Bridge

The weekend of April 26^th had beautiful weather so we spent Saturday at the Farmers’ Market and this time we cracked the code on how to really enjoy the day. Friends, lady with giant bubbles to distract the children and bottles of champagne. Perfect day!

The dads leading a game of duck, duck, duck, goose!

Pile on Mr. Mike!

Waiting for the bus

Riding the bus with Lexi

After a full day of fun at the market we took a quick nap and then rode public transportation into the city to hang out at our friends’ home. Rain ruined our plans to walk on the river and watch a boat show, but we ended up having a great time picking up pizzas and playing Cards Against Humanity.

On Sunday our friends invited us over to their home for some afternoon tea (aka: lunch) and we had perfect weather to hang out in the garden (aka: yard). It was such a beautiful day and fun time we ended up there past dark.

Burke sliding

A pick up game of Red Rover (modified a bit given the oldest
kids are 4...)

Nap time for kids...

Our mate, Ruth. She REALLY
wanted to be in this blog post.

Our British friends are introducing
us to all sorts of fun things - like
these snacks that are the shape
of rings and taste like potato
chips

One of the highlights of our week was when we got the call that our stuff had arrived and cleared customs. It’s funny how excited you can get about getting your stuff, but we were thrilled! Until we realized that we brought way more stuff than we needed… Picture a bomb going off in your house full of your stuff... Yeah, it’s going to take a while to figure out where to put all this stuff, but anyway we’re glad to have some of the comforts of home back.

Just a 20 foot container, but they really packed it in...

The kids are glad to have the
Big One back! (yes, we really moved
it around the world)

One of the benefits of living in the Czech Republic is being on their vacation / holiday calendar. 5 weeks of vacation and 13 public holidays? Um, yes, please. Don’t mind if I do! Thursday was a holiday so we got a babysitter and joined the school’s annual golf tournament at BEŘOVICE Golf Course (http://www.gcbr.cz/). We were paired up with a really nice man and his 10 year old daughter and although our team name was Team Hole in One, we were pretty bad. On the bright side, the course was beautiful and we really enjoyed the day. Well, until the rain and hail started 15 holes in… that part was not great, but otherwise a good day!

If you look closely, you can see the ball!

Team photo!

I may not golf well, but I have great outfits.

That evening we were tired and not much in the mood for cooking, so we jumped on a tram and rode into the city for some Fish and Chips. It was the kids’ first fish fry and of course mushy peas were new too. We splurged and let them have their first milk shake too (Banana & honey). What a great mid-week holiday break.

This one is for the Hordleys! :)

Saturday, May 3^rd was pretty cold, so we decided to focus on indoor adventures and checked out Dinosaurium (http://dinosaurium.cz/). It was a nice little exhibit of Dinosaur bones and different fossils with a cool kids area where they could dig for bones in a sandbox, color and watch Dinosaur movies. Interestingly, the most entertaining part of the exhibit was not a Dinosaur, but rather the Secret Service-ish looking guys who were staged in the 2 rooms and apparently had our number. They were in suits and had those little ear pieces and basically followed us from room to room and watched us like hawks. We got yelled at for being too loud (in a room full of yelling children) and then for climbing over the chains and making letters in the sand and touching Dinosaur remains that were 252 million years old. Like that’s some sort of big deal or something? You know, now that I write it down maybe it wasn’t so crazy that we were being followed… Anyway, here are pics from the day:

Waiting for the bus

Hold on!

The kids enjoying some Dinosaur fun

Note: Burke is writing her name in the sand dangerously
close to a priceless Dinosaur fossil. I'm sure that was
not why we ended up being targeted.

Mike touching things he's not
supposed to... also probably not
why the secret service wannabes
were following us around

I'm pretty sure Don was educating Mike and Ruth on the
Jurassic era. You're welcome.

Digging for bones

The kids watching dino movies

No day is complete without a picture of the Brits and Americans standing under their respective flags in the Czech Republic. God Save the Queen! (or American the Beautiful... you be the judge... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9EC3Gy6Nk).

After the excitement of Dinosaurium we spent a few hours hanging out at our favorite restaurant near our house. Why they don’t have “kids corners” with toys in the U.S. I’ll never know.

Taste testing

After dinner we came back to our place for a little bit and introduced the Hordley’s to the big one. They were skeptical about whether a family of 4 could really fit into a bean bag, but the Big One did not disappoint…

How easily amused are these kids?
Now you see them...

Now you don't!

Now you see them...

Now you don't! It took them a while
just lying there under the blanket
to realize the game was over...

Today we took a trip 1 hour south of Prague to Plzně, home of the Pilsner beer (according to Don, the beer alone was worth the trip) and also where Patton set up camp at the conclusion of WWII. It was the furthest East that the US traveled in WWII and every year the city of Plzně commemorates the end of the war with a weekend-long celebration (http://www.liberationfestival.com/). It was a great festival with lots of old tanks, jeeps and although there were some historical inaccuracies, it was fun to see American Flags all over the place.

The main square

Color Guard (including the US Flag)

General Patton's grandson (or our friend is pulling our leg,
either way, there's a guy in an old vehicle with an
American flag. Believe what you will)

Watching the procession

The whole crew lined up for the parade

This was so funny - there was this great band playing all kinds of "American" music, including: the Rocky Theme, Chariots of Fire, the song from Pirates of the Caribbean and this gem: