I'm a little behind in posting, but it's been a busy 2 weeks in Europe, so this is a long one...
I was back in Poland for about a week in Poznań. I didn't have a ton of free time, but did have the opportunity to explore the city one night. There is a really nice main square with some neat buildings and beautiful parks throughout the city. I happened to be in Poland while President Obama was visiting Warsaw and it was REALLY big news. Every station was talking about his visit and every person wanted to talk to me about it. The country was celebrating the 25th anniversary of their first democratic election, which is symbolic of the fall of communism for Poland. People were very excited and celebrating the day.
Hanging out in the hotel eating
a "kebab" bigger than my head
Accidentally got on a toll road... fortunately I had enough
złoty to cover it.
Who knew Robo-Cop originated in Poland!?!
These decorative ballet boxes were throughout
the city in celebration of the 25th anniversary
of the first democratic election
There were beautiful (and
big!) monuments throughout
the city
Lots of beautiful parks
Nothing says breakfast like tomatoes,
radishes, peppers, etc...
It was the school's 20th Anniversary and there was a nice (but loooooong) celebration that we were able to attend at their school. The kids performed a song, helped to plant the ceremonial trees and send off some balloons.
Performing a song
Lining up to plant trees (that's Burke in the pink hat)
Holden in the green hat on his way
I had a few free hours in the middle of the day without meetings, so we decided to have a lunch date. Don spent some time scoping out local spots and surprised me with a trip to the... drum roll please... METRO!?! Yup, we went to lunch in the metro (subway) station and actually, believe it or not, it was really good! It was an all organic restaurant and we split some sliders and a salmon salad. Who knew?
From there we were off for fish pedicures. It was... interesting. Definitely something to try once. It felt like little vibrations all over your feet. Well, all over my feet. The fish REALLY liked me. Don had like 2 fish on him and I was swarmed by an entire tank.
Me and the shark. On a side note, the next week we were walking by this shark and he told Eunice that she is Muy Bonita... Agreed!
What are you looking at? Like you've never seen fish eating feet before?
They liked me either because I'm so sweet or because it's been way too long since I've had a pedicure...
Later that night it was time for an ice cream break.
The weekend of June 7th was the Summer Fayre (it's a little scary when you send your kids to a school that doesn't know how to spell Fair... :) at the kids' school. It was a great event with lots of activities for the kids.
Burke sliding down the giant blowup
Swings!
Horse riding
Arts and Crafts
Painting t-shirts
That's a different use for a balloon sword...
Face painting
Saturday night we had a babysitter so we headed downtown and had dinner with a beautiful view of the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle at Grosseto (http://www.grosseto.cz/en/), then enjoyed some entertainment in the square.
Charles Bridge
Prague Castle
Juggling batons on fire
Is it just me, or does my hand look enormous in this photo? Don Cooley, you're not going anywhere! I've got you in my grip!
Astronomical clock
Mango margarita
See if you can find the confused American among all these British Soccer (aka Football) fans..
Sunday started out as a bit of a bummer... apparently we didn't close the trunk completely, so the battery was dead and we needed a jump. Because of the way we parked, Don decided we needed to move the car so that another car could jump us. The next 45 minutes were spent with me steering and Don pushing as we did a 500-point turn until our car was wedged between the gate and the sensor, basically 1 millimeter from destroying our gate and damaging the car. Good idea...
Looking down at Don Cooley after wedging the car against the gate.
Help arrives
Holden couldn't bear to watch any of it
Burke spent the time making art
2 hours later we went on our shopping trip
That evening we were surprised by a small festival right in our neighborhood.
I brought meat / cheeses for the adults, but the kids ate it all
Back to the Hordley's for some dinner
For a few days the weather got HOT in Prague and we were missing our pool in AZ, so we had to improvise.
Playing in the "pool" is exhausting
It's amazing how many kids you can fit in this thing!
Don and Ruth went for a long walk in the park one day. They said there were great views and then showed me this picture. Oh yeah, great views.
Thankfully the weather has cooled a bit just in time for canoeing day at the school.
The school had a nice Father's Day brunch and Don not only got to enjoy bacon sandwiches, but also some fun activities with the kids, like obstacle courses and rope climbing.
Last weekend we were so excited to host Eunice in Prague! It was a great visit and fun weekend. We had our regular routine of soccer and the Farmer's Market, but also a fun night out on the town.
Dinner at the Time Traveler
Carpaccio and Caprese
Peek-a-boo
Look at these soccer stars!! The Hordley's got us authentic soccer gear so we could properly cheer for England in the World Cup!
This soccer dad / coach is such a great sport and Holden is so excited he shouts "I scored a gooooooal!!"
Eunice bought cherries, shared...
and immediately regretted it... you can't get away from these kids!
Selfies!
Adults night out! We started out at Las Adelitas http://www.lasadelitas.cz/) for some good Mexican food really good drinks.
Over... over... back... a little more... STOP! Got it.
This is what happens when you leave your phone unattended
Teen Wolf x 2
From there we were off to explore Prague nightlife. We wandered into Harley's (http://www.harleys.cz/) and then promptly wandered out... Stag party S&M, ummm... no thank you.
We ended up at James Dean, where we have eaten a few times, but never gone into at night. Turns out they have a cool bar downstairs that plays all oldies. We had a blast.
Meanwhile, back at the Hordley's, the kids were enjoying their first sleepover party!
On Father's Day we celebrated one of the three best dads to have ever lived (shout out to our awesome dads: Gary Birkahn and Brian Cooley, Sr.) with some naps, snacks, dunch (or linner if you prefer) and ice cream in Wensaslas Square.
Napping together
Snacking together
Riding together
As the finale of this post, I have 2 cute videos to share of Holden & Lexi dancing over the past 2 weeks and 1 video that shows where Holden gets his moves. Enjoy.
