Her Future's So Bright

Lydia latched onto Lucy's sunglasses at Thanksgiving Dinner. Hey, sometimes a girl's gotta certain image to protect! (Thanks to Sunny for catching this pic!)

Ernie Comes to Prague

We had a special surprise this morning! At 8:30 am the postal service delivered a box from Sanborn, Iowa. Inside was a box of Yogurt Burst Cheerios, a copy of the Northwest Review newspaper, and TWO tapes of Sesame Street (16 hours of viewing pleasure!!!). Lydia is absolutely captivated by Ernie, Bert, Big Bird and pals but she's not so crazy about the real life segments with talking kids. Here you see her self-selected seating arrangment. (What else would you do with an pool fish in the wintertime?!?!). THANK YOU Grandma Verbrugge!

The Police Strike Again.

Since Brandon refuses to do the honor, I will take it upon myself to inform everyone of his most recent "cop incident". Yes, that's right... stopped for speeding once again. Despite his wife's recent admonitions and warnings to slow down and drive more carefully, he was pulled over on the motorway for driving 156 km/h -- almost 100mph. (The speed limit is 130 km/h). Brandon decided to play his "stupid foreigner card". The officer informed Brandon he was pulled over for speeding and that the fine would be 1000 Kc. ($40). Brandon "innocently" asked for clarification: "You want me to pay you??? I don't understand." Mr. Policeman, unable to understand English, promptly responded, "You don't have 1000 Kc? Do you have 200?" ($8). Brandon replied, "I'm not sure. I'll have to check." He quickly returned to his car, hid the bulk of his money, and for special effect returned to pay the policeman using a few bills and a bunch of coins. The policeman chuckled at Brandon having to use up all of his coins to pay the fine. (Little did he know Brandon was having the last laugh).

In case you didn't catch that... Yes, you are right. Brandon payed the same fine for driving 100mph as I paid for mistakenly turning left where I wasn't supposed to. What's up with that? Guess he's had a bit more practice and is getting to be quite the master of Czech police negotiation.

Happy Euro-Thanksgiving!

So most people in the Czech Republic were oblivious to the fact that today is a holiday. We, however, managed to celebrate in grand style thanks to our great friends, Phil & Shanna (Lucy and Clark's mommy and daddy). They hosted a party for 35+ guests and 7 kids. Quite a brave undertaking, if you ask me. It was a crazy, fun, yummy time!

Brandon even took the day off. He figured that as an American, this was his right. He and 10 others played football this morning. I went grocery shopping with Lydia and cleared the grocery store out of all 6 of their sweet potatoes (so sorry, oh ye other poor American shoppers in search of Thanksgiving dinner...)

There was plenty of turkey, mashed potatoes and pie to go around. Brandon and I were having a tough time remembering when we last enjoyed a true Thanksgiving Dinner. Living so far away from home, we generally took a long weekend trip somewhere and enjoyed our Thanksgiving Dinner beneath the Golden Arches (i.e. McD's) or somewhere equally memorable. One thing we'll need to get used to is having the big football game start at 7:00 pm, but hey... "normal" is all in one's perspective! We had so much fun, although I admit I missed a good ol' rousing round of the Funnel Game. We just may have to make it a worldwide phenomenon and introduce Eastern Europe to the wonders of the Funnel Game (Grandpa, do you give me permission?).

Brandon didn't know it, but when I "signed" up to cook a turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner, I was really signing HIM up for the duty... since I don't deal well with meat that isn't boneless and skinless OR that still has some random feathers and needs it's neck cut off. Brandon, you are my hero!

This bird wasn't made for a European oven! Tight squeeze but we made it work.

Fairy Princess Lydia enjoys a little quiet time in Lucy's garden.

"Why are boys so WEIRD?!?!?"

Lydia's first experience with snow on Sunday morning before church. Let's just say she was outside for less time than it took to get her dressed to go out. She wasn't so keen on walking on the snow. Not to worry... I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to get acclimated!

One of the most amazing sites during our trip was a salt mine near Krakow that has many sculptures and cathedrals inside made entirely out of salt and created by the miners who worked here. Absolutely amazing!

In the main square of Krakow. Gotta love modern art.

A relief on the cathedral wall carved out of salt and depicting the Last Supper.

The largest cathedral in the salt mine. The walls, floors and steps are all made out of salt. Even the crystals on the chandeliers are salt. Can you imagine that you can even have your wedding here?!?

pierogi - a semicircular dumpling with any of various fillings, such as finely chopped meat, vegetables, that is often sauteed after being boiled. See picture above.

Auschwitz

It is impossible for me to describe the impact of visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Walking the same pathways that millions of innocent people walked to their deaths is a humbling experience. We arrived at the museum just in time for a private tour which turned out to be a blessing since Lydia was a little wound up. Our tour lasted 3 hours and in that time we heard stories and saw things that can only change one's thought process forever. How could something so horrible be allowed to go on for so long? How could those in command sleep at night? How could they face their families at the end of the day? How could they be so convinced that their actions were right? Would I have survived? How strong is my faith? Am I also guilty of judging others to be less valuable than me? By the end of our tour it was pitch-black outside and very cold and all I could think about was the people who were imprisoned here and lived in the same cold, dark place without adequate clothing, being humiliated, beaten, worked to exhaustion and literally starving to death.

The sleeping/living quarters at Auschwitz II - Birkenau. Several hundred prisoners slept in each of the barracks.

Trains arriving with prisoners would unload at this point in the tracks. The people were separated into men in one line, women and children in the other. Those who were deemed "unfit for work" (pregnant women, children under 15, elderly, handicapped, sick) were immediately led to the gas chambers.

The women's quarters of Auschwitz II-Berkinau.

The High Tatras Mountains in Slovakia. Snow is nowhere to be found... even on the tops of the mountains! What's up with that?!? It was SO much the "off season" that we were the only people staying in our brand new hotel. The hotel manager even set up a play area and tent just for Lydia to play in during breakfast!!!

WARNING! Parental Control Device activated!

The following pictures contain images not suitable for audiences containing grandmothers. Please proceed at your own discretion.

Before departing the Tatras Mountains of Slovakia, we decided to board the TatraBob for some Xtreme adventure! It was basically a single person roller coaster. We knew it was a hit with Lydia when we took her out of the "bobsled" at the end of the ride and she immediately tried to climb back in! Ok... we'll do it ONE more time!!!

Lydia and Mommy prepare to TatraBob in the mountains of Slovakia.

Budapest at night, full moon and all.

Lydia has had enough. Mommy and Daddy learned a valuable lesson ... we are now in a period of our life where tours of parliament buildings are probably not such a good idea. We lasted approximately 15 minutes before we had to ask the security guard to escort us (and our little angel) out of the Budapest parliament building -- screaming and kicking all the way.

Our final stop on the way home: the Communist Statue Graveyard. Following the fall of Communism, the city council of Budapest decided to move 41 of their Communist statues to one location. The park was quite... well... Communist. But intriguing nevertheless.

See what happens when Mommy is away for the morning and Daddy is in "control"?!?! This morning I went to a lovely women's brunch Emily Stone organized for the ladies in our church fellowship. I came home to the "horror" of Lydia's first tattoo! Shame on Daddy! Although I do have to admit... it IS quite fitting for Lydie's pipes o' steel! :-)

It appears as if the Christmas Letter-Writing Elf is hard at work in his workshop! Also, take note of the white background. Seems that our first snowfall this morning was the inspiration for the elf's Christmas spirit.

Lydia is a natural at metro-riding in Budapest!

Mid-way Layover

We are currently in the Tatras Mountains in Slovakia where we quickly discovered what it means to visit during the "off-season". Yes... lodging is cheaper, but tourist attractions are not open either. Yesterday we drove an hour to see the largest castle in Slovakia only to discover it closed for the season on October 31. Same for the many caves in the area. So, we have enjoyed a little down time and even stumbled upon a great pizzeria last night where Brandon claims he consumed the "best pizza he has had in all of Europe"! Quite a distinction, huh?

Lydia was Grumpy (yes, with a capital "G") yesterday. Maybe she's tired of the car time, or switching beds every 2 days, or she's just 21 months. Who knows, but I think it was a blessing that we were forced to take it easy for a day before heading off to Budapest today.

Sorry... dont have the ability to post pictures so we'll have to save that for our return at the end of the week. Please keep Lydia's emotional state and her mommy and daddy's patience level in your prayers!

Back in the Saddle

With Brandon's remaining 5 vacation days this year and a Czech holiday next week the equation seemed perfect for a road trip of Eastern Europe. Although I am feeling a bit apprehensive about a week in the car and inconsistent sleep locales for Lydia (she didn't bounce back so quickly post-Berlin!), I AM looking forward to seeing some very beautiful places. We will drive to Krakow, Poland tonight and hopefully arrive by 10 or 11 pm. We'll spend 3 days there, visit Auschwitz concentration camp and then head for Budapest, Hungary stopping mid-way for two days in the Tatras Mountains of Slovakia. We'll be driving 5-7 hours every 2-3 days so with a toddler that doesn't enjoy the car you see where my apprehension comes from. In a positive light... After this, the flight home for Christmas will be a piece of cake!!!

The Future is Not So Bright...

Think I'll pack away my sunglasses until next June. Or maybe I will just trade them in for some night vision goggles.

I was just beginning to accept the fact that most fall days in Prague are gray and cloudy when my psyche was dealt another blow this week. It was an event you may also be familiar with: Daylight Savings Time. Yes, they also change the clocks here in Eastern Europe. Why was this so different than the 29 previous DSTs I have experienced? Well, let's just say we better stock up on lightbulbs around here. Some internet research revealed that by the time mid-December rolls around sunrise will be at 8:00am with sunset at 4:00pm. A quick calculation by this stay-at-home mommy revealed that we will have approximately 1 hour of post-nap daylight. Not exactly enough time to trek to the park (our standard afternoon activity). With this grim realization I am now quite worried that Lydia will be reciting her VeggieTales movies from memory by Christmas! Guess we're going to have to become creative with our afternoon activities. I sure am glad I have that I invested in that 101 Fun Activies for Toddlers book! At a rate of one per day we may just survive our first Prague winter.