You know it's warm outside when....

the work briefs make their appearance!

April 25th marks the date of my first sighting of 2006. For those of you who don't know what I am referring to -- work briefs are one of the many experiences that accompany life in the midst of a construction zone. Regardless of body shape, type, age or fitness level, some construction workers feel the need to do their strenuous work in their underwear. I have yet to determine if these are indeed their underwear, or some other imposter purchased at the local "Work Briefs Shop" solely for the purpose of performing outdoor work such as shoveling gravel, tiling roofs, digging trenches and the like. Either way, it's not a pleasant sight to happen upon when one innocently returns to their home after a nice morning walk in the park. Next year I may have some explaining to do: "Mommy, why is that man outside in his panties?" or "Why can't I go outside in my panties?".... Oh boy.

Walkin' on Sunshine

Lydia and I were so lucky to have a chance to explore a park nearby called Divoka Sarka. It was a beautiful spring day and we had so much fun with our friends Ms. Emily, Eloise and Lillian! Here you see our two precious beauties holding hands on the walk. Ok, ok... I admit, they only held hands long enough for me to capture this picture, but it's a first step in these little girls' budding friendship!

Who is that Masked Man?

Faster than a speeding bullet.
More powerful than a locomotive.
Able to suck up dog doo in a single swoosh.
Look! There on the sidewalk!
It's an ATV. It's a vacuum. It's...
SUPER-POOPER SCOOPER!

(aren't you glad he's wearing a helmet???)

Spring has finally sprung!

No... this isn't a form of Czech time-out. It's what 2-year olds do to entertain themselves at the park. Not only that, they surprised their mommies by being able to climb the rope ladder (and other non-safety regulated ladders) without assistance! Guess our little girls grew up over the long winter...

Becoming Daddy's Little Girl

Lydia is recently showing an affection for Daddy. Maybe she's finally catching on that HE is the fun one. Last night after dinner Lydia brought book after book for Daddy to read. And the real surprise was when SHE initiated cuddle-time and laid her head down on his chest... a truly rare (i.e. non-existant) occurance in the life o' Lydia.

The Easter Bunny is a close relative of the Energizer Bunny... he just keeps going and going and going....

Today the friendly Ceska Posta man rang the bell holding a special box from Northwest Iowa. Aunt Robin prepared a special box for Lydia and boy was Lydia excited! Not only was there enough candy inside to last until Christmas, but also some cool ink stampers, a windup jumping Easter egg, and 2 bendy bunnies. The bendy bunnies have already hugged, kissed, danced and played ring-around-the rosie... and all of this was only during lunch time!

So you are the best, Auntie Robin (and Uncle Don too, for being willing to pay the obscene postage)!!! And we have you to thank for the sugar high that is currently preventing Lydia from taking a nap! :-)

This one takes the cake!

I stole this picture from my friend, Sunny Evan's, blog. She perfectly captured Lydia's true emotions upon seeing the special cake at the Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday. Her words went something like this: "Aaaawwwwwwww".

Easter Monday

Since the Czech Republic is not a Christian country, Easter Sunday is generally unobserved. The country observes Easter Monday instead (read more about their unique traditions below). Since Brandon had Monday off, we enjoyed a wonderful day as a family.

We headed out first thing in the morning for Coffee Heaven... one macchiato for Brandon, a decaf cappuccino for Ann-marie and lots of cappuccino foam for Lydia!



Then it was time to visit the "Easter sheep" taking up short-term residence in Old Town Square. This was clearly the highlight of the morning for Lydia. She even fed the sheep some lettuce leaves by hand (something Mommy was much too intimidated to do), and said "There you go!" with each teeny morsel of greens that the sheep very eagerly ate. And yes, sheep DO have teeth.


Next was a short walk to visit an outdoor sculpture exhibit in one of the squares downtown. I had seen pictures of this very unique exhibit and thought Lydia would be intrigued. They were sculptures by the Czech Republic's most famous living sculptor, Olbram Zoubek. Lydia was quite curious, saying "What's that" over, and over, and over.... All of the figures were tall and skinny, and let's just say we got our visual fill of sculpted genitalia.


The morning concluded with some playtime in the park then home for lunch and a nap. Our day was wrapped up with an extremely tasty dinner with our friends, the Stones. Emily made Thai chicken that was yummy, yummy, yummy! Eloise and Lydia got some bonus playtime too. It's so fun to see them start to play with each other peacefully.

Whew! What a FUN day!!!!