Brown and blue

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Prague

Almost 2 weeks ago already we went to Prague for the weekend.  I still love that I can say that, no biggie, I just flew to Prague for the weekend :)

We went with some really good friends of ours the Coffey's.  They have Liam, Jackson's best little buddy here.  It was Liam's mom, Jessica's 30th birthday so it was sort of a celebration trip! 

We were literally there less than 48 hours.  We got up at 4:30 Saturday morning to catch a flight out of Dusseldorf.  Luckily the flight is just under an hour and we were in Prague pretty much before the sun was up.  That gave us 2 full days there.  With a 1 1/2 year old that is pretty much all the time we need anywhere.

Saturday we spent the day walking around the city center and playing in parks. It was really quite chilly there and we were all bundled up, but it didn't stop us from having a great day!   They were having some sort of political demonstration there and no one really could tell us what it was about.  There were tons of people out, probably more out of tradition than for any other reason. 

Jewish Synagogue
Asking for help on the slide
Jackson and Liam playing in the park
We hit up a few Starbucks, since they are on practically every corner and we can't find them near us, and then it was nap time!  (for everyone) It gets dark really early so by the time Jackson was up we were going back out in the dark.  It was wonderful.  It gave us the feel of being night owls, which we all know is so not true anymore!  The city was amazing at night so beautifully lit. We hit up Old Town and the Astronomical Clock and then we enjoyed an amazing dinner at, wait for it.... McDonald's. :( Time just seemed to fly by and we were on a tight schedule for the boys not to have a melt down with out food.  We looked at restaurant after restaurant and we either couldn't fit or there were no child seats.  It never fails when we're traveling we eat McDonald's more than we ever would! After our tasty meal we headed back to the hotel and let the boys play in our room.  It was HUGE! It was nice for us all to just relax a while before bed time.

Prague at night
Astronomical Clock
Old Town
The next and final day in Prague we decided to walk to the castle.  We walked along the river and over the Charles Bridge. I never did look it up but there are lots of statues where people just touch one spot on it and get their pictures. Sort of odd, but I guess whatever!

Houses along the river
See the one shiny spot on this statue
Charles Bridge
We trekked it up the ridiculous hill/mountain while pushing strollers, and freezing and with 1 maybe 2 unhappy boys.  The walk took way longer than expected and I think all 4 of us parents were exhausted afterwards. Not sure whose idea it was to walk all the way but geez (pretty sure it was my idea...sorry) We took a quick couple of pictures but by then Jackson had just lost it!  He was crying and crying and crying.  He was cold and hungry! So guess what, it never fails Josh and I took him to McDonald's again! Keith and Jess found a much better restaurant and I think beat us done eating.  Oh well.  It happens I guess!!

Another park
Walking to the castle
View looking out, almost there
Catherdral in Prague
Entrance to the castle
After nap time again we just sort of walked around again and went back to Old Town.  The boys just loved it there.  There was lots of open space for them to run around and horses!  I'm pretty sure that was Jackson's favorite part. 


Playing in Old Town

The boys watching the horses


6:00 pm rolled around and we were off to the airport already. Prague was so beautiful, you don't see a lot of color most of the places we have been, but Prague really had so much and was so different from anywhere we have been!

What a great trip with some amazing friends!  One we will never forget!  Glad we got to celebrate with you Jess!!!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Trip Status Update

Hey Everyone,

I know I always say this but can you believe we have lived in the Netherlands for 18 1/2 months already?!?! Some days I totally can believe this and other days seem like it has gone by in the blink of an eye.  We have had such a great time traveling all over Europe to England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands of course and this weekend we're headed to the Czech Republic.  I'm so thankful for all of the trips we have had and all of them memories we have made here!

We have just found out that we are going home on February 19th for good.  That means only 3 months and 4 days. Wow! They have already scheduled times to pick up our rental furniture, pick up our own belongings, cancel all utilities and "de-register" from the town hall.  With all this news we really feel like we will be home before we know it!

This news is of course bittersweet, I never imagined to make such great friends here. Jackson and I are busy with play dates all week long and we have lots of friends we get to do things with as families. I can't wait for Jackson to meet all his little neighborhood buddies when we get home, I know there is going to be a ton of them. Yet I get sad when I ask Jackson if he had fun today and he says his best bud Liam's name every time. He wakes up saying Liam, and Abby, (well after he says tractor of course).  It's hard to think he won't know them as he gets older but we are really looking forward to going on some awesome trips around the U.S. to meet up with them again, and once again thank goodness for Skype :)

A lot of people have been asking if we will be home for Christmas.  The answer is no, not this year.  (Send us your Christmas card here ;) )With a 20 month old on an airplane for 9 hours it really isn't ideal to make the trip home and then to turn around 4-6 weeks later to come home for good.  We're really hoping to take another little trip somewhere but we can't decide where to go. 

Anyways, we are so excited to see everyone back home and will miss everyone we have met here.  Oh and if you want to plan a quick trip to see us you still have some time :)

See you all soon ;)