Ski Trip - Winter break 2018

Giant Man made of snow. 

This week is Emmy's winter break from school. We had originally planned to go visit friends in Italy, but their plans changed and so we shifted around and we'll visit them later this spring. We haven't been skiing since we left CO (and by we, I mean Charles and Emmy because I have no intention of strapping sticks to my feet and attempting to move around on them), so we decided to go to the mountains a few hours from us along the Polish-Czech border.

We found an apartment in a little town called Rokytnice nad
Jizerou, Czech Republic.  A new Polish friend recommended the next town over, but we found better lodging in Rokytnice.  Then we found our some friends/colleagues from Szczecin had also rented apartments here for the week. I love that the Americans, Estonians and Lithuanians living in Poland met up in the Czech Republic. Haha.

Top of the mountain, taken by Charles. 

Emmy came down with strep throat again (January and the first week of February have NOT been kind to our immune systems) and so we had a little delay departing on Saturday.  I'm glad we still decided to go, she felt much better with antibiotics on board.  We got into town Saturday evening and got settled into the apartment. I'm super glad I understand a little Polish because the owner didn't speak any English, so all his instructions were in Polish. (Since it's close to Poland, many Poles come here to ski and a good many Germans so most of the folks spoke Polish and/or German but not that many spoke English). Whew.  Best I understood it, we were supposed to go to the building next door where there was a ski rental shop and go to the office to take care of the bill, paperwork, get a discount card, etc.

The most amazing egg rolls. Worthy of a photograph. 

The next morning after pancakes, we went next door and success! We took care of the paperwork and used the discount to rent skis for the kids, get some new ski goggles for Charles and Emmy, and get some information on the area from the lovely English speaking woman who worked there.

She recommended we get a quick lunch from a lady across the street who set up a booth in front of the Tesco grocery store. The woman sells homemade Chinese food that she said was quite good, and boy was she right! Those were the best egg rolls I've ever had and the lo mein was fabulous.

After quick naps we took the kids up the mountain to their ski school class. It had been 3 years since Emmy took lessons and Matthew was new so we put them in a beginners class. Emmy said it was baby-ish and seemed bored and didn't seem to put a lot of effort into it. Matthew, our shy one, basically refused to let us leave his side and didn't want to participate (which shouldn't have surprised us, he's done this with gymnastics) so we just took him out. After some hot chocolate, he was in a better mood and wallowed in the snow for an hour.

He was over ski school before it even started. 

Charles was unable to ski essentially because of bad communication with the non English speaking man at the ski pass booth, which made him grumpier (after dealing with shy boy in ski class), but t it was later in the day and he decided just to forget it. A beer put him in a better mood.

After ski school, we headed back and got ready for dinner at another place recommended by our friend at the ski shop/apartment office.  Cafe Restaurace Kino was wonderful and we enjoyed delicious Czech food and beer. Well, it wasn't my favorite Czech beer but it was good.

The next day, I drove Emmy and Charles up to meet our friends to ski for the day. I'm SO glad that Lina, my friend, invited Emmy to ski with them. Her daughter is in Emmy's class and they are friends. Charles said the mountain was much bigger and more difficult than he'd done before and Emmy had never done anything remotely like that, but really she needed that for her confidence. They both just got out there and skied! And fell a lot but had a good time.  Emmy really just needs to be pushed a bit and she does better. Charles enjoyed using his new skis he'd purchased here.

Emmy and Charles, photographic evidence he was there! 

Matthew and I hung out in the apartment and watched a lot of the Stinky and Dirty Show cartoon (about a dump truck and a "digger") on Amazon.  I wasn't feeling great so it was ok with me to just hang around. We walked over to the grocery store again and fixed lunch. He took his nap and Emmy and Charles came back early afternoon on the ski bus (which stopped right in front of our apartment, it was such a great location!), tired but happy.

After another nice dinner of delicious Czech food at another restaurant just down the street at Dendip, we headed to bed.

We came on home Tuesday and of course we wish we'd had more time. We decided you really spend one day renting skis and figuring out how everything works and then you have time to enjoy skiing.

A big thank you to my friend Lina for taking some photos, Charles forgot to take many and without her photos we'd have no evidence that Charles went skiing at all!

 Here are a few more photos from the trip.

Post ski school attempt selfie. His mood had improved greatly. 

It was quite cold so as the snow started falling again we could see lots of details on the individual flakes. I'd never been able to see them quite like this, it was amazing. 

Doing pretty well! 

Dinner at Cafe Restaurace Kino

Delicious fried cheese. 

Emmy and her pal Austėja skiing.

 

Another view from our apartment. The sun was finally coming out late Monday afternoon. 

Town Hall, across from our apartment.

Family selfie in front of the town hall. 

Matthew's 3rd Birthday

Ready to take his cake to school for celebrating
with his school friends on Friday the 6th. 

It's hard to believe our sweet boy is already three.

He requested a "horsey cake
with a chocolate horse."
Mama obliged. 

His birthday fell at the beginning of Emmy's fall break, so we decided to wait and have his party a little later. That way, we were able to take advantage of the opportunity to travel for the break to the U.K. More on that later.

Matthew makes us laugh a lot. He still loves horses and cowboys. Anything is subject to being a target of his "lasso." You'll hear him playing on his rocking horse or with some of his toy horses saying "yah, yah, yah!"

His love of Bubble Guppies and Sofia the First (he loved the flying horses) has waned, he now likes Scooby Doo and he's recently seen the Cars movies over a couple of sick days and he's now a big fan of Lightening McQueen and the other characters from the movie. 

Friday afternoon was "Pasowanie", the official
welcome into the class for the year. Matthew is
in Biedronek class this year, Ladybug class. 

One of his favorite books is Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, and he'll be sure to point out any bulldozers or "diggers" he sees when we are out and about. I love to hear him "read" some of his other favorites to me, which include Brown Bear, Brown Bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Dragons Love Tacos, just to name a few. Like his big sister he really loves to be read to. Stories are a sacred part of bedtime in this house!

He loves his school. He moved up this summer to the next class, so now he's in the "Biedronek" (Ladybird/Ladybug) class in the other school building. He gets to take karate and dancing at school and they do lots of crafts. He learns German (and they have English lessons but he's pretty set with English, haha). His teachers are very sweet, they don't speak much English this year but I know they love him. Agnieszka told me that they asked him recently "Matthew, do you love Ms. Agnieszka" and he said "noooo" and they said "Do you love Ms. Magda" and he said "Noooo" and they they asked "Well, who do you love?" and he said "Mama!" Which is totally not true, but it gave us all a laugh. He is a Mama's boy! But he also loves his Daddy and wants Daddy to play all the things with him.

He is  really interested in letters and sounds. He's good at remembering things. He already is alternating feet when he goes up and down stairs some when the stairs aren't too wide for him, and he's starting to skip (both are which are precursors to reading). He's very advanced, haha. He's also stubborn. Really, really stubborn. Gee, I have no idea where he gets that from!  He's not potty trained because he just refuses to use the potty. He knows, and he'll ask for a clean diaper just so he can potty in it. It is SO frustrating and I'm trying really hard to be patient because I know he'll do it one day. I just wish it would be soon. 

Trying to capture one of his "explantion" faces.

He makes hilarious faces when he's talking to you about things. He has all sorts of stories to tell and opinions to give.  Mostly he talks to us in English, with some Polish mixed in or a little Danish or German if he's around people speaking those languages. "Thank you" and "please" are almost always in Polish. He is so Polish now he doesn't like his milk cold (Poles don't give kids cold drinks, they think it will make them sick or something). It was funny at first, now it's super annoying, but we do it because we love him and it's just one of those things that's easier not to argue about.

Birthday present time! 

Matthew loves his big sister, and she loves him. I absolutely love watching their relationship grow and I hope they will continue to be friends. Sure, I know they'll argue and disagree and have different interests as they grow up, but I hope this bond lasts and they can support each other and be friends.

We sure do love this boy of ours, he continues to bring us loads of joy. This next year is going to bring lot of transitions for him, Moving back to the U.S. will be a big deal for all of us, but for him, he'll be leaving the only country he's really known as home! It's strange, but exciting at the same time.

New fences and a new horse and accessories. So exciting! 

In one of the malls near us, a few days before his birthday. Charles said he was getting ready for our U.K. adventure! 

Our little traveler on the evening of his birthday, getting ready to fly to London! 

Emmy is 8!

Emmy turned 8 years old yesterday! So this blog turns 8 years old today!

This year we decided to celebrate a little differently and have a small sleepover with two of her friends instead of a big party. We went to Spain last week (more about that soon), so in the end not having a big birthday party turned out to be good for Mom's planning sanity. Ha!

All in all, I think she had a great birthday weekend!

The Saturday before her birthday, she had two friends, Freja and Iza, over for a sleepover. I took them to the trampoline park nearby for an hour. Then they came home for pizza and a movie, enjoying their spa bags I'd put together and playing with make up (Emmy recently received a bunch of make up from our friend Katie, who was cleaning out her stores of beauty products). They made ice cream sundaes and watched some more of the movie and had their slumber party in the living room. The next morning, the parents of both friends (Freja's parents are some of our best friends here, we're with them all the time) and our friends Chris and Michelle and Katie came over for brunch. Of course, we had Emmy's favorite biscuits and sausage gravy, along with quiche, fruit, and grits. It was a different sort of birthday party this year but I think she had a really good time. It was fun to do something smaller.

Spa bags!

They loved their spa bags! 

As soon as they had eaten their popcorn and pizza, they were upstairs to play with their spa bags and put on make up. 

Ice cream sundaes!

Matthew LOVED having two extra big girls around. When Emmy hopped up, he quickly settled down in the middle between the other girls. Emmy made him move back up to the sofa upon her return. Also, note he also wanted a sleep mask. Fortunately, they came two to a pack so he could have his own. 

She requested carrot cake for her birthday, so I made mini cupcakes, which was perfect for brunch. 

Birthday morning! She got to open one small gift before breakfast. 

Impossible to get them to both look at me. Matty's hair is pretty typical of mornings around here. 

She wanted chocolate cake for her class. 

Pictures from her teacher! Can you tell I fell on the stairs carrying the cake up to her classroom? 

Birthday dinner, Michelle's recipe for chicken and dumplings. Fortunately Mom making it was still acceptable. 

More presents! Some clothes, a wallet she'd picked out in the Netherlands, and a new jewelry box for her jewelry, to include new earrings for her soon-to-be-pierced ears. 

Opening her necklace from SuSu and Big Daddy (they are on skype, you just can't see them). It is a pearl earring of SuSu's that's mate went missing, so she had it turned into a pendant, and the chain was Grandmommie's (her great-grandmother). 

We can't believe this girl is eight years old now! She is, by far, the best big sister any little brother could ever ask for. He adores her and she is wonderful with him. She is patient (most of the time), loving, plays with him, shows him things and teaches him things. It is delightful to see. She is smart and funny and observant. She still asks a million questions and wants to know how things work. She still sings all the time, I always say she was born with a song in her heart. She loves science and wanted a chemistry set and microscope for her birthday. She still loves babies, both dolls and real ones. She is going to be a great baby-sitter one day in the future. She is super excited to get her ears pierced soon. She still loves the beach and had a great time in Mallorca the other week with our friends, finding shells, building sandcastles and splashing in the water. She was also wonderful with their three little boys and they enjoyed being bossed around and mommy-ed by her.  Charles and I are pretty lucky we get to be her parents Happy 8th Birthday, Emmy!