An International Baby Shower

Our sweet friend Rebecca is expecting a baby in a few weeks, and our friend Katie asked me to help her with decorations for a baby shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival her baby boy.  

Apparently baby showers are primarily an American event. Rebecca said that in the U.K. they are beginning to be popular, but she had never attended one and did not want attention lavished upon her. We assured her that we Americans LOVE throwing baby showers and buying baby gifts we promised her no silly games or forcing her to be the center of attention. 

We had quite and international event, and most of our friends who are not from the U.S. had never attended a baby shower, to include the mom-to-be, and her mom, who was in town for a visit (which is partly why this date was chosen). I believe we had guests from Germany, Poland, Spain, Estonia, Sweden, and of course the U.K., one Scottish and three English. 

Here a few photos of the fun. 

Of course I had to make cheese straws. No Southern shower is complete without cheese straws. 

The nursery is a nautical theme, so Katie chose that for the shower theme as well. I think this might be one of my favorite diaper cakes I've ever done! 

Biggest hit? Buffalo chicken dip. Go figure! 

She did not want to be the center of attention, but we did convince her to open gifts and I think she rather enjoyed it. 

Dear friends: Mom-to-be Rebecca and hostess Katie

Matthew's first bike ride

The weather was finally slightly warm enough for a bike ride, so Charles loaded up the kids in the bike trailer. It was Matthew's first ride, and Emmy was so excited for him to come along.

We'd already purchased a helmet for him awhile back, so he was all ready to roll. He really loved wearing the helmet, and carried it around the house for a few days afterwards.

We did realize that, unfortunately, they are both too big to fit into the trailer very comfortably together. Emmy could be in there on her own, but she's so big she was a bit crammed in there next to Matthew. It is bittersweet that now he is big enough to go along, she is too big to be in with him. But, she is also greatly improving her biking skills and she says now she can ride alongside Daddy while Matthew rides in the trailer. They are both growing up!

Enjoying a snack for the road.

And they're off! 

Matthew also wore a new pair of shoes today for the ride. He also adored his new shoes, and after they came inside and shoes were off, he went and got them and brought them to us to put back on!

Weekly, I mean, every-few-weeks-update

Sooo...we went to Prague. And it took me a long time to finish that post. And then I never did weekly updates.

So, let's see what's been up!


Valentine's weekend we "celebrated" with our traditional stop at McDonald's. Emmy had a hair appointment around lunchtime, and we all took the tram into town since the weather was decent and not too cold. Afterward we walked across to the mall and ate in the food court.

I'm not sure I've ever posted our Valentine's/McDonald's story before, so as refresher...Charles and I had several years of either being apart on Valentine's Day or weird things happen, the "best" of which was in 2003, days before his first deployment to Iraq. We'd begun the day at a funeral for my uncle's mother, then driven to the beach to meet friends and spend the weekend visiting with them one more time before he was due to fly out on the 25th. We got almost all the way there, when the phone rang and Charles was told the planes were arriving in 48 hours, he had to report in at 5:30 the next morning. Remember, this was Feb. 2003, there was no Iraq war at this time, but we something was brewing. Needless to say it was a tearful and long drive back to Greenville from the beach to pick up his car, then we both drove back down to Augusta. On the way, we realized we had not eaten in hours, so we stopped at the first place we found, which was a McDonald's. We noticed the place was quite empty as we picked at our food, and as we walked back out to the car, it hit Charles: It was Valentine's Day. He walked around and opened my door for me, and grinned and said "Happy Valentine's Day, honey!" We died laughing.  Then next two Valentine's Days he was deployed. Not that we had ever made much of the day before (in fact we'd been apart or in evening classes previous years) or really cared to make a fuss of it, but it was just amusing. We don't go every year, but when we can we at least try to grab some fries or a sundae on Valentine's Day and reminisce. It's good we can laugh about it because the honest truth is we both should have been way more scared than I think we were about where he was heading. (Which technically no one knew at the time).

Anyways, after our McDonald's lunch, we went to the park for a little while to enjoy the sunshine that had peeked through.

First time on the swing! 

Yay for some sunny weather! 

Emmy and I both had haircuts that, week, actually. I LOVE the hairdresser I finally found here. He is amazing. He *gets* me. And most importantly he speaks wonderful English, because hair is just one of those things you really need to be able to tell some what what you want.


I'm not sure I've mentioned it yet, but I have started Polish lessons. Polish is more simple in someways, and incredibly difficult in others. And they declinate everything. Do you know what that means? ME EITHER. There is not a box in my brain for this. In fact, my spell check says that is not even a word.  And, in Polish you also change the endings on practically everything.  My Polish tutor is a grad student working on his PhD in historical grammar. I do find it a fascinating language, especially how it survived through years of being an underground language, unable to be spoken outside of private homes because it was illegal. What a testament to the Polish people who kept it alive through several generations and brought it back to life again.

On the 15th, which is my sister's birthday, our cousin Jessica gave birth to the newest Hawley member, baby Beatrix "Bea". He is JoJo and Bea the day she was born. She was a BIG girl, 10 lb 8 oz! We cannot wait to meet her in person!

Charles was gone again this week for work to Oberammergau (in the Alps, you should feel SO sorry for him). In among the classes he attended he got to go sledding and see the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (Cinderella's castle at Disney World is allegedly modeled after this one).  Things at home plugged along. We had a little snow that looked pretty but was mostly gone by morning. I had a fun girls night with a friend. Emmy had a birthday party.

Charles got home Saturday evening so on Sunday night we took the tram into town for a date

night. We had a great time, we love having public transportation. He also took the tram home after dropping off the rental car on Saturday, which meant no one drove our car from Friday night until Monday morning.  

Shredded insulation where it tried to
make a nest. 

When I went to go start the car on Monday, it would not start. The lights came on and such, but it made a strange sound. It did not seem to be the battery, could it be the starter? Of course, Charles was already off at work and I was stuck home with Emmy needing to be at school. Fortunately a friend came to the rescue and took her to school for me while I dealt with the matter at hand. 

Insulation on top of the battery, etc.

Remember that dead bird we found in the car in Prague? Well, turns out it was not a cat, it was a creature called a marten, kuna in Polish. As soon as I opened the hood, I knew the darn thing had done it. 

The insulation under the hood was shredded much worse than when we'd looked in Prague. And some wires and tubes to the battery had been cut. 

In case you are wondering, dealing with insurance, tow trucks, mechanics, and car dealerships when you are in another country is VERY stressful. Thanks to my Polish baby-sitter and the advice of the Polish national who works for our national support element, I was able to get the car towed to the dealership. I was told it could take awhile and they did not even give me an "appointment" for it to be checked out until Wednesday. Fortunately, they called Tuesday evening as I was sitting in the little bar/canteen at the barracks waiting on Emmy's drama class to end, and I was able to hand the phone to one of the guys who works there to translate for me. The darn rodent did over $500.00 in damage! They had to replace the battery and some wires, etc. and order the new insulation.  

I was helping host a baby shower for one of our British friends at the end of the week, on the 26th, so fortunately I had my car back in time for that. I'll post pictures of the shower in a separate post! 

Prague, Part Two

Read Part One here!

Our second morning in Prague, Tuesday morning, we headed out after breakfast to see Prague castle.

I caught Matthew and Charles brushing their teeth together in the communist era bathroom of our suite. So cute! 

The Little Quarter, where we were staying is directly "below" the castle quarter, so it was a fairly short walk, though it was up hill the whole way! When we reached the Castle, we were rewarded with fabulous views. Unfortunately we were looking towards the sun at that hour of the morning, so no photos really turned out very well. Not that photos could really do it justice!

Stunning view! 

In the Castle Square, in front of the Main Entrance.

Crowds gathering in the squre to watch the changing of the guard. 

He is about to be one relieved dude.

Lots of tourists taking photos made it hard to get one of just us! 

Inside the gate, headed in through the main entrance. 

I wish we'd had more time to really explore the Castle, but we enjoyed a couple of hours there. We rented the audio tour handsets, which was really a waste of money here. It was good information, but really each description was too long. I thought it would be easier than trying to read Rick Steve's guide as we walked around, plus I was wearing Matthew and he gets grabby. Oh well, live and learn.

St. Vitus Cathedral was probably my favorite part of the Castle tour. We spent a good bit of time inside exploring (and listening to the audio guide!)

St. Vitus Cathedral.

Some of the interior of St. Vitus.

St. Wenceslas Chapel. 

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Exterior of St. Vitus

Exterior of the cathedral, with the golden gate behind them, where the king and queen would enter on coronation day. 

"Illegal" photo of Vladislav Hall inside the Old Royal Palace. I just thought it was cool, so I discretely snapped a photo. This room used to host everything from markets to horseback jousting events. 

The best view we could get of the Noon Changing of the Guard (which is a much bigger ceremony). Because it takes place inside the gates (pictured above) it is really hard to see unless you are on of the privileged few who get a front row view. We were glad we stopped to watch it at 10 when we first were coming in! 

The Golden Lane, where the goldsmiths and other artisans lived, now houses a few shops and replicas of the homes. 

View as we walked out from the Castle. 

Finding lunch afterward proved to be a bit more difficult than we expected, the place we planned to go was crowded, so we ended up walking back out of the castle quarter and across the river to an Italian restaurant that is on a boat. It is probably a bit overpriced because of tourists, but our hotel had recommended it and the food was excellent and Emmy thought it was awesome to eat on a boat. It was a nicer place, but they were super friendly and seemed happy for the kids to be there, which is something since Matthew spent a lot of time running around.

View of the Charles Bridge, as we walked to
lunch.

After lunch, we went back to towards the Jewish Quarter to see the New-Old Synagogue that we'd missed the day before. Then we headed back to Old Town to try and see a couple of the churches that were closed on Monday. We also stopped back into the toy store and marionette shop we'd visited on Monday. We had seen a doll house and since Emmy has been wanting one, I wanted to see if it would be possible to buy it boxed up and take it home for her birthday. She and Charles explored the marionette shop while I did some covert purchasing. The lady was very helpful and tied the box up and made a handle from string and packing tape to make it easier to carry! Emmy was DYING to know what was in the box, but we held firm! It helped that we did let her pick out a marionette.

We took a wrong turn in our walk back towards the river, so getting back too longer than it should have, which at the end of a long day with a super whiny six year old was not the most fun. We finally made it back to the Charles Bridge, and after a quick snack on the steps, we crossed the bridge. I'm so glad we were able to cross it at night this time, it was lovely to see it with the lamps light and the lights of the city shining all around.

For supper we ate at a Thai place back across the river. It was delicious and they had a big box full of toys right by our table for the kids to play with. And, it was only 11 minutes from our hotel so we were back and putting the kids to bed in no time, which really seemed like an hour when you are tired and dragging sleepy children home.

Walking across the bridge. 

Prague Castle at night. 

Wednesday we packed up and headed home after breakfast.

The German Embassy, as viewed from our room, opened the gates and we happened to be looking out the window and were able to catch a glimpse of the pretty garden behind the gates. 

Quick photos of our room as we were departing. 

The super awesome green "communist era" bathroom.

It was really a fabulous trip! If you come visit us, make sure you add Prague to your list of places to see!