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Weeks 40-44 of 2024 (Year in Review) – OCTOBER, Lately
When I tell you why I couldn’t manage a Week in Review post last month, please believe me when I tell you that the situation was as dire as they come — my dear two-year-old son decided to go on a nap-strike. After fourteen beautiful months of napping gloriously since he was an infant, those days are over. There has never been a bigger fuss at the merest idea of having quiet time or a nap. The kid has made his position completely clear and will only fall asleep in the day when completely bored or exhausted in the pram. For anyone who doesn’t have kids, just imagine that for…
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Week 36 & 37 of 2024 (Year in Review) — Summer’s Over!
I knew that the first weekend of September, according to the weather forecast would be that sparkling, shiny last true summer weekend here in South Bohemia and boy, did I plan accordingly. We spent the week preceding it doing all the last fun warm weather things you do before you know you won’t have that kind of summer freedom anymore: taking our little one to the zoo (it was too hot to see many animals but we had fun anyway) and to Dívčí kámen for a picnic and to splash about in the creek near Hamr. The last summer Saturday we spent “camped out” at a nearby riverside park, enjoying…
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Week 31 & 32 of 2024 (Year in Review) – On Holiday in Germany with a Two Year Old
August is nearly finished and we’ve recently returned from a two-week trip to Germany and Denmark: through Berlin for a few nights, up to the North Sea coast (North Frisia) at the German-Denmark border for over a week, and then a couple cushion days in Brandenburg to break up the long way back from our overland (train) journey. Although some friends are calling this trip “ambitious” or “courageous” because of traveling mainly without a car with our toddler and dog, we ended up choosing this destination in the end because I’ve been wanting to go to the German coast for ages. not to mention my love of Germany and getting…
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Week 29 & 30 of 2024 (Year in Review)
It’s time to go on vacation! I haven’t been on a vacation or holiday really since last summer in the USA so I am so looking forward to heading to Germany and Denmark for the next two weeks. Boy, would I benefit from a change of scenery, as nice as summer is in South Bohemia. It’s funny: when you tell a Czech, American or most anyone that you’re headed to Germany’s North Sea coast for your summer holiday, you’re met with shrugs or polite interest. When you tell a German that you’re headed there? Totally different – they are really excited for you! I think that’s how I know I…
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Week 27 & 28 of 2024 (In Review) – Karlovy Vary Film Festival with a Two-Year-Old & Dog
A few weeks ago the 58th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival that takes place every year at the beginning of July, always encompassing the July 5th and 6th holidays here in the Czech Republic. We first went to this festival over ten years ago and this time was our seventh festival! Most years we make it into a little end-of-school-year holiday in the most beautiful place in the entire Czech Republic. A film festival holiday may not appeal to some but as I have a long history of working with SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival), there is almost nothing better to me than getting totally immersed in…
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Weeks 23-26 of 2024 (In Review) – The Month of June
Happy summer, (Northern hemisphere) friends! I’m lumping the update together into a nice and tidy June bundle so I get on track with the seemingly impossible-to-complete Year in Review challenge. June has been lovely this year, with Alex off work, things are just going nice and slow. Lots of time for playing in the park, naps, cooking, visiting and just all the good things in life. But first, let’s get to the important thing as our little one turned two a couple weeks ago! We went to the zoo to celebrate and some friends of ours met us there on that completely rainy June Monday, still a perfect way to…
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Week 19 & 20 of 2024 (In Review)
I can’t complain about early May – my spring fatigue and illness were over and it was birthday week! My early May birthday fell on a Wednesday this year but we were still able to make a one night getaway trip to Cesky Krumlov – the obvious choice for a fairytale experience within a thirty-minute drive. The actual day was pretty overcast but still did all the things such as plenty of outdoor time, coffees, playgrounds for the little one, sushi for a celebration dinner — it’s always what I request. This year I treated myself to a stay at the Zamecka Apartments at the very foot of the castle…
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Week 16, 17 & 18 of 2024 (In Review) – Summer Trip Plans!
The last few weeks of April were odd ones for me as I was ill (the one-two punch of a flu followed by a cold) there was snow and just getting over the jarni unava (spring fatigue) I surely had at the beginning of the month. With the coming of May, it’s certainly all good now but the photo (above) perfectly illustrates the frustration and just overall meh feeling. Just trying to throw on purposely the weirdest winter coat I own to run out and do errands because who cares. You know the “idgaf” vibes. Between all of the illnesses I unknowingly went to Costa Coffee (in our town) for…
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Week 13, 14 & 15 of 2024 (In Review) – Easter & April Heatwave
The weeks have flown by and I dropped the ball a little bit, so reviewing the past three weeks: Easter week and the first gorgeous weeks of our current month, April. Truly hope to be on time in about a week from now bringing us current. Man, besides this cold snap Central Europe is undergoing at the moment, haven’t we been so spoiled this year? Easter week was generally uneventful and wholly relaxing – even more so than spring break. I was so pleased that it was our little one’s first time participating in Easter traditions like an Easter egg hunt around the living room on Easter Sunday and his…
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Week 11 & 12 of 2024 (In Review): Vienna
Happy Easter, friends! Last week was a continuation of all the good things from Week 10 as we took a little trip for a change of scenery to Vienna. We haven’t travelled anywhere since October and coming off of how magical Rome was last March, we wanted to have at least a little holiday on my last maternity leave year over spring break. Not having travelled since the little one was 16 months old and is now 21 months old was a great excuse in itself to do so. We want to raise a flexible and adaptable child who can sleep and be at other places without raising much of…
