We had a pleasant two days last weekend.  Summer decided to stick around (it should be coz according to the calendar, its still SUMMER!) and we took advantage of that.  It was a mix of fun, nature, relaxation and lots of sun!

Saturday
The family joined the Pohádkový Les in Butovice.  Both M and I were clueless what’s it all about.  M thought it was a walk in the forest where you pass by fairytale creatures/characters. We were looking for an activity outdoor coz of the nice weather and this one sounded interesting.

We had to pay an entrance fee of about $3 each except for little Adie.  As soon as we got inside the fenced area, all the fun stuff for the kids greeted us.  There were FREE pony rides, face painting, bouncy castles, painting, drawing, coloring, balloons, and lots of other free goodies (lollipops, bracelets, cookies) handed out to the kids as we walked along the street. Unfortunately our Caity was in a sour mood and didn’t want to participate in any of those.  She refused to have her faced painted, refused to have her picture taken with Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, refused to color…. it was all NO for her. But she asked for a cotton candy which we had to pay. Geeez! I guess she doesn’t like free stuff. Haha!

It turned out that the kids have to do some challenges or obstacle games along the walk in the “forest”.  I thought it would be a quiet walk, enjoying nature but heh! it tired us out!  We had to follow the trail of the game, line up in queues, hike down then up under the heat of the sun.  Kafoy!!!  My tongue was sticking out after we successfully finished the challenge in about 3-4 hours!  It was too much of a walk for small kids.  M had to carry Caity on his shoulder at the middle of the game.  Unfortunately, Caity didn’t do the first challenge, so she didn’t get any prize at the end.  What was the prize, we had no idea.  Being able to finish it was enough for us.  Caity obliged to pose with Winnie the Pooh & Piglet later, but it was forced. She had a grumpy look! Anyway, she got to ride the pony on our way out, and that sealed her time there with happiness.

1. first challenge, bow & arrow. 2. caity picking coins from the bucket.
3. fishing (the woman looks like she’s wearing Cherokee scrubs). 4. lining up for Caity’s turn. Do you see Snow White?

The kids were still full of energy when we got home so we took them out with their bikes, and they enjoyed going on the sloped concrete ground right outside our home. If that wasn’t enough, Caity asked to go to the playground, where she had fun in the tunnel slide.  We went home past 7.  It was a long day but fun-filled.

Sunday

It was more relaxed.  After going to church and a little shopping, we went to the “beach” named Machovo Jezero (or translated in English, Macha Lake) .  Okay it was the closest you can call a beach in Czech Republic.  Macha Lake is actually a man-made lake which was developed into a beach with imported sand.  Many people flock there especially during warm days.  When we were there,  teenagers arrived in throngs and it was even getting late.  You can just imagine how crowded it is on peak times.

It was almost 4 in the afternoon when we got there, not bad coz the sun wasn’t that painful on the skin anymore.  The kids slept along the way, their little bodies recharged for what was to come. As soon as they saw the sand and water, they just scrambled to it.  M and I had time to relax while watching them play.  He even fell asleep lying there in the sand.

You can tell the kids had an awesome time, right?

Thank you Lord for these beautiful moments spent with the family!

I’ll be posting more pics of Caity in her blog. (:

I was silent for sometime because of this:

Yeah! We went on weekend to Wolfgangsee, a lake in Upper Austria that lies mostly within the state of Salzburg (think Sound of Music!).  We were actually supposed to go to St. Gilgen but we got there past 7 in the evening with no accommodations. M just randomly called hotels and pension houses for any vacant rooms. After what seemed like a dozen tries, we luckily found a room in Wolfgangsee.  Whew!  It was a blessing in disguise, coz our pension house was sitting near the centre and we also found an open beach nearby in a camping site.  It wasn’t crowded, and the water is shallow enough even for little Adie to wade on.

Pardon me, but we’re taking advantage and savoring the last summer days with real summer warmth outdoors.  Plus I have tons to prepare for Caity’s 4th birthday this weekend and next week, our lives will change dramatically (well, mostly MY life) as our little girl will start preschool. We haven’t gone shopping yet for her school stuff.

Anyways, I hope you’re having fun days as well where ever you are!

On our third day in Pori, we hit the beach of Yyteri! It was a sunny yet cold breezy day; but beautiful nonetheless. We brought our coats, food to munch and whatever stuff the kids can use to make sandcastles and we’re all set.

This beach boast of six kilometers long (one of the longest in Finland and all Nordic countries) of powdery sand and dunes!

Our little boy immediately took the pleasure of playing in the sand.

Trying to swim there too…

Caity getting water from the Baltic Sea…

The kids were busy building their sandcastles…

Seagull flying in the blue, blue sky…

Sweet love… (:

O-oh!  Adie’s gonna destroy the castles!!!

Caity-kat posing…

Us!! Nobody wanted to swim in the cold water & come out to be greeted with chilly wind brrrr…

What a cool way to spend a Thursday afternoon! (:

Oh Finland. We miss you already, and it’s only a week since we left you. huhuhu… Choosing that nordic country as our vacation destination for two weeks was the best thing we did. We stayed with my sister and her family in a small and nice city of Pori. My sister’s house was family and kid-friendly, well that should be obvious because she and bro-in-law have three young kids (15, 10 and 7) so they know better what kind of environment these kids should grow up in. The lot where their house sits on is kinda big, about 600 sq. m. if I’m not mistaken. The house is spacious with three bedrooms, a toilet & bath with sauna (every Finnish house has a sauna), and another toilet, laundry room and garage. In the backyard, they have a wooden playhouse (which Caity loved), a sandbox and a trampoline; a far cry from where they were living the first time we visited them. They also have plant beds with some unknown species. We also discovered a raspberry plant bearing sweet fruits. Adie liked it, and we gather fruits for him almost every day which he ate with gusto.

If we’re not out seeing sights, staying at home was fun too.  The kids were contented playing in the backyard, oftentimes we’d go biking (errr I was learning to bike there, with 90% success) at past 10pm (yeah, it was still bright even late at night there), sweat in the sauna(!), we’d visit the nearby park which was only two houses away from them or have barbeque, or fill our tummies with my sister’s baked goodies. See?  We don’t ran out of things to do!  In fact, there’s more we wanted to do but time is lacking.  We were living a nice life there! Unfortunately, we had a hectic schedule, going places, but hopefully next time when we visit them again, we can spend more time relaxing in their home.

Pictures galore!!!

The night we arrived, Caity checking out the playhouse as her cousin looks on.

Happy Caity!!!  It was past 10 in the evening and still soooo bright!

Playing in the sandbox…

Adie running in the trampoline.

Bikes are parked, while the bikers are playing football, and me taking pictures…you can’t tell its past 10pm, right?

Caity roasting marshmallows for her s’more with her other mama.

The house. (:

No snow, Adie?


Water fun in the smoky air!

M, me and kuya…

The kids eating at the terrace…

Pori Jazz is happening since the 9th until tomorrow, the 17th. Among the famous artists who performed were Elton John, Tom Jones and Ricky Martin.

We were able to stroll on the Jazz Street along the Kokemäenjoki river last Tuesday, unfortunately I wasn’t aware that the camera I brought didn’t have the memory card. M apparently transferred pictures to the notebook and didn’t place it back in the camera. ): I only have few pics taken with my phone cam.

There were many kiosks and stands selling various merchandises. There were also several bars, restaurants, food and drink vendors while live music filled the air. I spotted some accessories being sold, nothing elegant such as scott kay jewelry but good enough as souvenir.

We had 4 kids with us, so a visit to Kirjurinluoto Park was mandatory. There were many playgrounds, close to each other so the kids were just hopping from one to another. It was like kids’ paradise! There was also a small area with several kinds of birds including peacock. Caity almost refused to go home and had to be tricked.

The pirate ship…

Fried Vendace with garlic mayo dip.

It was a short time at the Jazz street but it was nice. I hope we can go back to stroll in the center again to see the other attractions. We still have time for that next week.

Moikka! We’re in Finland now! We arrived yesterday afternoon in Helsinki and took a bus to Pori where we will be staying for couple of weeks. On board the plane,the kids behaved very well. Adie slept immediately after we took off and woke up about 15 minutes before touchdown. Caity surprisingly acted like a big girl throughout the flight. She loved sitting in her own seat (unlike our last plane trip Prg-Mnl-Prg where she refused to sit on her own); she even knows how to fasten the seat belt by herself; she ate her snacks and took a short nap. They made M and I happy and proud coz the other kids around us were giving their moms headache! They were freaking out, and filling the plane with their screams and cries.

The 3.5 hours travel to Pori was a different story though. First two hours went okay, but towards the end of the trip, Adie was getting sleepy and tired and was already restless. He would wriggle out from our arms and wouldn’t stay put. He’d complain and cry. Weeee!

It’s really tough to travel with kids especially the young ones. You have to expect the unexpected to happen and be ready with tools to keep them entertained, food, drinks and lots of patience!!! But it doesn’t compare to the grueling Manila-Prague trip I took alone with the two kids (Caity just turned 3 y/o then and Adie was only 7 months!). That was the toughest and most challenging trip I’ve ever taken with kid/s! It was like taking adapexin coz of the stress. Grabe!

Anyway, there’s no time to dwell on the least pleasing side of traveling. We’re on vacation and will make the most of it. So far, everyone is having fun especially Caity. She has only stayed for a night and already decided not to go back to “my house” in Prague. haha

Got two things on my mind that day – a picnic and pony-rides. I did my research, but badly. There was nothing wrong with the place, in fact it was a wonderland – well-manicured garden with the greenest grass and foliage, then there were benches, a bridge, a gazebo and probably a lot more since we didn’t get to explore the whole place. But only the part we saw already made a good impression on me. Truly a great place to spend a Prague weekend. So what can be bad about it? According to my research, they have stables, or horses. Since I’ve been promising Caity to let her go on a pony-ride, I thought they have that service too. Unfortunately, M said they only have a riding school. Too bad.

Anyway, we spent most of our time there in the playground. The kids had fun trying out the slide and riding on the horse rocker (or whatever its called). It was a perfect place for a picnic; there were lots of shades provided by the big trees around. Only the weather didn’t cooperate. It was cold and windy that we decided to eat our packed lunch at home instead. They have a nice restaurant with an access to the park’s playground which was very suitable for family with kids. There was even a bouncing castle beside it. Unfortunately we brought our own food (baked chicken with lemon grass stuffing..) which would be a waste if we didn’t eat it. We do plan to go back there one weekend, to try out their gastronomic dishes though.

On to more pictures…

1,2,3 slide!  That’s what a father should be! Spending time with the kids, playing with them, making them happy, even on his “day”…

I like the idea of using a log as the horse’s back adding a rustic appeal, unlike the usual commercial playground equipment that we’ve been seeing around.

Exploring what’s behind the chateau.

And what a nice surprise waiting for us! We found two peacocks hiding in a cave.

The dark clouds were threatening us, thus we hurried home.  We had our picnic in our living room instead, laid out a blanket on the floor and placed our food there, viola! We had an indoor picnic!

Happy father’s day and a big hurrah to the best dad Caity and Adie can ever have! Thank you for being their SUPER TÁTA!

M and the kids…

I’d like to greet my own dad a happy father’s day too.  I hoped you like my treat. Thank you for being a wonderful and supportive dad!! I miss you and love you very much!

Kudos to all the dads out there, working hard to provide the needs of their respective families, making kids and mommies happy, sometimes even at the expense of being away from their loved ones.

I am posting (warning!!!) LOTS of pictures I took of our Kyjov (a town in South Moravia) trip last May 14-15.

Photos below were taken on the first day, when the gang took a walk to the town’s center. Second pic is the town hall.

On the second day, we drove to Milotice Castle…






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Last weekend, the family went to Údolí Ticha (Valley of Silence) to relax.  I didn’t expect it to be a long drive.  I thought M was just going to bring us to a nearby park.  But the fresh air, nice warm sunny day and the wide meadow for Caity to play and run around was all worth the trip.

Here’s our little explorer, doing what she loves best – EXLORING! hehe

A lovely house, in the middle of the trees.

Father and daughter posing on what looks like a stainless steel drum from afar? Nehhh… it’s a roll of hay!

It’s my turn to pose! I’m almost 5 months pregnant, but it’s not obvious in this pic. Only in the pic. hehehe

I had a friend from Brno who attended the party and stayed overnight to see some of Prague’s sights the next day.

We started our stroll almost noon already as we woke up late having been tired from the past days’ activities. Our first stop was by the Vltava River, at Strelecky Ostrov, a small strip of island under the bridge opposite the famous Charles’ bridge. There were several people chatting and sitting on the grass soaking under the sun’s heat; others were feeding the swans that stopped by the riverbank. From our spot we can see the National Theater at the right and the Charles’ Bridge brimming with people on the left. The calm river served as a pretty foreground of the architectural beauty before us.

Some pictures by the riverbank, not Outer Banks but still awesome…

After taking numerous snapshots, we headed to Petrin Hill for a ride on the funicular to see the Rose Garden, the Petrin Tower (a mini replica of Paris’ Eiffel Tower) and view of Prague from above.