Our last weekend in Slovakia

We had a pretty fun and a full weekend here in Slovakia.  On Friday we did little shopping and then mom and I decided to go to a park near our town.  It has a pretty steep hill and you can take a lift up to the top and just hike down which we did with Ani.  Anika loved being on the lift, so high up and it was the perfect weather for our little walk in the woods.  We spent almost the whole Saturday with Marcel and Elen and their 3 kids.  We went to the zoo in the morning which Anika just loved.  There was a dinosour park there with huge dinosaurs and some of them were moving, opening their mouths and making noises.  Ani was a bit scared and she would not go close to one of them no matter how hard I tried to show her it is fake.  She loved being with the kids all day and really liked playing with her cousin Hanka who is about 3 years old but is almost as tall as Ani.  We spent the rest of the day at their houe, playing, biking and stuff.  On Sunday Anika was excited to go to children"s church and her and Hanka were so cute afterwards, dancing together and hugging.  I"m sure they would become good friends if we were here longer.  We also went to visit my youngest brother Adam and his wife Slavka at their apartment because we won"t be able to see them before we go home.  They are the only couple with no kids yet so there will be more cousins one day. :)  They are also taking a trip to the states in August and will spend some time with us so that"s exciting.  Anika is becoming very much herself this last week, giggling with everyone, talking non-stop and just being very social.  It is so nice to see her change because when we first came she was pretty shy and I don"t blame her with so much of new things everywhere we went and with not knowing anyone besides me and my mom.  Now she is herself more and is having fun with everyone, especially all the kids.  It is a bit sad to see because it makes me think of how much we miss out on when our family is so far away but I have to be thankful for what I have, for the moments me and Ani have had with my family and to cherish that.  We still have 2 busy days ahead of visiting my friends and family and then Wednesday will be packing and relaxing and getting ready to leave very early on Thursday morning.

Making a traditional Slovak food

3 generations cooking together

Ani is excited to try it

another popular Slovak dish, Anika loved it

getting ready to get on the lift
the guys in front of us go up with the bikes and terrain bike down te hill

going up

looking down from our lift

at the zoo

baby leopards

baby tigers

all 4 kiddos

Hanka telling Ani the triceratops is not real

Hanka and Ani

Marcel, Elen and Tamarka

building structures

biking again

Adam and Slavka

Prague

Ani and I took a pretty long train ride to Prague (almost 4 hours) to go visit my brother Erik and his family for a couple of days.  It was a cold day the first day but we still managed to walk around the downtown, up to the palace and on the famous Charles bridge.  I could not believe that on a cold day like that, in the middle of the week, and off season the whole downtown was packed with tourists and locals.  I guess there is no time anymore where it doesn"t get crowded which is a bit sad.  But on the other hand, I was so impressed by the public transportation there.  Bratislava, the town where my parents live, is all right but man what a difference does a subway make.  You can  literarly get anywhere in Prague in a few minutes without a car and it is so nice.  We had Erik and Monika"s 2 boys with us, Tomas is 4 and Simon is 1 and a half.  We had 2 strollers with us because we knew Anika was going to be too tired to walk but in the end her and Tomas took turns sitting in strollers, taking naps in them or getting horsy rides.  But it was pretty funny when mid way during our walk thru town we stopped at a tiny park to feed Simon some food, and all of a sudden the 2 "very tired" kids had the energy of the world and were running nonstop from one end of the grass to another just to scare off the pigeons.  Ani and Tomas both got a kick out of that and I think it might have been Anika"s highlight of the day.  After that Ani and Tomas started playing a lot better together and they were playing so cute in their apartment.  You could hear they were both speaking their own language, playing hide ad seek and stuff but Anika would try to repeat some words after Tomas that she recognized.  It makes me a little sad we don"t have more time for the cousins to really get to know each other whenever we are here. But I hope one day when they are all older they can find some of the same interests and won"t ever be too cool to get to know each other.  I know it is pretty easy for most little kids to play together but you can"t order your teenagers to "play" together so I hope they can always enjoy each other and find some things in common.  Mom and I were talking how Anika is getting so much more adjusted here this week and she is more herself with everyone.  From what I remember the last time I was here and Kade was almost Anika"s age it was the same thing.  Around the 3rd week he finally started being himself and really enjoying everything and everyone.  Too bad it is so close before we have to leave but that"s how it is.

Here are some of the pictures of Prague, it really is a beautiful city and you could tour it for weeks but that"s not for little kids for sure.

on the train going to Prague

one of the views from Erik and Monika"s apartment

walking up to the castle

the view from the castle

watching a bride and groom dance in front of the castle

The famous Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge and the palace up on the hill

still Charles Bridge 

they sell puppets on every corner downtown

I guess the narrowest walkway in Europe

you could get a ride in these cars and tour the town that way

famous Orloj, a medieval astronomical clock

chasing pigeons

getting on the train back to Bratislava