Anika

Anika has been going to a classical dance since October and just loved it.  She is not very athletic and even has a hard time balancing sometimes when doing some dance moves but she never gives up and just enjoys every moment of it.  I'm so glad she is able to do that and not get down on herself.  We thought this would be good for her physically and it has been great even though there were so many nights I wished we didn't have to get out of the house for the dance.

I have been taking her faithfully to dance every week until I went on my trip to Slovakia.  Of course, the week I was gone they had 2 big practices, pictures and the big recital on Friday.  I was really bummed I had to miss it and had to leave very detailed instructions for Ehren so he would be able to remember everything.  He did great and thankfully Ehren's mom did Anika's hair really nice for the recital.  One thing I was not impressed with is how big of a deal people make of these recitals.  It was our first year and had no idea we are in for a bit of "Toddlers and Tiaras".  The girls had their hair and make up done as if they were going to some pageant or something.  Luckily Jessica (my sister-in-law) heard about people getting flowers to the girls at the end so she got some for Emily and Anika.  The whole dance session was so low key that I had no idea they would make it into that for the recital.

Below is some of what Ehren wrote to me about Ani's big day since I wasn't there to experience it.  It was so sweet and brought tears to my eyes.  Then there are a few pictures I got to see too.  It's just unbelievable what we're able to do in this day and age with technology.  We can skype with Kade and Ani and giggle (or cry) even though we're thousands of miles away.  We can see our pictures or videos almost instantly.  It's just crazy when I think back to when Ehren and I first started our long distance relationship and how we had to wait 10 to 14 days to get a reply in the mail. Now I'd be back home before I would even hear from Ehren. :)

Here's the e-mail from Ehren from last Friday:

"Tonight was a lot of fun.  First it was in the middle of a snow STORM so that made the running around all the more fun.  I tried to dress up Ani's hair with a bow or something to dress it up (after mom braided it) but Ani said  that she justwanted it as it was.  We got there at 6. Ani had her tights on but not her outfit so I took her to a bathroom by the gym to change.  Didn't know she could have changed in the back...  Oh well.  Then it was the waiting game. Ani first dance was 6 songs in. She saw me right away and smiled.  She loved it up there and
just had fun.  I was too busy the first time with the camera to show her to ook at the teacher but I went up there again for the 2nd song and was able to direct her to look at her teacher.  I just loved those seconds when she
had that smile just for me.  I think she loved it that she could see me.  She was beautiful.
I didn't know about the flowers to give to the girls but Jess knew I probably wouldn't, she didn't find out til yesterday, so she brought some there for me to give to Ani.  I had Kade give them to her which was perfect because she was asking for him right away.  She was just wired afterwards. We went to DQ with mom and dad afterward and they both had a strawberry/banana smoothie.  As she went to bed I was telling her how proud
I was of her and how beautiful she looked.  I then told her how proud you were of her and how much you wanted to be there.  She cried.  We avoided talking about it all day but she needed to hear that.  She really misses
you. She went to bed at 9:30, voice hoarse and tired.  She was asleep 10minutes later.  After all this week was, I can sit down and really appreciate it.  It was worth it."  

Ani and Emily

Excited to get flowers afterwards

skiing again

Today was a really good day.  I finally went skiing again and not just anywhere, we went to the Alps that's about an hour away.  I am so thankful to my brother Marcel who took me, his 2 kids and a friend along with her son so we could get some skiing done while I was here.  The weather could not have been any better, the sunshine in the mountains is the best and I almost forgot how nice it feels on your skin. (after we were done skiing I could have stayed on top of the hill and lay out on the sun for hours:))  Marcel's wife Elen stayed at their house with Kason which was so nice of her.  I thought about taking Kason with but we were only going to ski for a few hours and since he's never skied before I'd have to spend the whole time with him on a bunny hill.

It was just the best feeling to downhill ski again and even though I was never that great I'm glad I didn't totally forget how to ski. :) Marcel took some video of me at the end and I'll put it on the bottom if  can upload it.  I was just really enjoying the skiing and it wore me out really good. :) My legs are pretty sore at places that I don't normally use.  Spending weekends skiing in the mountains is such a common thing here and people don't give it another thought.  Growing up it was pretty normal for me too but now that I am so far from the mountains this means so much more.  I'm thankful for this day, for being able to savor those moments and will treasure them.  There are just some things that you do that bring you right back to your childhood and this is one of those for me.  Just a good day!

my niece Hanka and nephew Filip

my brother Marcel on our last ride down

had to take a picture with an Arctic Cat from Austria :)

Me and Hanka skiing:

Slovakia

So, after a few crazy days of celebrating and times with cousins our days slowed down a bit and I am able to sit down and at least put some pictures on here for you.  Of course I have not been taking as many pictures as I should have but it's not easy.  Sometimes I just want to enjoy the people, visit, laugh or cry without always reaching for my camera.  But then I love seeing the pictures afterwards too so I pretty much want the best of both worlds. :)

Kason has had a chance to play with all his cousins the last few days and that's been so nice.  Sometimes the the oldest boys Filip and Tomas were trying hard to say things to Kason in English while Kason did not care that none of the kids were understanding him and just kept talking to all of them in English.  He kept telling the boys they really need to fly on the airplane and come see his house because he was going to show them all his toys and stuff.  He is finally starting to talk some to my mom in Slovak because she doesn't speak English.  She said I should just leave Kason here for a couple months so he would learn Slovak. While I know that would work for the language part, I'm not sure how he'd do without me and Ehren for so long.  

On Tuesday my youngest brother Adam and his wife Slavka had their first baby - a beautiful red hair boy Emil.  Mom and I went to see them in the hospital today and he is so adorable.  I must say I am thankful for the American hospitals because here you can't even look at the baby from up close when you are visiting, only through a big glass window.  I am so happy for them and so excited I was here when it hapened.  We are hoping to see them all again in a few days when they get home.  

Kason's first reaction to the big city was: "this town is very loud" :) Poor country boy has never been right in the middle of a city like this and even though you realize how much noisier it is, I didn't think about how different it must feel to Kason.  There are buses, trolleybuses, trams and cars driving by my parents' apartment building almost all day and all night long so no wonder he says it is very loud.  At the same time he is really excited to go places, see new things and ride a different public transportation he has never been on before.  His favorite was going on a "little train" :) or tram.  We also went to 3 huge malls this week and that was an experience for him.  One of them was his favorite because they had a play area where you drop the kids off with slides, riding toys and even a wii.  So of course he did not want to leave that place.  I got some funny looks today from people because they heard me talking Slovak to someone and then Kason comes up to me yelling something in English.  There are some moms here that speak English to their kids so they learn it early on but a lot of times those kids answer back in Slovak.  And there's me today trying to speak Slovak to Kason in public and he's answering back in English. :) He's at least catching on quick to basics and I hope it will get more so when my parents come see us in May.

We still have fun things planned until it's time to go back home, some friends to visit with, me going skiing, going swimming and stuff so it will be a lot of fun.  But we miss Ehren, Kade and Ani and I know they miss us too.  Kason talks about them quite a bit and it's so sweet to hear him talk about his big brother or getting emotional when I mention Ani.  Him and Ani are just really close and are each other's little buddies so I know it is hard on both of them to not share this time with each other.  But I do think it is nice to have time apart like this because it makes us all really see how much people in our lives mean to us and makes us appreciate them so much more when we get back.

Here are some pictures of Kason's day with his cousins Filip, Hanka, Tamarka and baby Ester - kids of my brother Marcel and his wife Elen.  He had so much fun there and when we came to pick him up he was his little showing off self even though the kids didn't understand most of it.

picking up Filip from school

bakeries are everywhere and it's one of the things I miss most :)

Going for a walk

cousin Tomas from Prague - in front of the famous fountain from a Slovak movie we watched growing up

"Fontana Pre Zuzanu"

waiting for a tram

Damian and Kason

play area at the mall

after a long afternoon at the mall Kason got his reward :)

visiting my cousin Saci in Budapest who is like a sister to me 

The best surprise

Wow, what an incredible and crazy last couple of days have been!  Where to even begin?  For about a month now me and my brothers have been planning to surprise my parents for their 65th birthday with me showing up at their family dinner.  Then to make it more fun my brother thought of doing a little photo shoot with their friend who is a photographer and redo the horrible picture that mom treasures from our youth.  It was all a great plan, me and Kason getting there on Friday, get some rest and take pictures on Sat. morning, print it for my parents party and see if they figure out I am actually there waiting to come in.

But of course, we experienced some travel complications before we even left the Fargo airport and ended up staying there all day until finally we left for Chicago airport around 8pm.  Needless to say Kason who was soooo excited for his first airplane ride ever had enough after just one day. :)  To make things worse my cell phone ran out of service days which means it got deactivated and it took me probably good 3 hours on the phone at the airports and hotel over the 2 days to have it fixed so I could communicate with Ehren who left us at the airport thinking everything was just fine. :)  I was really thankful for the tablet Kason got to use while I did that because it kept him occupied for a long time.

Since our flight was delayed by 6 hours we had to spend the night at a hotel and even though it was all "mechanical" problems our airline had they said they cannot give us a voucher for a hotel which I could not believe but at least I found a good deal and we got some 5-6 hours of sleep.

The next day we finally got on our international flight and continued without any problems, other than being very tired from an extra day of traveling and Kason even though he only got a few hours of sleep at the hotel could not go to sleep on the plane for a long time and when he did it was not for too long and was kind of restless.  But I could not believe how much energy he still pulled out of that little body because when we got to my borther´s house he was biking and running around with the kids and then at my parents he fought going to sleep for a long time too.

So at my brother´s house we did our little photo shoot quick and that was a lot of fun.  We laughed and laughed and had a great time and the pictures she took look great.  The pictures I posted here are just with the other cameras, not from the girl who took the nice pictures but I still like them.  I was worried I would look awful after almost 3 days of traveling and not being able to shower or look my best but it turned out great.  

Then it was time to head to my parents.  My brothers went in first, had my parents sit in the living room and presented them with the picture.  Surprisingly, my parents did not think anything of me being in the picture, they totally thought it was some photoshop thing but then I came in the door and my mom´s reaction was priceless.  Both mom and dad were so excited and touched and just could not believe we all kept this secret from them :)  It was an incredible moment for me to be able to just walk into their living room and give them a big hug, which is such a normal thing for other people.  We took a video of it too and I will try posting it here.  Just feel so blessed today with such an incredible family and even though they are thousands miles apart from me I can feel their love, their support and encouragement.

Now that the most stressful part is over, Kason and I can just enjoy our time here with the family and friends.  I already got to hold my 2 youngest niece and nephew today and take in their beautiful smiles.  I am hoping the one on the way will come out before I have to leave so I can see him too.  It was such an amazing day today despite me being beyond exhausted.

At the Fargo airport before we said good bye to daddy

at the hotel we got to around midnight - Kason fell asleep right away

here is before and 15 years later

mom and dad before they saw me

Kason getting overly tired finally

2 brothers with their youngest

My niece Ester

Kason showing the boys how dsi works