Easter (April 25)

I packed an Easter bag for Max. I bought some new, novel toys for Max and I thought we would give them to him on the plane to help entertain him but it just didn't work out that way. So he got his Easter "basket" on Easter morning. And in the basket was an Easter outfit that I felt it was my obligation as a mom to make him wear while he is still small enough for me to do such things.

So Cute!

And then it was time to join Jarek's family for their Easter celebration. I have since learned that they actually have two Easter's here. They have Easter Sunday which is about the resurrection and Christ and all the religious stuff. And then they have Easter monday which is something completely different. On this celebration the boys hit the girls with sticks and then to thank them for this the girls give them candy. And why do the boys hit the girls with sticks? The most I have been able to learn is that it has something to do with making them "stronger and more beautiful". Of course I am morally opposed to everything about this. But what do you do? And oh the horror! It was my first day in the country, my first time meeting my in-laws, and every boy around was hitting me on the backside with sticks!



Max's cousin Karolina and her mom Romana brought presents for Max - new toys! So sweet! Karolina was so excited to finally be able to give Max his toys so she could help him play with them. She is such a sweet girl. I can't understand a word she says but she sounds so cute saying them. In the picture above is Maruska holding Leontyna (who was born 6 days after Max), Karolina and Max.


And here is my son, holding a stick and ready to hit girls to get candy. He really did love waving that stick, which made me both happy and horrified. Max is being held by his Deda (grandpa).



And here is Jarek, with his stick and the reward he got for using it. Some traditions are so strange.

Flight and Arrival (April 23-24)

We have arrived! I have to say that considering that it was 20 hours of traveling from the time we left our house until we arrived at Jarek's parents the trip went well. We didn't get the bassinet on the plane which made things a little harder but it was still managable. Max slept on my lap for about 6 hours of the first 9 hour flight. He got tired being held and was very happy when he had his own seat so Jarek and I spent some time walking around so he could have my seat for a while.





We had just long enough in Paris to make our way through the airport and figure out how to get on our next flight. It was less than two hours and Max had his own seat so it was a great flight. We then took a 3 hour train ride to Ostrava and I wish I had taken a picture because Max was so cute looking out the window. But my camera was in my bag and I didn't have the energy to get it out. The train was awesome! So relaxing. And the countryside was so beautiful looking out of the big windows. Jarek's step mom (Maruska) and his step-sister (Romana) picked us up at the train station and took us the short drive to his parent's house. It was night time when we arrived and we had all had very little sleep for the past 24 hours so we all fell right to sleep. Even Max. I woke up first and I found myself doing what I did when Max was a newborn: watching him sleep. Only now he is a lot more entertaining because he moves a lot and ends up in all sorts of funny positions.

TIckets purchased!

So, we just purchased tickets to visit Jarek's family in a couple of weeks. I guess after 3 years of dating, one year of marriage and giving them a grandchild it is about time. I admit I am nervous for this trip. I have never met them, never visited the country where they live, and we don't speak the same language. But, I am always up for an adventure! Ever since I met Jarek I have been playing around with trying to learn check. But it is a very complicated language with entirely too few vowels and I have never taken learning it seriously because of the feeling that I will never master it anyway. But now that I am anticipating spending two weeks in an apartment with everyone speaking Czech but me I have found a new motivation. Last week I focused on numbers and I can now count from one to ten, as well as tell people that I know how to count from one to ten. And I made up a catchy song to help me remember it. I realize that the numbers one to ten and the bragging rights that I can do it won't get me far in two weeks, but its a start. Jarek said something to me in Czech a couple of days ago and my mind froze and then it was like a computer trying to search for the right file. And then it clicked, he was speaking Czech and (this is the exciting part!) there was a part of my brain that recognized it and translated it for me. Yeah! I have a czech part of my brain! Now, if I could just fill it with some helpful phrases in the next 18 days.