Happy Name Day Jaroslav (April 27)

In the Czech Republic everyday of the year has a name associated with it and the day with your name is your name day. Today was Jaroslav's name day. Jarek's dad is also named Jaroslav and Max's middle name is Jaroslav so it was a festive day in the house with lots of handshaking and wishing of a happy name day. Jarek's step-mom brought him some delicious candy. We went for a walk and met up with his brother and his girlfriend and her family. On our walk we stopped by the store. We had a good time in the candy isle and Jarek bought about 5 of his favorite candy bars that they don't have in the states. European chocolate = Yum!

Jarek's parents live in the orange building, on the second floor. They have lived there since he was six months old. He says the building used to be gray like the other ones but for some reason their building was painted orange and the other ones were not.


Below are pictures of Jarek's old school. He attended this school from Kindergarten through grade 8. He says it used to be gray also. He says all the buildings used to be gray. Now they are colorful, which I love.

Max chilin in the stroller. He was tired of facing backwards so we switched his chair to face forward. He thinks he is such a big boy now. My water bottle is his new favorite toy. He eventually fell asleep holding it.

Jarek's brother Petr and his girlfriend Jana and her family invited us to the pub. People congregate at the pub after work and before they head home. They even had a sandbox and play area for the kids. How sweet. Jana's sister teaches english and they thought it would be nice if I had someone to talk to so they invited her to come along.

Jarek was reminded of one of his favorite drinks - Kofola. It is a soda that is sort of like Dr Pepper. Its actually quite tasty, and I don't even really like soda. Jarek thinks we should import it to the US. Hmmmmm..........

Here is my baby, chillin' at the pub.

Jarek's brother Petr is the one in the blue BYU hat. That gave me a good chuckle, seeing him wear that hat as he drank beer after beer. Jana is holding Max and her dad is on the other side of Petr. Across from Jarek is her sister "Kate" who speaks english and her husband is the curly hair guy. Their 13 year old son Andrew is between them but you can't see him in the picture. Jana's two boys were there but they were off playing soccer in the field and Jana's mom joined us later. We were there for hours and at least 6 rounds of beer. But it was fun. They were concerned that American's don't drink alcohol since Jarek and I weren't drinking but we assured them that American's drink plenty of alcohol, we just don't for religious reasons.

Tomas loves to play this game were he bumps heads with Max.

Max seems to enjoy playing as well.

They also like to play peek-a-boo.

This is a dessert Jarek remembers from his childhood. Its called an indianek. We headed to the bakery after the pub to get one. Jana's dad bought it for him since it was his name day. Yum! We each had one and Jarek says it was just as good as he remembered it.

It was a good day. And its been nice seeing Jarek in his natural habitat.