Christmastime in Paris

Two of our best friends left Prague in the middle of December.  It was so hard to say goodbye and see them leave but we decided to have a last hurrah! weekend in Paris before they left.  (Aaaand they are originally from Naniamo, BC, so its definitely not goodbye forever.  Yeah!)  We love them.

17-20.12.10 Paris weekend with Jax and Michael

beginning of December roundup

Oh December.  So busy.  So exhausting.  But sooo fun!

We got a wee little Christmas tree.

and decorated it. (thanks Mom!)

Then hosted a birthday party for our dear friend, Michael Griffin.

We played that game where you have a famous person on your forehead and you ask questions.(??  You know the one...)

Then Mike and I took an evening and celebrated our Christmas, because we would not be in Prague on December 25th.  We started with gingerbread lattes..

walked up to the castle grounds..

made out overlooking the city..  (kidding!!)

then came home and opened presents and ate a very Czech dinner.  Goulash and dumplings.  Yum!

We have been part of a bible study since October with 6 other couples.  We had a great Christmas party with them, where we ate a ton of food and had a ridiculous white elephant exchange.  I love these people.  Unfortunately we were also saying goodbye to 2 of the couples that were moving away from Prague in December.  Sadness.  These photos are the group of us showing off our newly acquired gifts.

And then we were off to Paris, Egypt and the Middle East for the rest of the month..  More to come...

Loves. Leah

October roundup

At the beginning of the month, I took my friends daughter, Beatrice, to the pumpkin farm with her nursery class.  She is so fun, sweet and full of life!  I had a great (and a bit exhausting..) day playing at the farm with her.

This video makes me giggle every time.

We also celebrated Thanksgiving by cooking a MASSIVE and delicious dinner with our friends Jaqueline and Michael Griffin.

09.10.10 Thanksgiving!

And then my parents came out to visit!!!  And we went on a massive road trip to Italy!  But I'm going to save all that for the next post..

Road trip to Slovenia (with some other stops on the way..)

At the end of July, Mike and I and our friend, Mike, or Grif, (last name Griffin,) as I like to call him because this is confusing, went on a road trip to Lake Bled, Slovenia.  We would normally be going with his wife as well, however she was in Canada in July.  Her name is Jaqueline.  Jax for short.  So we created Flat Jax.  She joined us on this trip too.  It would have been more fun with the real Jax, but Flat Jax was a pretty good traveler..

We met up with him in a small town in the Czech Republic, saw a big castle there and then left the next morning for Slovenia.  We drove through the Alps, stopped in Villach, Austria, (which is known for their fortress on the hill, and apparently their monkeys**,) and then made it to Lake Bled.  We were only there for 2 nights, but we managed to pack in a tour through the Postojna Caves, drive to small coastal towns in Slovenian and Croatia, see Ljubljana, and still row a canoe to the cathedral in the middle of  Lake Bled.  Phew.

All the places were just gorgeous, but I think I would like to go back to Ljubljana at some point.  We only spent a couple hours there in the evening, and it just seemed like it had so much more to offer.  Maybe soon...

And a massive thank you to Grif, who drove the entire time and was a great trip planner!  Thank you friend!  We had so much fun!

Loves. Leah

**We stopped at the tourist info centre in Villach and the boys went in to ask about the fortress.

Boys: "So, besides the fortress, is there anything else to see in town?"

Tourist Centre Personnel: (emphatically) "Do you want to see our monkeys?"

Boys: "Ummmm....."

Too funny!!

25-27.07.10 Slovenia, Croatia and Austria with Grif and Flat Jax