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

November roundup

November was a good and relaxing month.  I made this delicious "wifesaver" type breakfast, except with real potatoes and veg and dill...

and Mike grew a mustache.

Happy Movember!! 

You must start with a freshly shaved face, (which I had not seen since we were dating!)

then keep growing it until you look like..  well, I'll let you decide.

Also we got Al and Joyce's Christmas gifts in the mail just before the month was over!  It was so sad to see them sitting in the corner for soooo long.  The patience I displayed for that 3 weeks before opening was commendable.

Mom & Dad's second visit

My parents came out to visit for a couple weeks at the end of October.  During this time we hung out in Prague a bit..

prague with mom & dad

then during my weekdays off, the 3 of us went to Berlin..

17-18.10.10 Berlin with Mom & Dad

and our school had mid term break, so we roadtripped to Italy, via Germany and Austria.

22-23.10.10 Füssen

23-25.10.10 Florence

25-27.10.10 Cinque Terre

27-28.10.10 Venice

27.10.10 Ferrari museum

28-30.10.10 - Salzburg

Oh yah!  And then we stopped in Český Krumlov for dinner at one of our favourite restaurants.

30.10.10 - Český Krumlov

All the places we visited were just gorgeous, but I think my favourite place this trip was Venice.  Such a different and beautiful city with so much character!  But really just loved it all!  

Thanks for coming out to see us, Mom and Dad!

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..

September roundup

Time to do a photo catch up...  This was our September.

Unfortunately, they did not get to spend a lot of time here, but Matthew and Brandy came to visit!

08-12.09.10 Brandy & Matthew's visit

Then Mike and I went to Okoř for the weekend to celebrate our 3rd anniversary.

18-19.09.10 Anniversary weekend in Okoř

Yippee!

this is for Dad

Our flights this summer were with Malev Airlines, which is based in Budapest, Hungary.  Naturally we had stopovers and time to kill in the airport.  And *naturally* when you are in Hungary, there will be Hungarian salami.  My dad's sandwich meat of choice for the last 30 years.

My father is a creature of habit and has been eating Hungarian salami sandwiches with Miracle Whip and white bread for more than half his life.  I have very fond memories of Dad making his lunch in the mornings, me sleepily trying to keep up with his morning enthusiasm, and him putting about 3 or 4 of these sandwiches in his lunch kit.  I know this habit has been adjusted a liiittle bit lately, but it is still his sandwich love.

So anyways..  these photos are for you, Dad!  Love you!

We fondly called it Pragurkreece - Greece

Well...  now Greece isn't going to sound as great as it actually was, cause I pumped up Turkey so much.  And it was the last leg of our trip, and the last leg always gets a bit exhausting.  Shame.  But Greece was beauuutiful.  We relaxed in Samos for a few days and swam and ate moussaka and drank beer and wine.  Then flew to Athens and experienced the dodgy bit of town, did the walking tour, saw lots of ruins that we were NOT allowed to touch or walk on or pose by, ate more kebaps, flea marketed, and then our Hungarian air carrier brought our exhausted selves home.

Joel and Raych were so great to travel with and were game for anything!  We had a blast with them and it was so lovely to see them after such a long time.  Love you guys!

Loves.  Leah

Rachel's posts are here and here.  Also a list of all foods we ate here.

09-14.08.10 Greece with JOel and Rachel

We fondly called it Pragurkreece - Turkey

Turkey was aaaaaamazing!  Seriously.  Go to Turkey.  Loved it.  Go.

Anyways, Turkey was at the top of my list before we came to Prague, so I've been excited to go for awhile and it did NOT let me down.  We were in Istanbul, Cappadocia area, Pamukkale, Kusadasi, and Ephesus.  Mosques, mixed grills, baths, fairy chimneys, ruins, kepaps (or kabobs or kebaps), travertines, ground that THE disciples walked on... A-MAZ-ing.  Kept us entertained for daaaayys.  We could have stayed longer..

Loves. Leah

Raych blogged here, here, here, here, here, here and her facebook photos are here.

01-08.08.10 Turkey with Joel & Rachel

We fondly called it Pragurkreece - Prague

Well, if any of you know Rachel or followed my links from before, you would have already seen some photos and read about our trip and laughed out loud, as Raych is a hilarious and fantastic user of the English language.  I... am not so good at the English part, however I do have a lot more photos.  So please check out her blog here, for pre-Gurkey fun.  And here for post Gurkey fun. And then her facebook album here.  (Don't really know if the fb one will work, but check it out.)  Thanks for being a great blogger, Raych!!

Loves. Leah

30,31.07 & 15-18.08.10 Prague with Joel and Rachel