Martina & Libor drove us to the airport. Our flight was about 45 minutes delayed, but we still made our connecting flight in London without any problem.
Karolina packed breakfast for everyone and labeled them along with a little picture. Sebi wants to put his in his "memory" box.
On the way to the airport
Saying goodbye to Martina and Libor. Lots of tears were shed. I'm crying right now as I'm typing this, remembering our ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, WONDERFUL hosts!
I had no idea there were wind-farms in the ocean!
Blue painters tape is a great way to keep the kids occupied on the plane. Gabriella made this one. Can you tell it's a horse?
Sebi made this one.
Our bus from the airplane to the terminal was packed. Tobi & Sebi were so proud that they were able to sit "alone".
Katja waiting for us at O'Hare International.
We were jam packed driving from Chicago back home.
Thanks be to God for an incredible experience and for keeping everyone safe during our travels. How blessed we are!
We spent pretty much all day Sunday packing. We went to church of course and said goodbye to the priest and to several of the nice ladies who always stop and try to talk with me after Mass.
I tried to get a video of Sebastian taking up the gifts with the other children, but he got sad because there wasn't anything left for him to carry so he snuck back to our pew and found him behind me after I took this video. Anyhow, it shows you some of what a typical Czech Mass is like in Zamberk.
This is just some audio of the pretty music they played at Mass today.
I'd like to find out who composed it, so if anyone recognizes it, please let me know.
Saturday morning we had another wonderful opportunity to experience some beautiful Czech horses. We went to the farm of a friend of Libor's. We got to ride in a wagon pulled by two horses while some of the kids took turns riding a third horse.
The girl was so nice, she ran alongside the horse while Annika &
Gabriella were riding so they could experience a trot
(or a canter - I can't tell the difference!)
She sure got her workout today!
Tobiah thought it was so funny that his helmet kept falling over his
eyes that he started doing it on purpose
They were butchering a pig that day on the farm, so I took some pictures for Petr since that is one of his favorite childhood memories.
Fresh Jaternice (pork liver sausage)
Afterwards the father of the household insisted that we share a shot with him.
It actually tasted REALLY good. I think it was a cherry liquor of some sort.
Later in the day Mirka, Milan, Milan, Jr., & Marketa stopped by to say goodbye. Mirka was so kind to give Gabriella & Annika some cute Czech haircuts before the big Corale party tonight.
This evening we went to the Corale party. Karolina tried to translate it for us and she said it translates to "A Happy Party". It was wonderful. So much fun, great entertainment and I got to talk to so many member of Corale, many of whom stayed at our home in 2006. We left around 11:30 and I didn't want to go. I could have stayed another 4 hours - which is probably how long the party lasted!
Czech out the decorations
Cute little chlebíček which translates to "little bread".
I love these!
Our ticket...Did they know 7 is my favorite number?
Great Entertainment at the Party!
Again, sorry for the bad audio quality of these videos.
The music was so loud my phone just couldn't handle it.
Tobiah wanted to help make breakfast - Czech Cream of Wheat
After breakfast I went to the doctor's to have my foot xrayed. When we found out how inexpensive it was for Gabriella's xrays we thought we may as well get the xrays done just to make sure I didn't have a stress fractures, and I don't. Yay! However, they said I have a lot of wear & tear between the bones, so that could be causing the pain. If it doesn't get better on it's own, I'll probably have to see a doctor in the states after the New Year.
In the afternoon we went for a walk with Andrea & Robin. We stopped at a few parks along the way for the kids to play.
Andrea & Robin
We found another zipline...Tobiah loves it!
Robin taking his first zipline ride with his big cousin, Luke.
Queen of the Tree Trunk
Sebastian just loves playing with Robin
ALL SOUL'S DAY
After dinner we walked to the cemetery for Dušičky (All Soul's Day) to place some wreaths and candles on the graves...a tradition that almost every Czech person does on this day.
The cemeteries are absolutely glowing on this night.
Mass at the cemetery chapel
The cemeteries are soooo beautiful all lit up on Dušičky!!!!
Sebastian placing a wreath on Libor's mother's grave.
We were joking earlier in the day because of my foot and Gabriella's arm that Annika was next to get an injury and sure enough this afternoon she was running around outside with Zak and she slipped and wrenched her knee, so she's taking it easy this afternoon.
After dinner Pavel arrived just as the kids and I were headed out the door to go to Mass.
