Yes...Maylia REALLY Did Go To Lisbon...

And here's the proof! (I was thinking of sticking to the "what happens in Lisbon, stays in Lisbon"...but I guess I'll break down and share some of my trip with you.)

In summary, 4 nights and 3 days of amazingly fun times, long chats, dancing, sightseeing, relaxation, and yummy food with two of my favorite women in the whole world. No agenda. Just going where the day (or night) took us. What could be better? It was truly a "break" from my regular day-to-day life...and, I must admit, it was heavenly! Sleeping until noon, staying out until 3 and 4 in the morning. I was definitely Maylia and not "Mommy". Don't get me wrong, I adore my husband and my children, but everyone needs a vacation now and then. And this was it!

I can't end this post without highly recommending Lisbon (and most likely, Portugal) as a travel destination. Erin, Michelle and I were consistently wowed by the friendly service as well as the scenery.

Trick-or-Treat!

In true Prague fashion (for us), we were battling illness for Hallowe'en again this year. Luckily, it tempered our celebrations but did not completely knock us out of the festivities this year. Hallowe'en morning, Maylia and Mattias attended a Hallowe'en themed storytime, where Maylia helped entertain about 30 pirates, witches, princesses, and monsters with spooky stories and silly puppets. Here's Mattias in his goldfish costume that we're hoping he gets to go trick-or-treating in next year...

And sporting his super-cool Hallowe'en t-shirt courtesy of Grammy and Grampy (what he actually wore to the storytime).

After returning Mattias home for a nap, Maylia and Ella took off for a Hallowe'en themed birthday party for Ella's friend, Natalie.

We should also add that we warmed up for Hallowe'en by visiting a pumpkin farm and buying some pumpkins and squash. It was a very fun (and wet!) day with our friends Emily, Radek, Anna Lee, and Oliver.

And then Jeff and Ella attended a pumpkin carving party at our friends house (Valerie, Dan, Vinson, and Benjamin). Ella's jack-o-lantern is the second from left.

Health update: Monday (Nov 2), Jeff was to the doctor and learned he needed a round of antibiotics. Tuesday, Maylia returned to the doctor for a second round of antibiotics. Somehow, the children seem pretty healthy...knock on wood...not sure how...but we are so grateful! Hoping we'll all be healthy and back to our normal activities this coming week. Ella went to skolka 4 full days this week (8:30am to 3:30pm), since Mom was not much fun. And she also went to her drama class yesterday on her own (with her friend Natalie and Natalie's mom) - what a big girl! We're very proud of her!

Welcome to the World, Puran Ekya!

We are thrilled to announce the birth of Caesar and Sarita's baby boy. The little tiger arrived November 4th and all three of the Ekyas are doing very well. We're sure they are happy to have Sarita's mom, Anita, around to help. Either a very early riser or a night owl, Puran entered the world at 1:38 am, weighing in at 5lbs 11oz. It's cool that he shares his Lunar/Hindu calendar birthday with his dad. Puran is named after Caesar's father, and his name means "complete" in Sanskrit. Fitting, as we're sure Caesar and Sarita are feeling like their family is more complete with Puran in it. (For those that don't know, Ekya, Sarita and Caesar's chosen married name, means "unity" in Sanskrit. Cool, huh?)

Congratulations, Guys! Looking forward to meeting Puran on Skype sometime soon....

"Blanka go Boom Again"

Big apologies for so long a silence on the blog. We're all taking turns fighting the flu (just regular kind, no swine stuff).

There is something we've been meaning to write about...there are tunnels being dug under our house. And for several weeks now, we get reminders several times a day by the dynamite blasts.

Now, before you yell "Freeze Gopher!!", you should know these are not ordinary tunnels. This is on par with Boston's Big Dig, as Prague tries the same to alleviate congested traffic. The project is called Tunel Blanka (the "Blanka Tunnel") and is tunneling under the city center, the Vltava river, and Letna and Stromovka parks. When the Blanka Tunnel is finished, it will be 3.5 miles long (5502 meters). Construction started soon after we got here and, from the constant blasting, it seems they're making a lot of progress. Should be finished in mid to late 2011, so we're thinking we won't be enjoying it personally.

What we do enjoy is the constant reminders, from underground dynamite blasts which rock our building in a very real way, once even shattering our downstairs neighbor's bathroom mirror. (Mattias thinks it is thunder and says, "Uh oh, it's raining!", even when there is a sunny blue sky outside.)

If you visit the official Tunel Blanka website, you can read exactly why we're concerned. On the website listing the buildings most affected, you'll see our building is "directly affected" - meaning it's subject to the maximum projected fall of 35mm. That's 1.5" which doesn't sound like a lot, provided the whole building will fall evenly.

But, honestly, there's little reason to think a large area of the surface would just cave into the ground. After all, it has only happened twice since they started construction!

After these setbacks, it's no wonder why they're taking such precautions as building a wooden, catch-all skirt around our house and all the "directly affected" buildings around us. See pictures - the skirt is just in case parts of a building should break away. We're sure the 2" planks will keep any passerby below safe from falling walls.