~The TPUK are Back~
(or my secondary title: Vacation starts with 'V')

Affectionately known as "The Parental Unit Kempts", May's parents returned from their whirlwind tour of Europe's Alps countries: Austria, Italy and Switzerland.

We just looked through their digital pics ... we thought we'd share a few here:

Bill & Bev (and the Hofburg Imperial Palace) in Vienna, Austria


Some classic scenary from Venice, Italy...


The Arena in Verona, Italy

Bill and Bev have a ton of pictures, both digital and on film.
Suffice to say they had a great time and came back with stories that make us really want to explore.

later,
-jeff

she's Back, She's Back, SHE's Back!

Over the weekend, friends Armand & Sean left Prague, while Maylia and Ella returned.

This ends my 3 days of bachelor life and I'm back to family life.

This is a good thing, really...having Arm and Sean here for a few days, especially St. Patty's Day, was a lot of fun, but I can only handle so much Czech beer, sleeping in late and so little responsibility.

May's back and it's nice to share life with my best friend again.

Ella's back and it's nice to have every day different from the last.

But another woman joined our family over the weekend. A woman I had written off long ago to save my marriage. And even though Eric out in Vegas has gifted me this 'woman', she ended up sold at our last yard sale when leaving the US.

Confused yet?

What I didn't know is that, at that yard sale, Michelle and Jeff K bought her. That allowed Jeff K to mail her back. Here are pictures of all 3 women since last weekend.

May's back!

Ella's back (trying out this year's Halloween costume)

...and the woman of honor is back.

The beautiful coconut lady ("that ugly piece of %&$" to others).

As Eric knows & practices, nothing says respect & admiration like a place on the top shelf. (so, what's with the painting?)

Isn't she beautiful?

Thankfully, I'm the one who does the dusting, so there should be no "accidents" during chores.

Thank you again Eric for her in the first place. Thank you Jeff & Michelle for reuniting us.

p.s. Interestingly enough, I kept the original 0.50 price tag on her head. But I noticed Jeff insured for a full $1.00. Nice! I can't even utter the postage Jeff spent to ship her ...that's respect and admiration!

-Jeff

~happy st. patty's day!~

Armand and Sean, en route to Amsterdam, stopped in Prague for four days.


In between sightseeing, like checking out the John Lennon wall, we've been enjoying plenty of local and Irish beers, doing our part to celebrate.






The family is touring Vienna for the week. May's expected back Sunday and TPUK are continuing on to Italy and Switzerland. Sorry for the short post, but on our way out...

-jeff

THEY'RE HERE!!!!

YaYa and Baboo (what Ella calls my mom and dad) arrived Wednesday evening. We met them at the airport. I think for Ella it is like cartoon characters have come to life! She is so used to seeing them on the computer screen when we talk to them with the webcam...and here they are in real life!


I wanted to make sure they tasted the "ambience which is Prague" right away. (And no, I don't mean the beer this time.) So I dragged their tired bodies out to walk the Charles Bridge at night. I think it was worth it.


Thursday we took it easy in the morning. In the afternoon we walked to Wenceslas Square, visited the Franciscan Gardens and wound up at Old Town Square. It was a bit chilly so we had some svařak to warm up. (Remember svařak? That's Czech mulled wine. Yum!) I guess they liked it because we had some again today!

Yesterday (Friday) they attended Ella's music class. It was a gorgeous day so we went to the playground in Riegrovy Sady after that. Sometimes I had to take my jacket off because it was so warm outside! In the evening we visited the Žižkov TV Tower (see previous entries). This time we took the elevator up for a spectacular view of the city.


Today we met our realtor at our future flat so that Mom and Dad could see the place. (Looks like we'll be moving in September.) After that we had an excellent brunch at Fraktal, Ella's fave Prague eatery. We tried to burn it off with a walk through Letná Park to Prague Castle. Here are Mom and Dad, cups of svařak in hand, with one of the castle guards.


On top of all the sightseeing we've truly enjoyed the chance just be together and it's been really neat for Ella to spend some time with her YaYa and Baboo.


Happy Birthday, Aunt Bet!
Maylia

PS Had to add this sunset photo I took from our living room window earlier in the week.

BONUS ELLA PICS!



Thank goodness we haven't actually started potty training yet. But she's certainly getting her head around the idea! (Jeff's joke. Har! Har! Har!)




Ella sporting her new handmade robe from Grammy Parker.