O CANADA!

...our home and native land. Now 2 more Parkers can sing those lines in truth. Just in time to (not really) celebrate Canada Day, Ella and Mattias received their Canadian Proof of Citizenship cards. Yay! Now we only have to get Jeff on-board and Canadians can continue our mission to take over the world. Muahh ha ha ha! (evil laugh) Seriously, though, it's very cool and allows us to next apply for their passports.

In other news, Mattias got his first tatoo...

got his first punk-rock hair-do...

and had his first "solo" (as in, sans Mama) tram ride...

For her part, Ella completed her first year of skolka and had her first solo pony ride...

We also determined that we can contain our largest child in a locker if the need arises...

And we made friends with some lemurs...

Hmmm...that about covers it. Just sitting around waiting to be an auntie. Maybe also in time for Canada Day? Bets, anyone?

Have a Keiths for me, eh?!

Maylia

Bystre

That's the little village where we spent last weekend. It was a lovely trip. We rented a car for the first time and Jeff got us there safely and without incident. That was cool! Although, since Greece, Ella loves to say, "I'm just not used to cars", a statement she heard her mother say when she was whining after an hour or so on the road.

It was a group trip of 8 families, arriving and departing at different times over a long weekend. All of the couples were "half and half" (Czech & foreign spouse) except us as the only totally non-Czech couple there. So, it was neat to experience a typical Czech get-away. The hotel was wonderful! They have these family-style hotels here. This was our first experience with one. It was a basic 3-star, not very expensive, but the service was so friendly. It had a nice Czech restaurant in it, where we usually ate. It also had an outdoor playground, including pool and trampoline, and indoor pool which claimed 28C water, and a huge indoor playroom. Fantastic!

We arrived Saturday, met up with friends for lunch, explored a little and enjoyed the pool, which had been reserved for our group for an hour. After dinner and getting some of the younger children to bed, we had a disco party for the kids in the playroom.

And they all sang "Happy Birthday" to me and toasted me with champagne. Fun! I helped get the kids calmed down for bed by reading 2 Robert Munsch books, "Smelly Socks" and "We Share Everything". Always trying to sneak in some Canadian content!

Sunday we all made our way to nearby castle Svojanov and explored it.

There were dragons to look for, towers to climb (very proud that Ella was actually the only child to go to the top)...

...and windows to break (less proud about this accomplishment of Ella's.

The little kids were exhausted after supper and a 2nd swim. With all the toddlers off to bed, the parents managed a little adult time...well, except for Jeff, he was entertainment for the older kids....right, "Jeffie Baby"? (By the way, older is no more than 6 years old!) Did you know Jeff can juggle, do handstands and act just like a 6-year old? Me neither.

Monday, despite rain, the planned treasure hunt went on and was lots of fun.

The kids were really into it and the preparation for it was admirable. We ended at a local znamek (or chateau) and the final treasure was a coin with which to buy a treat. Ella ended up sharing an ice-cream sundae with her friend, Lola. Not to be outdone, Jeff and I split a banana spilt. After all, it was my birthday!

It was a friend-filled, fun-filled weekend for everyone...

(This is Matej with Mattias. Matej is 2 months the senior.)

~Maylia

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Just a quick note to say "THANK YOU!!!!!" for all the birthday wishes I have received. Emails, skype calls, text messages, e-cards and good old snail-mail birthday cards - all letting me know that I AM LOVED!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

All smiles,

Maylia

Coming soon: A post about our weekend away.

Black Humour - Czech Style

There is a famous Czech artist named David Cerny. Cerny (pronounced like "chair-knee") means "black" in Czech, which is appropriate as his artwork definitely falls in the "black humour" category. If you are avid blog-readers, you have already seen some of his work...those freaky babies on the TV tower in Zizkov, near our old flat.

Anyway, as you are aware, the EU presidency currently resides with the Czech Republic. The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, who is well-known to be anti-EU, commissioned Mr. Cerny to create a work of art depicting the European Union. Cerny was paid by the EU and a large corporation and said that he would be using artists from each of the countries to create his piece, which would show each country and what best-typifies them.

It comes as little surprise to those who know Cerny's work that the unveiling in Brussels did not go over well. In fact, Cerny and some friends (not the league of international artists he claimed were assisting him) created something that mocked each of the EU nations. Bulgaria, for example, was depicted as a Turkish squat toilet. (The Bulgarians complained enough that this portion of the exhibit was covered while the work was on display in Brussels.) By the way, Mr. Cerny returned the money, insisting that he never had any plans to keep it and only took the payment to make the unveiling more legitimate and real. He also defends his piece, saying that stereotypes must be confronted in order for barriers to be broken down and that he believes the EU must be strong enough to laugh at itself. You can read his description of the piece on his website.

Anyway, since it wasn't a big hit in Brussels, Entropa was returned to the Czech Republic and is currently on display at the new DOX gallery. We met up with Karen and kids there today. Very cool space and very interesting to see the piece of art that caused so much commotion.

Here are some pics of Entropa: the entire piece plus closer views of Denmark and Poland.

Here's Karen leading the troupe: Roman, Ella, Sasha, and Mattias.

And the kids have fun on the cafe terrace:

Mattias: What? What's Wrong?

Parenting can be hard on the patience. Sometimes very hard.

Sometimes as parents we just need a break from it all.

So, we took one.

Mattias and Ella seemed to be playing nice together, so we figured no reason to rush them right to bath-time, right? After dinner, Maylia and I both went to bedroom, crashed on the bed and took a rest.

Sure, we heard some noises, some banging or whatever, but we were content that we didn't hear any crying from either of them. No crying, so all is well enough.

Then we realized we had been talking for a good 30 minutes, plus there were far fewer sounds coming from the living room. So, we finally come out...

"Sweet Mother of ....!" "What the ...!!"

We found Mattias and Ella each double-fisted with markers. Mattias was standing on top of one of their wooden chairs, next to Ella. Both coloring away at the living room wall.

Actually, Maylia and I were surprisingly low-key about it.

Sure, we emphasized how bad, how oh so bad an idea this was. But maybe the same half hour break that enabled the graffiti artists also was break enough to handle it with a super calm reaction. Maylia and I took turns walking away for the chance to laugh at how ridiculous our living room wall looks.

The cleaning crew went to work soon afterwards, with almost as much eagerness as the coloring. Still, one thing is clear - I will be painting the living room this summer, likely two coats.