Poznan

We had a great time visiting the 'other half' of the squadron up in Poznan.  The weather was actually sunny and crisp.  But not freezing!  The town has a beautiful old square, beautiful churches, and great food.  Maggie had so much fun playing with Brady and was thrilled that she had a playmate that spoke English!

 

Visitors!

Grandma Steph is here to help with the girls!  We are so happy to have her here.

We spent part of our weekend in the Western part of Poland in a town called Poznan.  It was a great town with a beautiful square.  We went there to visit the other Americans who are stationed here.  Of course we had to hit Dinoland on the way.  Maggie loved it!  I will post some pictures tomorrow.

Women's Day!

From what we could figure out, today was "Women's Day" in Poland! Not really sure what it means... But something of a cross between valentine's day and mother's day. Also not really sure why it falls on Fat Tuesday or Pancake Day in the Uk!

There were people selling flowers on every street corner for "the women". So... John bought the Smith girls some flowers! We are still a little bit confused by the holiday!

UPDATE: I have just been informed by my girlfriend that it is 'international women's day' and there are incredible events empowering women around the world today. It has nothing to do with gifts or flowers... Apparently I am totally out of the loop. The florists in Poland are doing a great job marketing to the guys who don't want to screw up a 'holiday'!

Lunch with Daddy

Little girl standing up!

Reality check

It was actually sunny and warm today (34 degrees!).  It is going to get warmer this weekend, even hit 57 on Sunday!  Heat wave!  I took some pictures of our town on our walk.  This is the gate at the former entrance to the textile factory that is now a huge mall.

The Manufactura courtyard.

Beautiful building on our walk

The central roundabout that connects the park with the pedestrian street where we live.  The green tram is how everyone gets around.

Church on our block

Reality of Lodz.  This is directly across the street from the beautiful building third picture from the top.  An abandoned building with broken out windows and graffiti.  Makes for an interesting walk!

Bowling!

I'm catching up on some pics from around Lodz.  Maggie and her expert bowling stance.

More pics from Madrid

This was the most amazing breakfast!  Fried churros dipped in chocolate!

Reality of traveling with little children.  Time for a clean up!

Hola from Madrid!

We are currently sitting in our friends lovely home, looking out the window at the beautiful white snow falling!  We can't escape it!  It is so cold here and we left all of our winter clothes in Poland.  For some reason when the weather report said it would be 45-50 degrees in Madrid we thought that sounded pretty warm!  Here are some pics from the last two days.  We are heading out for the day now, so I will write more later.

Little sissy helping mommy pack up.

Enroute with a stop at Amsterdam

Day out in Madrid!  Loved our tour of the Prado

Our wonderful tour guide & hostess Belinda.

Touring the Prado

Lunch time at the museum cafe

Playing at the park outside the Royal Palace.  Not a bad view!

Playing at the Slacks house!

Pics from Krakow

Figured out the camera. Pictures from around the main square.


Our trip home. No heat in our car! The conductor finally took pity on the two freezing girls and moved us to one he had kept closed. It would have been a long ride considering it was -11 and snowing outside! Those ears are little Katherine in her jumpsuit.

I love technology!

Today we were so thrilled to talk to Baba & Grandpa on Skype. Maggie had a playdate with them and it was just like they were here. Then I spoke to two of my friends via Skype for .02 a min. When I was online tonight... up popped an instant message window from my dear friend in Atlanta! We solved all the world's problems (our vacation schedules) and had a great chat. I feel like we are just down the street!

I love all this technology especially with our lives that have us moving around the world. But, this technology is also driving me crazy. I can not figure out how to upload pictures to my new computer. Every time I plug in my camera, it goes to "automatic uploading" and uploads all 800 pictures from my memory card instead of just the new ones. Of course this takes forever, I lose interest or the kids start screaming and I try again a few hours later only to have the process repeat itself.

So, for now you will have to trust that I am taking pictures and soon I will be able to share them. There is a really great one of us on the train back from Krakow. We are bundled up... no heat in the train, -11 degrees outside, & snowing. Makes for an interesting picture!

The "Happy" Meal

I just got off the phone with my girlfriend and figure I should repeat the "Happy" Meal story on here!

Confession: I'm not sure if this makes me a good mom or a bad mom... Maggie had never been to McDonald's until we arrived in Poland. She actually thinks that McDonald's is a Polish restaurant. She can not believe that you get a toy with your meal. Not just any toy... a Hello Kitty toy. She loves everything about a chicken nugget (yes, I know what is in a chicken nugget... I try not to think about it) and loves the french fries. Tonight while skype-ing with my parents she told them in detail about how great McDonalds was and that they gave her a toy.

At least here they serve the Happy Meal with an apple and milk. That is how I justify the 4 toys Maggie has already collected. I think I am in trouble when she spots the golden arches as soon as we hit the ground stateside. Did I mention that this was not going to be a cultural trip?

Krakow ... a day late

We have discovered that traveling around Europe is not as easy as it once was. These two little girls slow us down! We are still in Krakow and have rented an apartment on the main square. It is really nice inside... outside... it is 12 degrees and snowing! So, we have spent alot of time bundling the girls up and racing to our destination. We want to come back when the weather is better to really enjoy this beautiful city and the gardens.
John & the girls in the main square

First class train to Krakow = not nice at all.

Pics around Lodz

Sweet girl all bundled up for a walk
Maggie helping the guy change the lights
Our street... it is about 3 pm in this picture. Anyone want to leave sunny Arizona and come for a visit??

Lodz, Poland

We are settled into our apartment in Lodz and are beaten up by jetlag. Up all night and trying to stay up all day. To say we are shattered is an understatement!

Our guide book describes Lodz as follows, "As Polish cities go, Lodz is about as strange as it gets. For starters, its name is pronounced "woodge". Secondly, Lodz looks as though it has been dropped from a great height and left to lie where it fell - visually it could politely be called gritty. Thirdly, behind the obvious grime is a treasure trove of delights - palatial mansions, Art Nouveau buildings, progressive galleries, gigantic 19th century redbrick factories, and a creative energy that can be felt around the world." I think that sums it up pretty nicely! However, my world consists of 6 blocks of beautiful pedestrian streets, an ice skating rink, aquarium, park, science exploritorium, huge indoor children's play area complete with a train, trampolines, and go carts, Imax theater and regular cinema (all in English), climbing gym, pool, bowling alley, coffee stores, ice cream shops, huge mall (including Zara and H&M! Hooray!), and great restaurants (including 7 sushi restaurants! Hooray again!). So far I love it! It is not a town for tourists that is for sure... but has everything we need and then some. It is built for a long cold winter with plenty for us to do.

I have found an English speaking music class I will take the girls to tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some English speaking mommas there that can guide me on other things to do in town. Then we are off to Krakow on Saturday morning for a long weekend, hopefully making it to the Slovakian border for some skiing.

Maggie is having a blast and is so excited by everything. She is just thrilled to be with her daddy. Katherine is adorable crawling around the apartment getting into everything.

I will take pictures of all the grit and grim tomorrow when we are out and about. You will be impressed by all the grey!

24 hours, 2 flights, 2 trains, & 2 happy little girls

Greetings from Poland! It is blue skies & sunny today, reaching a high of -3 C. John did such a great job of managing my expectations that I think we have landed in paradise! Love our town, supermarket, the cute trolleys, nice people, great food (so far!), and an espresso machine in my apartment. What more could I ask for? Oh yes... some of the amazing outfits these women are wearing. Huge furry hats! Yes, please. Amazing boots! Yes, please. Fur lined jackets! Ok! I can't wait to go shopping.

The girls were so great during our entire trip. We are all a bit shattered, but are hanging in there. Look at my cuties on the airplane! Maggie was a dream... watched a show, ate dinner & went fast asleep for 7 hours waking just before breakfast was served. The little one on the other hand was a handful and only fell asleep just before breakfast was served. She looks like trouble in this picture! We were so happy to see John at Heathrow. I headed to the spa in the Lounge after we landed to recover from walking across the Atlantic carrying a 20 pound sack of potatoes. After a 3 hour delay and an airplane switch we made it to Warsaw.

We are so happy to be with our Valentine in Poland today! More later after we nap :)

Katherine's 9 month weight

Weighing in at 19 pounds, 3 ounces. She's growing! :)

Meeting little mousey...

A great weekend in the city. 75 degrees and sunny, fun with the girls, walking across the street from Gianna's house to the Marina Green, coffee with John's old friends, meeting little mousey Gabriella, & seeing all the hard work Gianna did on her house. Could not ask for anything more!






Love brunch in the Marina!





All of the really amazing shots are on my 'real' camera... Which will not upload to my new computer. I am stuck with phone pics for now!


The beautiful new mama & snoozing baby!

New jammies!

She wanted me to take a picture of her new jammies for daddy. "Daddy really likes butterflies."