Mystic Aquarium

We have been to Mystic Aquarium twice in the last two months.  I hadn't been to Mystic since I was little so I didn't remember what it was like.  The first time we went we were suppose to meet my Aunt Carlene there to tour the aquarium with her and my nephew Michael.  Unfortunately our meeting times got confused and we ended up getting to the aquarium when Carlene and Michael were ready to leave for lunch.  We were dissapointed that we wouldn't spend time with them but the aquarium was still fun to see.  It was school vacation week though and was therefore pretty busy.  The second visit to the aquarium was even better.  We met Aunt Carlene again and this time we got the times right.  We got there right when the aquarium opened so it wasn't busy at all and we got to watch the sea lions and penguins being fed.  We fed the sting rays ourselves which was really cool and watched the sea lion show.  Probably the coolest thing we did there though was feeding the birds.  We entered this giant bird cage with a popsicle stick with bird food attached to it and the birds would just fly over and land on your popsicle stick or your arm and eat.  Ali was a little nervous about all the birds and did not like the big ones but she got past her fear becuase it was so cool.  One even landed on Carlene's handbag even though there was no food there.  It was a lot of fun! The adults had just as much fun as the kids!

Haircuts

As our time in Prague was drawing to a close I often used the phrase, "it can wait".  One of those times was when it came to the kids haircuts.  With their curly hair the need for haircuts was not obvious so I was able to let it slide until we moved back.  It was, however, one of the first things we did once we were back.  It was nice to just stop at a Fantastic Sam's and tell the hairdresser what I wanted done without having to do any charades.  The kids were excited to get their hair cut and Sofia wanted bangs.  The kids hair is one of the areas that I have chosen to allow the kids their freedom so even though I really didn't want Sofia to have bangs I bit my tongue and let her have her way. To my surprise her bangs actually looked quite cute.  The stylist was good and cut her bangs at an angle so she doesn't just have the straight across bangs that just wouldn't work with her curly hair.  Sofia was very happy to have bangs.  They were both happy to have their haircuts.  The girl who cut Ali's hair even braided it for her which she also loved.

Back in America!

I know I have been remiss in my postings since we have moved back to the United States but I'm hoping to get back on track.  I have finally started our new Blog, "Growing Up Luce" so that I can have a separation between our life in Prague and our new life here in America.  The main goal being to eventually take the Prague blog and create a book for the kids so that they will always have the memories from their years abroad.
Since moving back life has been unsettled.  Jason is living the weekdays in Cambridge and the girls and I are staying at my parents house.  It is quite difficult being separated from Jason all week.  Being essentially a single parent with no adult contact is not easy.  I know it would seem that it should be easier since I am with my parents but both of my parents still work full time so the only time I see them is from 6-9 at night which is the time we are having dinner and I am putting the kids to bed and preparing for the next day as are they.  By the time I'm ready to sit my parents are off to bed.  The other problem with living with my parents is that they live in the middle of nowhere.  It is a 45 minute drive to get anywhere so I have spent a lot of time in the car.  In the past month and a half I have driven about 4,500 miles (7,242 KM).  It is a lot of driving.  It will be nice when I can drive 5 minutes to the grocery store.  It is a 24 minute drive even to get something simple like milk now so I will not miss that. 

Add this unsettledness (for lack of a better word) to reverse culture shock and my first few weeks here were difficult.  Going to the grocery store was overwhelming.  I had to bring the kids with me since they aren't in school and I have no one to watch them.  As anyone knows going to the grocery store with kids is not enjoyable.  Well trying to go to the grocery store with kids and try to find items in an enormous store with fifty million items was very difficult.  I also found the loudness in the store overwhelming.  It was difficult to even hear myself think.  I have solved this problem a little bit by avoiding the large supermarket and going to a smaller local grocery store.  It has made life more enjoyable for sure.  I have found that avoidance is my best option until I am used to the loudness that surrounds me here.

After the first few weeks things did level out but life is really just in limbo until we actually move into our own home.  There is no point in making friends here when it is only temporary and any activity I do with the kids is temporary since we will move soon.  Fortunately we were very lucky and we found a house very quickly.  We are scheduled to close on the house on June 22nd and the movers will come on the 24th with all our stuff.  I can't wait!  I will start posting all the things we have done since we moved back over the next week.  You will see that while there have been some down days there have also been some up days.  It is all worth it as we delve into our next adventure with our girls as they are"Growing Up Luce".