February Celebrations

Feb 4th marked the boys' 100th day of Kindergarten.  Was fun to see how each school celebrated this big day.  Kasey had to come to school wearing 100 things on his t-shirt and carrying a zip-lock filled with 100 items.  They used these bags in a game that day at school.  Kasey did a great job counting, but I think his favorite part was organizing his 100 stickers on his shirt. He made his initials on the front and a Super Hero house and Hulk tree on the back.  Karsten made "100 days brighter" hats and a necklace with 100 beads on it.  Love how bright these kiddos get each and every day!

Hmm ~ 100 days brighter or 100 days Goofier... I'm going with Both!

Feb 14th is also a fun day for everyone.  It has come with whole new meaning since we began celebrating with our kiddos.  These boys love Valentines Day... Of course they get excited about the candy, but what they really love is making their Valentine boxes.  Yes, we could pinterest the heck out of creative V-day boxes, but instead - we stick with their imagination and a craft bag full of random items.  It is super fun to watch them.  Happy Valentines Day, indeed!

Boys and Their Toys

When I packed up my favorite kid stuff from the Mattson house, I carefully packed by Cabbage Patch dolls, my Barbies, the My Little Ponies.... and then I realized... my boys will never want to play with those.  Instead, they have been drawn to Super Heroes, Matchbox cars and Daddy's old He-Man Castle.  I'm just glad Kris' parents let him carefully pack up his childhood too.  It has been fun watching them play with his old matchbox cars (built way better than today's version), his Dukes of Hazard car, the A-team Van, and of course little Army men.  My favorite day was watching them recreate the He-Man adventures.

Dressing up like a Super Hero is all it takes to entertain these days... Karsten's favorite is currently Hawk Eye and Kasey's is the Hulk.  Here is Karsten playing pretend as Amy bought some time shopping for some pretty new things.

After watching all the fun of dressing up like a super hero and all the play time we watch at home... Kris just Knew that we had to buy tickets to Marvel Live when it came through town.  Truth be told, he would've rather taken Uncle Jimmy and the boys, but Amy was interested in going too!

The show was quite amazing, but I think the best part were the free super hero face masks; which by the way ~ still make appearances in our house during super hero play!  It's the little things in life!

Family Night Fun

Family Movie Night is always fun.  Sometimes, it starts with a game of cards, but it always ends up with a sleeper

"Family Game Night" are words that make all of our faces light up.  I am loving this stage with the kids and am hoping Game Night continues.  I grew up playing Ten Penny with my Mom, Sister, Grandma Mert and Eunie.  Hours were spent with my family telling stories and distracting my  Mom so she would play the wrong card and I would win the game - competitive? Me? Never - Ha!  We aren't quite up to Ten Penny, but we kill it at a game of Uno, Minon Trouble, Memory and many others.  Super fun for everyone involved!

Best part about Game Night?  Sleepy Children.  I'm seeing a pattern here.  The best reward is watching them completely tuckered out after fun spent with the fam.  Goodness, they are so peaceful and sweet when they sleep!

Once they are asleep... the real games begin.  We recently had Jim and Sarah over for dinner.  After the kiddos went to bed; we hit up a game of Hearts.  All was going well ... until the last hand when Sarah stuck us all with 26 points!  Good Game, Sarah... Good Game!

Na Zdravi from Prague

What is one to do when their significant other tells them they HAVE to travel to Prague for work in January?  ... I tell you what... you Join Them!  Kris got the opportunity to travel abroad for MolsonCoors to help with a system launch.  That meant travel to the Czech Republic to visit with his colleagues over at the Staropramen Brewery.  I chose to tag along since he was traveling alone from Denver.  It wasn't for me... It was so he wouldn't be lonely on the trip.  This was the beautiful site I saw from my hotel room each day.  All I did was sit and stare out the window until he returned each evening for our one meal a day together.

Since we had half a day Saturday and all day Sunday together, we decided a little sight seeing was in order.  Our first stop?  Had to enjoy a Staropramen of course! Na Zdravi from the Staropramen Brewery where we enjoyed a Granat Special (Amy's all time favorite!) and a Czerny Dark!

Then it was time to see the sights!  We did a lot of walking... and I mean a lot.. I was tracking at an average of 21K steps per day on my fitbit.  Everywhere we went; we walked along the beautiful Vltava River.  It was fairly cloudy and cold that first day, but was glad to get some sun later in the week. 

The beautiful St Charles Bridge is one of the most visited sights in Prague.  Another bonus about it is that so many other sights are right near the bridge.  We got to see the Astronomical clock, the Church of Our Lady before Tyn and St Vitas Cathedral; which were all located in the Old-Town Square.  The Tyn church was really cool as it is said to have inspired Disney for the Cinderella castle!

We even did a walking tour of the Prague Castle.  It was so fun and we even ran into tiny snowman! The snowmen were cute cause we saw one on our way up... and many, many more on our way down from the tour.  Kris got to check out the local Prague barkeeps room from back in the day on our tour.

Before Kris started his work week... we had to check out the tour at the Staropramen brewery. Staropramen is the 2nd largest beer producer and innovation leader in the Czech Republic.  Pretty Impressive!  I loved how the Copper Kettles making the wort looked just like the ones at the Coors facility in Golden!

Since Kris had to work on Monday, we packed in a very busy Sunday... that meant checking out the Old-Town Square at night. We heard the lights were amazing and we were not disappointed!  Here we are on the St Charles bridge again and with the Tyn church behind us.

Oh man!  Monday came too fast.  Kris had to go to work and I just sat in my hotel room and dreamt of his return.  And if you believe that... I have some oceanfront property to sell you in Colorado!  I did get to enjoy a lovely breakfast with my husband each day.  After he went to work, I just might have gotten cozy in my bed to read a book, headed to the gym and still have a full day of tours before Kris got off work.  This stay at home wife thing is Awesome!  One of my favorite spots was the Dancing House in Prague (aka: the Fred and Ginger Building).  It is called that as the architecture used the legendary dance duo, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, as his inspiration.  It was so beautiful during the day, that we just HAD to come back that night for dinner!

On other days, I hit other popular tourist spots.  There was the Lovers Lock Bridge (kinda sad to tour this one by yourself...), where lovers lock their love for an eternity and throw the key in the river. One of my favorite spots was the Lennon wall. The wall dates back to the communist regime, where young adults would write their grievances on the wall.  Even though authorities would paint over it, the next day it would be full of poems and flowers again.  Today, the wall is ever-changing and represents a symbol of global ideas of love and peace.  I enjoyed the local artists who performed there.  My favorite was the guy pictured with me.  His sign said: "Need money to repair my time machine to go back to the 60's" I also got to see the changing of the guards at the Prague castle as well as a political figure arriving one day.  I to this day don't know who it was... but I can tell you... They were a Big Deal!

Kris and I enjoyed several wonderful meals out together each night. We tried Duck foi gras (don't need to do that again), Beef Tartar (which the Woodards lovingly refer to as Tiger Meat) and many traditional Czech meals of Dumplings, Goulash and of course Schnitzel.  It was all amazing! My favorite meal was at the Strahov Monastic Micro-Brewery, located at the Strahov Monks Monestary... and no - even though the property is located there, the Monks were never involved in the brewing process.

Once the weekend arrived; I was able to take Kris back to all my favorite spots.  Here we are at the Lennon wall and being all romantic at the Lock Bridge.  Yes, it was way better with him there! Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to travel to Prague, MolsonCoors! Was quite the opportunity for both of us!