GORGEOUS WEATHER

Who could have guessed the perfect weather we've been given? Lovely. We are out for just a bit today. LG is at školka and NJ is napping when MK, papa, KF, and I drive to Tesco and the playground. KF wants to swing the highest and climb the furthest--she's athletic and adventurous, and enjoying our full attention.

We're buying fresh mushrooms, white wine, baguettes, scallions for the mushroom risotto we've planned for dinner. And, some deli meats and cheeses and a loaf of good white bread for lunch. KF chooses juice bottles for LG and her treat, and we refresh our coffee supply.

MK drives us to Slovenský Grob to a lovely Vinotek (wine shop) and CA spends some serious time contemplating the selection. He wants to return later with DM for some decisive shopping.

Baby NJ is coming into her own--two new teeth, for a total of four, and she's mobilized and working toward walking on her own. MK put her on the red scooter car today, and she was ready to go. A few minutes later, MK began to strap her into her stroller and she completely turned over, squirming, and whimpering. Don't fence me in! I'm an independent young girl--just like my sisters!

And, LG enjoyed the beautiful afternoon on her rollerblades!



BIG TRIP: Day 7

KF is up early this a.m. with her daddy, so I roll out early, too. KF loves to tickle us, and always has hugs and kisses for NJ. Already today she has scary fingers, using the plastic markers from her Sorry game.

KF is well rested--she fell asleep in the car on the way from Avion last night, so was dead to the world by 6:00pm. The best thing so far is when her daddy calls her pumpkin or sweetie pie or cutie. She says, "I not pumpkin, I Kika Faith!"

LG has školka (pre-school) today, and dresses prettily in pink. She loves wearing dresses--all the better to dance through the day. Last week she bargained to be able to stay home with us on Thursday, our first full day, and this week Wednesday is a holiday so our plans are to travel or do something very special.

The Kangoo has a cough, so MK and DM are driving it to the repair shop. While they're away, I'm making some chicken stock and maybe something more. Later, we may go shopping and let the little girls choose some new clothing.

BIG TRIP: Days 3 through 6

Lots of time watching baby NJ crawl and climb, and always with a plan. It doesn't take much to get her to smile. She's the perfect baby. She gets tons of hugs and kisses from LG and KF, her mommy and daddy, and papa and grandma, too.

We've mostly been at home laughing and talking, and swinging granddaughters into the air. There've been some musical chairs, a bit of yoga, some book reading, and tickling.

BIG TRIP: DAY 1 AND 2

[UPDATE: 11-17-10. American Airlines emailed both CA and I 3,000 frequent flier

miles as compensation for our delayed flights. First time ever for that. Great PR.]

Cars and planes have defined our lives and times the past two days. A yellow cab picked us up at 1:00pm on Tuesday, and presto/change-o we're in Central Europe... No. Really, not that magical. Our flights included boarding our 4:55pm AA flight on time, waiting for a bit. Then waiting some more while the mechanics worked on the hydraulics, and then de-boarding, walking a long way from concourse K to concourse L, and re-boarding a different AA plane. Good news--it was the same configuration, so they didn't have to reassign seats and we still got our three bulkhead seats (for the two of us). All in all, though, we left ORD 3+ hours late. More good news (seemingly)--we had a pre-scheduled 4-1/2 hour layover at London Heathrow, so we should be good-to-go.

But, we aren't... Nope. When we touch down at Heathrow, there's a big Air Canada plane sitting in our spot, and so we wait. And, wait. Once they finally get that bugger towed away and we de-board, we scurry through Terminal 3 mazes, following all the signs for "connections." AA/British Airways kindly provide us with orange passes to speed us along, and someone along the way (in an official uniform) even mentions that these passes mean that they'll hold the flight for us.

They don't. Nope. For whatever reason, we weren't issued boarding passes at ORD for the second leg of our journey, and even though there's virtually no line at British Airways, we're delayed. Yep. No privileges extended via those orange passes. Everyone's kind, but even though we have 30 minutes before boarding and we've already cleared security, the gentleman is unbending as he reissues our tickets for a 4:45pm flight, instead of the 12:55pm we've expected.

So, we have time to buy some British fiction and we get to stretch our legs and we get  Lavazza capuccinos. CA's able to call DM and MK using our credit card and their Vonage (815) land line. Good thing for telephones, because for whatever reason we haven't gotten our laptop to play nicely with other servers yet. There's always a glitch in computer world.

LG meets us at the Flughafen in Vienna with her daddy, and we enjoy a giggling one hour car ride to Bratislava. When we reach Chorvatsky Grob, KF comes running out to greet us, with her new umbrella, and baby NJ tolerates our hugs and kisses.

MK feeds us well--the first taco soup and corn bread of the season, and a yummy apple strudel made from apples plucked from the trees of Slavko and Mirka Krupa in Eastern Slovakia.

We're very happy to be here again with our little girls and their parents. Ten days to dance and to laugh and to cook and eat and enjoy.

THE CURE

I've been suffering from cultural fatigue. This is a concept that my Central Europe-dwelling son has described to us in the past when he's really missing the U.S., and really tired from working on his second language. It's when he misses the everyday-ness of home with its familiar foods and television and sports, and maybe even his mom and dad.

My cultural fatigue has a different twist... I'm tired of my own cultural--politics and campaigning, crude language and subject matter intending to be humorous; strip malls populated with nail shops, dry cleaners, sub shops, cheap hair salons, cellphone distributors, and more useless retailers.