Visitors!!!

On December 28th, 2007 an unbelievable phenomenon occurred. We had visitors arrive!

Yes folks, that is correct. And not just 1...oh no, 3 brave young souls spent their hard earned cash on tickets to Europe just so they could spend New Years Eve in Prague and visit with us!

Never did we think this moment would arrive. We have received all the apparently obligatory "Oh we cannot wait to come see you!" and "Of course we'll come to Prague" statements from friends and family but it began to seem like the only way this would happen was if snowdrops began falling in that certain somewhere.

However, dreams became a reality when I received a wonderful email from my niece Sara with the simple subject line "It's Booked!" followed shortly by the actual itinerary showing purchased, non-refundable tickets to Prague :)

Her email has since been followed by two more notifications that others are going to make their way over to see this beautiful city. Our wonderful friend David and his parents are going to brave the end of the winter season in early March, and our friends Penny and Ray are going to leave the unbelievable warmth of Homestead, Florida to come see us in May!!!

I met Sara and her friend Janice at the airport and then after a short wait, the last member of this exclusive group, Elina, arrived and we were heading back to our flat. Alex was very excited at the prospect of having some new people to entertain and willingly gave up her room and bunked in Logan's room so that Sara could have a room to herself.

I have to admit, at times I think we are crazy for having one of the largest flats in Prague (compared to the norm, ours borders what locals may call excessive) - especially when it comes to cleaning it! However, it did not seem so silly once we had three extra bodies staying here.

To get an honest view of their trip, they would have to send me entries for the blog (which I hope they do) however I can state, with all honesty, that I think they enjoyed themselves. I can also report that we were jealous of a few things:

a) their unwavering energy which allowed them to keep on the go 24/7
b) their ability to come and go as they pleased with no kids to deal with
c) the fact that they have officially seen more of the tourist type attractions than we have, the nearby town of Kutna Hora, and even made it to Budapest before us

The only real time we got to spend with them and show them around was the first day they arrived and the evening before they left. The rest of the time, they were out and about experiencing Prague on their own. This was in no way the plan for their visit - Ben and I had looked forward to spending a great deal of time showing them around ourselves, however when their are kids involved plans tend to go by the wayside. On the day after their arrival, they were off seeing the Castle and we were off seeing the halls of the Hospital...Logan was really not doing well and the end result was Bronchitis, with a double ear infection and a sinus infection. He ended up with (4) prescriptions and we were off for home - what had started as a week of fun things to look forward to doing with the girls had turned into the prospect of finishing off our holiday season tending to a sick child. And as always happens in a closed household with one person ill, we l ended up coming down with it.

However Sara and her friends were not daunted by this new turn of events - and were most likely relieved to not have the two geriatric tour guides with them, slowing them down and cramping their style! They could now see the city on their own terms. With the unbelievable transportation system here, this is not hard to do however they actually enjoyed taking in the city the old fashioned way...on foot. Many miles were clocked in and they really crammed in a great amount of sights for such a short visit but they still departed with a list of "Must do's" for another time.

It was great having people here and we promise, if this entry motivates anyone else to start looking up flight prices, we will keep the communicable diseases to a bare minimum :) (More pictures of Kids and January Stuff)