Prague Blog #1

One of the parts of our 9 day trip to Prague for the Ultimate Frisbee World Championships that I was most worried about was the flying to London leg of the trip. It's just under 5 hours there and exactly 6 hours and 40 minutes back to Boston (the jet stream is a powerful force, eh). Finley's never been on a plane for longer than two hours in his short life and we had no idea how he'd do. We hopped on our Friday night plane and found our bulkhead seat where Finley would have a bassinet to sleep in.

He sat nicely while we put our bags up top and much to our surprise and joy, once we were in the air and the bassinet was hooked up--he slept for 90% of the ride! Unreal! We zipped him into his sleepsack (wearable, sleeveless blanket), read him his goodnight book, dropped him into the little basket, and handed him his owl lovey. He kicked and cooed for about 10 minutes before passing out. Sweet! A huge regret that I didn't snap a picture of him sleeping there,b but we couldn't risk the flash :) With Finley snoozing away, we were able to eat dinner and sleep for most of the flight. Sadly, he was quite a pain in the a-- for the second leg to Prague, but we can't have it all, can we?

Our trip home was a bit different...but not in a bad way. Here he is waiting to board the first leg to London.

Finley did better on this short leg this time around. We even found a good way for him to play while the seat belt sign was off.

After our layover in London, we were ready (more or less) for the long haul to Boston. However, British Airways threw us a curve ball by not sitting us in the bulkhead row, which meant no bassinet to plop Finley in for any part of the almost 7 hour ride. Eek. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ticked. Apparently there were 9 infants on board and Finley was not one of the lucky ones to get preferred seating arrangement. Instead we had a window and a middle seat.OMG. Thankfully, the guy with the aisle spot in our row agreed to take the window. Thank you kind sir! Overall, Finley was a HUGE champ. He slept a little on Dan, a lot on me, and played nicely on our laps, in the back of the plane, and enjoyed being walked around. Our good friendsSangwha, Josh, and baby Eliot were coming back from Italy (a coincidence, or what?) so we got to chat with them on the plane, which was a great way to pass the time. We were SO proud of Finley for handling this flight so smoothly, it's nice to be pleasantly surprised once in a while :)

Overall, British Airways was a pleasure to fly. Nice flight attendants, plenty of free beverages, surprisingly good meals (minus the veggie lasagna Dan had on the way over), safe baggage handling, and since Finley got us in the "fast track" check in and security lines our wait time was pretty minimal. However, Dan did spent a good half hour on the phone with BA this morning trying to figure out why we weren't given a bulkhead for the ride home (no definitive answer just yet...).

I'm happy to say that after such long flights, flying to VA to see my parents in the near future will certainly be a breeze!

Prague Blog #2

While 90% of my pictures from this trip are just of Finley, I was able to snap a few of the beautiful city of Prague. Since we had visited there just a couple years ago, I wasn't worried about getting too touristy. It really is a great place to wander around (with or without a map), sit by the river, pop into small shops, and find gelato.

An iconic Frank Gehry building.

Old Town Square (notice the similarity to Disney World?) with the famous astronomical clock on the left.

Along the Charles Bridge before dinnertime.

A view of the Prague Castle across the river at night.

The most delicious and generous portion of gelato we came across, poignantly named Boom Gelato. This picture also highlights the awesomeness of our new camera, you can almost taste the gelato from looking at this close up!

While I did wear Finley in the Beco a lot on this trip, it was nice to have our new umbrella stroller along with us (even though the ride was pretty bumpy on the cobblestone sidewalks).

Finley seemed pretty pleased with his new, lightweight ride!

Prague Blog #3

Since we did go to Prague to watch Dan play at Worlds, here are a few pictures from the fields. It was really, really hot most of the days we were there so it was quite an effort to keep Finley's delicate skin out of the sun. Dan doesn't love this giant floppy hat, but it does its job well and Finley doesn't try and pull it off so I think we'll keep him wearing it :)

Here are a couple field shots with Dan in red and the his team huddling up before a big game.

On the only cool day, we were able to enjoy just sitting and watching in the back of the endzone for a couple games. Finley seemed interested in his dad's game almost as much as the grass I was trying to keep him away from, good thing I brought that blanket!

Dan said it really made him to smile to look out and see us both just watching the game together. Before we know it, it'll be Dan and I watching Finley on the field!

Getting around from the hotel to the fields wasn't always as easy as the world's website made it appear, but after a day or two, we got pretty good at timing our shuttle rides.

Lucky for us, we had some good travel mates: Moira, Laura, and baby Marin (just under 11 months). I realized I don't have too many pictures of the ladies, but luckily Marin and Finley are in more than a few photos. Here they are just before we headed out one morning. Marin's quite mobil and Finley was often a sitting duck :)

Here they are crawling around under a tent at one set of fields. Finley only went backwards while Marin was able to go just about wherever she wanted, what a show off!

I know that Marin's mom, Laura, took some good photos as well so when she emails them to me I'll post those as well. Here's a funny picture of Finley hanging out in one of the many ugly chairs/sofas that were under the tent, it's a classic move of the company sponsoring the tent (5 ultimate) to find craigslist couches in whatever city they are in and then sell them again when it is time to leave.

After a week of playing frisbee, the tournament sponsored a great party down by the river with a fun live band, good food, and even a giant wooden rhinoceros (I think the place was some sort of animal park at one time).

Finally, a rare family photo...teething Finley wasn't being super cooperative, but there we are!

Dan's team ended up finishing 5th in the tournament (aka the world) and while it wasn't the place he was hoping for, it was certainly a positive playing experience and I'm glad we were able to be there with him.

Prague Blog #4

We had to eat out a lot since we stayed in a hotel, so it was quite an adventure taking Finley to so many restaurants. Sometimes he would snooze in the stroller or the Beco for part of the meal, sometimes he'd be cool to sit in the high chair, but usually one of us would have to entertain him on our laps for most of the meal. Lucky for us he enjoys chewing on menus, drinking water, and playing with whatever toys we packed in his diaper bag.

I must say, however, that I am REALLY looking forward to cooking and eating dinner at home after Finley goes to sleep, which is our normal routine. This past week was a bit reminiscent of his early months when we got really accustomed to eating with one hand and not eating at the same time as each other. All in all, he did really well and while it looks like Dan was such a trooper always holding him--I promise I did my share, but I'm the photo bug in the family who will probably always be somewhat absent from the photos!

Prague Blog #5

Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk to a local outdoor pool. With our world's badges, we could get in for about 60 czech crowns, which is about $3. A pretty good deal I thought! The first time we went, Finley wasn't too thrilled and it took Dan a lot of singing and trickery to get him in the water. However, the second time Fin was much more willing to get wet. It could have been the difference in the outdoor and water temperature between our two attempts--the second day it was over 90 degrees so I imagine the water temp was quite comfortable for even a tiny baby.

I was reluctant to post these photos since I look awful (and pale!!), but I suppose I have to get over it for the the purposes of this blog. I shouldn't have been so worried about my post-baby body since I was definitely the only person wearing a one-piece suit and would have looked pretty stellar compared to some of the women we saw sporting teeny bikinis...ah Europe :) Anyway, Finley had fun getting bounced in the water, standing in the water, and even doing a tiny bit of splashing. He had one of his trusty teething toys with him, who doesn't need a some security in a giant pool filled with wild children, topless women (he probably enjoyed them actually), and men in speedos?

Our cautious guy continued his skepticism of the pool, but it sure was fun to cool off on such a hot day. It was a great pool for kids with a super shallow end that was perfect for us. I'm hoping that as he gets more practice in our kiddie pool at home and at my parents' lake house next week, he'll come to enjoy swimming like his parents. He does loves playing around in the tub, so it's only a matter of time I'm sure :)

Prague Blog #6

When it was too hot to sit at the fields or the games weren't at times that coordinated with Finley's sleep (or lack there of) schedule, we would keep ourselves busy other ways. Aside from the pool, we also went into downtown (old town) Prague with Moira, Laura and Marin as well as by ourselves. Using public transportation was easy and Finley really loved the tram rides.

One afternoon, my goal was to find a neat store that we had passed on our way to dinner, but didn't have time to go into. From the open doorway, I'd seen some adorable stuffed animals (elephants, mainly) and while I didn't know exactly where it was, Dan helped me map out where we'd walked earlier and figured it to be on one of those streets. Thankfully, it was easy to find and well worth the map scanning! Finley and I walked around and around the little shop looking at all the animals that were made from many different quilted like fabrics.

I knew we were going home with an elephant, but thankfully Finley helped narrow down the selection by choosing a black and white one over any of the colored ones I offered. I also got him a little yellow bird that was too cute to pass up. We later named the bird Eggbert and here's Fin enjoying his new toy on the tram ride back to the hotel.

I had put the elephant in my bag and then put it into our suitcase, so Finley didn't see it again until this morning. He seemed to be pleased with his choice :)

As we wandered back towards our tram stop, we passed an aptly named toy store:

When Finley was in the womb, we just called him Sparky. It was a neat store inside and if Finley was 4 or 5, he would have been in heaven! We later walked through an open air market where we bought some local cherries for Dan before heading back to the hotel. It was a great day and I felt very accomplished navigating the city on my own :)

Prague Blog #7 - the last one!

Okay, so reality check...thus far, you're probably thinking that our trip was a blissful adventure that went off without a hitch. The reality is that while parts of the trip were great fun, it is no picnic traveling with an infant and having to worry about their needs in a strange place when your spouse is committed elsewhere during the day. Our hotel room was spacious by European standards, but no one room is big enough to provide the quiet, privacy a little guy needs to sleep soundly, so none of us slept very well at night while we were away. We tried different bed times (adjusting to our new time zone) but never found a formula that worked for Finley and Monday night (3rd night we were there), Finley's first tooth appeared! Dan and I joked this would happen the week before we left, but let me tell you--it was no joke! Finley was clearly uncomfortable and while baby tylenol provided some relief, the combination of a sharp tooth pushing through his gums and have to sleep in a strange place made the whole nighttime situation rather unbearable. We couldn't let him "cry it out" like we've done at home in the past since at the hotel we had neighbors through the walls. Surprisingly, he was quite happy-go-lucky in the daytime hours despite his lack of sleep at night! He napped fairly well and it became clear after a couple days, that we needed to stick close to the hotel for at least one if not both of his naps to make up for the nighttime gap. Needless to say, Finley and I spent a great deal of time in our hotel room playing in the air conditioning or both of us napping. I also spent some quality time outside in the hallway so he could sleep without any distractions. When we'd put him down at night after coming back from dinner, we'd try and hang out in the hall until he'd been asleep for at least an hour and was definitely out cold. It certainly wasn't how I had imagined spending a week in Prague, but once I accepted our fate, it was not such a hard pill to swallow. Aside from the refusal to sleep more than 2 or 3 hours in a row at night, Finley was an absolute champ during our trip. He napped on the go when necessary, ate up his czech jarred foods we got at the supermarket, played well with his toys or anything else he could roll towards, and smiled at just about everyone he made eye contact with. Time after time, I'd hear someone say "what a great smile" or "what a happy baby" and that made me smile! He flirted with entire teams of women on the shuttle bus and laughed at Dan's teammates while we waited for the tram. It was nice to see him so happy despite being so out of his element.

As I downloaded our pictures today, I realized that I took a zillion photos of Fin on our hotel bed and I realized that made sense because of all the time we spent there :) Finley seemed to LOVE that bed and became a super roly poly going in every direction. He rolled to get toys, rolled to reach one of us, got stuck in the small gap between the two beds, scooted backwards and nearly off the bed! I feel like we ended up with a formal photoshoot of pictures!

Here's a video we took on maybe the 2nd or 3rd day of our trip and it reminded me that we must take more videos now that Finley's so much more active and interactive. More videos to come!!

Much to our joy, Finley finally discovered his own feet! Our little developmental deviant can be a bit slow in reaching his baby milestones, but this one was well worth the wait! It was adorable to see him realize that not only can he reach his feet, but he can grab on and wave them around, and even fit them into his mouth! How adorable :)

Now when he rides in his stroller, he spends most of the ride holding onto his feet and talking away. Finley is officially babbling in that uniquely baby way and I can't wait to get a video of him going on and on and on!

I'll leave you with this very memorable family moment from our trip. Since our hotel room came with a shower and not a tub, we had to bathe Finley in our sink. It was such a good idea in theory, but right after we plopped him, we discovered a flaw in our plan because Finley quickly realized he could add more water by lifting the faucet handle!! Yikes!! We both laughed and then Finley joined in, so cute! So Dan had to not only hold up Finley in the sink, but hold down the faucet :) while I soaped him up. We gave him three sinks baths and got pretty good at it by the end, but I wouldn't say they were the most productive, cleansing baths...oh well, having fun was more fun!

The trip overall was a good learning experience and I suspect we won't take another big adventure for a while, so I'm glad we did it. Thankfully, Dan's taking off this week as well for a family stay-cation, which is just what we need!