Tadhg and his buddies Jake and Raphael took a trip to the zoo on a sunny and hot Tuesday. Tadhg went to a section of the zoo he had never been to before and saw the polar bears for the first time. One of the bears was cooling off from the hot sun by swimming around the lake in their enclosure. The other two bears were shading from the sun.
As always, Tadhg enjoyed his zoo trip. There are still so many sections he hasn't been to yet, so a lot more zoo trips are planned. Tadhg is making good use of his 12 month zoo pass!
On Monday (which just happened to be Tadhg's 21 month birthday!) the rain stopped long enough for Tadhg to finally try out his new bike seat on dad's bike. Tadhg was excited to put on his bike hat and sit in the seat.
For the first trip, Tadhg and dad cycled the short distance to Rigerovy Sady playground. Tadhg really enjoyed cycling along the paths and pointing out the bikes, cars and trucks he spotted along the way.
Mom took a video of the first outing which Tadhg somehow managed to turn into some still shots (below). He's becoming an expert with the camera!
Puddles have become a regular sight around Prague with the frequent rain showers and occassional clear skies. This combination of the elements has allowed Tadhg to become an expert puddle jumper. He loves nothing more than splashing about in a puddle during his walks and generally comes home with soaked shoes and socks.
Tadhg can't yet gauge, or simply doesn't care about, the depth of some puddles as he sometimes wanders in to his ankles!
Tadhg and his regular buddy Jake braved the rain on Thursday to wander around the zoo. The heavens opened when they arrived so the visit was limited to indoor areas as much as possible.
The boys first went to the gorilla enclosure and enjoyed seeing the gorilla family lounging around and the baby gorilla playing. It was amazing to see these wonderful creatures close up and marvel at their dextrous fingers and knowing eyes.
During a break in the rain, the boys dodged puddles to run to the tiger enclosure. It was just after feeding time for the tigers so they were having a post dinner nap and chewing on the remaining bones. Tadhg enjoyed seeing the big cats up close and checking out their beautiful markings.
The rain didn't stop, so the gang headed home after visiting the tigers. Will the Prague summer ever arrive?
Prague has been drenched in rain and thunder storms since Tadhg arrived back from Canada so outings need to involve a lot of indoor time. On Wednesday, Tadhg went to see the Chinese Terracotta Army exhibition in the large hall at Palac Lucerna. One of Tadhg's buddies Petru came along with his mom and baby sister Smaranda. Tadhg really enjoyed looking at the old Chinese costumes on display with their impressive hats and shoes. He also enjoyed running up and down the wooden ramp leading to the lifesize soldiers.
On the way back from the exhibition Tadhg and co. stumbled upon a Romanian cultural exhibition at Namesti Miru. Everyone was excited to see the Romanian band playing traditional music and dancing in traditional costumes, especially as Petru and his family are Romanian! The two boys ran and danced around the square and were having so much fun that Tadhg's mom came down to join in the festivities.
After a full day experiencing first Chinese and then Romanian cultures, Tadhg was very happy to finally get to his bed and blue bear.
Tadhg took his new bike on its first outing on Sunday to the great playground at Gutovka Areal with his buddy Jake.
One the way back, Tadhg was interested in trying his mom's chocolate ice cream. He wasn't too sure what to do with it at first and called it "hot" which is Tadhg's word for anything not room temperature (hot or cold). He eventually figured it out and managed to cover his face with chocolate!
Mom and dad don't plan for him to get too familiar with chocolate just yet!
On Saturday, Tadhg went bike shopping with mom and dad. Tadhg has been obsessed with bikes for a while and constantly points them out during his outings, so the whole family were excited to be finally getting Tadhg his very own bike.
The shopping party went to Sparky's toyshop which is one of Prague's most famous toyshops. Tadhg was excited by everything in the shop and tried out all the bikes before mom and dad decided on a yellow, blue and red little trike. The trike has some buttons on the front for Tadhg to press which make music, flashing lights and honking sounds, a bar at the back for mom and dad to help push, and baskets front and back for holding Tadhg's stuff when out and about biking.
Tadhg was so excited to have his new bike that he rode it all the way home. Halfway home he decided to get up from the seat and push the bike himself (he wasn't happy when mom and dad tried to help!).
After an exciting day, Tadhg went to bed whispering "bike....bike....bike" to himself.
Tadhg's vocabulary has been expanding at a rapid rate over the last couple of months. The trip to Canada opened up a whole new world of words to Tadhg and he came back saying "Baba", "Cookie", "Porsche", etc. Every day brings a new word.
Unfortunately, Tadhg has found it difficult to say "Mammy" which must be a hard sound for a toddler mouth to pronounce. Excitingly, this week Tadhg started to regularly say "Mama" to his mom. Once he learned how to say it, he found it hard to stop and is fond of running around shouting "Mama, Mama, Mama...."!
Tadhg also tried out his new summer PJs which he got in Canada. The shorts and short sleeves are perfect for the hot summer nights.
Tadhg found it difficult to readjust to the Prague timezone so relaxed at home for his first few days back from Canada. On Friday, dad and Tadhg tried out Tadhg's new bike seat which mom and dad got in Canada. Tadhg was very excited to try on his 'bike hat' and sit in his new seat.
The weather wasn't condusive to cycling so an actual bike outing will have to be planned for a better day.
Tadhg's new favourite word is 'bike' and he points out every bike (motor bikes, push bikes, baby trikes and even wheel chairs!) when out walking.
On Tuesday, Tadhg finally flew back to Prague. It was an overnight flight so the experienced little traveller was able to sleep for most of the way home. He is too big for the sky cot now so mom and dad had to do a lot of holding!
Tadhg was glad to be home in his own house with his own bed and toys but will miss his Canadian family.
Tadhg enjoyed his unexpected extra day at his Auntie Kay's by spending a lot of time with his Auntie Kay and his Baba. Tadhg really enjoyed getting to know his Canadian family better on this trip and will go home to Prague with lots of new words (and memories).
Tadhg prepared for his planned trip home to Prague by saying goodbye to his Canadian family and having his final playtime on the beach. Tadhg, mom and dad squeezed into Auntie Kay's car with all their bags and Auntie Kay kindly drove them to the airport.
When they arrived in the airport to join their check-in queue, they were told that their flight had been cancelled and the next flight wasn't until Tuesday! Mom quickly called Auntie Kay to come back to the airport to pick everyone up for the trip back to the lake. It was disappointing not to fly but nice for Tadhg to have two more days to spend with his Canadian family.
Tadhg, mom and dad left home early on Monday morning for another trip to Toronto. This trip was to meet mom's friend Sandra and her 8 month old son Russell. They arranged to meet at the playground in High Park which is interesting as it was designed by kids for kids. Tadhg enjoyed the swings and running along the wooden walkways but the most fun was spotting the many squirrels, chipmunks and birds that darted around the forest.
Tadhg enjoyed meeting baby Russell and the two boys enjoyed the free zoo where they saw yaks, bison, cows and some loud and flashy peacocks. After some lunch in the park restaurant it was already time to go back home.
Tadhg had another great day in Toronto and was tired on the car ride home.
Tadhg and his buddies Jake and Raphael took a trip to the zoo on a sunny and hot Tuesday. Tadhg went to a section of the zoo he had never been to before and saw the polar bears for the first time. One of the bears was cooling off from the hot sun by swimming around the lake in their enclosure. The other two bears were shading from the sun.
