Tadhg's grandparents visit

On Friday, Tadhg's grandparents flew in from Ireland for a weekend in Prague. Tadhg was excited about seeing his granny and granddad and had talked about them all week. When he finally saw them on Friday evening he showed off by being silly as usual! Granny and granddad were delighted to see him.
On Saturday, Tadhg showed his grandparents around the Christmas markets on Namesti Miru and on Wenceslas Square. The witches were of course the highlight of the tour! As granny and granddad will not see Tadhg over Christmas, they brought along a Christmas gift which Tadhg opened on Saturday.
Tadhg was very excited to open the present and had to ask granddad for help to tear open the well wrapped gift.
Tadhg was thrilled when he saw it was a talking Woody doll! Woody immediately surpassed the witch as Tadhg's favourite toy and was taken to bed on Saturday night.

On Sunday Tadhg took his grandparents to the little gym and showed them his exercises. In the evening they had a farewell meal in Tadhg's favourite train restaurant where Tadhg showed them the trains chugging from table to table. Tadhg enjoyed the visit and was sad to see his Irish grandparents leave on Monday.

Tadhg's very own witch!

After days of going to the Christmas market to see "the witches", Tadhg finally got his very own witch to bring home. Tadhg chose a witch with a yellow sparkly dress and thought she was "beautiful!". The witch was given pride of place hovering over Tadhg's toy box occasionally cackling and kicking away as Tadhg sneaked up to clap in front of her. Mom and dad are happy to have a memento of the Christmas markets to bring with them and Tadhg is just happy!

Tadhg visits the Christmas markets

After his early morning exercise at the playground, and a lunch with friends Rob and Karolinka, Tadhg visited the Christmas markets which have just opened in Namesti Miru. Tadhg, mom and dad love this time of year in Prague as the city really gets into the festive spirit. The markets are the same every year even to the layout of the stalls.

Once again Tadhg's favourite stall is the one with the witches. Tadhg stares at them with a mixture of fear and curiosity as they cackle and kick their little legs and is only happy to leave the market after seeing "the witches".

Tadhg visits old haunts

Tadhg, mom and dad only have a month left in Prague so the next few weeks are bound to be somewhat nostalgic for everyone. Saturday morning dawned cold but bright so the family decided to visit one of Tadhg's favourite playgrounds on Korunni street.

This playground also happens to be close to an English shop selling goods from home so is popular with mom and dad too! Tadhg enjoyed being the only kid there and had a great time on the swings, pirate ship.....
...rocking horses....
....and climbing frame. It really was cold though so after an hour of running around, everyone decided it was time to go someplace hot to warm up. Mom and dad wondered if they will have a chance to return to the playground before they leave....

Tadhg and the giant pancake

Wednesday was a national holiday in the Czech Republic to celebrate the 'Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day'. This commemorates demonstrations against Nazi occupation in 1939 and Communist occupation in 1989. Most importantly for Tadhg it meant a day off school to spend with mom and dad! Tadhg decided to go to one of his favourite restaurants, Bohemia Bagel, to play in the play area and have some of his favourite pancakes.
Tadhg was really excited about having the giant pancakes and practically jumped into his chair to have them. After covering them with maple syrup Tadhg proceeded to steadily make his way through his brunch.
As it may be one of their last times in the old town square, the family decided to get some photos of the famous old town clock....
....and the Jan Hus statue. Mom and dad wonder if Tahdg will remember his time in Prague and are glad to have some photos and mementos to show him when he's older.

Tadhg celebrates mom's birthday

It was mom's birthday on Monday but the big birthday meal was planned for Sunday night instead. Tadhg was very happy to go to the family's favourite restaurant in Prague, Aromi. The waiters and staff were very welcoming as always and seemed especially pleased to have Tadhg as a patron. The waiter showed Tadhg the seafood specials including a sea elephant (lobster) which Tadhg was fascinated and scared by at the same time.

During the meal, Tadhg asked to see the "fish hands" in the kitchen and the waiter took Tadhg, and dad, in to see the octopus tentacles and other delights to be found there. Tadhg was amazed and didn't want to leave. After dinner Tadhg went back for another look at the octopus tentacles before the waiter brought out a birthday cake for mom which Tadhg enjoyed blowing the candles out on.

Tadhg had a great time (and mom did too seeing her little man so happy). Happy Birthday mom!

Tadhg's end of year gardening

On Saturday the weather was unseasonably warm for November (17 degrees!) so Tadhg, mom and dad decided to get the pre-winter garden cleanup out of the way. Tadhg and dad raked up the mountain of leaves that had fallen over the Autumn with great help from their neighbour Pani Dobra. Mom cleaned off the slide to get it ready for winter storage. It was fun to be able to enjoy the garden in November and everyone needed a rest after their exertions.

Tadhg meets some witches!

On Tuesday, Tadhg's dad's work held a Halloween party for all the staff kids. Tadhg and mom came to meet dad after work so they could join in the festivities. The party was outside on a Prague November evening so everyone was wrapped up well. Tadhg was a bit nervous of the "witches" so Tadhg, mom and dad went into dad's office and met some of dad's work mates.

When Tadhg was feeling braver (helped by his Spiderman outfit) he went back outside and enjoyed jumping in the haunted bouncy castle, admired the many jack-o-lanterns, happily accepted a black Halloween balloon from a witch and crawled through the giant spider's web to get some Halloween sweets. Tadhg enjoyed himself but it was a bit chilly so was happy to go home on the warm metro. As he gets older Tadhg is enjoying Halloween more and more.