Several bags of Christmas gifts later...

I'm working this on Tuesday morning because yesterday we came home from Krakow and I collapsed into bed at 9:30. Now it's 8:30 am and I am feeling REALLY good.

A little recap of our day yesterday...

A typical Polish breakfast


Confession: I haven't changed a single diaper or fed T1 or done a single thing for him since we stepped off the plane. To say his grandparents are enamored would be an understatement. When I say I slept 11 hours last night I mean I slept 11 hours uninterrupted!

Here he is sleeping under grandpa's "wall of knives". There is a "wall of saints" on the other side, which I thought was funny.


This is a kiwi! A teeny tiny crazy delicious kiwi. I thought these only grew in New Zealand or something. TH's dad is really into landscaping and so far I've snacked on kiwi, apple, and plum from their backyard.


The room we are sleeping in belonged to TH until he left for America, then his sister moved in and put her stamp on the decor in the form of this mural. I think it's beautiful and I wish I was as ambitious.


Yesterday our day was filled with a trip to Krakow. It took us two hours to get to the city center when the GPS was telling us it should only take 45 minutes. I was glad I wasn't the one driving because 95% of the time I had no idea how anyone could tell what the rules are at the intersections. TH did a lot of guessing and we had a LOT of narrow misses. (Oh and we are back to riding the train to Vienna again :) )

Krakow is big, but very old. I heard some English in the town square, marking it as a prime tourist area so I kept my hand on my bag (a purple Kelly Moore which I would like to write a review about because I'm puzzled why it has no zipper, making it much too easy for a their to slip their hand in and walk away with a $2000 lens!) a vicelike grip on my camera, and my phone in my pocket in case pickpockets were trolling. TH didn't even want me to bring my camera at all (it stresses him out), but we agreed on the body and two lenses. I didn't really take that many pictures anyway because we spent the while time shopping! Mom, Grandma, Shay, Kelli and a few of our other favorite people are getting some really beautiful Polish Christmas gifts this year! I even bought a little something for some of my clients (my current clients have been so patient with my delayed turn around time due to our move, love them).


Here is a peek at what we bought for our living room. It has a touch of blue in it that will make it look beautiful in the living room Kristin has helped design for us! I was proud of myself for doing a little haggling, though I'm pretty awful at it and really only saved $10 off the quoted price.


Krakow was busy and bustling! These horse drawn carriages were a favorite among tourists.


We had gone from the breakfast you see pictured at the top of this post until 7:00 pm without eating and TH was very very hungry (I've been overeating like crazy here so I haven't felt actual hunger for days). I was trying to follow the "don't eat at a place where the menus has English" rule, but in a tourist area like that it was going to be impossible. We argued back and forth until finally TH insisted we eat right then and there at a fast food style kebab place. He did the ordering and we laughed about the worker who didn't really speak English OR Polish.


TH didn't really like his meal but mine was ok because I was eating vegetarian! I've grown to love my vegetable heavy lifestyle and I'm looking forward to a big huge farmer's market trip when I get home.


Today (Tuesday) I think we are headed to a different area to do even more shopping, and tonight will be guys night for TH. I plan on getting through more of The Dirt on Clean. If you have it I hope you've been enjoying it as much as I have!

Now to go shower. And sausage for breakfast of course!

Multiple servings of sausage later...

Today I woke up at 7 am which, as anyone who knows me will tell you, is so unlike me. I think I was just that excited for the day to begin. I did my hair and made up my face and answered Formspring questions until TH woke up at 10.

We went upstairs where we were served eggs and sausage. The eggs were cooked in a little pot rather than a pan the way we do them in America and I really liked the result. Now to find the perfect little pan...


I also ate a plum mixture, I don't know what we would call it. They pick plums off their tree in their yard, microwave and stir them, and then seal them in a jar, no additives whatsoever. What would you call that?


T1 received a really lovely gift from his great-grandma. A pure silver pacifier inlaid with Polish amber. The front opens up to store his first tooth when he loses it!


After breakfast we headed out the door for Odpust, a celebration that was happening right outside the Catholic church that TH lives next door to. And when I say he lives next door, I mean you can hear Mass going on as soon as you step outside his front door. I would never be late to church if we lived that close. We encountered the priest, the same man who was the priest while TH was an altar boy back when he was younger. The priest has really stunning blue eyes and it was fun to hear them catch up. Apparently this priest frequently mentions that he is praying for TH to return to his Catholic roots someday :)

We walked up and down the booths, which were mostly selling the typical stuff you would find at an American fair. Toy guns and little dogs that wriggled and (sadly) Hannah Montanna junk. I was tempted by this baby hat that said "Car's" for the humorous typo, but it was $5 and a little too expensive for the quality. We ended up buying several bags of candy, a huge thing of cotton candy each (that swirl you see below cost $1!!!) and these strange snacks shaped in a square that looked like a grid... Not doing a very good job of describing them but I liked them.


We've been showered with gifts so far, including some Polish language cartoons. We are planning to set a rule that the only cartoons t1 can sit down and watch will be Polish ones to help his language acquisition.


I've hardly seen T1 at all because his grandparent's take care of him all the time! Even at night. It's pretty amazing. He does get excited when he sees me though. :) This is the perfect age to bring him because he isn't so attached to me yet that he doesn't want to be alone with anyone else. TH and I are really grateful to his parents for all of their help so far.


Standing on grandpa's lap.


For lunch we went and ate with my SIL and her almost-husband and then we walked around and took pictures of the two of them. My favorite part of the trip so far! I plan on taking lots of pictures of them on their wedding day as well.

At 6:00 pm we watched the first session of general conference, what will be our only conference session for the day. I'm ashamed to admit I fell asleep during the prophet's talk, we were both SO tired. It's all online though so I'll easily be able to catch up on it when I get home.


After one last meal (sausage sandwiches of course) it's time for bed.

We were going to go to Vienna tomorrow, and we are still going to go, but now we are going to drive and we are going on Wednesday. Tomorrow is shopping in Krakow, Tuesday will include TH spending time with his two best friends from high school (they will be talking in Polish the whole time so I guess I'll blog or something?)

Have I already said that this is my favorite trip to Poland so far? Because it is!

17 hours of travel later...

We made it to Poland.

We managed to score a bulkhead seat so T1 slept in the bassinet almost the entire way. We are really hoping that happens again on the way back! The lady we sat next to was nice, but a little overbearing. When the plane touched down it was so smooth that we didn't even realize we were on the ground again, and we won big time when we chose to wait out the rush and gather up our things at a leisurely pace. Turns out we were exiting on the tarmac and our fellow passengers who rushed sat on a cold bus waiting for everyone to deplane anyway. We felt smug.

This is what T1 looked like on said bus.



The German airport has these really great mothers lounges with a place to change your baby and breastfeed!


Packaging for cigarettes doesn't look like this in the US does it?


I like it. (This was in the Frankfurt airport)


TH bought us some candy.


It made us both sick because we've been eating so differently lately but we will probably finish off the bag anyway. :)


Now we are at his parent's house. They are doting on T1 like crazy already. Good thing he's not a little bit older or he would come back completely spoiled. My MIL is even taking care of him for the night. They've showered us with all kinds of gifts already... I have the best in-laws!

We were greeted with tomato and sausage sandwiches when we came. Polish sausage in Poland really is so much better than anything you can find in America.


And a dessert TH called Kajmak. Sooooo good.



T1 is upstairs being doted on by his grandparents. TH is talking on the phone to his friend Tetija (spelling?) and I am stretched out on the bed pecking out this post. I admit that I fully realized my addiction to the Internet on this trip. Thank goodness my in-laws have wireless!

Tomorrow we are spending time with family and attending a town festival (and hopefully listening to a session of general conference which will air at 6pm here). I was hoping to see my SIL tonight but I guess she is out being all crazy at her bachelorette party.

Crazy early Monday morning (like midnight or something), we are hopping on a train to VIENNA! My FIL is finding us a hotel and we're going to take a 6 hour train and spend 3 days relaxing and exploring. I can tell that this is going to be a tough vacation to beat. We are so happy with the way things are working out!

Dinner at the Airport

We made it through security. Dumb new parents that we are, we didn't know that babies don't fly free on international flights so we had to pay 10% of the current roundtrip ticket price at the gate. Lots of lessons learned for the future with this trip!

Should be packing...

But I'm working on my blogs instead!