Strike three...

So Dan got his third letter from UBC the other day. "We regret to inform you . . . " So now for plan B. Dan has been applying for Geography jobs teaching at Jr. Colleges and Universities and GIS jobs. But we're still mostly focused on graduating from school here. Dan's almost done with his thesis. I think the end has to be the hardest part. I guess we'll move back to the U.S. when there's a job to move home to. Once again - we'll keep you posted.

Grad School?

Dan has applied to graduate school at the University of Utah, University of Colorado and University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada. So far we have received rejection letters from Utah and Colorado. We're still waiting to hear from UBC. We both figured that getting a masters at Charles University, where the studies are in Czech, would be the hardest part of Dan's teaching-at-a-university dream. So cross your fingers and hold your thumbs for UBC! I guess plan B is to work in Prague and apply for jobs online in the U.S. until we feel like we have something to move back to - hopefully in Utah. We'll keep you posted.

Vinson's Big-Three Birthday

This is how Vinson woke up on his birthday. I guess he was in a hurry to get the celebrations underway!!
Vinson turned three last weekend and we celebrated with his good friend Lo Lo and her Mom. Unfortunately Lo Lo's Papa was on a business trip and couldn't join us. We went to Beckiland, which as you will see is a superfun indoor playground for kids and parents... Benjamin loved it too. There was so much to see. His arms were flapping in excitement most of the time. Lo Lo loved the trampolines. Vinson and Dan really enjoyed the "monkey" rope area. This particular spot allowed us to climb over a nice two story drop. Luckily, none of us fell through the small holes in the webbed tunnel.
Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Vinson, Happy Birthday to you!

Vince and his imaginary holka

Vince has an imaginary friend. They've been friends for a few weeks. Her name is holka (which means girl in Czech - you pronounce it Hulk uh). They play together pretty well but have their moments. Once she decided to climb on our cabinet so Vince started yelling at her to come down. When she wouldn't he decided to climb up and force her down. The only problem with an imaginary friend is that I can't intervene. I kept pretending to pull her down and said, "see she came down." but Vince didn't believe me. And I had to fight Vince from climbing on the cabinet. Another funny moment with Holka was last week when we went to the zoo with his real best friend Lolo -short for Laurence. Vince wouldn't hold her hand because he was already holding holka's hand. Shafted.
Every now and then Vince turns into Holka's mommy when he disciplines her. "Holka no! Time out! Did you hear me? 1, 2, 3 . . ." I asked him if he could be Holka's daddy and he said no. It makes me wonder if he's using it as a release for his frustrations with his own mommy whom he sounds an awful lot like . . . Dan doesn't yell as much and always uses a soft voice with him.
Finally yesterday was kind of interesting. We went to Tesco (the Czech equivilent of Walmart) and he walked sometimes because Holka wanted to ride in the stroller. While we were at the check out she ran away. I wouldn't let Vince chase her for obvious reasons. So he ran to the balcony and started yelling at her. "Holka stop! Wait there!" Then Vince and I went down the escalators and as soon as we were close to the bottom he said, "Holka! How are you!" I was suprised she actually waited :)

I Love Food!

Benjamin is quite the little eater. The only problem is that he has exema on his forehead and constantly wants to scratch it. We're pretty good at distracting him. This is what happens when he's itchy while he's eating.