Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The First Couple Weeks

Once we arrived in Krakow, there was a lot that had to happen before we really felt settled. We didn't have a car, so we had to call taxis anytime we wanted to go anywhere. I didn't have my kitchen supplies yet, so my cooking was fairly limited. The kids had no toys, so they resorted to doing things like this for fun....


Our evening outings were a little limited due to the car issue, but we managed to get out a few times and explore. The following pics were taken outside our house as we were getting ready for an outing to the mall....





The kids played a lot outside in our yard. Above is a picture of Andrew and Caleb on our patio. Below is Caleb posing by our grapevine trellis. The kids thought it was great fun picking grapes.

Naomi really likes our yard too but I have to watch her very carefully since the steps and patio are all marble. It makes me a little nervous about her falling down.


We went on lots of walks that first week to explore around our house. Here's some street signs leading to our home....

On one of our walks we walked up to the entrance of the Mounds. The boys were so excited to climb these so Luke took them that weekend. I'll include pics of that in another post. Here they are posing outside the mounds.

More pictures later this week!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Catching up...

We finally have a way to hook our camera up to our computer, so this blog is about to be overloaded with pictures! I think I'm going to try and post about once a day this week to catch everyone up. We've been here three weeks now, so I have a lot to share. We'll start with the day we left...


9 checked bags + 4 kids+ 2 strollers = 2 parents praying for patience


The kids were all excited to get on the plane....

Andrew loved watching the airplanes take off and land....

Thankfully all the flights went smoothly and the kids did great. Once we got to our house in Krakow (about 24 hours later) Naomi and Andrew found a bed and crashed. Travelling is hard work!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

In case you are interested....

...both Isaac and Caleb now have blogs. This is going to be part of their schooling while we are in Poland. They should post about once a week. Hint: They love comments!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

We made it!

We have now officially been in Krakow for one week. We arrived last Saturday, completely exhausted but also very excited to be here. This week has not been without some trials, but overall it's been an enjoyable week getting to know the city and making friends. I can't post pictures yet unfortunately because our camera cord hasn't arrived yet (along with our beds, clothes, kids' toys, etc.) but as soon as I get that silly cord I will post pictures from our travels here.
Until then.....here' s a top ten list to give you an idea of how our week has gone.

Our Top Ten List of things we have learned after one week in Poland....

10. You do NOT want to Jaywalk in Krakow. (Luke has a story to tell about this one.)

9. When grocery shopping in Poland you will NOT get help bagging your groceries. Nor will they wait for you to bag your groceries before they start ringing up the next customer. And it just adds to the fun when your cashier only speaks Polish.

8. Poland has a lot of slugs. Isaac and Caleb think this is very cool.

7. Skype/e-mail/Facebook are wonderful blessings when you are missing family and friends.

6. Stacie has to learn how to cook with an Easy-Bake Oven. (At least that's what the size of her oven reminds her of.)

5. We have no dryer. We have clotheslines. Not sure if we are going to tough this out, or break down and buy a dryer. Our towels feel like sandpaper after line-drying, so we will probably buy a dryer.

4. We really need to work on our Polish. Caleb wanted to tell our next door neighbor "Hola."

3. Trying to buy a used car in a foreign country can be quite adventurous. On Tuesday, Luke went to look at a van that he found online. The van looked great online, but when he arrived at the car "dealership" he met a very shady-looking character selling used cars out of his backyard. (Luke's keen business instincts told him not to buy a van from this guy.)

2. Krakow is a wonderful city for families. There is so much to do here we're not sure we can fit it all in into two years!

1. God is still faithful no matter where you are living, what language they speak there, and how far away you are from home.