Back to Prague and back to salads!

I just arrived back in Prague yesterday after being at home for about three weeks. Yes I know that was a pretty long break from hockey at Christmas, but for some reason our coach was feeling nice and decided to let us go home early. We did have some games but were able to miss them. One of them was a Euro League game but since only three of us foreigners can play in it we were okay to miss it as the two Slovak girls on our team were still around.

For some reason I had this idea in my head that when I was going home that I would have all this time to relax and catch up on emails and so on. Well nope that wasn’t the case or never really is the case so I’m not sure what I was thinking. I did have a bit of time to relax but that felt funny as I was usually on the go. I did have an awesome time at home hanging out with family and friends and with that mostly my friend Andrea who was back in town from Australia. I hadn’t seen her in a year so we spent as much time together as possible and even at that I’m not sure when I’ll see her again. I had an awesome Christmas day which was spent at home but unfortunately my brother was sick with the flu so he pretty much stayed on the couch the whole day and luckily he didn’t give it to me. Then on the 27th my family headed out to Moose Jaw for my cousin’s soon to be wife’s bridal shower. Had a great time at that, and then my dad booked us in for two nights to stay at the Mineral Springs Spa. That was just awesome as there is an outdoor part to the pool so you can sit in the hot water outside when it’s about -25C. Kind of like a hot tub outside but only bigger with salt water. Then from Moose Jaw we headed up to the farm for a few days to spend some time with the Willms clan. This is my first year without a Willms family Christmas as my grandma died last year. So it was a bit different but was still awesome to get out to the farm for our annual wiener roast. Then it was back home to head to my cousin’s, Mel, 30th birthday party which was a blast! Finally I spent New Year’s with my friend Chan and her fiancé, Mike, and had an awesome time with them going out for super and then hanging out at their house ringing in the New Year. Granted we found it strange as Saskatchewan is not lined up with any of the major time zones, aka the eastern time zone, so there is no real “ball” drop when it hits midnight, you just kind of celebrate it on your own.

So now I’m back in Prague and like I said back to salads as I sure ate a ton over the holidays! The constant eating was topped off with my going away five course meal that my sister-in-law put on! It was amazing to say the least. My brain hasn’t quite turned on the Czech yet but I knew I was back when the customs agent smelled like B.O. and when I went to the grocery store today all they had was beef, no chicken. Yes, back in the strange but never dull ways of the Czech.

Here are a couple of pics from my time at home...


Out for supper with the family for my mom's birthday


What I woke up to almost every morning while I was home.


Me standing on what will eventually be the front of my parents new house in Deer Valley!


The Valley at sunset.


Amanda and I shopping in Moose Jaw.


Scrappy and the cats, along with my two cousins starting a fire. Within 5 seconds of your mitts being off your hands were frozen so hats off to them for getting that fire going!


Me and Scrappy.


Off roading with the Hummer.


Making our own trail through the snow.


About to start our five course meal...not a bad going send off!