The Culveys… Czeching in – Dec 2006

Yes this is the last update from Prague as many of you already know we are off to Izmir in Turkey! More of that later though, let’s bring you up to speed...

Last time we updated you it was all about new babies, well the trend has continued as we welcomed Mikey, Olivia, and most recently Ben in to the world....there is no stopping our friends!!

So back to September and the month began with Lyra in hospital for her hernia op at last, the hospital and staff were great and for the first time we felt like we got great service from a Czech hospital! Lyra came home after 5 days and was recovering well when I got an offer for our next assignment in Turkey. As usual they wanted me really quickly so we needed to get out for a look see visit. Diaries were full so the only 5 day stretch we could find was 1 week after Ly got out of hospital. All looked ok, the night before we flew Ly went to have her stitches out and the fun began. First they couldn’t get them out then she went home and the bit they did get out split open again (yuk!). So back in she went to have it patched up and off we went to Turkey very carefully!

Les, Zoe, and Casey came over and helped Tan look after the herd of kids! Thankfully we got to spend a couple of days with them too which was great.

It was a good trip and we agreed that we were happy to make the move. Meanwhile I was finishing off my role in Prague, we had a big official opening of the two Distribution Centres we’d completed this year and then it was off to Minneapolis to do some systems work with Oracle for ten days...very dull! The biggest excitement in 10 days was a visit to the Mall of America 400 shops wrapped around an amusement part - great fun on your own...not!

Still once home we only had a couple of days and then we flew back to the UK for 2 weeks holiday. We started in Weymouth and Kai frightened us all with his first major (and I mean major) crying fit! 3 hours in we sent Dad off to find some hard drugs to knock him out and after about 5 hours the poor little guy was finally sleeping, teething pain and a cold had really put him in bad place. The only saving grace was that India proved once again she can sleep through anything as they were sharing a room!!

The next few days in Weymouth were great although we were beginning to discover that having two kids was not good for going out to dinner, our little Princess had spoilt us over the last few years and Kai had different ideas! After 3 attempts to go out with them we managed 20 minutes in a curry house before we accepted defeat and got it take out!

Still we had a nice weekend up with Mum and Dad in Steeple Ashton, everyone came over and the kids had a great time. We got over to see Great Grannie and she enjoyed Kai’s hugs and India’s constant chat! We even managed to get back to Longleat and use up the rest of the tickets we had from the summer.

After a couple of quiet days with Mum & Dad C though it was off  to Northampton to see Crazy Nana and the loud half of the family! It was the usual madness of bombing around to see friends & co. Plus a joyful day in the passport office to get me another ten years! As we headed for the final weekend, we broke free of Northampton and headed up north to see James, Claire, Libby, and Katie. I hadn’t seen them since we got married so it was fun to catch up and spend a bit of time together and meet each others brood!

Once home in Prague, Abi & Keira followed us back for a few days, Indi and Keira loved the time together with a mix of hugging, kissing, and fighting keeping us all amused!!

For me it was the end of Prague and I headed off with Lyra to Izmir to start my new job. Ly spend a few days in Izmir helping to look for a house, after a worrying start of being shown very small crappy houses we finally found a beauty!. Ly headed back to Prague happy we’d found the right place, or so she thought.

The kids and Ly were staying in Prague until the new year and finish off the apartment restoration and get ready for the move!

After a couple of weeks away we got back together and jetted off to Dubai for a week on our own. Ly’s Dad and Jenny came out to help Tan cope with the little darlings which was a big help. Dubai itself was a weird mix of Arabic culture, old Souk markets and some of the most outrageous building projects you have ever seen. You cannot imagine the scale of development, it has to be seen to be believed!

Still the week was soon over and I headed back to Izmir, by this time I was really starting to miss the kids, I had not really seen them for a few weeks and it was starting to get really hard.

So Christmas finally arrived, I flew back from Turkey and we had two weeks to enjoy the holiday, then pack up and leave

First day back was our 5th wedding anniversary so Ly and I had a really lovely dinner at Kampa Park overlooking Charles Bridge, then we strolled through Prague reminiscing all the great times we’d had over the last 3 years. We will never forget Prague, it is a place that will always be special to us.

The festive fun began on Christmas Eve, Tan’s birthday. Her new chap Matthew rolled up and as usual our great friends the Pauses came down to celebrate. It was a night of hilarity mainly brought on by a very competitive game of Guesstures that was eventually won by the boys!!!

Christmas day was planned to be a big get together with us, and the Pauses, all heading to Anna and Harry’s (plus their 4 kids and parents) for a multi cultural Christmas bonanza, everyone had a ball, dinner must of lasted 4 hours. I was the exception to all this fun as I had managed to pick up a stomach bug so I ate nothing, drank water and flat coke, and was generally miserable in the corner!

Before heading down to the party we had a wonderful morning, India was beside herself with excitement. The previous night she had left reindeer food in the garden and sprinkled Santa’s magic dust all the way from the fireplace to her bedroom to make sure Santa could find her room and yes, he had left her a big sack of presents!!

We spent the morning opening all our gifts, (thanks to everyone), I think we got half way through India and Kai’s before they’d had enough and we saved the rest until boxing day.

India really loved opening all of her gifts and discovering what she had, the winner for her was a game of Hungry Hippos which is now the current favourite, this was followed by her puzzles, which she is far too good at!!

Kai spend most of the day sat wide eyed at all that was going on around him!! He enjoyed ripping the paper up and had a good chew on anything he could grab! Enjoying the new experience of having some teeth, yes he now has two!

To add to the fun, Chris arrived to help us celebrate our departure from Prague, we had a great party with many of our friends coming round to an open house affair that lasted from 15:00 - midnight! It was really nice to see some of friends again before we go, but the house has not yet recovered (maybe we’ll leave it to the packers!)

So that was the whirlwind that has been our lives for the last few months! It has felt like complete madness. The kids have had to cope with a lot of separation time from us and Tan has been brilliant at keeping them sweet. I’m sure this update misses so many great things they have done so sorry about that, we promise that once settled in Turkey we will be able to give you an update on what you really want to hear about Indi and Kai!

Before we say bye again, we must mention that many of you have asked about Bulgaria and our apartments there, we will be setting a page up on this site that will tell you how book to stay there as soon as possible, but if you really are interested in going, let us know and we’ll set things up.

So all that’s left to say is have a great new year and may 2007 bring you continued happiness!!

Come to Turkey!!

Lots of love,

Dan, Lyra, India, Kai, and of course Tanya!

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