Dolny Mostenec, Slovakia

I am a bit behind on the blogs due to lack of access to the internet so please bear with me! We arrived to the tiny village of our friends Peter and Monika a day late. The Slovak village is complete with dirt roads, chickens, cows, old "studda bubbas" in shawls and two, count 'em two small pubs. Needless to say that the kids were sorry about the passing of the goat...or maybe he was last Sunday's dinner (no one really knows...) the Slovak Mother, as we refer to her as we never did learn her name, was also the typical Slovak mother. She would prepare enough food for an army and frown when we only managed to eat 1/2 of it. She fussed over Nicolas the most for some reason much to his frustration! He has never been hugged, kissed and squeezed so much in his life. We were even blessed by Holy Water (I am NOT kidding!).
Our first day was slow...we just hung out in the village, visiting with various family members who now live in their own homes on the property of the Slovak Mother. They all have small children who viewed us with the same kind of curiosity one shows to a strange animal...you want to see it, maybe even pet it; but you don't want to get too close lest the creature bite you!
On our 2nd day, Peter took us to a cool city of Bojnice...complete with a castle! i will post pics of this castle as it was very beautiful and reminiscent of those that you see in fairy tales. We took the tour....in Slovak of course. We just learned to laugh when everyone else did and look where everyone else was looking. Lyle would throw in his own versions of translations of course....Nick was admonished for touching stuff.....Rina was taking pictures...lots of pictures!
the next day was our final day with our friends. Slovak Mother made a huge meal....and I am not talking about anything LITE. Her food was delicious...but we all felt the tug of our jeans tightening up a bit after only 2 days of her cooking! We said our good-byes...Slovak Mother cried and kissed us, and hugged us, and kissed us again. She gave us food for the trip...you know it is a 3 hour trip so we must have enough food for 3 days! She gave us gifts of Slovak liquor, handmade doilies, candies and other Slovak goodies. It was great seeing our Slovak family..it felt like home.