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Kozik Family Photo Blog
Blackhawks Vs TampaBay 102118
The Blackhawks played Tampa Bay. It was a good game, but the Hawks lost. Tampa Bay shot 33 shots on goal in the 2nd period. I caught a T-shirt on a parachute!
Mom’s Birthday 092918
We celebrated Mom’s birthday at Salerno’s on the Fox. We were delighted that Liz came too!
Congaree Tubing 081118
Cathie, Liz and I visited Mike and Liane in Columbia for the week end. Our main outdoor activity was tubing down the Congaree River. We put in just South of the Gervais Bridge and floated down to the Newman Boat Landing (near the water treatment plant). The crew from Palmeto Outdoors did a great job launching us and bussing us back up stream to the start point.
Prague 7/4/18
Tuesday 7/3/18 — Leave for Prague
-Limo to airport. Stretch. Everyone fit including luggage
-UA Liz, Cathie, Jack upgraded. Molly, Jeff, Mary moved to Economy Plus
-Left on time
Wednesday 7/4/18 — Old Town and Charles Bridge
-I didnt sleep, Cathie did
-Van driver was waiting for us!
-David checked us in. My old information from 2014 was still in their system
-3 rooms. King (Jack and Cathie), Queen (Liz), King Suite (Jeff, Molly, Mary)
–Only Liz’s
-First stop: Old Town Square and lunch at U Tyna
-Then we walked over to the Powder House and the Opera and looped back and walked to the Charles Bridge
–It was so hot and so crowded we turned around
-We took a two hour break in our rooms
-For the evening we started at a nearby pub for drinks: Karlova
–The weather had cooled down a little, and it was a little less crowded
–We stayed here for 90 minutes. Very relaxing
-We decided we wanted to have dinner on the other side of the bridge
–We slowly walked the Charles Bridge taking pictures and enjoying the scenery
–We walked the bridge and found a nice restaurant on the water front: Čertovka
-We walked back, except it was dark, so a whole different set of pictures
-I went straight to bed, asleep
Thursday 7/5/18 — Jewish Quarter
-Woke up at 7am, at the breakfast table by 8am
–We had a nice omlette and some meat and cheeses from the buffet table
–All nice, pleasant
–1960s american standards background music (Andy Williams, Dean Martin)
-We were at the Spanish Synagogue by opening at 9am.
–Maisel Synagogue
–Pinkas Synagogue
–Old Jewish Cemetery
–Klausen Synagogue
–Ceremonial Hall
–Spanish Synagogue
–Old-New Synagogue
-Inbetween the last two, we took a break at the Kolonial Restaurant
–Kolonial Restuarant, 12:25 http://www.kolonialpub.ca
–Bike themed
–Just drank beer and lemonaide
–empty when we got there at 11:30, almost full when we left at 12:30
-Walked over to the Old Town Square and bought Cathie’s glass bowl
–Prodejní galerie Moser Staroměstské nám 13:36
–https://www.moser-glass.com/sales-galleries/prodejni-galerie-moser-staromestske-namesti-praha-34
–She’s wanted that since 2011
–They are shipping it through DHL.
-Quick visit to the Church: St Nicholas — Hussite Church
-2pm lunch on the Old Town Square
–Hotel Lippert
–Snitchel/Cheese
-Walked back to the hotel, decided to order tickets for the concert at the Spanish Synagogue
-We took naps until 6pm
-After naps, we walked to the concert in the Spanish Synagogue. It started at 7pm
–The doors opened at 6:45
–We had to stand under a tree to avoid the rain
–We were let in and found 6 seats together in the 2nd row
–It was a 5 piece orchestra with a featured trumpet player and vocalist; we gave short applause whenever the returned to the stage
–They played 10 arrangement and finished exactly on the hour, including an encore of “Moon River”
–I was deighted with their arrangements of Leonard Cohen’s Allleighlua and Queen’s Boehien Rapsody
–The vocalists best performace was La Boehm
-Afterwards, we tried to go to the restaurant Kolkovana; across the street, but they were full
–This place was recommended by the United gate person in Chicago
-Instead we went to the nearby Nostress Cafe/Restaurant
–No Stress Restaurant, V Kolkovně 9 22:03 http://nostress.cz/
–They served contemporary food; no goulash or snitzel
–Salmon was the favorite. Mary and I had hamburgers
–We shared lengthy stories of Mom and Dad’s past — interesting and fun
–We enjoyed deserts; they had a big selection
-We walked back and when to bed by 10:30
Friday 7/6/18 — Castle
-Slept ok. I got up at 3:30 but fell back asleep
-At the breakfast area by 8am. It was crowded; we couldn’t sit together
-It was cooler and overcast. I wore short, but was tempted to dress more warmly
-We walked to the Metro station on the other side of the river and got tram tickets
–Number 22 or 23
–Credit card with chip did not work; the Apple pay did. It was 24CZK per person
–Caught the tram right away
-The castle was just like we remembered it
–The ticket line was empty, good!
–Sprava Prazskeho hradu SD 1 9:36
–https://www.hrad.cz/
–St Vitus’s Cathedral
–Old Royal Palace
–Basilica of St George
–We stopped at the cafe on the grounds for a break
—It started to rain; we sat on some tables under some umbrellas
–Golden Lane
–We then exited down the stairs and turned right to take the Furstenberg Garden exit
—We paid a small fee and winded our way down to the bottom of the hill through some nice garden areas.
-We then walked over to the New Town Square area
-We had lunch at the Malostroanska Restaurant accross the street from the St Nicholas Church
–We had a pretty big lunch
–We were half outside and all the Harley Davidson motorcycles were noisy.
–Our server was moving to Aruba
-We walked to the Church of Our Lady Victorious / Infant Jesus of Prague
–There was a moving 100 year tribute to Czech including a moving retrospective of August 1968.
–The beautiful copper alter pieces were being remodeled
-We walked back to the St Nicholas Church it was closed for the day. Maybe tomorrow
-We found the John Lenin wall. Lots of street art and a live performer
-We then walked back over the Charles Bridge and back to our hotel for a break.
-At 7:30, we met in the lobby to plan dinner
–We met a couple who are on the first leg of a Danube river cruise.
-We walked over to the nearby Hotel Prince / Black Angel outdoor eating area.
–Hotel U Prince outdoor cafe area 22:16 https://www.hoteluprince.com/
–We had a long dinner going to past 10:30
–The weather cooled down nicely with a clear sky
–The Belgian / Brazil soccer match was going on at the same time. Many Belgian fans in the plaza area
–Liz was sketching scenes beautifully painted onto the Hard Rock Hotel facade
–Really nice server told us the history of the nearby building
-We took Molly shopping, briefly
-Then went back to our hotel.
-This was our last night in Prague.
Saturday 7/7/18 — Wenceslas Square, head to Frankfurt
-Cooler day, in lower 60s, warmed to the high 70s
-Breakfast, as normal at 8am
-Back to our rooms: pack ed and checked out.
-The hotel very nicely stored our luggage.
-We set off for our last day in Prague. We started to walk to Wenceslas Square
-On the way we stopped at the super crowded Harley Davidson Theme shop
–They didn’t sell any of the 115th anniversary t-shirts. They were only for event attendees.
–We met a couple from Calgary. He runs a Harley dealership, and she thought they were going away from Harley,
–Instead their vacation “got high jacked” by Harley 
–The nearby streets were full of Harley’s. The store was packed and the poor store clerk was barely keeping up
-Next we stumbled upon the famous Havelský Trh / Havel’s Market
–It was pedestrian street with lots of quality flea market style goods.
–Liz found a wonderful woven fabric; Molly and Jeff found souvenirs
–Molly was taking pictures of mice
–I took pictures of fruit
-We then walked up to Wenceslas Square. At this point we stopped for drinks at Cafe Trinity
–Mary and Jeff got us some cooked spiral sugar dough
–Trdelnik was the name on the tent. This was new to us and served everywhere, in popup form
-We continued our walk, but Wenceslas Square was closed off
–There was a Harley parade! Pair-wise a huge line of motor cycles were traversing the Wenceslas Square loop
–Lots of people taking pictures, lots of cheering, lots of noise!
–Then they were done. Silence, whew.
–We then walked up to the main statue of the Square and took pictures
–Really nice, lots of people, clear sky
–We started walking back, and another parade started!
–We read that the Harley convention had arranged for groups of 4000 bikes at a time to parade through Prague
–We found a couple of book stores:
—Knihy Kanzelsberger
—Kanzelsberger Bookstore 12:36 https://www.dumknihy.cz/
—Academia Knihkupectvi — Komicsky books
—Academia Bookstore www.academia.cz
—Cathie bought some clothes from the nearby Marks and Spencer
-We left the square, even though the motor cycles were still parading
-We stopped for our last lunch at Il Gusto
–Restaurant Il Gusto 14:36 http://www.ilgusto.cz/
–It is an Italian Restaurant.
–We had pizza, lazagna, pesto pasta, etc.
–Pacific Rim was playing on the TV (not sure why)
-We then walked over to the Tyn Church
–More formally: The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn
–Featured Tomb of Tycho Brahe
–Beautiful church
-We still had an hour before our ride to the airport so we stopped at the Restaurant U Tyna
–This outdoor cafe in front of the Tyn Church was the first place we stopped at when we arrived on the 4th.
–We just had drinks
-We walked back to the hotel and took our taxis to the airport
–My taxi was watching the World Cup game: England won
-We caught our flight to Frankfurt in plenty of time
–We had to check our luggage
–We walked from the baggage claim to the Hilton Hotel
-At the Hilton, they had our rooms waiting for us. We checked in by 8pm, and we ate dinner in the bar at 8:30
–We watched Croatia beat Russia, in overtime
–We had cheeseburgers and beer for dinner
Sunday 7/8/18 — go home, through Frankfurt
-United 945 8:10am-10:30amCT
-We checked out at 6:15, walked to the United desk
-We were checked-in by 6:35. We checked our luggage
-We were through security lines by 7:05
-We were a realatively short walk to our gate, boarding started at 7:25am
–I had to go through secondary screening, so I boarded separately
–I boarded right after group one.
–Liz and Cathie saved me some overhead space
–I slept at least 5 hours!
–We arrived 30 minutes early
–No problem with re-entry
-Stretch limo home
-Kitties were fine. House was clean
-Taylor left them with lots of food and water.
Captiva 4/24/18
Friday 4/20/18 — Travel to Captiva
-UA742, upgraded, departed 7:48am, nice flight
-Rented Ford Edge from Hertz. Good SUV, smaller than usual, but workable for the two of us
-Stopped at Jerry’s; I forgot to pack white t-shirts. I bought two.
-Checked in to Lands End 1633
–Nice room, great view of blind pass and the gulf
–On the 6th fairway
–Cleaning staff still working
–spartan decor, but workable
-No time for lunch, went straight to the beach.
–Stayed there until after 5pm
–no more “cliff”
–clear sky, in the 80s
–got a little windy
-Lazy Flamingo for dinner, crowded, much more so than in Nov17
-Sunset at Blind Pass (watch out for the enforcement officer)
-Desert at Scoops and Slices
-Watched Lost in Space on Netflix
Saturday 4/21/18 — Kayaking, Golf, Ding Darling
-Got up to overcast skies, they cleared and we got up to 89 degrees, great day!
-Kayaked from 9:30 to 11:30.
–Went south along Roosevelt Channel, then back around the far side of Buck Key
–lots os Snowy Egrets, a Bald Eagel, lots of osprey, delighted to find a little green Herson, at tne end we saw a huge majestic Great Blue
–I had the green Old Town Loon. It has an open cockpit and a tall back. Really comfortable
-Came back for lunch.
–The osprey right out side our condo were posing beautifully for pictures in great lighting
–I used the 500mm lens. The osprey were almost too close
-We went golfing early
–Beautiful day for golf, course not crowded, but we did have to wait a couple of holes for a slower foursome
–By the end of the round we were tired
-Back to the condo to cool down
-Left for DingDarling
–Stopped at CVS first
–bar soap
–York Mint Patty… not “Yorky”
–We saw a pair of osprey in a nest; otherwise, nothing
-Drove back to Captiva and had dinner at Mucky Duck. Served right away at 5pm
-Back to condo. I took a nap and woke-up in time to see the sunset
-Watched two episodes of Lost in Space.
Sunday 4/22/18 — Kayaking, Golf, RC Otters
-clear windy day high in the 80s, clouds over Pine Island
-Kayaking delayed until 11:20.
–Someone called in sick. We had to wait for them to come back from a tour
–We started late, but everything went fine.
–Started heading South along Roosevelt Channel
–The water was deeper than the day before
–saw dolphin and lots of other wading birds
–rounded the bottom of Buck Key, the wind was heavier and the water choppier
–Kingfisher, pelicans, dolphin, Great Blue, Snowy, and Great Egret, lots of osprey (quieter)
–When we made the bend around the top of BUck Key, waters became claim again, we had the wind at our back
–We ran into the 11:30 guided tour. They were excited to see some dolphin
–We paddled in, the Yoga instructor helped us out
-We went back to the condo to cool off
-We had a 2:50pm tee time
–We just beat the two large foursomes
–much windier
–Moorhens were grazing on the golf course, but they are water fowls
-Headed back, changed, and went to the beach
-Stayed at the beach for an hour or so, listening to nice steel drum and flute music
-Showered and went for dinner at RC Otters
–They had a realy good vocalist who did two songs, then she left and the guy did Niel Young and other classics
–It wasn’t that crowed, but we did have to hurry back
-Westworld, Season 2 started
–Very violent, fell asleep before the ending
Monday 4/23/18 — Kayaking, Golf, Ding Darling, Sunset Grill
-Slightly overcast day, forecast high of 85. Winds from the South, tide coming in
-Kayaked normal time, 9:30
–Again, paddled South along Roosevelt Channel. It was tough: going against the tidal current and the wind
–Around the other side of Buck Key, it was easy paddleing.
–We saw most of the birds on the far side of buck key, including our favorite Little Blue Herons.
–Much to our delight, Carl the cormorant, greeted us on the way back, hunting for fish as we paddled
-Golf at 1:30. Noone ahead or behind. Delightful round, but a little windy
-Drove to Ding Darling for low tide. Nothing to see, again. Sorry
-Had dinner at Sunset Grill for the first time. Top-notch, nice, outdoors, facing the gulf, breezy, not hot.
-Headed back to condo, watched sunset. Cathie took a nap
Tuesday 4/24/18 — Kayaking, Ding Darling, Green Flash
-Again, the morning started overcast. It looked like it rained last night, not alot of wind
-We kayaked around Buck Key, but went clockwise, going around the North tip. The water was smooth.
–Dolphins popped up right next to us
–We saw 3 manetees at the end
–We said good bye to the staff and said we’d be back in November
-I spent 1:30 on the phone with my work, prepping for a Sprint meeting in Reston
-We went to Ding Darling, one last time.
–Yeah, The Rosatee Spoonbills were there!
–There was a whole crowd of people and many took turns looking through our 500mm lens
–We also saw our first Yellow-crowned Night Herson
–A manetee family is living near the “Indian Mounds”
-Celebrated my birthday at Green Flash
–I got calls from both Liz and Mike
-Watched episode 5 of Lost in Space
–Happy Birthday!
Wednesday 4/25/18 — Travel back home
-UA2404 12:40 to 2:44
Captiva April 2018
Friday 4/20/18 — Fly to Captiva, Lazy Flamingo, Baby Osrey at our Condo
-UA742, upgraded, departed 7:48am, nice flight
-Rented Ford Edge from Hertz. Good SUV, smaller than usual, but workable for the two of us
-Stopped at Jerry’s; I forgot to pack white t-shirts. I bought two.
-Checked in to Lands End 1633
–Nice room, great view of blind pass and the gulf
–On the 6th fairway
–Cleaning staff still working
–spartan decor, but workable
-No time for lunch, went straight to the beach.
–Stayed there until after 5pm
–no more “cliff”
–clear sky, in the 80s
–got a little windy
-Lazy Flamingo for dinner, crowded, much more so than in Nov17
-Sunset at Blind Pass (watch out for the enforcement officer)
-Desert at Scoops and Slices
-Watched Lost in Space on Netflix
Saturday 4/21/18 — Kayaked, Golf, Ding Darling, Mucky Duck
-Got up to overcast skys, they cleared and we got up to 89 degrees, great day!
-Kayaked from 9:30 to 11:30.
–Went south along Roosevelt Channel, then back around the far side of Buck Key
–lots os Snowy Egrets, a Bald Eagel, lots of osprey, delighted to find a little green Herson, at tne end we saw a huge majestic Great Blue
–I had the green Old Town Loon. It has an open cockpit and a tall back. Really comfortable
-Came back for lunch.
–The osprey right out side our condo were posing beautifully for pictures in great lighting
–I used the 500mm lens. The osprey were almost too close
-We went golfing early
–Beautiful day for golf, course not crowded, but we did have to wait a couple of holes for a slower foursome
–By the end of the round we were tired
-Back to the condo to cool down
-Left for DingDarling
–Stopped at CVS first
–bar soap
–York Mint Patty… not “Yorky”
–We saw a pair of osprey in a nest; otherwise, nothing
-Drove back to Captiva and had dinner at Mucky Duck. Served right away at 5pm
-Back to condo. I took a nap and woke-up in time to see the sunset
-Watched two episodes of Lost in Space.
Sunday 4/22/18 — Kayaked, Golfed, RC Otters
-clear windy day high in the 80s, clouds over Pine Island
-Kayaking delayed until 11:20.
–Someone called in sick. We had to wait for them to come back from a tour
–We started late, but everything went fine.
–Started heading South along Roosevelt Channel
–The water was deeper than the day before
–saw dolphin and lots of other wading birds
–rounded the bottom of Buck Key, the wind was heavier and the water choppier
–Kingfisher, pelicans, dolphin, Great Blue, Snowy, and Great Egret, lots of osprey (quieter)
–When we made the bend around the top of BUck Key, waters became claim again, we had the wind at our back
–We ran into the 11:30 guided tour. They were excited to see some dolphin
–We paddled in, the Yoga instructor helped us out
-We went back to the condo to cool off
-We had a 2:50pm tee time
–We just beat the two large foursomes
–much windier
–Moorhens were grazing on the golf course, but they are water fowls
-Headed back, changed, and went to the beach
-Stayed at the beach for an hour or so, listening to nice steel drum and flute music
-Showered and went for dinner at RC Otters
–They had a realy good vocalist who did two songs, then she left and the guy did Niel Young and other classics
–It wasn’t that crowed, but we did have to hurry back
-Westworld, Season 2 started
–Very violent, fell asleep before the ending
Monday 4/23/18 — Kayaked, Golfed, Ding Darling, Sunset Grill
-Slightly overcast day, forecast high of 85. Winds from the South, tide coming in
-Kayaked normal time, 9:30
–Again, paddled South along Roosevelt Channel. It was tough: going against the tidal current and the wind
–Around the other side of Buck Key, it was easy paddleing.
–We saw most of the birds on the far side of buck key, including our favorite Little Blue Herons.
–Much to our delight, Carl the cormorant, greeted us on the way back, hunting for fish as we paddled
-Golf at 1:30. Noone ahead or behind. Delightful round, but a little windy
-Drove to Ding Darling for low tide. Nothing to see, again. Sorry
-Had dinner at Sunset Grill for the first time. Top-notch, nice, outdoors, facing the gulf, breezy, not hot.
-Headed back to condo, watched sunset. Cathie took a nap
Tuesday 4/24/18 — Kayaked, Prep for 5G, Ding Darling (Rosatte Spoonbills), Birthday at Green Flash
-Again, the morning started overcast. It looked like it rained last night, not alot of wind
-We kayaked around Buck Key, but went clockwise, going around the North tip. The water was smooth.
–Dolphins popped up right next to us
–We saw 3 manetees at the end
–We said good bye to the staff and said we’d be back in November
-I spent 1:30 on the phone with my work, prepping for a Sprint meeting in Reston
-We went to Ding Darling, one last time.
–Yeah, The Rosatee Spoonbills were there!
–There was a whole crowd of people and many took turns looking through our 500mm lens
–We also saw our first Yellow-crowned Night Herson
–A manetee family is living near the “Indian Mounds”
-Celebrated my birthday at Green Flash
–I got calls from both Liz and Mike
-Watched episode 5 of Lost in Space
–Happy Birthday!
Wednesday 4/25/18
-UA2404 12:40 to 2:44
Cathie, Vicki, and Sue weekend in San Francisco 4/1/18
To celebrate Sue’s big birthday, Cathie, Vicki and Sue met-up in San Francisco for the week-end.
Happy Birthday Sue!
Aunt Pat’s Celebration, 3/26/18
In preparation for Aunt Pat’s celebration, we scan a number of pictures to share. While there at J Liu’s Restaurant in Columbus, we met people from Uncle Basil’s side of the family. People we have never met before.
Visit Mike and Liane 3/3/18 in Columbia
For the weekend of March 3, 2018, we visited Mike and Liane in Columbia. We arrived late on Friday night, we checked into the Hampton Inn on the Vista, ate a late dinner at the nearby Liberty Tap Room Restaurant.
Then, the next morning we went kayaking on Cedar Creek, at the Congaree National Park. We put in at the South Cedar Creek Road Canoe Access area, we paddled south east for a couple of miles, got blocked by a shallow cedar tree forest and turned around. There was a very slight current with us going out, and caused us no delays heading back. The water was shallow, but passable. There were several tree falls that we had to navigate around.
We had a light lunch at the River Rat Brewery, then headed to Mike and Liane’s house. We saw their beautiful new house, visited with Pam and watched Loyola play their first round in the NCAAs.
We took a break and then met for dinner at the very nice, very local Terra Restaurant.
The next morning we went to breakfast at the super popular Cafe Strudel breakfast spot. We got there 30 minutes before they opened and we still had to wait for an hour. Very popular place with excellent food and orange juice. We met Hana there.
We hung out for a while at Mike and Liane’s then we went back to the airport.
