Transition ... June 18, 2009

All our stuff was officially packed and moved last week and is enroute to the US, with the expectation that it arrives when we do in mid July. We are still in our house, now with rental furniture, which is not the most fun. It feels like camping to me, and will be the closest I get to real camping if I have a say in it. It is amazing what you forget you use on a regular basis until you don't have it anymore (particularly in the kitchen...measuring cups, strainer, etc.). But we are taking advantage of the next few weeks to ensure we leave with no regrets!

Katie's Dance Recital ... June 7, 2009

This is the third year that Katie has had her dance recital. And it was great to watch her perform. That being said, the overall show was the worst one of all the three years we have attended. Fortunately we enjoyed watching Katie and a bunch of Katie's friends!

Katie's Birthday Party ... June 6, 2009

Since Katie's birthday lands in the Summer, the years in which we have a full on birthday party, we will celebrate it prior to school ending, so her friends from school can attend. Particularly since, for the American School in Budapest, many of the students here move on a regular basis or go home or travel somewhere else for the Summer. This obviously makes it hard to have most of her friends available for a party in July.
This year, since we were preparing for a move, we had the party at a "paint your own pottery" place in downtown Budapest. I think there were about 25 kids in this little shop with stacks of plates, bowls, etc lining the walls. All this made me VERY nervous, but they all did GREAT. Everyone was, for the most part, civil and calm, and not until the end of the party did it even get remotely rowdy. The kids all painted their own plate before having pizza and cake. And it was great to have a few of the parents stick around and help ensure order was maintained.
Katie is the sweetest little girl I know and just gets sweeter every year that passes.

Hollókő, Hungary ... May 30, 2009

We visited Hollókő, a fabulously preserved Hungarian town about an hour from Budapest. We are told that the best time to visit is during a festival, but we figured it would be almost as good to visit in a less complex/crowded time. We basically had the town to ourselves. We first visited the castle, which has been very well maintained over the years, although is still in a semi-ruined state. We then walked through the small, automobile free, village. They have different shops selling handmade items of different sorts. We had a nice meal at the local restaurant and enjoyed the mariachi (is that what they are called, or since they are Hungarian are they called something else?) band (Ryan especially enjoyed it). We purchased a locally made basket before driving back to Budapest for the evening. Obviously there are pros and cons to having a village like this to yourself. On the one hand, it is nice and peaceful. On the other hand, I think we missed out on a lot of the local wares/culture since many of the buildings were shut off or closed. But we are learning far too late into our time in Hungary how wonderful some of the cities are that are so very close to us! Hollókő is one of those cities!

Ryan's Birthday Party Celebrated ... May 25, 2009

We had Ryan's official first birthday party at our house (2 days after his actual birthday). It was relatively simple with some close friends from Budapest. Ryan obviously did not have any clue what was going on, but he did enjoy the cake (but maybe not as much as Jack!) and he got some great presents from his friends.

Shoes ... May 24, 2009

On the Danube river, just next to Parliament and across the river from Castle Hill is an exhibit honoring the memory of the Jews that were shot on the banks of the Danube during World War II. The memorial depicts the shoes left behind by the victims of the Arrow Cross militiamen who had them take off their shoes before shooting them, using the Danube as a simpler alternative means of burial. There are 3 plaques along the memorial in Hebrew, English, and Hungarian: "To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45. Erected 16 April [[2005."

Bratislava, Slovakia ... May 23, 2009

In the three years that we have lived here, we have never visited the capital of Slovakia...Bratislava (except to fly out of the airport once, or drove through it on our way to Prague or something). It is only an hour drive, yet like many places that are close (most of the Hungarian cities we waited years to visit), we always figured we would have plenty of time to visit in the future. Plus I have been there a few times before and was never overly impressed. So, considering we only have a couple of months left, we decided this was the afternoon we would spend in Bratislava.
I don't remember ever visiting the main square and was pleasantly surprised. All I remember from prior visits is crowded city streets and the castle, so sitting in the relatively quiet square surrounded by standard European architecture (AKA awesome) with a fountain in the middle was quite nice. We walked through the square visiting the different vendor booths that surrounded it. The girls ran around, probably too rambunctiously. We hung out on some famous bench with the "statue", which I guess is good luck or something.
From the square we tried to WALK to the castle. We meandered through the side streets of Bratislava only to come to a dead end where we would have to cross the highway to just get to the BASE of the castle. Considering we had spent the morning in Vienna and we were all pretty tired, we decided to just take in the castle view from the road and we headed home.
So, I get that we probably missed out on a number of other things to see in Bratislava since we just spent a couple of hours there, but at LEAST my thoughts of the city are much more positive than they had been over the last 10 years.

Vienna, Austria ... May 23, 2009

So, for Ryan's birthday, we took him to Vienna and Bratislava for the day. We know how much he will appreciate this trip in a few years! We started the day driving the hour and a half to Vienna and then spent another 45 minutes trying to find a parking spot. Finally I dropped off Heather, Julie Hall, and the kids at Stephansplatz and used my skill and precision to find a very close spot about 15 minutes later. I met up with them and we proceeded to make our standard trek from the Cathedral to the Opera, past the Hofburg and finally to the Volksgarten. We stopped for a few minutes at the Mozart statue to let the girls run around a bit. I love this walk and it never gets old for me to take in the atmosphere, the architecture, and the sounds of that wonderful city.
We decided to get Brats for lunch and eat them in the park. However, after passing about 25 ATMs on the way to the Ringstrasse where we were going to purchase our lunch, I still had no Euros so had to find an ATM. I left the girls and went wandering. About 20 minutes later I found an ATM and made it back to the family. We ate lunch in the park and I watched Ryan walk for the first time (I missed his REAL first steps because I was looking for that stupid ATM!).
We walked through the Volksgarten, which is beautiful this time of year. When I lived here in 1996 I would just sit in that place on a bench and read and it was wonderful. Admittedly, with 3 kids, it is not as peaceful a place, but it is still awesome.
We walked back past the Hofburg and the Roman excavation site and finally to Zanoni's, where we topped off the city visit with some good gelato (Ryan had his first Zanoni's and LOVED it, of course). I will seriously miss being able to just hop into the car randomly to visit Vienna...especially Vienna.

Ryan's First Steps ... May 23, 2009

Happy Birthday...he took his first steps! And while it may have just been a nice, graceful, fall forward, it looked pretty good to me (I technically missed the first steps as I was trying to find an ATM when he did it the first time, but Heather told me to video as soon as we got situated outside the Volksgarten for our picnic to record the event).

Ryan's 1st Birthday ... May 23, 2009

We celebrated Ryan's birthday by waking him up to "Happy Birthday to you", eating the traditional breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, and spending a day in our favorite city of Vienna (what child WOULDN'T want to go to Vienna for their birthday!). We will have a small party for him with some of his friends on Monday night. We can not believe that he is one! And he took his first three steps (see next post!).

Danube Dinner Cruise ... May 22, 2009

Since a number of our group of friends are leaving this Summer, a large group of the "leavers" and the "stayers" got together to say good-bye. We took a Danube Dinner Cruise, which was quite fun. Actually, the food was terrible, but the view and the company was wonderful.
Julie Hall, one of Heather's roommates after college, is visiting us for a little while, so she joined us. And we sat with Dan and Colleen Browne (Colleen is Katie's 1st grade teacher and PERFECT for her!) who told us of their exciting adventures in Saudi Arabia, among other things. It was a fun cruise, despite the food. It is our wonderful friends and the beauty that is Budapest that we will miss the most!


Afterward we went back to the Intercontinental Hotel terrace and saw a fabulous slide show of the last few years together that Meredith put together (VERY well done Meredith!). And the "stayers" put on a little "So Long, Farewell" performance as well (we are only one country away from the Von Trapp's homeland of Austria).
Both the slideshow and performance were so good that those strolling the Danube Riverwalk stopped to enjoy it as well!

After the slide show we had a juggling contest (I won, of course) and then we played a remedial version of a game called "Stookich" (I used to play years ago in my office with my friends back in Louisville), which was basically take whatever you can find that is round (in this case it was lemons) and create a hoop of some sort (a public trash can right on the Danube) and have some sort of tournament (as I said this was a REMEDIAL version, so effectively it was whoever can get it in the trash first wins, while "Stookich" was MUCH more complex than that!...ok, maybe this was more like a remedial version of basketball or "knockout"??) Anyway, it was a great night (and by the way, while I thought Monique was SURE to win the lemon toss because of her great shooting form, I think Terry took home the pot). We will miss our friends here.

Katie's Play ... "Cinderella" ... May 22, 2009

A group of Katie's friends put on a small mini-play during the Friday assembly. Katie played the part of the Fairy God Mother and did a wonderful job. All the kids did very well and all knew their parts perfectly (by the way, it also happened to be "crazy hair day" at their school, so their hair styles were designed for that, not for the play).

Budapest Zoo Field Trip ... May 21, 2009

Heather was able to accompany Katie to the Budapest Zoo for her class field trip. She made it in time from Ashley's school presentation to the Zoo with Katie. They had great time together.

Ashley's school presentation ... May 21, 2009

Ashley performed with her class at A to Z. She did fabulously and is cuter than ever.

Ryan at Cracker Barrel ... May 16, 2009

Heather, Ryan, and I traveled back to Louisville, Kentucky for a couple of days to look for a house. The girls stayed in Budapest with Niki.
Anytime we get back to the US we take the opportunity to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel to enjoy their sourdough French Toast. Ryan got his first opportunity to eat there while we were in Louisville, although he just had pancakes and orange juice.

Moving from Budapest ... May 13, 2009

So it is official ... After over three years here, we are moving from Budapest, Hungary to Louisville, Kentucky. We will SERIOUSLY miss this place but we are glad to go back to something very familiar (this will be our THIRD time in Louisville!). We are already making good progress in getting ready, finding a house, etc. Our last day here in this fantastic part of the world is July 9. It's been a great ride.

Esztergom, Hungary ... May 10, 2009

Sunday afternoon we took a drive to the city of Esztergom, Hungary, which is about 50 KM from Budapest and sits right on the "Danube Bend" right across the river from Slovakia. It used to be the capital of "Hungary" from the 10th to about the 13th century before it was moved to Visegrad (see our posts from a few years ago to that fabulous little castle town) and then Buda. St. Stephen of Hungary was born here and it has had its share of rulers, from the Czechs to the Turks.
We brought a picnic lunch and ate it in the park in front of the Basilica before wandering around the site and taking in the spectacular view of the Danube.
We drove across the bridge to Slovakia where we got a great view of the "castle hill" before driving back to Budapest.


Inside this fresco inside the basilica you can see the Basilica of Esztergom in the distance.

Cinco de Mayo ... May 9, 2009

Bob and Monika invited some families from Budapest over for their "Cinco de Mayo" party (on the nueve de Mayo!). The kids (and us) had a great time, including the water balloon fight. And they all did pretty well beating the pinata to shreds!

Katie and Ryan ... May 8, 2009

Fine Arts Night AISB ... May 7, 2009

We attended Katie's "Fine Arts Night", where they do a little performance and share their art work for the year. Mr. Chewning, her Music teacher, always does a great job here.

Ryan's Ice Cream Incident... May 3, 2009

I bought a pint of ice cream Saturday night in Munich and brought it back to our hotel room but didn't finish it. I just left it sitting on the side table, not caring that it would melt into a mess, figuring it would be a contained mess.
Sunday morning, Ryan was "hanging out" and decided to pull it down and start playing. He had a great time, and I had a great time trying to clean up Cookies&Cream liquid from the comforter and the comforter cover. Just remember, this is what we all sleep on in hotel rooms (at least if you are ever at the Holiday Inn in Munich!).

Ryan's Treatment ... May 2, 2009

Ryan has had bronchitis and has to had to have a "treatment" a couple of times a day. There has been once or twice he would actually wear this on his face without pulling it off. Well, maybe just once.

Munich, Germany ... May 1-3, 2009

For the long labor day weekend we decided to make out way to Munich and see some more of that city. We had been before for Oktoberfest a couple of years ago and we have driven "through" it a number of times, but we haven't really ever stopped to just see the city itself. We took off Friday morning and made the 5 1/2 hour drive quite easily. We went downtown to the Marienplatz, the main square. We walked up the 350 steps to get the view of the city from Peterskirche (Peter's church) and that was spectacular. We got a great view of the city from the observation platform even though it was pretty crowded.

On the Marienplatz they had a little battle of the bands going on, which was fun to listen to for a time, while we ate Bratwursts on the square. The Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) sits on the square. It looks much older than it really is, as it was completed only in 1909, but because it was built in a Gothic style, it maintains a more archaic look. Also on the Marienplatz is the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall), which actually looks newer than the New Town Hall. Technically, it is, as the original was destroyed during World War II before being restored back to its original 15th century design.

We saw a Haagen Daz, so we enjoyed that ice cream before heading back to the car and to our hotel for the evening.
The next morning we went to the Deutsches Museum, which one would think by the name would be some sort of German History Museum. It is easier to manage expectations calling it by its other name "the German Museum of Masterpieces of Technology and Science". Here we saw everything from Jet engines, helicopters, fighter jets to bridges, physics displays, and Nuclear energy displays. It is the largest technological museum in the world. Probably the best part of the museum was the hands on nature. The kids could "touch" a lot of things. In the kids zone they could actually climb on things, including the fire engine, where even Ryan got to spend a few minutes on his own.

We finalized the morning visiting the bench that saw the first splitting of the atom in 1938, originally from the laboratory of Hahn and Strassman, who were the first to demonstrate Nuclear Fission, leading to the creation of the Atom Bomb.

We left the museum and drove back to the town center where we walked to the Residenz, ate lunch at a Cafe (ie Starbucks), and walked through the Hofgarten. We continued walking to the Alte Pinakothek Museum, let the girls play on the playground in front of the museum while Heather took a little nap on the park bench before trying to find our car (we got a little confused as to where we had parked it).
We decided to end the day visiting Dachau, although we debated back and forth whether it was something we wanted to take the kids to. We explained a little about the German history to Katie when we visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, and although most people would consider us bad parents, we thought if we explained it on her level, it might actually be a good life experience for her. Maybe fate decided she shouldn't be exposed to that yet, since as we arrived at the camp it started pouring, so we decided to bag it and just head back to the hotel (We'd been a few times before, so we were not completely set on seeing it again...and the sun came out just as we arrived back to the hotel, as usual!)
Unfortunately, our GPS died and the fuse blew on the adaptor, so we were forced to figure out our own way back to the hotel. And this was NOT easy and it re-enforced the benefit this GPS has been for us over the last 3 years. I don't think we could have managed without it, at least it would have been hard to stay sane without it. After a long drive, we finally found the hotel. We walked to a Chinese restaurant down the street from our hotel for dinner, stopped off for some ice cream (as usual) and then headed to bed.
We woke up the next morning and got ready for church. We arrived just before it was to start but found that the chapel we arrived to was under renovation and the meetings were being held across town. We would be too late for most of sacrament meeting, so we finished out our Munich visit stopping off at the Nymphenburg Palace, the old Summer palace of the rulers of Bavaria in the 17th century. We did not go inside but instead strolled the beautiful grounds, decked out with floral, a lake, and swans. King Ludwig II, the man who went literally crazy building Neuschwanstein Castle (The Disney Castle) was born in the Nymphenburg Palace. The stunning nature of this edifice probably triggered his passion for creating something even more spectacular (which he did, by the way!). We headed home after our walk around the small lake (maybe it was just a pond) and made quick time back to Budapest.

Vaci street, Budapest ... Apr 25, 2009

We headed down to Vaci street, the main downtown area, I guess, in Budapest. We started with lunch at Vapiano (I still can't eat the pasta there for some reason, even though it used to be one of my favorite places here, so I just had pizza) before making the walk from Deak Ferenc Ter to the Vasarcsarnok Market by the Freedom Bridge. Heather picked up a new purse along the way, bought some clothes for the kids, and we had some pretty good soft serve ice cream. We will miss these days when the time comes to leave.

Ryan Miscelaneous ... Apr 25, 2009

Ryan turns one on May 23, which is absolutely crazy. I have no idea how an entire year has gone by so quickly.

Vienna Zoo ... April 15, 2009

Heather and her friends took all of their kids to Vienna to the zoo. The zoo sits right behind Schoenbrunn Palace, once of the most beautiful palaces in the world (modeled after Versailles). They had a great time, and even enjoyed the drive home that ended up taking four hours (instead of two) with traffic, bathroom stops and eventually dinner since it had become so late (4 cars and 17 kids caravaning is not easy!).



You would not believe the chaos going on in the background with the 17 kids effectively un-supervised while trying to get this shot taken. Some of the kids were climbing through the fences trying to get a little "closer" to the animals.

Monica saved the day always finding a way to handle the over-tired children!

The Asian Tourists ... April 11, 2009

We have experienced a number of times where Asian tourists (mostly Japanese) want to take pictures with the kids. They seriously get so excited and truly seem to enjoy the experience. We have always accomodated. The Keukenhof garden was no exception as a number of different tourists that ran into us asked us to stop and allow them to take some photos. I decided to take a couple of my own.

Brugge, Belgium ... Apr 12, 2009

We left Antwerp and spent the rest of the day in Brugge, Belgium. We had tried to find a hotel there before we left, to spend Saturday night, but were unable to find something within a reasonable price range, which is why we spent the night in Antwerp instead. One thing I LOVE about European cities is waking up early in the morning and taking a walk down the cobble stoned streets before anything is really open and before the crowds of people arrive. Brugge would have been the PERFECT city to do that in, however we showed up around lunchtime, so obviously we didn't get to experience this part. Maybe next time.
We enjoyed a great lunch at the main gate. I had the Mussels, a staple for the region. It was a lot of Mussels, but pretty good.
We walked around the city for a while, but the main square, in my opinion was ruined by the crappy carnival type stands that were up. These stalls juxtaposed with the churches and historical architecture surrounding the square really made no sense to me. I can imagine how wonderful this area would have been without these stalls. Oh well, again, maybe next time. The great thing about Brugge, though, is it truly is a city that had somehow maintained its medieval roots, with little unchanged through time or through war.
We drove halfway home that evening, stopping at the same hotel in Nuremberg that we stayed in on the way out, finally finishing our trek on Monday afternoon. As is usual for us, we saw a lot in a short period of time, but it was a fantastic journey. (The last picture is the girls trying to block out the sun so they could see their ipods better.)

Antwerp, Belgium ... Apr 12, 2009

We left Delft Saturday night and drove an hour to Antwerp, where we stopped for the night. The next morning we enjoyed an Easter egg hunt (see next post) then attended church at a ward in Antwerp. And before leaving the city we visited the Cathedral of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal), the tallest structure in that part of Europe (we are told). We then continued on our way to Brugge.

Easter Sunday ... April 12, 2009

Of the three years that we have been in Europe, this is the second Easter Sunday we have celebrated in a hotel room. It would have been all three, most likely, had Heather not been 8 months pregnant last year. So once again, we brought the Easter stuff and baskets and the girls did a little egg hunt around our hotel room. Despite the small size of the room, the girls still had a good time following the clues to their eggs, and ultimately to their Easter baskets. Even Ryan got to join in the fun. After our egg hunt, we all got dressed and went to church in Antwerp.

The Hague/Delft, Netherlands ... Apr 11, 2009

We left Keukenhof Gardens and made our way toward Delft, Netherlands, stopping off in the Hague to visit the Mauritshuis Museum. Here we saw a number of works by Dutch painters, including Vermeer's "Girl With a Pearl Earring". Katie has really enjoyed the museums this trip and hopefully she will continue to enjoy the cultural benefit. We also passed a town market that had pony rides, so we let the girls take a ride. I didn't realize the beauty of the Hague, as I always pictured it more modern construction, considering the Nazi occupation (they destroyed a number of buildings) and the bombings it took during World War II. I need to remember that the Europeans are very good at restoring their cities to their historical beauty.
We continued to Delft where we parked up against one of the many canals of the city. It was amazing to see how people parked up against this canal, trying to parallel park into a small space with no curb/protector prohibiting you from driving your car right into the canal if you are not careful. You can notice that I didn't take much chance and am the car furthest from the edge.
Delft was home to William of Orange, the man who led the Dutch to Spanish independence and key player in formalizing the independent Dutch state. It was also home to Vermeer and other artists. Delft has a wonderful medieval town center and I hung out there with Ryan and Ashley while Heather and Katie shopped around for Delftware (the famous blue pottery). She settled on a pair of candlesticks. We saw both the old and new churches and strolled the canal lined streets.

Keukenhof Gardens (Netherlands) ... Apr 11, 2009

I am posting a lot of pictures here for Katie and Ashley to look at, and this is not the half of what we took while spending 4 hours in the Keukenhof gardens (The Garden of Europe) in the Netherlands, the worlds largest flower garden. We got there soon after it opened, around 8:30 and had it basically to ourselves for about an hour before the tour buses arrived. 7 Million flower bulbs are planted annually in the park. It is a beautiful place, famous for the tulips and other colorful foliage. You have to time your visit right, as first, it is only open from the end of March to the end of May, but second, there are about 2 weeks during this period where you can catch the right blooming period, which is normally the middle of April. We got pretty close to this ideal period, but it probably would have been PERFECT a week or two later. That being said, it was still quite fantastic. Most people think we are crazy to go so far to visit a flower garden, but you really have to see it to believe it. And they have more than just flowers, as we enjoyed the petting zoo on the grounds as well as the windmill that overlooks the tulip fields outside the park, in their stunning red, white, yellow, oranges, pink colors, to name just a few. We also saw a cobbler widdling away the traditional Dutch wooden shoes. The girls relaxed for a few minutes on the haystacks outfitted with seats. And we saw the 2009 tribute to the US, with the Statue of Liberty made out of planted tulips. It was an amazing morning for us.

Amsterdam, Netherlands ... Apr 10, 2009

With Easter weekend, we decided to take the long weekend and take advantage of the little time left we might have here in Europe (not to say we haven't taken advantage quite tremedously over the last 3 years!) and see a few more sights. This time we decided to go to the Netherlands/Belgium part of Europe. We had been to Brussels and Mastricht earlier in our travels but not to Brugge or to see the tulips in Keukenhof, Netherlands, so this was our chance.
We left after work on Thursday and drove six hours to Nurenberg, Germany for the night. This was one of the first times we have found a hotel that accomodates us with 2 double beds, so we had a pretty inexpensive layover. We drove the remaining six hours early Friday morning, arriving Amsterdam around 1:00. We drove straight to the Anne Frank house, found a parking space right around the corner, and took the tour. I had been before, but it was the first visit for Heather. It is amazing to think what went on just a few years ago, relatively speaking. Katie asked a lot more questions and we were a little more accomodating trying to explain the situation of that period in history (certainly more so than when we visited Auschwitz a couple of years ago), adjusting the message to her understanding.
We walked from the Anne Frank house to the Hotel Pulitzer, just down the road, although we did not stay there. It is a beautiful hotel, made up of 25 restored 17th/18th century canal houses and has an art gallery contained in the gardens.
We continued walking towards the center of town where we walked through a main square and visited the "Old Church" which sits just on the outskirts of the famous red light district. Just so Heather could see what this was all about, she took a stroll just one block in and was shocked at how this part of town displays its "wares". I saw it 10 years ago and didn't really feel like seeing it again, so I just took pictures of the girls (before I realized that I was also photographing some outdoor public urinals...nice).
We continued walking through the streets, up and down canals, arriving at the flower market that sits on one canal. It used to actually have barges that docked there, but eventually they became permanent fixtures.
From there we made our way to the museums, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. We enjoyed the Rijksmuseum together, including Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" and Vermeer's "The Milkmaid".The line to get into the Van Gogh Museum was long enough that I decided to take Ashley and Ryan and make the journey back to the car while Katie and Heather toured the museum. It was perfect, too, as they truly enjoyed spending time in there and Ashley would not have. While we found our way by public transportation back to the car, Katie and Heather were doing a scavenger hunt in the museum that happened to be going on. And surprisingly, Katie actually was relatively familiar with Van Gogh, as her art class had been studying him recently (around his birthday). So Katie was familiar with "Sunflowers" and "Starry Night", even pointing them out as we would run into replications of them throughout the city. And just as I picked them up from the museum, it started to rain a bit. But at that point, we didn't care, as we were on our way to our hotel near Keukenhof for the night.

American Traditions at A to Z ... Apr 6, 2009

Heather went to Ashley's school to teach the class about some American traditions. She taught them some "baseball", since the majority only know about cricket and soccer. She brought Chocolate Chip Cookies to them as well, which all but one kid enjoyed (not sure what was wrong with that one kid).

Katie's Piano Recital ... April 4, 2009

Katie is now into her second year of piano lessons and doing pretty well. She was great at her "piano party". That's what they call "recitals" now in this day and age of coddling children to make them feel that everyone is a winner. I guess I am OK with this for now, but next year we better call this what it is. Everyone was good, though. Katie did fantastic and even looked up at me when I took a flash photo of her while she was playing, but she just kept playing while looking up at me for that second and didn't miss a beat.

Easter Market ... April 4, 2009

We visited the "Easter Market" at Vorosmarty Ter. This is the same square that holds the Christmas Market, and basically we discovered that the Easter Market is exactly the same with a few less booths and a LOT less people. But I find it hard to imagine people purchasing the winter hats and gloves that one stand was selling. We walked around for a bit before eating lunch at Vapiano.

Ryan Clapping ... April 2, 2009

Ryan has learned to clap. Sometimes he just holds one hand stationary and pounds the other one up against it, but we say that is close enough. He would clap after each bite of food he took, indicating how much he loved his food (nasty squash, by the way).

Cooking at the Intercontinental ... April 2, 2009

This is the second time that Heather has taken the girls to the Intercontinental Hotel "cooking school". Last time they made Pizza (which was actually quite good except that Ashley followed Hungarian tradition and put corn on hers...nasty). This time they made Easter breads and treats and had a great time doing it.

Buda castle ... March 28, 2009

Since it is basically Spring here in Budapest, we decided to take a walk around Buda castle. It has been a while since we have gone up there as a family and it was fun to just walk the uncrowded grounds.

John Farrell Concert ... March 27, 2009

John Farrell came back and performed again this year at the girls' school. Last year's concert was fantastic, this years only OK. But the girls enjoyed it and Ryan danced in his stroller for a bit before deciding he didn't want to be there anymore.

Ryan Dancing ... March 26, 2009

Ryan is 10 months now and likes to dance. When you tell him to dance he shakes his head back and forth as fast as he can and then shifts his weight from one leg to the other.

London ... March 6-9, 2009

We met my sister Julia and her husband, William, in London for the weekend. William had a conference all week, so we decided to make the easy trip over there to meet up with them for a couple of days. We left Katie and Ashley with Nikki (again, same as the last time we went to London for the weekend) but took Ryan. We were a little worried bringing Ryan (just a little), but it turned out he was basically perfect the entire time. And on the trains he was a little feisty, but mostly pretty relaxed. We flew in late Friday night and just stayed at a hotel at the airport (Gatwick). As is usual for London, it cost us more to get to the city from the airport (and back) then it did for our tickets from Budapest to London. But fortunately everything is 30% cheaper than the last time we visited, since the exchange rate is so much better.
We met up with Julia and William on Saturday morning and immediately set out to visit a few places that we had not been to before on any previous trip. First, we got on a train to some outskirt station where the Boden store is. Both Heather and Julia like the clothes, which is mostly an on-line store, but they do have a brick and mortar store outside of London. So we tagged along and Heather found a few things (including the raincoat you will see in subsequent pictures).
From there we made our way to another place outside the city (Windsor, coincidentally enough), Windsor Castle, the largest inhabitable castle in the world and the longest in continuous use (built around the 11th century). This large castle and complex is the "weekend" home of the Queen. It became our weekend home for about 2 hours.


We ate at a little french cafe in the "town" of Windsor before heading back on the train to London.
We went to Harrod's, which was crazy crowded, as if it was Christmas time or something (I can't imagine what it would have been like at Christmas). Here the main draw was the Krispy Kreme shop they have inside, where we bought a dozen Krispy Kreme's for future (meaning from time of purchase to about 8AM the next morning) consumption.
We went back to our hotel at Picadilly Circus to get ready to go see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theater. We saw it in Toronto and it is second only to Les Mis as far as musicals go. We were glad William and Julia wanted to go as well (they had not seen it before), as they had already been to Lion King and Phantom earlier in the week. As we expected, the show was fantastic. By the time we left the theater it was too late to find something quick to eat, so I had to settle on a late dinner of Krispy Kreme's, which admittedly I didn't mind too much (I would like to use the excuse that it is the only chance we have to enjoy those donuts, but the truth is that I have a friend that comes to Budapest once or twice a month and brings me a box each time).
The next morning, after trying in vain to find the Hyde Park church building in time to attend sacrament meeting, we took a stroll to the river and boarded a boat to Greenwich. We went there mostly to visit the Royal Observatory, home of the prime meridien (~zero longtitude), separating the Eastern and Western hemispheres. We had a good explanation of the buildings and bridges along the Thames as we made our way up the river.
We walked through the main street of Greenwich up the hill to the observatory, where we stood on both sides of the world (I guess, since ultimately the Prime Meridian is arbitrary...there have actually been a number of different "prime" meridians throughout history...conversely, the 0 latitude, the equator, is not disputed).


For a day and a half the weather had been spectatulor (as is standard for us on our trips), but while we were up on the hill observing the astronomical clock, the weather turned dark and it looked ominous. We quickly made our way back down the hill to catch the next boat that would take us back. Just as we were getting back to the boat the rain started. But as is customary, by the time our boat docked back at the Tower Bridge, it had stopped (for the most part). Now it was just COLD. I had only my sweatshirt, Heather and Ryan and William and Julia were a little more prepared, but it was still very cold. We did a tour of the Tower Bridge, it's history and the inner contraptions that make it work (raise up and down). One interesting point I learned is that the bridge has only raised its bascules to a full 90 degrees a few times, for special occasions like for the boat carrying Winston Churchill's body to (or from?) his funeral.


The rain had stopped, but it was still cold. But it did allow us to take a walk from the bridge to the Globe Theater, a rebuilding of Shakespeare's original theater that was built in 1599, destroyed by fire in 1613 (during a performance of Henry VIII when a theater cannon went off and a spark ignited teh thatched roof), and then rebuilt in 1614 and closed and subsequently torn down by the "puritans" in 1642 . This version was built in 1997, with an attempt to accurately reconstruct the original theater, thatched roof and all (except adding a sprinkler system). Today it is in use, but since it is an outdoor theater, it is used less frequently in the winter months.


We ate dinner at the Anchor, an English pub just down the block from the theater. Supposedly Shakespeare frequented this place (or the original version, since the original was destroyed by fire in 1676). We had planned on doing a Jack The Ripper walking tour (I know touristy, but seeing that side of London sounded fascinating), but since it was so cold, we decided to skip it and call it a weekend. We were flying out of Luton at 6AM Monday morning and William and Julia were flying out of Heathrow at about the same time, so we went back to our hotel, gathered our things, and said our goodbyes as we departed for our respective airports. We stayed the night at a hotel off the Luton airport, so it was a pretty easy trip back to Budapest.
It was great to visit with Julia and William for a few days and to see some additional elements of London that we had not experienced before.

Ski Break ... Feb. 20-22, 2009

The girls had ski break this week, so I took a day off so we could at least enjoy a long "ski weekend" together. We went again with our good friends from Budapest, the Birnbaums, like we did last year. We found another fun all-inclusive KinderHotel in Austria which had an indoor playground, on-site ski school, babysitting, and large comfortable rooms. It was not as cozy as last year's place, but it was overall better. It was bigger and the food was better, I thought.
We left Friday morning and arrived at the resort around noon. We ate lunch, checked into our room, and then got dressed to go sledding. There was a big hill for sledding, which would have been better if it had a rope tow or something, but at least we got some exercise. Ryan was almost falling asleep before we left, so I just laid him in the sled and he was out. He just enjoyed the ride! I made him a little tent, but he woke up pretty soon after.We took a snowmobile ride quickly around the park with all three kids, which was fun. After sledding we headed for the indoor playground where the kids ran around until dinner. We went swimming after dinner and were all tired out after that. The girls had not been feeling well and didn't sleep great, therefore neither did we, but it was manageable.
We got up the next morning and got ready to go skiing. We dropped the kids off at the babysitting place, including Ryan, and then Heather, Jason, Laura, and I made our way to the slopes. The snow had been falling non-stop for I am not sure how long. We decided to just ski for a couple of hours because we had to get back to get Ryan. But admittedly, it was all I could do. It was great snow, but just too much of it! I am just glad that we all made it through without any incident, since last year I broke my shoulder. It was enjoyable to be all together for a little while. Each run was increasingly more difficult as the snow kept falling, but we had a lot of fun (even Heather, after she got through the first run).
We drove back, picked up the kids for lunch, then took them sledding again. Ashley wasn't feeling well, so she stayed with Heather and Ryan in the room while I took Katie, and Jason took AJ (Sam and Jack stayed back at the room as well). We had a good time racing down the mountain with only a few wipeouts.
After sledding the kids went to the playplace for a while before finishing out the day at dinner and then swimming again. At this point I was EXHAUSTED. Skiing, sledding, and swimming wiped me out for the day.
The next morning we noticed it STILL had not stopped snowing. We had to dig ourselves out of the parking lot. Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult. We packed up and checked out and made it back to Budapest in the early afternoon.

Ryan standing ... Feb 20, 2009

It is now commonplace to come into Ryan's room in the morning to find him just hanging out standing up. It is too early for him to be growing up.

Snow Day... Feb 17, 2009

So I think last time this year it was almost spring. This year we are experiencing more snow than ever. I couldn't get out of our street to get to work. I made it around the first corner and then realized I wasn't going to make it down our hill. The Buda side of Budapest is hills, and we live on a relatively steep one. In fact, it is called "Ordogorom Lejto", which in Hungarian means "The Devil's Pulpit" (or something to that extent). For almost three years we have not had an issue, but finally I did. I just turned around and worked from home instead. I did find a few minutes to go out with the girls, who are on ski break this week. We built a snowfort this time, instead of a snowman (they did that on their own last week...see previous post).

Vienna ... Feb 14, 2009

We slept ok after returning from the ball. Katie had asked earlier if she could go with us. I told her she could if she cleaned the house and made her own dress (without the help of the mice). She didn't make it to the ball with us! She was, however, to accompany us as we made our normal tour around Vienna and Stephansdom, although we didn't make the entire walk from the Cathedral to the Hofburg because it was FREEZING (I even actually wore my coat!). We went inside St. Stephan's and for the first time I got a few decent interior shots now that we learned how to use the "indoor" feature on our camera. Whitney was kind enough to stay with Ashley and Ryan while Heather, Katie, and I toured the catacombs underneath the Cathedral. This is where they have buried the different Bishop's of the church and where they used to throw the dead bodies of those that died during the Black Plague. At one point, though, the smell became so bad that they sent prisoners down to clean and stack all the bones. You can still see many of them there. It is amazing the things they decide to keep around and what we tourists enjoy seeing. The only picture I got was a "rogue" shot when the guide wasn't looking (no pictures for some reason), so it didn't come out too well.
We finished our morning off with Zanoni's gelato (as I have said before, it never matters how cold it is outside, we will always get Zanoni's before returning from Vienna) and made it back to Budapest in the early afternoon.

Hofburg Palace Ball, Vienna, Austria ... Feb 13-14, 2009

So, for 13 years I have wanted to attend a Vienna ball, not because I like to dance (quite the contrary) or I am good at dancing (also, quite the contrary), but because it sounded fascinating to be in the same place as the royalty from Vienna's rich history. We finally decided to do this when we found out that a couple of friends of ours were going to go. And we happened to be at the 2nd largest ball (it was the Coffee House Ball, hence the many gourmet/artistic cakes below) and the one that happened to transcend Valentine's Day. It started at 9:00 on Friday evening and we ended up leaving after midnight on Valentine's Day, so I got to count that as my Valentine's present to Heather (although you have to admit that this was TOTALLY fair!). The ball didn't actually end until 4AM, and technically, at 100 Euros each, one would think that we would want to take full advantage, but after 3 plus hours in an uncomfortable tuxedo and even more uncomfortable shoes, we called it a night (also knowing Ryan was going to be up at 6:30). But not before we were able to tour the Hofburg, even visiting some rooms normally off limits to tourists (they only open them up for the balls each year) and seeing the Vienna Boy's Choir perform. The main ballroom was fantastic, and watching the professional dancers flitter their way around the dance floor was great. Quite a contrast to Heather and I out there, once they opened it up to the "common folk". We did a few dances out there, stepping on the toes of other people (and each others), Heather scraping one lady not once, but TWICE, with her wedding ring! I truly think that I was born in the wrong era. I was supposed to be born in 19th century Vienna, but Heather thinks that I couldn't survive without the 21st century luxuries. She is probably right.
We had a great time and despite the uncomfortable clothing, Heather looked fantastic and I recommend this to ANYONE. Totally worth the money, the time, and the effort (as it was a lot of effort!).

Ryan crawling (trying!) ... Feb. 12, 2009

Ryan can make his away around now, not quite CRAWLING, but very close.

Second "real" snowfall ... Feb. 11, 2009

Since we have been here we have only had about one snowfall a year. This is actually the second opportunity that the girls have had this year to build a snowman. I came home from work to find their "shrunken head" voodoo creepy looking snowman. They used Ryan's toys for the eyes and Ryan's hat, plus raisins for the mouth and buttons. Ryan got into the fun this year as well, his first time out in the snow!

Ryan ... 8 1/2 Months

Ryan is 8 1/2 months. Here are just a few random pictures...