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!).