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.