Snaps from the Water Fun

I posted a video earlier of our Budapest escapades today. The kids loved playing in this fun new water fountain that just opened next to Szabadsag ter. We spend a lot of time at Szabadsag ter as we like to eat in the city on the weekends. A playground stop before and / or after a meal on a nice day is always mandatory for our troops.

T loved playing controller of the water.

Even though it was such a fab day, the kids got wet and chilly after all the play. We had some drinks in the square center and Mia warmed up with a bowl of soup.

Ali didn't enjoy getting wet in the fountains as much as T and Mia so we headed down the street to Best Sellers English language book store. I wanted to get Terence a couple new books as he's reading through them quite quickly. I picked up 3 copies of the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series. Ali and Mia got little girlie play mags filled with puzzles. Ali loved it as it was full of fun girlie sparkle.

I discovered the below photos on our memory stick. Curt took these while Ali and I were at the book store. He explained why as follows.

He got a kick out of this guy below as he had a pirate flag coming out of his backpack and a bottle of beer in his pocket.

This next series of photos is really funny. As many of you know, the Eastern Europeans usually freak out about their kids in spring going without shoes or even with shoes and no socks.. If they have no shoes or socks or no hat then they pretty much have heart attacks. Our kids are always getting gawked at as they are hot blooded and like to strip down when the weather starts to get slightly warmer... After the water fountain play time, our kids all ran around the park and playground with no shoes and socks. There were quite a few older women watching and clutching their chests in worry and disgust. C'est la vie!

Now, watch this granny with her grandson. The first two was her trying to roll up his pant legs before he went near the fountains.

Then, he got so wet while playing that she pulled off his pants and attempted to ring them out while he stood their in his underpants!!!! Poor little guy!!!

New Budapest Water Fountain

There's a new water fountain in downtown Budapest on the southern side of Szabadsag ter. It is very cool. Our kids loved playing in it as it sensed when they were near and stopped (most of the time) so they could walk through / over. I got this funny video. The funny part is Terence at the end.





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Can you love a floor?

About a month ago, we finally got our cork floors put down in our basement. It's never an easy task picking out flooring when all you can see in the showroom is a small square sample. It was a long wait. It took 3 months for them to arrive from Portugal - the land of cork. They must have been hand carried! I mean really, 3 months?

We just managed to get it all down and some of our furniture put back just in time for our first set of guests to arrive to enjoy it. The art work is still in process as are a few other touches (ie a small area rug in the bedroom) but so far, I love it. Curt and I joked that it's the nicest floor of our home and the one we - our family - use the least.

As of today, we've already had 10 friends come through and spend a night or more in this room. At least it's getting good use!

Ali's Friends

Ali has an incredible imagination. She's also incredibly flexible and can play well alone or with others. On Wednesday, she pulled up one of our rugs onto the steps going down into the family room and lined up all her cuddly animal friends. It remained like this for most of the day. It kept her entirely entertained for hours.

When I asked her to photograph it, this is how she reacted and posed for the photos.

And then she did poses with each of her animals on her lap.

She has way too many cuddly animals. I seem to continuously try to give some away but there are a lot that still reside in our home (I try to keep them within her room).

Quick Update

First of all, I overhead Ali asking her daddy several questions earlier this morning. One of which started with, "Dada, when you were Papa's age...." I didn't even listen to the rest as I thought it was so funny. She seemed to even catch herself and then start over with "Dada, when you were a baby... " This one ended with ".... did you go to school?" She comes up with the funniest things.

A few more Ali-isms as she cracks us all up and also amazes us sometimes. Like, the other day, she was looking through one of my design magazines and found a bathroom / home that she seemed to find very attractive. She asked me if we could buy it and I told her that you can't buy a bathroom, per se, but you could buy a home with a bathroom similar or design a bathroom the way you want. She then asked me if we could get a new house with a bathroom like the one in the mag. I was really busy so I just replied with a vague 'maybe'. She then said, "Ma, (this is how she often addresses me) maybe we can find a home with this bathroom and rent it or, if we have enough money, we can buy it" I was surprised my 4 year old knew the difference between rent and buy...

The other cute things that come out of her mouth are 'eleventeen' and instead of kitchen, she pronounces it 'chitchen'... love it!

So, I've been really neglectful to our blog lately. Part of the reason is life, work, travel and guests. We've had sooo many guests. Right now we have Colleen, who was pictured with my nephew below, Dani and Lucy. Dani is my brother's godfather's niece. Does that make sense? She's Australian and her and her Aussie friend, Lucy are traveling around Europe for about 6 months. You gotta love the Aussies and their love and desire for travel. They are both university graduates (one in accounting and one in law) and are really gracious, fun guests. Lucy even helped Mia with her French homework this morning!

Last week, I went to Cyprus with my two wonderful friends, Kim and Nicky. We escaped for 3 nights and had a fantastic 3 days of giggling, catching up and sun lounging. It was a belated birthday present which I adored every minute of...

The kids are all doing well and enjoying all the attention from our numerous visitors. The weather hasn't been too warm but like they say, 'april showers bring may flowers'.

Photos will be coming soon.