The Clements Family Life

Alexandra's birthday

2012-01-25T23:57:00.000-08:00

This is a recent video from Alexandra's 6th birthday. We had a small family gathering / celebration at home. I'll include photos from her birthday (as well as from Mia's on the 22nd) in another blog post.

PS Today is Curt's birthday.

Clements Have Been Busy

2011-11-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Good morning from Dubai, UAE. We have been a very, very busy family lately. Just realized that Ali has been going to bed most nights in her clothes (usually comfy beach clothes) as we are out and about all the time. Staying out late and often falling asleep while at a restaurant or during the taxi ride home. Luckily, the kids are on a 1 1/2 week school break due to Eid Al Adha (marking the end of Hajj). Curt and I also have 2 days off of work giving us a 4 day weekend! We decided to just hang out in Dubai and chill out. We never have any down time so it has been (today is day 3) more than enjoyable... Wild Wadi 1 day, dinner at friends, fireworks last night, hanging by the pool (we don't seem to even have time for this anymore), breakfast out, etc.

As most of you have heard, on October 5th, 6th and 7th, we moved out of our Arabian Ranches home. It was a year of ups and downs with that house including a flood, high water bills, a non-helpful landlord, broken A/C units, 1 broken hot water heater, a leak under the house's foundation, limited water pressure, and more. We did have many visitors, great dinner parties, BBQs and fun with friends in that house over the course of the year. But, we couldn't stay on longer as the house had too many major issues and the landlord could not (nor was he willing to) repair these while we were taking up residence.

Here are a few snaps from my iPhone from our move out day. Check out our fantastically stickered moving trucks. I love our new design.

The entire family helped out tremendously with the pack out.

Since we have moved out, we have been staying in a 3 bedroom apartment in the Dubai Marina. We love this area and stayed here when we first arrive to Dubai last Sept 2010. We walk everywhere and are only 5 minutes from school. The kids also get on their (new) bus at 7:15 as opposed to 7am so that too is a benefit.

This is a temporary solution while we pursue finding a new home. We have tinkered back and forth with buying or renting. We have now decided to rent for a year and see what the housing market does. As many of you know that have been here, there are 100s and 100s of homes that are just about to be released (for sale / rent) and this will have a huge impact on the housing market. We want to wait for these to be released and see the prices drop even more - or so we hope...

As of now, we haven't found any decent homes for a reasonable price. We have looked a lot in many different areas. We are happy to hang in our new neighborhood and temporary apartment for another month or so until we find a good solution.

I'll update with some photos since my last post soon. In the meantime, here is a photo of Halloween. There isn't a lot of trick-or-treaters or homes celebrating in our new neighborhood so we went to a friend's home back up in Arabian Ranches to join them on Halloween. We had 8 children amongst all of us as Terence's best mate from Budapest was visiting at the time. It was a successful Halloween and we still have lots of candy left over...

Last night we went with the Bicknell family, Peter and about 990 other Dubai expats to watch the fireworks at the Arabian Ranches golf course in honor of Guy Fawkes. The fireworks were fantastic but a very short show. We have been spoiled with great fireworks this year - 3 sets in Kiawah Island, South Carolina for 4th of July and 1 set in Budapest for St Istvan Day. Compared to those, these were not that great. Still a fun night... Plus, being on that lovely green grass (on the driving range) was a huge treat!

Update on Ali

2011-05-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

It has been a very, very long time since I have spent any time on this blog. It is for no reason other than the fact that I have almost no free time. Work is very challenging and rewarding at the moment and if I am not working, I am trying to spend any spare minute I get with our children. Additionally, we have a few new computers so until I feel comfortable with them - they are all imacs - and get any free time on them (as the kids often like to get on and play) you just have to be patient.

This year I scored on mother's days. Back in Budapest, I was applicable for the American, British and Hungarian mother's days. Now, in the UAE, I have been given recognition on the UAE mother's day as well as the French mother's day so I am not at all complaining... Actually, I'm a bit embarrassed and hope Curt get's in a father's day soon even though America seems to be the only place where they may recognize this non-international holiday.

On Sunday (a school day in the UAE), I - and all the other school children's mothers - was invited to school for a little mother's day celebration with the kindergarten. I was so happy to visit and spend time with Ali's classroom. I took a 1/2 day off of work and skipped down knowing it would be great as she has been hinting about the event and practicing her songs for weeks. She is finally settled in nicely into school and finally getting a grasp on the language. It has taken her much longer than Terence and Mia but suddenly it has all CLICKED! I'm so pleased and relieved...

The little show was lovely. Ali's teacher, Anne, and the teacher's assistant, Benedicte, are both wonderful. We couldn't have been luckier with teachers for Ali. They are both gentle, sweet and nurturing. The perfect combination for a scared little kindergartener!

Unfortunately in all my excitement, I got the on / off record button reversed and didn't manage to get the entire show like I had hoped. I did manage to get a short clip which is below. However, first, I put up my 'interview' with Ali from yesterday evening. She is sooo cute!

Now a short clip from her class. Look at how anxious she is while waiting for the signal to hand over my gift. She is watching her teacher and waiting for her to say something about it. I was lucky to be front row on one of her classroom's tiny little chairs... It was a proud moment...

Kids' School Carnaval

2011-02-16T00:47:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, the kids only had a short day as their morning consisted of a Carnaval celebration and all parents were invited to come and watch. It was a gorgeous day and we all filled up their outdoor football field while they paraded around in big circles in full costume, music and style. The theme seemed to be eras in time and our three represented: African tribe (T), Caesar (Mia), and Flowers (Ali). Ok - Ali's was probably a take off of hippies... I didn't think about it until now as I was overwhelmed by how cute she and her entire class looked.

Also, all the costumes were made by the students in school. No stress on the mom's who cannot sew or are creative. It was fantastic!

The two above photos were of Terence - look how much taller he is then all his classmates. He gets mistaken for being older ALL the time.

My Mia, a very happy Caesar! With, by the way, a new hair style that she chose and is slightly struggling with as she wanted lots of layers, bangs, etc. She can no longer pull it back and she is starting to have regrets but I am biting my tongue and not at all doing the 'I told you so' as I am in full support of her decisions and know she will probably remember this experience for a very long time.

Mr. Tribesman

Gorgeous little flower - matched with a boy who was more like a tree / bush.

Listening to Ali's class sing. She actually seemed to know all the words!

Below is Ali with one of her sweet little classmate / friends and me in Mia's classroom.

Enjoy all the videos from the day below.

Move One Dubai billboards - brand new

2011-02-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

Our newest ad campaign on the popular street of Umm Sequim near the Burj al Arab hotel. We have at least 30 billboards that look fantastic! Each sign has to have English and Arabic so most advertisers have Eng on one side and Arabic on the other. This is why you'll see a combination of signs... I'll post more photos soon. Or, you can see them on my Facebook page. We are very proud and drove up and down the road yesterday evening many times with the children ooohing and aaahing!!!

South Africa Butterfly World visit

2011-01-27T23:20:00.000-08:00

Okay - while in South Africa we hired a driver and a van one day to take us up the Stellenbosch wine route to go wine tasting. In order to also satisfy the kids, we stopped at this amazing place called Butterfly World. Our driver suggested it and it was magnificent! It is a 1000 sqm green house filled with butterflies. There are a few other animals as well but there are 10,000+ butterflies just flying all over the place. It is magical. If you sat still for long enough (which our kids couldn't do) they would land on you. I just read on their site that they bring in 500-800 butterfly pupae every week all year around. This is how they have so many. I have thousands of photos of our amazing South Africa trip over x-mas so I'll slowly play catch up. First, here are our photos from our visit to Butterfly World - a must stop for anyone in the Stellenbosch, Western Cape (just north of Cape Town) area.

they also had these adorably tiny and friendly monkeys climbing all over the place. we loved them. you could pet them and our guide even managed to get one on his shoulder. they are mischievous (like the one in Night at the Museum) as they try to pick pockets.

hand feeding the birds

and, now the reason we went. check out a few of these snaps of the main attraction.

on the right is the famous Owl Butterfly - meant to be the largest butterfly around.

The video below is all the Pupae hanging and the butterflies actually being born. We could sit there and watch them. Incredible! We were most surprised to find out how short their life spans are - only about 1 week. After all this work they go through to hatch, they only live about a week long... shame.

Birthday Marathon week

2011-01-27T21:14:00.000-08:00

Hello. I'm BACK! After a very long break from blogging, I have returned and am happy to be back journaling our family's life and where-abouts...

The long break has not been at all intentional. Life has kept all of us busier than ever. Curt and I are working many, many hours but, at the same time, loving it. The kids are busy with school, making new friends, exploring this incredible city and taking part in many new, fun activities.

On top of all of this, we have visitor after visitor after visitor after... I think you get my point. It's been a great pleasure and many of my Dubai friends have told me that this is a very popular destination for friends and family to visit. Especially at this time of year as the weather is perfect!

Our visitors have so far included: Julie (Curt's cousin), friends Sue and Peter, my dear, dear friend Kim and her family and then Curt's parents and 2 sisters. We have only 1 week in our home alone. But, if you know my personality, I love playing hostess of the mostest. Last night was our first night with no visitors and we ended up having company for dinner! So, I'm not one to ever rest...

Next visitors on the agenda for February and March are: Curt's fantastic Uncle Tim, our Hungarian friend and tennis coach (for kids) Bea - she's coming for 10 days for the Dubai Open, my sista (like a sister because I love her SO much) Nicola and her family, the kids' French tutor and our friend Rafael and his cousin. After that I am hoping we'll get a visit from my kind, handsome brothers and our dear, dear friend (and Ali's godmother) Margaret. The best part about Bea and Rafael visiting over the next month is the kids will have to be practicing their Hungarian (with Bea) and French (with Rafael)!

Okay - so the birthday weekend has just come to an end. For those of you that know us well, know that this week in January is crazy with 3 Clements' birthdays. Mia was on Jan 22 (8), Ali was on Jan 24 (5) and Curt just turned 46 on Jan 26. It was a busy, fun-filled weekend and we were oh so pleased to have Curt's parents and 2 sisters here to help us celebrate each one.

Here is a photo of each during their special days:

Mia's birthday - per her request - was to the Old Souk in old Dubai and then on an Abra on the Dubai Creek followed by the movies. There was a big group of us that took up nearly 2 rows in the movie theater. Here she is at the front of our 50 dirham private Abra (there were 10 of us).

2 carloads of family went to pick Ali up from school on Monday, Jan 24th. Curt surprised her with these 2 helium balloons. At first, I thought he got the letter S but then realized it was the number 5! She was so thrilled and I got a snap of her in front of her school holding them. More on her birthday afternoon as that has to be a blog post all to it's own!

Then, last but not least, was my very handsome husband on Wed, Jan 26th. We both worked until about 7ish and came home to Curt's mom's famous homemade mac n cheese! It was delicious and flavorful with hidden peppers and other yummy ingredients. I hope to have the recipe soon. We tossed a huge salad, some broccoli and lots of delicious Australian red shiraz vino. We filled up our table with friends and family and had a lovely, chilled evening. Here he is with little Ali (and her balloon) waiting on the birthday cake.

Mia's Kabaret

2010-12-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

I have been the ultra worst blogger ever. Work, kids, life, etc are all keeping me so busy that I have no spare minutes to do the things I enjoy... like blogging. C'est la vie... Here are some photos and videos I had to post from Mia's weekend Kabaret. She was incredible! The entire show was so incredibly professional and well done. Curt and I were proud of our confident daughter who seems to have fell right into a very comfortable place in this group. Here is an overview of her show on Saturday. (by the way, she had 2 performances on Friday and 2 on Saturday).

her young fans waiting to go into the theatre

She performed 3 song / dances - all were from famous shows... I'll put down what they are in my next post.

LOVE THIS NEXT ONE. It summarizes her confident stage presence!

2 videos

Halloween in Dubai

2010-11-02T03:50:00.000-07:00

Had a fantastic Halloween in Dubai! Our neighborhood actually participates in Trick or Treating! Can you believe that? Here we are, all the way on the other side of the world in an Arab country and our kids are trick or treating. They were so excited. They started their Sunday, October 31st with school as the work / school week here is Sun - Thurs (it used to be Sat - Wed, so I am not complaining). T was bummed about Halloween at school and even more so about not having a day off on Monday, Nov 1st. I tried explaining that it is not a recognized public holiday and even if we lived in the US, he'd still have school the day after Halloween... funny guy.

Since our neighborhood is full of trick-or-treating participants, we invited our good friends the Bicknells (4 children) to join in on the fun. It worked out perfectly. We started with Spaghetti Bolognese. It's funny cooking with a new stove / oven and only a few of my kitchen gadgets. I've slowly been collecting new ones here but forgot the can opener. Did you know that you can open a tin of tomatoes with a screw driver??

The spagh-bol was great as we get minced everything here and I added beef, veal and pork! The kids gobbled it up, threw on their costumes, paused for a minute for me to snap a few shots and then hit the streets with the dads. Luanna and I stayed behind to hand out candy. It was so fun and we seemed to get 100s of kids. Some came alone (poor things), some came with maids, some came in groups of 10, others came with both their parents (maids must have been left behind to hand out the sweets). It was quite a smorgasbord of characters. We asked each child where they lived assuming they were neighbors and potential new friends for our bunch. However, many were driven in from other non-Halloween-participating areas to take part in the festivities.

All in all, it was a great evening filled with lots of sweets, warm weather, flip flops, fun costumes, great friends and a bit of red wine. Ali keeps asking when we can go trick-or-treating again. Poor thing has to wait a YEAR! Next year we are going to try and get more into as I have yet to unpack ALL my Halloween gear. I told the visiting kids to watch out as I will try and make a haunted house next year. Aunt Lisa and Nana - look out for any post-Halloween sales on decorations for us please!! Excluding cobwebs as I have plenty!

Ali had a wardrobe malfunction on her first costume so had to return with Curt for a quick change! They sped back on the electric scooter to catch up with the gang...

Ali's friend, Alberta, was dressed as a jack o lantern so had to get her next to Curt's fab carving job...

Moms handing out candies...

Eid Weekend

2010-10-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

Shortly after our arrival to Dubai, the end of Ramadan arrived and we had a 4 day Eid weekend. It was lovely. One of the things we did was join some friends with all our kids and go to the Atlantis' hotels Aquaventure park for a 6-11pm evening adventure ending with fireworks. It was fantastic. The kids all had so much fun and Mia got to experience the Leap of Faith water slide for the first time! We were all shocked when she asked to join the big boys and daddies up to the top. We thought for sure she'd chicken out after waiting in line and climbing up to the top but my little dare devil went through with it!!

It was a great way to spend a very hot evening.

Trick-or-Treat

2010-10-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos from this morning and yesterday evening. I love how Mia went to school today. We put a strip of orange into her hair and she wore this fantastic shirt that our friends Tammy and Craig sent over. Terence also had one (minus the pink heart and butterfly) but he chose not to wear it. Ali opted for a ballerina costume as her grade was dressing up in costume today. Tonight, we will have trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We have some friends coming over to join us as our neighborhood is supposed to be one of the most active trick-or-treating areas in Dubai.

Pumpkin carving time.

The kids always leave the parents to finish up the work. Finished product will be posted later today or tomorrow. Curt did a fab job!

Pizza Making Ali

2010-10-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

I now have a spare moment and thought I would try and give you an update on life so far in Dubai. First up is a recent photo of Ali (on 10/27) when she went with her class on a field trip to Pizzeria Uno in the Dubai Mall. They learned how to make pizza! What a fantastic outing for 20+ 4 year olds! Ali absolutely loved it and could not stop talking about making pizza. She has helped me at home make home made pizza but, as you can imagine, it's (unfortunately) not an event that we have regularly. Now that she has learned by the pros, maybe we need have a pizza making evening in the near future.

She was funny as she has told me a little bit about it every day. Probably because she remembers another small part of it each day. She made her own pizza, got her own hat (which she still has at home), and brought home a few slices to share. The thing she liked best was the fact that the pizza Uno team spoke to them in English and the teacher had to translate into French. In Hungary, it was obviously Hungarian. She understands Hungarian just as well as English but it's the first time she has ever been in a school atmosphere with English spoken so she thought it was fun.

One of the mom chaperons took this photo of Ali and sent it to me. I thought it was adorable. She looks very happy and comfortable. I have lots of school photos of Ali (from last year) where she maybe looking at the camera and smiling but she has an unsure look about her. Or, maybe it's just a bit of a scared or not so confident look. I'm pleased that she is settling into her new school and making friends quickly. It helped that she new a handful of friends already but none are in her class. This is actually a blessing in disguise as she is making friends on her own in her own class as well. The teacher always reassures me that she is very happy and socially active.

Life in Dubai, in general, is fantastic. The only disadvantage is that we are all SO busy. The kids are in school Sunday - Thursday from 8am - 1:45pm. I have only picked them all up once since they started about 6 weeks ago. We have our Hungarian babysitter here helping us as we are both working full time. She is not living with us but in a small studio apartment in town. I have managed to spend one afternoon alone with each child since the beginning of the school term. We try and organize a fun afternoon just the two of us. Ali went first and wanted to pick out new sheets for her new bed then have ice cream. It was so fun and we had a great time walking hand in hand together. We then popped into a great toy store called Hamleys (I've seen it in the UK so believe it is British owned) in the Dubai Mall and bought her some food for her play kitchen. While in there, she insisted on getting something for Terence and Mia. She is thoughtful like that and always wanting to get gifts for others.

On Mia's afternoon-with-mom, we went to get our toes and nails (manicure / pedicure) done together. It was fantastic. We sat next to each other and talked and giggled. She felt like such a little lady - something she strives for a bit too much. We took a walk and just enjoyed holding hands and talking about everything. She always has SO many growing-up questions and she really took advantage of this time and asked me 100s of questions. I was so happy to have the one-on-one time with her as she needed it so much.

Unfortunately, I had a 2 week period when I couldn't leave work early so Terence had to very patiently wait. Due to a conference and lots of trainings, meetings, I couldn't get out to have my afternoon with him until last week. It upset him so much but he stayed strong and waiting as patiently as he could. Unplanned, I managed to surprise him at school last week. It was so great to see his face. He tries to act so grown up and will not jump up and down or hug and kiss but he puts on a 'I'm too cool to have emotions' face. Once we got in the car, he just chatted away and was so happy! I felt guilty that he had to wait so long but thrilled to finally have the alone time with him. He is so incredibly mature and when I am alone with him I sometimes forget he is only 9 years old. He teaches me so much and is so smart. He reads and watches the news and absorbs so many facts that he is so interesting to listen to. When he asks questions, I cannot BS him at all. Maybe it's because he is the oldest, however, I think it is just who he is as well.

He was very uncertain about what he wanted to do alone with me. I think he was just happy to spend time together. He couldn't decide, however, he had been begging us to get a home computer as Curt and I only have our laptops which are always with us at the office. He misses having a computer at the house to play on.

Since it was on my to-do list, I asked him if he wanted to pick one out with me. He was so excited as he is a complete techie! I knew he'd been hoping for an iMac so off to the Apple store we went. He was so great in asking the store rep questions. Most of them went over my head. We asked her to hold the computer we wanted (last in stock!) while we thought it over and walked around. He wanted to get lunch (he didn't eat what I had packed him in his lunch box) so we went to one of his favorite spots: Yo Sushi. They send out the sushi on a revolving conveyor belt. As it goes by our table we pick out what we want to eat and pay for each plate piled up on our table. After lunch, he was STILL hungry. He eats so much these days! We went to see what other restaurants were around and he spotted his favorite: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. So off to Krispy Kreme's we went for his doughnut fix. From there we visited some video game spots, then to pick out a birthday present for a friend's birthday party he is going to next weekend and then back to pick up our iMac that Curt agreed (over the phone) to get.

Terence, in true Terence-style, commented about how much money we had spent. He is very money conscious and always converting the dirhams into dollars and working out how expensive things are. He sometimes makes us feel guilty when we spend but we explain that we both work hard so we can buy these nice things. We also tell him we are lucky as we had opportunities to have educations and careers that many people from different parts of the world never have.

Curt and I are also doing well. We are slowly settling into our new home which we really like. We are almost unpacked and once we get one more dresser, should be just about there. We only brought about 1/2 hours things so were in need of lots (ie beds, TV, fridge, stove, washer / dryer, rugs, lamps, etc). The items we did bring, fit in really well.

I will slowly start to post photos of our home soon.

More photos and videos are coming. I promise. x o x o

Our Move One Dubai office

2010-10-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos of our lovely office in the Greens area of Dubai. We moved in over the summer and it's so nice being in a new, modern office. Curt and I are both working Sunday - Thursday every week. Long hours and new challenges but loving every minute of it.

More soon.... just been so incredibly busy.

T sailing videos

2010-10-06T04:32:00.000-07:00

Finally - the 2 videos showing Terence sailing! He's so sweet as he is so excited to be learning sailing and told me that he cannot wait until he can sail a large boat and sail our entire family all over the sea! I too look forward to that time...

In the meantime, it looks like he'll be stuck with this much smaller sail boat while he learns.

T's First Sailing Course

2010-10-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

I will write about our weekend, sailing class, etc and include videos tomorrow. Just wanted to post these quickly...

School Daze

2010-09-29T03:58:00.000-07:00

It is week 2 for Ali, 3 for Terence and Mia at their new French school in Dubai. We are slowly getting in the rhythm and used to 5 day school weeks. However, they tire much quicker and earlier then usual.

Our day starts with Curt's alarm going off at 5:30am (or earlier). He has been starting his morning by either going down to the gym in our serviced apartment to run on the treadmill or out to the sea for a swim. He's training for the open sea swim around the Burj Al Arab hotel. It's for a great cause as we, Move One, have met with the Medicine Sans Frontier and are doing it in conjunction with their organization. I'll probably do it too as it is only 1 km but I will not be in it for the race part. It's been a while since I have swam a fast, straight 1km but since it's for charity, anything goes.

While he is exercising, I start getting the kids up at about 6:20am (ouch). It is hard work as they all love their sleep and want to sleep in later. Terence and Mia shower every morning while Ali baths the night before. The shower definitely helps them wake up...

They have breakfast, get dressed and 4 out of 5 days a week they get dropped off at school by Curt. The other morning of the week I accompany them as it's good for me to go in, meet / see their teachers, see their new friends and chat with the other parents. However, in Dubai, about half the kids travel to / from school on the school bus and several are dropped off by drivers and / or maids. Still, I have met quite a few nice moms and find this French school a lot more international then the one in Budapest.

I have been trying to take photos of Ali almost every morning holding up her fingers with the number day she is on at school. Below I have her on 6 (thumb) and 8. The SIX is out on our balcony of our apartment in the Dubai Marina. I love the area and find it so central and easy to get around. However, unfortunately, there are very few houses in this area and the neighborhoods nearby that we have found are hugely outside of our housing budget. Otherwise, I would love to be down here, in the action and near the beach!

Speaking of the beach, it's where I have been spending most of my time these days. I have joined (actually it was involuntarily as a friend recruited me) the Dubai Sea Dragons dragon boating team. We are out training 3 days a week and after 3 practices, I have just been recruited for the competing team. These woman, even though they do not look like it, are power houses! It is the hardest sport I have ever done in my life! It's not my arms that ache for days afterwards but the rest of my body - including my legs. Next week we are traveling to Abu Dhabi for a competition. I will be on the pro team as well as the Move One company team that we just started. Curt will be on that team with me! I am scared senseless but also excited. It'll be fun to go and stay in Abu Dhabi (about an hour away) for the weekend with all my teammates and their families. The kids have been cheering us on from the beach during several of our practices. The photos will be uploaded soon!

In the meantime, here are my gorgeous babes...

notice the lunch boxes?

This is Terence the other day after a sleep over at a friends. The girls were on the Palm to play at a friend's home so we had him all to ourselves for a great lunch at an Italian restaurant in one of the hotels. He was so pooped after a long school week, golf, skiing, sleep over, etc that he actually fell asleep in the back of the car. It is SO UNLIKE T to ever snooze during the day so I had to snap it when I saw it.

By the way, he's in one of our new cars. We just had to buy 2 new ones as we didn't bring our car over. This photo is in Curt's new Toyota Sequoia which I have been driving a lot as it is huge and I love it!

More soon... Promise. xxx

Day 2 of School

2010-09-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

Ali surprisingly woke up cheerful about school. Curt took them without me so I'm not sure how the drop off went but it was a better morning then I had anticipated. I was slightly worried about Ali being scared or emotional but she was quite a big girl! She even had input on her hair design. Often she is too tired or grumpy to let me even touch it but today we spent quite a bit of time fixing it up. I think in the heat she just wants it off her neck...

Back to School

2010-09-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Finally.... here are some back to school photos. Sorry that they are so dark but I have yet to unpack my Canon camera (or any others for that matter) so I've been using my iPhone.

Terence and Mia's first day of school was last week on Wednesday / Mercredi, September 15th. Curt got up extra early to make delicious buttermilk pancakes while I got the 2 up, showered, dressed and ready. Ali stayed behind with our babysitter.

Since it was our first time to visit the school since the one time we were driven there in May, we followed our friends. I took a few snaps along the way in case I needed to look back and be reminded. However, it's very easy and I haven't had to refer back and have found it perfectly every time since on my own. Just for you to see what the route looks like from our current location in the Dubai Marina, check out these 3 photos.

Mia just before entering her building. Terence getting ready to enter his building (behind him). He was so embarrassed of the photos. Could you imagine if I had actually pulled out my massive Canon camera? At least the iPhone isn't so obvious.

While Curt took Terence into his classroom, I went with Mia to scout out hers. It took us a while but finally managed to find her lovely, bright classroom with her incredible teacher, Anne-Sophie.

She was given a cubby for her lunch box and other belongings.

She had a minute of embarrassment too.

Below is Terence and Mia waiting for school to start (can you believe the Clements family was actually early??) Ali was with us as we needed to go visit her teacher with Curt.

My big girl, Ali. On the bottom right is us waiting outside her classroom. There were a few other parents there, too, so we had to wait our turn to meet her lovely teacher, Anne, and her assistant, Benedicte. I think it was such a great idea for them to have us come one-on-one to meet, visit the classroom, get to know each other, ask questions and familiarize ourselves.

Then we had weekend so she had 2 days before her official first day. Yesterday was Ali's first day when she joined Mia and Terence. She handled it perfectly. Do you notice that they are sitting on their little lunch cooler boxes? Mia taught Ali to do this. They serve a dual purpose!

BIENVENUE! WELCOME! We were the first ones into her class. I think that made it a little less overwhelming as there will be 28 children in her Moyenne Section class with her!

What I've learned in Dubai so far

2010-09-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

We are starting week 3 soon in Dubai and so far, so good. Honestly, I really enjoy it. I was so ready for a change. Even though I left part of my heart in Budapest, for several reasons (mostly just relating to the country and it's lack of advancements and improvements) we were ready to spread our wings and fly.

Luckily, we have a really adaptable family. We've always traveled frequently with our kids and since we are such a close family unit, we travel and settle well together.

Since we have been here, this is what we have done and what I have learned (in no particular order):

1. Arabic is written from right to left.
2. Arabic TV is boring (Curt always refers to it as Falcon hunting as this seems to be a popular sport televised on Arabic TV often).
3. The kids (and Curt and I, too) are loving fresh squeezed drinks and getting spoiled with them as they are offered everywhere.
4. I have not cooked much at all since we arrived as we are still in a temporary serviced apartment. However, it is still easy to get great fresh veggies, hummus, sushi, etc for healthy dinners and snacks. We have also had Papa Johns and Pizza Express pizza deliveries.
5. There are prayer rooms everywhere.
6. It has been over 40 degrees C every day since we've been here.
7. Driving here drives me crazy mostly because of the constant construction and lack of GPS capabilities.
8. It is incredibly diverse and international. I love hearing so many languages everywhere. The kids are tired of Curt and I constantly asking and / or trying to guess where people are from.
9. My three kids have all ended up with excellent teachers - all seem to fit their personalities really well. Terence has a young, male teacher and Mia and Ali both have very lovely, young female teachers.
10. The kids have already all made friends at school, which, I am sooo happy about.
11. I've signed all the kids up for activities but have only signed myself up for dragon boating. Still would like to find a good tennis league and resume golf again at some point. I have my tennis gear and golf shoes but the clubs are in our container (will arrive in about 2 more weeks or so).
12. I cannot find a proper Apple store but have found thousands of electronics stores selling Apple products.
13. I have only been in my bathing suit in the sun 1 day as we never have a spare moment! I thought I would have had a few lazy, poolside afternoons by now but will catch up on that when things start sliding into place.
14. We've changed our minds about neighborhoods 100 times. If we didn't have kids, I would so be living on the Palm. However, our kids wanted more of a community and now we are looking elsewhere. We hope to have signed on a rental property by the end of the week.
15. Curt shouts here just as much as he shouts in Budapest (it's usually customer service related).
16. Having a Friday, Saturday weekend is so confusing. I was on the phone with my US bank today and couldn't work out why they couldn't provide me with a normal business hour service. It was Sunday! A work day for me but not for others.
17. We bought a car today! A Toyota Sequoia so that is one step closer to settling in / down...
18. Our new car will have 2 built in cooler boxes - 1 in between the 2 front seats and 1 in between the middle seats. There is a 3rd row that seats 3.
19. Even though Curt may find certain things frustrating, he has been incredibly sociable in the pool, in the mall, everywhere. We are meeting so many people already and trying to increase the numbers of our upcoming house warming party! The list is growing!
20. We have been up to the top of the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world - on the night before school started for Terence and Mia. We had made a promise to Terence to go up before school began. The lift took us to floor 124 in 60 seconds. Our ears popped and my knees wobbled while up there...
21. The kids have take a pack lunch every day in a cooler box with a ice freeze thing (you put in the freezer overnight and stick it in with their lunch / drinks so it keeps cold).
22. Terence and Mia are taking their first golf lesson tomorrow.
23. Ali is obsessed with swimming and has swam probably every day (except for today) since we have been here.
24. Mia made a good friend at school today who takes ice skating lessons indoors at the Dubai Mall (largest mall in the world).
25. I have never seen so many fancy cars - Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Ferraris, etc. Terence is learning them and pointing them out to me as I cannot tell the different usually.
26. I cannot get used to so many people (in the office, in stores) calling me Madame.
27. The kids said they are boring as they only speak 3 languages and most of their classmates in Dubai speak more than 3 languages!
28. We found a French tutor already. His first evening was today and it went better than I expected.
29. I drink more coffee here but from familiar chains like Starbucks and Costa Coffee.
30. The other day a Costa coffee attendant came up to my car while we were pumping our fuel. I was so excited to be able to multitask: fill up car and get an iced latte!
31. I'm really enjoying the longer opening hours of so many stores.
32. Mia went down the Leap of Faith - killer water slide - at the Atlantis' hotel's Aquaventure Park. I'm so impressed with my very brave 7 year old!
33. I miss our dogs (and cat) so much!

I promise to post the kids' back to school photos shortly....

Warmest Regards, the Clements Family in Dubai x o x o

We are in Dubai

2010-09-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we have relocated. We arrived to Dubai on Thursday, Sept 2nd. It's day 2 in Dubai and I have 2 amazingly restful nights after 1 week of insomnia due to lists, packing and lots of responsibilities and very little free time. So, here we are! In Dubai!

Yesterday evening after our last afternoon swim, Ali asked me, "ma, how long will we stay in Dubai this time?" I smiled and thought carefully about how I'd answer her. Then, I figured I wouldn't sugar coat it so I answered, "Forever!" She smiled and shrieked "YEAH!" I guess that's a good reaction. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly. She maybe changing her tune after school starts (on September 15th).

So far, you can check out what I've written by clicking on my other blog here. I'll try maintaining both as best I can but until I manage to juggle my time a bit better, you'll have to make do with what I offer. All the best from the Clements family in Dubai, UAE!

Terence at 5 months

2010-08-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love this photo! While packing up 1/2 our life to move it to Dubai, I came across it and had to scan it immediately and share with all of you. I know you, Nana, remember this well as it's one of your favorites too. It's the one that looks like he has a halo over his head. My little angel. Love, love, love it!!!

PS Packing is exhausting!!! Our house looks like a house and no longer a home as there is so much that has been packed up and taken away. Must take photos. Should have really taken befores and afters! All happened too quickly...

We are HOME!

2010-08-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

We are back home in Budapest! This is what we looked like (yes, that is ALL our luggage) at Reagan National airport just before check in.

The trip was great fun and I'll post photos throughout the week. Today we are going to chill, unpack a bit and get ready for our trip to the vineyard tomorrow. Back on Sunday night.

Blackberry Picking

2010-08-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

In Montgomery County over the weekend we had a fantastic time blackberry and blueberry picking with our friends Laura (and her 2 kids) and Margaret. Here are two photos just to give you a taste of our day:

Above: Curt on his Blackberry while blackberry picking... Isn't he one of a kind?!?!
Below is adorable (and fashionable) Mia. She begged us for these black boots. I mean begged, begged, begged us!!! She got them but nothing else and she loves them. How many girls do you see in August picking blackberries in their black boots? Good think the weather was only in the 80s....

St Michaels, Maryland

2010-08-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

From Aug 10 - 13th we had a wonderful stay with Craig, Tammy and their 2 year old daughter, Olivia (oh, and their dog, Sophie). Like last year they rented a lovely house on the water in Neavitt - just outside of St Michaels, MD. This is a beautiful part of the east coast and a place our kids love due to the crabbing, kayaking, nature, swimming, etc.

Here are a few photos and videos from our recent visit.

Our hosts Craig and Tammy (above) and Olivia below.

Our trio love looking after and entertaining Olivia. Here is T and Mia enjoying looking after her while we walk to dinner through St. Michaels.

And some interesting sightings along the way.

Blue CRAB! It was labor intensive but worth it! T especially got into it this year. He also ordered wings (his newest favorite) and enjoyed my raw oysters. Ali had crab chowder and mozzarella sticks and Mia stuck to chicken fingers. Mia was so tired as she usually is the most willing to try different foods but sometimes the familiar comforts are what's needed.

On our dock

Kayak time.
I went every day with each kid and found it to be a great one-on-one time combined with a good work out. Paddling (usually alone) for over an hour was hard work.

Ali videos while we kayaked. Poor thing was so confused after we had changed cities so many times. She had no idea where we were...

Our Short Atlanta Visit

2010-08-11T07:19:00.002-07:00

We spent 2 nights in Atlanta on our way from Charleston to Virginia (then Maryland). While we were there we stayed with our friends Stacy and Joe and their 3 grown kids (only one of the 3 live at home still while he is on summer break from U of Georgia). We had a great time in their unbelievably lovely home in Roswell, GA. Here are a few photos of our weekend.

Above is their trio with our trio.
Below is their lovely home.

Below is Stacy and Joe with their 3 kids.

Our kids loved their home - especially their piano.

I adored Stacy's decorating style. Most of it has been found from her flea market visits while sourcing for large clients such as Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware as well as many smaller stores around the US. If you are interested in buying from Stacy, you can find her through her company name Europe2You.

Farm Life

2010-08-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

Apologies for being so out of touch but we are having way too much fun at the beach. We have lots of friends down here at the time so very little free time to get on the computer. I finally uploaded several great videos from our visit to Kansas City, KS. We visited a farm called Deanna Rose Farm in Overland Park. The kids had THE best time. It was very, very hot on the day that we went so it was quiet so we got to try many things in a short period of time. I too enjoyed myself. It was a beautiful, clean farm that was set up with so many fun activities for the kids (even fishing). There was lots for each of them to try. Check out the videos below:

Hula Hooping Island Fun

2010-08-03T06:14:00.001-07:00

Mia won the hula (or is it hoola?) hooping contest on Kiawah Island. I had no idea she was so good! She can even do 2 at a time. In this video she was attempting 3 at a time. Love it! Especially since I was never a good hula hooper...

NASA Space Camp

2010-07-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

Terence left Kiawah Island on Thursday with his dad, Curt, and his Papa, Harry. They flew out of Charleston airport via Charlotte to Huntsville, Alabama where they are attending a Parent / Child Space Camp program this weekend. Curt has sent me a few photos and T has called me several times so excited that he can barely catch his breath. He is completely in his element at NASA Space Camp where he is meeting real life astronauts, building and launching rockets, learning about space and engineering and studying (yes, studying on summer break!) about science. He is so happy that I think next year he may go for a week long sleep over camp with other kids his age. This weekend was a test to see if he'd really enjoy it and I cannot say I am surprised but I honestly thought that all the reading materials and class room studies would have turned him off... They did not!!!

They return tonight and I cannot wait to hear all about it!!

Boat Ride in Charleston

2010-07-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago we enjoyed a high speed boat tour around Charleston and it's surrounding islands. It was so much fun. It was our group (Curt, me, the kids, Curt's sister and nephew) plus some other friends. Here are photos from our journey upon the Thriller boat.

Curt with Ali at the dock where we departed.

Our group on the boat.

2 sights. Morris Island Lighthouse and Fort Sumter.

Mia and T would love to drive the Thriller boat.

More of our group...

Family Photos in Kansas

2010-07-22T05:49:00.000-07:00

Here are 2 photos of the Clements - McGuigan family in Wichita. This was taken while the delicious steaks were on the bbq.

T coordinated his camera's timer at the zoo for this photo!

Zoo Day

2010-07-22T04:59:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, we decided to tough out the heat in Kansas and head to the 18th largest zoo in the USA: The Sedgwick County Zoo about 20 minutes away from Curt's parents home. There were very few people there as it was a scorcher of a day. When we returned to our car at about 4:30pm the temperature gauge read 109 degrees F!

We still had a great time. I took only a few photos before my camera's battery died. Here they are:

Above: we jumped on the tram that took us around the zoo so we could get a better feel for what areas we wanted to return to on foot.

Below: Mia loved the map and tried playing tour guide.

A few solo shots with some of the amazing sculptures around the park.

It was a great day!

New Kids' Scooters

2010-07-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

Here they are testing them out...

Having Fun in Kansas City

2010-07-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

We only arrived on the 10th of July... actually the 11th of July at 1:30am. This is the time we arrived at Curt's Uncle Mike and Aunt Sally's home in Kansas City. We calculated just under 23 hours of traveling door-to-door. The kids were absolute stars. The toughest part was our connecting flight from JFK to Kansas City. We were all so tired that we boarded (at about 9:30pm local time) and all passed out. However, we were very uncomfortable in the small Delta plane and it was very cold. We still let our heads bob all over while we gave in to the exhaustion.

Since we've been here we've had non-stop fun. We spent one day at a water park, one evening having pizza in with Curt's other aunts and uncles and cousin. Then, a couple of evenings out. Today we went out to get the kids scooters for their US trip. Here they are posing with their new scooters.

This next picture is Uncle Mike and his dog, Blossom, Aunt Sally and our trio standing in front of their home in Overland Park.

America's Birthday

2010-07-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Our 4th of July plans were a bit, well, non-traditional. After thinking about it, and hearing the kids moan and groan, I realized that we have been lucky enough to spend the last few years celebrating in the US. Before that, we've always seemed to either have a huge bbq with friends or attend one. This year, slightly due to too much already on our plates and also a lack of many American friends, we decided to just do a very non-traditional lunch at TGs Italiano. I know, it doesn't make sense to eat at an Italian restaurant on America's Independence day but c'est la vie, this is what made us all happy (including the kids).

Here are a few snaps from the day. At least the kids made a decent attempt at picking out some red, white and blue attire.... They did this without any of my assistance!

Mia then looked up at our red leaf tree and noticed the blue sky and white clouds behind it. She exclaimed, "mom, look up! Red, White and Blue!" I thought it was really cute and imaginative so I clicked a shot.

Here we are at the restaurant sitting outdoors in the beautiful sunshine with are dear friends the McGanns. They were visiting from the USA and it was a long, great catch up!! One of several that week!

The kids all entertained themselves and sat and behaved through our 4 hour lunch!!

It was lovely! Now, we are just about packed and ready to head to the US tomorrow!!! We can't wait to see everyone.....

Out in the Field

2010-07-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

Today when we went out to the field with the dogs, we discovered that all the tall grass had been cut down and rolled into bails. It was so cool. I took a ton of photos but here's one sample that I thought was cute....

WIMBLEDON 2010

2010-07-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

Lucky me. I recently had the opportunity to go to Wimbledon and enjoy an experience that I have always dreamed of... And, it exceeded my expectations! The best part is thanks to my friends' tennis family (including family members who have played in Wimbledon) we were able to experience it all in VIP style! And, cost free!

Kim jumped the queue to pick up our VIP / members enclosure entrance passes.

With her dad who holds 1 of 350 VIP access tickets. That is 350 individual tickets in the entire world! They cannot be sold, traded or lended out! By the way, they are buying a pitcher of Pimm's.

A delicious lunch in the members enclosure / VIP area.

My 2 dear, dear friends who always make me giggle like I am 15 years old!

Kim's mom, Carole, meeting up with some of her Texan friends who she also hooked up with Wimbledon tickets.

Getting ready to experience Centre Court! Centre Court is where the top players play. There are approximately 14 other courts in the Wimbledon tennis arena but Centre Court is the most important court...

Sort of dark photos but posing in our seats while enjoying Lleyton Hewitt and then Roger Federer playing (and both winning).

This is my view (without a zoom lens)

Inside the Members Enclosure they have the Wall of Fame - past winners... It was great and brought back so many memories as I have seen the majority of them win on TV.

Other photos around the Wimbledon tennis area - including lots of the flowers in Wimbledon's colors.

Getting ready to head home (to Nicky's home in Aldbury).

Below are 2 photos of Nicky, Kim and I on a recent trip to Cyprus to celebrate my birthday.

Farewell Sweet Greta

2010-07-03T01:12:00.000-07:00

This has been a very tough week on our family. Our Bernese Mountain Dog, Greta, after a tough week of heart failure and only an estimated couple weeks left of life was put to sleep yesterday. We adopted her when she was 2 years old and for the last 10 years she has been my shadow. Constantly by my side through all the good times and the bad, helping me raise and care for 3 babies, and always looking after all of us. We are so lucky to have had her in our life for the length that we did. Most Bernese Mountain Dogs do not live longer than 8 years and she made it to almost 12! She was the most loving, loyal, faithful dog with an almost human-like personality. She was so in touch with all of us and if one of us were sad or ill, she laid by our side until we recovered. This week, we had to return the favor to her and it was tough. She was our rock and now she is no longer with us.

It’s ironic that she left us now as we were really stumped as to what we were going to do with her once we moved to Dubai. We knew taking her would be extremely risky and, honestly, not worth it as she very likely wouldn’t have survived the stress of the journey. And then, the Dubai heat! We had made arrangements for our dear friend and caretaker to live in our home with her. We would come back and visit as often as we could. He grew just as attached to Greta as we all did. He was captured by her loving manners and was with us in the end when we said good-bye.

Saying farewell to her was not the only challenge. Telling our kids, on their last day of school, was also a huge challenge. Their reactions were all very different. Our 7 year old daughter burst into tears right away while our 9 year old son was silent all day until bedtime when he tried desperately to fight back hysterical tears. Greta always helped me with bedtime. We’d clean up the kitchen, round up the kids, go through bedtime duties like teeth brushing or bath and then up to their bedrooms for books. I realized that none of our kids have had a life without our sweet Greta so it is going to take some getting used to.

Our 4 year old daughter who had no reaction initially asked where Greta was 3 hours later once we were at home. We were all stunned and silently waiting for her to register what we had told her earlier. She did. She followed up with, “Is Greta dead? Do we now only have 2 dogs? Is Greta in heaven?” then she cried.

What a sad week it has been in the Clements’ home. We will miss you, pretty girl. R.I.P.

Ali's End of School Year Party

2010-07-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, the parents of the maternelle (5 kindergarten classes) were invited for an end of year party with the parents and students. We were asked to bring a snack or drink. I brought in apple cake and enjoyed chatting to the other moms and Ali's teachers. Here is a photo of Ali with her teacher, Isabelle (on the right), and the T.A. (teacher's assistant) Erzsebet. I found it interesting to learn that Isabelle is trained as a Biology teacher for high school kids, however, she enjoyed the short change of teaching the little ones. She was very good at it as well as she is very nurturing and sweet. Her teaching career at the Lycee Francais Budapest has quickly come to an end as her husband's job is taking them to Milan this summer. She is very excited.

Erzsebet has been at the Lycee for quite some time. She was the T.A. for Mia 4 years ago and is really lovely. She especially bonded with Ali - and vice versa. Thanks to Erzsebet, Ali actually had a really good year. She had trouble at the beginning of the year but once her and Erzsebet bonded (mostly in Hungarian), it all improved. After the photo is a short video that I took while we were on the playground of the maternelle.

My Magyar Mia

2010-06-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

Magyar, for those of you that don't know, means 'Hungarian' in Hungarian. Mia is a Magyar girl through and through. She loves the food, culture, language and now that she's been introduced to the folk dancing, she is at home!

Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of watching her and her class on stage dancing in true traditional Hungarian style folk dance. She was so great (I thought)! The teacher did a great job and all the kids on stage seemed to be perfectly in sync and with smiles on their faces. It was so fun to watch and I can tell that they also enjoyed performing!

In the short video below, she is the 3rd girl to come out.

T's Gardening Skills

2010-06-30T06:22:00.000-07:00

Been slightly out of touch lately. Just a very quick update on my very proud son as we all admire (and beg for nibbles) his freshly grown peas. He planted the seeds about 2 months ago and they are now grown and DEEE-licious!!!

Here are 2 videos. The girls were begging to have some but he wasn't too happy about sharing - especially after he recently discovered them taking some without his permission. So, he made up a game of questions and when they got the answer(s) correct they were rewarded with a pod.

Albania 10th birthday celebration video

2010-06-19T02:33:00.000-07:00

If you are interested, our marketing team put the photos together from the event into a video show. You can view it here.

Latina Fiesta Ball photos

2010-06-17T03:38:00.000-07:00

From the last Saturday in May. It was a great night that began at our homes for a drink and photos (like prom) then we took a bus down to the Marriott Hotel where the Charity Fund Raiser was held. This year's theme is Latin, hence, the crazy costumes (again!)

Mia's Dance Performance with DCA

2010-06-15T23:34:00.001-07:00

Finally, a few more photos and a video of Mia's dance performance last week. Have so many other updates but have no time now. Curt and I are off to Geneva for some meetings in a few hours and haven't packed, prepared anything for the kids during our absence, etc.

Ciao for now....

And a short video clip. Mia is the gray cat with the bun in her hair. Don't feel bad if you cannot find her right away. I also had trouble at the beginning of the show.

Ali's Olympic Day at School

2010-06-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

Every year at the end of the year at French school, they have a special Olympic day for the kids. They are grouped together by classes. So, this year I have 3 Tuesdays where I have to attend as all 3 kids are in different groups. Today, Ali's class, the Petite Section was with the Moyenne Section for their Olympic games. It's such a fun, yet chaotic, morning that the kids really get into... Here are some snaps of our little Ali....

'Number 1' and waiting for the relay race baton

Below she is doing a shot put underhand toss and kicking a ball into a goal.

Below: all the kids liked the trampoline jump. On the below right she is with her little BFF, Molly, and their good friend, Tyler.

Here she is in ACTION

And 2 videos:

Ice Cream and Beer

2010-06-15T04:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of Saturday's ago, we were out for lunch with some friends at one of our favorite Italiano restaurants in town. Ali and her BFF, Molly, decided that they wanted to have ice cream and apple juice without glasses. I didn't know why but I agreed. Then, they decided they wanted to sit up in the bar area of the restaurant (the rest of us were outdoors) for their dessert. Here they are eating their ice cream and drinking their apple juice and calling it beer. Funny little things. By the way, notice Ali's new fashion sense. Ensemble is her own creation 100%!

New Juicer

2010-06-15T04:14:00.000-07:00

Last week, Terence and Curt came home with a new juicer. It is ubber cool! Love, love, love fresh squeezed juice. When I was living in San Francisco as a single woman (was that in a past life? just kidding), I got really into the fresh squeezed juices as that was very trendy at the time. People were getting all funky and adding extra vitamins, wheat grass, etc. into their drinks. I'm more of a traditionalist. Recently, when we were in Dubai, I noticed a juice bar across the street from our hotel and I became a regular. My personal favorite that I almost never stray from is carrots mixed with celery. So refreshing and uplifting! Now, with the new juicer we got and my amazing kids (and hubby), I get fresh squeezed juice regularly. As long as I keep the supplies stocked, then we can get it. The new juicer works like a star! Love, love, love it. Check out the recent video of Terence and Ali (my 2 clowns) hard at work. Mia comes in later to take part...

Sneak Peak at Mia's Dance Recital Today

2010-06-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

The theme was CATS. Mia did really well! And, most importantly, had a great time...

Ready for the Dance Rehearsal

2010-06-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

This is Mia, 7 1/2 years old, yesterday getting ready to go to her dress rehearsal for today's big show. She looks so grown up. It completely freaks me out. I love that she still has her little girl cheeks... Once she loses those...boo hoo hoo... Check her out.

She always gives Ali a lift. She's the ideal big sister!

Below she is loving our garden with her big Jackie O sunglasses that she just found after it had been missing for about a year. After our day in the city yesterday, she and Ali went across the street to help the neighbor with her gardening for almost 2 hours! This is Gabriella, the grand daughter of Margit Neni who you may remember passed away 2 years ago. Mia used to spend every free second she got with Margit Neni fiddling in her garden. Now, Gabriella has moved in and Mia has adopted her (or vice versa) as a gardening friend. I don't mind as she came home yesterday with lots of fresh herbs and radishes out of Gabriella's beautiful, healthy garden. I'll try and get some snaps of them across the street together sometime soon. In the meantime, here is Mia enjoying our peonies.

Ali's Reading Skills

2010-06-05T22:55:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning, Ali and I were home alone as T was at football and Mia was at her dance rehearsal (practicing for her big show today!). While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Ali told me she was going to practice her reading. I stopped to watch what she was going to do and got such a kick out of her attempt. I think she really thought she was reading. I love how she pretends to sound out the word like she has heard her big sister do so many times this year. Unfortunately for little Ali, the word on these cards did not match the pictures. I didn't have it in me to break this to you. Instead I just went along and filmed the entertainment.

Our 10th birthday celebration in Albania

2010-06-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos that were taken by Marta, one of marketing coordinators, who was in town from Skopje for the event.

Above left is the entertainment, above right is Curt and I with the Prince.

Below is a shot of the venue at the very end of the night. It was a lovely setting.

After the party, the Move One team (10 of us) went for dinner in this amazing castle-like restaurant.

The Girls' Dance Recital at School

2010-06-03T23:17:00.001-07:00

All year, or at least since about October, Ali was in a young dance group with her grade (3 and 4 year olds) and the class one year above her. Mia was also in a similar dance group with her age group. What I didn't realize was that they shared the same dance instructor and over the last month have been practicing together and combining their routines... I felt so lucky to have 2 little beauties in this year's dance performance at school. Mia and Ali were in the same show and it was great fun! They both were so happy to perform together and both did very well. Here are some photos and videos of their performance on Monday afternoon.

I adore these costumes! We had to pay for them but we keep them. They are just gorgeous!

Ali is in the middle in the above left as well as in the shots below, when they changed costumes.

Love her face in the above right and below left as she looks completely confused and slightly embarrassed. They were all so adorable together that it didn't matter!

These next 2 are my favorite shots of each of them. I got to try out my newest zoom lens which worked out incredible!! Terence was next to me and we were getting really excited about the shots I captured. Mia was a bit more of a challenge to get good snaps of as she was often behind other girls.

If you can't tell, Ali is right in front of Mia in this shot above.

In this next one, Mia and Ali are in the back row next to each other (towards the right of the screen).

Here Mia is in the 2nd row (right side of screen) and Ali is in the back row (towards the left). Ali looks completely confused as to what she is supposed to be doing.

This one was super short but cute. Ali starts in the front middle of the screen. You can catch a glimpse of Mia as she walks off stage in the 2nd row. She told me she was put in back most of the time as she is one of the tallest girls in her class. There was one very tall girl in the front but she was older and there helping her mother, the teacher, with the younger kids.

Back from Albania

2010-06-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

We literally took a whirlwind trip to Tirana, Albania which began yesterday afternoon. We were there for just over 24 hours but it felt like a few days worth of meetings and events!

It had been over 10 years since Curt was there and my first trip. The purpose of our trip was for our Albania office's 10th birthday celebration. It was a great cocktail reception held poolside at the very popular and classy Rogner hotel in the center of Tirana. We had almost 100 guests come to join our celebration. It was a lovely, warm evening and a thrill to meet so many great people with such wonderful things to say about Move One. Even the Prince of Albania joined us for a couple cocktails. He's a young, charismatic 23 year old that I really enjoyed meeting. He could possibly be the first real prince I have ever met...

The pictures from the evening are coming soon as they were all taken with one of our marketing people's cameras.

In the meantime, I have a few other snaps to share with you...

We stayed very near our office at the new Sky Hotel which is the first hotel to have a revolving bar on the top floor!

We had a cocktail on the top floor last night and breakfast this morning. These are some photos of the view of Tirana.

Above left is a shot of the stadium and in the foreground the Rogner Hotel where our reception was held.

Tirana amazed me. It surpassed my expectations and I enjoyed the thrill of such diversity. It's been a while since I've been in a buzzing place like Albania. It reminded Curt and I of the early days in Budapest when it was filled with entrepreneurs, little infringement rules or laws, and lots of unique and unusual business ventures. Oh, the glory days... It was exciting to be back in that type of atmosphere.

The city was very colorful (literally). When we asked one of our local employees about it they informed us that the head of Albania likes color as he's a former painter. The buildings looked like a tub of neapolitan ice cream! The streets were crowded with people all with enough time to linger in the cafes and sip their coffees. The outdoor, street side cafes seemed full at every hour of the day.

Very happy that the Albanians really like the Americans. There were lots of American flags and even some American-friendly graffiti like in this next shot.

Even though the Macedonians may disagree, Albania was Mother Teresa's home country. Here we are with a statue of her at Mother Teresa square.

Our Move One Tirana office. Curt with Nikola, our Balkans Manager, heading in this morning.

We had a chance to take a quick stroll around town with our Albania Country Manager, Glenda, today before boarding our flight back to Budapest. Here are some things around town that I found interesting.

No wonder they always have problems with their electricity....

Having a coffee at the Sheraton - Albania's only 5 star hotel. I thought their water glasses (check the photo below carefully) were amusing.

This was in the Sheraton lobby. Very cool! This Michelangelo picture was made out of thousands of nails!! Loved it! Gorgeous! The Albanian artist apparently made it to get into the Guiness Book of World Records.

Here we are today at the Tirana airport. First airport (maybe Honolulu was too but can't remember as I was busy chasing two little ones around) that had an outdoor cafe. It was nice sitting out in the sun, chilling while we waited to board! And, this was after passport control!

Their new airport (designed and run by a German group) is very nice and modern!

School Photos 2009 - 2010

2010-06-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

Here are the three kids' 2009 - 2010 class photos.

Terence is in the back row, 2nd from right. We had a choice of 2 photos to chose from and he overruled my choice and picked this one instead. He thought it was funny that he wasn't looking directly at the camera. Don't get it... He's in CE2 / 3rd grade and his teacher's name is Jean-Luc. So far, this is his favorite teacher. I think it may have something to do with the fact that he is his first male teacher.

Here is Mia's class photo. She is in the back row, 3rd from left. Her teacher is in the back row, all the way on the left and her name is Marie-Pierre. She's rather strict but then again I think it's a huge shock when the kids go from Kindergarten / GS to 1st Grade / CP as they go from playing and having fun to learning, grades and the serious world of school!

And here is my little Ali. This is her first year at the French school and even though the first few months were tough, she now likes it and has many friends. I do think she has more Hungarian speaking friends then French speaking friends but she is still learning French slowly. She is in the middle row here, 3rd from the left. Her teacher is lovely. She is in the back row on the left and her name is Isabelle. Her assistant, Erzsebet, is also in the upper row but on the right hand side. Ali adores Erzsebet and almost always speaks Hungarian to Erzsebet as she is a French speaking Hungarian.

Ali's Bike and Mia's Arm

2010-05-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a video from Wed or Thurs last week showing Ali on her bicycle. I tried to take some videos of her bicycling over the weekend as we rode a lot. She can ride forever. This is funny as she runs out of energy more when she is walking then when she is riding her bike. She loves her training wheels and has no desire to try and ride a 2 wheeler. I think this large bike would be hard to learn on as it's quite tall...

PS I think it's funny that Mia always chooses to wear her ski helmet rather than her bicycle helmet. Maybe she feels more secure in it.

Another T video

2010-05-26T01:26:00.000-07:00

I will slowly play catch up to all of T's videos and photos that he took while in Dubai. This next one was of a clothing store's window display in the Dubai Mall (largest in the world, they claim). It certainly caught our attention. He must have taken this as I walked through the store and admired their beautiful clothes...

Chillin' at home

2010-05-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday and there is no school due to the Pentecost holiday. I love having Mondays off! Curt had to fly out early this am so it's me and the kids, dogs and cat. Yesterday I was thinking about all sorts of ideas for outings but then just decided to enjoy the day and chill at home. We are NEVER at home. I honestly do not remember the last time me and / or the kids were home ALL day - entertaining friends for a bbq excluded. It has been fantastic. They've had their ups and downs with being active then getting a little bored. I will not let them turn on the TV so it's an active, imaginative day.

They started with a late rise out of bed. I was up at 7am to see Curt off who left at 7:30am. I had a quick one hour work out on the treadmill and then T woke up first at about 8:40am. Ali tip toed down just after 9am and Mia got woken by Ali at 10am!!! Ali was in their bedroom getting her bathing suit out as the warm weather and sunshine equated to sprinklers and outdoor fun.

After a couple of hours of outdoor play time, I found them inside like this. So sweet...

Now Mia and T are attempting to play Monopoly City alone. It's a little bit too difficult for Mia and I don't think T is going to give her any advantages so it probably won't last much longer. I'm making a late lunch / early dinner then we are off for a long, long bike ride.

Somlo Vineyard

2010-05-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning Curt and I sans kids and sans dogs, drove out to Somlo for one night. The reason for this visit was to sign the documents for 2 vineyards that we have just purchased. Our friends Sue and Peter already own there and have a beautiful home where they have entertained us and our family many, many times. The vineyards that we bought actually used to belong to some other friends of ours so we got it for a great deal.

When we arrived yesterday at about 12:30pm, Sue and Peter had a lovely lunch ready for us. We were laughing at the local cuts of meat. A little meat with your fat...

We hiked up to our new property today. We had been there many times before but it was nice to visit and look at it as ours... These first two photos are of Curt and I in front of one of our properties (one with the little house behind us and one with the view behind us).

Peter had the keys and showed us around. We then hiked up to the very top of the property which backs into a national preserve.

Here is the view from the top looking down on our little house with the valley below.

One of our wine cellars. I grabbed a few bottles of our Italian Reisling

Here is the cellar on the other property.

Above, Peter and Curt assessing the land while I checked out this fabulously huge cherry tree that will be perfect for a tree house.

Our lovely vines

Flowers that are blooming now. The first 3 are in Sue and Peter's garden.

Above is honeysuckle and one of my favorites, Peonies!
Below is a GORGEOUS peony. Love them.

I love irises. This is one of my favorite times in Hungary as they are absolutely gorgeous at this time of year. Above four fotos are all of our new neighbor's garden. Below is in one of our new vineyards.

These below are also on our new property.

Here are some posts from past visits to Somlo. Click here and here and here.

Surprise Beer for Dad

2010-05-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, when the kids were out of school, I had to drag them out to IKEA (one of my least favorite places to shop as it always takes so long and I come out with extras) after their tennis and Mia's doctor's appointment. I went for a rug for our spare bedroom. However, we ended up picking out a small cabinet for our bedroom.

Our master bedroom is quite small. My clothes barely fit and only a few of Curt's things (ie underwear, socks and t-shirts) fit. The rest of his clothes are downstairs in a wardrobe.

So, we decided to give daddy new drawers!! We bought a piece that would work really well in the corner next to our bed (in place of his nightstand). The box weighted 40 kgs so T and I had our work cut out for us trying to lift it into the car. Fortunately someone helped us lift it off the shelf onto our trolley but the outdoor IKEA guys were all too busy smoking and chatting to notice our need for assistance so we got on with it ourselves.

When we got home, we wanted to build it and surprise him. After an 1 1/2 we were only half way done and his return (just after 7pm) caused a stir of panic amongst the kids. It was funny as one always sat on look out for him to arrive. Terence then came up with the idea to leave a cold beer on the front steps with a note. I didn't see it until later and had to capture it on film! So cute. Not sure why he (and Mia) always space between words with a long line... Also thought it was funny that he missed an E in his name... ;-)

Needless to say, we had to break to let daddy in and eat dinner. I finished it later alone. This is the finished product and the reason for my terrible back pain...

Also 2 other random shots. One of my flowers that seems to rebloom every year at this time and I just adore!

And little Ali. Love how she sets herself up sometimes...

Filling in the Blanks

2010-05-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

Started a post about Dubai Friends a while ago but just got a chance to 'publish' it... I cannot seem to get it up to the top as the date is according to when I started the post and not based on the completion date. If you want to view, then click here and it will take you down.

Latte Shapes

2010-05-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

I forgot to include a photo of Ali's classy latte shapes. There are a few places in town (ie Costa and Four Seasons) where they make shapes in the milk like a leaf or a heart. After each latte that Ali makes, she calls out a shape (like clouds). Here she was proud of herself for doing a reindeer for Curt. Do you see it?

Chores and Talents

2010-05-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

Like all of us, our kids have their great days and their not so great days. Trying to get them all doing their chores on a regular basis is an ongoing chore for me. They all do pitch in with feeding the dogs and cat; mopping; vacuuming; dusting; fixing their beds; taking out the garbage; emptying the dishwasher; taking the scraps out to the compost heap; gardening, etc. But some days are better than others. Some days they just don't seem to have any spare time but most days are pretty good...

Ali's latest and greatest is she makes coffee for Curt and I every morning. I am completely serious! She loves doing it and she is very, very good at it! Here are 2 videos demonstrating.

As we all know, making coffee for the parents isn't the most ordinary task for the average 4 year old. Well, here's another one of her talents... smelling corks. She has an amazing nose and we always give her the cork to smell. She has, in fact, been the one to detect a truly off and corked bottle. She's incredible and offers her talents anytime. Actually, whenever she hears a bottle being corked, she usually comes running. She also loves collecting corks - especially champagne corks. She picked up many that she found in restaurants, the street, etc while we were in Meribel, France. She has a collection. Again, she's not your average 4 year old!

Here she is demonstrating her skills (photo taken when she was only 3 1/2). She / we actually discovered this talent when she was just 3 years old in Feb 2009 while skiing in Zell am See. Most of you have probably heard the story so I won't go into it now...

My Little Mia

2010-05-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

I just came across these 2 photos of Mia who is now 7 years and 4 months old. These photos must have been when she was 5 years old. She still has a heart of gold (most of the time) but at 5 years old she was just pure sweetness! Love these 2 photos of her.

Terence Videos of the Dune Bashing Adventure

2010-05-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

The video below was from Terence's new camera. Again (it's an 'again' after you read the post below), I love seeing it from his perspective. The little boy is Tyler who is also moving to Dubai with his family this summer. Tyler's daddy works for Move One's Logistics.

The video is taken on one of our breaks from Dune Bashing out in the Empty Quarters desert.

PS Wendy, you are going to love this...

If you want to have a feel for what the ride was like (not the dune bashing part as this video was just our drive to the camp on a rather straight, even stretch), then watch T's video from the back seat of one of the jeeps.

Ali Swimming Video

2010-05-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

I've just plugged in T's camera's memory stick into my laptop. There are 171 photos and even a few videos. I love looking through them to see life through his perspective. I will try and sort through and post over the next day or 2. In the meantime, I had to post a video that he took of Ali swimming. Unfortunately Curt only made it to the pool one day of the 2 weeks we were there due to his work schedule. The kids were so excited. I was happy to have a break as I had given tons of 'dolphin rides' to each of them. Even Ali let's me take her all the way down to the bottom of the deep end. She can hold her breath for an amazingly long time! We had a system that she pinched my shoulder if she was running low on air and I would quickly go back to the top. The deep end was only about 2 1/2 or 3 meters deep.

While in Dubai earlier this month, Ali's endurance for swimming really improved. She's always been a great swimmer and stopped wearing arm bands about a year ago but I still like her with either a noodle or some sort of flotation device (the small inner tubes are great) nearby. Her biggest achievement this time was swimming all the way across the width of the pool. The width was probably about 4 - 4 1/2 meters. The hardest thing for her was coming up for air. She's a great swimmer but she only just now how to incorporate her stroke with breathing breaks. Curt kept the noodle nearby for her to grab during breaths.

And, keep in mind that Terence did the filming.

Dubai Friends

2010-05-17T04:15:00.000-07:00

Started this post a while ago, saved and forgot about. Just a few photos of our recent visit to Dubai and a day with our great friends. They are a family with 5 kids and a puppy. It is always so fun going over there and they all seem to mesh so well with our 3. It also seems to be the perfect array of boys and girls and ages of each...

Believe it or not, T is 2 years younger then Charles. Charles is the shortest in his class and T is the tallest in his. This is what you get when you put them together. They will only be 1 grade apart at the Dubai school so they'll probably see each other a lot on the play ground and school events.

Ali will be in the same grade with Alberta (the little girl in the above photo with her eyes closed).

BBQ Fun in early May

2010-05-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Back in early May - when it actually felt like May versus November like it's been the past 4 days - we had a great time at our friends' home for a bbq. There were about 13 kids and it was so much fun! The event was in honor of Harry who has just turned 11 yrs old.

Harry's dad, Jon, pulled out a tarp and made a home made slip and slide. It was a bit chilly but many of the kids did it, including Mia.

Ali was smart and watched in her robe (which she packed to take over). The photo on the below right is Ali with her Budapest BFF Molly (Harry's little sister).

I always take photos of people's shoes. Not sure why but think it'll be fun to look back upon. My foot, in case you are dying to know, is at 6 o'clock.

Cake time

And some more photos of our family and all our friends.

Always a fab, fab, fab dinner at the Coopers - salmon (which she brought back from Scotland) and steak both cooked on the barbie!

Update - including Mia's injury

2010-05-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since I have last updated the blog. We returned from Dubai and then had a very busy weekend filled with bbqs and friends. This past week, I've had two girlfriends have babies, one girlfriend undergo a hysterectomy (it's strange - I'm at that funny in-between age) and a hospital trip with Mia. The fun never ends!

Right now in Budapest we are experiencing unusually cold weather. I'm sure it must be an all time low for Budapest in May. When I went to the gym this morning, my car's outside thermometer registered 6 degrees Celsius!! A few more and this freezing rain could turn to snow!! In mid-May! It's completely unusual. We've started using the fireplace again and are pulling out fleeces and long pants. This is very, very odd. I'm not entirely disappointed as we've had quite a few storms and I love thunderstorms!! Also, we've planted a lot of new grass and also some vegetables and the rain is exactly what they all need to sprout quickly.

Okay, I'm sure you are all wondering what happened with Mia. On Friday, I got a call from the school nurse. The conversation was in 1/2 French and 1/2 Hungarian. So, while all the way across town in Pest, I understood that she needed to be picked up and I should take her for x-rays. Did you know in most other languages the word for x-ray is rontgen after the inventor Wilhelm Rontgen?

Quickly I called my friend who works for Telki and scheduled to meet the orthopedic doctor and x-ray room for about 30 mins after getting Mia from school. The nurse was fine with holding her for the hour it took me to get to school and pick her up. I figured it wasn't life threatening so that eased my mind. It's still never fun to get 'the call' from the school that your child's had an accident.

When I got to the school, I found Mia sitting in the office near the front door drawing and waiting for me. There was another boy, who was apparently sick and waiting to get picked up, next to her. The head master of the school was also there to greet me. I made a very Curt-like crack and asked Mia, 'so, did you get in another fight?' I thought this was very funny but I only got strange looks. I assume the head master either thought I was crazy or didn't understand. Mia just gave me that look a child gives their parents when they are pleading to not be any more embarrassed then they've already been... This is our jobs as parents, isn't it? To embarrass our kids? It toughens their skin...

Seriously, I was happy to see she was still able to smile and she was very relieved to see me. She then apologized for having to pull me out of work. Isn't she so sweet? I told her not to be ridiculous and there was nothing that could have kept me away from coming to get her. I then assessed her injuries and signed a document (in French) explaining that it was her leg AND her arm! She had fallen while playing on the playground.

The head master was very concerned and kind and offered to help me carry Mia out to my car. I told him that it wasn't necessary and told him I'd keep him posted on our doctor's visit.

I was happy to see that there was a very short wait at the clinic and the entire process of consultation, x-rays (of her leg and arm) as well as the casting were all done in less than an hour! The charge to my insurance (if anyone is curious) is 50,000HUF or 225USD. We could have went to a state hospital and had it all go through our National Health cards for no charge but then I probably would have been at the hospital with Mia for 4 - 5 hours, if not overnight. The private clinic method was the best option for us!

So, as you have probably guessed, Mia has a broken arm - or wrist, as her medical report has 'csuklo' written on it. Actually, the doctor that was in the clinic when we got there only spoke very little English. It was adorable as Mia translated most of the conversation between him and I. The English medical report is being sent to me later this week.

Mia was great in the x-ray room too. The x-ray technicians loved that she spoke perfect Hungarian without an accent. This always gets lots of raves and attention as the Hungarians love when foreigners make the effort to learn their language. She was loving the attention and chatting away to them about how the accident happened at school, etc.

Since the break is not terrible and probably due to her youth, her cast is only required to stay on for 3 weeks - assuming all goes well. She was surprisingly excited to get a cast! Her friend in Dubai also has a cast and she's secretly been admiring it... Fortunately, it is her left hand and she is a righty so she has adjusted to it very well. Since her fingers are sticking out of it and her elbow is not covered, she is able to do just about everything. I think she's excited to go to school tomorrow and show it off.

Here are the photos of x-ray time (I got them doing her leg)...

Casting time....

And her smiling face today....
She's managed to do all her usual chores. Here she is below running out to the compost pile with Ali.

Initially I thought having a broken arm is not a big deal in this beautiful warm weather. I am now biting my tongue as the weather has went from summer to early winter. We'll have a challenge tomorrow getting her jacket over her cast but I think we'll find something that will work.

Our Last Night in Dubai

2010-05-08T00:36:00.000-07:00

On our last night in Dubai we went and checked out one of the newest shopping malls - the Mirdif City Centre near the airport. I needed to get a few gifts for some people and the kids voted for this mall as they went with Erika, the sitter, and loved the play area. Since I'd never been, I went along with the majority vote. It was a long drive from our hotel (about a 65 dirham taxi fare) but it proved a fun adventure. I wasn't entirely thrilled with the choice of stores but they do have THE first Crate and Barrel (as well as a Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids) so that will be good to know for future home purchases. And, as I mentioned, their kids play area Cite des Enfants was great for our trio. I don't think the entire play section is finished but what they have is really entertaining and unique. I think it is affiliated with the Paris Science center that T and I went to a couple of years ago. I even blogged about it here.

On the way out of the mall's front entrance, they had these giant letters spelling out Mirdif. The kids loved climbing up inside of them. Here they are inside the letter F.

And, Mia in front of the letter 'M'.

Desert Fun

2010-05-02T01:03:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had a fantastic afternoon / evening in the Empty Quarters desert. I didn't know much about this desert until our Dune Bashing adventure. Our informative driver (2nd generation Emirati), Omar, filled us in on lots of things about Dubai and the surrounding area.

The Empty Quarters, we learned, is one of the largest deserts in the world. It is called the Empty Quarter because four countries' borders meet in the desert: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen.

Our driver picked us up in his very large Chevy Tahoe at 4pm to drive us out to the desert meeting point. There were 25 cars in total dune bashing on Saturday. 3 cars were filled with our group (see above photo).

Curt had been before and really thought it would be a fun outing for us to all do together. He especially thought the kids would love it and they did. It felt like a rollercoaster ride as Omar drove us quickly over the dunes - up and down, sliding left and right. Several times it felt as if we'd tip over. I was in the car with Mia and Ali and they screamed with delight and shouted, 'faster, faster'!!

During our ride (about 1 1/2 hrs total), we had several stops to stretch, have a drink and take a few snaps. Then, we ended at an area in the middle of the desert set up with a stage (for the belly dancer), dinner, shisha pipes, henna tattoo artists, camels, etc. The food was fantastic and the evening was wonderful out in the desert with friends and entertainment.

These were taken at one of our stops

Our fantastic driver Omar. He spoke about 4 or 5 languages and has been driving through the dunes for 4 years.

The kids with Carl (who is also moving his family out to Dubai) jumping down one of the big dunes.

Another group snap (above) and T's jeep (below)

Some white antelopes in the distance

CAMELS

Night time entertainment in our Bedu encampment

Dubai House Hunting

2010-04-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, we are uprooting our family of 5 and heading east. A move is something we have talked about for a while and now it is becoming a reality. In Aug / Sept 2010, our family will move to Dubai, UAE.

We are here in Dubai now on a 2 week visit. Our residence permits are all finished (3 years!) and now we are beginning to look for a home to settle into.

Finding a house has been very overwhelming. We are moving from a house that we have spent years turning into our home and we absolutely love it. Rentals are ... well, they are uncared for and usually very poorly constructed, decorated, etc. On top of finding a house, we have to figure out what neighborhood we'd like to be in during our Dubai assignment. This too is a daunting task as there are so many neighborhoods and the friends we have are scattered amongst them. It's not like Budapest where there are only 2 top neighborhoods to choose from if you have a family in tow. Here, there are at least 6 or 7 that seem more than reasonable.

Just to give you an idea of the style of houses we've been shown, here are 2 from the last couple of days. The first one is laid out almost exactly how I would want my home but the neighborhood is new and, therefore, still being built and very slowly filling up with tenants / new owners. It's lacking green (again, that will take time) and feels like a ghost town / construction site. However, most of the homes are on a golf course, which we would love, and surrounded by sport facilities (professional and recreational).

above. 6 bedroom in Sports City

below. 5 bedroom in Arabian Ranches

The above home is for rent (or sale) by owner and it's been lived in by the owner. This is a huge advantage as it's been really well looked after and not neglected by a renter. They have 2 pools (seriously!) - one for the adults and another for small children, a 1/2 court basketball court or tennis court and a sand pit with a playground. Even though I loved the garden, I didn't really like the feel of the home. The bathrooms were outdated (I cannot stand those short counters as Curt and I are too tall) and the kitchen was very dark (they love there dark cabinets and dark granite counters).

Curt and I have both pinpointed some traits that we would like in our new home:

1. a decent sized yard. I learned that the house-to-yard ratio in Dubai can be up to 60 / 40!! This is incredible as in Budapest we are only allowed to build on up to 30% of our land. As you can imagine, the homes are large and the gardens are tiny. I guess this is because there are 5 months of the year that it's just TOO hot to go outside. For ex., yesterday it got up to 40 degrees C

2. a swimming pool. We will have visitors non-stop so if they can lay out by a pool during the majority of their stay, then this will be ideal. Fortunately, many homes have pools here.

3. a bedroom for each of our kids plus a guest room. If we can get up to 6 bedrooms then we can make one an extra TV room for the kids. I've always wanted a second TV room upstairs for when we have dinner parties and / or when the kids have friends spend the night. This would make up for not having a basement as most are built without basements here.

4. a light colored modern kitchen. Preferably with a built-in island.

5. a mature garden with trees, bushes, flowers, grass. Not Oleander (they love that here as it grows well) or anything with sharp prickles (see a lot of these too).

6. and, we would prefer not having a lot of bling. I have seen some homes covered from floor to walls to ceiling with marble!!! And, they love their blingy chandeliers! One home had a gold, sparkly, over-the-top chandelier in all 7 (too many) bedrooms!!!

So, here we are still deciding and wondering, Where will the Clements reside in Dubai?? Only time will tell...

Another Clements' BBQ

2010-04-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

We had the best weather yesterday in Budapest. It was a great thing as we had 8 adults and 9 kids for a bbq yesterday. It was a really fantastic mix of friends. One British family and one Norwegian family and our family. I did my Tequila Chicken that everyone enjoys and lots of side dishes...

The kids had sausages and lamb kebabs for their dinner. I always do food that they can eat on the run as they didn't sit still at all. They were on the trampoline, driving the jeeps, out on the street riding scooters, playing ping pong, then driving dune buggies with the adults. We ended the evening sitting around the outdoor fire and eating cake and sipping glasses of rose wine.

On the left is Terence and his new 'best friend' as they now refer to each other. His name is Helmer, he's Norwegian and attends the American school here. Helmer is about 3 weeks older then T.

Below are fotos of us all out in the field across the street while the moms and dads took turns giving the kids dune buggy rides.

Love the above left photo of Tom with his grandpa (visiting from Scotland) looking on...

Terence's Drawings

2010-04-24T00:29:00.000-07:00

Since Terence enjoys drawing mostly with pencil, it's hard to scan clearly as his pencil strokes are quite light. I tried a few and am including them anyway so you can see what things he likes to draw.

Above is a giant space ship. On the top are lots of weapons. He's really into drawing scenes including war, aliens, monsters...

Below is a giant pyramid (on left) of stick people. I thought it was very cute and reminded me of a scene out of Dr. Seuss. On the right, however, is a giant monster eating chunks of the stick people...

Spring Break!!

2010-04-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Today I took the day off of work and worked this morning from home. Then, I had to hit the grocery store(s) for food / ingredients for a bbq that we are hosting at our home tomorrow. At 3pm, I picked up our trio from school. I love the days when I can get to school and pick them up! It's a treat for all of us!

They all came out of school excited as they now have a 2 week spring break! Woo hoo!!! We are all so excited about it!

When we arrived home they immediately went outside to play. It wasn't an overly warm day but it was comfortable. The 3 of them played so well together. I was thrilled to watch them and hear their creative games.

At one point, I looked out from the kitchen (my 2nd office) and saw them bouncing around our garden. They love watching all our flowers pop up. We've all worked on it together - choosing the plants, planting the bulbs, etc. It looks so unbelievably gorgeous now. And, so does my trio. I had to share...

Then, they decided to jump. I had to snap away. Look how adorable these turned out.

More close ups of our amazing spring blossoms....

Easter BBQ

2010-04-23T02:24:00.001-07:00

I never got around to posting photos from our Easter BBQ fun. We had a great day. The house was filled with friends, laughter, kids and, in typical Clements' fashion, lots and lots of food! I took photos and shared some with one of our guests, Diane. She did such a great job of posting them all on her own blog that I'm going to take the easy route and just send you her link. Click here to view the photos from our Easter fun. Click here for a few more snaps.

And just a few extras:

Peter and Curt always have lots of laughs while on bbq duty. I must have about 20 photos of them standing side-by-side at the grill (like the one above).

The proved themselves well!

3 legs of lamb ready to be carved up. They were delish! Some leftovers and a leg bone for each of our 3 dogs. Everyone ended the day full.

My chalkboard door is how I stay organized while entertaining. I can make notes on both sides.

Whenever we have lots of kids, I always bake cupcakes! They are adored by all kids and so easy to eat on the run for kids like ours that cannot sit still. No idea why Ali and Molly are in their pjs but they always do funny things...

Some sweet couple shots...

My Little Tennis Pros

2010-04-21T02:08:00.000-07:00

The kids were excited to head to tennis today as this was their first practice this year outdoors. They removed the tennis bubbles / covers early last week but since it rained on their tennis lesson day, they had to wait until this week to experience hitting in the sunshine. The tennis courts are just around the corner and they love walking over together.

Delicious Muffins

2010-04-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

This evening I tried a new recipe which I found on one of my favorite blog sites. From the Pioneer Woman, I made these delicious cinnamon sugar covered muffins. They taste a bit like doughnuts and are delicious. Mia especially enjoyed helping me cover the muffins with the cinnamon sugar. Check her out in the short clip before. My focus was off so she's a bit blurred... Have to work on that.

A note from Mia

2010-04-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

Mia is ALWAYS drawing. Actually, come to think of it, all our kids love to draw! I think this imaginative outlet is really curtailed at the French school. Especially from grade 1 (CP). So, they make up for it at home as we have crayons, pencils, markers and papers everywhere!! Terence has a couple sketch pads that he always has to have with him with a pencil and eraser. If he's not reading in the evening, he is sketching. These are his 2 favorite relaxation exercises...

Anyhow, when I put Mia upstairs in her bedroom for bedtime, she drew for a few minutes while I got her clothes ready for next day's school. She drew a few pictures and then quickly sketched this one up and asked me to take it down to pass to dad (she loves the secret note passing... already). I looked at it and smiled, knowing exactly it's meaning. I confirmed with her and was correct that it meant that Mia loved her Dada to the moon, stars, around another planet and back. She has such a BIG heart!!!

Snaps from the Water Fun

2010-04-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-04-17T00:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-14T05:04:00.000-07:00

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.

More Visitors

2010-04-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

This must be the month for visitors. Last weekend we had our friends Eric and Lesley with their 2 daughters spend 3 nights with us while traveling around Europe. Eric and Lesley used to live in Budapest (then Belgrade) but returned to the US about 4 or 5 years ago. It was great having them spend a long weekend with us. Their 2 daughters (ages 8 and 6) got along with our trio so perfectly. We're not really sure if they all remember each other at all. The last time we all got together was about 1 1/2 years ago. This was really rare as within about 10 mins of them arriving - last Friday night - their daughters completely hit it off with ALL three of our kids. I was worried that maybe Terence or Ali would feel left out but the 5 of them played fantastically all weekend long! As always, they were great guests to have.

Below are some photos of our outdoor lunch up at Normafa Cafe and Grill last weekend. Austin is with us as he arrived earlier that day. It was a delicious lunch and the kids enjoyed playing hide and seek in their large outdoor play area.

PS Notice Ali on Austin's lap... This was only day 1... (fyi - she's a bit shy). They developed a strong, quick bond. She misses him so much!

Mia had a cat face painted from her dance class earlier that day. Their class dressed in full costume and make-up with a photographer there taking snaps for the moms and dads to purchase closer to the recital time (early June).

Wearing Daddy's shades as it was very sunny...

Our Visitors

2010-04-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

Curt and I are practicing being parents of teenagers and it is a whole different experience. We had my fantastic nephew, Austin, here in Budapest for 8 days. He was a great guest and we loved getting to know him better and showing him an entirely new world. It was his first visit to Budapest and it was so fun. He's the coolest 17 year old around! Love, love, love him!!! We were all very sad to say good-bye to him and today Ali (4) just told me - out of the blue - that she missed Austin so much. Cute!

Colleen is our other fantastic teenage visitor. We are friends with Colleen's parents who live near Kiawah, South Carolina where we spend our summers. She is 19 and here for a few weeks. The two of them became friends quickly and spent some time exploring Budapest night life. Here are a couple snaps of them heading out for the evening.

Easter Morning

2010-04-05T05:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter sprung up so quickly this year. We've been so, so, so busy. I managed to get some decorations up, organize an Easter lunch bbq and prepare for the Easter bunny's visit - but just barely. Sadly, my nephew had to fly home this morning (boo hoo). Poor guy had to get in his taxi for the airport at 5am...

We didn't get around to coloring Easter eggs but maybe we can do it this week. Does it really matter that it is on Easter or just around the same time??

The kids went to bed very excited about the Easter bunny's visit. Terence, however, was in on the big secret so helped out a lot.

In the morning, the girls woke up at a very early hour (7am) and managed to stay inside until we finally crawled out of bed at 8am. Then, out the door they went to hunt for their eggs and look through their baskets that the Easter bunny left on the outdoor table. The 4th one is for Colleen. A family friend who is visiting us from South Carolina for the next couple of weeks. Colleen is 19 years old.

The kids hunted for about 30 mins (okay, maybe it was more like 10 mins) for their 60 eggs!

Some Easter decorations. Nothing better than peanut m&ms. I always have to get them in the holiday colors and put them out. Adore these pastel colors that they put out for Easter.

And, the flowers popping up in my garden. Love spring!! Aren't they so pretty?

Happy Birthday Terence

2010-04-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Since Curt had to travel on T's birthday (March 29th), we decided to take him out for dinner on Saturday night (March 27th). Each kid gets to choose birthday party or dinner / evening alone with mom and dad. T always chooses the latter. This year he chose TG Italiano for dinner which was fantastic.

My nephew, Austin, flew in earlier that day and was a trooper about staying awake and joining us (per T's wish)! He also invited one of his buddies along with us too.

All in all, it was a perfect night at TG Italiano. Before dinner, T had requested that we go up to Challenge Land, a great repelling obstacle course in the trees. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it before they closed so instead we went to see the incredible DreamWorks animation: How to Train Your Dragon. We highly recommend it!

Pictures from Challenge Land are coming soon as we finally made it there on Sunday. In the meantime, here are a few great photos from Saturday night...

T adores their mango and pineapple smoothies!

We managed to surprise him with a cake. The entire restaurant (or at least the section surrounding our table) sang along to the DJ's Happy Birthday CD! T was SO, SO, SO surprised! He actually wanted to leave about 15 mins before the cake came out and we kept making excuses why we had to wait around a bit longer. He later laughed about us tricking him and surprising him. He loved it! And, so did we!

Look at the sequence of events when the cake came out... Thankfully Curt managed to capture them all on film

He has no idea and then he looks up... Ta Da!

FOR PAPA

2010-03-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

I just scrolled down on our blog and realized the video for Papa had Terence cut out of it. If you want to view the full sized video, please click on this link below on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtjm87dHheM

Sorry about that. I hope you didn't think I'd intentionally cut T out of it...

x o x o

Austin is Here

2010-03-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my nephew, Austin, arrived to Budapest for his first ever visit. We are so excited to have him here. However, it's only for a short 1 week visit (boo hoo). It's great he managed to be here for Terence's birthday (yesterday)!

Here are just a few photos from our weekend.

Austin with me and my other brother, Robert.

Weekend Update

2010-03-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

We had such a fantastic weekend! The weather has finally broken and spring has sprung. What a relief. I know many of you are still up to your eyeballs with winter weather but for Hungary, this was a very, very long winter.

Our weekend was packed with fun. Friday was family movie night. Saturday morning was football for T and dance for Mia. Then, we had to buy a new bed for all our guests arriving. Our former guest room bed was given away so now we had to get a new one as our guest room is quite full over the next few months. We accomplished this pretty quickly then went to get Mia, Charlie (T's buddy) and Molly (Ali's BFF) from their home. Mia had went over to their home after dance so that we only had 2 kids while shopping for home furnishings.

The weather was fantastic and the kids all played outdoors. Mia and I went on a long walk (she rode her scooter) with the dogs. She went later on a bike ride with Curt. Then, she played football (sorry, soccer to the Americans) in the backyard with Curt. Both she and T picked out new soccer balls on Wednesday. She is sooo into it and begs Curt regularly to kick with her!

One of the cool things about them picking out their new soccer balls was there were several European countries (printed on the balls) to choose from. They both picked Italia because of Papa! I told them I was partially British but Italia won! We had to write their names on their balls as they both had to have the same one. Mia's even taken hers to school to play with on the playground. This was me as a child. A complete sport nut! I always had one or more of the following with me in my neighborhood as a child: skateboard, bike, tennis racket, football or baseball mitt. The difference with Mia is she too is a sports nut but still has to dress very girlie. It's quite a combination! Check her out on Sunday playing.

On Saturday, we had a full house. I loved watching crazy Ali with crazy Molly. I guess with crazy moms like me and Kim, what else would you expect? They were absolutely hilarious and kept themselves entertained all day!

Check out how goofy they behaved on the trampoline on Saturday!

no idea what they both were doing in this funny photo above

They stripped down to their underpants, had a picnic (crackers, tomatoes and grapes), jumped around, then they put their underpants on their heads (no photo of this), swamped outfits and came inside announcing their newly swapped identities.

They are 2 peas in a pod! Love them!

Additionally, our troops stayed up until midnight on Saturday as we went over to our friends' home for a delicious dinner. It was a great night with a fantastic Norwegian family with 3 children (ages 11, 9 and 6). The kids all clicked (first time for them all to meet as we've only socialized with the parents) so well! The dinner consisted of freshly flown in Norwegian salmon that was grilled on the bbq to perfection!

Sunday lunch was great as we went downtown to TGs for Italian food. We met up with some great friends of ours who we hadn't seen in almost 3 months (they also travel a lot for work). Then, we hit the Szabadsag ter playground that our kids enjoy so much. We sent a few mothers home clenching their hearts after seeing our kids without socks, hats, jackets, etc. It was almost 20 degrees C here yesterday yet their children were all bundled up as if they were expecting a cold frost to rush in!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sisterly Love

2010-03-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

I don't have any sisters. I've always wondered what it would be like and always wished I had a sister. What's great is that I have 2 daughters so they have that unique bond that I've always wondered about. Don't get me wrong, they do have their tiffs once in a while. Sometimes they even hit each other. However 90% of the time, they adore each other. I used to think Mia was the nurturing one but I really think it works both ways.

Here are a few recent pictures of my two favorite girls in the entire world!

The first set are from Saturday - the weather has finally gotten spring-like and warmer!! Ali picked out her outfit with lots of color.

The other morning when Curt went up to wake up the girls for school (at about 7am), this is how he found them sleeping!!!

They share the same room and sometimes if Ali doesn't sleep well or has a bad dream, she'll crawl into bed with Mia. This took the pie!

This is Ali's beautiful face when she just wakes up.

For Papa

2010-03-16T14:40:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 81st PAPA!!