Boys' Street Sale

On Friday after school all three kids and I went over to play at the Cooper's home. It's a perfect family fit as our daughters get along really well with their almost 5 year old, Molly, and T gets along really well with Harry and Charlie.

Kim and I were chatting in the kitchen and watching the boys play out the front window. They had decided to gather up some old toys and have a sale on the side of the street. It was very funny to watch them sit like old men on stoops. They were quite patient waiting for customers but unfortunately they didn't have any sales. A few people who were walking by stopped to converse with them and see what they were up to. Since T was the only one who spoke Hungarian, he translated everything. I stuck my ear out to listen and make sure they were being polite. It was adorable listening to our 3 salesmen trying to convince people to buy up their used goods (later I saw they were not very impressive - many broken toys). They even set up the table and chairs all by themselves. We loved watching them (over a 2 hour period) as they really got into it and used their imagination and worked well as a team. For anyone with kids this generation, you'll know that their imagination is not what ours were 30+ years ago when we didn't have all the technology and toys that they do now.

They went back and forth over the fence so the dogs and girls wouldn't get out into the street.

Daddy's Home

A few blog posts ago I mentioned how Mia is really, really into making and giving presents. Yesterday, with the anticipation of dad's arrival home from Dubai, Mia and Ali spent over an hour with tape, scissors, wrapping paper, crayons, etc. making and wrapping something for Curt. Curt returned home right at dinner time and I cooked a very fall weather dinner with cream of carrot soup starter, roast chicken, roast potatoes, gravy and green beans followed by a yummy yogurt pound cake. It was a feast and exactly what we all needed with the feel of fall in the air.

As soon as we finished our main course, the presents from the girls came out. I think they must have used 2 rolls of wrapping paper each! It made them so happy.

Look in the background at Terence parked in front of the oven watching the timer on the oven for the cake tick, tick, tick. He was so excited about the cake that he could barely pull himself away from it.

Off for 4 Days

I'm off today to Glasgow with my really great Scottish friend, Kim. We'll be staying with her parents and returning Wednesday. Curt (with the help of Erika, the nanny) will be taking care of the kids.

On Wednesday he is off to Dubai. He departs about an hour before I land so we won't see each other until his return on Saturday.

Some Fav Lake Shots

I love these 2 shots of our trio watching the water and boats at the yacht club in Balatonfured. Both were unplanned and unposed. I've noticed that Ali almost always puts herself in the middle. She never likes to be on the end of anything and has to always be right in the middle spot...

Weekend in Balatonfured

Last weekend we decided that we'd take advantage of a free Saturday night and drive to the Balaton. After a bit of research, I decided the North Shore was worth exploring as I had heard the towns of Balatonfured and Badacsony were great. Curt and I had been years ago but back then the Balaton was very dirty, underdeveloped and full of German tourists. Some parts are still like that but we were very happy with Balatonfured and Badacsony. It helped that the weather was spectacular and still summer-like.

We left Budapest after Mia's dance class and T's football (aka soccer) practice at about 12:30pm. We pulled into our lake front hotel in Balatonfured just after 2pm. We didn't go straight to the pool but I've started there as I love the underwater shots! I have this fantastic underwater camera and really enjoy using it...

But, first a bit of Hungarian geography for you.

Our hotel, the Silver Resort Balatonfured. Our room was the top right balcony (on the side). It was a great suite with 2 bedrooms and a living room.

The kids loved the pool. There were 2 pools outside, 2 inside (1 was a kiddie pool), a hottub and lots of saunas and steam rooms. The kids preferred the indoor pool as it was warmer than the ones outdoor.

Lots of underwater videos of my 3 little fishies.

More from our fantastic weekend get away soon.

More Ali

2 nights ago, Ali did not want to stay in bed. She and Mia share a room and she was driving Mia crazy as Mia is always very tired at bedtime and is able to fall asleep quickly. However, if she has Ali jibber jabbering in her ear or whining, then she is less than thrilled.

Ali would not stay in bed without crying and I didn't think this was fair for Mia who was exhausted. If Ali was in a room by herself, it would have been an easy decision and I would have just let her cry. Instead, after a few attempts at working out the situation so she'd stay in bed, I finally decided to throw some pillows on the floor in the hallway and let her work it out for herself. About 45 minutes later I found her sleeping like an angel in this hallway chair. It was hard to stay frustrated with her once I saw her peacefully sleeping...



Then, this morning our comic returned. Ali can be very funny and always leaves surprises for me to find after she's either went to bed or went off to school. This morning after they'd left for school (with Curt) I found that she'd put her underpants on one of our pillows and sat it up her chair at the table. How does she come up with this stuff???!!?

Swimming Ali

This a photo taken from the hotel swimming pool where we stayed this weekend at Lake Balaton. Love underwater photos. I have a ton more of our fantastic weekend away and will include soon. This is just a teaser.

Mia's Presents

Mia loves creating gifts. She makes gifts for just about everyone and it's really sweet. We need to get her a project table or something. She pulls out beads, glue, scissors (she loves scissors), paper clips, string, crayons, pens (glittery are her favorites) and works away. In the past week she made her substitute teacher, Madame Michelle, a necklace out of different colored paper clips and a drawing (I sent in a box of chocolates, too). Her substitute teacher taught her for her first month of school while her permanent teacher, Marie Pierre, was at home in France looking after her dying mother. When Marie Pierre returned, Mia took her a colorful necklace made out of spongy beads that she worked hard on making. Later that day I asked her if Marie Pierre liked it. She said yes and she gave her a kiss after she told her, "I'm so sorry your mom died and went to Heaven. I know you are sad because my mom's mom also died and went to Heaven". I didn't pick up Mia that day from school (Monday) but on Tuesday when I went I saw Marie Pierre still wearing the necklace made by Mia.

Yesterday evening she spent an hour making me this:



When she is a crazy teenager I am going to keep this video close!! ;-)

Last 2 Photos from MD

This first one is of Curt cutting up a watermelon with Mia. However, this isn't any ordinary watermelon. It is a seedless, yellow watermelon! America has the craziest things! He had to get it to see what it looked like inside. Sure enough - it is YELLOW!

Below is the view from our bedroom. This photo was taken at about 5am. I had insomnia so I watched the sunrise from our bedroom. It was beautiful.

The Crab Claw in St Michaels

We had a fantastic night out with Tammy, Craig and their little baby Olivia one night while in Maryland. We went to the restaurant the Crab Claw on the harbor. We decided rather than eating the Blue Crab that we had caught, we would go out to a restaurant to try the real deal.

The Crab Claw restaurant was ideal for our group of 8 as it was casual and the perfect setting for kids. The seating is picnic tables / benches with white paper on top so the kids can color and play without damaging anything. We ordered a combination of oysters to start followed by delicious blue crabs. T loved the friend oysters and even ordered a 2nd portion. I loved the raw!

He also loved the wooden hammers they gave us for opening up our crabs.

We all enjoyed the crab meat but Curt worked extra hard opening them up for the kids.

All three kids liked the crabs but T enjoyed them the most. I think Ali and Mia liked pounding on them more than eating them. Throughout our trip, T and Mia almost always ordered shrimp (here it was fried) off the kids' menu. Ali almost always sticks to chicken fingers! And they all love the pink lemonade that most family restaurants in America offer. Occassionally Mia ordered her favorite, 'bubbly water', and often got funny looks from the waiters. You can take the girl out of Europe but you cannot take the Europe out of the girl...

Side note: Mia's unique as she also loves tomato juice. Ali still sticks to the kid basics with apple or orange juice and T is a bit more adventurous by picking coconut, pineapple, or mango smoothies. However, when it comes to basic juice, he usually orders pineapple.

The crabs were dumped onto our table...

And, one of the highlights of the kids' trip was ... baby Olivia. Tammy and Craig's 1 1/2 year old daughter, Olivia, is the sweetest toddler ever. She never cries and is so happy. The kids adored her and played with her as often as possible

After dinner we walked around St. Michaels and got ice cream. On the way back to our car (parked at the Crab Claw) baby Olivia just giggled and giggled at everything Terence and Mia did (mostly Terence). He pretended to do funny things like fall over and she just giggled away. It was adorable. He was so fragile with her and played so well with her. She just thought he was fantastic. Here are some snaps of the experience. It was so cute that it had all the adults giggling, too.

T let her tackle him. Then it looked like she planted a big smooch on his face. He never lets anyone else do that - especially not in public!

chasing Mia and the 2 of them swinging her.

All the excitement made me happy. Then, Curt and Craig had a seat while the kids used up the last of their energy (thanks to the ice cream).

THANKS CRAIG AND TAMMY (and Olivia) FOR BEING SUCH GREAT HOSTS!!

Crabbing in Maryland

The kids LOVED crabbing in Maryland. Curt and Craig taught them how and they were so into it. They must have pulled up the crab pots 5 times a day to see how many blue crabs they had caught off the pier.

notice Mia smacking a mosquito - there were many.

preparing the pots with chicken bait.

T and Craig's dog, Sophie getting ready to toss one of the pots in

In the end they must have caught about 15 crabs. All were tossed back and instead we went out to eat crabs at a restaurant.

CHS - IHD - Bozman, MD

I'm going to take a step back into summer for a minute as I still have many stories and photos to document...

After we were at the beach on Kiawah Island for 1 month this summer, we flew up to Washington, DC (Dulles airport). From there we rented our car and immediately drove to Craig and Tammy's rental home on the Eastern Shore of MD in a town called Bozman. Bozman is really close to St. Michaels, Maryland. It's a beautiful area that I've never been to before. I did learn how to waterski across the bay in Annapolis but I've never been to the eastern shore. Curt, on the otherhand, grew up in this area and is more familiar with it. He spent many summers at camp across the bay at Camp Letts.

Here is our journey to Craig and Tammy's (and their 1 1/2 yr old baby, Olivia).

The kids are very familiar with the lunar buses that transport people between terminals at Dulles. We've been in them many, many times. They love them. I think the airport is always a fun place for kids.

Below is a photo of what they look like from the outside.


Below is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I didn't realize that it was so big ... and long! It's a four lane, 20-mile long crossing. Impressive. The kid loved it.

And, here is the fab house (below) that we all stayed in. The funny thing is our visit was initially 2 nights. Then, it changed to 3 nights. Before we knew it, we had arrived on Saturday and were only moving on to our next destination on Thursday. It was lovely and the kids loved MD, the bay, the food (lots of crabs), the life, etc. Ironic thing about the 'life' part is that we picked up the board game LIFE for Terence. He loved it and could not play it enough times. We've already been playing Monopoly for a while but thought LIFE would be a fun next game. It was the perfect setting to sit and play a good long board game at least once a day.

By map, you can see where exactly we were by clicking here.