Good-Bye Treehouse

Our beautiful tree house no longer stands tall and beautifully in the corner of our backyard.

After it was built (5 years ago), the neighbors (who we had not yet even met) came around to complain about the fact that they could see the top of it and that it was within 3 meters of the property line (a rule here). Not understanding this way of thinking as it was only a play structure and not a new addition to our home, we argued it. The city's district 2A land checker people (not sure of their exact title) even came out one afternoon to view it personally. This was only about 3 months after it was built and they brought the kids (we only had Terence and Mia then) to tears as they explained to these 2 small children that they'd probably be making us take it down. Our lawyer has been great at appealing their letters. We probably could have continued to fight them but while we were away we received another letter indicating that we had 2 weeks to take it down or we'd be fined a fee of 600,000HUF (just under US$4,000). I surrendered and decided that the fight wasn't worth it anymore. We've had some great years with our lovely, unique tree house that I designed and had built by a carpenter here but it was time to say au revoir. It's been weathered and has been in need of some minor work so it's just been easier to have it taken down. Now we are in the process of looking for a new little playhouse that will hopefully satisfy our extremely picky, unfriendly neighbors. Curt hopes to have it covered with hubcaps and flashing x-mas lights facing their garden.

For those of you that never had the chance to visit and see our fun tree house in person, here are some photos...

As of yesterday...

Ali's Pretty Hairstyle

As many of you already know, Ali returned to her Hungarian nursery school on Thursday, August 21st. After 7 weeks away from Hungary (1 week in the UK and the other 6 weeks in the US) she has just about forgotten her Magyar.

When we first started our journey she was speaking mostly Hungarian and we were constantly trying to correct her so she didn't get it mixed up. After our time away her English has flourished but her Hungarian needs a lot of work. She still understands everything that is said to her but she's struggling to find her Hungarian words. I'm not worried as I know in a couple of weeks they'll come flying back into her head.

One of the little things that I love about her school is that her new nursery teacher, Erika (so many Erika's in her life), is the best French braider. Mia used to have Erika as a teacher - 3 years ago - and she'd come home with beautiful braids every day. Now, Ali is coming home with the beautiful hairstyles. The funniest part about it is that I can barely even put Ali's hair into a ponytail without her screaming but she'll sit for 10 - 15 minutes for her teacher while she gets a double French braid.

Had to share these photos of her so you can see how adorable (and grown up) she looks.

With her big sister and her bottom toothed smile (by the way, Mia is still sporting 3 of her little braids from Kiawah!!! We have to wash them carefully as she doesn't want to take them out. I think she has a maximum of 3 - 4 days of life left in them.)

Girls Snoozing

Why are they always so sweet when they are sleeping??

Found the 2 princesses had crawled in bed together and zonked out lying next to each other. This was about 3 nights ago and Ali has fallen asleep in Mia's bed every night since. I think it's comforting to her. As soon as I find them asleep, I move Ali back into her own bed (which is in the same room) where she stays until morning.

Jetlag Strikes

The night of Curt's mom's birthday (July 5), we were all suffering from jetlag having only arrived the night before to the US. After dinner at a great Italian restaurant we all returned to Mike and Sally's home (Curt's aunt and uncle) for cake and ice cream. Terence was fading fast and had trouble talking let alone walking so he decided to go down to our room and play his Nintendo DS for a while. When I went in to check on him, this is what I found. I love how his fingers are still on the buttons in mid-play.

Cowboy Town

I wrote a few weeks back about our adventure to the Sedgwick county fair about 30 minutes outside of Wichita, KS (where Curt's parents reside). In addition to our still photos, here are a few video clips that bring our experience to life. Keep in mind that I hit a button on my camera to pull only one color (must have been a reddish pink) and keep the rest gray scale. Will have to sort that out.

In the meantime, enjoy the rodeo (clip 1) and the demolition derby (clip 2). Just a couple observations that we made during each event... The rodeo was a much more family oriented form of entertainment. We felt comfortable in the audience as there were many other families consisting of a few generations. The demolition derby, on the otherhand, attracted a more teenage crowd. Many of which I noticed were pregnant (some with their 2nd children). We stuck out of the crowd a bit on evening 2 - the Demolition Derby. On a personal note, I'd attend another rodeo anytime. It was a lot of fun. The commentator definitely made a difference as he was really funny and entertaining.

Aug 20th - St Istvan Day Celebration

This must have been our 10th or 11th year present at the St Istvan Day celebrations on August 20th. This is in celebration of Hungary's birthday. Actually, this is the first year that we sat through and watched the Red Bull Air races. They were incredible! We were fortunate enough to get some VIP tickets into the Red Bull area which was set up front row and center to the show. The Red Bull's section included their control tower, all inclusive drinks, food, suntan lotion, etc. They set up bleachers and lots of lounge areas in the shade. It was really fun.

We went down there around noon and met up with a big group of friends. It was really exciting. Many of them brought their older children but we chose to leave our threesome behind. Instead, they were excited to go spend the day and night over at Brigi's house.

Just to give you more information about the Red Bull races I included this schedule to show you how lucky Budapest is to even get them here ever year in conjunction with the other festivities.

The pilots are timed on how quickly they can maneuver through the obtacle course (see the giant inflatable cones on the river below) between the Chain bridge and Elizabeth Bridge. It was pretty wild and one pilot even managed to clip the cone with his airplane's wing while flying in between. Another pair of cones were so narrow that the pilots had to fly through vertically!

Our VIEW

And below is our gang.

Notice Curt in one of the Fatboy (this is the brand name) bean bag chairs. They were tons of them all over the shaded areas.

Below are friends that we ran into at the event.

After the Red Bull air races we went out for an Italian dinner and then up to Deana and Dan's (photo of them up above in top left position) home to watch the fireworks display from their rooftop terrace.

Hula Hoop Girl

Who ever knew that Mia had this secret talent or desire to be a hoola hoop girl?!

As a child, I could never master the hula hoop like any of my girlfriends. It was a big regret of mine as a child and I had always wished I had learned (I never learned to do a cartwheel either, if I must confess). Fortunately, I grew up in a neighborhood with mostly boys around so I was lucky to be good on a skateboard, throwing a football, kicking a ball, hitting the tennis ball, playing baseball, climbing trees, getting dirty, catching bugs, lighting ants on fire with a magnifying glass, cutting worms in half, catching frogs, skinning my knees, and more fun childhood stuff. However, I never could wiggle my hips fast enough or in the right motion to keep that stupid hoop from hitting the ground after only 1 or 2 rotations.

But, whoever said we can't live vicariously through our kids? My 5 year has become a great hula hoop girl! Who would have thought? I've never even bought her a hula hoop thinking she had the same twist defect as me. Well, she doesn't!

On Kiawah Island in South Carolina at the Wednesday night carnival night, the band laid out hula hoops all over the ground for the kids to twist around to the beat of their music. It was a great idea and Mia got right into it. Fortunately, after 3 weeks and 3 Wednesdays of hula hooping to the band, she became a real pro.

I captured the photos on our first Wednesday night to show you how persistent she was at mastering the skill. I was so proud!







Leave it to Terence to take it to the next level.

Ali Faces

While looking through our summer holiday photos, I realized that my little Ali (2 1/2) is a real clown. Check out these silly faces...

And finally, her attempted smile...

In Kansas City

After our flight from Gatwick London airport to Kansas City (via Cincinnati), we made it to Uncle Mike and Aunt Sally's comfy home in Overland Park (part of Kansas City).

We arrived local time around 5:30pm. All of us managed to doze for short periods of time on the long journey (first flight was 9 hours and second was about 1 1/2 hours with a 2 hour lay over in between) so we were okay on Friday, July 4th but were fading quickly. Here are the kids in Uncle Mike's tub that they love having big bubble baths in (the jets help grow those bubbles incredibly fast).

We were all fast asleep by about 9pm.

Leaving Cornwall

Cornwall is one of those unique gems where you go and love it but can only explain it to someone else who has been there... Here we are leaving Cornwall on a blue sky, sunny day!!! We are walking out to our airplane at the Newquay (pronounced New-Kee) Cornwall airport. From here, we flew up to London in the afternoon where we spent the night at the really comfortable Sofitel hotel at the Gatwick airport. It was the first hotel room where we stayed and all had our own bed... Actually, Curt and I shared (but that's a good thing) a great king size bed while each of the kids got a full bed. It was so cozy and exciting. We spent the night in preparation for our early departure out of Gatwick on July 4th to the US. It was great waking up and walking downstairs to the airport rather than a stressful car journey wondering if you've remembered everything and hoping you won't hit traffic.

Forgive me for my blog posts that are going to take you back and forth in time while I try and catch up on the last 7 weeks of our lives.

We Made it Back Home

Just a very quick message to let you all know that we have returned to Budapest safely! The kids were absolute angels on the long journey (2 flights) home from Dulles airport in D.C. They all slept about a good 4 hours and all 3 slept through the landing which is always fun for mom and dad. We had to nudge Terence and Mia awake so they could not only walk off the flight but also help us carry all our carry on luggage. Mia woke with a bang and burst of energy. I think she was really excited. Terence was in a deep slumber and could barely carry himself off the plane let alone any carry on luggage... I carried Ali while Curt managed most of the carry on. We had a stroller but he had to wait at the airplane door for it for quite a while. Me and the kids walked ahead and waited for him near immigration.

Our first day / night in Budapest went well. Only 1 piece of our 7 suitcases went missing (must have been lost at JFK) but they assured us it will be delivered today.

The children always return home to their rooms and toys like it is Christmas and play non-stop with all their forgotten toys. The girls came home to an extra surprise as they found their new beds waiting for them (photos soon). Ali only slept all day in the taxi ride home; Terence didn't sleep at all and Mia, Curt and I all managed to cat nap at different times throughout the day.

After a long, long bike ride, Ali fell asleep (in her seat on my bike) and Terence fell asleep on the sofa. I put her to bed but she had to go to the bathroom an hour later so woke up. I carried Terence up and when I laid him in his bed I heard little whimpers. I thought he was crying and crawled in next to him asking what was wrong. Happily, I discovered they were not tears but giggles. I asked him what was so funny but he couldn't stop laughing. Finally he paused long enough to say 'I don't know'. Poor little guy had the giggles - probably from being over tired. Sure enough, I got the giggles too and we sat there giggling away like crazy people. Eventually he dozed off.

I thought we were okay as Mia and Ali both got into bed at 10pm. However, Ali woke up crying at about 1am. She probably was confused as to where she was. It woke up Mia and Terence but I managed to comfort Ali and Mia back to sleep. T crawled into our bed while the 3 of us stared at the ceiling for about 2 hours.

Needless to say, it is 10:30am and the Clements household is still very quiet. Curt is off to work and I'm trying. I hope to get out of the door after a quick workout (need it after such a long holiday filled with too much food and beer). The kids are still all asleep but I hope to get them awake soon or else this pattern will continue for weeks.

Pictures are all coming very, very soon. I must unpack our 6 (soon to be 7) suitcases first!

In Northern Virginia

We are in Northern Virginia right now. We arrived on Saturday evening after a short flight up from Charleston. We are now focusing our time on meetings, shopping, exercising and sending the kids to sports camp. We are lucky to have lots of friends in this area and look forward to seeing several of them.

As usual, we are going 100 mph so no time to write too much but promise to catch you all up to date very soon.