Home at Last

We have finally returned back to Budapest after our very long, wonderful US trip. We returned on Wednesday on a direct flight from JFK. The kids are all really great flying now so it was pretty easy. We all had our own TVs connected to our chairs to select movies from and even control with pause, fast forward, rewind, etc. They also have their iTouches but it was fun for them to watch some new stuff. Our flight left at 8pm and as many of you know, after the dinner service, the lights all go off for people to sleep. It was about 11:30pm NY time when I finally managed to get them all to sleep. Curt wasn't able to sleep much on the flight due to his allergies. I managed to get about 2 or 3 hours of sleep so that helped us with the jetlag a little bit more.

We landed 1 1/2 hrs early at 10am! We must have had major tailwinds helping us out!

The kids are slowly getting over jetlag. So far it's been late nights up and lots of sleeping in for them. I'm trying to get them on track before it's back to school on Wednesday, Sept 2nd... Wish me luck.

More photos and videos from our trip coming soon.

Friends at the Beach

My dear, dear friend Kerry drove up to Kiawah Island from Tampa, FL to visit with us for 4 nights. We all had a great time. The kids so enjoyed each other's company. Here's a snap of 2 of her 3 plus our trio on one of the boardwalks...

Lollipop, Lollipop....

For those of you that know Ali and Mia know they both have a sweet tooth. Much more than anyone else in our family. Mia's tooth is the sweetest but Ali is a close 2nd.

In the beautiful Sanctuary Hotel on Kiawah Island, there is a great ice cream shop called Beaches and Cream. We often walked up the beach for some as it was only a 15 min walk from where we were staying. For days the girls eyed these giant lollipops until one day I just gave in. They made great props for some snaps but the girls barely made a dent in them as they were so gigantic... and messy!

WARNING ... this is what you will look like afterwards. Not only was it in her hair but the salt in the air seemed to cling to her. It took about 2 days of bathing before she resumed to her normal cuteness...

Sunset Cruise

Last week we had the pleasure of going out on the Chesapeake Bay on a sunset cruise. We went out with our friends Craig, Tammy and their 1 1/2 year old daughter, Olivia. Our journey was on the oldest skipjack sailboat registered in the US (125 yrs old). It was beautiful and a great evening.

After we got back to shore we snapped a family photo with our Captain Wade and his 9 yr old grandson, Sawyer.

On the left is Craig and Tammy and on the right is Olivia sitting on Mia's lap. Our kids adored Olivia!

More on our enjoyable visit to their house outside of St. Michaels, MD soon!!

A Visit to Ole' Camp Letts

On Thursday, on our return to the Dulles area from Maryland's Eastern shore, we stopped to visit Curt's old camp. Not only did he attend this camp as a camper when he was a kid but he also was a counselor here and was in charge of the sailing camp. We wanted to take the kids to show them. We thought maybe next year they'd (at least Terence and Mia) be ready for an American sleep over camp and this was one option.

The camp was beautiful. Curt shared some fun stories with all of us and even chatted to the new director about the founding family and all of his experiences. Here are a few snaps.

PS Sorry for being so out of touch. We've been without internet (other than on our Blackberries). Additionally, we have just not been spending much time sitting at a computer as we've been too busy with catching up with friends and family.

Fun at the Pool

I have definitely been a slack blogger since being in the US. We are having so much fun and with so many visitors all the time, getting on the computer to blog is not something I have enough time for. Had to post this fun photo from the pool yesterday. We are still on Kiawah Island but the kids needed a break from the beach. It was fine by us! We decided to do shoulders and chicken fights so here I am with our trio, Terence, Mia and Ali and then our great friends Riley and his sister, Keira. They've been with us since Sunday along with our friends Agnes, Dennis and Margaret. Everyone leaves today - boo hoo... And then we head up north on Saturday - double boo hoo.

This photo was taken at the Sandcastle pool on Kiawah Island. The best thing to come out of this day was that I met a very nice lady who heard we lived in Europe. Dottie and I got to talking as she told me her grandchildren (twin 7 yr old boy / girl) also live in Europe. When I found out more, I found out they are in Paris with their American dad and French mom and they spend 4 weeks every summer in Kiawah!!! Bravo. T and Mia will now have good friends to play with, do tennis camp with, etc next year. And, they can all practice their Francais! Dottie was equally excited so we exchanged contact details.

While we've been here Terence and Mia have been working with a French tudor 2 - 3 days per week. This week they had off as Corinne returned to work (she's a French teacher) and we are surrounded by lots and lots of friends. It was very helpful and she was very good and very strict with them. It seems cruel to not let them have fun during the summer but since we don't speak French and they aren't hearing much of it this summer, it is important. They also worked a lot on their reading, writing and math so I was very happy that their brains' power is not fading in the sun!

Gone Fishing

Yesterday Curt went out and purchased some fishing rods as he thought it was time to take the kids fishing. About 2 years ago he took T but a baby alligator kept stealing their bate in one of the lagoons. This time he thought it was time to try the ocean and see if they had better luck.

We thought it was best to wait until a quiet time on the beach so we went for an early dinner and went out afterwards at about 7pm.

I took quite a few snaps for you to look through. It was a perfect evening!

Ali and I were the spectators. I brought out a good book, The Help, so read, took snaps and sipped on my white wine while Curt fished with T and Mia.

Then suddenly Curt screamed my name! T had caught his first fish only 15 mins after we started!!! It was so exciting! The few people on the beach ran over to see the big fish that he pulled out of the ocean... It's a good thing as Curt had trouble pulling the hook out of the fish. We wanted to throw him back as we had already eaten dinner! T was so disappointed. He wanted to take it home and have me cook it. I'll admit I am an adventurous cook but cleaning a freshly caught fish is still something I haven't yet attempted. Nor, do I plan to anytime soon! Around here there are tons of local fisherman selling already cleaned and filleted fish... Next time maybe we'll take T's catch over. Then, I'll cook him up for dinner.

Can anyone tell me what kind of fish this is?

And the video of it all in action! Look how excited T is!

Mia never managed to catch anything but here she patiently waited by her pole.

Then, T caught a 2nd fish. Much smaller but still a thrill. He reeled it in all by himself.

After each fish he went and sat by himself in one of our chairs. I finally asked him what he was thinking about. I asked him if he was sad that we didn't keep the fish to cook up. He answered, "No. Not really." thought a bit longer and then answered, "I'm just thinking about how that fish felt when it was out of the water. He probably feels like I do when I am under water." He's always such a deep thinker...

3 Kids on the Beach

This was taken last week when we were walking down the beach (they are on the dunes here) to get ice cream at the Sanctuary Hotel. It's very, very difficult to get a photo of the 3 of them all posing (ie looking at the camera, eyes open, not making silly faces, etc). So, I have to share it as I like it!

Fun Ali videos

Okay - I must admit that Ali's recent progress with swimming has amazed me. At year 1 she had no fear and swam with arm bands on her own. However, at year 2 she developed a fear and I remember spending last summer with her digging her finger nails into my neck and squeezing to hold on every time we got into the pool.

I wasn't sure what to expect this summer as the few times throughout the winter / spring when we swam she wasn't very keen to let go of me - even with her arm bands on. Our summer began with her clinging on again but within a couple of weeks she not only let go, but took off her arm bands and pretty much taught herself to swim! It's very cool. She dives into the waves at the beach and in the pool she is just tall enough to stand in the 3 foot shallow end. Yesterday while we were there she demonstrated swimming and even managed to... well, swim! Sometimes she pretended to swim but her feet didn't leave the ground. This time she swam on her front and back! And she even did the shark swim - kicking and her hands together making a fin above her head... It was fantastic... We are so excited and even happier that she decided to do this completely on her own and without any pushing. It makes mom and dad's lives much easier without her finger nails in our neck and shoulders!

2 Kiawah Videos

Okay - we are having way too much fun... I have had no time to blog as we are non-stop on Kiawah Island. This week we have Curt's family and there are 14 of us swimming, biking, playing tennis, playing in the sand, eating out, etc.

Anyhow, here are 2 great - and very different - videos that I took this week. I will get the photos and more videos up next week when some of our guests leave and I have a bit more down time.

This first one is of our recent bike ride with the kids and Curt's brother, Jerry. Mia, in her fast wild manner, tried overtaking Terence on the bike path and their pedals knocked into each other and she fell over. Her fall wasn't so bad but she did land on her hands and scratch them up pretty well. She was too injured to ride her bike the couple miles back so my superhero hubby took her bike and put it on his handle bars while she rode on the back of his bike (there's a rack there). While riding behind them I got a very shaky video as it was so funny. Everyone who passed us just laughed or shouted out something funny as it is certainly not something you see every day.

Some of the storms here are just amazing. None of them last very long but they are great to watch. This was last night while I was making dinner (shrimp and scallops). It was unbelievable! It came out of no where and we all sat on our apartment balcony just amazed by it's speed and scariness.

Kiawah Fun

No time to post a long message. Just had to share one photo and an update about our whereabouts. We are now on Kiawah Island where we spend every summer. We've caught up with lots of friends and now have Curt's sister, brother, mom and dad. Tonight his sister Julie, brother-in-law Alan and nephew Dan arrive. Tomorrow their sister Paula arrives. We are having so much fun. The kids went to Camp Kiawah 2 days last week and are scheduled to attend 3 days next week (even Ali). Here is a beach shot right outside our villa.

More Pool Time

This pool in Wichita, KS is seriously so fantastic. Here are 2 more images and 3 videos (with my waterproof camera) from our swimming day yesterday. Ali has been amazing. She went from clinging on to us and wearing arm bands at my brother's home 1 1/2 weeks ago to wearing NO armbands and really trying hard to swim. She actually is swimming! That's the nutty part. She pushes off the bottom and kicks her legs. She's become quite brave and usually jumps (almost dives) into the pool. She was a bit worried in the video below and wanted to hold my hand. If I didn't have the video camera in my hand she'd probably dive to me. Next time I'll try and get Curt to do the camera thing while she's junping out to me. Her progress has been amazing! The other day she insisted on flipping off the side of the pool. She managed to do it before I realized that she was actually trying it. I think she remembered her 4 year old cousin, Jaxon, trying it so she too had to. She's went from being so timid to so brave! I can't wait to see how she'll be in a month's time after we've been swimming everyday!

Ali swimming video

Mia swimming

And, T swimming