Down on the Danube

2 weekends ago (on Saturday, Nov 15th) while Mia was at her friend Isabelle's b-day party down in district 13, T, Ali and I decided to go for a walk along the river near the b-day girl's home. I took a few photos and a video (coming soon) of our little adventure.

I think she's trying to imitate T's peace sign.

Sharing chips and walking and talking. She caught everyone's eyes and smiles as she looked so cute in her little Ralph Lauren red jumper (thanks Keira for passing it on) and new white hat (bought on my trip to Brighton last week).

T relaxing river-side (doesn't have the same ring as 'seaside')


Love these 2 below of them looking at the ducks on the river. The one on the left is without a flash and the one on the right was with the flash. The sun was just setting.


2 more showing the colors of the beautiful sky. Photo of me (bottom right) is taken by Terence.

Girls in the Stairwell

Kids can be so funny. Mia and Ali decided to set up a little table and have a little pretend b-day party in the stairwell last week. I thought it was so funny. It seemed like quite a lot of work for them to haul their little chairs, table (aka stool) and other goodies up to the landing where they played for a good hour.

More Snoozing Kids

The other night Curt and I came home from one of our conference dinners to find the kids all sleeping together on T's floor. Erika, our sitter, gave us a heads up about it and giggled telling us that they wanted to all be together. I think it's so cute how they made this bed on the floor and shared T's duvet. The other surprising thing is that it wasn't Ali in the middle. She always wants to be in the middle and most of us give in as she's the 'baby'. I have a feeling T was in the middle comforting both his sisters as they were sad that we weren't home.

I took these photos below a week earlier. I just adore how they look when they are sleeping.

Mia's always 'catching flies' (as Curt describes it) with her mouth open. Ali, again with her hands underneath her, on the left.

The cutest is T. I found him like this all curled up on the end of his trundle sleeping in the position he used to sleep in when he was a baby. I realized later that he curled up in front of his space heater (the heating isn't so great in his room) that's on a timer to turn itself off after a set time. I couldn't sleep like that if someone paid me! It's a yoga position not a sleeping position...

More Snow in Budapest

It is a winter wonderland in Budapest at the moment. I arrived home from work at about 6:30pm and this is what I arrived to: our home and street covered with snow (I had a camera with me). It was so beautiful but also a bit spooky. The roads were a nightmare. Accidents and cars slip sliding all over the place. I think the snow surprised some vehicle owners as they must have still had on their summer tires. Fortunately, not only does my beast of a car handle itself perfectly in this weather but I learned how to drive up in Cleveland in these conditions with a significantly lesser reliable vehicle. I wasn't worried about my car losing control but I was worried that all the other cars on the road that were losing control were going to run into me. I felt like I was in a video game trying to dodge them all.

I arrived home and called Curt to ask him how he was going to ride his bike home in these conditions. My husband has not missed a day to / from work on his bike in about 3 years. Other than an ice storm last year, I believe this was one of the hardest bicycling evenings he's experienced. He walked in the door just past 9pm just shaking his head. It took him 2 hours of riding uphill in the icy snow. What a hunk of a man!!

Let It Snow

On Saturday, we finally got our first snow fall. It was perfect timing as we'd finished all our daily activities and had returned home around 1:30pm to build a roaring fire, sit and play a family game of Monopoly when suddenly huge flakes started filling up the sky. It felt like a Hallmark moment sitting inside the warm house, all together and watching the snow outside. By about 4pm the kids couldn't resist the temptation. We dug out their winter gear, got them all bundled up and sent them out to play. I honestly think the preparation is more work than the actual outdoor playtime but c'est la vie.

They were so excited and even pulled out the sleds to go down the very small hill in the back of our yard. I captured a few shots of them in the outdoors. Shortly after these snaps, Curt went out and started a snowball fight with them. They all loved it.

The best part is that it snowed through Sunday so everything is beautiful and white up at our house. The slight increased elevation keeps the snow longer up at our home in district 2 then it does down in the Pest downtown. Yesterday we drove into Pest for breakfast and we were one of the few cars covered in snow.

T is such a great big brother and always looks after Ali and keeps her entertained.
Mia led the way by making tracks for him to follow in.

Our fashion diva.


My Hydrangeas. They return every year bigger and better. I'm amazed that their flowers are still in full bloom (now frozen) and with strong colors.

General Update

Just a quick hello and yes-we-are-all-alive note so you don't think we just disappeared.

Been very, very busy and on top of that our home computer is once again being worked on by our office's IT crew. We've actually decided to upgrade to a nice Dell so things take time to transfer over and set up so I am only working from the office on my work PC and from home on our laptop. Neither is connected to any of our cameras so no new photos quite yet.

Last week was packed with activities. Ali's school had their St. Marton day celebration on Tuesday the 11th of November and like always, it was fantastic. I took tons of videos (actually T handled the video camera) and snaps so will have to load them up for you all to see soon. Ali was as cute as can be in their traditional march up the hill with their homemade lanterns. Then, they performed many songs and plays for us. We ended with some dancing, hot wine, food and snacks. Mia and T came with me to cheer Ali on. It was very fun.

On Wednesday, Nov 12th was Margit Neni's funeral. Very, very, very sad but good for T and Mia to take part in. Ali was also with us but she didn't really understand what was going on. It was the final process of our grieving process and Mia even took her drawings to be buried with Margit Neni. After they lowered her coffin, Mia went over to give Margit Neni's granddaughter, Gabi, the pictures but Gabi was so pleased and touched by her thoughtfulness that Mia decided she wanted Gabi to keep her works of art. It was a sad day and I even have a few photos from the event. We had to take one of our elderly neighbors with us to the funeral and she gabbed about her aches, pains and lonliness the entire ride there and back. It was not the easiest ride but Bobbi Neni was very sweet to pass out candies to the kids on the ride home which they were happy about.

The rest of the week and weekend was busy and packed with work and school activities. The weekend consisted of our usual Sat am dance and football classes. Mia then had a b-day party in the city on Sat late afternoon. I took T and Ali with me while Curt worked and it was a lot of fun as the b-day girls home was right on the river on the Pest side so we enjoyed a long walk along the Danube. The b-day was very nice as we enjoyed a bit of it at the beginning and end of pick up / drop off. There were only 6 little girls and Isabelle's mother told me that Mia was a master at doing all of their make-up. It was a princess party with lots of princess costumes for them to dress up in and then play make-up. She had planned to do the make-up for the girls until Mia took control. Very typical of my Mia! Mia was the only non-French little girl there but fit in perfectly.

Sunday was a half fun family day (for me at least) and then a work day as our investor and financial consultant both arrived at 5pm into Budapest. I picked them up at the airport and we went out Sunday night. Following Sunday's dinner was a full on, packed sales conference on Monday and Tuesday (including both nights). Curt and I are feeling very shattered. Fortunately, I could take the day off with T and Mia but he had to go in for another busy day with our Country Managers.

Our day started with a doctor's appt at 8:30am. Mia hasn't been feeling well and once again doesn't have any identifiable ailment but once again her lymph nodes and spleen are very enlarged. She received some meds and is not at home resting. However, we didn't make it home until after her first experience at a new gymnastics class. I've been searching for one for ages and am happy to have found one in 1/2 Hungarian, 1/2 French. Terence was so impressed with the facility and program that he has now decided that he too wants to join (there were 3 other boys in the class including 2 that were just a year older than him). Mia sat and cuddled with me most of the morning but T took full involvement and had a great time.

Now we are waiting for Terence to walk home from tennis - just down the street. We'll have lunch and take him to his private tennis lesson from 2 - 3pm. Ali will be home at 3:30pm from nursery then it's time to build a big fire, make dinner, finish up homework, and settle in for the night. Curt is even home tonight (hopefully before bedtime but maybe unlikely as that's not common) so it'll be great to all be home!!

Tomorrow I will have our new Dell home and set up so expect photos to be added to the blog very soon.

Best to you all.

PS I just ordered my 10 - 12 kg turkey today. It'll be ready on Wednesday (day before turkey day) for a full night of brining. Very much looking forward to a big Thanksgiving dinner!

Fashion Diva

Mia never ceases to amaze me when it comes to her sense of fashion. She is just always interested in it, thinking about it, experimenting with it. I'm not sure if this is normal for a 5 year old or if I'm just amazed as a parent is with their child. She's been like this since the age of 2 years old when I was pregnant with Ali and she wouldn't go to pick Curt up at the airport with me until she put lipstick on (she had a play make-up set).

I bought a large scarf in England for myself and Mia got her hands on it. When I looked up to see where it was I found Mia in this beautifully designed wrap dress that she created all by herself. I thought it looked fab! She even slipped on her heals to wear with it...

The other thing she loves to do is hair. She'll practice styles on her dollies, her my little ponies, this giant pony (see photo below), her sister's hair, my hair or any friend's hair.

Funny Terence

First of all, Ali is pretty much his number 1 fan. 9 out of 10 times she laughs at everything he does. Sometimes he annoys her and she shouts at him to 'bugger off' or will hit him. However, most of the time they are like they are in this photo.

Today after the St. Marton day celebration (photos coming soon) at Ali's nursery school, I got an email from the school about Terence's after school art and sculpting class. It basically asked that we send in some supplies for their class every Thursday from 3 - 4pm. One of the items was an old shirt or paint apron. I told T that he could wear one of dad's old shirts. His reply immediately was, 'no way!' I asked him why he didn't want to consider this as it would make a great cover up. He replied, 'his shirt is all covered in Mia's barf'. This is so funny as this event happened when I was about 7 months pregnant with Ali. Mia had a vomitting night and ended up throwing up all over Curt and his shirt. I've just discovered that this is how T thinks Curt's shirts are. Very funny...

My Little Cousin It

Look at the hair on little Alexandra's head!!! She has still not ever had a haircut.

Mia Photos

Tomorrow is Margit Neni's funeral and on the weekend Mia drew her some photos to take to her funeral. One was of her with her husband (we went to his funeral about 3 years ago) and son (he died about 15 years ago of cancer) in Heaven. The other one is this of Mia on earth with Margit Neni looking down. Notice Mia's frown and huge tears. Unfortunately, my scanner isn't working right now so I had to take a photo of her beautifully creative drawing instead of scanning it like I usually do.

More Brighton Fun

Here are some more photos from my fun weekend with girlfriends in Brighton, England.

On the beach. The wind was really strong which made it feel much cooler than it was. These were taken on Friday night. There were 6 of us in town on Friday night. One left on Saturday then 4 more arrived.


My feet on the pebbly beach.

The Brighton Pier. It's old style. Cannot wait to take the kids here.

This is Brighton. I found this photo on the internet.

Our mode of transportation. This car belongs to Nicky and she picked up 3 of us at the airport. She's very proud of the license plate as it belonged to her aunt so they are trying to keep it in their family.



The house we rented. It sleeps 12 (note for when we go back with kids and more friends).



The birthday girl and all of our delicious Veuve champagne that her husband sent over for our weekend.

Saturday night shots:

This was the best seafood restaurant. I had the best fish and chips ever!


Afterwards we went dancing at a club called the Funky Fish. When we walked in everyone was dressed in costume to celebrate someone else's birthday party. It was so funny. We made a joke that we were dressed as 'moms'.

Here's Elvis and Jesus.


On the dance floor. My foot is at 6 o'clock.

Home at about 3am with achy feet.

Brighton Trip

This weekend I was the lucky girl that got to go away with my girlfriends to Brighton, England. Brighton was a new destination for me and a place I will absolutely go back to! It was beautiful. The perfect combination of seaside, shopping, English charm, great restaurants and friendly people. Not only did I have an incredible time with some amazing friends but I got to eat the best fish and chips ever!

Below is a map of the UK with Brighton in the South Eastern tip.

More photos of our weekend are coming soon. I just wanted to announce that I am home safely after 2 nights away. I missed my hubby and babies so much. They all managed to do very well without me.