The Clements Family Life

Friday, May 15, 2009

Ali's Scooter

Just took this about 1 1/2 hours ago when we walked down the street to pick up Mia from her friend's home. We had planned to all come home after school together as I am exhausted. However, Mia asked to go down the street to Olivia's home to play. Olivia is a classmate and a very good friend. The best part is she lives a block away so it's easy for spontaneous play dates.

Below is Ali with her new favorite mode of transportation. This scooter was first Mia's (thanks to my brother and his wife who bought it several years ago for x-mas) but it is now too small for Mia so Ali uses it all the time.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

She Spins me Round, Round, Baby, Round, Round

On Sunday we had a group of friends around for a bbq in the afternoon. It was the perfect summer day with temps reaching almost 30 degrees C in the mid-afternoon. It was exactly what we all needed! In total there were 9 kids and they all got along fantastically. They spent the day in and out of the pool; on and off the trampoline; on and off the doombuggy; in and out of the jacuzzi (they thought the pool was too cold so they decided to all swim in the jacuzzi ;-)... It was the perfect day.

Martha, who is 10 years old and at the British School, adores our little Ali. Ali, of course, adores Martha too. Actually, Martha, Ali and Mia all love being together and often are as Curt and I really like their parents and Terence loves her 2 brothers, Tom and Oli. Tom is Terence's age and they spend a lot of nights sleeping at each other's homes. Tom is one of the first boys T's age that he immediately hit it off with so it bonded the families together quickly. The other great thing is that Tom, Martha and Oli are probably all going to start at the French school from September so we'll have more in common.

Anyhow, during the party on Sunday, I looked across the backyard and noticed Martha repeatedly spinning Ali around over and over again. Ali, of course, loved it even though a few times (including in this video) I thought her little arms would get pulled out of their sockets. They were excited when I ran over to video them and immediately wanted an instant replay to watch themselves...

Our Moscow Office

I am almost done with catching up on all of our Moscow activity... I promise. The last 2 photos I have to share are of our office. This is, after all, the main reason that we went to Moscow. Curt and I are slowly getting around to all of our offices. Many of which we have not been to in years. So it's time we go and meet the staff and help give support and further training on our company's vision. I enjoy the presenting, training and team building aspect of my job a lot - especially to a young, motivated team like we currently have in Moscow.

This is John Heisler with Curt outside of our office building

This is our team (minus one person who was on an orientation tour with a client's assignee)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Mila and Roman's Home in Moscow

On Wednesday night, we were invited to Mila and Roman's home for dinner. The last time we've seen the 2 of them was at their wedding in Moscow in 1997! Curt worked with Mila and Dennis (he also joined us for dinner) when he first started Move One (formerly AES) in the early 90s. It was so great to have a reunion with all of them but we wish it happened more frequently. Mila, Roman and Dennis all look great and we also had the pleasure to meet Mila and Roman's adorable 2 boys (ages 8 and 5) and eat their delicious food. The Georgian dumplings and the Tiramisu were my favorites! I think the Georgian dumplings are called something like Khinkali but I will have to confirm with Mila.

Anyhow, here are our photos from the evening.

Their apartment complex

Their 2 sons playing - all kids everywhere love playing computer games. They also had a PSP (playstation portable).

Back together again. From r - l: Dennis, Mila, Curt and Roman

Their youngest son was a little flirt and warmed up to us as the evening went on. I was very flattered to receive his favorite blanket while C received his teddy bear. A sign of true friendship!

The 2nd photo is of vodka shots at dinnertime. 3 of the 4 men (Zoltan is the one on the left) managed to finish off 2 bottles of vodka.

Mila and Roman with their younger son who went by Gere (I may not be spelling this correctly). He's the one with the blanket and teddy.

All of us together. I have to find the photo of all of us (including Dennis' wife) from 1997! When I do I will add to the blog so you can compare and see how we've all changed in the last 12 years!

Visiting the Fekete's in Moscow

When we arrived at the Fekete's home in Moscow on Tuesday evening their 3 kids and 3 friends from the neighborhood and school were all on the trampoline. It's every kids favorite backyard enterntainment!

And Imola spoiling us with homemade PASTA! Yum - it was fabulous!

Their beautiful house.

The 4 Fekete kids: Sophie, Sonya, Sean and Sara.
Sophie just downloaded a book onto their Kindle. It's an amazing little electronic gadget and holds 100s of books electronically. The screen has no light (keeping your eyes safe) and looks like the page of a real book. It took only minutes for her to get the book she wanted onto her Kindle!

Vodka (or is it Palinka) time. John Heisler joined us too.

Us and the Feketes with great Magyar bor ('wine' in English)

Thanks for a great evening John and Imola!!! I wish we could do it weekly!

Beautiful Moscow

Curt and I were in Moscow last week for work. We left Budapest on Tuesday around 8:50am and arrived at about 1:30pm (Moscow is - 2 hrs from Budapest). Our great friend John set us up with his driver who met us at the airport and took us downtown to our hotel Savoy. I found the hotel from one of my favorite groups / sites: slh.com. From there we walked around a bit downtown. It had changed so much since we last visited in 1997! And, for those of you that didn't know Curt lived there for a few years in the very early 90s. For him it was a completely different city!

At about 4:30pm we went with John's driver to pick him up and head out to his house to spend the evening with him, his wife, Imola, and their 4 kids who we've know for ages in Budapest. However, due to his job they relocated to Moscow 2 years ago. We miss them very much! Boo hoo. I'll post their photos in a 2nd post after these initial scenery shots from the top of the famous Ritz Carlton which is very centrally located and has a popular roof top terrace.

On this evening we arrived at 8:30pm when it was still light but really enjoyed watching the sun go down and all the buildings' lights come on. It was a fairy wonderland!

Incredible!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Mia in Somlo

On Friday, shortly after arriving at Peter and Sue's amazing Somlo home, we hiked around the entire Somlohegy (hill) which is about 3 - 4 km. Curt managed to do most of it with Ali on his shoulders - what a man! It was a great, tiring walk that was rewarded with great wine and a chicken bbq afterwards. The kids were champs on the extra long voyage.

As promised, I got some great snaps of Mia with her new adorable short haircut.

She found a walking stick and took the hike seriously

Curt and Peter admiring one of the fab new residences on the hill. On the right, me and Sue in a bed of gorgeous wild irises! Love them in Hungary at this time...

Somlo Horsing Around

As always, we had an amazing time in Somlo at our friends' vineyard this weekend. It was lots of fun with long hikes, wine sipping, barbecuing and just great family bonding time.

This morning before we returned home I walked out to find all 3 kids ganging up on Curt outside in the garden. Captured some of it on video. They love wrestling with him...

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Mia Also Loses...

a lot of hair!! Ever since my hair cut (about 2 or 3 months ago) she has been repeatedly telling me that she wants the same hair cut. I didn't react quickly because I thought she'd change her mind or end up regretting the decision. Well, the other day we acted spontaneously and walked into a hair salon without an appointment and took the plunge. She did it. She loved even more that it was a spontaneous event.

I didn't have my camera with me but took these with my Blackberry. I had to share the Before and After with you!!!

In this AFTER, she's holding up a big wad of her hair that she was admiring on the floor. She looks so adorable. But, then again, I can't imagine Mia ever looking anything but adorable! I'll share some more, better quality photos of her and her new hairdo soon.

Mia's Losing her...

Teeth!!! 2 in 2 days!! She's now 1000HUF richer and even went and opened her first bank account with this money and the rest of her piggy bank's savings (more on that later). In the meantime, for those of you with a strong stomach ;-) check out how Curt helped expedite the procedure as she was finding it way too irritating!

BBQ season

Had a fantastic bbq on Sunday afternoon with many friends. Actually, I had miscounted, set the table for 10 (which it fits perfectly) then had to play a bit of musical chairs trying to sit down in the last chair with another guest. Then, I realized that there were 12 adults - not 10 - so we squeezed. It was better that I fooled myself as I probably would have otherwise stressed as to how to fit 12 on a 10 person table! C'est la vie. It all worked out in the end and no one minded squeezing. The kids ate before us so it was nice and relaxing on a beautiful day.

The chefs!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Driving Back from Vienna

The drive home from Vienna is only about 2 + hours. It's always a give or, well, give depending on traffic. It is never less but always about 2 1/2 hours or sometimes even 3 hours if rush hour in Vienna or Budapest is hit...

We didn't take any photos during the conference in Vienna. There was no time to even think about the camera as we had back-to-back meetings. It was hugely successful and it's nice to see that our reputation amongst our peers and clients is so excellent. We went from begging people to meet with us and give our company / service a chance to quite the opposite.

On Friday afternoon we drove home exhausted but in great spirits. I had to capture this of the countryside at this time of year. These fields of yellow flowers are just amazing. Not sure if they are flax or the ingredient put into vegetable oil (can anyone help?) but they are lovely. This time of year in the countryside is heavenly.

PS. The windmills are all set up near the Hungarian - Austrian border.

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QUOTES OF THE DAY:

Today, July 1 2010 while driving through McD's drive through Terence and I got to talking about what a job at McD's would be like. I told him that my brother worked there and that was one of his first jobs. I explained how he was in charge of the french fries and used to come home with lots of grease burns. T told me that if he ever worked at McD's he wouldn't be able to work on the Big Mac assemblies as they would all end up disappearing. The Big Mac is his favorite!! He's not a french fry kind of guy, just a burger boy!

June 10, 2010. Ali has been a bit curious about dying lately. Fortunately, she doesn't remember anyone close to us that has died but she hears Mia and T sometimes talking about it. The other day, she came up to me very sad and said, "Mama, I don't want you to die." I told her that I don't want to die either and this is why I have to exercise and take care of myself so that I can stay alive and healthy longer. She nodded in agreement and then, while playing with my pink wallet on the table, she followed up with, "Mama, if you DO die, can I please have your wallet?" Glad she jumped back so quickly...

Today, May 24 2010, is a public holiday (Pentecost). Ali woke up - only at 9am - and since she had no idea of the time I reminded her that there was no school today. She smiled and said, "Yeah! I'm going to stay in my pjs ALL day". Later she asked me about the cat's birthday. I told her I did not know. She then asked me when Blue, our border collie's bday is. I told her it was in August. She smiled and said, "Let's have a birthday party for him. What kind of cake do you think we should make for his party?" We decided to make him a dog food cake! However, she is now trying to figure out if it is better to give him a cake with or without candles...

This Saturday morning (April 17, 2010) I am at home with Ali while Curt is doing the dance and football taxi service. My main responsibility is to work on our US visit travel schedule (flights, rental cars, hotels, etc.) It always takes a lot of coordination but it's all worth it as we love our summer returns to the US. Anyhow, I was telling Ali what I was doing and she asked me to remind her who we were going to see again. The main people I mentioned were Nana, Papa, Aunt Sally and Uncle Mike as these are the first people we will visit. I asked her what we should take to Nana for her birthday present. She thought for a second. Then, her eyes grew wide as she thought of a great idea. Her animated answer (she always uses lots of hand motions when talking - is that from me?) was, 'A nice hat, a scarf and if you have a dress that you out grow then we can take it for her!'. Funny little monkey... Don't worry Nana, I won't be bringing you any hand-me-downs! x o x o

Yesterday (Feb 24, 2010), while Ali went to visit her old nursery school, I took Terence and Mia for lunch before picking up T's new passport at the US embassy. There is this little cafe that I really love and they have great wraps, onion rings (I have a weakness for good onion rings), burgers, salads, smoothies, coffees, etc. Terence decided on a plain burger with onion rings and Mia decided on a bacon cheeseburger with onion rings. I got a smoothie and hoped for some bites of both of theirs... When the burgers arrived, they both lifted off the top bun and frowned. T grunted, "I asked for a plain burger. Not a burger with this sauce!" The sauce was sort of a 1000 island dressing type of tangy sauce. Mia pouted about this matter, too. I immediately got upset with them and told them not to judge it until they tried it. Then, I followed with, "you both need to become more adaptable." After a second of silence, Mia told me she was going to tell dad. I asked her to clarify and she told me that she was going to tell dad what I had said. Again, I asked her to clarify as I hadn't said anything rude or even a bad word (I sometimes have trouble with the latter). She then told me very angrily, "I'm going to tell dad that you want us to be adopted!" Adapted ... Adopted ... Pretty close!

During our ski trip to Schladming, Ali and I often spent some time together in the afternoon (after her morning ski school) drinking hot chocolate at the top in one of the restaurants. One afternoon she made a funny observation. Actually, she made 2 observations that went like this: "Ma!" she began. After I responded "yes", she asked me, "why are there some teenagers working here?" Before I had time to answer, she asked me another question. "And, why are there so many teenagers kissing?!" I looked around and there were 2 young couples nearby kissing... on the mouth! She was very interested. I answered to her that many teenagers worked when they were on break from school and regarding the teenagers that are kissing, they must love each other. She took this in and thought for a while. I told her that I'd like it if she also worked when she became a teenager and asked her what she thinks she'd like to do. The response has had us giggling for a few days. With little hesitation, she answered that she wanted to be a penguin when she was a teenager. I asked her where she would work as a teenager and who would pay her money. She thought for only a second and then answered, "the Four Seasons Hotel. They will pay me and I'll work there." I bit my tongue and asked her what she would do in the Four Seasons dressed as a penguin. She looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Ma! I would swim!" She said this with a slight roll of her eyes like I was born yesterday. What else would a penguin in the Four Seasons be doing???

Just yesterday (Sept 18, 2009) I heard Ali saying to Mia, "drink me". I had to turn around and see what they were talking about. Mia was holding Ali's cup while she sipped out of it. Ali must have thought 'drink me' was the way to ask to be fed (?) a drink. We do say 'feed me' but what do we say if it's a drink item and not a food item?

The other day (early June 2009) the girls were taking a bath together and Mia blurted out "Oh Man" about something. Ali thought she was referring to her as a 'man' and shouted back at Mia, "Me not a MAN, me a LADY!" For obvious reasons I have never called her a 'lady' but she's somehow picked the word up. Loved how she defended herself as being a lady...

Yesterday, March 31st 2009, Terence, Ali and I were sitting at the table and talking. Terence made a joke about going to jail. After Ali laughed, I asked her if she knew what 'jail' was. She answered 'yes'. So, I asked her if jail was a place for good guys or bad guys. She correctly answered 'bad guys'. Then, I asked her, "How does Brigi call 'jail'"? I know this is correct but this is the way Ali would understand me asking how would she say 'jail' in Hungarian. Brigi, by the way, is her Hungarian nursery school teacher who she has a very close relationship with. Her answer to my question, "How does Brigi call jail?" was "with a telephone".... Very clever she is...

This afternoon (Jan 28, 2009) Ali pulled out a DVD and asked, 'we watch this when dada come home?' I looked at it and said, 'Ali, that's not a good one for you. It's a little scary.' (it was Men in Black II). She had recognized it and was ready with her quick reply: 'Don't worry (pronounced woowwee) Mama. Me cover my one eye with a pillow (piwwow).'

On Ali's birthday (Jan 24, 2009) while we were driving to Aquaworld, I turned around and offered the kids a stick of gum. I guess normally I / we say a 'piece' of gum. Curt then followed up with a joke asking if any of them wanted a 'stick of dynamite'. The girls were a bit confused but T, without missing a beat, said 'we can't buy dynamite, only people like miners can buy sticks of dynamite.' This is something he got out of one of his books that he loves to read. I believe it's the Richard Scarry What do People do All Day book that he has practically memorized and still goes to bed reading it and examining all the detailed pictures every night.

This morning (Jan 27, 2009) when we were hunting for Ali's shoes for school she looked outside and said, 'Mama, it's raining'. I turned to look out the window she was looking out and replied, 'Ali, I don't see rain'. She then followed up with something in Hungarian that I didn't understand. When I asked her to repeat it she looked at me, switched back to English and said 'It starts snowing after Halloween'. Not sure what this meant, why she said it, how she even remembered what Halloween was as that was ages ago in her little lifetime. Very sweet.

Mia's newest line (as of this first week in Sept 2008) is "I'm having the worst day ever". She's also been saying, "I feel like an idiot". She tends to say the latter when she's feeling a bit shy or lost for words. The first one is usually after she falls, stubs her toes, gets hurt or drops something. I have no idea where either lines have come from. Very funny to hear a 5 year old talk like this...

Every summer we take our 3 kids back to the US to re-familiarize (I'm sure this isn't a word...) them with their American roots. They were born in Europe and have only lived in Hungary their entire lives. Terence, our 7 year old, knows he's American. However, sometimes when he's asked 'Are you English?' he answers 'yes'. I think I've finally gotten it through to him that just because he speaks English doesn't mean he is English. In America (and several other countries), English is spoken... He now gets it and corrects people if they guess he's English. You may think that they would recognize his American accent but I think this misunderstanding usually happens when he is speaking Hungarian or French.

Mia, on the other hand, thinks we are Hungarian. When we were talking about Hungary beating America for the gold medal in water polo, she shouted out 'Yeah, we won!'. We had to explain that Hungary won and not America and we are American. She answered something about us living in Hungary which makes us Hungarian. Needless to say, she is a work in progress.

Then there is Ali who is only 2 1/2 and is still trying to not mix up English with Hungarian in her speech so she has no idea where she's from but will in time.

Anyhow, going back to our trips to the US. Curt and I like to give them an all-American cultural experience whenever we are in the US which includes baseball games, summer camp, carnivals, dunking machines, donuts, bagels, catching lightning bugs, looking for Cardinals and Blue Jays, spotting alligators in the lakes in Kiawah and this year a rodeo and a demolition derby. In addition to introducing our American favorite pastimes to them, we also have to teach them how to talk about it. For example, when our plane was landing in Kansas City on July 4th 2008 we had a perfectly clear day and could see everything. Terence looked out the plane's window and in his loud voice shouted to me, "Look at that baseball court mom!" I could hear heads turning wondering why the American accented boy who should be in at least his 3rd or 4th year of little league just called it a baseball 'court'. Well, that was at the beginning of our US summer trip... ;-)

Tonight (July 11, 2008) on our way home from the Sedgwick state fair (hee haw), Ali shouted from the back seat, "Mama, home now! Me tired!" It was about 9:30pm so way past her bedtime. I told her that we were on our way home (or at least Nana and Papa's) and would be there soon. I followed up with something about daddy is driving as fast as he can. Then, she shouted, "Dada, faster!" She is so funny and so expressive. It's funny to hear her bark her commands. And, when she is tired, she tells us....

This morning (June 24, 2008) as Mia was changing from her PJs to her school clothes I noticed her PJs had several holes in them. I mentioned it to Mia and suggested that maybe we just toss them in the garbage as it was so torn and damaged (plus small on her) that it wouldn't be easy to repair. Mia nodded her head in agreement but then asked me to do one favor for her. She asked, "Mama, can you please just toss them after I go to school? If I'm not here, I won't see it and then I can't get sad."

One morning while we were near Notre Dame in Paris (May 29, 2008), a group of school kids walked by where we were sitting. I heard T say to Liam, "Don't they sound like the kids at the French school?" Gee, I wonder why? haha

Two nights ago (around March 27, 2008) while Terence was getting ready for bed he said, "Mama, you know what?" He always begins his stories like this. After I asked 'what?' he proceeded by telling me the sweetest thing. He said, "I really like being a kid". I have no idea where this came from or why it occured to him at this point but I think it was really sweet. I know earlier in the evening his stomach was hurting him a bit and I was nurturing and taking care of him. I think maybe that is why he decided that being a kid and having a mom (and dad) take care of him when he needed it was okay!

Mia woke up crying 2 mornings ago. She was actually whimpering. I gently stroked her back and kissed her face while whispering in her ear "Mia, you're dreaming. Wake up. It's okay. I'm here. It's mama and I'm here". I repeated these soothing words over and over until she half opened her eyes and started mumbling. I leaned in to try and hear her better. I asked her what was upsetting her. She then said a bit more clearly, "The Easter Bunny pulled my hair!" Oh no. Poor Mia. "Why did the Easter Bunny pull your hair?". "He came in through the bedroom door and pulled my hair while I was sleeping in bed!" I reassured her that the Easter Bunny would NEVER do such a thing. I explained how gentle and giving good ole EB is. However, this morning (2 days later) she asked me how many 'night-nights' until Easter. I told her it was 2 weeks away (aka about 14 night-nights away). She then looked relieved and then asked me if she could get her hair cut short!!

I've been wanting to add another funny Mia quote that occurred over our New Year's (Dec 2007/Jan 2008) ski holiday. One night when Mia was having trouble falling asleep she crawled in between Curt and I as we were still awake talking. She explained that she couldn't fall asleep so we told her she could stay in our bed until she did. She closed her eyes for a couple of minutes and then started smacking herself in the head with both hands. I asked her what she was doing and she replied that she couldn't get it to stop. Curt and I were confused and asked her to elaborate. She said, 'I can't get the voices in my head to stop'. It was so funny as I immediately knew it was her thinking that was in her head. Curt asked her what the 'voices' were saying and she said it sounded like 'blah, blah, blah, blah, blah'. Curt couldn't resist by saying that he knew the feeling!

Last week (January 10, 2008) Mia came with me to the Indian Embassy in Budapest to pick up Curt's and my passports with Indian visas. She always makes me laugh as she's full of questions but never discreet. One of those kids that have to announce to an entire room that she has to go to the bathroom - even though she's only talking to me. While at the Indian Embassy she looked around at this new environment taking everything in. She had so many questions, "Mommy, what's that for?" or "Why is that over there?" She then noticed two paintings. At about the same time as she noticed them one of the consulates sat down next to her and said 'hi'. She returned the gesture with a shy 'hi' and then turned back to me to ask me who those people are in that painting. I had no clue and didn't want to embarrass myself in front of this Indian embassy employee. So, I asked him if he could answer my daughter's question. He looked at her and said, "That's our president". So then I showed Mia the map of India and told her that was the country we were going to. She returned her attention to the man and the woman in the painting and asked who the woman was assuming it was the man who was the president (reminder - she's still not 5 years old). The nice man had to explain that it was the woman who was the president and the man was the prime minister. Then Mia had to ask why the president had the red dot on her forehead and the prime minister had the pretty blue scarf (turban) on his head. She then saw a statue of Ghandi and asked me who he was. I knew that answer but had trouble explaining in 5 year old language why he was so famous. On and on and on she went... She had all the employees listening and entertained as not only was she interested but she was extremely complimentary. Many kids would say, 'that's weird or strange' but Mia found it all interesting and beautiful. They loved that she thought the turban was pretty, the red dot looked nice on the president and in another very Indian photo the traditionally dressed Indian woman looked so pretty with her gold bangles, henna covered hands, and gold outfit. Phew, I was on the edge of my seat nervous she would say something that might not be so kind. Instead she left them all with a smile on their faces and a very proud mom!

Yesterday (Nov 23, 2007) Terence came up to me and said, "Mom, I know America is one of the newest countries in the world but which is the oldest?" I said, "I'm not really sure but what do you think?" This kid is too much. He replied, "I'm not sure either but I would guess China." Not sure if this is right or wrong but it amazes me that he can even come up with something that is a really good guess. Will google it tonight for sure! If anyone knows, please send me the answer.

Last night (Oct 19, 2007) Terence asked me the loaded question: Do we come back to earth after we die? We spent a long time after the girls went to bed talking about it. I explained how different people believed different things and what I believe is that we do. He then asked me if we'd still come back as a family. I realized he had tears in his eyes with worry that he'd have to be part of another family so I answered 'yes'.

Terence asked me the other day why so many ants were eating our tree. He asked how they got onto our property when we have a fence all around it.

In first grade Terence is working on days of the week and months of the year. I asked him to recite what he's learned in French. After he said the days of the week perfectly I asked if he knew them in English. He couldn't think of them but suddenly I heard Mia's voice without hesitation say, 'Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday... etc'

Ali's word of the day was purple yesterday. Okay, so it didn't really sound like purple but it did sound like 'poopoa'. We were both wearing purple shirts and I pointed it out to her. That's how she repeated it after me.