To Market, To Market

After leaving Vienna's main Christmas market, we ambitiously hit 2 more markets before returning to the original one for the evening festivities. With 3 small children, it is always an adventure to see just how far we can push them before someone has a meltdown. Fortunately, the day was full of fun kid activities and they held all up really well!

The market outside Karlskirche provided a giant area full of hay for the kids to play in. Cade pretended he was baby Jesus in the manger. Speaking of baby Jesus, I'm pretty sure he didn't look like the kid on the Karlskirche Christmas sign.

Hay Angels!

After the hay, we headed to Schonbrunn. We always love visiting Schonbrunn, and we loved the market there. We took a quick look around, and then found some yummy food.

From there, it was back to the hotel to warm up and let the kids take naps before heading back out for more Christmas fun!

 The market by night was beautiful, all lit up with ornaments in the trees. 

Our main destination was the little train ride through the lights - fun family time and definitely a highlight for Cade!  Another fun trip to Vienna!

Vienna Christmas Market

 The first weekend in December, we headed to Vienna to visit the Christmas Markets. There wasn't any snow, but it was oh so cold. We all bundled up and were good to go!
                       

Our first stop was the main market outside the City Hall. 

Our favorite part was the children's area. There were several activities for kids, each charging a couple of euros per child. Our kids wanted to make cookies, of course! Each child was given an apron, hat, and a mound of dough. They could roll and cut cookies for as long as they wanted to stay.

                                                 

 There was lots of flour flying around our little bakers! I think they could've stayed all day!

 No baking for this guy, but he enjoyed his Daddy time!

             When they were finished, they received a bag of baked cookies. These were a great bribery tool for later when they got tired of walking!

Our last stop of the morning was this little ride. 

From there, we headed to another market - more to come!

On the First Day of Christmas..

As soon as Thanksgiving festivities were complete, we pulled out the Christmas decorations. We have a tiny tree in Budapest, but it is perfect for the short time we are home in December and perfect for the kids to decorate. 

                                          We had eager decorators...

and an eager ornament taster. 

Natalie is a new blessing to us this year. She loves on our kids, brings over fun things for them to do,  and does my dishes. We're trying to convince her to move in with us. We all love her!

All the excitement wore this guy out. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving...we had it. We were thankful. We have SO much to be thankful for.
 Unfortunately, I have no pictures of our actual Thanksgiving celebration. We had a fun night celebrating with about 30 people at our house. In the midst of the fun chaos, i never took a picture. Oh well. I did get pictures leading up the the event, so I will share those.

It is not easy to find whole turkeys in Budapest. Last year, we found some small frozen turkeys, but I couldn't find them this year. We got brave and ordered turkeys from a butcher.  

This big guy learned to climb the stairs for Thanksgiving. 

Logan and I visited Cade at school for his Thanksgiving feast. So cute!

So thankful for all the little hands and feet in our house!

Viva Espana!

As soon as the school Halloween festivities ended, we jumped into the car and drove to Vienna, spent a few hours in a hotel, and got up very early to catch a flight to Madrid. In the wee hours of the (freezing, cranky, sleep-deprived children) morning, we wondered aloud why we were doing this. Such seems to happen once every couple of trips, but then we always decide it is worth it. 

Indeed, it was worth it as we met my parents in Spain. We enjoyed a couple of days of warmer-than-Budapest temperatures and a relaxing weekend after a crazy busy week. 

                                      

Windy day in front of the Royal Palace.

We all enjoyed the Armory, especially Cade.  Larry secretly snapped pics while I watched the guard to make sure we wouldn't be booted out.  

Along with the Armory, we all loved touring the bull ring in Madrid. The audio guide was informative without being too drawn out, and the place was nearly empty so the kids had lots of freedom.  

Their favorite part was getting to run around in the ring. My awesome mom played the part of the matador, and Chelsea and Cade were the bulls. Eventually, the bulls won and the matador fell to the ground, defeated. Good times!

Halloween

While in London, we found Halloween costumes for this year. Chelsea decided to be a Lalaloopsy and Cade was thrilled to be a knight with a sword. Sadly, we couldn't find a baby costume for Logan! I guess Europeans don't know why babies would dress up. 

 Our kids had plenty of trick or treating opportunities this year. We began at the McLendon's party, where they were so smart to allow the kids to trick or treat at the front door, then back door, then repeat until the had loads of candy. So fun.  Chelsea and Cade loved it!

 I came up with a semi-homemade bear costume for Logan, but he hated the hat and just wanted to play. No good Halloween pics of him. Oh well.

The next day, we got to trick or treat with some friends at one of the American Embassy compounds. That was super fun, with lots of good American candy!

Finally, on Halloween, the school had a carnival followed by a trunk-or-treat that night. It was a fun, but LONG day as I was in charge of the carnival. Poor Logan was with me all day, and I brought the pack and play and toys to help keep him occupied. At one point, a kid came up and asked me if there was a prize at the babysitting booth.

At the end of the day, I think we had all had enough Halloween to last us until next year! We also had a 4 day weekend, which meant another trip!

First Recital

 Just after we returned from London, Chelsea had her first ballet recital at school. The performance was Vivaldi: Four Seasons and included ballerinas of all ages. Chelsea was a bumblebee and watered some flowers.

Lots of bumblebees!

The cutest little bumblebee!

Her next performance is in 2 weeks as a snowflake in the Nutcracker. Can't wait!

More London

We began our second day in London with a leaf fight...the leaves were huge!!!

We followed that with the Hop-On, Hop-Off tour.

We hopped off at Buckingham Palace to fight the crowd and try to glimpse the changing of the guard.

We later hopped off for a trip on the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel. It was great because it wasn't crowded, so we had our own pod.  When it is super busy, they told us they can fit 30 people in each one. I don't think that would be very enjoyable!

Logan is sporting "jacket-pants" due to a diaper blow out. You do what you gotta do when traveling!

 We stayed in a cute apartment in Notting Hill. 

Chelsea always knew she was royalty - now she has proof. 

Fun London trip! We will definitely go back!