Seven!

This little dude is 7 months old! He is pure joy and usually wears the smile you see above. He is now mobile and army crawls all over the place. Soon, it will be time to put the baby gates back up. He still loves every food we give him and will eat anything he can get his hands on. He is wearing 9-12 month clothes and weighs about 19 pounds. He had a good streak of sleeping through the night, but lately it seems he just needs a little company around 3 am. 

He is a great little traveller and will hit his 7th country this month. He has been to the US, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. For 7 months, we will add Slovenia to the list this weekend! He will hit 8 at 8 months with the UK added, possibly 9 at 9 months...I think that is where the streak will end. Too bad he will not remember any of it!

We sure love this little guy!

Under the Big Top

 What fun it was to take a trip to the Budapest Circus when my parents were here last month. The circus runs year round, but this was our first time to go. We will go back for sure! The arena is quite small, so you are close to the action. Sometimes, it felt a little too close!

They did put up a little fence at intermission, but we weren't so sure it would stand should the tigers decide to test it. Thankfully, the tigers obeyed and stayed within the ring. 

It was a nice mix of animals and acrobats - kept us all entertained! 

 In the lobby, they had a green screen set up for fun photos. They were super cheap, so we decided to have some fun.

Cade tamed a tiger. 

 Chelsea was an acrobat.

 Mom and Larry sacrificed others to save themselves. 

The act changes every few months, but I think the tigers remain. There is a new act that just began that appears to feature goats...should be interesting!

Off to School

This year, we have a First Grader and a Preschooler at AISB.

Chelsea started First Grade on August 21st. Her teacher is Mr. Connell and she is quite happy. She begins her after school activities this week, and she is doing Ballet and Baking this trimester. 

 Cade is also attending AISB this year  - it is so nice having them in the same school! He is going to PreK 3 3-4 days a week. It is a 5 day program, but thankfully they are flexible and his teacher is great. I am not ready to send him 5 days a week!

Logan is enjoying Mommy time and also spends a lot of time at AISB with me!

 The big kids ride the bus to school on most days. Chelsea is such a great big sis and takes Cade to his class every morning. She helps him change to his indoor shoes, get settled, and then she goes to class. Melt my heart. He gets to see her a few times a day on the playground. The first few days, he tried to go back to class with her!

We are looking forward to a great year at school!

Wieliczka Salt Mines

While in Krakow, we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines. The mine was bult int he 13th century and still produced salt until 2007! The unique feature of these salt mines is the statures that were carved from the rock salt by the miners. Things to know if you decide to go....the tour takes about 2 1/2 hours. That is a long time to be trapped underground with 3 little people! The kids did really well, but it was not that interesting for them and there is a lot of walking (800 stairs and about 2 miles of walking). The first part of the tour is 400 stairs down - one windy staircase that never ends. That part was super claustrophobic, but after that it wasn't too bad. 

Meet our pack mule - he is awesome. He spent much of the tour carrying Cade and Logan. 

The statues were impressive. 

The Lord's Supper

The Great Cathedral was the most impressive part of the mine - too bad it was hard to get a good picture due to the weird light and reflection off the salt.  

 This was how we all felt at the end - so happy to see the exit. The mines were interesting to see, but we would have enjoyed it a lot more if the tour was about an hour. After we saw this Exit sign, it was at least 20 more minutes before we were actually out. We had to wind around and around and finally, gloriously found the elevator to take us to the surface. We were so happy to see daylight again!

Krakow

From Auschwitz/Birkenau, we drove an hour through the Polish countryside before arriving in Krakow. I had a view of Poland as gray and old, but it was quite the opposite. Beautiful countryside! We checked into our hotel in the heart of the city and then headed out for some sightseeing. 

A lollipop couldn't even keep him awake. 

Fun times at a small candy factory where we watched them make hard candies.   

Always love the outdoor cafes 

Part of the town square

His souvenir - he really wanted the wooden sword, but this was our compromise.   

The castle grounds were beautiful

We read in Rick Steves book that this corner in in the Wawel Castle courtyard is one of the Hindu 7 energy sites of the world, or something like that. My dad and Cade recharged their energy here. 

It was fun to have my sweet parents with us!

We only scratched the surface of Krakow on this quick trip, but we enjoyed our time there!

Birkenau

Thanks to my hubs for the sweet birthday post! I am blessed!! Now, back to the Poland trip...

After visiting Auschwitz, we drove a few miles to Birkenau, aka Auschwitz II. Birkenau was built as the expansion of Auschwitz and designed for killing. It could hold 100,000 people and roughly 6000 were killed every day. Sobering. Horrible. The size of the place was staggering - went on as far as the eye could see. There, we discussed, reflected, took it in...remembered. 

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Someone's turning a year older today.  She's pretty special to us!  

This is what Chelsea (6) has to say about her Mom today.

I love you.  You're cool.  You are special.  We play together nice.  My favorite thing to do with you is board games and Twister, even though it's not a board game.  One thing you do that makes me really happy is when you take care of me when I'm sick.  I like when you come to Big Sing.  I like when you came to the first assembly.  

 

This is what Cade (3) has to say about his Mom today.

I love you.  I like to play with Mama.   I like to swim with her.    

This is what Logan (6 months) has to say about his Mom today.

Thank you for my bottles in the middle of the night.  My dad doesn't get up with me very much.  I can't believe you have taken me to 6 countries already.  You're the best!  -- translated by Larry

 
  

This is what Larry (your husband) has to say about you today. 

 You do so much to make sure our lives work!  You take your job as a mom very seriously - it's a full time job for sure.  You even said last night something that really struck home -- even though Cade is very much enjoying school and would probably go 5 days/week if we wanted him to, you choose to give up your "freedom" because you refuse to turn over his rearing to the school.  You constantly read books to get new ideas.  Have I mentioned you're amazing?  You plan the best adventures to help us build memories and then takes the time to document them in blogs and scrapbooks.  You followed me 6000 miles away from home and took 2 young children with you - need I say more?  Then you were willing to  live apart for 2.5 months to follow the growing of our family that God was calling us to.  You keep our lives on schedule and you ensure that we get done what needs to get done.  You demonstrate unconditional love daily.  I love you, Carey Michelle!