Let's Rock!

Chelsea had an extended birthday celebration this year, beginning with grandparents while we were in Texas and ending with a Rock Star party with her friends in Budapest. We had 12 girls at the party, and 6 countries represented. Her friends that came are from the US, Australia, Israel, South Korea, Hungary, and Mexico. Quite the international crowd. 

My attempt at microphone cupcakes with Budapest supplies. They were not quite Pinterest worthy, but the girls liked them. I did learn that if you need to buy ice cream cones (not found at stores here), McDonalds will sell them for the equivalent of 10 cents each. Thanks to my hubby for procuring those!

We played Pin the Microphone on the Rock Star - Chelsea's idea.

Special thanks to Natalie for drawing our rock star!

Glitter nail polish, glitter eye shadow, glitter hair spray, inflatable microphones, music, and dancing on the coffee table - super easy party and the girls had so much fun. We can fit a lot of girls on our table!

This was our first time to use one of the Hungarian birthday candles - it is more like a sparkler and shoots up a giant flame.

Such a fun day celebrating our girl!!

Daredevils over the Danube

May 1st was Hungarian Labor Day. We stumbled upon a blurb about an airshow over the Danube, so we decided to head down and check it out. There is no better location for an airshow than over the river right in front of Parliament.

The first half was an aerobatic show with spectacular stunts. I could barely watch as these planes repeatedly flew UNDER the bridges on the Danube.  They followed that up with lots of straight up flying and then free falling towards the river. Yikes. 

Great show - no crashes - great day!

Marvelous May

Finally, in the month of May, the weather here has been great and we have spent lots of time outside. Logan is the newest passenger in the Barbie car and he loves it. Cade is our newest wild driver and he loves it. Thankful we have lots of outdoor space for them to ride bikes, drive cars, and play!

Chelsea and I enjoyed a "girl-time" Sunday afternoon recently. We walked part way home from a friends' house, pausing to take in the always lovely view of Parliament.

Meanwhile, Larry loaded up the boys on the bike. 

One of the boys was happier about this arrangement than the other. 

Our sweet kitty Rudy began going outside and hiding, and we knew he wasn't going to make it much longer. He had some bad habits in his old age, so while it was a little sad when he died, I didn't shed too many tears. Thankfully, the kids did okay with it, too. 

As I mentioned before, I was in charge of the Book Fair at school this year. I had great helpers, but I wanted to be there to make sure it went smoothly. So, what do you do with a one year old in tow at school all day long? Come prepared! Larry had the great idea that I could take our sun tent and it was perfect. Logan had his own space to play and he stayed pretty happy between the tent, crawling around the room, playing with boxes, and being entertained by my sweet friends. 

Much more Marvelous May to come!

Texas Safari

The weekend that we were in Texas, we made a quick dash to San Antonio and spent a day with Larry's parents and a day with my sis and her family. Our first stop was the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch,  a drive through safari. We all enjoyed it!

Love that chubby little finger

 This dude got a little too close for comfort. 

The next day, we met up with Laura and fam for some fun cousin swimming time. 

Cade conquered his fear of pools which was a huge step!

Great weekend!

American Observations

Chelsea is now old enough to notice more differences between life in the USA and life in Hungary. She kept me laughing at her innocent observations while we were in Texas.

Here is America in the eyes of a now 7 year old -
*Why are there so many do-nut shops?

*In Hungary, we grow healthy food. In America, they grow sugar trees.

*There is no pay at the pump gas in Hungary. I had never thought about her noticing this until she said, "Mom, why do we have to pay for gas in Hungary, but not in America?"

Ahh, America, the land of donuts, sugar, and free gas.

Tagging Along to Texas

A week after returning from the cruise, we tagged along with Larry on a business trip to Houston. As much as I hate the flight, it is always good to be there, even if only for a week. It was a busy week of...

Early birthday celebrating,

park playing,

popsicle and goldfish eating, and

Nana and Papa jumping. 

We enjoyed spending time with everyone that we were able to see, and we look forward to having more time there this summer. 

Date Night

Shortly after the cruise, Larry and I enjoyed a fun date night with sweet friends. With 3 kids, sometimes date nights are few and far between. We took full advantage of this night, enjoying the beautiful Budapest lights after a nice dinner.  Seeing Budapest at night never gets old!

Malaga

Our last stop on the cruise was in Malaga, part of the Costa de Sol in Spain. A highlight for us was taking a (sketchy) taxi ride to the city of Mijas. We loves the whitewashed buildings and beautiful views. 

If we looked reeeaaalllly hard, we could see a speck of Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar.

Donkey Taxi in Mijas

Beautiful!!!

After some time in Mijas, our taxi driver took us on a tour of Malaga. It was nice, but the kids were d.o.n.e with tours and taxis. We asked him for a last stop at a souvenir shop before he took us back to the boat. Chelsea picked out a pen and a bookmark, and Cade found a belt. He had been wanting a belt for oh so long, but he is so skinny that we hadn't been able to find one. We found a cloth belt in the shop, and Larry cut it to make it fit. Cade was thrilled and it was quite possibly the highlight of his vacation.

Lanzarote

Our day in Lanzarote was a beach day for us. The wind was brisk and the water cold, but we enjoyed feeling a little sun and the older two loved playing in the sand. 

Little guy was not a fan of the sand. 

Summer Countdown

I will finish the cruise posts very soon....in the meantime, I realized that 6 weeks from tomorrow  we leave for our annual summer trip to the US. In the 6 weeks before we leave, I have a Book Fair to run, a birthday party for Chelsea, a family trip to Amsterdam, Larry has a trip to Brussels, we have guests for 10 days, and of course all the normal end of school year festivities. Yikes!! These 6 weeks will fly!!!

Circus At Sea

As I mentioned before, the kids loved the Kids Club on our cruise. One of the highlights was learning circus tricks all week, and then performing a circus on the main stage of the large theatre on the ship.

Waving to us

Chelsea chose to be a feather balancer and a lasso twirler. 

She mastered balancing the feather on her hand and on her chin. 

Perfect for a Texas girl!

Cade's group took on the role of the circus tigers. 

He was so excited to be a tiger and was soooo adorable on that big stage. 

Rarrr!

The tigers all jumped through the ring of fire....so cute!!!!

We were so proud of our little circus stars!