International Day 2013

Yikes! Here we are at the end of September. As usual, I have several blog posts to catch up on. We will start here. 

The big kids celebrated International Day at AISB again this year. It is hard to believe this is our 4th International Day! My feelings and observations remained the same as last year. Notice Chelsea's dress and boots remained the same as well. We have certainly gotten our use out of this dress! International day is always a fun day and I always love to see my kids march in behind the American flag. 

Side note - Chelsea has just started letting me do her hair on a more regular basis. She was so happy when I did these side braids, even though they were a bit crooked. After I was finished, she said, "Mommy, you are the best hair-doer. When daddy retires, you should open a store for hair doing." 

Love. 

School Days

We are in full back-in-school mode around here. I am enjoying my 3rd year as an Elementary Parent-School Association (PSA) representative, so Logan and I spend a lot of time at school. I love seeing my big kids throughout the day and being involved in their school. 

We had beautiful weather last weekend for our back to school picnic - always a fun time for the kids! 

Love to see what Chelsea writes about...so precious. 

Cade is loving school thus far this year. He comes home tired every day, but wanting to practice his letters. He is super interested in words right now and tries to figure out beginning and ending sounds. 

 Not to be left out, this guy also loves to practice writing. Hooray for Magic Erasers from the US!

Going on a Bear Hunt

We're Going on a Bear Hunt is one of the boys' favorite books, and so we went on a bear hunt of our own. We live in the Buda hills, and we have some great hiking trails very near our house. Sadly, we have never used them until a couple of weeks ago! It was so much fun and we will definitely do it more often now. 

4 walkers, one rider

So many cool discoveries along the way

We overdid it a bit and hiked all the way to a glider airstrip - took about an hour and a half to get there. Needless to say, the kids then were worn out and we still had to go back. Since it was our first hike, we didn't think we would go far. I packed water but no snacks. Oops. 

Thankfully, Daddy is a pack mule and gave everyone a little rest. 

You can see the rider conked out along the way. 

We came upon this fallen tree, and suddenly the two who couldn't walk another step mustered the energy to drag this tree through the forest :)

The Relaxing-est Resort

While in Greece, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki. I would highly recommend it to any Budapest peeps that want a quick weekend getaway. The resort was gorgeous, the service was fantastic, and the whole weekend was so relaxing. We loved every minute.

Photo ops on the balcony of our room.

 Chelsea said all she needed were some cucumber slices for her eyes.

We enjoyed a suite thanks to Larry's Hyatt status. So nice!!

Cade is the lone swimmer in the pic - the pools were always empty! 

Thankful for these amazing adventures...such special family time.  

Day at the Beach

One of our most fun days occurred when we rented a car and drove from Thessaloniki down to the middle "finger" of the Halkidiki peninsula. Our hotel concierge gave us great recommendations about beaches to stop at along the way. We stopped at 3 different beaches, but our favorite and the majority of the day was spent at Armenistis. Unbelievably beautiful. 

The beach was made up of teeny tiny pebbles. Cade was in heaven with a bucket, a shovel, and never-ending rocks. 

Logan wasn't so sure about the water at first, but quickly decided he liked it. It was so refreshing and completely clear. 

We made our way around the entire peninsula before grabbing a gyro and heading back to the hotel. Super fun day!

It's Greek to Me

Two weeks ago, we took a quick trip to Thessaloniki, Greece. Why Thessaloniki? It was cheap on Wizz Air for the weekend we wanted to travel. So, why not? We stayed at a lovely Hyatt Resort a little outside of the city, and we enjoyed 3 days of Greek bliss. The main purpose of the trip was pool, beach, and relax, but we did spend a full afternoon in the city. 

The compulsory ice cream stop...super good. 

Nice Greek policeman put Cade up on his motorcycle. 

We did a semi hop on/hop off tour. This is St. Paul Church, supposedly built on the site where Paul taught. We couldn't figure out how to get in, but it was beautiful from the outside. 

You know, just a few ruins around the corner. no big deal. It always amazes me how in Europe, you can just climb all over the ruins. We have no idea what these ruins were, but they were cool to look at and climb on!

Lollipops keep us happy. 

The city was nice, but the highlights were definitely the beaches and the resort. Interesting fact - this is probably the first country where we haven't seen (or eaten at) a McDonald's. It turns out there is only one McD's left in Greece. Impressive! There was a Starbucks, though.