Silverstein!

Chelsea's class pet is a stuffed snake named Silverstein. She had the honor of bringing him home a couple of weeks ago. She was very excited and showed him all around the house. 

They did pull ups,

played hockey,

went sledding,

built a snowman,

and finally went to sleep.

 It was a busy day for Silverstein!

Snowy Sightseeing

 We were so excited to welcome Philip, Patsy, and Travis to Budapest a couple of weeks ago!  They picked the coldest week of the winter to come, but it didn't stop us from heading out and seeing the sights.

 We couldn't all fit in my car, so they got very familiar with our public transportation routes.

            One day, it snowed and snowed and snowed, so we called it a snow day and stayed in.

                                               Cade gave instructions on shoveling the snow!

                                                Travis was the expert snowman builder.

They spoiled us with lots of yummy Valentine candy from home.  Larry and Cade fought over the giant Reese's hearts.  It was a great week of spending time together and we are so thankful they came!

Snow Days

After a dry winter, we have finally gotten good snow the past couple of weeks. It has been perfect - plenty to play in, but not enough to disrupt our normal routine. Cade loves it this year and doesn't fight putting on his snow gear. He is turning into a daredevil and loves our backyard sled path. 

It's never too early to teach the skill of snow-shoveling

Building a snowman takes team work!

                         We had fun with some special visitors..Travis was an expert snowman builder!

After some high winds, Mr. Snowman was doing the limbo.

                                                                     I like snowballs!

A Wild Day

On our second day in Bratislava, we visited the local zoo. We were about the only people there!   It was a large zoo with lots of hungry animals and a fun dinosaur park at the back. 

Here are the dinosaurs - where are the people? It felt a bit like Jurassic Park.  

 After visiting the dinosaurs, we made our way to the monkey house. They were the only animals that appeared to have had a recent renovation and they actually had a really nice monkey house.  They hung out right by the glass and seemed to enjoy the interaction.

What are you looking at?

Cutest baby monkey ever. Fascinating to watch.                                      

We had already visited the tigers once, but stopped back by on our way out. They were all inside and had just been fed. We have seen the tiger feedings at the Houston zoo, where they get a nice slab of meat that looks like it came from the local grocery store. 

Here, the tigers got a nice leg of some poor animal - fur, hooves, and all. The circle of life, I guess! 

Legs laying everywhere - yuck!                                

The tigers liked them. 

Mr. Lion was beautiful, and mad that he didn't have a leg to eat.
He was inside a tiny enclosure and roaring...it shook the room! Amazing animals. 

We got back to Budapest and headed straight to a birthday party at our zoo. At the party, the kids got to feed the elephants. How fun is that? Cade was super brave and said, "It's not scary." Chelsea loved it, too!

Giving apples to the elephant. 

One day - 2 zoos - 2 different countries. 

Devin Castle

On the way to the zoo, we stopped at Devin Castle. It is a really, really, really old castle in Bratislava

                                       

          

We hiked up to the gates, took a quick look around and decided we were good and didn't need to go any further. Much of it was closed for renovations, except there was a sign saying they ran out of money so they stopped the renovations. Funny. 

Bratislava

We hit the road this weekend for a quick 2 hour drive to Bratislava, Slovakia.  Why Bratislava? It is close and we hadn't yet been there, so why not? We stayed at a nice, small hotel about a 5 minute walk from Old Town.  We were a little afraid when we drove into the "parking garage" and found 4 spaces. Hmm.

                                       
But, the hotel turned out to be lovely and modern and spacious...we had a huge room with a king size bed and a pull out couch, plus a sitting area. There were 3 TV's and a computer in the room.  I would recommend Danubia Gate for anyone travelling to Bratislava. It also had a small children's play area.
                                     
Our room wasn't quite ready when we arrived, so we bundled up and headed out in search of lunch. We saw the usual McD's and KFC, but were on the hunt for something a little more authentic. But, when we turned a corner and saw a sign for Sbarro, I couldn't resist. It was across from an ice rink and for a brief moment I felt like I was at the Houston Galleria.
                                       
After lunch, we strolled though Old Town. The Old Town was picturesque..and a bit deserted.
                               
The picture above is the "Main Square". On a Saturday. In the middle of the day. Where, oh where, are the people? It was strange. It was also great, because the kids could run freely up and down the streets.
                                        

They enjoyed pretending to shoot the cannon and posing with random statues. 

                                        

           

This is St Martin's Cathedral, where several Hungarian kings were crowned during the almost 1000 years that Bratislava was part of Hungary. On the top of the steeple is a replica of the Hungarian crown. 

Across from the church was a wonderful children's museum, Bibiana.  I would recommend it for anyone with small kids. They had many rooms with different projects or play things in each room. 

                                             

Fun baking room

Pretend snow

 Mister man likes to use "skissors"

Under the Sea

Painting glass tiles

                           After our time there, we stopped for some coffee and dessert to warm up.

Option 1

Option 2

We are not so mean as to eat dessert and only allow our kids to have fruit...instead, Cade refused to try the cake and begged for an orange that he saw on the counter. Alrighty, then. 

Next up - the Bratislava Zoo...it needs a post to itself!