Kinderhotel Round 2

Last year for Ski Break (that is a real thing in European schools...so nice!), we took our first trip to a Kinderhotel. These are all inclusive hotels that cater to kids. It is a week of relaxation and fun for everyone! This year, we decided to do it again at a different Kinderhotel that is a little closer to Budapest. We drove partway Friday night, enjoying a Valentine's Day dinner of Happy Meals. Saturday morning we arrived at the Kinderhotel Babyhotel in Trebesing, Austria.

Happy to see lots of snow!

Kinderhotels provide everything you may need - including robes for all. So cute!

We spent pour first afternoon just walking around and enjoying the hotel. Chelsea loved the sledding hill, but Cade crashed into the netting and that was the end of his love of sledding. 

There is an indoor pool, indoor/outdoor pool, and baby pool. 

Crazy girl almost went down the "snow slide." 

There is also a giant twisty waterslide that is fun for all. Logan LOVES it. 

This play area is adjacent to the dining room. Kids finished eating? No problem, they can go play and we can finish our dinner in peace. Win-win. This play car is a huge hit for all ages. 

The other great feature of the Kinderhotel is a kids club, with tons of fun activities all day long. Our plan for the week is to ski in the mornings, and then we play/swim/whatever in the afternoons. Logan stays at the hotel while we ski and plays with his friends. Not sure if he is happy with that arrangement, but he tolerates it. :) The kids club has these amazing German baby swings that hang from the ceiling and he sleeps for 2 hours in the kids club every day. I think I will buy one to bring home!

Spring Sports

Okay, so maybe it isn't spring yet, but this week has felt more like spring than winter. We are not complaining.

A few pics of the kids current activities - 

Logan and I are going to a mommy and me gymnastics class.  He loves the bars and falling onto the mats...he tucks his arms underneath him when he falls and looks like he will just curl up for a nap. He is not a fan of the jumpy mat the teacher blows up at the end of class. 

 Cade and Chelsea are taking Saturday swim classes at school - our school has a fabulous pool and it is nice to take advantage of it! Swimming is Cade's least favorite activity, but he is getting braver. Chelsea is working on diving and stroke development - she loves it.

Cade has taken a few ski lessons again this year - he loves skiing. The lack of snow isn't a problem -  astroturf works just as well. Maybe we can continue skiing in Houston!

Prescription for Light

We have been stuck in the gray days of January...not my favorite time of the year in Budapest. Everyone jokes about having Seasonal Affective Disorder and we all take vitamin D. When the sun is out, we soak it up like a drug. Thankfully, we have had 2 days of sunshine this week - hopefully more to come!

Today, I got a call from school that Chelsea had fever. I picked her up and she was complaining about her throat. She had strep a few weeks ago, so I did a Dr. Mom and looked at her throat with a flashlight. It was super red and had some pus spots. I called our doctors office, and they couldn't get her in for another 24 hours - that has never happened before! So, I decided to call the other expat clinic and see if I could get her in there. I didn't want to wait in case it was strep. They said they could see her in 30 minutes, so we jumped in the car and went.

The doctor was nice enough, but pretty Hungarian. This means many things- one, it was a bit hard to understand her, and two, I got chastised that Chelsea didn't have socks on with her shoes. Socks will help her fever, you know. She did her exam and said it wasn't strep yet, probably just a virus. She told Chelsea she could stay home for 2 more days and watch TV and eat ice cream. Chelsea liked that!
She proceeded to type up the note and we left.

Upon leaving, I looked down at the note and had to chuckle.
2 things written under the "prescription" section were:
1. use the vacuum cleaner to suction her nose as needed
2. Infrared light in the evening....
What?!?  I have no idea what that is about, but it is the first time we have had a prescription for light!

Good Samaritan Gone Bad

Winter finally arrived in Budapest today, and we welcomed the sight of falling snow. By mid-morning, the streets were covered in white. Logan and I headed out to pick up Meryl and Patrick for our baby gym class. On my way to Meryl's, I was affirming my great snow driving skills and thinking how I used to be afraid to drive on snow packed streets, but now I just cruise along. Go me.

About that time, I had to turn left and onto a steep hill. I headed up and there was an old woman slowly climbing the hill about halfway up. I felt sorry for her, so I stopped and asked her if she wanted a ride. She didn't understand, but with enough gestures she figured it out. She pointed to a nearby house and told me köszönöm sepen, and she continued on her way.

 I continued up the hill, except I didn't. I quickly began sliding backwards. Yikes! I pulled the parking brake, put the car in park, everything I could think to do to stop. And it stopped. Then I tried to go up again. Fail again. After a few tries and fails, I decided I would be leaving the car where it was. I steered backwards to the curb, called Meryl, and abandoned the car. Logan and I hiked up the hill to Meryl's car, where Meryl informed me that the number one rule of snow driving is never stop in the middle of a hill. Oops.  Lesson learned - no more good samaritan for me!!

European Figure Skating Championships

Last weekend, we enjoyed a really fun day out watching the European Figure Skating Championships.  The event was all week long here in Budapest, but we had tickets for the Pairs Free Skate. Our seats were great and the arena was small, so it gave us a whole new perspective of the strength and speed of the athletes. 

 This is the winning pair, Tatiana and Maxim from Russia. Check out the height and her arm muscles!!!  We are excited to watch them in the Olympics!

Our seats were close to the area where the skaters would enter and exit the arena. The skaters were all so gracious to talk to the kids and give autographs. The guy above was giving autographs before the event,. We had no idea who he was, but Chelsea got his autograph anyway. Turns out he was the men's champion, Javier Fernandez from Spain. He is a tiny dude. The women were all super tiny, of course, and looked in need of a cheeseburger. 

This is Stefania Berton from Italy, she and her partner were so kind. 

This was our first Hungarian sporting event, so it was interesting to compare to events in the US. Here, even for this international event, there were no metal detectors or bag searches. The official program/book only cost about $2, and drinks, etc were $2-$3 each. The tickets said no photography, so we were going to be good little rule followers. After a while, it seemed everyone was taking pictures so Larry pulled out the big daddy lens and no one cared. There was a security guard near the skater entrance/exit, but I'm pretty sure anyone could've gotten by them. It is nice to be in a country where you don't have to worry about safety and crazy people, and everyone can just enjoy the event!

We also had some good life lessons for Chels - she is small for her age, and sometimes brings that up. This was a good opportunity to show her a sport where it is good to be small. She also is a bit of a perfectionist, so it was nice to talk with her about how these skaters are the best in the world, yet they still fall. I think ice skating lessons are in our future! :)

Where's Winter?

Last year at this time, the kids were skiing in the backyard. This year, there is no snow in sight. During the day, the highs have been in the 40's. That is barely jacket weather for us - haha.  We are biking and making grass angels instead of snow angels. I do enjoy being able to walk outside without freezing or bundling everyone from head to toe, but we would like to see some snow! 

Christmas Wrap Up

After the cruise, we headed back to my parents house. Santa had left gifts there, and there were also cousins waiting for us! Hooray! We had a full day of opening, celebrating, eating, and playing together.

My dad got Logan all of his favorite things...his own toilet paper roll, a pair of glasses, some door stops, and a toothpick container with a small hole to put the toothpicks back in after dumping them out. A hit for sure!

The other big hit was the dogs...Matt and Kayla brought Gracie and Birdie with them. Logan looovveeed the "puppies" and followed birdie everywhere. Birdie liked Logan, too. 

Zac and Cade played puppy

The rest of our Texas time was full of errands, family, shopping, and fun! 

Cade insisted on buying flowers for Nana and I on one of our Costco trips. 

All too soon it was time for the packing party to begin, and we flew back to Budapest over New Year's Eve. Only 12 bags this year as compared to 15 last year. :) And, some were pretty small this trip. We arrived in Budapest on January 1, tired but thankful for a safe trip once again!