Sports Superstar

The new round of After School Activities has started for Katie. She has signed up for Floor Hockey (Girls Only), Gymnastics and Basketball. So far she is enjoying them very much, with Floor Hockey as her stated favorite.

Here are some pictures (I tried to pick some "action shots" so forgive me if they are a little fuzzy).

Taking a shot (or at least trying to).

I'm glad the thing is not any higher!

Ready to pass the ball.

You can see all the pictures on our Kodak Gallery Homepage.

Almost Got It

I would say he got it 85% of the way on. What do you think?

Katie the Photographer

Since Katie got her camera for Christmas, she has been busy taking pictures of everything and anything and her brother. When VJ sees the camera he's taken to shielding his face like he's a celebrity and Katie is a paparazzi.

I of course get to see all of her works as I load them, first to the computer and then to her Kodak Gallery Homepage and it makes me laugh to wonder at what exactly is going through her head when she picks stuff/sets up stuff to photograph. Here are some of my favorites:

Here's VJ on Christmas morning before he learned to fear the pink camera.

Pretty lights at the mall.

Just one of the many, MANY pictures of baby dolls.

Katie was very proud of her Lego creation.

A picture of the pictures on the wall. Maybe there's some deep philosophical message she was going for that I'm just not deep enough to get.

The computer thing at the bowling alley is featured in many of her pictures.

This is my favorite. Katie lined up the Justice League in front of the box to her Princess Fashion toy. The contrast is just too funny.

And on a semi-related topic, here you can see what the Sheriff from Disney/Pixar's movie "Cars" would look like if Katie had been on the design team.


You too will learn to fear the pink camera.

More Bowling with Katie & Anya

Sorry for the lack of posts in a while...just not too much happening.

You can expect a post about Bowling at least once a month since that has officially become our thing to do when Katie has an Early Dismissal day. Which is fine because the girls really seem to enjoy it and so do I.

Bowler	Game 1	Game 2
Katie	87	74
Anya	79	110
Vito	144	161

Anya really rocked on her second game, coming up with 4 spares! Katie, while not scoring as high, has been working on her form as she wants to "bowl the right way." And it's working, as she had several balls that went all the way down the lane without touching the bumpers!

Originally I wasn't going to bowl as my elbow had been killing me on and off since Christmas (no I haven't seen a doctor). But I was feeling pretty good so I decided what the hell. I set Katie up though when I told her not to tell Mommy about it. The little squealer ratted me out as soon as Anna walked through the door that night!


Katie took most of the pictures so you can find them all on her Kodak Gallery Homepage.

Nothing is ever easy....

I have some upcoming business trips and needed to get some vaccinations.

First, figuring out how to get these vaccinations was a challenge. I asked the company HR and they sent me to the company-contracted doctor. That doctor then came back and said they don't actually do this and that I needed to go to the National Center for Epidemiology - International Vaccination Center - as they are the only approved organization recognized by World Health Organization.

Now, luckily, they have an English language webpage that was very clear. However, the web site recommended to call for an appointment between 8:30 - 9:00 am. Well, needless to say, it took several days to actually remember at the right time to make the call. Then, of course, the receptionist didn't speak English, so I could not make an appointment.

So, now I had to ask my wonderful expat translator contact to call for me. She calls and gets back to me that they are booked up for appointments until March and I should just drop in (of course only between 9 -12 Mondays - Thursday).

So, I finally decide I am going to go and get these on Monday morning.

BIG SURPRISE, I forgot and went straight to work. Once I finally get myself extracted from e-mail and on my way - it is 10:30.

Now, I had actually got directions and mostly knew where I was going. I drove to the place with no wrong turns or u-turns. I found a parking place relatively close and walked right up to the place. Luckily, at the reception desk to the complex, the man ahead of me had a vaccination card, so I thought I could follow him, if I was totally out of luck. But, the guard actually spoke some English and I got enough Hungarian across for us to understand each other.

So, now as I am walking to the office, I am picturing waiting for 1.5+ hours to get these done, being that they are not taking appointments. However, I was in and out in 20 minutes.

Funny how 5 shots cost almost $150.

Then, I got in my car, drove straight back to work without incident.

So, while I can say this wasn't easy - I kept thinking it could have been so much worse.

The Tooth Fairy Saga - Conclusion

So you all will be happy to know that the Tooth Fairy made it to our house last night and there were gap-toothed smiles aplenty this morning.

The Tooth Fairy left a nice note (see below) as well as double the normal amount of loot (not just one, but two John Adams Gold Dollar Coins).

(Click on the picture to enlarge it to read it more easily.)

Little Known Tooth Fairy Fact

Did you know that sometimes, like when your tooth comes out right at bedtime, the Tooth Fairy may not come until the next night? It's true. It seems that apparently the Tooth Fairy's schedule was already closed and she was off on her rounds by the time Katie's tooth came out so she won't be coming until tonight. You would think that in the Age of Information that the Tooth Fairy might have a Blackberry or something that her staff could send updates to.

Breaking News

In a dental development only minutes old, I can report that the ever elusive Tooth Fairy will be making a stop in Budapest this evening.

The "My Internet Connection is Back Up" Post

January 4^th saw the one year anniversary of our arrival in Budapest. I had planned on posting something to mark the occasion but now, three days later, who cares. We've been here a year, we really like it, hurray for us. I have some other stuff to talk about now.

Our internet connection has been down since Friday morning. When you rely on the internet for your news of EVERYTHING that happens outside of your house it's a pretty big inconvenience when it's not available for a length of time. Anna thinks that I am more annoyed that I have no one to call and yell at about the problem than I am about the actual issue. I thought about that for a while and have concluded that she is mostly wrong. While yelling at someone would definitely make me feel better, I'd still be pissed that it took 3+ days for the internet to come back on.

****

As I was walking around the house this morning (OK I was sitting in front of the computer catching up on 3 days worth of comics news) and the house just felt different. Like something was missing. Then I realized. No one was biting my ankle going "Daddy. Daddy. DADDY!"
I haven't looked forward so much to the 1st day of school in...like...ever. As is my tradition after a long school break, I sat on my ass, surfed the internet, read my book and did absolutely no housework. OK I did vacuum and I have to make dinner in like 5 minutes but that's it. Best of all, it's Anna's turn to read the bedtime story and tuck the kids in.

****

The only challenge we had in getting the kids off to school today, other than the leftover ice from the freezing rain we had yesterday, was that my car wouldn't start. Anna and Katie did a great job over the weekend cleaning the inside of the car. But someone, and I'll name no names (OK, it was Anna), forgot to turn off the interior light after she was done. She totally redeemed herself by finding the jumper cables in our mess of a storage room. Some of you will say that she shouldn't have had to clean out my car in the first place. I agree with you. That was her choice. The state of cleanliness of the car bothers me not at all. She was the one who complained that she couldn't see out the windows, so it was really for herself that she did this.

Speaking of the freezing rain, it's always fun to get out and about after we have weather. The rule of thumb for Budapest roads is: If the road is a on a bus route, they are usually clear. The problem lies in that our house is about 1km past the last bus stop. And about ¹/₂ of that km is a steep hill. Once we get on to the main road it is smooth sailing to Katie's school and I turn off the main road to go up a semi steep hill. Lots of fun at the beginning and ends of our trip.

And since it's snowing right now, it should be "fun" going to school tomorrow. I think I need a drink.

Skating

Anna & I took the kids Ice Skating yesterday. The West End City Center (aka the Mall of Car Troubles) has an ice rink on it's roof. Anna brought her skates but this time I wisely decided to keep my boots on. Having not skated in quite some time, it's hard enough to keep myself up much less while dragging/pushing a kid around the rink.

The kids had a good time flailing about. Anna & I did our best to help keep them upright.


More pictures on our Kodak Gallery Homepage. Not too many though since it's a tough job keeping your kid from cracking his/her head open. Also while I was taking some pictures of Anna skating, VJ sat on the ground a started eating some of the snow off the ice so I decided it would be better to pay attention to him.