Happy Father's Day

Anna and I don't really exchange gifts for Mother's Day or Father's Day. However, this past Mother's Day I decided to go to the movies and see Iron Man and gave Anna the gift of some quality time with the kids. For Father's Day Anna did me one better and has left the country for the week (she's in France).

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad ever.

A special "Happy Father's Day" to my brother Frank on his very 1st Father's Day (you have only yourself to blame that I don't have a more updated picture of you and my niece).

Here's a picture of me and my goofs from our recent trip to Ireland (which I still have yet to post about...Coming Soon).

And of course the obligatory "Goofy Picture" of my Dad. Since it's Father's Day I decided to be nice and post the picture of his portrait hanging at the "Best Dad's Museum" in NoWhere, USA.

Happy Father's Day!

Election 2008

My Mom and her sister are a bit upset that Hillary won't be running for President this November. Maybe they can get behind this candidate:

Katie's Dance Recital

Katie's Dance Recital was this past weekend. We had dress rehearsal (2 hours) last Sunday (6/1), dress rehearsal (4 hours) on Saturday and then 2 shows this Sunday. VJ and I, having already attended both dress rehearsals while Anna was in Houston, skipped the 2^nd show.

Katie did a great job and really enjoyed herself but personally I'm glad that it's over.

VJ Dance Class Video

I had some technical difficulties so I was not able to load these on the previous post.

VJ's Dance Review

Today was Vito's final dance class. The kids are really too young to have a big show or recital but the parents were invited to the last class to see what the kids have been doing this whole time. Dani, the dance teacher, brought in a bunch of costumes for them to try on. The girls loved the colorful dresses with wings, however the pickings for the boys was a little slimmer. Dani offered VJ and Carlos some "Sparkley Pants" which they thankfully declined. They did go for the striped vests though, which were not too bad.

Dani had them run through all the dances they've done this year like warming up exercises, pretending to be animals, marching and a lot of running around the gym.

Vito and Tyyne

Vito had a GREAT time and participated enthusiastically, even after some of the other kids started to get tired and slow down. He was very disappointed to learn that this was the last dance class.

1st Grade Movie Set Field Trip

Katie's classmate Mate's dad is director Herendi Gábor. He invited the class to come and check out the set for his new film Valami Amerika 2 (apparently the first one, which he also wrote, directed & produced, was a big hit over here).


The kids got to see some scenes being filmed, got a chance to talk to the Director as well as the American actress Lucia Brawley and some Hungarian actor (who told us that he is a very famous Hungarian actor and we may remember him as one of the extras from "Seven Years in Tibet").


Despite attempts by one of the Hungarian kid's mom to explain it to me, I have no idea what the movie is about other than that there are 3 brothers and Ms. Brawley plays a choreographer. Sounds like a winner.

Lunch from the Craft Services Truck

A very interesting morning. The kids seemed to enjoy it. I think they were also a little bit proud that they were the only class that got to go on a field trip.

1st Grade Zoo Field Trip

The First Grade Classes at AISB have been studying animals and went to the zoo yesterday. I volunteered to chaperone and had Shiraz (Israel) and Misbah (Pakistan) in my group.


Misbah, who also lived in Kenya for many years, highlighted one of the things I most like about this school with these comments.

Conversation #1
Me: "We need to be sure to see the rhinos. They are the best." (Rhinos are my favorite)
Misbah: "I don't like rhinos."
Me: "Why don't you like rhinos? They're awesome!"
Misbah: "Well, one chased us one time, so..."

Conversation #2
Me: "Hey, check out the zebras."
Misbah: "Zebras are boring."
Me: "Zebras are cool. They're like horses...but with stripes!"
Misbah: "Well, I've seen a herd of them in the wild, so..."

The zoo just wasn't doing it for Misbah. But it goes to show how many different life experiences these kids bring to the table and can share with their friends.


I took this pictures of the giraffes. I thought it was nice of them to stand so close together, as if posing. Then Tarek (Egypt) helpfully shouted out some info that clued me in on why they were "posing"

Tarek: "There's the giraffe's wiener! Look at his wiener!"
Luckily it was post-lunch and I had just bought the girls some ice cream so they weren't paying close attention and it was easy to shivvy them along. (Go ahead and click on the picture to enlarge it...the picture that is. You know you are curious.)


All in all a good day and everyone had a good time (especially the boy giraffe).

I'll post some pictures from our Ireland trip just as soon as I can. Been a bit busy with end of the year stuff (chaperoning another field trip tomorrow).

Happy Birthday Katie

Birthdays in general, and her own in particular, are never far from Katie's mind. For example, rather than saying "School starts in August 21st." Katie says "School starts the day after Mommy's Birthday."

The Birthday countdown started in earnest over a month ago though when we started to get daily updates about how many days left until her Birthday.
Katie: "Daddy, can you believe it? it's just 35 more days until my Birthday."

It's hard for a parent (or at least this one) to show enthusiasm when the daily countdown starts so far in advance.

On Friday her Birthday was recognized at her school assembly along with the other kids and teachers with birthdays this week. Anna made cupcakes and we brought them in for her class.

On Saturday we had a Bowling Birthday party. We had a good turn out with about 17 or so kids showing up. Everyone seemed to have fun even if it was a little chaotic at times. Naturally the boys were the trouble makers: How many times must you tell a boy to stay off the lanes if it's not their turn? I'm still not sure but the answer is definitely higher than 25. If they weren't trying to stick their heads in the ball return they were climbing on top of it.

For the 2nd game we had them do "Crazy Bowling" where you had to bowl differently each frame (though someone's legs, wrong handed, eyes closed, etc.). My favorite was having them bowl with an oven mitt on.

And of course we had pizza and a really delicious chocolate birthday cake.
Happy Birthday Katie!