VJ's First Day of School

VJ has been beside himself with excitement at the thought of starting school. Today could not get here fast enough. He has been talking about his "boys" and all the fun they will have for the past 2 weeks.


Well today was the day. He is always good waking up in the morning (not so much at nap time, but we'll not discuss that) but he was especially chipper this morning.
VJ: "Today I go to school! Hurrah!"

After breakfast the kids were feeling bad for me:
Katie: "You will be all alone today."
VJ: "You will have to eat lunch by yourself."
Katie: "Who will you yell at?"

Yes, I wanted to cry. But the tears would be TEARS OF JOY! But I'll get back to me.

We dropped Katie off first and then on down the block to VJ's school. He went right up to his cubby (that he picked out during orientation last Friday), sat right down and let me change his shoes (the schools over here are big on having separate indoor vs. outdoor shoes). I turned around and he was already in the room. Once I caught up he already had a helicopter out and was playing with one of the teachers and another kid.

Me: "VJ, do you need Daddy to stay a while or are you OK for me to leave?"
VJ: "I'm OK. Bye Daddy."

I actually felt a little guilty on the drive home. Did I leave too soon? What if he gets upset after I leave? Then I realized that this was one of only a handful of times that I had been by myself since we moved over here and I decided that moments like this are why God created cell phones and that the school could call me if there was a problem.

Apparently I worried for nothing since VJ had a great time at school.

Me: "VJ what did you do in school today?
VJ: "I played inside and had a snack and played outside and took a nap."

That's actually more detailed info than we can drag out of Katie about her day.
He is very much looking forward to going back tomorrow.


Everyone asks me what I'm going to do with my day. Won't I be bored? Guess what, I'll take that chance.

I had two main things to do today: Jack and Shit. That's right, Jack Shit.

Mission Accomplished.

Today I sat on the couch and watched "Aliens" and then read my book. That's it. OK, I actually put the clean laundry away, but since it had been sitting (folded) in the laundry baskets since Sunday, that is more like catching up on earlier work rather than doing today's work.

Tomorrow I will treat myself by going to the grocery store BY MYSELF. Grocery shopping sucks in the base case and does not improve when you add small kids to the mix.

Katie starts 1st Grade

Today was Katie's first day of school. We went this morning and found her classroom, met her new teacher and found out which friends from last year are in our class. There are four 1^st grade classes and they did a good job of mixing up the kids so that they weren't all with the same kids from last year. Luckily one of Katie's good friends, Shiraz (from Israel) is in her class.
Today was only a half day but we start full time tomorrow.

VJ was a little sad that he couldn't stay and play but he is starting pre-school next week. And bonus for me, his school is just a block away from Katie's school! I waved to it as we went by and said:
Me: "See you next week school."
To which VJ responded
VJ: "Schools can't talk Daddy. Only people."

So naturally I did it again when we went back to pick Katie up.

VJ: "Daddy, I already told you a lot of times, schools don't talk."

Happy Birthday Anna

Happy ??^th Birthday to Anna (I'm not allowed to say specifically how old she now is but here's a clue):
Now, don't go by the candles themselves. This year Anna decided to subtract one year at each Birthday rather than add one. I helped with this decision by forgetting to buy a "7" candle.

We spread the Birthday celebration over the whole weekend. We had her Birthday cake on Saturday and we went to dinner at a new (for us) Italian restaurant on Sunday. Conveniently, Anna will have the day off from work each year while we are in Hungary as it is a national holiday (St. Stephen's Day or something).

Here's the Birthday girl today, on her actual birthday:

Maple Syrup-licious

When we first moved into our house in February one of the first things we did was to go to the grocery store and stock up on all the essentials. However, one mistake that we made was in assuming that if an item we needed was at the store then, it would be available every time we went.

We have since learned that's not the case. It's rare to go to the local grocery store and be able to find everything I want (at least in the brand I've come to semi-recognize).

One of the biggest problems has been finding Maple Syrup. Or more specifically, finding it at a price that I want to pay. In February we found out that while the local grocery stores were good for most essentials they don't have as wide a selection as we would like. So we tried Tesco's Hypermart (think Super Wal-Mart-lite). Hey, terrific, they have a lot of stuff we need...like Maple Syrup. So we bought one bottle and went on our way.

Fast forward to an empty syrup bottle. Looks like it's time to make a run to Tesco's (it's not exactly close to us). Now where was that syrup...down this aisle, right?...why can't I find it?...why doesn't ANYONE that works here speak English?

This was our first taste of the "Today it's available, Tomorrow you're SOL" stocking policy at most Hungarian Grocery Stores. And the syrup thing was a big problem. VJ & Anna may prefer eggs, but Katie & I are all about Waffles and French Toast. What do we do?

Having it shipped over in a care package makes me a little nervous. The Welch's Grape Jelly is bad enough but can you imagine what would happen if Aunt Jemima busted her head on the way over? Big Mess.

Culinaris to the rescue? Let's try the fancy expat grocery store. Hurray, they have it! HOW MUCH IS IT? $18.00 a bottle? Unless the syrup came from the Magical Maple Trees of Narnia or something, pass the ketchup for my scrambled eggs. (We actually did breakdown and buy one bottle, but let me tell you much Katie is NOT allowed to pour her own syrup at breakfast time).

Every time we go to Tesco's we check the syrup aisle to see if it's been restocked. No such luck... until TODAY when we hit the Syrup Lottery!

There was nine bottles on the shelf. Now there are nine bottles in our pantry. Looks like's time to break out the Waffle Maker.

Random

Just a quick note about something I thought was funny (funny - weird/interesting, not funny - haha).

I was just reading the Troy Record online (which I almost never do) and I clicked on this link: Zoo Shows Rare Persian Leopard Triplets which took me to a story about these Leopards that were born at the...wait for it...Budapest Zoo!

How random is that? I don't think I even saw the Leopards either time we actually WENT to the zoo.

Vienna Trip #2

This past weekend we went to Vienna. We left after breakfast on Friday and the drive to Vienna was terrible. It only takes about 2 1/2-ish hours to get there, but as soon as we left Budapest it started to rain. Then it started to pour. Then it continued to pour. And I'm not talking about regular pouring rain. I'm saying the "Oh God, Oh God we're going to die" type of rain. At least that's how it seemed to me. I guess it didn't seem that bad to Anna since (luckily) she was driving and told me to shut up and close my eyes. Obviously we made it there and back just fine.

We spent Friday afternoon walking around, shopping and hotel pool swimming (no change in the rankings).
After breakfast on Saturday we took the subway over to Schönbrunn Palace, the home of the Austrian Emperors until 1918. The Palace and grounds are beautiful. The kids' favorite parts were the Garden Maze and the Dance Glockenspiel. Then back to the hotel for more swimming.

The Maze

The Dance-Glockenspiel

Sunday we went and had a tour of the Vienna State Opera House before driving back to Budapest.

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

Tooth #2

Guess who's coming to our house tonight?

Important Safety Tip

VJ learned an important safety tip today. When opening the car door, it's important not to put your finger between the door and the garage wall.

Ouch!

He has a nice bruise on his finger where he hit it pretty good. He calmed down pretty quickly although he would barely let me look at it...and forget about putting ice on it. And by "ice" I mean frozen peas and carrots since we don't waste what little space is available in our tiny freezer on frozen water.

Katie was nice enough to read him a story to make him feel better while I made lunch. She can be such a nice girl when she's not taking toys from him, bossing him around or otherwise arguing with him.

Couple more Disney Pics

Well, obviously we made it back safely to Budapest. Nothing major to report about the flights...the kids are terrific travelers and behaved very well. I was feeling like a SuperDad...I mean come on...1 parent/2 kids/Trans-Atlantic flight...that's SuperDad time right? Yeah, until I saw this woman with 3 kids (ranging from ~6 yrs to ~1 yr old). Way to burst my ego-bubble lady.

I scanned in a couple of pictures that we purchased at Disney that were taken on the rides:

Here's VJ & I on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin:
Katie and Anna, Madison and I on Splash Mountain: