Fun at Margaret Island and playing at home

Parker, Lindsey and Glenn at Margaret Island

LRae playing at Margaret Island
This picture really shows how big she's getting!

Parker and Lindsey posing in front of ruins

Cuddlebugs!

Head-rubbing cuddlebugs!

Fun times...

Pretty day...

Lindsey is enjoying the goulash

Lindsey loved the goulash we had for dinner tonight. In this video, she is eating her second bowl!

Weekend in Vienna

This weekend we went to Vienna, Austria (only a 2.5 hr drive) for some sightseeing fun. It was a spur-of-the-moment trip so our preferred Vienna Marriott was booked, but we found a nice room at the Imperial Riding School Hotel. We were able to walk to Vienna's city center on Saturday and visit the St. Stephens Cathedral. On Saturday night, we went to the Salm Brau brewery for a traditional Austrian meal complete with sausages and schnitzel. We struck out early Sunday morning so we could tour the Hofburg Palace before returning to Budapest. Here's some pictures from our trip -

Lindsey sleeping peacefully on the way to Vienna

Parker enjoying the quiet time to read

We tried to teach Lindsey to hold on.
And yes, that's a McDonalds that we were walking by...they're everywhere. Glenn has nicknamed them "Old Faithful" because if we need fast food, we can usually find one although not nearly as plentifiul as in the U.S.

Glenn, LRae and Parker at St. Stephens Cathedral

Parker attacking some sausages

Family at Salm Brau

Glenn's dinner - Haunch of Ham

MG, Parker and Lindsey at Hofburg Palace
(that's just a SMALL part of the palace behind us)

Windmill farms between Budapest and Vienna

Parker got to enjoy another quiet ride on the way home

Our tiny tired tourist

Mother's Day

Parker and Lindsey made me some nice Mother's Day surprises. Parker created a Mother's Day picture with stained glass (real glass they collected from the streets and dyed with coloring). Lindsey made me a hanging heart from melting beads. They worked together on planting the flower and decorating the pot with more stained glass. And Andrea and Magdi even helped them to make me a heart cake. I had a great Mother's Day!

Mother's Day gifts

Heart Cake

Lindsey kisses

Lindsey has started grabbing Parker's nose and ear to position his cheek for kisses. So cute!

Lindsey is 2 years old

Lindsey is 2 years old! We had a day of celebration on Sunday to mark the occasion. Since our family and friends were not here in Budapest to share in the excitement, I've posted a photo diary of all the day's highlights!

We started the celebrations before breakfast with round 1 of present opening.

She got a pretty snowglobe from Ms. Magdi.

Parker helped her open her card from Grandma.

Ms. Andrea gave her this cool shape sorter/sandpit toy.

She loves the Graco accessory kit we gave her.

She's especially enjoying pushing Doria around in the stroller.

After a breakfast, we moved on to the next birthday celebration activity -- PINATA!
Parker and Ms. Andrea MADE Lindsey a birthday pinata.

And a special pinata spoon!

She made a long, valiant effort to bust the pinata (Glenn and Parker even had to take turns holding it up), but finally she asked Parker for help. He had to put it on the floor and stab it with the spoon handle, haha, but she finally got her pinata surprise! Toys, balloons and lots of birthday confetti!

The next birthday activity was "Weigh and Measure the Birthday Girl".
weight: 23 lbs (5-10%)
height: 33 ins (25%)
head: 18 ins (10%)
*disclaimer - got % from growth chart on internet.
After the weigh and measure activity, we retired for a birthday nap to get rested for the afternoon celebrations!

After nap, we made cupcakes!
(Alot of work went into these cupcakes - we brought a cake mix and frosting from U.S. and I read the oven manual several times, but it paid off. Cupcakes were yummy!)

She blew out the candles!

Her 1st cupcake!
She got one for her 1 year birthday, but would not eat it. What a difference a year makes!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you....
We sang to her several times throughout the day and she loved it!

After cupcakes, it was time for round 2 of presents!
We kept the shutters down on the windows all day so she wouldn't see her new slide. She was so surprised.

Lindsey and Doria enjoying the new slide.

Next, we went to Lindsey's room and opened the shutters to the terrace where she discovered her new playhouse from Parker! He's been planning for MONTHS how he was going to give her outdoor play equipment for her birthday. What a great big brother. She was so excited!

Lindsey and Parker in the new playhouse.
After round 2 of presents, we enjoyed playing with all the new toys for the rest of the evening.

We had a great day of birthday celebrations!

TN trip for Lindsey's dental surgery

Last month we visited Tennessee during Parker's spring break so Lindsey could have some dental work. In December she fell and damaged several of her teeth. One of them required a root canal and crown and she also had some cavities to be filled. Since she is so young, she had to be put to sleep for the work. Scary! But everything is fine and we also got to spend some time visiting with the family and patronizing Germantown shopping and eating establishments. (Shout out to my good friends Gymboree, Talbots, Ann Taylor, Stride Rite, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Commissary, Walgreens and of course the online ordering people at Lands End! :))

Lindsey catching a ride through the airport

Granny and Lindsey

PaPa and Parker

Lindsey cooking

PaPa and Uncle Winston took Parker fishing.
They caught 72 fish (not counting the ones they threw back)!

Lindsey enjoying some homemade ice cream

Lindsey and PaPa playing mexican train

Parker and Grandma

Parker, LRae, Granny and Lucy out for a walk

Lindsey got to hold the leash - she felt so special!

Lindsey's dental surgery was at the LeBonheur Surgery Center. She had to wear a gown and go to the Operating Room for her surgery. We didn't get to go with her so it was a little scary (for Lindsey and me) but everything worked out fine.

But she was VERY sleepy the rest of the day. (Check out her cute dutch houseshoes we picked up in Amsterdam.)

Good thing Dad has a truck - we maxed out our 8 bag allowance on the way back to Budapest!