Trip to Budapest Zoo

This summer, Ms. Andrea has been arranging many fun activities for Parker and Lindsey. Yesterday they visited the Budapest Zoo - they saw the animals, fed the animals, played on the playground and in the zoo playhouse. Now let me say, Ms. Andrea has a magic touch with Lindsey - she can tell her to get in the stroller and take her nap...and Lindsey will actually do it! This allows them to occasionally plan all-day adventures -- how I wish I had this magic! They stayed all day at the zoo and had a great time!

Parker and LRae feeding the zebra

Parker and Lindsey playing at the indoor funhouse -- and escaping the rain!

Lindsey "fishying"

Cool pic of Parker on the playground

Lindsey loves to collect the balls

Parker feeding giraffe

Parker and LRae at the ducks

Father's Day

Parker and Lindsey made some nice Father's Day surprises for Glenn. Parker painted and assembled a binder from a kit and Lindsey (and Ms Andrea) made a ladybug candle with painted walnuts they collected on their adventures. Parker (with help from Ms Magdi) designed the Father's Day scrabble message and I added the Rafaellos. Glenn was excited! Though I did get confused AGAIN and celebrated a week early (2nd year in a row so we could call it a tradition now).

Father's Day gifts

Ladybug candle from Lindsey

Parker and Lindsey

Parker has finished 3rd grade!

Today was Parker's last day of 3rd grade! He's had a great year at AISB. We are grateful to his teacher, Mr. F, for being so helpful and welcoming to him when he joined the class in November. When people ask me about Parker's school, the first thing I think to say is "Well, it seems mostly that they just have fun." In fact, Parker learned alot this year, but it was so fun that I don't think he realized it!

Parker's 1st yearbook

AISB is a fairly small school so the yearbook includes all the Upper Elementary through High School. He was so excited to get it and show us the signatures.

Parker and his friend David
David is from Romania and moving back in 2 weeks. Parker will certainly miss him.

On Thursday, Glenn and I visited Parker's class for the End of Year Tea. We had yummy treats and enjoyed hearing stories and poems written and read by the kids. They also recited their end of year poem -

3F Year End Poem 2009

In 3F we had a fantabulous, superb year,
We learned many things that really made us cheer!

Okito, our class mascot - we loved to take him home,
This year he traveled to Macedonia, Egypt and Romania, the world he loves to roam.

Krypto, our math challenge, we tried it every week,
Using; X, /, +, - the targets we would seek.

Sparkies we earned for impressive work and actions,
When we did our absolute best, we received Sparkie satisfaction.

Spooky, frightening Halloween,
Our costumes were the most unusual that you have ever seen!

Apple pie baking did make our mouths excite,
But the best part of this activity was the first delicious bite!

At the 3rd grade Flea Market we sold books, games and toys,
We helped the Salonta Children's Home by donating a play set for the children to play on and enjoy.

In Times Table Hockey we became multiplication stars,
We challenged 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, we never thought we'd go that far.

Ice skating at Hero Square was quite a slippery blast,
Mr. F gave each of us a nickname that helped us skate so fast!

We read many Brillant Biographies, it was great to research and learn,
When we were ready to present our character, we had to take our turn.

This year in 3F we learned how important lasting friendships are,
When a good friend is kind, caring and respectful, they can make you feel like a star!

Thank you mom, thank you dad for encouraging us all year long,
We appreciate how kind, caring and supportive you've been, we've grown so proud and strong!

Finally, we are able to say the 3 words that will make our mouths drool,
They are of course...nice....stuff.....and our all time favorite word that is...COOL!

In Mr. F's class they were not allowed to say nice, stuff or cool. Use of the banned words would result in loss of an earned Sparkie! Of course, this was to encourage use of more expressive, non-slang language. (Unfortunately, Parker has a bad influence at home, as these are 3 of my favorite words!)

May highlights

Wow! May was a BUSY month! Lindsey's birthday, Mother's Day, trip to Vienna, and visits to Margaret Island and AquaWorld have kept us busy on the weekend and work, school and playing have kept us busy during the weekdays.

Parker is nearing the end of the school year and having his final tests and fun school activities. Several of his classmates that he's become friends with will be leaving Budapest at the end of the school year, but he's taking all the changes in stride and looking forward to summertime. He's most excited about two things: summer camp in Croatia and more time to play/talk with his friend Allison in Colorado. Of course, he'll be having many fun days with Lindsey and Ms. Andrea also. I'm sure they'll be exploring Budapest parks and summer activities most days. Probably by summer's end, he'll be able to teach me all there is to know about riding public transport. Last week he asked Ms. Magdi to give him a short new hairdo -- he's had the same hairstyle so long that it really makes him look completely different -- so watch out for the stranger in our pictures. That's Parker!

Lindsey is definitely two! She's still our sweet baby girl, but more opinionated and bossy than ever...or maybe we just notice it more now that she's talking! She is starting to talk in sentences and we can understand almost everything she says. Of course, when we don't understand I just assume it's Hungarian and she's a brilliant multi-lingual child. She sings a beautiful Hungarian song called Hinta Palinta all the time. It's about swinging and is common to hear at the playground. And she says Köszönöm and Köszönöm szépen for Thank you and Thank you very much. Her hair is getting a bit longer so now we can pull it into side pigtails -- very cute! She wears her pigtails most everyday to go to the park with Ms. Andrea. They swing, slide, ride the moto, play in the sandbox and often meet english speakers to play with. A funny thing she's started saying is Blah, blah, blah. She even sings it. She loved AquaWorld and can't stop talking about going down the big slide. And I can't give a Lindsey update without adding that as usual she spent a good portion of her month hanging out with and adoring her big brother Parker. He's still the coolest!

Glenn and I are good too. He's busy at work and got to visit Hamburg on a work trip a couple weeks ago. Last weekend, he went on a big summer shopping spree for me and got some outdoor furniture and grill so we can spend some time outside on pretty days. One of the furniture items was a swing -- he's got it all put together now and it's very comfy to swing and watch LRae play in her house. As for me, I'm always busy trying to be super-Mom and super-Employee. My major accomplishment this month: PUMPKIN BREAD! Well, edible pumpkin bread, haha. I've successfully made tasty (though not as good as Mom's) pumpkin bread two times this month. Parker is so excited. He and Lindsey are even singing the pumpkin bread song he created for Mom's PB and that makes my month!!!

Parker and Lindsey swinging at the park