BUDAPEST! (Are you Hungary?)

A long time ago in a land far, far away- a young sister missionary sat at a desk in the Mission Office in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala overlooking a dusty street where young boys were playing soccer. This missionary was reading a letter from one of her favorite friends. This friend was telling the missionary about her own mission call to Budapest Hungary. I was that young missionary and I was still a new missionary, struggling with a foreign language and trying to appreciate a new culture. I was almost green with envy as my friend was heading to eastern Europe where I had dreamed of going and working in orphanages! (To add salt to the wound- she also told me that she was dating the ONE boy that I would have given a couple of teeth to have dated!) At the time, I knew that I was where the Lord wanted me and now I can absolutely see the truthfulness of that! If I never went to Guatemala, I might never have met the man who is now my husband and definitely would not be where I am today.

I am thrilled that I had the opportunity to go to Budapest last weekend with my favorite people. We took Kailey's good friend Kirsten with us and had a wonderful time!


Shelby and Kirsten with the snowgirl they built.


Kailey and Madi in the pool.


A picture of Claire (that Jake just couldn't resist jumping into...) at the pool.


Claire and Danny


The water was so nice and warm! It was a swim through pool- where you could go through a sliding glass door to the pool outside.


Jake didn't really have time for a picture- but loved the steamy pool.


We had to see Budapest as well. This is in front of the eternal flame, near the Parliament.


The kids by the Parliament Building. It is a gorgeous building. (365 towers and 300+ rooms- Did you know that Hungary lost 2/3 of it's land after WWI?)


It is equally beautiful inside- we saw the crown and scepter (plus the changing of the guard) and this is the room where the members of Parliament meet.


Shelby with the Parliament building. Our tour of Budapest was a long one and we enjoyed swimming so much in the morning that we didn't have enough time to eat before the tour. (The kids thought they were starving in Hungary!)


So, the kids didn't really want to listen (plus although the Parliament building was interesting- it wasn't thrilling for the kids). After we left the Parliament, we met up with another tour group and the tour guide had to say everything in both English and German. (This may be the quickest way to lose your short audience in a very short amount of time!)


This is what the kids did instead of listening to the tour guide.


Here we are at Heroe's Square.


Jake and Madi with the St. Matthias Church in the background. (By this point we had left the tour and had a nice meal at a little cafe. The hot chocolate was lovely!- We also stopped at a little grocery store and stocked up on snacks.)

The real reason why we went to Budapest was the AQUALAND Resort. It is the largest indoor waterpark in Europe. We stayed in the Ramada Resort and had great little apartments that were very nice and the waterpark was connected to our hotel.

Emery on a slide. They had great stuff for all the different age groups.


Claire on the rainbow slide.


Claire in the wave pool.


It looks more like Thailand than Hungary.


Shelby on one of her favorite slides.


What a nice sister! Claire helps Emery get her towel adjusted. (Sorry about the view in the background. Ewww.)


I had to smile a bit. I was definitely the woman with the most clothes on. Most women wear bikinis whether their bodies look good in them or not. Danny felt like he fit right in with the "Hungarian Bellies." (I'm glad he wears trunks and not a speedo. Double ewww.)


Jake won the award for most covered for men and boys.


Kirsten, Shelby, Kailey, Emery, Madison, Jake, and Claire.


Madison and Emery totally enjoyed the crepe with cocoa.


A vacation is not a true vacation without ice cream. Jake, Kirsten, Kailey, Claire and Shelby enjoy their Magnum bars.

After swimming, we went into the city for dinner and a little bit of shopping. Typical for us- instead of Hungarian- we found a nice little italian restaurant.

Madi really enjoyed her italian hot chocolate. (It is thick and super chocolaty and I love it too!)


The Russian/ Hungarian (?) Stacking dolls- aren't they cute? (It was in this store that Emery got her hand stuck in the glass door. OUCH!)


We went to church on Sunday and even found a congregation that held their services in English! (We met a very nice family who are in Hungary with the U.S. Embassy.)
Kirsten was very sweet and took our family photos.


A view of the Chain Bridge from the tunnel on the Buda side.


This is the Chain Bridge that crosses the Danube. You are looking at the Pest side.


Kailey took some fun photos as we were driving by. Budapest is a very pretty city during the day but it is absolutely gorgeous at night. (Sorry we don't have a picture to share of that.)


The sky was blue on Sunday! You can see Gellert Hill and the Liberty (or Freedom) Statue. (FYI- it was erected in 1947 to remember how the Soviets saved Hungary from the Nazis.)


The Oktagon- the area where we had our final meal in Budapest. (T.G.I.Friday's- not a real traditional Hungarian establishment...)

Thanks for the great memories Budapest!

Traveling...

So we went to Budapest for the weekend and had a wonderful time. (That will be the next post.) Then we had to come back. Because our evening flight was one of the most challenging we've encountered- I will share it with you.

We made it to the Budapest airport with loads of time. (Which is not the usual scenario.) However, I got out of one taxi in time to see Jake and Shelby behaving VERY horribly with each other. (So I had to take them both aside and threatened them... we are representing the USA here people! We need to act appropriately.)

We flew on Ryanair and had all 4 pieces of luggage checked without incident (just some shuffling needed). We got everyone checked in- all 9 people (we took Kailey's friend with us) and didn't lose any people or carry ons. Next, we went through passport control and the kids got their treats for the plane. Then we sat and waited to board the plane. There weren't nearly enough chairs so we had a nice little area on the floor. Emery had spent all her money (a 5er) on chocolate (she comes by it naturally) and felt like she needed more, "Mom is there anything I can buy for a 1-er?" (The Irish call a 5 euro bill a fiver and a 10 euro bill a tener- so it was natural for her 4 year old brain to come to this conclusion.)

We were in the priority queue and made it outside to the almost completely full bus to take us out to our plane. (This is important because you do not have designated seating on Ryanair.) Then we waited. We could see our plane from the bus. We could walk to the plane in under a minute. We waited... and waited... and waited... I am pretty sure that we were on that bus for a good 30 minutes. It's hard to be positive when you're tired and your kids are tired and everyone around you is tired. However, I think the kids did really well. Of course, to help them look at this from a different angle- I told Shelby and Jake about the cattle cars that the Nazis put the Jews in to take them to the work camps. It helped. Madison meanwhile wanted to flit back and forth between Danny and I. She will be two next month. She is a little thing- but when I hold her I realize that she is getting HEAVY! Finally we made it to the plane and can see and smell smoke (we think they burned the sandwiches!). However, the real reason we waited was because one of the passengers on the incoming flight became very ill and an ambulance came to collect him/her. (Hope he/she is okay.)

We get situated. Kailey, Kirsten and Claire are in our first row of seats (and Emery is hacked because it is SO unfair that Claire gets to sit by Kirsten). Jake, Emery and Shelby are in the second row. Danny, Madison and I are the third row. I am by the window- Danny is in the aisle seat. Danny stows the luggage. By this time, it is about 8:00p.m. Irish time. Emery has decided that she does NOT want to sit with Jake and Shelby. She wants to sit with us. "It's not fair that Madi gets to sit with you. Why can't Madi sit on mommy's lap and I can sit in between you?" We try to convince her that she is in a great spot where she is. We open her m&ms so she can enjoy their chocolaty goodness. It doesn't help. So, Emery comes back and sits with us. Things are good for a few minutes. We are almost ready to take off. Sweet Emery is sharing her m&ms with Madi- who is eating them as fast as possible. I make her wait to eat more (as her mouth is full) and Madison gets ticked. She starts to spit out some of the m&ms and I don't have any wipes. They are in one of the big carry on suitcases above our heads. So, Danny does something completely illegal. He stands up, opens the bulkhead, grabs the wipes and sits down- but NOT before one of the male flight attendants comes to bust him. We point at the baby and he understands (he isn't happy about it however).

We clean up Madison and hope she is tired enough that she will fall asleep. She's tired- but not that tired. We get up into the air and then it's time to distribute electronic devices. Emery and Shelby both want the video ipod to watch different things. Jake wants a computer as does Kailey and Kirsten. Danny again gets up and starts handing out all the stuff. However, we have not done our pre-flight homework. We didn't charge the laptops. We didn't charge the video ipod. We didn't check to see if the kids had charged their DS's. Within minutes- Shelby's ipod is out of juice. Not much later, Jake can no longer use the laptop as the battery is dead. Jake has also played his DS quite a bit on this trip and it has no battery life left. The worst part is that Jake only brought one book and he already finished it! So, for the rest of the flight we heard, "I'm BORED!" Poor Jake- it was a LONG 3 hour flight for him. Shelby did a bit better as she had a magazine to read. I think that Danny was up and down as much as the flight attendants. (He got a few nasty looks from one of the stewards.) At one point, Danny and I looked at each other and agreed that we don't want to go anywhere else with these people for a while. (At least not until April...)

Thankfully, Emery fell asleep about an hour into the flight. Madi did not, but she wasn't horrible. She finally fell asleep when there was about 45 minutes left of the flight. Landing is always a challenge when the kids have been asleep. They have to be sitting up in their seat when we land. Em wasn't happy about it and just kind of whimpered and whined. Madi stayed asleep. Kailey and Jake helped Emery off of the plane (cry whining the whole way) and down the stairs. I carried Madi while Danny made sure that all of the carry on luggage was taken care of.

To make the end complete, all Ryanair flights are in the new terminal at the Dublin Airport which is also a LONG walk to both customs and baggage claim. Madi slept through it (which is great- but she is just heavy!) Emery was doing so great during our long walk and not even whining! So I told her how wonderful she was doing and she looked at me and immediately started to cry. Then I got in trouble with everyone else! (Forget positive reinforcement with these people!) Customs was a breeze (sometimes it is good to not be an EU citizen) and we got our luggage no problem! We only needed one taxi to get us home, too! (9 seaters are great.)

No one talks like the Irish. Our taxi driver was great. My favorite part of our drive home was the driver reminisced about the first time he drove. "Dis is de first road I ever drove on. I was turteen. Dare used to be a trottin track at de end of dis road. We had trottin horses. Den me family all went to duh pub. I told meself dat I'm not waitin for dems. So I drove meself home." I asked if his family was worried or upset with him. He said, "No. They knew I could take care of meself."

It's good to be back.

Pancake Tuesday

Today is Pancake Tuesday. Which means, of course, that we had pancakes for Breakfast! Since Ash Wednesday is tomorrow, many people are beginning Lent and giving up rich foods. So, it's the last rich breakfast for some!


Madi is putting her pink buttermilk syrup (left over from our festive Valentine's Day Breakfast) on her pancake.


Emery prefers her pancakes cut up with syrup on the side.


Claire's pancake is cut up and ready to eat.


Shelby ate one pancake, but since we just got new cereal (Special K with Red Berries- yum!) she's ready to celebrate with berries.


Kailey didn't want to be seen this morning, but is happy to show her pancake.


Jake's an animal and prefers to eat his pancakes without any utensils. Savage.


Maybe he will decide to give up his bad habits and strive toward being more Christlike... I'm not holding my breath.

The Brrrhamas

We went to the Bahamas on New Years Day. It was a bit of an adventure because Danny was supposed to meet us at the airport in New Jersey and he got stuck in Dublin. The poor man spent the night in the Miami airport and met us the next morning.

We had a wonderful week and enjoyed all that the Atlantis resort had to offer. It was a bit chilly for most of the week- so we really enjoyed the inside stuff this year. (Free movies, crafts for the kids, and Jake and Kailey loved CLUB RUSH!)


Here we are with the tall guy.


Grandma and Grandpa Carrell met up with us and we had a great week with them!


We are glad that Grandpa is retired. I think they are having a great time!


Jake and Kailey


Shelby and Dad


Kailey, Em and Mom


Emery, Claire, Mom and Jake (I was trying to keep Jake from kicking Claire!)


The cute Carrell girls.


Kailey and Madison- so sad!


Now they're happy!


Madison and her starfish.


Kailey the Artiste. (The other girls were at the kids club- so these two embraced their inner artist.)


Sweet Emery (love the braids).


Cute Claire (who also looks great in braids).


Jake with some hip chic behind him (and more importantly- the amazing yachts!


The BRAVE ONES! There were days that were chilly and these people braved the cold to ride all the water slides at Atlantis! (Danny was there too, but someone had to take the picture!)


Chef Claire showing off all the fun things she made at the cooking class! (Chocolate bar, chocolate covered strawberries and a pretzel - plus the bonus of face painting!)


Emery- our little cupcake.


Chef Shelby is ready to eat her chocolate bar! She is also sporting great face paint...


Jake, Madison and Shelby


The kids enjoyed Ben and Jerry's ice cream with Papa.


Jake and the Jellies. (The kids just informed me that they know what to do if ever stung by a jelly...)


Grandma and Jake


The braid girls (Madi had three.)


Jake going down the "Leap of Faith"- the only others to attempt this feat (in our family) were Grandma, Papa, and Dad.


Shelby and the Jellies.

Had a great time even though it wasn't as warm as we had hoped. We enjoyed the sunshine and time together!