In the last couple weeks, we’ve been given two opportunities to see some of the most beautiful parts of Hungary and Slovenia (The next post will be pictures from our meetings in Slovenia). First, our friends Tamas and Zita took us to North Eastern Hungary into the Matras. I guess we’ve been waiting for almost three years to visit that part of Hungary. NorthEastern Hungary is about 3.5 hours from Budapest and is full of beautiful mountains, vineyards, and castles.

T & Z are the master program coordinators, and I think we took about 300 pictures of the following: Tokaji borvidéken séta, Telkibánya kincskeresés, piknik a réten a zemplénben, vacsora az ágyban mese, a panzió Sárospatakon, tengerszem Sárospatak mellett (túra), Füzéri vár, Sátoraljaújhely libegő, a leghosszabb Hu-n, Sárospatak Rákoczi vár, panzió reggeli, mesenézés, Tokaji borgyár, Boldogkőváralja várban, Lilafüred, ebéd, bableves. (In English, we walked through a Tokaji vineyard, we excavated crystals and gems from an extinct volcano, we had a picnic on a sheep farm, stayed in a panzio in Sárospatak, we hiked up to a mountain-top lakelet, we visited the Füzéri castle, we rode the longest mountain-side chair lift in Hungary in Sátoraljaújhely, we visited the Rákoczi castle, we visited the Boldogkőváralja castle, we hiked through Lilafüred and ate bean soup.)

Thanks T & Z for the great weekend!! You can see more pictures if you click here. Here’s a few pictures:

This is the Füzéri castle

Excavating gems from the surface of an extinct volcano.

This is a mountaintop lakelet near Sárospatak.

Seth lost a tooth.

Picnic on a sheep farm.

Picture by the Rákoczi castle.

Last weekend, BKV, the Budapest Transportation Department, celebrated its 40th anniversary. So our friends took us to the BKV traffic Museum. It was so awesome. Thanks T & Z! Here are some pictures:

Sziasztok! Nagyon jó volt veletek lenni tegnap este. Köszönöm, hogy eljöttetek! Remélem, mindannyian túlélitek a vizsgaidőszakot! Itt egy pár fényképet a mult hétról!

Vártunk néhány honapig a bogárokat eljönni.

Csaladi nap Visegrádon.

It is good to be home.  We had a great time at the education conference in Balaton Füred, and we gained some really helpful input for coaching our boys through their experiences in national schools.  This picture is taken of Lake Balaton behind the hotel where we stayed. 

Az idő szokatlanul szép volt ezen a napon.  Amikor felmentünk ezzel a mozgólépcsővel a HÉV végénél, láthattuk a kék éget.  Miután összetalálkoztam néhány ismerősömmel, gondoltam, hogy alkamas lefényképezni a Batthyányi tér környezetét és a napi munkát végző embereket, akik elsuhantak mellettem.  Talán többet kellene magyarul írnom.  :)

While I was out of town this weekend for some meetings, Joanna came and stayed with Laura and the boys.  Joanna hanging out with the kids for a weekend = FUN.  Besides learning some new funky dances, the boys went to the city zoo.  (Jo, I lifted some of your pictures from facebook.  :)  THANK YOU Joanna for serving us!  It was a beatuiful weekend, and Seth and Jacob were excited to finally  be able to wear their hokie hats.

At the Zoo.

Reading the Map

Jake and Dori discussing Hungarian politics.

On Friday night, while I was gone, Laura had a női búli, and she made the best cheesecake ever known to humankind.

Milyen magas vagy?

Backwards pants

To all of our Hungarian friends who read this blog, I would like to say THANK YOU to your ancestors for creating Tárkonyos Leves (Taragon Soup). 

Here’s some pictures from the last couple days….

Jet Lag.  We had three friends from California and Virginia visiting on Wed. & Thurs.  Below, Tom is experiencing the jet lag head-bob while riding the train from Vác to Budapest.

On the HÉV.

Meeting in the Parliament.  Thanks Kristof for giving us the insider tour!

Waiting at school for basketball practice at school:

Basketball Practice: (Seth in blue, Jacob in orange)

Go Team!  “egy….kettő…három….MACI!”

AngolEst:  Thursday Night English Club in the tea house.

Mario sang a song called Humble King. 

Tom shared some amazing stories about their work with street kids in Kiev Ukraine over the last 10 or so years.

February 15th, Seth turned seven years old!  Mom made him a spiderman cake, and we went to an indoor playhouse with some friends today.  Seth is super excited about reading, swimming, basketball, drama, building things, his friends at school, and learning new Hungarian words.  Most everyday he is teaching me a new word in Hungarian.  He is looking forward to going to big school in the Fall!

On January 30th, Jacob turned five years old.  This has been a really big year for Jake.  This year he started swimming, basketball, and drama, and he really wants to learn the guitar.  He entered a new kindergarten class, and though it hasn’t been easy, he is winning friends with his smile, his gracious spirit, and his love of life.  He’s homeschooling with mom every afternoon and working on pre-math and pre-reading.  I love listening to Jacob pray for family and friends.  There are a lot of things he wants to do when he gets big: eat spicy food, pick up a car like superman, parachute of a mountain, drink coffee, and drive a train.