Merry Christmas

Charlotte, Alexander, and I visited Cleveland right before Christmas. We returned on the 23rd, and jumped right into our last-minute Christmas preparations. We were a bit tired from our pre-Christmas adventure (about which we will post soon), but kicked off our celebration by attending a Children's Mass on Christmas Eve. It was a lovely evening, so we walked and avoided the parking nightmare. Upon our return home, we found that the angels had left a few gifts and had placed Baby Jesus in the manger!


This morning we awoke to find stockings filled by Father Christmas and gifts from each other and our extended family. We enjoyed a pancake breakfast together and then opened our gifts. Thank you to everyone who remembered us this Christmas.

Charlotte was very excited to receive a new purse from Auntie Tracey, especially as she had broken the strap on her other purse just yesterday. Alexander was grateful to Charlotte for his "Alexander" mug.

All of us were excited to receive tickets to see The Nutcracker Ballet!

After dinner we watched the Queen's Speech together, as we do every year. Merry Christmas!

Who says we have no seasons?

Mummy took me to the park for a playdate today. On our way home we passed a tree that had beautiful red leaves. I told Mummy to take a photo so that we could show Daddy and Charlotte. It turns out that we didn't have to go far to see autumn leaves after all.

Roarrrr!

We enjoyed trick-or-treating for Halloween last night. I was dressed as a cheetah and Alexander was a tiger. It was a gorgeous night. We thought it was a full moon, but will actually be full tomorrow. Even so, the moon was very bright and beautiful.


We each came home with a bag full of candy and happy memories of a fun evening spent with good friends. Happy Halloween!

Under the weather

This week I have been sick with the flu. I just watched an entire movie in the middle of the day, without feeling like I should be doing anything else. It was quite nice, although being sick with the flu has not been.


A few weeks ago Charlotte was home with a fever. She watched a bit of TV as well, and then didn't know what to do with herself. I gave her the craft box and this is what she did. It is our family made out of pipe cleaners. Can you guess who is who?

Maybe I should be making better use of my time.

More soccer

I am still loving soccer, as long as Mummy stays to watch me play. I had another soccer game on Saturday. Charlotte was busy reading her book, but Mummy took some videos. My jersey has number 11 on it. Daddy says that is good because 11 is a prime number. I just like the way it looks like stripes on my back.


I like to go after the ball, but I'm still getting used to the idea that it's acceptable to kick the ball away from someone else who has it. As the game went on, I did get more aggressive at getting the ball.

I was very proud of myself for this great kick!

I like to cheer for my team even when it's not my turn to play. We are not supposed to keep score yet, but I knew that this was our team's fifth goal. (By the end of the match, we had ten!)

It's soccer time!

I was very excited when soccer season began last month. I love to play soccer and was waiting all summer to be able to join my team.

I have cleats that help me run fast in the grass.

Even when I don't have the ball, I can barely keep still. If you look closely, you'll see that I am actually airborne in the photo below.


Thanks to my sister Charlotte for being my photographer at my first game of the season. Next time I'll ask her to take some video as well.

A summer full of birthdays

I was a little bit sad that I would be away for my birthday and unable to have a party with my friends. We celebrated early with Daddy, and again in Cleveland. Then I was actually in England on my birthday. Grandma, Grandad, and Auntie Tracey helped me to celebrate, and I had a wonderful day far from home.

I had already received my race cars from Grandma and Grandad before our trip. On my birthday they gave me my first Transformer.


Auntie Tracey noticed how much I enjoyed the BBC children's program In the Night Garden. She gave me some books and an activity book.


Then Grandma surprised me with a dinosaur cake. It looked very cool and was so delicious. I have already asked Grandma to make me another dinosaur cake if I am ever in England again for my birthday.


Some would say that my birthday season is over, but I'm still waiting for Mummy to have a big party for me now that we are home!

Any zoo is a good zoo

When we were in Connecticut, our cousin Máté took us to one of his favorite places, Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo. We enjoy any zoo that we can visit, and we enjoy spending time with our cousin. We had a great time!














We had fun riding the carousel. Sándor rode on a panda, and I chose an elephant. We also ran through the maze several times and took Najm through the maze with us too.


The prairie dog exhibit was cool. We liked poking our heads up above the ground like the prairie dogs do.

Kindergarten and Second Grade

Charlotte and I started school last week. We are in the same school for the first time! I love to see her at recess, but sometimes she feels sad when I play with my friends instead of playing with her.


Charlotte is in second grade now. She has a lot more homework than I do. She thinks it's not fair that she always has more. By the time I'm in second grade, she'll be in fourth grade and will probably have even more. I guess she had better get used to it.


I started Kindergarten. One day I did tell Mummy, "I think I kind of like going to school." Even so, it is a long day for me. I often finish with a temper tantrum in the evening when I just feel too tired to take a bath or change into my pajamas. I've been told that I have about 17 more years of school to go. I guess I had better get used to it too.

New places, new faces

During our travels this summer, we were able to meet some members of our extended family. Some we met for the very first time, others for the first time that we can remember.

From Peterborough we took the train North to York. There we met up with Daddy's aunt, Auntie Pat. We visited the National Railway Museum and walked around the Shambles. We also met Auntie Pat's daughter Clare, and Clare's baby boy. Unfortunately they had to leave before we thought to take a group photo. Here is a photo of us with Grandma and Auntie Pat and Grandad in a garden in York.


Before this trip, we most recently saw Daddy's sister Auntie Tracey in 2004. We were very little then. Since then we had spoken to her on the telephone and sent her cards and photos and drawings, but we were very excited to see her in person again! We enjoyed teaching Auntie Tracey all about Webkinz, playing at the park near her flat, and going on several outings together. Here is a photo of us with Grandma and Grandad and Auntie Tracey at the Butterfly and Wildlife Park in Spalding.


In Connecticut we were very excited to see our cousin Máté again. We were doubly excited to meet his baby sister Hannah as well. She was very cute. I loved to hold her and play with her. I always thought she was talking to me. She must be very smart. She slept through most of our photos. Here is a photo of the four cousins. Hannah was watching us dance around to songs from Disney movies. I think we tired her out.


Hannah was baptized during our visit, so many other relatives came as well. Her other grandparents, Pista bácsi and Éva néni, came from Toronto. We enjoyed reading stories with them and playing in the back yard.













Mummy's cousin Kati néni came from New Jersey. We also met her when we were in Cleveland, but we didn't take any photos then. Here is a photo of Mummy's cousin holding our cousin.


We are so glad that our lives were enriched by meeting these members of our family. We hope that we will see you all again soon!

Grandad's garden

When we were in England, we enjoyed helping Grandad in his garden. Some days Grandma would send us out to bring her carrots or green beans for dinner. We always liked to eat whatever we picked from the garden.


We helped dig up potatoes. In the greenhouse below, Grandad was also growing tomatoes and cucumbers. We helped watch them grow, but they were not ready to eat before we left.



Of course, it wasn't all work in the garden. There was also time for playing. Grandad taught us how to play swingball. We loved it, and even had a few bruises to show for it and almost broke Grandad's glasses!


When we were too tired to play swingball, we could still play in the garden with Daddy's old cars and trucks and even his Space Shuttle.

Home again

We had a fabulous time on our summer adventure. We have many more stories to share about our time in Cleveland, England, and Connecticut. For now we'll focus on what we've been doing since we returned to San Francisco.

We spent a few days sleeping off our jet lag, unpacking, doing laundry, and getting used to our new bedroom with bunkbeds again.

Then our friend Emi néni came to visit us. She is Keresztmama's sister and we got to know her in Connecticut. She took Sándor and me to the Exploratorium. We really enjoyed it. This time the shadow box was our favorite. Then Mummy picked us up and we went to the beach. We didn't realize what a nice day it would be, so we were slightly unprepared. Even so, we used our hands to make sand castles. I was surprised from behind by a wave, so my clothes ended up quite wet, but the sun dried them before we had to leave. Thanks for a great day, Emi néni!


Today we escaped the fog in San Francisco by going up to Marin to play mini-golf. We have been asking to go again ever since we went last summer. It was not quite as hot this time, so we were able to enjoy it even more. This time I even had a golf lesson from Daddy!

Daddy and his dog

Grandma and Grandad have found some of Daddy's and Auntie Tracey's old toys. We have enjoyed playing with the LEGO, the cars, the games, and the dog.













Daddy did not remember the dog, so Grandma found us some proof that it was his.

A Tree Grows in Northborough

A few weeks ago, I mistakenly wrote that only one of our wedding pine trees is living. I had forgotten that one traveled all the way to England and is thriving in the garden of Julian's childhood home in Northborough. It is smaller than Fr. Ralph's tree as it lives in a pot rather than on a vast lawn. My smile, however, was just as big when I recognized the tree.


Thanks to my father-in-law Jim for caring for this tree, and for sharing his love of the garden with his grandchildren while they are here.

The English adventure begins!

Our summer adventure continues with a visit to England. Our trip started with a beautiful sunset viewed over Lake Erie.


We arrived with no problems other than a lack of sleep. We have enjoyed spending time with Grandma, Grandad, and Auntie Tracey.

We went to Ferry Meadows in Nene Park in Peterborough. We walked around the lake, played at the playground, rode the train, played softball tennis and football (soccer), and fed the geese.

























The geese were rather aggressive, coming up to us as soon as they spotted us. One even grabbed Charlotte's hand to get the bread from her. She was so startled and upset that she dropped the remaining bread (as captured in the photo below), and that ended our goose-feeding session.


We have already had many other fun outings, and will post about them later. Cheerio!

How does our garden grow?

I have always liked to fill my apartment with plants, so I was very upset when an infestation of flies caused me to throw away every plant but one. Our place seemed so empty for so long. Once we were rid of the flies, we decided to try again. This time we started from scratch, planting the seeds ourselves. We managed to kill some sprouts, and then tried again. I would like to share our progress with Charlotte and Alexander since they are not here to see the plants themselves.

Charlotte germinated a lima bean in science class, planted it, and then brought it home to be replanted. It was just barely starting to flower when we left for Cleveland. Now we have several bean pods!

Our tomato plants are growing taller.

Our marigolds have flowered.

I hope we can keep the flies away so that we can continue to let our garden flourish!