Can't touch this dynamite

As part of the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) program at our school, the students receive ten weeks of modern dance instruction once per week. Ten lessons are not enough to perfect a routine, but are a good introduction to a physical activity they might not otherwise attempt.

Charlotte's class participated this semester and had their performance just before Christmas. Alexander's class will have their turn in the spring.

Charlotte's class danced to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This," choreographed by the dance teacher. I believe the visual is quite enhanced by the Lost and Found in the background.

Then the five classes danced to Taio Cruz's "Dynamite," choreographed jointly by the children. I was very excited for Charlotte when she told me that she was selected to dance on the stage. Once the dance started I was a bit horrified that she had worn a skirt and that she had to raise her arms so much. Thank goodness for black tights!

Merry Christmas

We would like to wish all of our friends and family near and far a very happy Christmas!

There is a Hungarian tradition called betlehemezés, where the young people dress up in costumes and go from house to house performing the Christmas story. In the Bay Area, the children perform once at the Hungarian Catholic church in Portola Valley and once at the Hungarian Protestant church in Redwood City. This year we had a shepherd and an angel in our family.

I had to help with the singing during the play and was actually behind the children and unable to video the performances. I did get some clips of the rehearsal.

Here the angel tells the shepherds the good news:

And the shepherd says that he will go find Bethlehem:

The shepherds are on their way:

The shepherd tells Jesus, "We would have brought you a nice gift, but we are as poor as you are."

Traditionally the performers are thanked with typical village hospitality, such as sausages and brandy. We got macaroni and cheese, chocolate, and bottles of water, but the spirit was the same.

Kellemes karácsonyi ünnepeket kivánunk!

Happy Halloween!

We've been very fortunate to have a family costume maker (Najm) to bless the children with creative Halloween costumes over the years. We've had a ladybug, a cheetah and a tiger, a koala, a giraffe and a lion, and a prairie girl. This year they were going to reuse costumes from previous years, so Najm thought she was off the hook.

After going back and forth, Alexander decided to be Waluigi, a character from the Mario video games. (When I asked Alexander, he insisted that Waluigi is not a bad guy. Now that I've done some research, I see that his name means "bad Luigi". Maybe this wasn't my finest parenting moment.) We bought his costume, and it just needed some hemming and velcro added, so I did that myself.

Halloween morning, ready for school

We also bought Charlotte a Native American costume, but she hated it when she put it on. We returned the costume to the store and within a couple weeks one arrived to Charlotte's specifications. Najm to the rescue!

Halloween evening, ready for trick-or-treating

Good Morning

I have taken piano lessons since January of 2011. I like piano lessons because they are fun. I like to learn new songs.

This is a video of me playing Morning by Edvard Grieg. I like that it is instrumental.

Here is another version of Morning. Which do you like better?

Go Giants!

It took all summer, but the children finally had enough good behavior points to earn tickets to a San Francisco Giants baseball game. We went last Sunday, during Labor Day weekend. The day started out overcast and cold, but the sun came out and we were able to shed our layers.


The Giants starting out strong, with Alexander's favorite player Cody Ross hitting a home run. Unfortunately, the Giants did not score again in the game, and the Arizona Diamondbacks scored 4 runs in the last few innings. We still had a great time!

It was the official back-to-school game, so all children were given free lunchbags that look like Giants jerseys. Charlotte is holding hers in the photo above. In addition, the children were able to run the bases after the game.


It hasn't been the great season we had expected from the Giants, but we are still great fans!

August in San Francisco

Nothing says August in San Francisco more than ice skating. So when my sister-in-law's sister Emese was here visiting from Toronto, that's what we decided to do.

The kids still need some hand-holding on the ice, so it was helpful to have one adult for each of them. Sándor got quite comfortable, although he looked more like he was running on the ice rather than skating.

Sári was relieved when it was break time and she could give her legs a rest.

We look forward to many more fun times with Emi néni when she moves here in January!

First day of school

Today was the first day of our 2011-2012 school year. We got caught up in a bit of first day heavy traffic and only managed to get a single shot before the kids raced off to join their friends.


We had more time after school, and took some individual photos. Alexander had a great day in second grade. He was just a bit disillusioned at the end of the day when he realized that he wasn't going to fit in all the playing he still wanted to do.


Charlotte had been nervous about starting fourth grade. She is in a combined 4th and 5th grade class. There are 30 students, but only six of them from her previous class. Fortunately, one of her good friends is in the class with her. She had a good day as well, but is still nervous about the year.

Foggy day bowling

Since our summer has been so foggy, we've had to entertain ourselves indoors at times. We spent our family vacation at home in San Francisco. One day we went to the Presidio Bowling Center for a couple games of bowling.


Charlotte surprised us by winning both games. She and Alexander used the bumpers, so she did have a slight advantage.


Alexander's favorite part of the outing was his first racing game. He could just about reach the accelerator by sitting on the very edge of the seat. He has been asking almost daily whether we can go bowling again. We all know that it's actually the racing game that he is asking for.

Soccer in the fog

Alexander was very happy to attend soccer camp for a week in July. We crossed town every morning, heading deeper and deeper into the fog. It was so foggy and damp that his shoes and socks were soaked through at the end of each session. Every evening we used the hair dryer to get his shoes ready for the next day.

Alexander, in the green vest, waiting for his turn

On the other hand, we didn't have to worry about sunscreen or overheating. Alexander had a great time. After the first day he was already asking if he could sign up again next year!

Poppies and Ladybugs

While we were in Cleveland, lots of flowers bloomed in our school garden. I took this photo of the California poppies in my class's barrel. They were mostly orange, but I liked this pink one.


We saw a hummingbird and a ladybug in the garden. The hummingbird flew away too fast for a photo, but I took one of the ladybug on a pansy.


There are so many flowers now, that we even cut a few to put in a vase at home!

Family

George Burns said, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city."


We are also happy when we can be in the same city with most of our family!

We spent a fun week in Avon Lake, Ohio, with most of us together. Charlotte and Alexander also spent the previous two weeks there with Najm and Najp.

Mini Niagara Falls

I had lots of fun in Niagara Falls. Najp and I went to play mini golf and had ice cream while the girls were in Toronto. I almost got a hole in one. The mini golf was fun.

I took this picture of the mini falls in Niagara Falls. I think they are cool. The big falls made too much mist. I didn't like getting wet. I wear a coat when it rains.

I also liked watching Mantracker on the TV in the hotel room.

My First Time In Niagara Falls

This was my first time in Niagara Falls. We came here because Najm and I were going to a baby shower. I had never been to a baby shower before.

We drove to Toronto the next day. Only Najm and I went. We saw Keresztmama and Emi néni there. The shower was for Martha néni, who is having a baby girl in July.

I thought the falls were loud, wet, and pretty. Every night they lit the falls.

On Saturday, they did fireworks over the falls. They looked small because we were too far away, but we saw the higher ones. They were pretty. We went to the top floor of the hotel to get a better view, but there were no windows. So we went down a level, and there were still no windows. We checked every floor above us, and our floor was the highest floor with windows, so we watched some of it from there.

I took lots of pictures, including the one above. I had a really fun time.

Thinking with The Thinker

Charlotte really wanted to go see the Magna Carta exhibit at the Legion of Honor. I think they learned about the Magna Carta in class this year and her teacher suggested the exhibit. Unfortunately it ended before we went to the Legion of Honor.

We saw the Isabelle de Borchgrave exhibit instead. It was fascinating to see the elaborate costumes that she made completely from paper. Well, more accurately, it was fascinating for me, interesting for Charlotte, and fairly boring for Alexander. We spent some time viewing the rest of their collections and enjoying the beautiful views from the museum grounds.

I did learn that Alexander appreciates statues (which Charlotte found fairly boring) and we checked out each one. They both enjoyed posing with Rodin's The Thinker, and were surprised to hear that we posed with The Thinker at the Cleveland Museum of Art on our wedding day.


Charlotte would like to spend more time this summer visiting parts of San Francisco we have not yet seen. Alexander just wants to go play mini-golf.

Flowers in our garden

Just like we did during Spring Break, we are also tending our school garden during the summer. We were very excited to see our first flowers blossom last week! All of these were planted from seed. It's just unfortunate that they didn't blossom before the school year ended.

Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of these little purple flowers.

This is our first pansy. A few days later there were four of them!

Our first nasturtium.

Happy Mother's Day!

We would like to wish our mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and all other mothers a very happy Mother's Day!


We had a lovely sunny day, although it was a bit windy. Even so, we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. I certainly never imagined when we set out that I would be saying to the children, "Let's cross the street so that we can see the goats." We normally see birds and dogs when we go for a walk. This was the first time we came across goats.


It turns out that these goats are "an environmentally friendly solution to weed control," owned by a goat landscaping business called City Grazing.


Can you believe that this was the view just a few feet away from the grazing goats?

Playing during Spring Break

Spring Break wasn't all work. We made time for fun as well. On Wednesday we drove down to San Jose to meet Erika and Emily from Monterey. We went to the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. We had so much fun there that we forgot to take photos.

Charlotte and I made a corn husk doll together. It reminded me of an Ohio History class I took one summer at the Old Stone House in Lakewood.

After a lovely picnic lunch outside the museum, we walked over to the carousel.













The children took three rides each. In addition to the ostrich, shark, and hummingbird, they rode a dragon, horse, cheetah, elephant, wolf, and others. It was quite a zoo!

Working through Spring Break

One of the tasks keeping me very busy since last October is our school garden project. I submitted a grant proposal through Lowe's Toolbox for Education, and our school was awarded $7000! Now I am coordinating the effort to make our dream garden a reality. This is turning out to be a slower process than planned, and more work as well.

Here is our yard before the project began.

Ten half wine barrels were donated a few weeks ago. We filled them with soil, and the kids were so excited!


Before Spring Break several classes planted seeds in their barrels and transplanted seeds that they had germinated inside. The garden needed tending during the break, so we made several visits.

Here they are planning what to plant.

Now they are sowing the seeds.

And watering them.

We returned to school yesterday, and this barrel already had many green sprouts: snap peas, radishes, and several kinds of lettuce. We'll post more photos soon!

Sunshine for Spring Break

We are so grateful that after what seems like weeks of rain, the sun has come out during our Spring Break! We decided to take advantage of it while it lasts. A few weeks ago the children insisted that they have never been to Coit Tower. They have, but maybe it was just too long ago to remember. We went again today.


We could not have asked for better. It was sunny, fairly warm, there were no crowds, and the views were lovely.

San Francisco and the Bay Bridge

Charlotte, Alexander, and the Golden Gate Bridge

Quilts

I've written before about the beautiful quilt that my friend Leona made me. It's a very cold and rainy day today, so we may find ourselves wrapped up in it soon!

A few weeks ago we joined Leona and her husband Larry at a quilt show in Santa Clara. It was particularly exciting to see two of Leona's quilts displayed.

Congratulations, Leona, and thanks for sharing your gifts with us!

Lily Cai dance

This school year Charlotte has been participating in the Lily Cai Chinese dance program at her school. She has enjoyed it very much. Her teacher says that she's "very smart" and listens well when she corrects her.


Last week Charlotte performed for the first time. It took place in the school cafeteria in front of all the students and teachers and some families. In May they will perform in a dance festival at Davies Symphony Hall.

New Year's Eve Bowling

On December 31st Alexander reminded me that we never used the free bowling passes that he had won during the library's summer reading program. They were expiring that very day! I had planned to do laundry in the afternoon, but we decided to go bowling instead.

Charlotte and Alexander had both done Wii bowling, but had never even held a real bowling ball before. Fortunately the Presidio Bowling Center has bumper bowling.

Charlotte earned a strike and a spare and reached a total of 96 points! Alexander wasn't able to give the ball enough power to knock down more than a few pins at a time, but he had a great time anyway.

They have already asked when we can go bowling again!

Lean on an Eqyptian

This year our school has a dance teacher as part of the VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) program. She worked with Charlotte's class for 10 weeks in the first semester, and will work with Alexander's class for 10 weeks in the second semester.

Before Christmas the parents were invited to watch as the children performed the dances that they learned. They were far from polished performances, as they only had ten practices during which to learn the dance steps and choreography. Even so, they learned some dances, performed in front of a large audience, and had lots of fun!

First dance: "Lean on Me"

Second dance: "Walk like an Eqyptian"