Recital at Blue Bear

Alexander recently had his first recital at the Blue Bear School of Music. 

He played "Looking Through the Clouds" and "Majestic Fanfare," both by Timothy Brown.

Jump, Jive, An' Wail

At the end of another 10-week VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) session, Alexander's class performed Jump, Jive, An' Wail in December. Unfortunately he was placed in the back row, so he is blocked a lot in the video, but he does finish with his signature smile. Click here for the video.

I only took video at the performance, so I don't have a photo to share. Here's a shot of Alexander and his best friend on their ice skating field trip.

The Best of 2013

We have not been very consistent bloggers this year, so we thought we'd summarize our year by sharing some of our highlights of 2013.

The Best Family Wedding of 2013 was...

Peter and Jeannine Strada

Hartford, Connecticut

February 2, 2013

The Best New Aunt of 2013 was...

Jeannine néni

(Although she has been like an aunt to us since we met her a couple years ago, she officially became our aunt this year.)

The Best First Cousins of 2013 (and of every year since 2009) were...

Hannah and Máté

The Best Free Bike in 2013 was...

 The Chinatown Rotary Essay Contest Prize

 (And the best lesson learned was patience. We walked away from the give-away without a bike, and were rewarded with a much better bike, helmet, and lock than anyone else received.)

The Best Family Photo in 2013 was...

Charlotte's Elementary School Graduation

May 29, 2013

The Best Roadtrip with Najm and Najp in 2013 was...

 Washington, D.C.

June 24-28, 2013

The Best Second-hand Bike of 2013 was...

The Bike that Keresztpapa and Keresztmama Bought at a Garage Sale in Avon Lake

The Best Amusement Park Visit of 2013 was...

The Annual Strada Sibling Day at Cedar Point

July 2, 2013

The Best New Uncle of 2013 was...

 Uncle Louis

(Louis is technically our first cousin once removed, but we called him Uncle and are happy to have met him. Even though he lives in Minnesota, we had to travel all the way to England to get to know him!)

The Best Picnic of 2013 was...

Sculpture Garden

Burghley House, Stamford

August 1, 2013

The Best Palace Visited in 2013 was...

Buckingham Palace

London

August 12, 2013

The Best Kitten of 2013 was...

Einstein

(She may not have earned this distinction with her behaviour - see Auntie Tracey's scratches - but she was certainly our favourite kitten of the year!)

The Best San Francisco Fog Experience was...

Football in the Fog

Fort Winfield Scott, Presidio of San Francisco

October 26, 2013

(Some might call it Soccer in the Fog, but it doesn't sound as good.)

We wish you a very happy New Year. May 2014 bring us all many happy moments!

We're back!

It has been a while, but both children have recently updated their blogs.

For Alexander's recap of last year's trip to Disney World, please see:

My Life by Alexander

For Charlotte's take on our Disney World vacation last year, please see:

Adventurous Charlotte

And the winner was....

Last month we attended Őszi tábor (autumn camp) with the Hungarian Scouts. The favorite activity, for my children and many others, was the Számháború (number war).

Each player was given a set of cards with the same number on both the front and back. They wore these numbers on their heads, and tried to move in such a way that members of the other team could not see the numbers. If someone called out their number, they were out of the game, and had to go to the "cemetery" until the end of the game.

In the first game, the scouts were all on one team trying to steal the flag from the pirates. Then in subsequent games, there were two team of scouts playing each other, each trying to reach the other team's flag first.

Here Sári (in the light blue t-shirt) and her team prepared to race across the field.

 Sándor was the last was chosen for his team, but they chose well as he won the game for them!

Mongolian Dance

Charlotte had her final performance with the Lily Cai Chinese dance group. The 5th grade girls who have been dancing together for three years performed a Mongolian Dance.

The 5th grade dancers

Proud Charlotte

 

The Mongolian Dance

Piano recital

Alexander's piano teacher took a new position at a music school in San Mateo and is no longer able to teach him. We found him a new teacher at the Blue Bear School of Music at Fort Mason in San Francisco, so he has continued taking piano lessons. His previous teacher Isabelle invited him to perform at a recital with her other students. His smile at the end of the video was for her.

Technical note: We are experimenting with a new high definition video camera. If you would like to view the video at a higher resolution, click the cog at the bottom of the YouTube window, and select 720p. You can also increase the size to full screen by clicking on the rectangle in the right corner.