Papa and Nana

Gary’s parents were here about 2 weeks.  Thankfully the weather was beautiful!  It’s been an unusual fall with us having such warm weather.  I’m definitely not complaining!

The kids love to read and be read to, so they were thrilled for Nana and Papa to sit and read with them.

Our last day Papa and Nana took the kids to our neighbors’ house to play on the swing set (we don’t have a slide, and their swings are for older kids). Sienna loved going down backwards on her stomach.

Getting to swing on the “big kid” swing.

Traveling with Gary’s Parents

We were able to take a trip to the mountains in Austria for a few days while Gary’s parents were here. Gary and I didn’t have a vacation this year, so it was nice to go to the mountains for a few days.  Outside of God and my family the mountains are the love of my life.  I miss them desperately.  For those of you reading this who don’t know, I came from a mountainous place and God put me in a flat country surrounded by countries with mountains.

 Everyone looking up at God’s splendor.

 Some family shots

Taking a “play” break after eating lunch by the lake.

Ethan and Sienna enjoyed seeing the swans almost everywhere we went in Hallstatt.  At one point we saw 7 swans a-swimming, so of course, we had to sing the one line of the Christmas carol.

 I love this picture! 

We did a day trip to Lake Gossau one day while in Austria.   

The weather was perfect, and the scenery was beautiful.

Ethan loved throwing rocks in the lake, but this was the kids’ favorite part.  Thankfully I had a change of clothes for each of them because they got soaking wet, top and bottom.

We couldn’t fit everyone in our car, so we borrowed someone’s van for this trip.  It happened to be a Toyota Sienna, so of course, we had to get a picture of our Sienna with it.

More Visitors in Budapest

While Gary’s parents were here their former pastor and his wife also came to visit.  They were visiting different missionaries within their denomination, which included a couple of families in Budapest.  We wanted to do some type of sightseeing thing that would be enjoyable for Gary’s parents, who have been here before, for Jim and Barbie, and for our kids.  We ended up going on a boat ride on the Danube River.  But it isn’t a boat ride for tourists; it is actually just another mode of public transportation offered in the city.  We weren’t aware of this until a few months ago.  It was such a great way to see things along the river.

Gary and I couldn’t remember Ethan being on a boat other than a row boat, so this was the first time for him and Sienna to be on a bigger boat.  It didn’t impress Sienna so much, but Ethan loved it.

The weather was overcast and a bit windy as we rode up the river.

Here we are with the Murphys. We got off by the Parliament for pictures and to eat lunch.

After lunch we got back on the boat and had wonderful, sunny weather. 

We got off by the Freedom Bridge and walked across to the Covered Market where everyone could get souvenirs.  I’m not sure what Ethan and Jim are doing in this picture… it looks like they are racing each other.  I was excited to go to the Asian Market (next door to the Covered Market) while everyone was shopping.  This is the only place that I’ve found in Hungary where you can buy real brown sugar.  I actually have stocked up on that since I rarely go into the city, but they also sell a lot of varieties of soy sauce and in large bottles, so I was able to stock up on that.

Wild Animal Park

While Gary’s parents were here we all went to a wild animal park that is about 20 minutes from our house.  We’ve actually never been there before, but thought it could be a fun thing to all do outside while the weather was nice.

Ethan enjoyed petting the deer.  

 At the top of a lookout tower

After the view we ate lunch at a nearby picnic table. 

Unfortunately the bears must have eaten lunch too and were taking a nap.

Ethan checking out the European bison.

Sienna hadn’t quite dropped her morning naps yet, so she was pooped by the end of our time.

September

I’m so far behind with blogging I will just post some pictures from September.

Ethan “playing” the drums at someone’s house.

“My little sister!”

We’re working on the word “gentleness” with Ethan.  Sienna has definitely been learning to toughen up.  As in this picture above, she often continues to smile despite his roughness.

Ethan pointing to a hedgehog in our yard.  

There are quite a few of these in Hungary, and we’ve had several in our yard since living here.

Sienna playing with Glowworm.  My cousin gave this as a gift to Ethan when he was little, but Sienna has “claimed” it now.  She has enjoyed Glowworm, stuffed animals, and all of that kind of stuff so much more than Ethan.  It’s interesting how you don’t have to teach a boy to play with “boy-type” toys or teach a girl to play with “girl-type” toys.  They  just do it.  (Not that boys don’t like to play with stuffed animals.)

Ethan enjoys instruments.  We started the month off with him playing drums at someone’s house, and now we have a picture of him “playing” the banjo at someone’s house at the end of September.

Saying Farewell

Our team leader and his wife moved back to the States last month after living in Europe for 39 years.  They started our team 18 years ago, and Trent has been the only team leader up until now.

Before I married Gary, thus becoming a part of this team, I spent Advent each year at Trent and Vivian’s house.  I also spent some Christmases, etc. with them.  They were more than just a team leader to me.

This was our last dinner with the Hyatts at our house in August.  We actually bought this wooden table (that Trent made) from them to put on our patio.

The kids just love Trent and Vivian. 

At the beginning of September we had our last team get together, celebrating Vivian’s birthday.  I made an apple cake (which Trent says she prefers), and was excited to use apples from our trees.

Trent and Vivian knew that we were celebrating her birthday, but we surprised them by also celebrating his birthday which was a week before.  I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for him.

Another surprise was their farewell gift from our team—a photo book of their 39 years of ministry in Europe.  Their son Justin and his wife of less than a month also joined us (they have been living in Budapest).

Two days later our team sent them off from the train station.  They took all ground transportation back to the States (train, boat, car).

They will greatly be missed!!!