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!!!

Thank You Galilee VBS

The doorbell rang one morning while Gary was in Croatia.  It was a postal worker delivering a package.  I was surprised because most of the packages that we get are from my mom, and she tells me when to expect a package.  The box was addressed to Ethan and Sienna.  We opened it up, and it was a gift from Galilee Baptist Church in Loveland.  The kids in their vacation Bible school made packages for the missionary kids that the church supports.

It was such a sweet surprise, and the kids loved having some new things.  The timing actually worked out well too, because they had something “new” to play with while Gary was away.  I’m hoping that their teacher will be able to show the kids these pictures from our blog so they can actually see our kids enjoying what they sent.The plastic container itself could have been the gift alone.  The kids enjoyed hitting it like a drum before I opened it.  And, it makes a great little storage container.

  Opening their cards that the kids from Galilee made for them. 

As you see Sienna already “claimed” the stuffed animal while Ethan was intrigued by the stickers. 

They both love to look at books, so they enjoyed looking at the books they received.

THANK YOU Galilee from the Rickards!

Kids Play Time

Thankfully the weather was nice while Gary was in Croatia.

Seth and Kate came over at the beginning of the week.  I was glad to catch up, let the kids play, and eat Caesar salad that Kristen brought.

Later in the week a few other moms came over and we all made salads to share.

It’s usually difficult for us moms to get the kids to eat when they’re all together (and outside!) like this.

No problems getting them to eat popsicles!

After Ethan and William ate their orange juice popsicles they each wanted more.  So, I gave them some blueberry/raspberry smoothie popsicles that I made.

  Love this picture!

“How many of us can we fit up here?”

So this is how it happens with the younger siblings getting sweets.  Thankfully it didn’t have any sugar.

“I hope Mom doesn’t catch me.”

Last Pool Time

Sadly, we only made it to the pool twice this summer.  We hoped to go a number of times as our vacation this year, but it just didn’t work out.  We did manage to squeeze in about 4 hours one day before Gary left for Croatia (the pool closed his last day of teaching there).Ethan, Evan, and Tosha playing above, and Evan and Ethan below.

“Should I try this or let Daddy set me on top of the slide?”

“So happy I made it to the top!”

Ethan didn’t want to go in the “deep” pool.  I was finally able to persuade him to let me carry him around the deep pool.  Once Evan and Tosha got in he didn’t have anymore problems being in the deep water.  For a while I had Ethan on one arm and Evan on the other.

Yulia showed me the float-type thing that they got for Evan in the States.  I took a picture of it and sent it to my mom, and she actually mailed one over here.  So, Ethan was able to test it out.

Holiday Picnic

August 20th is a national Hungarian holiday.  There are fireworks downtown, etc. (kind of like America’s July 4th).  We did not go downtown but we did go to a nearby park (that we’ve actually never taken the kids to) and had a picnic with Michelle, William, and Joshua.      I was so excited that Ethan actually ate his sandwich (which often doesn’t happen when other kids are around).

Playing after lunch

Watching the boys play

Michelle, Joshua (and baby boy #3 on the way)