Christmas

Christmas eve...the girls were holding up pretty well considering it was already 10 pm by the time the festivities were underway.



Basti liked to take his time opening the presents.


Ilo worked more efficiently and was already trying on her new lamb-slippers while Basti was still peeling off the pieces of tape one by one.

Singing was the best part about Christmas.

Not least of all for Basti, who can sing and smile at the same time.


We sang the "Twelve Days of Christmas" so many times that we eventually learned all the lyrics, and Adrienn could take a rest from holding them up for us.


Papa and the girls baked the most delicious Christmas cookies on earth.


Basti's new marble run says it's suitable for ages 4-99, so Papa and Adri enjoy playing with it too. But Basti has found many more ways to have fun with it - like tossing the marbles everywhere and watching them roll under beds and sofas.

We did make it to the Adirondacks (Vacation Part II)

It took a much shorter time to drive to the Adirondacks than it did for Mama to get around to putting up this post. (From Charlston Lake it took about 3 1/2 hours). We stayed at the cozy little cottage that we stayed in last fall, so it felt a bit like a homecoming.

The magic of leaves.

Splashing next to a stream and collecting little rocks was the preferred pastime of little Basti and Ilo.

Adrienn enjoyed this too.
Big rocks also had their uses.

Look mama...no feet!

Tactile pleasures were great but so were visual ones.


Basti took a time out from vacation to watch the Democratic National Convention.


Basti-Lorax.


Looking for patterns in nature like papa.


Vacationing outdoors means... appreciating new foods - like canned pineapple.

... enjoying favorite pastimes like canoeing.

...and discovering new abilities.

Basti loves Ilona.


One last photo in front of the cottage before heading home.

Charlston Lake

We decided to take a family vacation this year - just Mama, Papa and the three munchkins. It had two phases. Phase I was camping for a couple of nights in Charlston Lake, which is about 20 km north of the Thousand Islands. We had never heard of the place before but the location was perfect (halfway between Toronto and Wilmington, NY, which was our destination in the Adirondacks.) It turned out to be an absolutely lovely place, with a great campsite. The lake was full of small islands and - more importantly for Adrienn - fish of all shapes and sizes.



Ilo was happy about all the little pinecones she found everywhere!

On the first day we canoed out to Democrat Island (one of the few public islands in the lake) and found a great spot to have a picnic and spend the afternoon. We steered clear of the Republican Island, which was dominated by palatial cottages of the type showcased in House & Home magazine, and didn't look like too much fun to visit.
Papa checking out the waters after docking our little red canoe...


Adrienn could hardly wait to throw in the line...but putting the worm on the hook was not so much fun. Mama didn't like this job much either. But Papa was brave and could often be persuaded to do it for her.


While Adrienn was catching us some dinner, Ilo enjoyed a good long nap with just one flip-flop on.





As for Basti, he kept jumping into the water so Mama decided just to take off all his clothes. Basti was much happier this way, too.


He got to play with the extra bobber in Adri's fishing box, so he liked fishing, too.





Adri showing the fish that she caught.
It seems photographing the fish was as much fun as catching them!

The anti-ballet-recital

Adrienn danced at her end-of-year ballet recital in her pajamas. No satin, no tutus, no frilly things trailing behind her ...at least she got to put on some stage makeup, which pleased her immensely. The routine she did was about little girls and the babysitters who were trying to put them to bed. Of course they were really naughty and sneaked out of bed to get into the cookie jar. I don't know about Adrienn's dancing but I must say she acted superbly. Somehow she knew exactly what to do in such a situation.


In the dressing room, all made up.




[We were not allowed to photograph or film the performance :( ]


Relaxing with a bottle of water afterwards.

Second day of the recital. Same Adrienn, different pajamas,

right before going on stage.

And right afterwards...

Christie lake

Bunnies!

For the weekend Adrienn brought home some bunnies from school - a mama and five babies. The kids loved playing with them in the backyard, and the bunnies were happy for the opportunity to hop about and eat some fresh grass.



Ilona was very gentle.


Basti was gentle too...at first. Later his preferred way of handling the bunnies was to pick them up by the ears...



Happy Adrienn, happy bunny.

Basti's Korean birthday

Halmuni and Harabuji came to visit in April and we celebrated Sebastian's Korean birthday.



While Halmuni was preparing all the food for the special table, Sebastian looked for other things to munch on.


The girls decided to wear their Korean dresses out of solidarity...Here they are decorating the birthday cake.

Mama was persuaded to wear her dress too - for the first time in 20 years. That's the great thing about the Korean dress - it always fits.


Adrienn modelling her dress.

Sebastian reaching for the pens...a sure sign that he will be a great writer someday.

The pen is as tasty as it is functional...at least it is something within reach.