Rea Turns 3

Considering that she got her presents over 3 weeks ago when I returned from the US with goodies in tow and we have been hearing about her Elsa birthday ever since then it was about time we actually celebrated the real day. A simple occasion with family over for a BBQ in the still slightly chilled air. But she was able to wear her Elsa dress and Princess crown and eat her Elsa cake holding a Princess wand. She also enjoyed her new Lego castle which Adi built before she had taken it all out of the box. Great fun always to have family around and playing.

A couple weeks before this we spent a day in Skopje at the Lego festival and brought our bikes to ride on the river. Nice family outing.

Belated Birthday in Budapest

Well how often are you able to catch our blog without any photos of the kids? Happily to say we have done just that taking last week's long Easter holiday in Hungary. Didn't hurt that Wizz Air just opened a direct discount trip for 114euros for 2 of us roundtrip!!! And we took a nice 2 bedroom flat in the center of the downtown on Airbnb for a fraction of what one night in a hotel costs. We were only missing being able to Uber from the airport to the place;-)

It had been 24 years since I was there last and 14 for Pranvera. We walked over 10 miles each of 3 days and saw everything! Weather was chilly and overcast but no rain and it worked for what we wanted to do (except taking the plunge in the heated thermal pools. The city had a number of Spring festival markets so we sampled the wonderful local dishes, desserts and drinks right outside with live music and countless other tourists. We sampled a bit of culture watching a German opera one night and very fine meals throughout. Unfortunately the idea of long, full, uninterrupted sleeps were more appealing than finding the bars and clubs to hit for after hours so our nights were relatively early and uneventful. 

As the pictures show the river and the buildings were just magnificent and there was plenty of green space and high tech playgrounds that would make this a welcome family destination to return to. But we just enjoyed our walkabouts, coffee breaks, happy hour drinks and each others company (a being able to complete a sentence or thought without interruption). Although this was Pranvera's bday present from March with work and travel it was the first weekend we were able to schedule. It happened to be the tail-end of Adi's Spring Break of which he spent locally with 1-2 playdates each day and our weekend away with Rea and the grandparents house. Both kids are doing great in high spirits. 

I have been local except for a work week in early April to Moldova but will be back there for half of May. Have several local contracts now which is a great excuse for me to get out of the house working with local project staff but not having to get on a plane. Pranvera's project is never slowing down but more manageable and rewarding. Spring was approaching except for the past week we got non accumulating snow for 3 days. But the patio furniture is out and the kids are already hitting the trampoline and push bikes so bring on the summer.

Perfect Birthday Weekend

It is nice when you birthday always falls on a holiday so we typically take a long weekend somewhere to keep trying to remind myself I am young. This year was no exception for another new adventure, this time in Borovets Bulgaria which is a 5 hour drive from home. But before departing I had a wonderful wakeup with cards, coupons and a happy to me song. Pranvera hit me with the perfect present of something I had talked about but didn't quite know how to get nor would I have gone to the effort: a portable tennis net so I can now play on the courts 30 seconds from our house but always have the nets destroyed due to the kids. And for myself I got an software package update to finally get current maps uploaded to our cars navigation system which could have been helpful for this trip as we made a couple errors and had to resort to using our phones and a printout to make the journey.

Since it is Kosovo Independence Day right after my bday Adi gets a couple days off school so we needed to take advantage of the window. The lesson learned here was that when you have a holiday, many others might too. Which was the case for both the UK and Serbia which slams this resort with direct flights and package deals. It is known for having good infastructure and unbeatable prices (especially for UK standards). So the lines on several of the days were ridiculous and all the ski schools full. Luckily we had a local contact of a great instructor so Adi got good equipment ($5/day with helmet) and 2 hours private lessons. By the end of 3 days he was skiing as fast as I could board on the beginner and couple intermediate slops. Was so much fun to be on the mountain with him.

But as any skier knows the amount of logistics can be overwhelming. Lift passes, lines, equipment, crazy beginner skiers all over the mountain etc. But we managed and enjoyed with 2 perfect weather days as well. The huge hotel had a big pool and a little town around it to get some good food (pork finally) and we ran into one of Adi's schoolmates so they had fun playing. Pranvera had the kids sledding on the base of one of the slopes and Adi could take the tow rope lifts by himself to ski till his hearts content. Think next year at 3, will be time to get Rea on the sticks as she seems to be the real dare devil of the family.