Fall 2012

This time we thought we'd let the kids talk about what they've been up to since the start of the school year.

Nash

I chose to go to Bovec, Slovenia in the Alps for my Fall Trip. Our first day we hiked to a pass up in the mountains. While most of the group rested, some of my friends and I made the hike to the mountain peak nearest to the pass. The mountains we were in had seen some of the fiercest fighting during the First World War, between Italy and Austria-Hungary. Trenches, fortifications, rusted shells and cans were everywhere on the mountain. It was pretty crazy to think a war was fought on those steep mountains.

Our hike down led us to the Soca river. We changed into our swimming gear and swam in the frigid, but crystal clear water. There were a few cliffs from which we could jump into the water. I think I did it at least a dozen times. The feeling of jumping into the cold water after the long hike was remarkable. After we finished swimming, I got my towel out to dry myself on top of one of the cliffs. When I unrolled it, to my surprise, a bag of crackers flew out and into the river below. Not wanting to taint the pristine waters, I promptly jumped into the river to retrieve the crackers. The current was much stronger than I had expected, and it took a lot of effort to get the crackers, but I got them and ate them right there.

The next day we went hydrospeeding. We were given a plastic board to float on and flippers and thrown into the river. We went down countless rapids and bumped into countless rocks. By the end I was pretty bruised up. After that, we went to one of the canyons near the river. We hiked in wetsuits (not recommended) to the far end of the canyon and proceeded to jump and slide our way down it. We would jump into deep, clear pools from rocks high above. It was pretty awesome. One jump was called the ‘black hole’. Basically, it was a waterfall flowing through a hole in the rock, into a dark cave. It was scary, but worth it!

Our final day, we went rafting before returning to Budapest. It was a great trip!

Grant

This year has been pretty good so far. It's my first year of High School and I like it. I expected it to be a lot harder. It's pretty easy. For Fall Trips I went to a city called Eger. It is northeast of Budapest. We did a bunch of team building activities. We repelled down 75 ft cliffs, rock climbed and did a bunch of other fun things. At the moment I am not doing any sports but in the winter I will be doing swimming.

Luke

This year, I stepped up to 7th grade. It's been great so far. I am taking part in this year's musical, The Pirates of Penzance, and was chosen as the Pirate King. I was the only one who auditioned for the Pirate King, and there were only seven boys total auditioning. The play has been going great. I've learned all my songs, and I've almost learned all my lines. I didn't run for Student Council this year, but I plan on running next year as Co-President. I started percussion lessons, which are also going very well, and I'm going to do swimming in winter, and softball in spring. I still do swimming on Saturdays, which is also going great. Unfortunately, this year I didn't get the teachers I wanted, and I don't have many friends in my classes. However, I'm hoping for the best and looking forward to a great year. For Fall trips this year, we went to Lake Balaton, in southern Hungary. Around twenty other students and I swam in the lake at 6 am sharp, and was sworn into the secret Polar Bear Club. We also had a medieval meal underground, where we ate potatoes, bread, and a whopping goose leg all with our hands! The goose leg was delicious.

Mallory

I am in 2nd grade this year, and my teacher's name is Mr. Gillis and he is really funny. My friend from last year is in my class and she is really nice. My after school activities are really fun. On Tuesdays I have Yoga and then I have my piano lessons. On Wednesday I have Playground Games and Activities and on Thursdays I have 3-D Modelling. My first field trip for the year was going to Challengeland, which is a place that has ropes and stuff, like rope courses, and it was really fun. To get there we had to go on a bus and then go on the Kids' Train and that was really cool. Right now Luke and I are reading the book "The Hobbit" together, and it is really good so far. We got a new trash can for the kitchen, and I made a robot from the box that it was in, and I also made a hat that was made of the shoebox from my new boots. Every Sunday me and my Dad go on a walk and collect chestnuts. We found about 6 chestnuts that look like the shape of a heart on the white part of the chestnut.

And a few photos....

Nash turned 17 -- his last birthday at home before going off to college.

Nash in the Slovenian Alps on his Fall Trip.

One of a number of cliff jumps on the trip.

Nash and the cross country team at the meet in Vienna.

An after-race Wiener Schnitzel with the team in.....Vienna, of course.

Nash went on a 2 day trip with a group from school to an orphanage in Salonta, Romania -- near the border with Hungary.

The spent time playing with the kids, and Nash practiced speaking Hungarian with them (most of the people in that region of Romania speak Hungarian as their native language).

This is Grant's self-portrait from his Fall Trip to Eger.

I'm not sure what he was trying to hit with the bow and arrow, but we're glad we have neighbors that will happily let us retrieve whatever balls, frisbees, arrows, etc. go over the fence.

Grant and Luke on the starting blocks -- they are doing swimming training on Saturdays during the Fall, and will practice with the teams when the season starts in a few months.

A photo of Luke's class from the Fall Trip to Lake Balaton. 

Luke's friend from Germany came to visit.

Mallory and friends on a school trip to Challenge Land.

Mallory's class had a unit in PE where they focused on balance and a bunch of other skills, then they put on a Circus performance for the parents.  She was really excited about it.

Mallory has done several arts / crafts projects at home.  This shoe box became a hat,complete with a foldable visor.

And our trash can box became a robot.

Mallory dressed up as Aunt (Uncle) Sam for the elementary school International Day.

Mallory and her friend enjoying some ice cream and a nice fall day here in Budapest.

One Saturday the weather was really nice so we went down town to have some lunch and to get Mallory some flower-shaped ice cream -- we often take visitors to this ice cream shop, but we realized Mallory hadn't been there yet.

St Stephen's Basilica

We didn't go anywhere during the kids' week-long fall break.  Instead we took care of things around the house and did a couple of things close to home.  We ended up going to this place that has a small section with interesting rock formations.

And it also has some castle ruins.

We chopped down (actually we used a saw) a dead pine tree in our front yard.

S'mores in the back yard with friends and neighbors.

We went with some friends to Visegrád to see the castle...

...and then we went to a medieval-themed restaurant for lunch...

...and then went to an alpine slide.

Random photo of the family, taken for Mallory to send in to school.

Largest loaf of bread I have ever seen, but common here in Hungary.

Heidi went to Poland with some friends for a few days to do more shopping for pottery.  She came home with more than just pottery, though -- she came home with a broken window.  On the way home, she was even back in Budapest at the time, a bus rear-ended her. Luckily nobody (and no pottery) was hurt in the accident.

My finance department spent an afternoon gathering firewood in the forest at an orphanage.  It was good to spend some time together out of the office, and hopefully we were able to provide some fuel for the heating system at the orphanage.