Hungary Part Three: Istvan's House

Even though I've been to Hungary a few times now, I still get a big thrill out of being 'abroad'. Just a walk around a regular, suburban, residential area (where Istvan, Ildiko and Vivien live) I find completely fascinating and interesting. Different number plates, road signs, local building styles and especially 'foreign' supermarkets, full of alien brands, all feel incredibly exotic and exciting to me.

Hungary Part Two: Győr

Győr is a beautiful and prosperous town near the boarder with Austria. It has a fascinating history, have a read of the Wikipedia entry, and has some stunning baroque buildings. We had a lovely walk around the city centre on Friday morning and hope to see a lot more of it next time we visit.

Hungary Part One: Mosonmagyaróvár

We went to Hungary this weekend to visit Ibolya's family. I took so many pictures I'm going to have to post the weekend's blog entry in chuncks. This is the first. After flying to Vienna airport, we were met by Ibolya's brother Istvan, who drove us to their parents house in Mosonmagyaróvár, which is about an hour away from Vienna. It was the first time Ruby had met her Hungarian Grandfather, also called Istvan, and they were both very pleased to meet each other. We stayed there for a few hours, had lunch and Istvan drove us to his house in the nearby town of Gyor.

Stephen's Birthday

It's my best friend (and Ruby's Godfather) Stephen's birthday today.
Here he is soon after he had a bump removed from his forehead.
Happy Birthday Stephen! I'm sorry I'm not here to spend it with you but I hope you have a wonderful day. See you for more Mad Men on Tuesday. R x

Ibolya's Birthday Weekend

We started Ibolya's birthday weekend with a big Friday Night curry with Kate and Dan, Holly and Danny, Jerry and Samia, Jess and Adam.



On Saturday morning, Ibolya opened all her cards and presents.



We had birthday lunch at Canteen again, on Baker Street. We had steak and kidney pie with mash, cabbage, chips and gravy. And Ruby had macaroni cheese.







I've really been enjoying tending to the new lawn and have bought a new toy; an ocilating spray attachment for the hose.





On Saturday afternoon Laura, Shirri and Stephen came round for tea and cake.



and I made a big roast pork dinner for Stephen, Lorena and Claire on Saturday night.



Sunday was beautiful, bright and sunny. Ibolya went to Chiswick car boot sale, while Ruby and I had a lovely, quiet Sunday morning in togther. Ibolya picked up this funny little elephant from the car boot sale.





We all went to Roundwood Park in the afternoon and had a play on the slides and swings.





For tea, I made home-made pizzas. One sea food and the other meaty- they were absolutley delicious!



Ruby didn't have the happiest of weekends, she's been suffering from a multitde of ailments: teething, running nose, conjunctivitis, eczma on her cheeks and a bad cough



But we still had a very happy bathtime and listened to some great music

Ruby Paints!

Ruby is exactly 15 months old today!
Here's my little girl, making her father very proud by standing at her easel, focused on delivering her paint to the paper. Dolly, next to her, is obviously struggling and failing to command her materials.

District 9

It takes an exceptionally good film to keep Ibolya and I awake these days but District 9 had us totally gripped. It's by far the best film we've seen in ages, probably the best film of 2009 (after 'Let the Right One In') and a film that really has it all; great acting, good script, an original idea, politically sound, refreshingly low budget but big enough for well executed CGI. And when was the last time you saw a film set in Johannesburg? It is a lot, lot better than Avatar.

Week 22

Weeks are absolutely flying by and getting a brief moment to take some pregnancy pictures is becoming increasingly rare. So we are actually at the start of Week 23 now but this should have been a Week 22 post.
Little bubba is moving all round the place now and is being really consistent about having a good old wriggle when we're on the sofa, watching TV, or in bed.
Ibolya keeps grabbing my hand and placing it on her tummy, when there's a big wriggle, but I never feel it in time. I'll feel one soon, I'm sure and Ibolya is loving feeling bubba moving around inside her.
Ibolya's tummy has really sprouted in the past couple of weeks and bubba must have had a big growth spurt. She's probably about 30 cm now (I just checked and that's the length of a regular desk ruler!) and is half a kilogram in weight. Her hearing is well established now so it's more than about time I started getting her used to Prince, David Bowie amd Philip Glass.
We've started work on our second nursery; sold our spare double bed, moved the other downstairs and getting, what was our guest room, into a new baby room. This means trying to improve on the children's wallpaper we have in Ruby's room and trying to find some genuine, retro, wallpaper. Our friend Sarah has already volunteered her papering services.