Little House on the Prairie

 Alaina has started reading the "Little House on the Prairie" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.   Now anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVED these books growing up.   You might say that I was slightly obsessed.   One Halloween, I was Laura Ingalls.   And when we took a family road trip to South Dakota after third grade, we made stops at her homesteads in Minnesota and South Dakota.

So, I might have *encouraged* Alaina to start reading this series--I have kept my well-worn boxed set from 30+ years ago.   We read the first book (Little House in the Big Woods) together, and then she was off reading the other books on her own.  Though I don't think she loves the books quite as much as I did (do), she has enjoyed them.   It makes me smile.

Recently, I suggest we look for the old PBS TV show that was created based on the books, and sure enough we found it available to stream for free on Peacock.  Well, she certainly loves watching it.   And I have to say, I do too.   There are a lot of timeless lessons covered in each episode.  When I was younger, my Aunt Judith knew how much I loved the show.   Judith found out when it aired and set her VCR for each episode.   One Christmas, she gave me 5 or 6 full length tapes each full of episodes, with every episode carefully labeled.   Thinking about this memory also makes me smile.   What a wonderful Aunt!  

And my, how has technology changed.

Spring Break in Central Europe

 

We just returned from a fantastic spring break trip to two beautiful cities: Vienna and Budapest.  I booked these tickets many months ago, and despite the airline schedule changing five times and Jason having conflicts with his new job, we all managed to make the trip.

We started in Vienna, which is a city that has been on my list for a long time.   It was a beautiful city, clean, charming, and very easy to navigate.  The weather was a bit cold (it snowed the first day!), but we bundled up and toured around.

On the first day, we went to the Hapsburg palace and St. Stephen's Cathedral.   Both were quite impressive.   I enjoyed learning about Austrian history, which I never remember learning in school.   The cathedral was huge and we hiked to the top of the spire for a great view over the city.

  

The next day, we took the train out to Schonbrunn Palace, which was a beautiful complex.   

After a palace tour, we walked the grounds, and the kids enjoyed checking out a labyrinth.  

 

 That evening we headed to the Vienna Opera house to see Carmen.   The building was opulent, and though I purchased the "cheap" seats with a partially obstructed view, Jason and I really enjoyed it.   (the kids were bored.....someday they will appreciate, I hope).   The coolest thing to me was that my dad's great uncle was actually an usher at the opera hours in the early 1900s...so I got to walk in my ancestor's footsteps!

On our last full day in Vienna we checked out the Belvedere museum as well as the Prater Amusement park (it was too cold for most of the rides to be open but the kids did enjoy some cotton candy) and finally the House of Music, which is a museum about the music history of Vienna that is geared for kids.

 

We had great food in Vienna--my favorite was a schnitzel from Figlmueller:

 but almost everything we ate was very high quality.   Cake is also quite popular, and I enjoyed sampling many varieties and apple streusel!

The next day we caught a train to Budapest.   Unfortunately, upon checking into our air bnb we found it to be a dump, and struggled to find a new accommodation.   We were stuck for the night, but the next day, moved to a much nicer place just a few blocks away.

Budapest had a very different feel from Vienna, in many ways.   It was grittier, dirtier, cheaper, and less predicable.   For example, in Vienna, we had to wear KN95 masks everywhere and carry proof of vaccination--and in Budapest, we never saw one mask!   But the city was a lot of fun, and we had some amazing food.

On our first day, we took a tour of the parliament, and saw the Hungarian Crown Jewels from 900 AD.   We also learned a lot of Hungarian history (which I definitely never learned in school).   Seems like the Hungarians have always sided with the "wrong" side of history (and continue to now, with respect to Ukraine..... )

In the afternoon, we checked out the Szechnyi Baths.   Budapest is built on a geothermal site, and has a lot of thermal springs that have been covered into year-round swimming pools/hot tubs.   The Szechnyi baths are the most famous, and quite large.   Hanging out was relaxing, and Ethan even played chess with a local.  Dinner that night was at Retek--delicious!

On our next day, we visited the Dohany Synagogue, which is the largest synagogue in Europe.  It is also not an orthodox synagogue, which was interesting.   They had a small exhibit on WWII, but we agreed it could have been better.   There certainly was a lot of tragedy in Budapest at the time.   In the afternoon, we visited the Budapest Castle, which had spectacular views of the city, and enjoyed some treats at the Ruszworm Cafe.  Yum!  The kids also got Hungarian haircuts!

 

  

Our last day in Budapest unfortunately brought rain, so we did a bit of souvenir shopping and then headed to another thermal bath--this time Palatinus.  Palatinus even has a wave pool and waterslides that open in the summer--would be a fun place for sure.  Dinner was at the Hoppa Bistro-probably our best meal of the trip, but it really was hard to pick a best!

The food in Budapest was amazing.   From amazing morning cinnamon rolls at Aran bakery, to langos--whcih is a top of field bread, yummy treats were available around every corner.  My new favorite dish is chicken paprikash--which is chicken cooked in a creamy paprika sauce.   I bought some Hungarian paprika so I can try to make it at home!   We also really enjoyed the goulash--which is actually not a stew, but a beef broth based soup.  Luckily we did a lot of walking to burn off all of the calories!

Med School Reunion

We have been busy hosting at the cabin!    Most recently, two of Jasons closest friends from medical school, Matt and Andreas, joined us.  We had a lot of fun catching up.   Andreas came with his wife Jenny, who was my classmate and their two kids who are 13 and 10, so Ethan and Alaina really enjoyed hanging out with them!

 We skied, though the snow was quite slushy as it was getting really warm!

  

One thing that is great about these friends is that although it has been awhile since we have all seen each other (10 years for Andreas and Jenny!), hanging out was just so easy!    I guess that’s the way with old friends!

Skiing with Rebeka and Alex

 This past weekend we went up to the cabin with our first au pair, Rebeka and her husband Alex.   Now, despite the fact that she saw snow for the first time at age 26, Rebeka has learned to ski really really well--better than I will ever ski.   Super impressive.

Saturday was a wet and snowy day, so we called it quits early, but Sunday was a gorgeous day.

We had a lot of fun hanging out together.   Rebeka is now a US citizen--she just passed her test last week--and she is currently in nursing school in San Diego.   She and Alex have been married for almost 5 years--time sure flies, as it feels much more recent that we were in Brazil.  They are homeowners now--and they have a dog.   Time for kids soon!   It sure has been been watching them "grow up"--we feel kind of like junior parents to them.  

Busy Weekend

 We have had a busy weekend!   It was the opening day for baseball and softball, and both the kids were in the parade.  Jason was out of town, so my dad helped us out by taking us to the parade.

The kids had a great time, and are very excited about the season.

 

Later in the morning, Alaina had her last basketball game.   She has missed a lot of the season due to skiing and covid, so she has been a bit rusty, but has made some improvements over the season.

On Saturday night, Ethan had a Bar Mitzvah, where he learned to play poker.   He came home thrilled, and downloaded several iPad poker apps this am.   I hope that this does not mean the end of chess!

Today was Alaina's best friend's birthday party--they went mini-golfing--followed by a girl scout cookie sale booth.  The cookie booth reminded me of my days as a Girl Scout.  Fun.

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Ski Week in the Dominican Republic

President's Week is a school holiday week.  Like last year, we rented out our Tahoe house and decided to travel.....this year to the Dominican Republic for a week on the beach.

We chose the Dominican Republic because we wanted to go somewhere warm, where we could swim in the ocean....and in Februarys past have found Hawaii and even Cancun to not be quite warm enough.   The Dominican Republic did not disappoint on that front.   Every day the high was about 85--and the ocean temperature was probably 78 or so.   So we enjoyed warm weather, sunshine and ocean swimming without issue.

  

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort in La Romana.  It was a Hilton, and besides the beach and pools it also had a small waterpark, which the kids loved.   

The setting was really nice, though the food was a bit disappointing.   

On the last day of the trip, we went to Santo Domingo, which had a very interesting colonial neighborhood, home to many 16th century explorers, including Cortez, Ponce de Leon etc.  We also saw the first church in the new world, the first hospital, and the first castle.   I really enjoyed learning about this history, though the kids were a bit bored.

Anyhow, it was a good get-away week, very nice to have a change of scenery

Chess Tournament Birthday Party

 After we all recovered from COVID, Ethan was able to have a "Covid safe" birthday party.  Now, what he really wanted was a sleepover, but that would not qualify, as safe so instead he opted for.....a chess tournament!   

He has gotten really into chess recently with his friends at school.   So he had 5 boys come over for pizza, ice cream sundaes, chess, and some hot tub time.

They had a blast.   I was amazed at how fiercely competitive they all were--and some of them are really quite good.   Ethan designed a whole bracket system, and we even had small prize for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.   What could be more wholesome fun for a 13 yo party.   Amazing!