First, let me just say to the two people out there who actually log on to read my ramblings, I apologize for the fact that I've been MIA since January 15th. No proper excuses available, I've just been distracted with other things and haven't made the effort. Second, let me dedicate this posting to my dear friend John Fekete, without whom this would not be possible (he's actually the only faithful reader I have and keeps bugging me to get my butt in gear and get back online).

Before I do anything else, I will also mention that I've just posted a slew of new photos (in two separate postings, one on 4/30 and one on 5/1) on my photo blog, which is located at: http://mcgannphotos2006.blogspot.com/

So, how is everyone? Hopefully you are all well on your way to Summer'07 and are making plans for an exciting holiday or something along those lines. Hard to imagine that another four months have gone flying by and we are almost at the end of another school year. The French school runs through the end of June, but we are already trying to figure out the logistics of camps, visitors, and holidays for July and August.

It's May 1st here in sunny Budapest, a national holiday, and we have been fortunate enough to have a four-day weekend with amazing weather every day. Unfortunately, Bill and I have been knocked out with a cold/sinus infection for the last three days and have just been moping around in our PJ's. We did manage to go out socializing Friday night and Sunday night to have dinner at friends' houses (with kids), and I went out again yesterday afternoon/evening to hang at our friends' Curt and Erika's place for a BBQ. Left poor Bill on the sofa though, he was a right mess. Liam has now gone off to visit a friend, Keira is sitting at her little table working on her 'homework', and Riley is somewhere on the Adriatic sea aboard a sailboat currently in some sort of competition. He was invited by one of his Hungarian friends to join them for the long weekend. They started off in Zadar, Croatia, but I'm not sure where they are at this point. Such a rough life these poor little guys have, eh?

What to report first from the hustle and bustle of our exciting lives? Well, truth be told, there's not much that's newsworthy. Bill is still enjoying his 'pseudo' retirement. He has been home for four months now, without bloodshed on the marital front, which would seem to me a good indication that we will be able to survive as a married couple once we get to actual retirement down the road. I guess he might have another opinion :) Anyway, he is still weighing his options and networking here and there, but we don't really have a definite idea of where we will be this time next year. We are still very much hoping to stay in Hungary, but life is indeed what happens while you are planning it.

The kids are all doing well. Grade cards came home right before the Easter break and were very satisfactory. I met with Riley's teacher last week, in fact, to see how things are going, big picture. She is happy overall with his work, but we need to focus on his reading and comprehension. He has 2-3 lessons a week outside of school at the moment, which he is less than thrilled about, so hopefully that will get hime up to speed. Next big hurdle I need to jump is to get him excited about a 'summer of English'. He is headed into fifth grade next year, and the focus up until now has been on Hungarian and French. We are considering dropping the Hungarian from September, but the verdict is still out on that one. From sixth grade, he will have the option to study either Latin or Ancient Greek, but I'm not sure how that will play out either. I realize that kids can take on multiple languages with little or no effort, but they still need to be absolutely proficient in at least one. Should be English, no?

Liam continues to dodge homework and generally gets by with minimal brain activity :) but is well-adjusted and seems to get it. His passion at the moment is the newly discovered extreme sports channel and related accoutrements (i.e. his skateboard, his Heely's, and his BMX bike). He will definitely be the first of my small but dynamic brood to break a bone, it's just a matter of where and when.

After another very successful ski season, the boys have both stated that they want to start focusing on snowboarding. This, after we spent a pretty penny outfitting them in new skis and boots, of course. I told them that they can rent snowboards for a day or two next year and give it a try, but that I think they need another year or two of skiing before they switch completely. I can look around and see the attraction - snowboarding is just far cooler from a teenage point of view. My little men although not yet teenagers, are mature for their age. I say that sarcastically, but the truth is that it frightens me a bit that they are operating with a much more advanced frame of mind than I ever dreamed of at their age, snowboarding and extreme sports aside.

Liam, for example, when asked, will tell you that he's in his third serious relationship. First, there was Fanni (pronounced fah-nee), then there was Kira (who never really returned the affection), and now there is Mariane. Mariane has been over to play several times and seems to like him back so I guess that's as good a place as any to start. He's made her a few cards, and gave her a bracelet for Valentine's Day, so one might say it's getting serious. Riley, on the other hand, has a love interest, the identity of whom he has no intention of divulging. He's not really into girls, I don't think he could be bothered.

We are still fixated on the Playstation 2 here at Chez McGann, although the focus has shifted a bit to the recently acquired PSP. The games make it slightly cost-prohibitive, especially here in Hungary where the average game is $60-70, even the old ones. Riley says he's thinking about asking for a Nintendo DS for his birthday - I'm thinking that is not even in the realm of possibilities. How many different systems does one need, for crying out loud? Keira has a pink Leapster, which gives her hours of enjoyment. She got a Fisher-Price FP3 player for her birthday in January, which she refers to as her 'pony iPod', and that also keeps her very happy on long car rides. If you haven't seen the FP3 player and you have small children, it's on the need-to-check-it-out list. You can download stories and music from their website, or you can just put your own music on it. I was amazed to see all the stories that you can download, many read by the author him/herself, and many that I already had the book for, which is great when they can listen and read along. And it's virtually indestructible. Ok, tangent, how did I get off on that topic.

My days are filled with the usual - taxi-driving, scrapbooking, ladies-who-lunch, etc...The scrapbooking sessions have picked up again and I have three or four groups on Tuesday and Wednesdays. I'm not getting many of my own projects done, but I enjoy having people here for classes and it pays for my hobby. There is another link to a separate blog with my scrapbook pages, although I haven't updated it for awhile. it's: http://kerryskreativekorner.blogspot.com/ If only there were 48 hours in the day, I would be so productive.

We have spent the last few weeks trying to get the garden back in working order for the summer. Bill and I planted tons of new flowers and bushes and we got everything painted, from the shed to the furniture to the playground. Next project starts this Friday, tiling the upstairs bedrooms. We would never endeavor such a feat on our own, that would surely be a deal-breaker for us. Anyway, bit by bit, we are getting things done. Problem is that no matter how many things we fix, there are two more that need to be addressed. I need to get the inside of the house painted soon, but am thinking that will be a fall project.

No big plans for summer holidays, although we may drive to France for a couple weeks. I have two good friends from the US travelling in this vicinity in July, so hopefully they will stop and visit. My parents are coming on May 15th, my mom is here for almost a month, and my dad will stay for two weeks. I'm trying to plan at least one trip out of Hungary with them and have narrowed it down to Piran, Slovenia or Cesky Kromlov in the Cz.Republic. There are still hundreds of things in Hungary we haven't done yet, so we will try and squeeze a couple of day trips in as well. I'm planning to go to the Novarock Festival in Austria (www.novarock.at) June 15-17th, but haven't been able to convince my hubby yet to come with me. I will go with a girlfriend anyway, like I did last year, but it would be more fun with a group of people. They have a great lineup so far, but I keep checking to see if they will have a big name headlining. So far, there are some heavy hitters, even if they aren't on most peoples radar screens anymore - Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson, Linkin Park, The Killers, and a new band that I absolutely love, 30 seconds to Mars. Should be fun. Not sure if my friend is up for the camping thing, so we may just stay in a hotel nearby and take a taxi back and forth. Somehow even with all the things I've outgrown in my very responsible 30's, crazy rock concerts isn't one of them.

Speaking of my responsibilities, it is probably time for me to go and think about lunch for my little ones and maybe the odd household task. Tomorrow we're back to business as usual. So I shall say 'so long for now', and I will promise to be more on top of my blogging efforts. Enjoy your day, where ever and when ever you are. xoxo. K