Riley - The Guitar Hero

Riley's first attempt at Guitar Hero. There were nine of them fighting for the limelight. Couldn't complain about the noise, at least they were playing good music - The Ramones, Queen, Black Sabbath... Guitar Hero has now been added to the Christmas wish list.

Hello people. So, today I'm seriously going to get a life and get off of this computer, for at least a couple hours in the evening. I'm just so fascinated by all the things that I can add to my blog, I think I've reached the point where I might have to actually learn about wrappers and widgets and editing HTML. Maybe I'd be better off taking a webdesign class and just having my own website. Or, maybe I should just head back to the original plan of getting a life. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, maybe I've hit the nail on the head here - I want to be a chiphead :)

Anyway, I've posted some new videos of the kids, which are a far cry from entertaining but provide an intimate but sad glimpse into our lives :) After quite a few attempts at uploading the videos using the Blogger software, I've decided that for larger files, YouTube is the way to go. And how friggin' cool is the video bar in the upper right hand corner, which just uses a 'tag' to link videos in from YouTube. You can still find videos in the body of my blog, the video bar is just a nifty little sidenote.

Not much else to share with you at the moment. Oh....actually, there is the joke of the day, albeit it sexist, inappropriate and in poor taste (obviously I'm really worked up about that, since I'm including it for your enjoyment). Apparently it's been nominated as the best short joke of the year:

A three-year-old boy is examining his testicles while taking a bath. "Mom," he asks, "are these my brains?" "Not yet," replies his mother.


I have also decided that it's fun to share things that I find on other peoples' blogs, while giving them full credit of course. As I mentioned yesterday, I haven't acquired the desire for mindless blog surfing just yet, but every once in awhile I do hit the 'next' button up top just to see where I go. Anyway, I found these two photos at http://daisyville.blogspot.com/. Hope it's ok that I'm using it on my blog too, I don't want to offend anyone. If we can all just pass on a couple extra giggles a day, wouldn't the world be a better place? I guess I find myself being politically incorrect again (so much for not offending anyone). There seems to be a pattern developing here. It's not really a statement about Europeans vs. Americans, more a statement about why thong underwear is not intended for really large women.

Even funnier to me is the next one. And it could be that it's not funny at all, but it struck me as such. I do not think the task of locating and eradicating terrorism in today's crazy world should be taken lightly, but someone has to.

On that note, I'm off to pick Keira up from the kindergarten. Hope you all had a super Monday, and I will check back in a couple days. xo.

Supercilious

Riley, trying to get through his reading homework on Sunday. Poor guy, two chapters in French can take him three hours sometimes.

Random Rainy Day Goofiness

Footage from Sept.5th, a cold and rainy day here in Budapest. We had the first fire of the season, which seems weird. Back to business now though, with a bit of Indian Summer happening this week.

Keira Playing and Calling Me Stupid

Here's one I probably shouldn't post, but the fact of the matter is that there's a naughty side to the little angel.

First Day of School

So, here are my little Einsteins, heading off for the first day of school. The biggest problem is that they only function in Hungarian, with eachother and with their friends. Wonder if it will always be their secret language.

Hi kiddies. Sunday evening here, way past my bedtime, but I'm still sitting here fiddling. I think the hubby has had about enough of my quality 'office time' today. I ended up spending the whole day doing various things on the computer. Got my address book all tidied up, downloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements (which I've been dying to do for a long time - now I just need to find some good tutorials), caught up on emails, converted a bunch of video to .avi files, Skyped with my mom for an hour and a half, figured out how to make a new header on my blog (thought it was good to use shots of our home-sweet-home, since this is unofficially our home page). Wow, it all sounds very productive on paper. Truth is, I never actually got out of my PJ's today, I totally neglected laundry duty, and we had leftovers for dinner. C'est la vie!

Yesterday we had a great family outing. It was DHL day at the Ujpest football field and hockey rink. I hadn't known anything about it, but a very nice woman whom I just met at the September NAWA meeting gave us five VIP passes for the football game, party, and hockey game. The kids had a blast. Here are some photos:

Riley was just so impressed with the fact that he was a VIP (everyone had exactly the same tickets/badges), I think it was more exciting than actually watching the events.

I'm thinking that Keira may very well turn into one of those 'football hooligans' you hear about on the news - she has no idea what's really happening on the field, but she definitely gets into the game.

Bill and I had a few of our daily 'points' in the form of Borsodi beer. Somehow it's just not a sporting event for me without beer. I did skip the hotdogs, but am still a bit worried about the weigh-in tomorrow.

The boys spent the two hours in between matches climbing like monkeys and making some new friends.

Here they are with their new buddies at the hockey game. We were at the end of the rink where there's actually a net, I'm just not too excited about the prospect of getting nailed in the head with a puck.

Tomorrow is Monday, back to the business at hand. Bill is hopefully headed to Istanbul on Tuesday or Wednesday to go the next round towards getting this job in Vienna. Cross your fingers, I think we are both trying hard not to get too excited one way or the other. Tuesday is our 10-year anniversary but we don't really have anything special planned anyway. I'm hoping we can organize a getaway weekend in October/November if we have a better idea of where we're going and what we're doing. We have decided to postpone the trip to the US in October, just doesn't make sense to spend the money at the moment.

Riley is having his birthday party next Saturday, a month late. He is having eight friends for a sleepover and we will take them all the movies. Haven't figured out how we're going to swing that yet but that's a project for tomorrow. The boys watched the Simpsons Movie tonight, (I opted out) and they of course loved it. I can't believe that the friggin' Simpsons are still hot, I can remember everyone gathering in my freshman dorm each week to watch it in the lounge when it first aired. That was 1989, and yes we've confirmed once more that I'm getting old.

In extremely sad news, it has been revealed by a credible source that George Clooney is indeed gay. I will absolutely not divulge the source, but I will tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it's a day of mourning for me. Bill will confirm that this devastating news totally put a damper on my day yesterday. I couldn't think about much else, and I keep wondering, 'how could I not have seen the signs'? I mean, how could he, the full package, the epitemy of Hollywood hotties, never have a serious girlfriend. I mean, you can play the eligible bachelor card for only so long. George, I hope you find true happiness with someone in the near future. Don't let the bloodsucking paparazzi force you to live a lie forever. And if you still want to hang out, grab a bite, call me :)

Tomorrow I will post some more 'on the edge of your seat' video footage from home. Note to self - I've discovered that there really is no need to upload to YouTube first, I can upload right into my blog. I'm not terribly concerned about wackos watching the videos and tracking down my children, but it seems safer to just have it here.

After all, how many people randomly browse at blogger.com? Have you ever tried it? Geez, I thought my content was a snoozerama - some people make me look more entertaining than Lucille Ball (what a strange reference, wonder where that came from).

Suppose I should wrap it up and head to bed. Hope everyone is well, and to those of you who have emailed in the last couple weeks and heard nothing back from me, I promise I'm working on it. Ciao!!!

So, we had a great weekend. We joined a group of very good friends Saturday night to celebrate our friend Rav's 40th birthday party (it was a SURPRISE!!!) at the Four Seasons in Budapest. Very swanky, fantastic food, lots of laughs, dancing with the stars, a good band (someone please remind me what the name of the band was). All in all, just a fantastic evening. It's memories like those that make it so hard for us to think about moving back to the US. We miss our families and lots of things all-American, but at the end of the day we would probably never find friends or a life there like we have here.

Here's a great shot of Erika and I (one of my very dear BFF's). This is pre-cocktail, so I'm looking rather composed. I won't post the photos from the end of the evening; they aren't really that bad, but a few hours on the dance floor will reek havoc on anyone's hair.

I'm the one on the left :) And now, I must share the most wonderful news - the dress I'm wearing, that's Erika's dress. And that, my dear friends, is a first - me borrowing a dress from her. She's shrinking like crazy too (we're both on the warpath to obliterate that post-children poundage), so we decided that maybe the next time I'll get to borrow one size smaller. We should now digress a bit and pay homage to my new BFF, http://www.weightwatchers.com/ You may remember that I started on this mission back in January. I've fallen off the wagon about ten times since then, but I keep getting back on. I started at 190 pounds of lovin' back then, and just hit 170.5 this morning. The official weigh-in takes place every Monday morning, first thing, after I go to the bathroom of course, and wearing only my birthday suit. Is this too much information? I'm just picturing my mom's face as she reads, saying "why does she always have to share so much?" Anyway, I saw the funniest comic/drawing when we were in France of a woman standing on the scale, all of her accoutrements (glasses, earrings, etc..) strewn on the floor around her. There she is, praying for a miracle, holding a big chunk of her hair in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other, ready to take any measure necessary to get results. Pretty much sums it up, I think. No complaints, it's much easier to take it off now than to wait another ten or fifteen years. Let me add that I'm not going for the Heidi Klum body here folks, just trying to get back to the Misses department. A size 12 works for me.

Here's a shot of the princess, having her daily Nutella sandwich. She loves the stuff. Doubt there's a drop of anything nutritious in it, but the Magyar kids eat it like crazy and they don't seem to be worse for it. I'm a hazelnut person myself, but it's definitely not on my list of approved foods at the moment.

Keira had her first dance class on Saturday at the Dance Craze Academy. She loved it, although after about an hour she'd had enough. Her teacher decided in the end that they will have an hour and a half each week, with games/coloring thrown in to give them a break. She really dug it, which kind of surprised me. She is definitely 100% girly girl. Here are some shots that my friend Wendy took of her. She's in the class with Wendy's daughter Bailey and one of her two 'best friends', Mia (we are waiting patiently for Sonia to come back to Budapest so she can dance with us too). It amazes me that even at this age girls start to form those really special friendships, very different from boys the same age.

Thanks for those great photos, Wendy. I took my camera but left the memory card at home, very clever indeed. Will definitely have to make a scrapbook page of these, another 'first' to be documented.

Scrapbooking is now officially back in session here at Chez McGann on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Hoping for a few new members, although I like having smaller groups and just having it two days a week. Wish I could get the Hungarians on board, but they don't really seem to have the fever like Americans. I also wish I could get myself organized to get more of my own projects done. Never enough hours in the day. Of course, I end up spreading myself a bit thin with all of my other projects. I'm knee deep in a new cross stitch project (which according to my dear friend Curt makes me an old lady) and just signed up for a six-week beginner's quilting class. Following in my mommy's footsteps here - the motto goes something like: 'he who dies with the most unfinished projects wins' :)

Well, should probably close for now and go prepare for the events of tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great week. xoxo.

What Else - Me Rambling, As Usual

Salut!!! What's the news? Monday evening here - it's been a week, time to drop in. I have some new videos, but am waiting to finish the disc so I can upload and post them. I also have some new photos, will post a few in a minute. Nothing terribly new and interesting to report. My little gang is somewhat back in the swing of things after the summer hoopla. School started last Tuesday and the boys are still trying to get back into that early morning routine. They have to be out the door at 7:40, so I'm trying to get them up at 6:15 - total frigging nightmare that is. And since I've done it since the beginning of time, I continue to deliver their chocolate milk in bed to them every morning. Must be nice, huh? I keep waiting for the good coffee fairy to be standing next to my bed when I wake up, but somehow it hasn't happened yet. Ooooh, know what would be even better? You may or may not know that I am addicted to my Nespresso machine. I was never really a coffee girl until that amazing invention made it's way into my life. Anyway, it just so happens that George Clooney is also a big fan (and a spokesperson) - wouldn't it be nice if George could deliver my first cup of coffee every day? Suppose there's any chance of that happening? Me either. Just found the Nespresso commercial on YouTube - here it is - is he nice to look at, or what? I have another idea - every time I go into the Nespresso shop to by my little pods they keep track of how many I've bought, and based on that number they can tell me when I need to descale my machine. What if they add a bonus feature to the Nespresso coffee club and throw in a visit to George's villa in Lake Como for every 10,000 pods of coffee you buy? Now that would be some clever marketing :)

Keira Doodling

Liam in the Bathroom

More Mindboggling Footage. Testing, 1, 2, 3.

Riley's Big Day

Hoping to make these little blurbs more interesting for the viewers, but today just wasn't the day. I'm just excited that I figured it out :)

So, now that I know the YouTube thing works (see my earlier posts of the day), I need to get the video camera out and do something with it. I always forget about it, unless there's a birthday party or some other rite of passage. Seems sad that when the kids are grown and gone, and we want to sit down together to watch some old home movies, there will be nothing but bday parties and Christmas programs. What about the day-to-day stuff? What about some good footage of Riley and Liam trying to beat the tar out of eachother? Or me, in the kitchen making dinner, screaming like a lunatic? Both of these scenes could have been shot today, btw. Video archives - another thing to get on my to-do list ASAP :)

Before I get going again, I have to step back to the last post (i.e. YouTube clip), where we addressed briefly the scary intelligence of the average American. Being American, I'm frightened. And curious to know why people's IQ's seem to be dropping at a very alarming rate. Is it possible to propose, instead, that the likes of YouTube and MySpaceVideo are just making it easier for us to see these morons? That perhaps they have always existed and not everyone had the capability to catch them in the act? And, on an unrelated note, I feel a strong need to comment on how the overall approach to 'America's funniest home videos' has changed in the face of the reality TV age. Remember Bob Saget (who, again off the topic, makes a fantastic cameo appearance in my new favorite HBO show, Entourage)? Bob didn't really ever want to hurt anyone's feelings or make them feel terrible about themselves, he just wanted to make people laugh. What happened to the good old days, man? The poor people being exploited on YouTube for the pleasure of others, ignorant as they may be, don't really deserve to be flogged for eternity for one screw-up, do they? In the end, I'm just totally perplexed by pop culture, internet pop culture in particular. Should I ramble more??

Oh, I also wanted to share with you a map that I found on a blog somewhere (I guess I should probably know where and list the artist as part of my official blog-bibliography, but I have no idea where I found it). It's really a nightmare of a statement, but I think there's an ounce of truth in it.

Geez, I hope that doesn't make me a bad American. It's really just a case of me passing on of information, no? And since I haven't lived in the US for ten years, it's really not my place to have an opinion one way or another on the future of America. I can say, however, that for someone living abroad, the US news and television programs people see on this side of the pond aren't always the most flattering. Who knows, European civilizations could be moving in the same direction, I'm just not local enough (or clued in enough) to recognize it. Since I officially came out of the closet earlier as a Hollywood gossip junkie, something I may have alluded to before, it's been established that I'm no geographic wizard or political brain trust. Just to clear up any confusion though, I do know where America is on a map :)

Ok, enough productive blogging for one session. At least I accomplished something today. Almost 1am and my eyelids are telling me it's time to call it a night. xoxo.

RE:Miss Teen USA 2007-South Carolina answers a question

I have to tell you, I really like funny videos. And in the wake of the Miss Teen USA South Carolina debaucle, which I had to log on and see for myself, I found this one on YouTube. Although neither of the video clips do much to encourage those of us living outside the United States that the average American citizen has a clue, I think the sweet old lady in this one is somehow the winner. Poor Miss Teen USA South Carolina, YouTube has pretty much yanked her out of the running for an academic scholarship.

Why can't there be 48, or even 72 hours in a day? It's Thursday evening, nearly the end of another week. I had at least thirty things I was going to accomplish today, in cyberspace and around the house, and I got to about five of them. Why can't I focus? Perhaps it's is because I am 100% ADD, which is becoming more apparent every day, or perhaps it's because I continue to be distracted once an hour with something on the internet. I laid in bed Tuesday night with my day planner and an empty notebook. I started to-do lists for every facet of my life. to-do, to-do, to-do. And today was the day I was going to get my ass moving. I had emails to write, blogs to update, to-do items to cross off the list, and other important things to do in the very short span of 'me time' I had today.

Instead, I wound up watching ridiculous videos on YouTube, downloading music, looking for my dream home (even though we don't have any specific geographic location we're working with), dream-shopping online (i.e. updating wishlists on my favorite websites), finding recipes on WeightWatchers.com, and frivolously sitting here for the whole damn day, like Paris frigging Hilton waiting for her next engraved invitation to the LG Malibu Beach House. Oh yeah, I forgot one more important part of my day - getting the scoop in Hollywood gossip land. It's a vice, admittedly a really sad, pathetic one, but I do soooooooo love being in the loop (or at least thinking that I am). I have absolutely no idea what's happening in Iraq, or on the US presidential campaign front, but I can tell you that Kate Hudson is indeed back on the set of her new movie today :)

On the topic of up-to-the-minute reporting, I have decided to explore the amazing world of YouTube meets Blogger.com. In doing so, I will now attempt to import a YouTube video and see what happens. Again, more silliness. Guess I have to finish this post and then start again. Back in a minute....

Two weeks in a row - it's a miracle of modern blogology!!!

Monday morning here in Provence. It's rainy and cold today but I'm hopeful it will blow over in time for my daily regimen of sun worshipping. Everyone here is still asleep, Bill's tennis match having been cancelled and the boys not required to be on the court until 10am. I realized something yesterday-I have a family of tennis players and I don't know the first thing about the game. I don't even know how that whole 15-30-love scoring thing works. I know, I'm very polished. Liam came home from the camp very pleased with himself yesterday that he learned how to serve. Wonder what he's been doing in Budapest twice a week for the last two years?

So, when I last left you, we were planning on a trip to Nice. Oooooooh la la it was super. Tons of people this time of year, but not so many that you felt like a sardine. We met up with our Magyar friends near the old port in the morning and spent the whole day on the beach. The boys were in heaven. The waves were so strong that they both ended up with a rash on their stomachs that I guess you would call rockburn. The rocks were really big where we were, but smooth and round, and as the boys came crashing into the shore with the waves, they also crashed with the rocks. I went in wearing my Tevas and still had a hard time maneuvering around. Keira and her friend Panni, who is also three, spent the day on the beach eating non-stop and chasing pigeons. I'm sending some more photos to the photo blog this morning, btw, so you can see Nice. I had no idea how big the beachfront was, or how developed. We decided at the end of the day that we must have been in the area most frequented by the gay population (not a problem, just an observation), and it was confirmed as I looked up and saw the rainbow flag flying amongst the French, EU, and others. We stopped for dinner in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Mambo Pizza, where Bill ate one of the best pizzas he's ever had. The boys slept over with our friends and we headed home for a quiet evening. I think I was sawing logs by 9pm.

We met up with our friends again on Sunday for an afternoon in Grasse, which is the perfume capital of the world. We skipped touring the perfume factories, which is more or less a complete racket (ten minute tour, leading you directly into the overpriced gift shop). We walked through the old cobblestone streets, had a terrible minus-five-star lunch for 70Euros, took a little train through the city, and sat in a park surrounded by pigeon shit. Why are there so many friggin' pigeons in the world? They really are beyond disgusting, and they are everywhere.

Anyway, the highlight of our day in Grasse was something out of a scene from The Outsiders. Riley, Liam, and their friend Abel, starring as Ponyboy, Sodapop and Johnny. Actually, they would have been the Soc's in this scene (you know, Greasers and Soc's), but I don't remember any of their names. We were sitting on one of the main squares, waiting for Le Petit Train de Grasse (the little train of Grasse :), and the three boys were standing inside a big music pavillion listening to their echos nearby. Unprovoked, three little hooligans started whipping rocks at them. I've never seen anything like it. They were maybe 5, 7 and 8, no parents in sight, and didn't even acknowledge that we were sitting there watching this madness. Our boys, with the testosterone reflex, started throwing the rocks back. Pretty soon they were actually going at eachother, screaming obsenities about the others' mother and using hand gestures only appropriate for incompetent drivers. What in the world? I didn't even know that my little angels had that in them. After about ten minutes of this, Eszter (Abel's mom) and I grabbed them and headed for the train, whereupon the street urchins followed us and sat next to the train, giving all of us the evil eye. Absolutely no respect for adults, even my glares back and body language didn't deter; they didn't even flinch when the train driver went over and tried to send them on their merry way. One of the three little demons actually ran alongside the train through the streets of Grasse, cursing us all the while. There is a huge population of people from Northern Africa in Southern France, mainly from Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, and as we drove through a bit of a rough neighborhood on the edge of the tourist area, I noticed alot of small kebab restaurants and tea houses full of these groups. There would be a group of 10-15 men, seated inside and outside, smoking like chimneys and drinking tea. And another 200 meters down the road would be a group of teenagers, sortof a snapshot of our little aquaintances ten years down the road - same mundane but evil existence, nowhere to go and nothing to do. It really caught us off guard because it was, at least for me, such an unlikely scene in an otherwise pristine, affluent little town. I realized two things after this little sidenote to our excursion. (1) My young sons are about as streetsmart as the Pope, and (2) they definitely have some redneck qualities.

Yesterday we had a quiet day. Bill took the monkeys for a kirandulas (outing) 30 minutes up in the mountains to a place called Pont du Loup for a tour of a candy factory where everything is handmade. He came back with all kinds of funky stuff, the strangest of which were crystallized rose petals and rose petal jam. The rose petals taste like soap to me, although I know alot of people like the taste. I haven't tried the jam yet, but apparently the kids really liked it. We had crystallized clementine oranges with vanilla ice cream for dessert last night, which was also an interesting taste. Needless to say, my diet has been pummeled by the French palette in the last two weeks, but Bill and I have both vowed to get back on the Weight Watchers track from Saturday.

Will sign off for now, I really need to get the day rolling. A big Happy Birthday wish to my friend John in Moscow. Also, my thoughts and prayers are with my brother and his wife today as they head to the hospital to welcome their new baby girl. xoxo.

Dear long lost readers,

Almost three months later.... Geez, I'm really bad about keeping up with this. As one friend has recently reminded me, nobody is going to log on to read about what's happening if I don't post once in awhile. So, what's happening out there? Haven't heard from lots of people in a really long time, would love to hear from someone. Maybe someone from across the pond? Also, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just start to have a 'topic of the week'. Maybe that would motivate me. I mean, how many people (besides you, John) really want to read about my existence on a regular basis?

Anyway, I'm sitting here, finishing my third (or fourth? or fifth?) glass of wine thus far this afternoon, so I might as well ramble. The McGann Clan - at least our little branch of it - is currently in the south of France, Provence to be exact, about five kilometers from a city called Grasse (near Nice) to be more exact. I'm sitting on the terrace, looking out at a beautiful old church, the village, the mountains, and the sea in the background. The view, which cannot possibly be described adequately by me, is breathtaking. There is always a perfectly clear star-filled sky at night, with the church lit up on the hill, and all the lights from Cannes in the distance. Heaven on Earth, and that's an understatement. Saturday evening was apparently 'the night' of the year to see shooting stars, so we sat here and watched. I saw five, and that was before midnight when I headed to bed. So very cool. Bill and I would absolutely put this place in our top three retirement destinations. He's sitting next to me, and I asked him to rank it. He says that the place is great, but the culinary experience far outweighs anything else. The grocery store here compared to Budapest is like comparing Saks Fifth Avenue to Walmart. And even scarier, the prices here for everything are far more reasonable. We just bought a ten liter box of wine, very drinkable although not by any stretch of the imagination sophisticated (I don't even know what it means for a wine to be sophisticated), for 17 EURO. We decided that it would be more economical to drink that way, but I'm not sure that doesn't just make us drink more :)

We are here for two weeks, staying with our very good Danish friends who used to live in Budapest, Susanne and Ole. Ole (pronounce Oh-leh) is Bill's former boss, who retired in 2005, so they always have lots to catch up on. We spent lots of time with them in Budapest, and just generally love hanging out with them. A friend asked me last week how we could manage to stay in someone else's house for two weeks with three kids without someone (mainly the host or hostess) going bonkers, but I must tell you that this is one of those extraordinary places where it just works. Everyone pitches in with the meals, everyone is responsible for their own stuff, and everyone is in ultra-relax mode anyway, so it's all perfect. The daily routine goes something like this - eat breakfast, lounge around, eat lunch, lounge around, flip a coin to see who goes to the grocery for dinner, eat dinner, lounge around. Who could ever complain? There is a pool five steps outside of our bedroom, so the kids wake up in the morning and get ready to jump in. The boys are in a tennis camp here in the village (Cabris) this week, so they are getting a bit of French before school starts back on September 4th. We are also having private sessions of 'school by the pool' each afternoon for 30 minutes to get their brains moving again. I had the best of intentions to accomplish great things scholasticly this summer, to no avail of course. The summer has gone so fast, how can we be halfway through August already? Furthermore, how is it possible that Riley will turn eleven in nine days. God, I'm getting old.

We are trying to get a few outings while we are here (Language lesson for today - outing in Hungarian = kirandulas (key-rahn-dew-lah-sh), but it's so hard to motivate ourselves to leave the house. Last night we took the kids down to the carnival in the village, where we were given the usual extortion treatment, but they had a blast. Bumper cars cost 10 EURO for about 15 minutes of total drive time, and that ridiculous game where you fish for ducks and pick one with a number to get a 20 cent prize - 4 EURO. Nevermind, it's vacation. I often wish that Bill and I (or at least one of us) could just throw caution to the wind and spend money without thinking about it. Tomorrow we will go to Cannes in the evening to have pizza and watch the international fireworks contest taking place every Tuesday through the high season here. Each country puts on a big fireworks display, and the spectators go online to vote at the end for the best. Friday we will meet some new friends from Budapest in Nice and spend the day at the beach there. We found them by luck/chance in July when the boys were at pottery camp and Liam made a new friend, Abel. They moved to France a week later, and will stay here for a year so the kids can start to learn French. They will put the kids in the French school in Budapest from next September, so Liam will have a penpal (guess you call it a Skype-pal now) for the school year. Small world. Other than that, I have grand plans to get to the local farmers' market a couple times, and maybe to the new shopping mall in Nice, but that's about it. We stocked up on school supplies today at the local hypermarket, which was also a bargain compared to home.

We left Budapest last Monday, spent two days in Venice on the way down, and then drove the rest of the way here on Thursday. Three monkeys in the car, total driving time was 17 hours (including short breaks), so needless to say I was ready for a few drinks when we arrived. What can I say about Venice?..... It was beautiful but totally different from what I expected. Sort of run-down but charming nonetheless.

The kids are after me to get in the pool with them so I will finish later...

Friday morning. Where was I? Venice. We stayed in Mestre, just across the bridge and not far from the old part of the city. There was a bus 200 meters from the hotel, which was a 15 minute ride out. We spent the first afternoon/evening just meandering through the tiny alleys and along the canals. The kids had so much fun trying to figure out where we were in the maze. The second day we used the public transport (boats instead of buses) to get from one end to the other, and found lots of beautiful places to sit and watch the world go by. I would love to go back once more without the kids, as it was fun for them but is really a place where I could sit happily all day people watching. The Hotel Venezia in Mestre was good, not too expensive and in a great location. The carpet in the room was disgusting, that was my only complaint.

Accomodations are much better here in France, and the rate/night even better - free :) We've had a very uneventful three days since I started this post - was it Monday? The days just run together. Anyway, we have been enjoying the amazing weather and sitting on our big butts by the pool, which was the grand plan. The boys are having their last day of tennis camp today, unless they decide they want to go again next week, and tomorrow we will adventure off to Nice for the day. Last night we went to Cannes and watched the fireworks with 200,000 people. It was fantastic. We sat on the beach and the show was on the water right in front of us. As I mentioned before, it's a contest between seven countries to see who puts on the best show throughout the summer. Last night it was the Germans, and it was choreographed to music extremely well, as only the Germans could do. Ole told me afterwards that he still thinks the Spanish show last week was better.

Keira wasn't thrilled with the fireworks - she kept her fingers in her ears the whole time - but today she remembers it having been a great time. I'm convinced that for most people, kids in particular, the memory of the things/places they experience is much happier than the actual act of experiencing it. As I very often remind myself now when we have these family outings that inevitably turn out to be something different than we planned, we are indeed making memories. Having said that, if I could find a better way to just accept things as they are and move on we would all enjoy ourselves a bit more. I'm probably worse than the kids in many ways, because I'm the one who has an expectation about what a great time everyone should be having. Being children, they are very happy to just go with the flow and have no pre-conceived notions of how the day will/should go.

So, other than holiday news, there's not much to report from McGannland. We will head back to Budapest next Thursday, arriving on Friday the 24th. Keira will start back at the kindergarten the following Tuesday (she's home with me on Mondays but I may change it to Wednesdays) and the boys have one more week before heading back to school. The summer came and went in a flash, as it always does. Bill is still looking for a job. He is working with a few headhunters back in the US and has talked to several people here in Europe. I would say at this stage that we are leaning towards opportunities in the US, but nothing concrete. He could easily find something new and challenging in Russia or the Middle East, neither of which I'm really on board for. I would be happy to go somewhere totally different, like Southeast Asia or South Africa, but at the same time I would be more than happy to head home for awhile.

I have always maintained that I would prefer for the kids to have their high school and college educations in the US, or at least college. Once more, we can appropriately insert my absolute favorite saying here - 'life is what happens while you are planning it'. As I said, Bill is still in a very early stage of the job search, which didn't even gear up until the end of May, but it's fun to think about where we might be in a year. In talking about possibility of something in the US, we started out looking in the Philadelphia area, but we have also been looking at houses, etc. in the Ft.Myers, FL. area, and aren't ruling anything out. I'm happy to go anywhere, as long as the school district is good and I can return to a few of the civilized household accoutrements I've been missing for ten years. For example: a garbage disposal, a big, fat, double sink, a normal sized oven (one that's actually big enough for a small turkey), a walk-in closet, etc. I'm pretty easy, but if I get to have a couple of those things I will be happy.

It goes without saying that there are alot of things I don't look forward to in the face of possibly moving back. The biggest thing is probably the consumer/consumption factor. Our kids have spent ten years living in Hungary, where they don't have to wear the same thing as all their friends or have the latest trendy clothes/shoes. They aren't fixated on the have-to-have-it toy or fad of the moment, although there are occasionally things like trading cards, etc.. that they collect. I don't have to ever worry about walking into a store and spending too much money on things that I don't even need - it just isn't available. And when I look around at how the Europeans live with respect to what they need and don't need, I prefer the mentality here. Mostly, I worry that I will be the one who goes completely bonkers after being deprived for so long and becomes a serious shopoholic :)

Well kiddies, it's going on noon here, and shall now proceed to plant myself in the sun for a bit. I won't even promise to write soon, since I never do, but maybe I will surprise myself. xoxo. K.

One more note before I close - I have posted some new photos on the photo blog (http://mcgannphotos2006.blogspot.com/) and you can also check out my photos on another website, http://www.flickr.com/. The link to my photos is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgannclan/. There are alot of the same photos on both, but the flickr account allows me to post photos directly to my blog. Next stop - myspace.com. I've been meaning to set it up forever, just never get there. Not enough hours in the day for this technical age of wonder.

Happy belated Memorial Day! It's June on Thursday - not even possible. Guess it's been about three weeks since my last bout of revelations. It seems like I've blinked and my parents have been here for two weeks already. We spent a few days on the coast of beautiful Slovenia in Piran and north of Llublijana at Lake Bled last week, which was amazing. I recommend Piran for anyone looking for a seaside getaway off the beaten path. It's such a cool place to hang out for a couple days. Hotel Piran worked for us. It's not five stars but it's clean, and it sits right on the seaside. We came back to Budapest late Thursday night, did some laundry, repacked, and headed off to Somlo (Hungary) for the weekend. We had the kids with us the second trip out, and they really loved being out in the countryside. I should say they loved being on a beautiful hill, which was once a volcano, in the countryside. Our friends Sue and Peter have a vineyard there, with a big welcoming, weekend home/retreat. We drank lots of their wine, and relaxed like crazy. I had informed the monkeys before departure that there would be absolutely no electronics on board for the weekend - no DVDs, no PSPs, no PS2, etc. (Liam is actually grounded from the PSP, PS2, and his skateboard until this coming Friday). The moans and groans lasted awhile, but in the end they had the best weekend ever, just being outside and finding things to entertain themselves. Sue and Peter have a giant wine-making tub that became their instant best friend (see photo blog). They hid in it. They splashed in it. They got inside and rolled eachother around until they were exhausted. They used it for a basketball hoop. Who knew that a big plastic tub could give so much joy. Somlo is a heavenly place. I think Bill and I would be totally happy to spend the rest of our days in a place like that, away from the world. Neither of us are particularly into the 'one with nature' scene, but a lifestyle like that really appeals to both of us. Maybe someday we will figure out how to make it happen.

Frolicking deep in the Hungarian jungle over the weekend, I also witnessed a very important passage. We went down to the local farmers' market/flea market/swap meet in Ajka (ah-ee-ka) Saturday morning, 12 kilometers from Somlovasarhely (Somlo), which in itself was something to experience. After only eleven years in Hungary, Bill ate a langos (Lahn-go-sh) for the first time ever. A langos, for those of you who haven't experienced this Magyar delicacy, is nothing more than a big lump of greasy bread dough, deep-fried, then piled high with sour cream and shredded cheese. Talk about a heart attack for breakfast - the grease actually drips off of the thing - but I must tell you that it is yummy. We all got one and then sat in the grass outside the market devouring them. To passers by who heard us speaking English, this must have been quite a sight. Afterwards, we drove back to Sue and Peter's place, stopping to take pictures of the fields and fields of poppies along the roadside. We have decided that it's very likely we will spend another weekend in Somlo this summer.

No great plans for the rest of the week. We were contemplating another two-day jaunt somewhere but have decided to hang here for the weekend. Thinking that we'll check out either the new Spiderman or Pirate movie tomorrow, depending on the weather and how the mood strikes. I could happily miss both, but unfortunately they won't go for a chick flick. On the topic of chick flicks, I played catch-up last night and watched the last four episodes of Veronica Mars. I love that show! And it didn't get picked up for a fourth season, so I will have to find something else to love come September. What will it be? Something between Heroes (too much doomsday and gore for me) and the fluffy stuff like Gilmore Girls. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Front page news here at Chez McGann - Liam lost his other front tooth last night. He was so cute - way beyond distraught when he realized that he could no longer say 's' words without sounding goofy. We layed in bed and talked about it for awhile, discussing the fact that his teeth will be back in no time. And as soon as he found the 400 HUF under his pillow this morning, the rest was history. Who says money can't buy happiness? :) We are all camping out in our room at the moment, the boys because my parents have taken over their room, and Keira because she just never wants to stay in her own bed. She starts out there, but it never lasts long. I remember going through this with Riley, but somehow we had alot more stamina then. Three kids and ten years later, we just roll over and let her climb up. Need to work on that. Maybe after the summer chaos.

The boys are home again from school this week, the last of many, many, holidays they have had this year. They start back on Monday and continue through June. We are still planning to lay pretty low for the summer, with the exception of a couple weeks in France in August. We will drive down, spending a couple days on the way there and back to make the drive a bit easier. Not sure how long it takes actually, but will leave the logistics of that effort on the hubby's plate. Riley and Liam will go to pottery camp the first week of July, then Riley has a tennis camp from the 16th-21st. We are still pondering a camp at Lake Balaton in August, but that may end up getting cut from the budget. Camp sure as heck doesn't cost what it used to. Thinking back to my wonderful youth, I was overjoyed at the thought of an unencumbered, un-action-packed summer. I probably remember it differently than it was, but organized camps and exotic vacations certainly weren't on the docket. And guess what? I turned out just fine. At least I think I did.

I should probably go open the fridge and hope something screams out to me in the way of dinner. I haven't done a whole lot today, but I'm convinced that there is a direct correlation between the business of the day and my desire to cook dinner. If I've been running all day, it just seems easier to hit the kitchen running. If not, I'm not so motivated. Not complaining, just noting. Anyway, will close for now. Ciao!

TGIF. Hi guys. Thought I'd get a few minutes of QBT (quality blogging time) before the monkeys arrive home and chaos ensues. Had a fantastic Friday actually, did absolutely nothing and enjoyed it :) I went out with some girlfriends last night for a bday celebration and did a bit too much celebrating myself, so was happy for the downtime today. We are having a home improvement weekend, tiling the bedrooms upstairs, so the peace and quiet came and went in the same breath. The boys have a football tournament tomorrow, followed by a bday party and then a sleepover here, so the weekend will be business as usual. On Sunday we are headed to friends', where the kids will set up and man a good old fashioned lemonade stand. That should be an interesting concept for the Hungarian passersby.

I keep saying that my true wish is to have a garage sale, but nobody thinks it will work. They are probably right, but on the other hand, I could be a pioneer and really start something here. In anticipation of 'dump your junk day' (explanation to follow), coupled with the need to completely pack up the kids' rooms for tiling, I have been rigorously compiling bags/boxes of things we don't need. It's a bummer that there isn't more of an eBay setup here in Hungary, I could supplement Bill's income (when he as one again) very nicely.

'Dump your junk day' is a semi-annual event whereby each district/town picks a day when everyone can get rid of their bigger household/outdoor items, as well as things that the gypsies are likely to come by and salvage. It's amazing - the gypsies obviously have the schedule posted on the fridge, for wherever you see junk being dumped, there are droves of gypsies loaded up in Ladas, Trabants, and the odd pick-up truck, going up and down the streets looking for that special something that time forgot.

Bill and I had the garage door open a couple years ago on a Saturday afternoon which didn't actually coincide with this celebratory mass disposal, and a gypsy guy pulls up to the house with his wife, a little trailer attached to their 1972 Wartburg, to see if there is something we don't need. We had just finished cleaning out the garage, and there was indeed a stack of stuff in the t0-go pile. He took every last drop of it and went on his merry way.

Let's move to this topic for a moment, shall we? Organizing your house. I have spent countless hours reading magazine articles and internet chat about simplifying and decluttering your life. Obviously it's a pretty hot topic, since it has become a virtual industry in the US. I am the first person to scream about the amount of 'stuff' cluttering my house, my garage, my life, but there is no possible way that Martha friggin' Stewart's '10 tips to get your house in order' is going to get me whipped into shape. I would venture to say that at least one full day in a two-week period (in terms of hours spent, spread out over two weeks) is consumed by my incessant and never-ending need to tidy up some corner of this house. Let me just add that we don't have a basement, we have a pretty small garage, and only a small amount of storage space in the laundry/dump-it room. Last Sunday, I spent 6-7 hours just sorting through the toy room, trying to put the game pieces back in the right boxes, pulling out stuff that the boys don't play with, etc.. When I was done I peered back into the room, thinking to myself that there is still a whole lot of work sitting there, and that I will no doubt be doing that again very soon. Arghh! No feeling of satisfaction ever comes, because I'm immediately focused on the laundry list of other places in the house that need to be sorted out. So, what does one do to truly stop the 'stuff' from ruling their life?

How about that saying? 'They' say (Martha and associates?) that anything in your closet that you haven't worn for more than a year should be tossed to the used clothing store fashionistas. I disagree wholeheartedly; there are a ton of things rotting in my closet that have been pulled from the years-gone-by abyss and worn somehow/somewhere. And what about kitchen gadgets. Take my meat grinder, for example. Now there's a perfectly good use of storage space - I think I've used it three times in eight years. But what if I develop a sudden urge to make sausage one day? :) Do you see a pattern here? Perhaps I should spell it out - no matter what I pick up and think I might not need, I always find a reason to keep it.

Don't even get me started on Bill in this department. I throw stuff away and then find it tucked in some corner of a shelf in the garage after he has plucked it out of the trash can. Double ARGHH! If I have actually made an executive decision to eliminate it from my life, don't I deserve the satisfaction of seeing it go? So, I have a new approach. I wait until trash day when the cans are out and Bill's not looking so that I can truly toss it.

How did I get started on this topic? Not sure, but it's clearly one that warrants discussion on many levels. I think George Carlin summed it up best in his bit about 'stuff'. Basically, you spend your whole life trying to get more stuff. Then you have to get a bigger house to hold all your stuff, a bigger car to transport your stuff, and you spend most of your life moving your stuff from one place to another. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense really, does it?

Well, kiddies have returned, dinner unfortunately won't make itself, and Liam has decided that he needs help with his homework. It's Friday night and he wants to do his homework, something is very wrong here.

Have a good weekend. Will write soon. xo.

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