Budapest Part 1

I finally sat down and began to tackle the overwhelming number of photos from our last 4 months in Germany.  We moved back to the USA 15 months ago and I just kept putting the task off. 

I remember being a little hesitant to travel to Budapest, mostly because we were going to take the train and 8 hours on a train with little girls sounded painful.  And it was.  Thankfully, you can reserve a cluster of seats with a table so we were able to eat and keep the girls fairly entertained. 

Our first morning there we visited Central Market Hall, Budapest’s largest market. It is always so much fun to visit markets as you really get a great feel of things the locals eat and drink but sometimes too much kitsch as there is usually a large selection of trinkets for travelers to purchase.    Every time I walked past these adorable smiling veggies I couldn’t help but giggle.  It was my favorite part of the market. 

We then headed to the Danube River and took a boat cruise to Margaret Island.  The company we used allowed us to get off on the island and explore a bit on our own.  We rented this a fun bicycle where the girls sat upfront and James and I peddled.  It was the fastest and most fun way to explore the island.

 

We explored some 14th century Franciscan church ruins and enjoyed the beautiful spring day.  There were plenty of paths to peddle on and with two people peddling we quickly toured the island.

We jumped back on the boat and was rewarded with beautiful views of the Hungarian Parliament building. 

We still had plenty of daylight time so we walked up to get a view of Budapest from above.  One thing I love about traveling is when you come across people from the USA that are from the same general area as you are.  I met a gentleman who was familiar with Western NY and had a brief conversation with him about it and what brought him to Budapest.

We ended our day with dinner at a delicious Greek restaurant.  The restaurant was right on the river, the staff were polite and the food was ah.maze.ing.  I know, I know someone is wondering why we didn’t eat Hungarian food and I promise we did. 

I was only going to write one post about Budapest but since this is photo heavy I’ll add the second part later this week.   

Saying Goodbye

4 years ago we packed up and moved from Washington State to Germany.  It was an adventure we were looking forward to and boarded the plane full of excitement and a little bit of anxiety (traveling with a 15 month old, 3 month old and 2 cats adds a tiny touch of stress!). 

We made it and settled into our home and routines.  We were able to travel to some of Europe’s most beautiful cities and stunning countrysides.  We watched our daughters grow from babies to sweet, beautiful little ladies.  My hair has added a gray strand (or maybe 2), I went from my 20’s into the 30’s.  JG jumped into his 40’s.  We struggled as a couple and as parents.  I like to think we ended this 4 year assignment ahead of the game.  At a better point in our lives.  Maybe we all grew up a bit. 

We moved out of our home yesterday and walking away was a little bittersweet.  My girls grew up here.  All of their earliest memories will have taken place here.  They are excited to move back to the United States even though they have no idea how different life will be there.  I am happy they are embracing this time with joy rather than fear.  I wouldn’t blame if they were scared as this is a huge move for a 4 & 5 year old.  Yet, they act like they have done this a dozen times already. 

I have a huge mix of emotions as I type this.  I have loved this assignment, for the most part, and being able to live in Europe was something JG and I wanted to do.  I will miss many things about Germany but I am ready to get back to the USA!  I have grown to appreciate the slower pace of life here and I will imagine that I will miss this sooner than I expected. 

My 5 year old will start kindergarten in August so this move comes at the most perfect time.  We are ending one chapter in our lives and beginning a new, exciting one for our family.  I am looking forward to the future but will embrace these memories for the rest of my life.

A Photo is Worth a Three Words

 

Not everyone is happy to have the US military taking up residence in their community.  We have been fortunate and our neighbors have been friendly but we live further away from the post.  Signs like these tend to pop up around the small towns located just outside the post.  There have been many “Army Go Home” signs but they are not usually spray painted onto homes.

My dad commented that it was a good thing we are Air Force!  I giggled and agreed.

Still Chugging Along!

Whoa!  The past few weeks have flown by here.  Our house was packed without incident (yay!) and we have gotten settled into our house with minimal furniture.  My Jeep was shipped back to the USA, as well, and now we are a one vehicle family for a bit. 

I am still taking a photo a day for my Project Life album and even adding my journaling cards as well.  So 5 weeks in and I am still going strong!  I am writing my photo for each day down in my planner and just yesterday I downloaded a free photo editing program, Photoscape, so I can at least get my photos resized and edited to be uploaded to Shutterfly.  Photoshop Elements is just toooooo big to download to my netbook.  Even Photoscape, which is significantly smaller, slows my computer down.

Here are a few of my daily photos:

My cat enjoys the morning sunshine.  I think she is going to miss the huge windows.

Our nearly empty living room after the first day of the movers packing us up.

A little bit of excitement one Saturday in our normally quiet town.  Some faulty solar panels triggered a smoke alarm and the fire department spent about 2 hours taking care of it.  Thankfully, no one was living in the home yet and it appears there is no damage to the house. 

Next week we go on our very last European trip and I am looking forward to the destination but not the 10 hour train ride back!  It makes for an extra long day for everyone.  However, the train tickets are super affordable since the girls ride for free and you just don’t get that option when you purchase airfare tickets.  We reserve seats with a table so that helps with leg room and we all sit together. 

That’s all I got for now.  Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!

Travel Journals/Scrapbooks

If you read my blog regularly (or at least when I post something) you know that we travel a bit since we have been fortunate enough to live in Germany for the past few years.  When we first started taking amazing trips I would take tons of pictures, save a few bits of ephemera, and print a bunch of photos a few times a year.  97% of those photos are still sitting in their orange packaging and I have bags of ephemera sitting around waiting to be used or recycled!  That is such a terrible thing for me since I want to be able to easily look back at a trip and re-live it for a few minutes.  I am swimming in a sea of travel photo guilt!

Last April Ali Edwards added an online, self paced class called “Scrapbook on the Road” and it has forever changed the way I document our vacations!  Honestly, it is the best online class I have taken because I have applied the concept several times since I have taken the class and it was only $14.  The concept is simple and requires a little bit of pre-planning before you leave as you get the guts of the travel journal put together before you leave. 

I put my first travel journal together in record time before we left for a week long trip to Belgium, The Netherlands and a quick stop in Frankfurt and remembered Ali’s advice and guidance as we went along.  I took the time to document our adventures every day and enjoyed doing so as we all settled into our hotel room for the night.  I took tons of photos.  I saved our story.  When I came home I simply needed to upload my photos and print them to add to the journal.  This process, for the very first time, made me excited to tackle all the photos we had taken and finally complete our story!  Of course not every photo I print makes it into the travel journal but I have a plan for the leftovers.

This is a pile of stuff I had collected and was sorting through in our hotel room and below is part of the finished spread as it continues on to the other pages.

I have made all of the albums 6x8 inches and it is a great size for me.  It leaves room to add 5x7 collages or 2 4x6 prints on a single page. I am currently putting together the journal for our trip to Barcelona.

I don’t make a journal for every trip since we often just sneak away for a weekend but I still need a place to save some of our memories so I picked up the International Smash Folio.  I love this, too!  It is so much fun gluing things down and just making some quick and simple notes about our day, random things we saw or things that I love!  I will probably add a few wallet sized photos in here but don’t see this becoming a project for lots of photos but mostly just a place for random observations and ephemera.

Since I have solutions for current trips I still have to tackle the older photos sitting in a box.  I have been thinking of purchasing some of Becky Higgins’ Project Life products for a few months so I could quickly get the photos organized and out of boxes.  I finally took the plunge and ordered the Clementine Core Kit.  Of course, I was a little late to the game and I am currently waiting for the divided page protectors to come back in stock so I can begin this project.  I am looking forward finally getting our story told!

This post just ended up being much longer than I planned!  I have so much to say about this topic though since I have struggled with scrapbooking our travel photos because I have always felt overwhelmed.  I do believe photos need to be printed and shared.  I am glad that I have been printing as we go along rather than waiting for a reason to print them.  I just want to get it all under control before we move back to the United States.

What type of photos do you struggle with?  How do you document  your travels?  I would love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hedgehog Love!

We are big fans of cute hedgehogs here at the Gibson house.  The girls have adorable hedgie jammies from Old Navy and a cute hedgie inflatable toy we picked up from Ikea a few years ago.  Now we have a real live hedgehog in our yard!  This little guy (or maybe gal) has been a frequent visitor as of late.  A few weeks ago, just as it was getting dark, I told JG we had a giant rat running across our yard and he told me it was a hedgehog and after a better look I could see it really was.  Yesterday the hedgie returned several times throughout the day and I was able to get this photo from the safety of our patio!  Not that I am scared of him, I didn't want to scare him away.  I think he has been hiding out in our bushes and I don't mind.  I hope he becomes a regular visitor as he is fun to watch.

More Interesting Observations...Part Zwei

We have been in Germany for two years now and I decided to add to my list of observations since moving overseas. 

1.  You can not turn right on red unless you have an arrow allowing you to.  These green arrows are few and far between.  This one drives my husband particularly mad. 

2.  Cows really do wear bells in Bavaria!  Not just a couple of cows sport the jingling bells but entire fields of cows wear them.

3.  You have to pay to use many public toilets, especially along the autobahn, train stations and subways. 

Many public toilets do not have seats.  At least most of the restrooms that you have to pay to use are clean.  It makes it worth the 50 euro cents to use it.  I always have lots of change in my purse!

4.  Everything is closed on Sundays except for some restaurants and museums.  Since we don't visit a ton of museums (have you tried to do that with 2 screaming toddlers?) sightseeing on Sundays can sometimes suck. 

5.  German food = Good!  If you like pork that is and it just so happens to be that I do. 

6.  Kirchwasser is a deceiving name for paint thinner....the literal translation is cherry water and it is really cherry schnapps.  But I think it might double as a cheap paint thinner.  Lesson learned!  I do not like kirchwasser.

7. When we travel I generally try to remember to bring along sippy cups for the girls because even though you order drinks for children they are served in glass glasses and without straws.  This becomes extremely frustrating for the girls because they are thristy and want to drink and equally frustrating for JG and I because we don't want them to drop the glass or spill their drinks.  Apple juice generally costs as much or more than a beer!  By the way...by the end of this meal Lolo's glass was shattered on the ground.

8.  I have seen more super expensive cars in our 2 years here than I have seen in my entire life.  While in Munich we saw an Aston Martin.  Near the German/Holland border we saw a Rolls Royce.  Driving home last weekend we were passed by a Lamborghini.   We have seen some Ferrari's and lets not forget the Porsche's we see every single time we drive to Stuttgart, or the high end BMW's, Mercedes' or Audi's we see on the autobahn.  This leads me to my next observation...

9.  The German's have not become better drivers in the past year.

10.  Our internet is still just above dial up.  It took me 5 hours every week to download my episodes of Grey's Anatomy from iTunes.  5 hours x 23 episodes = 115 hours of downloading for 17 hours worth of television.  Craziness!