Day 19

Friday, June 28, 2013

Today was a very long and tiring day.  We started off earlier than normal in order to get ready for the museum and the last day of art camp.  I dropped the girls off and came back home to finish getting ready.  Melinda and I watched part of another Glee episode before heading over to moms to get ready for the museum trip.  Mom, Caleb, Melinda, and I loaded up in moms car and headed to art camp to pick up the girls.

We made a little pit stop at a local boutique called Groovy's before leaving Forney.  They have super cute clothes, shoes, jewelry, and knick-knacks.  I got a pair of Toms and Melinda found a super cute dress on the sale rack-SCORE!

Once we were done shopping, we headed into Dallas for lunch before we got to the museum.  There is a fabulous restaurant call El Fenix right across the street from the Perot museum.  I was telling Melinda that it is a family owned business that has been around the DFW area for years.  Now, they don't qualify as a 'good' Mexican restaurant in my book, but it is a decent one that we have always gotten good service at.  ('Good' in my book means that they have real, freshly hand-made tortillas, not store bought ones that I could have warmed up at my house.)  Melinda commented on how all of the wait staff and employees were asking how everything was and if our food was good and if there was anything else they could get us.  I told her that customer service is extremely important here.  It'll make or break a business.

Melinda and Ally (Tita, Caleb, and Abby in background)
in front of the El Fenix in Downtown Dallas

After lunch, we headed over the the museum.  We saw a 3-D movie called Wildest Weather in the Solar System.  Everyone was amazed by the wild weather!  Once the movie was over, we headed into the museum.  We started with the Solar System, then headed into the dinosaur area, and finally the birds.  This was all on the top floor!  Then we got to feel what it's like to be in an earthquake after Abigail participated in a mock weather report.  We moved into the area with all the pretty rocks and minerals, which is Abigail's favorite part.  There was a lady there demonstrating and talking about the different types of minerals.  After this, we moved into the living science area.  Ally and Melinda participated in a science experiment called Giant Chromosomes and Abby and Caleb participated in one called DNA extraction.  They all loved this part!  They were able to go through the experiment on their own and they learned so much.  After they were done with their experiments, we headed downstairs to the Recycle Reef.  This area is temporary exhibit dedicated to encouraging people to recycle by creating a reef entirely out of recycled paper and cardboard.  This was also a lot of fun because they were able to be creative with their designs.  Once they placed their items in the reef, we headed into the sports gallery.  In here, they tested their reaction time, saw themselves in slow motion, and raced a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  By this time, we had been at the museum for almost four hours and we hadn't even seen everything!  It is a really amazing museum and we may just have to go back again before the summer is over.

The main entrance of the Perot Museum

All ready to see the movie

Melinda and Ally working on their experiment

Hard at work!

Beautiful scientist

Abigail working on her experiment.
 

On the way home, mom needed to stop at the mall for some things.  We dropped her off and headed to  Sonic to get a drink.  The kids were all exhausted and the drinks were very helpful in holding us over until dinner.  We picked mom up and headed back to Forney.  Thankfully, I had put something into the crock pot before we left this morning, so dinner was ready when we arrived at home.

Pot Roast with vegatables

After dinner, we watched a movie that Melinda had recommended to us.  It is called Fateless.  It is a true story about a young Hungarian boy who was taken to a concentration camp in Germany.  It was similar to the Holocaust movies that I have seen before, but watching it with Melinda added a different twist. She was very moved by the movie, as were we, and I especially loved the message that he closed the with.

Now, we obviously did not have any discussion time after the movie since I am just now getting to write this blog, so now I've got to finish up Saturday.  Good night!

Day 18

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Today began a little differently than yesterday.  My neighbor was having a huge garage sale, so we were up early to see what treasures we could find.  Melinda was still sleeping, so me, my mom, and Ally walked over a little after 7:00 a.m.  I found some clothes for work, a new coat for Abigail, and some Cowboys jerseys for the girls.  We visited with our neighbor for a little bit before heading back home to get ready for art camp.  

I dropped the girls off and came back to watch Glee with Melinda.  We watched the Rocky Horror episode and Melinda was surprised by the episode and its content.  I have to say, this episode was not one of my favorites, but none the less, I love it anyways.

Abigail's artwork for today.

I went to pick the girls up at art and we came back to begin making chocolate chip cookies.  Melinda was so excited!  With four cooks in the kitchen, we were done making them very quickly.  Once they were baking in the oven, we started preparing lunch.  My nephew came over to eat with us and he preoccupied the girls while we finished up lunch and the cookies.

Getting all of the ingredients together.

All ready to make the cookies.

The batter is ready, now let's mix in the chocolate chips!

The girls are getting the cookie sheets prepared.

Cookies baking in the oven.....mmmmmm, the kitchen smells amazing!

The first batch is all done!

Putting the cookies on the cake plate

The first taste....SO GOOD!!!

Once I finished lunch, I left to get a message for the very sore back that I've been dealing with lately.  The girls and my nephew went over to my moms while I was gone.  Melinda was able to finish up the place mats that she started the other day.  She was amazed at how much work was involved.  She was so appreciative of my mom for showing her how to make the place mats.  Melinda is such a sweet girl!  Always wanting to learn new things and soak up everything that she can while she is here.

One of Melinda's finished place mats

Always sign your work when it's done.  Tita is what my
girls call my mom.  It is short for abuelita, which means
grandmotherin Spanish.  

Mom and Melinda with all six of the place
mats that Melinda made.  So excited for her!

When Melinda had finished, we headed home to get ready for Abigail's soccer practice in Rockwall.  Robert got home and off we went.  Melinda, Ally, and I dropped Robert, Abigail, and Caleb off at practice so we could go to the sporting goods store.  Melinda is wanting to purchase real American roller skates.  Not  in-line skates, roller skates.  The store we went to did not carry them, so I will start calling around tomorrow to see where we can buy some.  I felt so bad...I think Melinda was a little disappointed.  We'll try again another day.

We went back to the practice fields just as they were finishing up with practice.  We took Melinda to one of our favorite places....Freeb!rds.  It is a burrito place that is similar to Subway, in that you can customize your burrito.  It's one of our favorite places (did I already say that?).  The other cool thing about this place is that you can make things out of the foil that they wrap the burrito in.  Melinda immediately started making something to place on the chain that was hanging from the ceiling.  She left her mark in Rockwall!!!

Taking a picture of her Freeb!rd burrito

Making something out of the foil

There is her creation!

One of the employees gave her the cookie that is under
the black paper.  Then another employee came
and gave her all of those stickers.  Gotta love that
Texas hospitality!!

After dinner, we headed to a store to get some things for our bedroom and made a stop at the Half Priced Bookstore that was next to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Melinda and Ally got a head start in the book store while the rest of us went to the bedding store.  Everyone came home with a new book except for Melinda.  Again, I think she was a little disappointed.  She is wanting to read something in English so badly, but is still struggling with reading in English.  We will continue to work on it while she is here.

We headed back home so all the kids could get to bed.  We have a long day tomorrow!!

Day 17

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Today began just like the past two, only with one extra little girl in the house.  I was able to get them all awake, dressed, fed, and out the door on time for art camp.  I came back home and Melinda and I cleaned up the kitchen before I headed back up there to pick them up.  We had made plans to go swimming at my moms house with my nephew after art camp.  I prepared some chicken to grill for lunch and my mom made some side dishes to go along with it.

Ally's pastel drawing of our dog, Nala.

Ally's painting of downtown Forney.

While I was grilling outside, my mom got Melinda started on a sewing project.  My mother is an excellent seamstress and makes amazing quilts and other sewing items.  She was very excited to teach Melinda how to sew on her sewing machine.  She had a simple project ready and they got started while I was grilling.  Melinda said it was a lot of fun, but was very hard.  I agree!  I enjoy the end result, but do not like all the work involved.

Placing the fabric together to be sewn.

Making sure everything is lined up just right.

Excited and ready to start sewing.

Cutting out the stars to sew onto the place mats.

Finishing up a place mat.

I had to pull the girls out of the pool in order to get ready for their piano lessons at 2:00 p.m.  Their first request was to ask if they can get back in once they're done with piano.  Swimming is one of their very favorite things to do during the summer time.  Once we got back from piano, they cleaned up their room before we headed back to my moms house.  Melinda had stayed with my mom while we left in order to continue working on her sewing project.  When we got back, she was still working on her project.  Robert and I had workout at 5:00 p.m., so all of the girls stayed with mom to continue working and swimming while we were gone.  When we got back home, all the girls came back home so we could have dinner.  We put on  Family Ties while we ate and I think Melinda is beginning to catch on to the dialogue more and more each day.  We have the closed caption on so that she can read along with what they are saying at the same time.  See, we're learning while watching television at the dinner table.  (that makes it alright, right?)

After dinner and the bedtime routine, I sat down to start my blog.  Melinda was asking what our plans for tomorrow are and we decided to make tomorrow the day to make CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!!!  Looks like I'll be making another trip to the grocery store to get some milk to go along with those cookies.  All this talk of chocolate chip cookies reminded me of all the chocolate that Melinda brought us from Hungary.  There was one that caught my eye as we were putting everything into the refrigerator and I had Melinda dig through the pile to find the one I wanted.  The hazelnut is what caught my eye.  Also, I found it interesting that they list the calories as 'Energy' instead of 'Calories'.  It makes me feel better about eating it....don't worry, Mr. Trainer, Sir.  I was just getting some energy!

Tibi (which is a nickname for Tibor)

Tonight's conversation consisted of different types of fruit, the amount of sugar in a Dr. Pepper, and nicknames.  Melinda was telling us that some of the fruits that they have taste a little different than what we were describing them as.  She said that it is because the countries that they import them from must pick them well before they are ripe to compensate for the lengthy travel time.  Then, we were trying to tell her that there is a lot of sugar in a Dr. Pepper and looked up pictures online of how many sugar cubes are in a 12 ounce can.  Finally, Melinda was telling us all the different nicknames she has at home with her family and friends.  I told her that Robert is known as 'Little Robert' with his family and sometimes 'Fred' with mine.  (one of my aunts couldn't remember Roberts name when she first met him, so she decided to go with Fred)  

Day 16

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Today started off just like yesterday - up early to get ready for art camp for the girls.  Melinda and I had plans to meet one of my friends for breakfast while the girls are in art camp.

I took Melinda to the donut shop just a few doors down.  When she walked in and saw the case full of colorful sweets, her eyes grew bigger and bigger.  She couldn't choose!  She finally decided on a white glazed donut with multicolored sprinkles on top and a Dr. Pepper.  This, unfortunately, would be a very typical breakfast choice for many people I knew while I was in high school.  Sugar with a side of liquid sugar.  Melinda loved the donuts!  We sat and visited with my friend over the next hour about places to visit while Melinda is here.  My friend has traveled all over the state and country, so I'm always eager to visit the places she recommends.

Once it was time to pick the girls up from art camp, we walked back to get them.  Abigail's very best friend is in camp with her and wanted to come home with us.  We worked out the details and off we went with four girls in the van instead of three.  We went straight to the grocery store to get a few things before going home to make lunch.  We didn't have much time before we had to leave to take Abigail to her dentist appointment in Rockwall.

I got everyone rounded up and we were headed to Rockwall for Abigail's appointment.  After she was all finished, we headed to the pets store to get some more fish for our fish tank.  See, we have this one 'giant' goldfish that likes to 'snack' on the other smaller fish.  I decided to remove him from the general population so that we could get more fish without risking them being tonights midnight snack.  Now, he is hanging out in our room while everyone else is playing nicely in the big tank.  The girls got another 'Johnny Mansnail' and several other small fish.

Of course, they noticed that it was after 2:00 p.m. and wanted to make a pit stop at Sonic for half priced drinks on our way home.  Melinda tried a lemonberry slush this time and said she liked it much better than the blackberry slush.  She said it wasn't as sweet as the first one.  When we arrived home, the girls played for a little while before we had to get ready to take Abigail to soccer practice.  We dropped her friend off on our way back to Rockwall while Melinda and Ally stayed home.  We made arrangements for her friend to come back over after soccer practice to spend the night with us.  Melinda and Ally wanted to make dinner for everyone while we were gone, so they stayed busy getting things prepared.

Ally texted me, saying that they had a big surprise for us when we got home.  Boy, was she right!!!  They made lots of pancakes (from scratch!) for dinner!  We love having breakfast for dinner.  It's a fun way to change things up.  They even made personalized pancakes for each of us.  We each had a pancake with our initial on it, plus they made some with ATM written on them!  Some were in the shape of a star while others were shaped like Mickey Mouse.  The girls had so much fun eating their dinner and seeing what the other had put on their plate.

Once dinner was completed, Melinda and Ally wanted to take a walk around the downtown area.  There is a red train caboose that has a Geocache located on it and Melinda has been looking forward to finding it.  Melinda has been so wonderful with Ally.  Our Ally is very shy and sometimes lacks confidence in herself.  Since Melinda has been here, she has really opened up and been more outspoken in order to help Melinda with things around the house and at the stores.  It is also good for us.  Ally wants more freedom and it is nice for us to let her have a little taste of this freedom....with Melinda with her, of course.

Day 15

Monday, June 24, 2013

So, I'm all caught up again and hopefully I can keep another streak going.

We started the day off with art camp for the girls.  Each summer, their art teacher from school offers an art camp out of her house.  The girls go every summer and absolutely love it!  When we got there this morning, they saw several of their school mates.  It was a great way for them to catch up with friends.  I also got to see some of my friends that I haven't seen since I've started working full time.  We made plans to meet up tomorrow morning at the donut shop two doors down from the art camp and I can't wait.  Melinda was a little overwhelmed with all the smiling faces and introductions from my friends.  They have been waiting to meet her for some time now and were very excited to finally meet her in person.

After art camp was over, the girls had work out before we came home for lunch.  Melinda had already gotten everything made by the time we got home.  What a sweetheart!

My nephew is staying with my parents this week, so we all headed out to see Monsters University after lunch.  It was a really good movie!  The kids loved it.  Somewhere in the middle of the movie, I started to get a really bad headache.  By the time we got home, all I wanted to do was lay down.  Robert went to workout without me and the girls and I camped out on the couch and watched a movie.  Melinda has never seen A League of their Own, so we put that on.  She enjoyed it as much as we do.  When Robert got home, we were at the tail end of the movie and when it finished, we put on The Mask of Zorro.  My headache hasn't gotten any better, so I've pretty much flown through the day without many details.  Sorry!  Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

Our discussion this evening is about food.  Melinda is beginning to see just how much Americans, us inparticular, eat out instead of cooking at home.  She was under the impression that Americans do not like to cook, but I was telling her that it is probably more that we are too busy to cook at home.  I know that is true in our case.  We have filled our days with so many activities that by the time we get home, we're all starving and don't want to wait for someone to cook dinner.  We also talked about 'weird' foods that we like.  We discovered that Hungarians also have a soup very similar to menudo.  Sweet!  I was wanting to make some last weekend, but wasn't sure if she would like it.  Now my focus is to try and cook at home more and save our eating out trips to one or two times a week.  

Day 14

Sunday, June 23, 2013

(So, it's Monday and I've found a few minutes inbetween things to finish up last nights post.)

After a very eventful evening, everyone slept a little late this morning.  Melinda began to make the chocolate snails that she's been telling us about.  She was a little worried about how they would turn out.  We looked all over the grocery store for the type of yeast that she uses in Hungary, but didn't have any luck finding it.  Once Melinda got the dough made, it had to rise for about an hour.  We headed over to moms house to have breakfast with the family.  When it was time, Melinda headed back to our house to finish the snails.  Ally went back to help her, too.

 

 

Meanwhile, back at moms house, we began getting things prepared for lunch.  We were going to grill hamburgers and hot dogs and have a family picnic outside.  My moms two sisters came over as well as one of my cousins.  The kids swam in the pool while we sat and visited with everyone.  It was hot, but there was a nice breeze that would come through the trees.  Melinda sat and read her book for a little while.  She's been reading books in English, which is still a little difficult for her, but she's making great improvements every day.  Hopefully she'll feel comfortable enough to tackle a Nicholas Sparks book before she leaves.

Mr. Simba having a drink of water after playing in the yard.

A view of the yard and all of my family.

My brother, Ernest, my cousin, Nufy, and my dad, Tony

Once lunch was over, my brother and his wife wanted to get some bubble tea.  We hadn't tried this yet, so Robert, Melinda, and I decided to tag along with them.  There is a shop in Terrell that sells it, so off we went.  Much to our disappointment, there was a note on the door stating they were closed for a family event...so, no bubble tea for us.  No worries though, for in true American fashion, there is something else waiting just around the corner.  Braum's is a local company that produces their own ice cream and other goods.  Their primary farms are located in Oklahoma.  They grow all of the feed for their cattle on their farm land and then harvest the milk from the cows for their ice cream, yogurt, and cheese products.  Their ice cream is wonderful!  Melinda was still full from lunch, so she didn't get anything.  Maybe we'll have to go back so she can try it another day.

When we got home, we started getting our things together to head back to our house.  We said our goodbyes to my brother and his family, packed a doggy bag for dinner, and started the long walk home (we live right across the street. ;0)  Once home and after eating dinner, Robert and I decided to go see a movie.  Melinda was nice enough to stay home with the girls while we went to the movie.  I knew the girls would go to bed early after all of the swimming they had done.  We saw Man of Steel and it was great.  When we got home, I wrote blogs for Friday and Saturday night before making my to bed.

We had a wonderful weekend full of family and fun.  This is what I enjoy most about our summer vacation time.  When we don't have to worry about bedtimes and homework, we are able to relax and really enjoy one another.

Day 13

Saturday, June 22, 2013

(I didn't get to write last night, so here is a make-up post for yesterday.)

My brother and his family were on their way into town, so we were up and getting ready for them to arrive.  I started off by cleaning up the house a bit before going to pick up Ally from her slumber party.  Melinda and Abigail went over to moms to wait for me to get back.  Robert headed into town to get a new computer monitor.  We all made it back to moms house right when my dad arrived with my brother and his family en tow.  We all sat and had lunch together while everyone visited and relaxed.

It was going to be a very important night for my dad, so we headed back home to start getting dressed.  My dad is a member of the Knights of Columbus.  This is the mens group within the Catholic church who serve the parish, primarly the Priest.  My father previously served as the tresurer for several years before he was nominated and voted in as Grand Knight.  Tonight was going to be the induction ceremony.

We arrived at the church for mass at 4:30 p.m.  I could tell that Melinda was a little nervous, but I would have been, too.  She has gone along with us every day since she's been here and this was probably the biggest event we've been to yet.  My entire family was there including one of my moms sisters.  When we walked in, Father 'Duffy' was near the entrance, so we were able to introduce him to Melinda before mass began.  I had told him several months ago that Melinda would be with us for the summer and I was so very excited to finally be able to introduce him to her.  I told her that at the end of each mass, Father asks if there are any visitors with us today and that I would introduce her to all of the parishoners.  When he asked for visitors, I raised my hand and he asked us both to stand up.  I addressed everyone by telling them her name and that she would be staying with us for the summer.  When I said that she was from Hungary, everyone clapped joyously, welcoming her to our parish.  After mass, there were several people who came over to meet Melinda, shaking her hand and saying that they were happy that she was with us.

Afterwards, we headed over to our social hall where the ceremony would be taking place.  The ceremony began and my father was the first to be inducted, taking his seat at the head of all of the inductees.  I am so proud of him!