First Snow Video

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

 Happy Anniversary!

 We love you very, very much and are thrilled to celebrate 33 years together...even from afar!

Autumn Prince

Jack's sweet babysitter, Laura, made this autumn crown of leaves a few weeks ago and every once in a while he proudly wears it around the house. Last week he wanted to wear it with his cape...so he could "fly" throughout the house. He kept saying "Look mommy, I'm a prince!" I guess some princes fly:)

 

  Flying through the house....

He even paused so tell Momo one last time that he loved her and that he was praying for her. I am so thankful the camera was within reach so I could capture this sweet, sweet memory. We miss you Momo, but we are thankful you are wearing your princess crown and flying around heaven!!!

LOC Fall Party

Hahahah...meant to post this on the Livada blog, but I doubled up somehow...

so now you can read about it twice!

 This year we had our annual Fall Party since folks don't celebrate Halloween in Romania. We played relay games outside, carved pumpkins, made caramel apples and watched a fun movie together.

Everyone had a great time!

 Relay Races: Stefan and Anna racing the gourds with a spatula; Levi winning the 'minute to win it' unroll the toilet paper race; Sergiu unstuffing the tissue box; and Zorro winning the 'juggling the balloons' contest

                                              

  

 

 Pumpkin Carving Competition:

 Geza with the help of Adi and Stefan; Janos taking the lead for his team

Angie and Cristina with Sergiu, Levi and Zorro

                                    

 Jeni with Stefan, Geza and Bela

 Maria (not pictured) helped Anna, Kati, Daniel, Daniela, and Adi

  The pumpkins while the kids watched a movie.

After a while we paused the movie to decorate the caramel apples

  

  

 Marga took on the 'big sister' role of watching Jack the monkey. Later Fanel came down in his Spiderman costume...so cute to see them play together!

 Jeff, Jenny and Jack McDonnell; Istvan and Rebecca

Our monkey visits the zoo

Last week we took Fanel, Sergiu and Jack back to the zoo for our annual "little boys day." They had a great time and worked really hard to make Jack sit still and smile for his tree picture. This year Jack was way too busy climbing and telling us all about the tree. Here are a few pictures from our fun day...

  

 feeding the goats and looking at the bears

 The little boys

  

  

Halloween in the Land of Dracula!

On Halloween we drove about 3 hours southeast to visit a few different towns and fortresses where "Dracula" once roamed! We didn't go all the way to his "castle" this time since we had been before. Along our way we drove past several different citates, or walled fortresses. This curch was built in the 1200s.

Love the history!

 Then went came upon a town called Rasnov. I love that many of the cities in Romania have a "Hollywood" sign up on the hills, makes me laugh everytime!

 At the citate gates...Jack saying "do it myself, Mommy!" as he is walking up the hill

 Beautiful Transylvanian moutains!

 We bribed him using a fruit snack to get this "cheese!"

 Found these fun witches hats in one of the gift shops...Jeff and Jack were great sports about it.Happy Halloween from Transylvania!

 Looking at the view...check out our pack mule Jeff...

poor guy, it was much warmer that we thought it would be!

 Jack running around the old well. As legend has it, while the people were hiding in the fortress from invaders, they desperately needed a well so they wouldn't even have to leave. They captured 2 Turkish soldiers, made them prisoners and promised them their freedom if they dug the well. It took them 17 years, but they were never released...so 1400s!

 Jack was walking on this bench and walked up to a lady whose was peacefully sitting there. He proceeded to sit down and tell her that he had cat poop on his shoes...lovely!

 Too tired to walk down the hill. Playing with the rocks was much more fun!

 This is until he discovered the leaves...that always gives you back some energy, especially when you can pour them on someone else's head!

 

 Love the fall!

 Only in Romania would you find this sign. Too bad I didn't see any of the Cullens:)

 After our hike to see the Rasnov fortress, we drove to Brasov. I love this little town. They have a city square, a McDonald's and KFC (they had them here long before they had them in TM...it used to be such a treat!), a church called "Black Church" because the outside was blackened by fires, their "Hollywood" sign, street musicians, and a fun street market. Love Europe!

This made for a fun family day away from the normal everyday life.

 Sweet little cafe

 Happy Halloween from the McDonnells!