Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Six Sunday

Yes, I know! It is not even Sunday anymore and yes, I am SUPER far behind on posting, but I really wanted to get the last couple weeks (aka the last MONTH) documented, so here we go!

one. Our baby girl turned THREE on April 24! She is the sweetest and the sassiest all wrapped into one! Reese is talking a lot more now - like a lot, a lot - even with that stinkin' nuk in her mouth, and we love seeing her little personality shine.  She is a little comedian - trying to make us laugh all the time! She also gives the absolute best hugs!!! 

Last night as a 2 year old - sigh!
I just had to sneak into her bedroom and give her one more snuggle.

We started the day off with our traditional birthday balloons! We used to blow up the balloons and sneak them into their bedroom after they were asleep, but with Reese sleeping on the bottom bunk, we now put them on the main floor.  There is just something so magical about balloons on a birthday!

Still waking up!

We then headed off to school so she could celebrate with her classmates.  We brought in cupcakes for her classroom and hired a magician to perform for the school.  The kids LOVE him! 

Beckett and Reese with Miss Iza

As with traditional Montessori practice, the birthday child gets to carry a globe around the sun on their birthday, indicating that they are now one year older and have gone around the sun one more time.  As the child walks around the sun, the class sings a special song. :)

Joe the Magician

The school also puts together a timeline for the birthday girl/boy!

Time for another donut!!!

Loving all of her new birthday presents!

Tradition of measuring her height on her birthday!

two. Nana and Papa arrived on April 29!!! The kids were beyond excited and ran out to greet them as they pulled up! 

So we thought it was a great idea to take a little jaunt to Gdansk/Sopot the first weekend my parents were here because there was a Polish holiday on Monday, May 1.  We could get in a three day trip without Andy having to take off a day of work.  Now, my parents arrived on a Friday after an 18 hour or so trip, and so we thought we would have a lazy Saturday morning and start on our 3/3.5 hour drive during nap time.  Apparently a lot of Poles had the same idea as it took us over 6 hours to get there.  My poor parents! Contributing factors - 1)gas pumps with no pay at the pump! Can you believe it!?! You literally have to wait in a long line and then wait for the person ahead of you to pay inside before you can start pumping.  The person before us went to the bathroom, shopped the store, maybe got a Subway sandwich and then had to stand in a 15 person deep line to pay.  I think she was in there for over 20 minutes before our pump cleared.  Our gas station stop took us 45 minutes.  2) Google Maps took us off course for a detour due to traffic.  As we were driving on the frontage road, we could see the highway traffic (that we were originally on) cruise right on by - sigh! 3) All Poles were vacating Warsaw and heading north - never again will we do this!  We finally arrived with sore butts and crabby kids!

Gas station line

Our home for the weekend - we rented the corner bottom level unit

Our apartment building had a wonderful kids area in the back.

After getting situated at the apartment, we headed out for dinner. 

The next morning, we headed out to explore Gdansk, which is the northern part of Poland on the Baltic Sea.

Cute little coffee shop!

These two!!! Love them!

And this crazy one!

I could look at these buildings all day!

The kids loved the pirate ship!

Andy tried to get a shot of me with the kids - notice B's interest! Ha!

Andy was really interested in seeing this crane, which is now a museum, but once was the largest crane in the world.
It was built around 1445 - pretty cool - and was run by men walking in the human hamster wheels shown below.

After naps, we headed north to Sopot to check out the square area, the beach and get dinner! 

Great restaurant with yummy food!

Loved this collage!!

Monday was our last day in the area so we headed to a fun park to let the kids burn some energy! After some research, we found the Ronald Reagan Park in Gdansk.  SUPER fun park for the kids, with a lot of paths and flowers.  It honors Ronald Reagan, who was considered instrumental in the fall of communism in Poland.  We were able to locate the statue of Pope John Paul II and Reagan as well.

We then headed to the beach! What started with "let's just dip our toes in", ended with full on falling in the water and getting soaked!

Luckily our trip back home only took four hours and we were happy to spend the next week and a half with my parents playing games, pottery shopping, hanging out with the kids, eating yummy foods and checking out some fun restaurants!

Love having a table full of family!

We played Phase 10 most nights!

This little lady sure loves her Papa!

Pottery shopping with Mom!

Dinner out at a traditional Polish restaurant, Stary Dom!

Rock painting!

We also ventured to Old Town!

Clock in Old Town made with Amber

three. My 36th birthday celebration was extra special as my mom and dad were still here! The day started off with a makeover by Reese, Andy returning home from a trip, beautiful gifts and a family dinner out to our fav Mexican restaurant here!

I got my bridesmaids a pair of earrings for our wedding and have always LOVED them! I would have gotten a pair for myself, but the small shop only have enough for my ladies! My sweet sister found a pair that were pretty similar and gave them to me for my birthday! Thanks sis!

four. Mother's Day was also super special as Nana was here with us!!! We had a delicious brunch at a new cafe here and then enjoyed the rest of the day outside with beautiful weather!

And I love it!

five. These ladies continued my birthday celebration with a girls' dinner at a cute Tapas restaurant full of yummy food, lots of chatting and so many laughs! These ladies have shared tips and advice, filled my bucket on a weekly basis, and help me keep my sanity during this expat adventure! I am beyond grateful for their friendships!!!

Beautiful flowers and wrap bracelet from the crew!

six. With this beautiful weather, we have been able to bike to school! The kids love it and it is a nice little sweat session for me! Sure does make a difference heading home, without the kids in the back!

seven. I have received my first parking ticket in Poland! Ha! It was bound to happen at some point as I cannot read most of the signs.  The charge was 75 pln if paid within the first three days, which equals about $18.  Not bad! Oh and we were sent to collections by our gym.  Double whammy! Luckily we had already cleared up the issue with our bank and gym before we received the notice, but still.  I don't think I have ever been sent to collections.  Only in Poland!

eight. Andy volunteers to coach baseball with Warsaw American Little League Baseball.  They league doesn't play games, they just have practices and let the kids scrimmage themselves.  Andy has practice on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, and with the nice weather, we have gone up to cheer him and the boys on. :)  Practice is held at the American School of Warsaw, which is right next to our neighborhood, and the kids love to play on the school playgrounds. :)

They LOVE watching their daddy! And yelling "Hi Dad!"

nine. This last weekend was beautiful in Warsaw and we spent as much time as we could outside. Saturday we headed to the Palace and enjoyed a patio lunch outside.  Sunday we headed to a nearby park, enjoyed a couple lattes, played on two playgrounds and watched sticks travel down a little stream - Winnie the Pooh style!

The Wilanów Palace

Sunday adventures in Park Zdrojowy (Spa Park) in Konstancin
Beckett eating sernik (cheesecake) and Reese is eating Jelly (Jell-o)

Uffda! That was a long post, but I am SO glad that I am caught up and have documented the last couple weeks! We are currently sitting at 18 days until we leave for MN!!! WE CANNOT WAIT!