Dear James: Feels Like Home

Dear James,

So sorry for the long delay in responding! We moved into our new house almost 2 weeks ago and we just not got internet! And not a moment too soon. I was really missing my Netflix, I'll tell you what!

Hungary is great! We're starting to feel more comfortable in our small town. There's not much to do, but getting out is always an adventure in a foreign country. My Mommy misses your Mommy, too! It's pretty much all she talks about. And I definitely miss stealing your snacks. Although I think that's mostly because I just miss American snacks. The food here is a little different.

This was me after a walk from the grocery store. Mom gave me a little ice cream treat because it was so hot. Turns out it wasn't ice cream. It was chocolate covered frozen cottage cheese...but I still ate every last bit!

We made an impromptu trip to Budapest the day we moved into the new house. We didn't get to do much, but we did get to see the beautiful Parliament building from across the Danube River. We can't wait to go back and see so much more! 

There aren't really any churches here that we'll get to call home. But there are a lot of opportunities for fellowship with other believers. We can stream church services and watch with friends and a chaplain comes once a month and holds a service for us. There's also a Ladies' Bible Study that Mommy is excited to try. 

This is Mommy, Mingo, and me at the castle ruins in Dobronte. It was so cool! And it's only 15 minutes down the road from us in a super cute town. We'll definitely be taking all of our visitors there. 

You asked about our plane ride over here. Well from what I can remember (I think we've all repressed most of that experience), it wasn't too bad. I actually managed to sleep for a little bit during our 9.5 hour flight. And the nice ladies in the pretty uniforms were always bringing by food and drinks for me to spill and throw everywhere. It was very thoughtful of them. I know Mommy brought the Benadryl, but I never needed any. I guess I would suggest having your Mommy pack you lots of new toys to play with. I highly recommend the dollar spot at Target...man I miss Target. And don't forget Ralphie! I really liked having my Gemma with me to make me more comfortable. 

Well that's life right now. I can't wait to get all of our furniture in a couple of weeks. There are some toys that I've really missed. And I haven't slept in my own crib since the beginning of July! I hope you are having fun and meeting lots of new friends. Just remember, you're spoken for! 

Is the weather getting nicer? I sure do miss walking being carried through the the farmer's market and eating donuts shoving donuts in my face with you! I can't wait to introduce you to the amazingness that is a Nutella palacsinta. And there's gelato stands everywhere! I think I'm going to like it here. 

Miss you friend! See yooouuuuuu...

Dear June: It's HOT

Dear June,

How is Hungary? My Mommy already said she is excited to visit you and misses you. I miss you too. Mostly miss stealing my toys from you. Do you miss stealing my snacks from me?

Things here are same old, same old. Except for it's HOT, which means the only thing I'm wearing these days is my diaper and playing in the water. Don't get mad but you forgot Yoda here. I am taking good care of him and will send him to you as soon as I can. He makes for a good car buddy.

So I played with the Play-Doh you gave me. It is a lot of fun! I tried to eat it a few times but Mommy kept saying it isn't food. It's pretty salty anyway. I also mixed a few colors and realized I did not like it.Mommy had to come to my rescue and pull apart the colors. I learned my lesson and kept each color in their own space from then on.

I wanted to ask, how was the plane ride? Any tips for when I travel next? Talk to you later!

See ya,

James

Dear Jillianne: Feeling Human Again

Hey girl hey!

I think I can officially say we have all recovered from jet lag. Finally! Last week was probably one of the longest of my life. It was like combining the first few weeks of having a newborn with the first trimester. I wouldn't wish it on anybody! We'll definitely do more to prepare for such a drastic time change in the future.

I think I'm already having Target walk-through withdrawals. I learned a new word the other day: "shelf-check". It basically sums up every Target trip we ever made. It means to just walk through a store and see what they have. And since we already knew everything Target had (because we went roughly once a week), we definitely were just there for shelf-checks.

I hear ya on the heat. I can't imagine it without an A/C. I'm already so spoiled by our one A/C unit in the apartment. Maybe put the water table in the bathroom and let James have some fun in there? I know clean up would be a little tough but at least you don't have to worry about heat exhaustion and sunburn!

How do you make an Italian Soda? That sounds so good! I'll have to make one then go to Italy and try one and see how well I did. (P.S. How freaking cool was that sentence? Ladeedah I'm just gonna pop on over to Italy for a soda. Gah I love Europe!)

I've made a few new friends here but I definitely miss being around you. I feel like our friendship just flowed from day one (maybe day two). Like you said though, being a military spouse trains you to make fast friends. I mean, we probably tell new friends more about ourselves in the first week of knowing each other than civilian spouses would ever reveal to their friends.

I actually just got back from having coffee with quite a few spouses. It was so great to get to meet everyone. There are some really great women here and I just can't wait to get to know everyone better.

I'm so glad you and James are making new friends. I have no doubt that you'll become great friends with someone and James might find a playmate he likes even better than June. Maybe this new friend won't steal his food quite so often. ;)

We're finally starting to get adjusted here and I think we'll be even better once we're in our house in just over a week. I can't wait to show you pictures! Speaking of pictures, here's one from this morning:

This is right outside the coffee shop we were in. There's a couple of awesome little splash pads and a little playground. And it's all right next to this beautiful church! I definitely see us spending a lot of time here! 

Have you been to the splash pad lately? That might be a nice place to cool off. 

Well I hope you have a great day, friend! I love and miss you so much! Say hello to America for me!

Isten aldjon (God bless), 

Dear Kacie: Adjusting

Dear Kacie,

I miss you. How is the jet lag today?

Can you believe you've been gone a week? Seems like it's been longer. We never really saw each other everyday so not seeing you hasn't been so strange but not talking to you everyday has been an adjustment. The spontaneous trips to Target, texting each other everyday, and Farmer's Market trips are what I'll miss the most I think. And who is going to binge watch the second season of "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" with me!?

And I know you (jokingly) told me that I couldn't have a life after you left. Well, no worries. I haven't had much to do because it has been blazing HOT! You know Little James loves being outside all the time but you know it's too hot when even he decides to run back into the house. Although we have ventured out to Ross and Target. Two precious words: Air Conditioning. Don't judge but I went to Target two days in a row. And Dear Husband came with me both times. In all fairness we needed to return something the second time we went but walked out with supplies to make Italian sodas.

You know when you move to a new place and everything seems new, scary, yet fresh? Of course you know, you moved to a whole different country! Well that's how I feel right now.  L is on vacation and you're across the world so I feel like I am adjusting to a new life. I mean constanty adjusting is something our military life comes with so it's normal but at the same time I miss the tight knit friendship we had and our little quirks.

Speaking of fresh, little James and I are making new friends! We have had a few playdates with a new friend and it has been fun. But no worries, we miss you and little June so much and we can't wait to visit!

Talk to you soon,

Jillianne

Szia from Hungary!

Hello (Szia)! Well we finally made it to Europe. It was a crazy week of plane rides and the worst jet lag you can possibly imagine, but we survived! I just wanted to give you all a little look into what our life has been like since we left the U.S.

June's first time flying in her own seat!

We had 2 plane rides, a 9.5 hour and a 1 hour. I'd relive the 9.5 hour flight in a heartbeat. June took a really good nap and besides wanting to climb down and run up and down the aisles a few times, she did great. That 1 hour flight wasn't as fun. We got bumped up to business class which was great. Baby Girl was just so over the whole traveling thing. But all-in-all, the trip went really well. 

Jet lag takes another victim.

We were all really thrown off by the 9 hour time difference. June woke up every night around midnight and didn't go back to sleep for at least 3 hours. So she and I would take a long nap in the morning and feel like we had been drugged when we woke up. Thankfully she has slept through the past 2 nights (*knocks on wood*). I'm sure she'll be happy to be in her own crib in her own room soon. 

Right now we're staying in an apartment but we hope to be in a house in just a couple of weeks!

Exploring downtown and the square.

Thank goodness for such a tight-knit community of people here! We've become friends with some great people who took us all over town. We had lunch in the square, played in a park by a beautiful church, and got ice cream (which was about 70 cents each!). That day was the first time I felt human again. I think I'm going to love it here! 

Lots of cute parks to explore!

Since everything is so close in this small town, we've been able to get out and see something new almost every day. We found this cute little park in a really nice wooded area with walking trails all around. June really liked watching all of the other kids. And I think they enjoyed staring at us while we spoke English. 

The food will take some getting used to.

So this was my dinner last night. Any guesses as to what it's supposed to be? The menu said roast beef. It was pretty much like chicken fried steak, but without the breading. With onion strings on top and a bed of french fries on bottom. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it wasn't bad. I really can't wait to get out and eat my way through Europe. Because let's be honest, 70% of the reason I do anything is food. 

Well I hope you enjoyed a little peek into our new life! Hopefully soon we'll have tales of our trips to Budapest and beyond!

God Bless,