Manipulation Goes Both Ways

This is an example of how to get Abe to do what you want...

Each afternoon I like to sit in my recliner next to the fireplace and read awhile. Abe thinks that's a great time to sit on my lap, and it is... for awhile. Until he gets bored and wiggley. So when I'm ready for him to do something else, I'll say, “I’m so glad you’re here on my lap! I want you to stay here a long time and never go (then I’ll insert something like).. play with your aircraft carrier…” And he’ll get this impish grin on his face, “Noooooo – I HAVE to go play with my aircraft carrier!” I’ll say, “But I NEED you to sit on my lap for a LONG time!” “NOOOO! Pleeeeeeeease! I NEED to go play with my aircraft carrier!” Then I’ll relent and reluctantly let him go, but tell him he needs to hurry back to sit on my lap again. Then off he goes, obviously relieved to have escaped my lap – which of course was my intention in the first place.

Grandma Melanie?

Yup! After getting married over a year ago, some may declare, "It's about time!" But remembering that 'Uncle Abe' is only six years old, we weren't in a hurry.

Hmmmm. Should I quit coloring my grey hair?

A Park Family Christmas

Christmas is hangin' with Big Brother Ben

Christmas is frosting cookies with Grandpa & the family to take to friends and neighbors.

Christmas is the Park family tradition of going on a treasure hunt prepared by Grandma Park, then listening to her new original Christmas story reminding us of the reason for the season.

Christmas is peeking around the corner to see if Santa left any gifts.

Christmas is seeing your family open presents made or purchased just for them!

Abe the Civil Engineer

Abe is thrilled to have his big brother Ben here with Catherine for Christmas. Especially when it's warm enough to play basketball!
However it's a bummer when the ball ends up on the swimming pool cover. With the recent snow & rain, the cover has water on it so walking on it would create low spots for the water to accumulate and soak your shoes.
Not to worry. Abe has a plan. "Ben, stand on this end of the chair, while I sit on the other end and pull the ball in with this pool game target."

Almost there!

Got it!!!
Thanks, Ben.
Now, as soon as the ball dries and my hands get warm, we can shoot some hoops.

Let it snow!

Great fun - if only for one afternoon.

Danube River Cruise

This was our trustworthy river cruise ship that took us south and east from Germany through Austria and into Hungary. The cabins were rather small, but the windows were large (not that we spent any time in the room). The chef was truly amazing and we enjoyed getting to know many of the other guests (most of them anyway). Richard didn't care for the 'Larry King' look-a-like, though I enjoyed listening to his stories from 30 years in the newspaper business. Richard also didn't care for the lady we nicknamed the 'Southern Belle' a tall willowy blond from New Orleans that must have been trained in the art of conversation from an early age then perfected it for the next 50 years. Imagine her leaning into the table, her face full of earnest curiosity and exclaiming with her southern drawl, "Oh, really? And then what happened?" Richard said he was in the seventh level of hell at that evening's dinner. Which ironically was our most favorite dish out of the many favorite dishes served. I loved the fillet of sole in a sinfully buttery cream sauce. And Richard had a vegetable omlette - yes, you read correctly - a vegetable omlet which he said was amazing. Too bad it couldn't lift him up a level or two. The cream soups on that ship are something I still dream about.

Regensburg, our first port, was a delightful German city and a good introduction to all things German. Notice Santa climbing up this apartment building. I loved strolling these pedestrian streets (too narrow for traffic) and hearing the bells chime the hours and snatching snippets of orchestra or choir music drifting out of churches and plazas.

Click the older posts for more cruise highlights.

Salzburg was my favorite! It was everything it was supposed to be - birthplace and hometown of Mozart and the home of The Sound of Music. Which brings me to a sad revelation. Edelweiss, the Austrian folksong, was the creation of Rogers & Hammerstein. It has since become an unofficial Austrian folksong, as well as all the other songs made famous in the movie. Salzburg has embraced and makes big bucks marketing all things 'Sound of Music'.



This was a great time to be in Eruope. There were 'Christmas Markets' everywhere. Little wooden huts in city plazas selling all things imaginable. The sights and sounds were festive and delightful.

This is a fraction of the library found in the Melk Abby. Cared for and studied by Monks for hundreds of years, this library houses well over 100,000 books, all bound in beautiful leather with guilded letters. Ben would have thought he entered heaven.

One wonderful afternoon was spent aboard the cruise ship gazing at the most beautiful scenery along the Danube (according to the cruise director). This was in Austria and it was one quaint village after another. I LOVED it!

Vienna was a little disappointing. It was just another big modern city with fancy shops on the ground floors and apartments on the top. This is the opera house (our bad timing didn't allow for a tour), which Mozart conducted some of his famous works. It's the classical music capital of the world and we enjoyed an amazing concert of mostly Mozart and Strauss compositions, including 'The Blue Danube' which both my mothers (who were sisters, remember) played on the piano as I was growing up. I guess if you want to become anything in the music world, Vienna is the place for you.

This was my favorite part of Budapest - an old artisan area of authentic buildings with cobblestone pedestrian walkways. I could almost feel what it was like to live hundreds of years ago.

Budapest is called the 'Jewel of the Danube'. This view from above the city on the 'Buda' side was breathtaking. You can see the Parliment on the other side of the river - an amazing building. Budapest was devistated during WWII, and then re-built under the communist regime. Most of the people grew up under this government and it's been slowly changing since the fall of the Berlin wall. The country is deeply in debt and will be for a long time. Older people unfamiliar with capitalism are overwhelmed with the new shopping centers-for instance they can't imaging so many choices of toilet paper when they remembered feeling fortunate if they had toilet paper at all. The family experiences told by the guide about the country being taken over by communists were fascinating. Can you imagine owning a 3 bedroom apartment before the war, then not long after the war being told that your apartment was too big for your family of five and that two more families would be joining you?

Our first evening in Budapest found us in an old country lodge with authentic music and dancing. My favorite was when the girls came out and danced with full bottles of some kind of liquid on their heads. After many complicated moves, they came and put the bottles on our heads - I could barely keep it on just sitting there. The piano like instruament was more similar to an autoharp that was struck with soft mallets. I'd never seen anything like it and the guy who played it was amazing. Maybe you can't see, but there are chili (o.k. paprika) ristras hanging all over this lodge.

Enroute to Budapest (pronounced Budapesht) from Vienna, our tour guide talked about how Hungary is known for it's paprika. Originating in North America, the climate in Hungary is ideal for paprika due to so many sunny days. I didn't know there was sweet paprika and hot paprika, but she went into detail about how both are processed. Then I saw paprika. What!!! Those are chili ristras hung and displayed everywhere. I guess chili and paprika are kissing cousins. Who knew?

Drumline

Jared loves being in a drumline. He's amazing on the quads - which I think should be called quints because there are five drums, not four. His mallets are a blur as he strikes away, many times crossing arms which looks cool. Besides a good engineering program being a requirement for colleges he's applying to, there has to be a decent marching band. He'd like to be part of a band with fellow students as quick to catch on as he is. Makes me wished I had been in a marching band.