Bucharest- Day 5 Going to church

The church is a lot bigger than I expected. I didn't even expect it to be it's own building. It is a new building and a very big one. It has a nice size chapel several classrooms and great kitchen that opens into a lounge room with leather couches that the YSA use for their activities.

Downstairs they have a "bomb shelter" that houses a ping pong table, foosball table, more couches and tv with vcr.

Elder & Sister Reed
Everyone at church was so nice and just loved the kids. Good thing we are use to the French greeting because they greet the same here, and there was a lot of it at Church.

The numbers were small today and so we were happy to have been there.
Looking down the sidewalk in front of the church.

Bucharest- Day 4

Who knew another Arc and in Romania.
Grandma & Grandpa sure do know how to get around.

They do a ton of walking and are very quick on their feet. We can't get Grandpa to wait for any of us.

Without a car you are grateful for good public transportation.

The wild dogs. They are everywhere! (and so is their poop) They are not vicious at all, but they roam around and will beg for food. If they had dog catchers they would be busy for months.

Bucharest- Day 3

Today our first stop was the Palace of Parliament. It is the second largest building in the world next to the Pentagon, and the largest public building in Europe. It is 12 stories high and has 3100 furnished rooms.

It is a massive building but sadly over one sixth of Bucharest was bulldozed to accomodate this huge building.

We got to go into about 5 of the rooms while we were there, they were all very beautiful.

I could have just looked at all the doors and thought it was a good tour, they were enormous and amazing. Dad you would have loved them-they were all solid, I checked.

Outside the palace.

Grandma & Grandpa live very close to the palace and we can see it out of thier window.

If you hadn't noticed, it is very cold outside, if we go anywhere we have to make sure we are all bundled up.

Some of the subway cars are turned over to the grafatti kids in hopes they will leave the new ones alone. I kind of like the painted ones.

This sort of reminded me of the junk collectors in Salt Lake, this one just uses different gas.

Grandma & Grandpa doing what they are famous for-making food. We went to the church with them for their youth activity and they treated them all to homemade doughnuts.
They are well loved here and serving with all their hearts.

Bucharest- Day 2

When the kids saw the snow they could hardly wait to get their boots on and go make a snowball. There wasn't tons but enough to make it seem like winter.

Somehow Mark was able to help them make three big snowballs and lift them onto this cement block so they could build a snowman. It just wouldn't be a complete winter without making at least one snowman. They found an old umbrella which made his scarf and cane.

Grandma & Grandpa spoiled us with a turkey dinner and everything that goes along with it, including homemade rolls.

Their kitchen has a table that was able accomodate all of us.Standing outside Grandma & Grandpas apartmet.

Taking the bus was quite an adventure. The first bus ride, Sophie decided to take a nap with the lady next to her, and on the way home it was so crowded we couldn't even move.

Downtown was a really hoppin place to be. It kind of reminded me of New York. The huge Christmas tree had flashing lights and lots of American Christmas music.

There was an ice skating rink and lots and lots of people out enjoying the holiday spirit.

We could smell somthing delicious, it smelled like roasted almonds with cinnamon, they we saw it was Kurtos Kalacs. What is that? we weren't sure but we bought 2, one with cinnamon and one with nuts. They were kind of like a big cinnamon roll, they were delicious. It was so fun to watch how they made these crazy treats.

Back home again, Making forts with the beds has been a highlight for the boys.

Bucharest- Getting there

We left for Bucharest on December 26. It was a long day of travel becuase the airport is at least 2 hours away from our house in good traffic, it took us about 2 hours 45 minutes becuase we did get stuck in some Paris traffic.

We made it to the airport with a little time to spare, and so out came the jacks to help the time go by.

We sure did draw some attention with the five kids in tow.Boarding the plane to go see Grandma & Grandpa Reed.


We made it! Grandpa definitely looks like he lives here.It was so fun to see them after 16 months, they both look fantastic and seem to have more energy than me.
The children were nestled all snug on their hideabeds, While new sights of Romania danced in their heads!

Joyeaux Noël- Merry Christmas

Christmas morning- I think the kids thought we were torturing them by making them wait on the stairs until we had the cameras all ready.

They awoke at about 8:00, we were really happy about that.

All Sophie wanted was a beautiful princess dress and crown. Her dream came true!

She looked like a princess all day!

She's already counting down for Christmas next year.

The girls both got new boots, and hats!

We're trying to fit in with the French.

Dallas got his own set of scriptures. Dad brought them from Salt Lake as a big surprise. Now he said he would like a set in French.

Our gift of the heart gifts were a big deal this year. The boys both got wood swords from Sophie & Jesse-they thought they were pretty awesome. I think they will get some good use.

Annie started Jesse a scrapbook of France. She worked very hard on it and could hardly wait for Jesse to see it. Jesse looked at each page and read every caption-she loved it! What a treasure.

Logan made Annie a table for the American girl dolls out of the logs from the Forest. It is very sturdy as you can see. He helped to saw all the logs and nail them into place. He was determined to make this for her. It was so fun to watch how excited they were to give their gifts they had made.

There I am working on the family blog for her siblings. I can hardly wait to see what you all post.

Annie & Jesse all dressed up in their new garb.

Logan and his space puzzle-he put it together in a jip. (This is what Logan says instead of jif, we love it.)

The aftermath of a great morning!

We loved our low pace day of no schedule and just enjoyed being together.

Ahh, The foods of Christmas. We ate food all day long, it was great. We cooked up the lobster towards the end of the night and the kids wished we had 20.

The missionaries came over for dinner and their annual Christmas phone calls. Luckily we had two phone lines to accommodate both at the same time. They had such great visits with their families we had to send their dinner in a doggy box. Elder Hamilton is being transferred on Friday to Blois, and we will miss him, but are happy to have Elder Hobbs stay here, we love the missionaries and their energy.
The kids said, "This was the best Christmas ever" that's exactly what a parent wants to hear!