The holidays are way behind us, and I once again lost the opportunity to write when the feelings were fresh in my mind. So I'll attempt to recreate what was in my mind and soul at the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016.
Going back to Romania brought me a lot of anxiety. With a very precious tiny baby in my belly I was worried what will happen with the exhaustion, with the altitude, with the cold or not cold weather. Let's just say my mind did not get a break...But a vacation is a vacation, at least some of the problems are left behind, so we all had big smiles on our faces
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| Newark airport! |
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| so many movies! and somebody brings us food |
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| I am never tired, mommy! I never sleep! |
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| happy family in vacation :) |
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| So tired, I can't even pick a gift from Germany! |
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| Finally in Romania! Tired, tired! |
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Being 4 months pregnant and traveling for 36 hours does not fit well. I was tired, always worrying about the baby, about family dynamics. All ended up to be ok, sort of an equilibrium.
My town had some nice Christmas decoration/activities and Marius and I walked around and enjoyed ourselves like newly weds.
Catalina did not want to get outside the house. She stayed inside and had all sorts of fun dressing up, looking in all the drawers, making fashion shows for bunica and bunicul.
Before we realized, Christmas came. Santa came again to meet Catalina and she was happy to give some quick hugs, play hostess, but waiting for her presents.
What was the biggest surprise of all? $5 Shopkins we got her just before we left. Excitement all around!!
Then it was time to say good bye to Santa, but we continued the fun.
Next day, as always we packed and left for great grandma's house. On our way, we stopped first to my aunt Lenuta's house. Catalina loved all the animals, loved meeting her second degree cousin Maya and had a good time outside. I liked seeing nice family.
And then bunica's house. Warm, traditional and unchanged. Lovely because of all the memories of times when I was too young and naive to know about problems, about conflicts.
Catalina was excited to help with some chores. She saw how a real well looks like in Romania and got to drink fresh, cold water that is so refreshing that it can actually quench the thirst. It's amazing to me how this water is the only one that I truly like.
Catalina loves her "bunica batrana", she gives her kisses and wants to help her with everything. If only it was that easy...
Little kids singing a Christmas song about the magic star and carrying hand made stars. Romanian traditions in all their might!!
New animal encounters. We fed the dogs, Catalina was quite scared.
Look, here live the chickens!
Looking at this picture there are tears in my eyes. This is the cherry tree that I climbed every summer when I was a kid. It used to be much bigger, it was very easy to climb and had absolutely awesome cherries. Even more, there was never ANY worm in those cherries. In today's era of pesticides this is not uncommon, but when you talk about organic fruit, this is indeed uncommon. This is my magic tree that I climbed better than my sister, that made me happy and confident. It's so sad to see it get old, with only few branches up high. Catalina and her sister will not be able to climb it, and my heart cries a little. I know they will have their own trees, their own gardens, but it saddens me i can't share the magic of my childhood with them.
Cheers, mommy!
5 girls in this picture, one still hiding in my belly :)
As we were leaving, we saw the most magnificent full moon shining above the village.
Good bye for now, Poiana Humei. Hoping to return soon, with one more visible girl in this picture :)
Back at my parents house we started getting ready to leave for daddy's parents. Just before, I got to meet a cousin I have not seen in a very long time. He is one of the sons of my lost and very dear aunt Tatiana. I have not seen him in over 10 years, since my aunt's funeral, I am definitely not close to him, I don't even know him. But seeing him brought a bit of my aunt back to me, I like to think she was looking at all of us and smiling a bit from that place up high, where hopefully there is no pain.
On our way back, picture op for my mom and I.
And this was the end of the first part of our vacation. We moved on to daddy's side of the family. First evening we went for a walk in the park, we were all very tired. Catalina however beat us all when she fell asleep while walking. My heart broke for her, it was the time when I realized I am not paying enough attention to her, and my mommy heart was not happy.
Mommy and daddy had some outings and had quite some fun.
No, the beer was not mine!
We visited friends from our college years and Catalina found some friends in their own daughters.
Warming up was hard in the beginning, but searching for lost toys under the couch got everybody involved :)
Visit to daddy's "bunica batrana", more animals and more outdoor time.
And then it was time for our much expected trip to the mountains to celebrate New Year. No family pressure, no stress, but still a very tiring train ride. What made it even harder, sub zero temperatures after a very balmy Christmas. Catalina was wearing her winter boots, winter hat and winter jacket for the first time. But we finally made it to Sinaia, a destination much envied by many romanians.
The hotel we picked did not disappoint. New, high end lodging and amazing food. very much to everybody's liking! First night there we had our first party! Lots of fun, dancing, drinking and romanian eating (a.k.a as lots of yummy food)
We went back to our beautiful fancy room early that night. We knew more fun is waiting for us in the coming days.
Next morning we bundled up and set ourselves for an adventure to visit one of Romania's most beautiful palaces: Peles castle.
At the entrance of our hotel Catalina had the chance to gather luck for the whole New Year. Petting a lamb on December 31st is considered very good luck, so Catalina took advantage of the occasion :)
The Peles castle is beautiful, by far the prettiest palace I have visited. While not as big as Versaille or Schoenbrunn, it shows more taste, it feels both royal and homey.
Collection of medieval guns and weapons used ONLY for display. This is what guns should be used for...
The details of the sculpted walls were impressive. Everything is done in rose, walnut (and several other kinds of) wood
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| Upset Catalina "why can't I just take pictures too?? |
The tour was very short, hurried, we'd have liked to stay a little longer inside, but everybody was getting ready for the New Year party. So, we went outside and enjoyed the brisk weather a little longer.
A little frozen of the outside, but with our hearts happy and warm we went for a nice lunch in a german restaurant.
We went back to the hotel skipping and dancing. We found some nice souvenir places and spent a good amount of money on useless, cute things.
Back in the hotel room Catalina announced us that she is not tired and she will NOT sleep. We really wanted her to have a nap so she can last as long as possible for the New Year party that was sure to be very nice. She had fun thoughts in plan and entertained us for a while :)
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| Happy New year, baby sister! |
Eventually mommy and daddy fell asleep. Tricky Catalina took her toys and played quietly for a good while. When she thought everybody is fast asleep she tiptoed, took her headphones and grabbed mommy's phone to watch some more Shopkins videos. Bad luck, the phone fell and woke up mommy who could not decide if she should be amazed at her naughty, smart kid, or be upset. I decided that amused is the better option and I was right. Happy she's not in trouble, Catalina went to bed and had a long nap.
We got dressed and headed for the party. We looked beautiful, all of us. We were so happy! I remember that feeling, that you want to just freeze the moment because everything seems so perfect. The three of us, healthy and with an amazing hope of a forth!
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| Bidirectional love |
We ate, we danced, we laughed. We partied.
And midnight came and we had champagne and counted backwards into the New Year. May 2016 bring us a new healthy baby girl, may we all stay healthy and happy.
The party ended in the morning. We were beautifully tired, somewhere in the middle of "I don't want to sleep" and "I can't keep my eyes open". The perfect way to start a New Year.
Catalina made us promise that we'll have an inside day on January 1st. I was very happy to oblige. We woke up late, watched some tv, had some snacks and waited for daddy to come back from the pool. And then, we all went to PLAY pool, have some hot chocolate and watch a magic show!
Of course the evening ended with another party. More food, more drinks, more dancing. Catalina was in love with a dancing group of girls who wore minimal clothes but truly knew how to move their bodies! Mommy and daddy were in love with Catalina and baby girl inside :)
First day of the year ended well. Again happy tired and with lots planned for the next day. We were determined to go on top of a mountain by cable car. It was cloudy and not the prettiest outside, but nothing stood in our determination. Catalina was very upset she had to wear warm pants, so many layers. She was either too hot or too cold. NOT happy. We dragged her up to the cable car station...
just to bet met by this, and a sign telling us the cable car is not running due to bad weather. Oh well...
We went back. A taxi ride of 10 minute showed us how exhausted Catalina was. She fell asleep the second we sat down and did not wake up even when we took her out in frigid cold. Daddy had to carry her up a steep hill.
Our hopes were shattered that evening. We were really kin on seeing the top of the mountain. Next day was our last day in Sinaia, but the train was not leaving until late in the evening. So we decided to give it another try. Maybe we do get to see the top of the mountain!
We woke up to a sunny day and we were able to enjoy a beautiful cable car ride. Romania is gorgeous, no doubt about it!
Catalina started in good spirits, ready for a snowball fight. It was the first snow of the season and she was excited. That ended soon enough and she started complaining that her feet are really cold, that she can't stand it anymore.
We set ourselves on a 10 minute easy walk to see some rock formations that are symbols for romanians.
"Babele" were just around the corner, but a winy girl can make them feel like a thousand miles away...
Sfinxul. 5 other minutes away. These 5 minutes were terrible. I was not able to carry Catalina, Marius had a bulky camera around his neck so he couldn't really carry her either. So endured continuous screaming and stops every 15 seconds to really check the our daughter's feet are not truly frozen like she says.
We made it back to the cable car cabin and set the complaining girl on a heater. She was content to be back in warmer conditions, but very pissed that we made her climb the mountain. Still crying/screaming, she drew attention from everybody around and a mom came to offer us to give her socks. Oh boy...some parents should just watch and mind their own kids...
The moment passed, we went back to the hotel trying the keep in memory only the good. Mommy and daddy were content they saw the top of the mountain, Catalina was content she's not freezing anymore, so we all decided to be happy with each other. And we went to a restaurant we really enjoyed last year. Funny enough, when we got there, there was no electricity, so we started the dinner at candlelight. Maybe this is what made us order too much food. That was not even that good, but we still had fun!
And this is how we ended our trip in Sinaia. We took the train back to our family's houses. I was exhausted. I was worried about the baby. Again and again. I wanted to feel her, to have a sign she is ok. That did not come until 2 days after, so I had to agonize every second thinking I got too greedy with my fun.
We were rewarded with some real snow once we were back at Roman. We took plenty advantage and made our first 2016 snowman. Catalina was excited, she made snow angels, ate snow and truly showed her Romanian genes. I could not love her more!
The rest was set aside for inside fun. Fashion shows, dressing bunicul as all sorts of scarecrows, pinching him and just enjoying dry, warm fun.
Before we knew it, we were back in the airport. Going back home, to get ready for the coming of our new flicker.
Good bye Romania, see you soon with a bigger team!
