Unfortunately my wallet was stolen while we were taking pictures. I set my purse down and we walked around a corner to take pictures and while we were gone someone came and took the wallets out of my and my aunt’s purses. So I spent the first half of the reception trying to get phone numbers to cancel my credit cards and talking to the hotel staff while trying to decide if we should call the police.

Ivan had just gotten me some food when they started doing the part where the family speaks and says good things about the couple. I think this is supposed to replace the toasts at a mormon wedding. Anyway, I was supposed to talk, but they had just asked me a couple hours before and calling credit card companies and such had both taken all the time I was going to use to think of something wonderful to say and left me really flustered and kind of adrenaline rushed, so my voice was all shaky and I was kind of a mess. Needless to say it wasn’t a good speech, but it was something, and Nathan did a better job after me so it was okay.

It was a pretty wedding. Linden looked beautiful and her husband Mike’s bishop did the ceremony. Mike’s nieces and nephews walked down the aisle and then Nathan walked my mom down the aisle, followed by Mike’s mom and Mike and then finally Linden and Dad. The Bishop talked about families and marriage being a sacred covenant. The reception was nice and Linden had a lot of friends there. She seemed happy, and that’s good.

Avery: Am I getting married?

Me: No, Aunt Linden is getting married.

Avery: Aunt Linden is getting married?

Me: Yes, but she’s getting you a little dress for the wedding.

Avery: Is it my wedding dress?

Me: No, Linden is wearing a wedding dress. You’re going to wear a dress to the wedding, but it will probably be bronze or green, or maybe white.

Avery: Linden is going to wear a wedding dress?

Me: Yep.

Avery (very excited): Is it a white floaty dress?

Me: Um, I guess so.

Avery (very excited now): Can I wear a floaty dress?

She was VERY excited about the floaty dresses. The other one was in the car on our way to LA.

Avery: Am I going to wear a floaty dress at the wedding?

Me: Yes, I think so.

Avery: It’s gonna be my wedding.

Me: No, it’s Aunt Linden’s wedding.

Avery: In a lot of days it’s going to be my wedding. And Daddy will be my husband.

Me: No, I don’t think Daddy will be your husband.

Avery: Oh. (pause) Evelyn will be my husband?

Me: No, I don’t think Evelyn can be your husband. You have to find a boy to be your husband.

Avery: Oh. You have to help me find someone to be my husband.

So now it’s in writing, I have a record and I’m gonna hold her to it that I get to help her in the husband selection.

We took Avery to an eye doctor here. We didn’t get to see the eye doctor before we left Budapest because the glasses were so late getting to us, so my grandpa found one for us to see here. He said the glasses were the wrong prescription, her left eye should only be 7 diopters and her right should be 2. He also said she may need surgery to correct her left eye because she isn’t using it at all if the right eye isn’t patched. He told us to patch the right eye every day all day and find a doctor in Dallas to see in a month.

Apparently her glasses weren’t helping her much because the prescription was so much stronger than she needed and so her left eye hasn’t gotten a whole lot better. I wasn’t very good at making her wear the patch though either. Hopefully her left eye will start to get better now that we have better lenses and we’ll be patching her eye all day instead of only a few hours and maybe we can avoid surgery.

I have a picture of Avery in her little dress from the wedding, but no cord to connect the camera to the computer, so it will have to come later.

I have to say, transatlantic flights with two little kids aren’t a picnic, but really, it could have gone much worse. The horror details would be that Evelyn threw up on the first flight (but only a little, and really, she throws up all the time) and Avery peed her pants during her nap on the second flight, but the flight attendants were really nice about it and it was much less traumatic than it could have been. We were headed into the descent at that point and I knew I only had a half an hour left anyway, and I was pretty exhausted and didn’t really have the energy to get too worked up about anything at that point. So we changed her pants, put an extra shirt between her and the seat and exited the plane a half an hour later.

The flight from Budapest to New York was about 9 and a half hours if I remember right. From New York to Dallas was another four. We were lucky to get it in two flights instead of three. We flew American Airlines. If I may at this point, I would say American is NOT my favorite airline. They weren’t awful, but not great either. They were on time though. If you’re curious, so far KLM is my favorite airline. I wouldn’t recommend LOT polish either.

Anyway, the kids were good on the first flight. We broke out the snacks and lunch and that took a half an hour. We colored, we read a book, each kid took a nap. Not at the same time, but it was the middle of the day for me so I wasn’t too tired anyway. Evelyn isn’t as good a traveller as Avery was and she fussed for ten minutes or so before falling asleep, but she did fall asleep, which is somethign Avery didn’t really do at this age.

The transfer in New York was fine too, except that I had to get all our luggage through customs all by myself with two kids. One of which doesn’t really walk very well on her own yet. So I found one of those luggage carts and put my five dollars in the stinking machine (5 dollars! for 20 minutes of use! In Europe they’re free) and just barely got all 3 suitcases, 2 carseats, one carry on and a stroller piled on it. Then I made Avery hold onto the cart and I pushed it one handed with Evelyn on my hip to the customs line.

After all that they made me actually go through customs because there were three of us and because I had brought apples for the kids to snack on. Luckily the apples were in my carry on so I grabbed them pretty quickly and we were on our way to the luggage drop off area so our bags could continue on to Dallas. While waiting in line for security I made Avery chug down the last of the water in the sippy cup we’d gotten on the last flight so they wouldn’t take the cup from us (this might have had something to do with the peeing the seat incident) and got through with plenty of time to hit the bathroom and the drinking fountain (hurray for free water!) before we had to board our next flight.

The domestic flight wasn’t quite as smooth. It was 10 at night Budapest time when that flight took off and both kids and I were pretty exhausted. We’d gotten up at 6 and naps had been short. Evelyn fussed quite a bit, but not in the full on fit way that I always dread. She wasn’t very well behaved, but it was early evening for the people on the plane, so hopefully none of them were missing their nights’ sleep. About two hours in both kids were asleep and I managed to doze a little. Avery didn’t sleep well because she was scrunched up in the seat, and about the time they announced the descent she woke up whining and said “Mommy, it’s all wetty.”  So we ran to the bathroom for a change of clothes. They didn’t have an extra seat cushion so I stuck an extra shirt under her for the descent. It was about 2 in the morning 0ur time when we got in, but we could have been much worse off.

So I have tips for flying with toddlers if anyone is interested.

1. Always pack a change of clothes for each kid and some basics for you. This helps if they lose your luggage too.

2. A nine hour flight seems really daunting, but you don’t actually have to pack nine hours of entertainment. Sometimes there are kid movies available, but even if not this kids can do fine.  They can entertain themselves for about two thirds of the time, but they need something to engage their minds every hour or two for about a half an hour. After that they have had their entertainment fix and they go back to being fascinated by the meal tray. (Disclaimer: this is true for my kids. Obviously all kids are different)

3. Snacks golden (My kids were hungry at all the times they weren’t feeding us on the plane.)

4. Stickers are almost as golden. Cut them into smaller sheets 2 or 3 inches square so they’re more managable in a tight place.

5. If you have a picky eater, bring a meal for them. Evelyn would only eat the bread from the meal trays.

6. If at all possible, only bring one carry on and pack the food and toys on top.

7. Consider bringing an empty bag in your carry on. I used mine to keep our coats together while we were on the plane and transferring, but it can be used as a trash or an extra storage bag for keeping things organized too.

8. Tylenol can be useful. We seem to get sick on flights a lot and this time the little one was teething.

9. Bring an empty sippy cup. Make sure it’s empty when you go through security and then ask a flight attendant to fill it before you take off.

10. Toys: playdough (sometime security takes it), colored pencils, etch a sketch, magnetic drawing boards, ipod touch (or smart phone with kid apps), stickers, nonadhesive window stickers (the kind you stick on the windows at Christmas and things like that), magnetic or nonmagnetic ball mazes. Most of these I’ve used, but a couple are suggestions from friends that travel a lot with toddlers.

11. Strollers can be handy, but if you’re having to do customs by yourself they can end up being an extra and bulky bag. Baby carriers can be a good alternative, but they’re awkward to put on in an airplane. The buckle kind might be better, I have a mai-tai.

She has a lot of words that she says, but most of them she only says the last sound. Thus babywipes are “ss,” orange is “ch,” etc, which means most words actually are “ss” because I pluralize things and she only picks up the s at the end. She does have some real words she says though, and her favorites are applesauce “asosauce!” and candy “tany” or “ta-ee.” She also say “I do!” and “me!” when someone asks “Do you want —-?” even if we’re not talking to her.

Evelyn has been a little excited about Avery’s patches that she wears on her eye every day. This morning Evelyn found a sticker, played with it for a minute and then stuck it on her eye and said “ch!” (patch). She’s also very excited about hair and anytime she sits on Grandma’s lap they have to have a hair discussion in which Evelyn points to Grandma’s hair and says “shush” which means hair (It comes from “brush,” she’s very excited about brushes) and they have to talk about hair for a minute and then we can move on to something else.

She’s a pretty clever little munchkin. She can get her own socks on and was trying pretty hard to get her shoes on yesterday. She also managed to strip herself down to her diaper this morning while I was in the shower.

Yesterday we found some sunglasses that Evelyn got when she was born from a friend and that we accidentally left here in Texas. Evelyn has been putting them on, usually upside down, and then running around the house poking everyone on the leg and saying “me!” until they notice her and tell her how nice her sunglasses are.

I took Evelyn for her 18 month check up just before Thanksgiving. She weighs 9050 grams and is 71 cm long. I think she’s still pretty small.

“Mom! it’s winding!” pronounced with a short i in winding and meaning the wind is blowing. It’s also a transitive verb: “Mom! My hat is going to wind away!”

“Sure, I can have…” as in “Sure, I can have a toy box like that.” after seeing a toy box she likes on TV. Or “Sure, I can have long hair to the ground like Rapunzel.” What she really means to say is “Mom, I want that.”

Avery’s latest favorite thing is to have me tell her stories about how Abby, Zoe, and Rosita from Sesame Street visit her at her house. Usually the stories have to involve a tea party, dancing, or going to church. She loves for me to tell her about how Abby, Zoe, and Rosita come to nursery with her.

The apple doesn't appear as big in the picture as it did in real life.

Avery really likes to wear dresses, which is a problem now that it’s cold outside. We have a fight every morning when it’s time to get dressed. One day I let her wear her thin and sleeveless little summer dress and threw her out on the balcony to play until she got cold enough to want to come in. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite cold enough out (It was probably 50 degrees or so) and she played for a good half an hour before I made her come in. I’m a little surprised no one yelled at me for doing it. Hungarians are very sensitive about children getting cold outside.

We found a hand-me-down winter dress that I will let her wear inside with tights now, but it’s gotten quite cold outside the last week or so, so I think it’s pants and maybe leggings underneath them until we’re somewhere warmer. She asks to wear the Winter dress everyday. Sometimes three times a day.

Avery has mostly given up naps at this point. She still takes one maybe once a week or ten days, but she’s typically up all day. She likes to watch movies while Evelyn takes naps. Or paint. She was really excited about finger painting for about a week and a half this month.

Avery is very into High School lately.  I think she got this vague idea of something called “High School” from a friend who has older sisters approaching High School age.  Now everything cool happens in High School and sometimes random stories begin with “When I was in High School.”  My favorite one so far is “I play with ponies in my High School.”  She meant “My Little Ponies”, not the real life kind which might be acceptable in High School.

Note: Rachel started this but had to get on an airplane before she put pictures with it.  So I thought I (Ivan) would finish it for her since all the pictures stayed with me.  So if it doesn’t end well, blame me.

For starters we had thanksgiving dinner tonight. My lovely wife cooked a 2 (two) pound turkey, stuffing, squash, her patented garlicy mashed potatoes and the ever lovely berry pie. Of the turkey we have exactly one breast left. Of the mashed potatoes we have a multitude, but I have a feeling they won’t last long.

Here's a picture of everything except for the pie. Oops.

The kids were delightful today. I don’t have prostate cancer. It’s movie night for Mommy and Daddy. And of course many other things too numerous to count.

Probably the best thing about today, or at least the most unexpected good thing, was that I was able to help a fellow student. I had offered to help her with some LaTeX problems she was having. There were tons of errors in the file she sent me and I couldn’t help thinking to myself that she wasn’t very good at LaTeX. As proof that you shouldn’t judge (and should always backup), I found out that her hard drive had crashed and the specialist had only been able to recover the pdf files (he didn’t speak English, nor she Hungarian, so perhaps there was more that could have been done but it’s too late for that now). Her earlier latex files were all missing. So she had copied and pasted all the text into a new file and was going through trying to make it all work again. She said she wasn’t too worried about the text (since she could copy/paste), but she had some large derivation diagrams or something like that. She’s studying philosophy and doing her thesis in logic of temporal what-sa-ma-hu-sit.

On a lark I asked if she still had the recovered files and she said yes. I did a quick grep and noticed that there were some files, “jpeg”s and “mp4″s mostly, that contained at least parts of her old latex files. So then I collected all the files that looked promising and ran strings on them to collect all the text into one big file. It was still working on that when I had to leave (there were about 50,000 files with LaTeX-looking parts and it was over 1 GB when I left). Of course the majority of that file is junk. I then gave her some instructions on how to proceed. Namely to run split -p to break it into smaller files containing (hopefully) either all junk or all useful information. Then she’ll use some bash and grep to delete all trash files leaving her with only her old latex files. Hopefully there won’t be too many duplicates.  If it had finished before I left I might have tried to use diff to eliminate duplicates.

Just in case your hard drive ever crashes and your latex files weren’t recovered properly, here’s what to do. First open a terminal. If you don’t know how to do this please do not follow the instructions here. Get your nephew to help you or something. :-) Please note that I am typing these from memory and haven’t actually tested them. If you don’t know what you are doing please simply read for your own enlightenment.

1. cd /path/to/where/recovered/files/are
2. grep -lr -e 'usepackage' * > ~/interestingfiles.txt
• This looks for files which have the usepackage in them. This is something that all but the simplest latex files have. It saves the names in a file for later.
3. export IFS=$'\n'
4. for f in $(cat ~/interestingfiles.txt) do strings "$f" >> ~/strings.txt; done
• This runs strings on each of the interesting files. Note that we need to set the Internal Field Separator to just a newline otherwise file names with spaces will cause problems.
5. mkdir recovered
6. split -a 100 -p '(begin|end){document}' ~/strings.txt ~/recovered/possible.
• Here we split the file into smaller files at begin{document} or end{document}. Since this is how latex files begin and end we are hopefully separating the wheat from the chaff.  Note that we need to set the suffix length (-a) big enough to accommodate the potentially thousands of output files.  100 is almost certainly overkill, but hey, who cares.
7. for f in ~/recovered/possible.*; do grep -E 'usepackage' "$f" || rm -i "$f"; done
• We delete any of the newly split files which don’t have usepackage in them. They are almost certainly full of junk.

Note that the last step is potentially destructive so I added -i to the rm command, which will prompt you before deleting any of the thousands of files and hence be very annoying. After you have verified that everything is working properly you may remove the -i. Of course recovering other types of files will require changing the regular expressions used. That is left as an exercise to the reader, or at least it’s left until you actually have to do it.

It’s nice to be able to help someone who has really had a bad accident, and it’s nice to know that my computer skills aren’t completely useless now that I no longer work for Omniture.

She’s very happy with them. After all they are purple and that’s her favorite color. It’s a little weird seeing one eye so much larger than the other, so I hope it will improve with time. It seems like there should be something they could do, and maybe there was and I just didn’t know how to ask for it in Hungarian.

Here she is dancing with joy.

Visegrad castle from the Danube

The castle itself has been reconstructed and has a few exhibits: one is about weapons of the time and the other covers the hunt and how important it was. I particularly liked the hunting exhibit and the coats of arms. Someday I will have someone talented design a coat of arms for me, but I don’t know what would appear on it.

Avery loved running around the ruins but her favorite part, and Evelyn’s too, was the crow’s cage. Unfotunately, they didn’t have a way to lift it off the ground or we would have gotten the full effect. I couldn’t stop thinking “Ma-a-a-a-d-ma-a-a-artigan” to myself. I should get one for the kids. It would be a great place to send them for time out.

Polish Pottery is distinct because it’s made from clay in the region near Bolesławiec, which is where most of the shops that sell the pottery are. The designs are really pretty and unique. It was a little overwhelming at first, but really fun.

We stayed at Klicków Castle a few miles from Bolesławiec. They have better pictures on their website. I couldn’t get the whole thing. It was chilly, but really pretty. There was ivy on the inside that was turning orange and red and it was really a beautiful hotel.

The view out our window had trees and out the hall window was this really interesting metal thing sticking out of the wall.

We got to the hotel around 8:30 at night, ate dinner and headed to bed pretty quickly so we could start early the next morning. We got going around 8:00 and headed for Bolesławiec to go shopping. The shops were packed with pottery. Some of them are a room in a smallish house with pottery on shelves. The first one we went to was a room in the back with women painting, a hall where you check out and this room packed with pottery. The factory stores were bigger.

We went on a tour of a factory and watched them throw the clay. We got to see the ovens they use and the people shaping and painting the pots.  They let us touch some stone pallet-like things they put pots on to fire them. They had been out of the oven for a full 24 hours and were still warm.

The paint looks light purple before they fire it, but turns deep blue in the oven. The far left pieces have not been fired, while the right-most container and lid are finished pieces. You can see the color change.

My favorite design was this one I think, although I got a mug with ladybugs that I really like too.

And finally, all my stuff (with the exception of the ladybug mug and two spoons I got for the kids which I forgot to put in). I also got some gifts, but as their recipients have not received them yet, I will not be showing pictures of them online.

An additional perk to the trip was that we drove through a lot of Europe to get there. It was an 8 hour drive through 5 countries and I had an interesting experience of buying myself lunch at a gas station in the Czech Republic without even knowing the exchange rate or the name of the currency there. I thought to check the Polish currency, but not all the ones we’d be driving through in between! For those of you that are nervous for me, the sandwich was only $3 or so, and Europe has some pretty countryside.

Note: Please feel free to comment on facebook for those of you who read on facebook, but I would like to put the facebook comments on the blog so that I can have them all in one place. If you’d rather I not do this to your comment, that’s fine, just say so in the comment and I’ll remember it another way.