February arrivals

February 8 was a big day this year. Krisztina and Scott’s daughter Réka was born, and one hour 20 minutes later, and about 2500 miles away, Gyula and Colleen’s son Maddox made his arrival.

Erika spent the beginning of the year in California – first in San Diego with mother and sisters, and then Monterey with Krisztina’s family before and after the birth of baby number 4. Missing February in Chicago wasn’t too much of a hardship. After returning home, she accelerated the progress on her Master’s degree (Master of Education: Adult Education and Distance Learning) in order to finish before her next trip. At the beginning of August, along with her sister, Zsuzsa, Erika took a cruise down the Danube River, from Vienna to the Black Sea. http://faculty.ccc.edu/enadas/travels.htm has description and pictures. Upon her return, it was back to teaching, a job she loves.

Gyuszi/Julius bought a new Harley Davidson motorcycle this year, a 1200cc Sportster Custom, which is truly a lovely bike. He turned 60 this year, and is sometimes frustrated by the body not being up to what he wants to do. However, any time he is feeling stressed or depressed, all he needs is a good motorcycle ride and he is all smiles. School is keeping him busy – I wonder if there are any committees that he does not participate in, often in charge. And of course, there are all the Web-sites that he controls. Never a dull moment.

The seven dwarfs

Zsolt, Tas, Krisztina and Gyula 1

Krisztina and Scott have their hands full with family and career. Scott finishes his master’s degree at the Naval Post-graduate School this December, in Engineering Acoustics. Then it is on to Officer’s Advanced training, in Connecticut, and then out to sea sometime next year. Krisztina is home-schooling her kids. The two big boys (Zoltán, 6, and Sándor, 5) are each a year ahead of their grade level in math, and both are reading in two languages. Both boys now drive, although only Zoli has raced (with good skill and reasonable success). We hope to see Sanyi’s first race on New Year’s day. József, 2, is a complete handful and can be relied on to get into some kind of trouble on a regular basis. Réka is fussy, possibly colicky, and demands a lot of attention – she is a girl after all – but is also very charming.

Gyula/Jay’s year was eventful. First he was assigned to open a new Walgreen’s pharmacy – just about the time the new baby arrived (see above). He had hardly done that when his dream opportunity as a business analyst opened in the corporate office. He was accepted and suddenly had a huge commute. Ultimately, this meant pulling up his roots from Aurora, and moving. In August, they bought a lovely house in a new sub-division in Wauconda. This made working normal business hours possible.

Peyton, 8, started a new school and has adjusted beautifully. Colleen and Gyula have worked hard to make the house a home. Xander seems to have made the move with no problems, and Maddox is happily crawling around. Xander is quite verbal for his age, 2.5, and understands everything spoken to him in Hungarian. His spoken words are mostly English, though. We will continue to support Gyula’s effort in making his children (and maybe even his wife!) bilingual.

Scott starting Zoltan

Erika and Zsuzsa in Bulgaria

Zsolt is actively looking for a condo – and waiting for the over-building to translate into lower prices. He is yet another to finish a master’s degree this year – his in Information Technology. Zsolt is very busy with the Hungarian scout troop – as scoutmaster. In addition, he dances with the performing folk-dance troupe. He spends what spare time he has with his girlfriend, so he is never at loose ends. He is a delight to have around the house, giving Erika someone to cook for and someone to watch football with. Ping-pong battles with Erika rage regularly and either one will play hard with Gyuszi as well. Good fun and some exercise as well.

Tas (19) is still at Case University, in his third year, as an English major. Hungarian activities and working for the Cleveland Clinic doing database programming for the last two years, part-time and summers has kept him busy when not studying. He envisions the future as one in which he works as a “techie” and writes in his spare time. Time will tell.

May the joy of the season grow into peaceful contentment for the coming year!

The Harley and its rider