Romania- Bucharest Life

We are getting pretty close to our three month mark of our six month adventure here in Romania! It's crazy how time flies but it's also incredible how many wonderful adventures we have had in that time! As well as our travels around Europe, we have also had a wonderful time exploring Bucharest.

One of our first weekends here, we went to Old Town and saw the opera house.

As well as the other beautiful, old buildings.

We also met up with some colleagues and their families.  It was a fun treat to get to know them.

We hang out around our apartment on some days.  We have a washer but no dryer as seen through the window.  Our dryer is probably my most missed appliance.

Twirling is a regular occurrence at our house.

We got to enjoy Lilac season and it was wonderful!

For "preschool" Laila and I learn about the flags of the country we are going to visit and a few of the words they say in their language.  She is so smart! She can recognize and list all of them! I cannot wait to watch the olympics this summer so she can see all the flags!

"Look, Mom! I'm the Statue of Liberty" Haha!

Love when the bum is in the air sleeping position!

We love exploring the MANY different playgrounds that Bucharest has to offer. This one is Tineretului.

We went with the sister missionaries one morning to visit sweet, Sora Gorzo.  She is a widow who treats the missionaries serving in Romania as her children- including my sister, Annie and her husband, Victor.  We really enjoyed our visit.  Laila picked out some flowers for her and sang her some songs.  Harrison tossed a ball with her.  It was a special visit for us.

That's Laila at the top of "the really big slide!"  Herastrau park is just two metro stops away from us so we like to go there often.

These two are really starting to have one of the sweetest relationships I could ever imagine.

One of our weekends here, we explored Mogosoaia Palace here in Bucharest.  It's one palace that didn't get torn during communism reign.  The brick work was so beautiful.  The gardens and adjoining park made it breathtaking. 

These explorers LOVE hedge "mazes."

When Melanie was in town, we also checked off a lot from our Bucharest to do list- including the Village Museum.  It's a beautiful, outdoor museum that has a variety of houses and buildings you would see in Romania countryside and throughout history.  It was like a fairytale.

We also took Mel to Old Town and walked some of the amazing cobble stone streets and beautiful buildings.

^ Such a fun bookstore in a really cool building 

^We met Michael for lunch at the iconic Cara Cu Bere for lunch one day.  We had an authentic Romanian meal which was fun, but the building was just incredible!

We've had the opportunity to have a few missionaries over for dinner while we've been here.  It's been a fun tradition to take our picture with them and send it to their families.  They are working so hard to serve the Romanian people, it's been great to have them in our home- especially on nights where Michael is having to work late.  It's nice to have some English conversations! ;)

Another favorite pastime of ours is eating ice cream!

We randomly decided to take Melanie to see the Arcul de Triumf one afternoon and I'm so glad we did!  On our way out of the park, there was an awesome children's festival that was free (as far as I could tell...) 

Laila loved the jumpy jumpy.

Harrison loved driving the race car on the carousel.

She was absolutely delighted to ride on a pony!

Seriously, look how cool!  It was also awesome to try and watch these kids stay standing in these orbs! Haha!

The Arch was pretty too.... ;)

Another AMAZING benefit to having Mel Mel here with us, was that she let me and Michael actually go on a date! A date! Just the two of us! Let's just say it was LONG overdue and very much appreciated.

One Sunday, on our way to church, we came out of the metro at one of the busiest intersections in the city to find it completely empty. So of course we took a selfie in the middle of it.  We found out there was a race that was starting at the Parliament Palace so that's why everything was closed off to traffic. 

The starting line (and the finish line) and Parliament Palace.

Overall, it's been a great opportunity for us to be in Bucharest.  We've enjoyed learning about the city, the culture, and the people.  But, most of all, our little family is enjoying this time together.