New phases...

What a whirlwind week--Agi and I & the kids are returning to Utah, looking forward to finally "nesting" in our Nephi home! After 4&half great years for TNI in SE Europe, my expat period is up. I guess I knew the day would be coming sometime, considering the typical expat for our company is abroad for only 2-3 years. We've exceeded that by almost 18 months already. We should be home around the 1st of May.

We leave Hungary with a ton of great memories, great friends, great experiences, and great pictures. We'll miss our branch dearly. As fate would have it, our branch is emptying out as well--most of the families are leaving this summer as well, so we are in good company.

I do regret having to change the name of our blog--somehow the "Nephi Palmers" doesn't have quite the ring to it as "The Budapest Palmers". But in light of our great exciting new chapter in life, we'll always still be on some level...

"The Budapest Palmers"...

Hvar business trip with the kids...

Fun fun fun. I finally took a long delayed trip to the Croatian island of Hvar to do the final site-survey and approval of our Big Fall Event. Once in a while I'll take a couple of kids with me on these trips to get them out of the house and their mother's hair, and Aidan and Ali drew the lucky straws... These pics were all taken earlier today.

Its now 9 PM and both kids are completely conked out here at the hotel room. LOOOONG 24 hours for them! This trip started last night (Friday) at 6PM, when we left Budapest for Zagreb. We got in to Zagreb after 10 and crashed at the Zagreb apartment--waking up at 4 AM for the 4 hour drive to Split, Croatia, with my Croatian Assistant Manager Jasmin (despite the stripper name, he's actually a guy and a really really cool one at that...). At 9AM from the Split Harbor we boarded the large passenger Ferry to Hvar, an awesome island with 3000 residents, and about 20,000 tourists and sun-seekers in the summer.

We arrived at 1030 AM to Hvar, disembarked, checked into the hotel, met our hosts, did a thorough review of the facilities and technical capabilities, and wrapped it all up around 330 PM. We spent the rest of the day checking out this awesome stone village that, similar to Dubrovnik and the hundreds of other picturesque locations up and down the coasts and islands of Croatia, is a millennium old. This included a HUGE hike up the side of the mountain to the old castle fortress overlooking the city and bay.

Afterwards I took the kids swimming in the hotel's indoor pool, which is really cool--crystal-clear seawater is pumped in and heated. Ali, fish that she is, did not want to come out. Two very happy kids have now crashed into bed, even before the pizza for dinner arrived.

This gives me a little time to throw these pics on the blog and finish writing up my Big Event Plan and site review. WHOOOHOO!

Enjoy!

Ali and Aidan on the Hvar Ferry...


Dad & Ali on the Ferry Deck...

The Adriatic winds and Ali's Hair...


Me & kids from the castle (after a 5000+ step hike!)


Ali after only 2000 of the 5000 steps...


Ali auditioning for "The Ring".

You know you are in a commie hospital when....

Your doctors are AWESOME -(SERIOUSLY!) but......

1. While waiting (for 4 hours) for someone to take your wife's cast off, a piece of ceiling plaster falls on your head.

2. Dinner is a rancid cup of sour cream, served with a dry piece of bread.

3. WOW! Breakfast is the same!

4. Your shared bathroom is moldier than French Cheese.

5. Nurse Ratched apprenticed here.

and finally....

6. A nurse says any of the following:
a. Just shut up. It is supposed to hurt. You are in a HOSPITAL.
b. WHO RANG THAT DAMN BUZZER AGAIN?
c. Well maybe NEXT time you'll bring your own water then , woncha...
d. AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!


Just a little entry to pass the time while waiting for Agi's cast to come off. We are back where she spent 4 fun and aexotic nights last month, and htought we'd reminisce a bit...

So far, so good. We apparently are not crazy.

One more step forward on our quest to adopt here in Hungary. Monday, Agi & met with the Agency-appointed family psychologist for a few hours. It is required of all applicants-- before any of you think that the meeting was called to counter any possible assumptions that, we as 'crazy mormons with 4 kids already' are a threat to adoptable children everywhere. Whew.

Apparently we are pretty normal--in fact, they made no bones about telling us that we are really now near the top of the list, thanks to our willingness to take a girl of Roma (gypsy) descent up to six years old. Sad fact of life in Hungary, that the vast majority of people over here are fairly prejudiced when it comes to gypsy children--even when adopting.

There are two more home visits scheduled--one for the psychologist to meet the kids, and another for the Agency to determine whether or not our home is appropriate for children. Guess I better ditch the shark-filled kiddy pool in the basement, and that sandbox of broken glass and cigarette butts that I gave the kids for Christmas. Ashton will be heartbroken.

This has all moved REALLY quickly. Where the typical wait time is 18+ months, they are frankly telling us that we will likely have our new child before summer starts. Considering we officially started 4 weeks ago, this is QUICK! Offhand the psychologist mentioned as we were leaving that at the group home where she works, she has a set of siblings consisting of a 6 year old girl and twin 5 year old boys. Hmmmmmm..... Ouch. Agi is now stabbing me in the back of the head with a fork.

We'll keep ya posted....

Happy Birthday Ali!

Ali turned 9 today. I know this because she has been reminding me for the last two months :-) She seemed to have mistaken today for Christmas, since she wanted to celebrate first thing in the morning.



She also really enjoyed the chocolate cake....


This picture has nothing to do with Ali's birthday. Just love my youngest's many faces...

The spirit of Curt Cobain lives on man! Plus these Cini-Minis are AWESOME!

In the interest of extending my life I'm supposed to throw a lengthy entry in here. Not so much because I have something particularly interesting or important to say, but because on pain of death I was told to get something on the page that would push down the picture of Agi's gnarly leg stitches. Yep. Agi says the "funny ha-ha" effect of seeing her nasti-licious leg wound has long since worn off. Now apparently its just gross and reminds her of the emails I forward on from Ed (who wins the prize for coolest forwarded emails by the way...).

Soooo. I'll put up a different picture. Like this one I took Saturday of Ali, who seemed, for an afternoon, to have channeled a new personal style straight from Seattle circa 1992. "The spirit of Curt Cobain lives on man! Plus these Cini-Minis are AWESOME!"

Stitches picture

And here is the photo...