Photo Shoot

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

in Herastrau Park . . .

. . . in Kiseleff Park . . .

. . . at the dentist . . .

and at the apartment (that's our front terrace . . . we moved last week to the bigger apartment).

Karate Kimonos

The kimonos finally arrived. Don't they look serious in their outfits?

La Multi Ani Charlotte!

Happy Birthday sweet baby Charlotte!
Her birthday dress is compliments of Mayoral, a very cute children's line from Spain. . . (I really need a sewing machine.)

Dr. Dana says: self-feeding exclusively!

Big girl loves all the fuss!

Baking here is no fun. The granulated and powdered sugars are much coarser here. Yes, even the "powdered" sugar has a slight grain to it. Ugh. So I did the best I could with what I had, but
I don't think I'll repeat the endeavor. Charlotte didn't seem to mind, though.

Mos Nicholae

December 6 is St. Nicholas day when the children in Romania leave their clean boots out for St. Nicholas to fill with small surprises. This weekend we checked out the festival at the Romanian Country Museum and purchased some traditional crafts and treats.

Mos Nicolae catches Ava pouting . . . uh oh.

My kind of candy shop.

Mommy and her vintage linens.

Masks of characters from folklore stories.

"Gingerbread" cookies.

Charlotte can't wait.

Poiana Brasov

For the long weekend leading up to National Day, we went with some friends from Kindergarten to the mountains of Poiana Brasov. Elena, the founder of the Kindergarten, has been coming here for years and was very excited to share it with us.

After taking the cable car up the mountain, we hiked in to Cabana Postavaru, the quaint cabin hotel and restaurant that was originally founded by Germans. Formerly, there had been a large German population in this area.

Cabana Postavaru has been expanded since the first cabin was built. The views are wonderful from the terraces.

Arriving at the cabin at sunset. It was cold!

Beautiful.

Ava and Antonia share dinner.

Some traditional tunes after dinner.

A dusting of snow in the morning.

Time for a cocoa break.

Mommy enjoys the dining room with its painted and carved woodwork.

Trying to get a shot of the three sisters.

Enoying the Christmas trees in the main square of Brasov on our way back to Bucharest.

National Day

La multi ani Romania! Today was the big national holiday celebrating the unification of the states that form modern day Romania.

The parade through the arc de triumph featured various military units and vehicles. My favorite part was the firing of the cannons during the national anthem.

Later on we celebrated by making pie crust cookies with the leftover dough from Thanksgiving.

There is one thing I don't like about California (well, maybe only half-a-thing) and that is the trouble of buying dragees (those pretty, tiny, shiny balls for decorating cookies, etc.). So I went a little crazy when I saw them at the grocery store here and bought a bunch of packages back in September. Ava covered her Christmas tree cookie with a variety in sparkling pastel hues. It was a very satisfying moment.