Family Time

It was absolutely wonderful having my mom and aunt here. We spent lots of time hanging out with the kids, visiting, shopping, and sightseeing. We took the kids to Sighisoara on Monday, May 1 and walked around and saw old churches and buildings and the museum. We climbed up (if I remember correctly) 279 stairs to see a church and explored a cemetary, looking for familiar names. On Tuesday Bethany, my mom, Aunt Kim and I set off towards Brasov. We hung out in the center that night and saw the Black Church and ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken (mmmm, corn on the cob). The next morning we got up and drove (after being lost for a good 1/2 hour) towards the village of Bran and Bran Castle (legend makes it a part of the dracula story, but it's really not). After visiting the castle, we did a little shopping with a very friendly woman. We were at her booth for probably 30 minutes so decided to take a picture. After Bran we headed towards Sanaia and Peles Palace. We took a less-populated road through the mountains and enjoyed driving a little slower and seeing shepherds with their sheep. We had a little run in with a sheep dog when Kim and Bethany got out of the car to take some pictures. We arrived at Peles and parked the car and started our uphill hike, but it was worth it, as the palace was magnificant. We ate at a hotel restaurant down the hill and then headed home.

We were also able to visit the baby hospital and Patelea (I can't remember if I have blogged about the family in this village, I'll get back to you on that one). Saturday morning we took Simona, Maria, Cornel, Daniel and Claudia Kalanyos home for a visit with their family. That afternoon we celebrated Zorro's birthday (next blog). Here the girls are all playing/watching a video game that Becky brought over for the day. Mom jumped in for a picture, but they weren't really excited to be in one this time.