lake balaton

On my birthday, we went down to Lake Balaton for the day. We didn't go because it was my birthday but just because we wanted to go down this summer, and this day worked out for everyone. They have English camps that run through the month of July in the town of Keszthely, on the southwest tip of the lake. It's less than a two hour drive from here (and less than an hour away from the borders to either Slovenia or Croatia, which I am dying to see). Julie and her family lead these English camps every summer, and a bunch of high schoolers from ICSB were counselors. So we went to see everyone.

And I have to say that I think it was one of the hottest, most humid days ever. EVER.

We met up with the three high school kids and Julie and her kids and walked to lunch at a local pizza shop. We went there last year on the way home from the ICSB staff retreat, so we knew it was pretty decent pizza at a really cheap price. :)

They have a play area for kids. Seth, Jasper, and Eli played more than ate, but that's okay. Not a good close up of Seth, but he was dripping wet with sweat after being outside for maybe four minutes.


Seth and Jasper became fast buddies. Jasper is 4 months older than Seth. They've played together before and are in Sunday School together, but this was the best time for them by far now that they're older. They enjoyed playing in this pond while we ate lunch outside.


After lunch we walked to the beach to go swimming. Kevin and I were so busy with both kids that I didn't get to take any pictures there. We stayed in the water as much as possible. I felt like my skin was melting because it was so hot. I was so worried about trying to protect Kate from the sun as much as possible. She was amazing! She even took a couple cat naps in the stroller in the heat under the shade.

Upon leaving the water, I had to take a picture of the "Exit" sign for my dad. When they visited two summers ago and we went to Vienna and Prague, he loved to "pronounce" it in Hungarian (the top word, German is on the bottom).


Walking back to the dorm where the English camp was, Seth and Jasper held hands. It was adorable.


Eli joined in too. So precious. :)



Later that night they had a cookout with burgers and a big carnival with lots of games. Here is Janie getting pied in the face at the carnival. Janie will be a senior at ICSB this year.


Seth decided to wander off in search of some alone time. He sat down and talked with Taylor for a bit. It was so cute to watch him chatting. Taylor just graduated from ICSB.


And after Taylor left, Seth told me he wanted to be alone and not talk. He sat watching some kids playing in a field while eating popcorn from the carnival. His hair is wet and sticking up from sweat at 7 p.m.


I convinced Seth to wander back to the carnival. I just missed getting a picture of Taylor getting pied, but at least I got an after shot. I completely missed Patrik (who also just graduated) getting pied.


It was now officially past Kate's bedtime, but she was as happy as could be. You can see how talkative she was. :)


The carnival finished and turned into a giant dance party. The Hungarian kids LOVE these English camps. They are a huge blessing, and many students accepted Christ this year. Janie told me at lunch that she personally was able to lead three girls to Christ the day before we got there! Awesome. :)


Temperatures still in the 90's around 8 p.m. Seth was still dripping with sweat, and he wasn't even running around then. He drank the half liter of water in minutes.


He later ran off into a field to run around by himself, and then Jasper saw him and ran down, too. They played together in the empty field until we left to go home. They were so adorable together!


Both kids fell asleep within minutes on the car ride home and stayed asleep until the next morning. The car we are borrowing this year has air conditioning (HUGE blessing!), so I thoroughly enjoyed the car ride back.

It was a fantastic day at the lake. We had fun hanging out with the Anderson's, the ICSB students, and everyone else there. Our kids were amazing and happy the whole time, even though they missed out on naps and were always hot and sweaty. No complaints. And swimming allowed us to cool down for a bit. Never been so grateful for swimming in my entire life. Good day. :)