Spring has Sprung!

Easter weekend has been fantastic!  On Friday evening, Phillip and I were out walking around, and we decided that Budapest is beginning to feel like a completely different city.  One of the most obvious signs of spring is the noticably different temperatures we have had lately.  I think it was about 75 degrees on Friday!  It is finally that time of year where the weather here is better than the weather back in Texas!  Because the weather was sooo nice, we had to get out and about.  It seemed like everyone else had the same idea as we did on Friday and Saturday because the streets were filled with cars and the sidewalks were filled with people.  Also, all of the cafes have now opened up their outdoor seating areas.  Everywhere you look there is another sidewalk cafe opening.  Of course, this even more obvious to us because we live right in the middle of the tourist center of town.  Literally 2 steps out our front door are three little outdoor restaurants that have opened for the summer.  At least this means we have somewhere close to eat when I don't feel like cooking dinner :)

There are also all kinds of street musicians out now.  Friday evening we hung out for a few minutes to watch a bongo concert.  It made me think of Bridgette...I can remember her having to play the bongos a few times in band in high school.  I don't think she enjoyed that much :)

There was another big milestone this weekend.  I was brave enough to get my hair done for the first time since arriving in Budapest.  This definitely is the longest my hair has gone without being colored since I was probably 16.  Let me tell you...my gray was showing!  I took Katie's recommendation for a salon, and it was great!  The lady that did my hair was super sweet, and she understood exactly what I wanted.  Thank goodness...her English was great. 

We also got a care package from Texas this week.  My sweet mother-in-law sent us a big box with so many good things inside, including a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper and some Reese's eggs!  Also, she sent a couple of super cute Easter decorations for us!  It all arrived just in time for Easter!! 

Here is the big heavy box!  I couldn't imagine what was in it...turns out a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper will make a box pretty heavy.

Holidays here can be pretty hard for us because as much as we miss our family on normal days, we miss them even more on holidays.  However, we ended up having a wonderful Easter Sunday.  We went to church on Sunday morning with Katie and Wilson, and then we all went and had Easter lunch at Hotel Corinthia in Budapest.  The lunch was a huge buffet filled with wonderful food!  We all ate a large lunch followed by two rounds of dessert.  Phillip said it felt like a Thanksgiving lunch.  We are so thankful that we have Katie and Wilson to share our holidays with here!  They make it feel more like home for us :)

Here is the Bowman / Matheson family Easter picture.  Not sure why it is so blurry.

Here are our husbands in their cute Easter pastels :)  As a side note, it is apparently not near as common to wear Easter colors on Easter in Hungary as it is in the U.S.  We definitely stuck out on the bus and tram on Sunday as we were all in our Easter colors.

The Easter buffet :)

And the dessert!!

Wilson's dessert plate.

And Phillip's dessert plate.

     The Bowman family :)

Our kitchen table ready for Easter.

We are looking forward to many great weekends like this one now that the warm weather is finally here!  We are also thankful we are able to celebrate Easter with friends while remembering the real reason we celebrate such a special day.