For Nagypapa

Yesterday, August 26, 2008, Nagypapa passed away. Just one week earlier, he celebrated his 85th birthday with the majority of his family there to commemorate the occasion. Before his birthday celebration, he was told that he had cancer in his spine, and it was later detected that he had masses on his lungs as well. On Saturday, he was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. My Dad was there by his side through it all, and I am so thankful that Nagypapa did not appear to be in any pain when he died. Although I am very sad that I won't see him again in this life, it is very comforting to know that not only is he in Heaven, but that he is now reunited with his loving wife.

Nagypapa was an amazing, strong and proud man, who sacrificed so much for the sake of his family. In 1956, he and Nagymama fled from Hungary with their four young children. My Dad was only about 14 months old at the time. He left because the country was being taken over by Communists. It's an amazing story, really, one that I am proud to tell everyone. My Uncle Lou, who was the oldest at the time, described it best in an article for his local newspaper commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution. He wrote: " So, 200,000 people- my family among them- began to make their way towards the Austrian border. My parents bundled up four children -ages 15 months to 10 years- and headed out on foot towards the border, a trip of some 200 plus miles. Where ever we could we hitched rides on trucks headed for the border, rode some buses and trains going in our direction. If no transport was available, we walked. The trip took about three days. Getting lodging for the two nights was an experience We knocked on doors to see who had room and would take in a family of six. Luckily, there were two homes that made us welcome. The head of the household which took us in the second night knew where to cross the border. He had a tractor and a flat-bed. When it came time to leave, he had us lie on the flat-bed and covered us with hay and took us...a few kilometers from Austria. On Nov. 13, 1956, we crossed the border on foot." Uncle Lou goes on to write: "The next three weeks were spent in refugee camps throughout the Austrian countryside. During our last week in Austria, we were housed in a church facility in Vienna. Mom and Dad spent most of the day in lines along with thousands of others seeking exit visas to the United States or some other western countries. On Dec. 10, nearly a month after we left Budapest, we were placed aboard a U. S. military flight headed across the Atlantic." They landed at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. There, they eventually made contact with a man of German-Hungarian ancestry, who was living in Southern California. He made a few phone calls and arranged for his church in SoCal to sponsor the Banas family to California. So on December 13, 1956, they arrived in Southern California, where it was reported they were the first Hungarian refugees to arrive in L.A. Nagypapa was even interviewed for the newspaper, radio, and was even on T.V. And the rest is pretty much history.

The Banas family in Southern California. My Dad is the baby being held by Nagymama.

My Dad, Nagypapa, and Uncle Lou, in Budapest, Hungary, October 2006 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution

This was the last time we saw Nagypapa... Christmas 2004. Kami was only four months old.

Nagypapa holding his newest Great-Grandbaby.

Thank you so much Nagypapa, for all the sacrifices you made to protect yourself and your family. I will forever be grateful. I love you with all my heart. You will be greatly missed. Rest in peace.

First Day of School!

Well, the 2008-2009 School Year has officially started! We had our "Open House" night last Thursday, and we got to meet each of the kids teachers. I requested both of the kids teacher's this year, and thankfully got my requests. Madison's teacher was actually her student teacher for part of her 3rd grade year. And now she has her own class! Mrs. Pittman has actually known Madi since Kindergarten, since she was a Kindergarten assisstant at the time. So it's kind of neat for her to actually be her teacher now. I'm very excited about 4th grade for Madi, and I think it's going to be a great year for her!


Caiden on the other hand, had me a little worried. Even though I requested his teacher (at the suggestion of his 1st grade teacher), this is the first year that he has not known his teacher ahead of time. So we went into the Open House night a little more blind than usual. But I got a wonderful first impression that night. Caiden, on the other hand, didn't know quite what to think....
So naturally, I was a little concerned this morning, especially since he's been begging to be home-schooled for the past few weeks. But he asked me to walk him to class, so I did. Now for those of you that don't know Caiden... although he is very much "boy", he is also very sensitive and shy, and a pretty big "Momma's boy". He has ALWAYS hated being separated from me. And walking him to class only makes it worse... so my rule is that I'll only do it if he asks. My only hope was that his best friend, Declan (who's also in his class), would beat us to school and already be waiting for Caiden. Well, we beat Declan, but we saw that one of his good buddies that was in his Kindergarten class was now in his 2nd grade class. So that put a smile on his face. Declan arrived shortly after we did and sat down next to Caiden, and I was so proud of him! This was the first time that he hasn't cried on the first day of school! Here he is looking a little nervous...

Both kids came home all smiles and they both LOVE their teacher! And of course they came home with tons of homework... FOR ME!!!! I have to admit, that I hate the first day of school for that reason... I swear I sign my name more times on this one day then I do for an entire year! Oh well, at least for now the kids are happy. Here's to a GREAT 08/09 School Year!!!!

To be continued....

So I am still on Week 1!!! And I apologize that you are going to have to read it from the bottom to top, but I can't figure out how else to do it! So find the post titled "California Adventures, Week 1" and start there! However, laundry and dinner time prep are calling me.... so I guess you'll just have to stay tuned!!! Hopefully I can finish Week 1 tonight, but it is our very first school night of the new 2008-2009 School Year... so we'll see! Hard to believe that Madi and Caiden are going into 4th and 2nd grades.... they used to be so little! Here they are, each on their first day of Kindergarten (2004 & 2006, respectively)!




Hard to believe that this will be Kamrynn in just one VERY short year!!!! New 2008-2009 First Day of School pictures will be appearing on our blog VERY soon!!!

But anyways... keep checking back for more CA trip updates! I'll have to admit that this is taking way longer than I intended. I'm sure it doesn't help that between my Dad, a camera I gave the kids, and myself, we took over 1,000 pictures during our vacation!!!

The REAL Miniature Golf!

Tyler and I have wanted to take the kids Miniature Golfing for forever, now, but all the places they have here in NC are soooo generic and rinky-dink, compared with what we grew up with. So we jumped at the chance to take the whole crew to a REAL mini-golf course!

We went the day after Madi's birthday, so I loaded up on Advil (remember... still sick), loaded up the two vehicles with all NINE of us, and headed to Golfland/Sunsplash. Although we had a blast, let me just say that trying to play mini-golf with a group of nine makes for a VERY interesting experience!

The whole gang!

Tyler helping Kami

Taking a break

Attempting the loop-de-loop

Caiden in front of the Castle hole.

Madi winding up.

Tyler and Caiden retrieving a lost ball

After mini-golf, we took our first of two trips to In-N-Out Burger. The second trip was necessary since I was not feeling so hot this first time around and I was barely able to eat anything. I managed to eat some tasty french fries, and a couple bites of burger. The second trip a couple weeks later was MUCH tastier!!!

The boys

The girls... and Kayleb!

Miss Madi is 9!!!!!

I managed to (barely) make it through Miss Madi's 9th birthday! That was the biggest event that took place during Week 1. Oh yeah, and my Grandma and Grandpa drove up from SoCal to spend the weekend with us as well. We started off Madi's birthday weekend with an All-Girls (plus Kayleb) shopping trip on Saturday. Madi and I hit the jackpot at her new favorite store, Limited, Too. Then on Sunday, Madi's REAL birthday, my sister, Stacey, told us about this really cool place called John's Incredible Pizza Place (or something like that), that was similar to Chuck E. Cheese, but WAY better. So we decided to go there to celebrate Madi's big day. Let me just tell you, this place was like Chuck E. Cheese on steroids! Talk about sensory overload!!!! They had this HUGE pizza, pasta, salad, dessert, etc. buffet, with at least 3 or 4 different themed dining rooms. And then they had the MASSIVE game room! They even had some carnival-esque rides.. mini-roller coaster, bumper cars, etc. We had a blast! It was a great way to start off her birthday.

Standing out front!

The whole gang enjoying our buffet lunch

Getting ready to ride "The Hopper"

And then stopping the ride soon after the start, so that Kami could get off! She did NOT like this ride!

Madi & Caiden getting ready to ride the roller coaster

The gang playing "Deal or No Deal"

Kayleb and "Uncle"

After John's Incredible Pizza, we headed home for presents cake and ice cream. We went a little crazy with the cake and ordered a big one from Costco. I think Mom and Dad might just STILL have some cake left in their fridge. The cake was HUGE, but very tasty, though!
New smell good lotion!

Disney Scene It

Madi and her 9th birthday cake!

Make a wish!

California Adventures, Week 1

Okay, so as promised here is a post and pictures from our trip to Cali! I figured I'd better get this thing started before school starts tomorrow, because once school starts, I'm sure I'll have all kinds of new pictures and updates to post!

So I'll basically summarize Week 1 by saying how CRAPPY it was... at least for me. Thanks to the wonderful docs at the base clinic here who neglected to call me and get my prescriptions put in before I left... I spent the ENTIRE first week of our trip sick with fever, chills, nausea, back pain, etc. due to a major UTI. I was MISERABLE, and only survived because of my new best friend... Advil! Once I finally got a hold of the clinic and begged a very nice Airman to please give me my results because I'd been sick for the last week, they faxed my prescription to a local pharmacy and I was able to get my meds. Needless to say, I was NOT very happy. Here's Kami & I... excited to get to California!

Happy (belated) 2nd Birthday, Kayleb!!!!

Okay, so before I jump into our CA adventure posts, I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my favorite (and only) nephew, Kayleb!!!!



We had so much fun with you, buddy, during our trip to CA!!! Thanks for letting the five of us (especially Madi and Caiden) invade your space for as long as we did! Now it's your turn to come out and see us! We love you, little guy!

Home, sweet home?!?

Well, we're back! It has definitely taken some time to adjust. I'll admit that I never intended it to take me TWO weeks to post an update and pictures, but what can you do!

We had a WONDERFUL time back home in California... in fact it was so good, that no one wanted to come "home". Hence, the title of the blog! Tyler was a little concerned that three weeks was going to be entirely too long (especially living in my parents' house with a total of 9 people!), but it was just the opposite. We really could've stayed there (well not necessarily in my parents' house, but definitely our own place) FOREVER!!!!! We've been away for so long, that Tyler and I both forgot how much we LOVE Sacramento, and especially the surrounding area (i.e. Lake Tahoe). But more on that later!

I have so many stories and pictures to post that catching y'all up might actually take another two weeks! I think instead of doing a majorly long post with a gazillion pictures and boring everyone, I'll try to do it a little at a time. So bear (bare?) with me, and keep checking back frequently to see pics of our amazing California adventure!