Hockey Fever!-Woche 24

This week seemed like a whirlwind!  It seemed there was not enough time in the day.  I'm sure that's the first time that's been said! 



Hockey camp started out first thing Monday morning.  I was prepped and prepared to drive the kids to St. Polten.  It took us about an hour and 15  minutes to get there.  We got the kids all signed in and Deagan's group was first up on the ice.  I helped him get dressed, and sent him out on the ice.  He hadn't been on the ice in several months, so I was unsure of what to expect.  There was a step down onto the ice from the box door, and Deagan tackled it like a pro.  He jumped down the stair and landed perfectly.  Then immediately lost his balance and fell.  Well, at least his first fall was already out of the way and he could move on.  As it turned out, Deagan was probably the youngest and for sure the smallest player at the camp.  He did really well even though the instruction was in German and most of it was far too difficult for someone his age.  He skated around the ice as fast as he could and tried to do all the drills that he was supposed to.  He worked hard and played harder!  Dane too, did really well.  He worked so hard that by the end of the week, he was completely exhausted and every muscle in his body was sore.  After watching so many hockey games and practices, you get to recognize your own kid on the ice despite all the gear, helmets, and glass in the way.  You no longer have to look for their number, you can just recognize them by the way they skate, hold their body, and play.  There was so much improvement by the end of the week, that after watching the last scrimmage, and noticing one player that looked really good and even scored a goal just as the whistle blew, I had to double take when I realized that it was Dane.  I hardly recognized him!

The drive home the first night went really well, until the GPS told me that she altered my route because of traffic congestion.  I went with her on that one.  She told me to turn left at a light.  I did.  Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed red sign with a white line through it.  It means do not enter.  I was going the wrong way down a one-way road!  Now, I couldn't curse the GPS too much, as it was only recently a one-way due to construction.  There was a car coming the other direction, however.  I pulled over as much as I could, and braced for the worst.  Then a miracle happened.  The other car just flashed his lights at me.  There wasn't a single honk.  No yelling.  I couldn't believe it!!  I promptly turned the car around, and made my way home on a different route.

Dan surprised me on Tuesday.  I had an appointment at the house that I needed to come back home for, so the plan was to drive all the way down to the hockey camp, drive all the way back for the appointment, and then drive all the way back to pick up the boys, and all the way back home.  I was willing to do it, but I felt bad for Danyon, Dyllan, and my rear ends having to sit in the car for 5 hours on Danyon's birthday.  Dan decided to work from home that day, and he drove the boys over.  That left Dyllan, Danyon and I time to have fun at home.  We played games, we read books, we swam, and we baked Danyon's birthday cake.  We made vanilla cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese icing and chocolate ganache on top.  Danyon didn't understand what to do with his candle, so I had to eventually blow it out for him.  He knew he wanted his cupcake (as he screamed when I took it off his tray to take out the candle and take off the paper), but he wasn't really sure what to do with it.  He stuck his finger in the icing.  He licked it off.  He decided that it was pretty good, as he did that a few times.  The other kids had started eating their cupcakes, and he noticed that they were holding theirs.  He picked his up, and it was all over from there.  He had icing from his hair to his belly button. There was even some stuffed up his nose.  He thoroughly enjoyed his cupcake.  Dan had to give him a bath when he was done so that he could unwrap his presents without sticking to all the wrapping.  He loved all his new toys, but his favorite is the Zebra on wheels that sings, has lights, and he can push it around to help him learn to walk.

Wednesday, it was back to hockey camp.  Dyllan and I busied ourselves during the day by going grocery shopping, playing UNO, watching a movie, playing Frisbee, and watching the boys play hockey.  That night, we had a surprise for Dyllan.  Dan had ordered her birthday cake from a lady in the Czech Republic.  He knew her from a friend at work.  So we piled Dyllan, Deagan, and Danyon in the car (Dane was so tired that he wanted to stay home and sleep), and we drove to the Czech Republic.  It was a beautiful drive.  There were a couple of lakes and forested areas.  The towns were cute and quaint.  We picked up the cake, which was a strawberry cream vanilla cake, decorated with Marzipan.  There was a girl in a dress sitting on the cake.  The lady really paid attention to detail, as even her fingernails were painted.  It was fun to have a cake that was entirely edible. 

Thursday was Dyllan's birthday and I felt bad that she had to spend the whole day in St. Polten.  So, we made it fun for her.  I took her shopping to a mall where she was able to get new earrings and new shoes.  After shopping her off her feet, I took her to lunch to McDonald's (her choice), and then we went back to the rink and watched a movie, had manicures, and played UNO and Frisbee. It wasn't her first choice of things to do on her birthday, but she admitted that it was pretty fun anyway.  She of course, had the most fun eating her cake and opening presents.  Her favorite was a doll (American Girl type).

By Friday, the boys were walking around like zombies.  I can see why the camp is only 4 days instead of 5.  I don't think they could've handled it for one more day.  We did a little cleaning to catch up from a week of neglect, and then we invited friends over to swim and to party all afternoon.  It was a fun day.  The boys gladly hit the hay a little early that night.

Also on Friday, Dan left for the U.S.  He said he had some work meetings, but I'm pretty sure that he just wanted a few bites of a really good steak.  I told him to eat pizza for me, and to enjoy the shopping!  I have to admit I'm jealous.  It would be so nice to see all our old friends, and it would be nice to go to a Walmart and just know what kinds of things you can find there.  We sent him with a huge list of supplies to bring back for us.  We are anxiously waiting for his speedy return.  Oh, and it will be nice to see him again as well!

Stick in the Muds- Woche 23

Danyon is learning soccer

  This week the kids were sucked in by the TV and were being sticks in the mud. Since we have a big vacation coming up, I don't want to get them too burned out on going tons of places.  We didn't get to do much sight-seeing, but we did get to do other things.
 
We experimented with Dyllan's hair this week.  She is getting more interested in having cute hairstyles and we have found a couple of fun websites that have good suggestions.  We are doing a lot of braiding these days.  Even Dane joins the fun and tries to braid Dyllan's or my hair.

  The kids (despite being sticks in the mud) managed to make their dinners, except for Deagan who somehow missed making his dessert.  That's not like him!  Dane made Spanish omelets and Dyllan
made a fruit pizza that we all took seconds of.

We took the kids to the doctor to get their second tick shots.  We are in tick country here and they vaccinate everyone.  It is a series of 3 shots over the space of 1 year.  The kids took their turns one by one.  There were no screams, cries, or squirms from any of them so the doctor suggested taking them for ice cream.  She suggested a shop that we hadn't been to before.  Of course we had to try it--even if it was before dinner!

Friday I took the kids downtown and we met Dan for lunch.  We almost made it on time.  We got to a subway station and I accidentally got us all on the wrong side of the tracks to get to Dan's work.  We had to wait for 10 minutes for the train, at about 9 minutes, I realized that I was going to head the wrong direction.  So we changed sides and had to wait another 5 minutes for a train to come.  When we finally arrived, we headed for the kids favorite:  the pizza place.  We had fun seeing Dan during the work day, then he dropped us off at the Botanical Gardens while he went back to work.  We strolled through the gardens and saw some cool plants.  Our favorite was a green house that had just one plant in it.  It was a water lilly that had lilly pads the size of small trampolines.  I bet if frogs could navigate through the spikes on the underside of them, they could really have a lot of fun jumping from pad to pad.  The gardens were nice and it was a fun day.

Saturday, we took a drive to St. Polten.  It is a city about an hour away.  We signed the boys up for hockey camp there.  They start on Monday and I have to drive them.  Since I don't have a car here, I have not driven a car for about 6 months--and I have not driven in Vienna (except for 1 time, I drove to the store about 3 blocks away).  It was high time that I get behind the wheel.  We took the drive out there to make sure that #1 I could drive in Vienna, and #2 I knew where I was taking the boys all next week.  It sounds ridiculous, but I had to practice driving on such narrow roads, and I had to practice a couple of times pulling into our entry and garage.  When you have a new car, with new boundaries, and you have an entry and garage that only allows for 2-3 inches of clearance on either side, practice is necessary.  Dyllan, Danyon and I will be having some fun dates during the day while the boys play hockey.  After practicing, I'm pretty confident that I can get them there and back in one piece.

We had some friends over for dinner Saturday night.  We had a good time.  We are starting to make a few friends here.  It seems that we are always busy or on the go.  We're trying to make the most of our stay here and so seeing everything takes a lot of time.  It is nice to slow it down and just sit and relax and visit with people for a change.

We had a baptism preview meeting for all the kids turning 8 this year at church today.  There are 3 of them.  Since Dyllan is one, I got to make cupcakes for it.  I decided to make some "Gigi's" style cupcakes (Salted Caramel Chocolate), since I have had a hankering for some buttercream icing.  There are no cake mixes here and no buttercream icing.  I found a recipe online and decided to give it a try.  I made all the cupcakes and they turned out deliciously.  The real test was on the Austrians.  We have been told that Austrians don't like buttercream icing because it is too sweet for them.  Well, I made 40 cupcakes and they were disappearing faster than ice cubes in August (ironically, they don't have ice cubes here.)  Since we only had about 20 people at the meeting, I figured I would have several leftovers.  As it was, we had to smuggle a couple through an open window to Dane so that we would have some for our friends the Osiecki's (friends we met in Indiana, and our first visitors!) that just got to town last night.  Operation "Feed our Friends" was successful and we were able to save them some, but as for the rest, all that were left behind, had become casualties.  I asked one Austrian, "I was told Europeans don't like really sweet things."  Her reply, "Well, when it tastes like this, we love it!"  So, there you have it.  Europeans aren't really all that different after all.

Caution! The following contains graphic material and may not be suitable for younger viewers . . . -Woche 22

The week started out with a crash and an "aaaaaahhhhhhhhh".  Dane was pushed from a ledge and fell onto a dresser drawer.  He cut a gash in his shin.  It was about 2 inches long and was as deep as the bone.  It didn't bleed, so I had time to get a quick picture of it before Dan took him to the ER.  It was our first experience with the ER (well, Dan and Dane had the experience, the rest of us stayed home and wished them luck).  Dan called me once on the way to the hospital to ask for the German word for "Emergency Room".  They did end up finding it, after asking directions and playing charades with the guy at the door.  Dane had 4 stitches put in and a drain.  The drain came out on Tuesday and the stitches come out next Thursday, so now we just wait for it to heal.


After that, we ended up having a pretty fun week.  They don't celebrate Canada Day or the 4th of July here--no surprises there.  So, the kids and I tried to have a little fun anyway.  We made suckers to celebrate both holidays (the odd shaped one is supposed to be a maple leaf), and we made some salted caramel suckers too, just because they sounded good--(they were).  As for the days, on the 4th, the kids and I went to Schloss Schonbrunn.  They have a labyrinth and mazes in the gardens.  We went through and tried to get lost.  In some parts of the maze, they have little activities for the

kids to do like
a math maze, or climbing a pole (I was the only one to make it to the top), or musical stepping stones.  It was a fun time.  There were some stepping stones that shot out water as well.  The kids had so much fun on those.  We spent a lot of time there.  Dane almost forgot that he couldn't get his stitches wet.  In the gardens, there is an avenue that forms a tunnel of Wisteria.  It was all in bloom, smelled wonderfully and was fun to walk through.  We hiked to the top of the hill behind the castle and took in the beautiful panoramic view of Vienna.  Of course, no trip would be complete without buying ice cream.  We returned home and spent the rest of the day relaxing at the pool.  (Dane didn't find this very fun.)

We continued with the kids' meals:  Deagan made some cookies, Dane omelets, and Dyllan made chili.  Hopefully, they will be able to cook a lot of different things before too long.  This was the first time that we saw corn on the cob.  It tasted so good.  Not necessarily because the corn was that good, but because it was nice to be eating corn on the cob, in the summer.



The Danyon update:  He is now pulling up on furniture, trying to stand.  He stood up on his own, and stayed standing all by himself for a few seconds.  He was on a couch when he did it, so there was a cushion behind him, but he is making good progress!

We planned to go to Budapest for the weekend to go to the Aquapark.  It is the largest water park in Europe.  With Dane's stitches, that plan was out.  We decided to keep our reservations in Budapest and go see the city.  We have a friend here who is native Hungarian, and knows Budapest very well.  He and his wife went with us, and served as our personal tour guides for the whole weekend.  We had so much fun.  We absolutely LOVE

Our flat was 3rd floor corner on right

Budapest.  It is a really cool city.  We drove into the city on Friday night.  Our friends took us on a drive along the Danube, through the city.  My jaw dropped open as we drove along.  The city was all lit up and it was absolutely amazing!  The bridges across the Danube were lit up as well as all the monuments and buildings.  It was incredible.  We stayed at an old apartment that had a very fun feel.  Dan woke up early Saturday morning and went on a walk.  Not far away, he found a market that was absolutely crawling with people at 6:30am!  We wouldn't find that at home on a Saturday morning!  He bought some pastries that made for a yummy breakfast.  Poppy seed is very popular here.  They make a thick sludge with them and put them in the pastries, or mix the sludge with fruit.  Pretty tasty!

We met up with our friends and started out the day.  We went to the Buda Castle district (It was built in the 1200s).  There is some really neat medieval architecture, and because there are hills in Budapest, there are several spots for some really good city views.  They really use the Danube to their advantage and have built right up to it.  It makes the city so charming!  In Vienna, we don't have as many hills, and they haven't built right on the Danube (we guess because of flooding). On the grounds, we saw the office where the President of Hungary works.  Dane loved that we got to see the "White House" of Hungary.  We got to see Chain Bridge, the Opera House, Fisherman's Bastion, Mattias Church, the Citadella, and much more!  We walked the grounds of the Vajdahunyad Castle (it's the old castle) and we went boating on the moat!  (It wasn't really the moat, but it was a pond right by it.)  This pond had boating in the summer, and in the winter, it freezes over and turns into a public ice skating rink.  We saw a Jewish synagogue that is the second largest in the world.  The Jewish population in Budapest is very high. 

Synagogue

Chain Bridge

Old Castle

We found an ice cream shop that had several interesting ice cream flavors.  We tried Chili Chocolate, Cinnamon Plum (real plum pieces), Grapefruit (real pieces of fruit and a bit of zest), Pistachio, Lemon Basil, Camembert Vanilla (small chunks on cheese in it), Caramelized Fig (my favorite), Caramel, and Green Apple (real apple pieces in it). 

Hero's Square

We got to ride in the oldest subway, perhaps, in the world.  We went to Hero's Square (despite the Gay demonstration going on that day).  It is an interesting public square.  The monument has 7 men on horseback representing the 7 tribes that converged and founded Hungary, and a guardian angel (Gabriel) watching over them.  They also had all the Kings of Hungary behind it.  It was pretty interesting.  We got to eat a traditional Hungarian meal.  Mine had noodles with a light gravy sauce with mushrooms and steak strips.  Dan had paprika chicken with a potato dumpling.  The dumpling had more of a frittata taste and texture than what we would picture a dumpling to be.  We went to a Tesco which is like a Walmart, and it was open 24 hours!  They had a huge selection of sausage and cheese and the bakery had a lot of fun breads and tortes.  Dinner we ate at our apartment and consisted of all the fun things we found at the Tesco (heavy on the torte side).

Castle Grounds

Sunday we found a church building that had translation in English.  We were able to catch the Sacrament service and then we went back to sight seeing.  We saw the Parliament Building.  It is the largest building in Hungary.  They were doing construction, so we couldn't get a close up view, but it is a cool building.  We walked down by the Danube and cooled our feet in the waves.  Danyon loved this and the boat ride the best).  We also went to the Shoes on the Danube Promenade.  It is a monument of shoes to represent the Jewish people that were shot, killed, and thrown into the river there.  We have tried to talk to the kids about the Holocaust and the war a bit, but they are too young to really understand it all.  I think I want to wait until the kids are much older before we go to a concentration camp.

View from the Citadella

Yum!

Steps down to the Danube

We found a restaurant that serves "pancakes".  We would call them crepes.  They served all kinds and were reasonably priced, so of course, we tried several.  The kids loved the Hungarian (kind of a spicy meat) and the Mexican (spicy meat with beans and corn).  I loved the Broccoli chicken.  They had all kinds of dessert ones as well.  All kinds of fruits, nutella, and the favorite was the coconut cream.  This is a place we would love to go back too!






We said goodbye to our friends and had a good drive back to Vienna.  It only took us 2 1/2 hours to get home.  This is a place we would recommend visiting.  We can't wait to go back!!