The Sun Only Shines in Vienna When You Need It - Woche 7

Not exactly how we saw it, but here is what a photographer took on Heldenplatz in Vienna

For solar fanatics it was a big week.  On March the 20^th we had a solar eclipse that could be viewed throughout most of Europe.  All the kids in Dyllan’s grade spent the week preparing special eclipse viewing boxes and were not allowed outside during the event unless they had a welder’s mask or their special viewing box.  Dyllan even made a second box for Mom and Dad so that we could see what she was going to see.  In true Viennese style we assumed that the sun, which rarely seems to show itself this time of year, would not make an appearance through the clouds.  Much to our surprise, it turned out to be a perfectly clear day and the eclipse was completely visible.  Dyllan got to see it at school and Allynn got to use the second viewing box to watch it at home with Danyon.  Dan spent the eclipse in a conference room, but was promised it was really cool.

Dane had a pretty normal week (he said), but was a big help on Saturday with babysitting his siblings while the adults attended our spring conference for the local congregations of the church.  Dan was in meetings for about 4 hours on Saturday for training and even the visiting authority who was originally from the US, but now lives in Germany, gave all his talks and instruction in German.  There was translation available, although Dan opted not to use it this time, and figures he got about 70 percent of it (hopefully the important parts).  Allynn even opted not to use translation for a few of the talks and did pretty well with understanding.  Allynn says that she mainly chose not to use the translation because it was hurting her ears, the headphones that is, not the talks.  Her German is really improving and the new tutor is making a big difference.  She wouldn’t have gotten any of the conference a year ago without translation.  The kids all opted to get the headphones during the Sunday morning meetings that they were invited to, but didn’t wear them for more than a few minutes and got as much out of it as they would have in English.  Mostly because they were fighting over crayons and seating arrangements for the majority of the meeting, I think.

Danyon had the most fun of anyone at the meeting and gave us a big scare.  With all of the members of the church being invited from Vienna and the other cities in Eastern Austria we could not fit in our regular church building, so the meetings on Sunday morning were held in the Vienna International Center (the United Nations Campus in Austria).  Danyon’s attention span was only good for about 30 minutes and Dan took him out in the hallway to quiet him down.  After trying to keep him from running around with other kids that were in the hallways for about 15 minutes Dan finally just turned him loose and followed from a safe distance to try and let him burn off some energy.  When Dan stopped to talk to someone in the hallway he turned his back on Danyon and about 15 seconds later, when he tried to spot him again, he was nowhere to be found.  Dan searched all over the place (it was a big convention area full of meeting rooms) for about 5-10 minutes and then started to get a little panicky as he still couldn’t find Danyon.  At this point he started employing other wandering fathers and children and had a handful of people looking in all the corners and rooms.  When Dan went to get Allynn to get her help in the search (which meant that panic had really set in) he found Danyon coloring on Allynn’s lap.  Apparently he slipped past Dan went through a different door than the one they had come out of and found his way through the huge conference center and right back to where he was supposed to be.  Allynn  was getting very upset after 20 minutes of having to wrangle all 4 kids in the meeting while Dan was off in the hallway chatting.  She was also surprised and confused by the fact that Danyon kept asking “where Daddy”.  Little did she know what was going on in the hallway.  

Danyon had another big moment this week.  Allynn put him down for a nap and was a little surprised when he still wasn’t awake after 3-1/2 hours, so she peeked into his bedroom to find his entire room, including Dyllan’s half completely torn apart.  She eventually found Danyon curled up in the corner, shirt off, covered in chocolate and fast asleep.  Further investigation revealed that he had managed to find Dyllan’s stash of American candy, that Dan had brought back from his last trip.  He had eaten an entire 12oz. box of Junior Mints and an entire box of Reese’s Pieces before falling into a sugar coma.  Danyon has become a real treat monster and anything that is not locked up quickly disappears; even the items on the top shelves in the kitchen cabinets.  He is either a very good climber or is paying Dane to help out.

We did get a nice surprise on Friday evening as a result of all this.  When one of Dan’s colleagues from work (Mihovil) found out about the loss of the candy he had his wife, who works at the UN, stop by the commissary and pick up two containers of Breyers Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream and then delivered it to the our place on Friday evening. 

On Saturday morning we did a little yard work, basically just raking out the winter debris and spreading some grass seed.  To our very pleasant surprise, without being asked, Deagan was the first and only one out in the yard and was a huge help all morning long.  This was a very nice turn-around from the recent yard work experiences with Deagan, so he got to come shopping with us after the work was done and purchased a new Bey-Blade stadium, some Hubba Bubba and a new flavor of Fanta soda that made great floats when we got home.

The last major event of the week was the cleaning of the cat.  For some reason Marco has had really bad gas lately and can clear the room with his silent cat stench.  While I was typing the blog however, he walked by and I could swear the stench was now lingering with him in general, so I suggested that we should give the cat a bath.  Much to my surprise a soaking wet cat just got dropped next to me on the couch.  Dyllan has informed me that he didn’t like it very much, but at least he smells better.  My guess is that he will never cross the threshold of the kid’s bathroom doors ever again.  

 

We did get to finish off or Sunday with a fresh rhubarb pie.  We saw rhubarb in the store for the first time since we moved here and were sure to take advantage of it.  YUMMY!!!!

 

Dinner for How Many???--Woche 5

This week was pretty normal--until Dan found out that he was asked to cook a nice dinner for all the women in our ward.  The dinner party was scheduled for Friday night.  He was told to plan for no more than 40 women and at least 3 courses.  Dan spent a couple of days in Germany this week, but after that, he spent all of his free time at the grocery store.  He went one night, and bought all the chicken the store had, among many other items.  The next night, he wandered around to 4 other stores, hoping to pick up enough chicken to feed the 40 women.  None of the other stores had any of the chicken he needed (he was looking for thighs).  He had to go early morning on Friday in hopes of finding more chicken thighs.  Luckily, they had stocked up in one store and he was able to get them.  Dan and I spent two nights this week chopping vegetables and de-boning the chicken.  He chose a very yummy dessert (Cherry Berries on a Cloud), and since the meringue base had to sit in the oven overnight, and since our oven can only fit one pan at a time, I had to start making those on Tuesday night.  I made one every night up until Friday.  Luckily, I was able to keep them dry enough to still be good on Friday.  We slaved away for most evenings and then on Friday, we spent the whole day getting ready.  Dan planned a good menu of salad and homemade rolls to start, then grilled marinated chicken thighs, sop-a-suey, grilled vegetables on a skewer, and rice.  Then we had the yummy dessert.  The evening ended up being very nice and Dan and his crew of 1 did well to cook all the food.  He got more help once we were at the church to help serve and do the dishes.  The end total was 50 women fed.  It's a good thing that Dan planned for more than 40, but he was scrapping the bottom of the barrel for enough rice at the end.   

Even with all the added stress this week, Dan was still able to drop a few more pounds and is finally under 200lbs.  He has hit a major mile stone and things are going well for him.  As for me, it doesn't seem to matter what I do.  I have been monitoring all calorie intake for the last 8 weeks.  Some weeks at 1200/day, some weeks at 1400 per day.  I have been regularly exercising at least 5 days a week.  Some weeks, I have added a second workout into the schedule per day.  No matter what I do, I have stayed at the same weight for 5 weeks.  It is very frustrating.  I'm happy for Dan, but would really like to see the pay off as well.  Dyllan has also been working hard and has lost 4lbs and can now do push ups and sit ups.  Her gymnastics are going well. 

Dane put his lips on Marlene and she started to sing!

Dan's experience in Germany was a good one.  He flew into Basel and was informed to please take a taxi from the French side of the airport.  The Basel airport is actually located in France, but is shared with Switzerland.  You can choose whether to go out the Swiss exit or the French exit.  Even though you are leaving from the same building, the taxi fares vary by up to 300 percent.  Dan needed to go to a small town in Freiburg, Germany.  The fare from the French side turned out to be about 100 Euro, but had he taken the taxi from the Swiss side, it would have been over 300 Swiss Francs.  Dan can hardly wait to go to Switzerland for vacation.  I think it's a good idea that we are leaving the kids at home--less mouths to feed and fewer taxis.

Birthday Wishes--Woche 4

Hang on everyone, we have a teenager in the house!  The teenager is finally official, even though certain teenager eating habits and emotional swings have been present in the house for a few months.  We are excited for Dane! 

The volcano cake

We celebrated the usual way, with letting Dane choose what he wanted to do.  He decided that he wanted to go bowling with his friends.  We haven't ever done "friend" birthday parties, and we decided not to start.  So, in the next couple of weeks, we will let Dane go bowling with his friends, but for his actual birthday, we spent the day together as a family.  We went to Dane's favorite restaurant, Athena, for dinner, watched a movie at home, and of course, had cake and ice cream!!  Dane opted for a salted caramel chocolate cake again this year--Yum!! 

Dan just got back from a week back in Indiana.  We like it when he goes to the States to pick up some items that we can't find here and miss.  I don't think he likes it though, because it is somehow not worth the time spent on airplanes to get there.  With that though, we are stocked up on candy, chips and popcorn. (They do have popcorn here, but it pops very small and has a ton of "old maids").  It's nice to have popcorn that doesn't break your teeth!  We even got a bottle of Ranch!  I am amazed at all the stuff Dan can fit into his suitcases.  The kids feel like it's Christmas whenever he gets back.

Dan got the bikes out of the storage room and got them back to working condition.  Dyllan and Deagan have been having fun riding around our courtyard.  Deagan asked for the training wheels to be taken off his bike.  When we left Indiana, he had just learned to ride a bike without training wheels.  We learned last summer (when we rented bikes to explore Kotor), that he had forgotten how to ride a bike--it is possible to forget how to ride a bike.  He couldn't ride the bike there, and had to use a scooter.  Now, he can ride around the courtyard without training wheels.  Hopefully, we can get him on the canal trail soon and he can really learn how to ride--without auto traffic and not too many other bicyclers.  Dane is enjoying his new swayboard that he got for his birthday.  I'm amazed at how well he can ride it after only 2 days.  I don't think I could get on, let alone, ride it any where. 

When I asked Dane what he wanted for his birthday, he replied with "a soprano saxophone".  I told him to just name his current (alto) saxophone a girl name, like, Marlene.  He didn't think that was very funny.  Dane has enjoyed the weekend putting together Lego, playing on his swayboard, and also playing around with his new soprano saxophone, Marlene.  He will have to put in a lot of practice, (as the first time he tried to play it, no sound came out), but he is excited to be able to learn it.