They're Here--Woche 32

We've been waiting for a week and they finally arrived!  Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Caryn made it here safely on Thursday afternoon.  They were a little delayed because of traffic through Vienna, construction on the way, and there was that little incident where they drove through the pedestrian zone only part of the park.  We should have been filming because it was the kind of thing that only happens in car chases in movies.  Well, that and foreign countries.  Dad assured me that the sign said, "No dogs, no bikes, no rollerblades, no horses, but it didn't say, no cars."  And his trusty navigator didn't tell him otherwise.

Dane had his physical fitness testing in PE this week.  He did so/so in the sit and reach (because he's related to his mother) and managed a really good short jump (it was supposed to be a long jump),
BUT, he shattered the 7th grade school record for pushups.  He was able to do 90 amazing pushups, it was glorious. 

Friday morning, I took everyone to my craft store.  We were looking for one of a kind souvenirs.  It took us a few hours, but we finally sorted through enough stuff to find some good things.  Just as we were heading home to grab a late lunch, we were driving along and BLAM!  There was such a jolt in the car that I felt like I had hit the curb--really hard.  However, I was still in the middle of the lane.  A short time later, Caryn noticed weird sounds coming from her side of the car.  I pulled over and discovered we had a flat tire.  We pull out all of the stuff to fix the tire.  There was not a spare tire.  Instead of tools and a spare, the car had a patch kit with an inflatable pump that runs off the 12 volt plug in the car.  Dad got the kit all out of the packaging, figured out how to use it, got it plugged in, when we looked at the tire.  The tire was completely exploded.  The patch kit would not work on this.  So, I discovered that I had forgotten my phone that morning.  Luckily, Dad had some foreign minutes on his phone.  I called Dan, who was at work, with no car.  Since we were two villages away from Vienna, and had only driven there, I had no idea how to get home on public transportation.  After we figured out that we needed a tow truck, I called the roadside assistance number.  We got it all worked out that a towing company would call and let me know how long they would be.  I finally got a call and we were told that we would only have another 30 minutes before he was able to get there.  We waited patiently (Danyon was sleeping).  The tow truck guy did not speak English, but we got it all figured out.  We had to have him call a taxi to fit all of us in.  He drove us out to the nearest dealership--it was 30 minutes away--it was the closest still open at 4:00pm on a Friday.  We got to the dealership and the tow truck driver was so good to us to make sure that we got everything we needed and that the service center had the right size tire in stock.  We were blessed to have it all work out and the company could get it fixed right away.  About half an hour later, we had a brand new tire and were finally on our way home!  Mom, Dad, Caryn, and even Danyon were all on their best behavior through the whole thing.  They took it all in stride.  We eventually made it back home, in time for dinner.

I ended up having to go to the church to teach the Relief Society activity that night.  We were sewing pumpkins.  The night went fairly well.  All but one were able to finish their pumpkins that night.  It made for a later evening and more stressful day than I had planned, but it all ended well.

While I was gone, everyone was getting ready for dinner.  Deagan was at the stove when it was time for the blessing on the food.  He folded his arms and laid them on the stove top for the prayer.  Almost instantly, he realized his mistake as the burner was very hot, having just cooked the soup for dinner.  He ended up burning a good part of his arm.  It didn't appear to be as bad as Danyon's, but he had a fun wound to show for it.

Saturday turned out to be a better day.  We started with the Brunnenmarkt.  We wandered down the street and took our time looking at everything.  We stopped for Turkish crepes, ice cream, and, of course, the bakery.  For lunch, we picked up duram, and falafel.  We headed to Mariahilferstrasse.  This is the largest shopping street in Vienna.  We walked around a bit, but the biggest find was the Drindls we found on an awesome sale.  We picked up a few of these dresses for less money than we could have bought fabric.  We spend some time in the dressing room trying to figure out the right size and the right dress.  I wanted to try a pair of lederhosen.  I grabbed a couple of sizes.  I headed to an empty changing room.  I closed the curtain, hung the pants, hung up my purse, and started to kick off my shoes--only to discover that I was not alone.  I got one shoe off and was trying to get the other shoe off, when I discovered a huge (and by huge, I mean HUGE), spider hanging on for dear life to my toe.  I just had one thin sock layer separating me from the sharpened fangs of the killer spider.  Without even a scream of fright, I very carefully, frantically, tried to launch that spider as far away as possible.  It wasn't working, as the spider just hung on tighter.  I danced around the dressing room trying to get the spider off my sock so I could stomp on it with my one shoe--all before he bit me.  Finally I got him off my sock and I was able to finish the job--all without cries, screams, or any sound at all--except the crunch of his body.  But, then I had spider guts right in the middle of the floor.  It made it very difficult to straddle body parts while trying on pants.  I hurried as fast as I could and got out of there!

That night, we went over to our piece of Greece, the Athene restaurant.  We had a really big dinner and really enjoyed it!!  We ate to our heart's content and then ate some more.  We got home and were pleased to find that the kids hadn't burned down the house while we were gone.  They got to enjoy their pizza and movies at home.  So far, we have had fun with everyone here.  It is good to have family around!

Bittersweet--Woche 31

The highlights or lowlights for the week:

This is the home Dane stayed in

Dane had his first soccer games this weekend.  They have only had two practices so far.  His first games were in Frankfurt.  He got to miss a whole day of school and take the six hour train ride to Frankfurt.  His first game started about 10 minutes after their journey, so they had no time to warm up and they were pretty groggy and stiff.  Needless to say, they lost that game.  The players are farmed out to school families to stay the night, to defray hotel costs.  Dane stayed with a family from the Netherlands.  He enjoyed his time with them.  Saturday morning, they played their second game.  They were more prepared for this game, but just couldn't quite finish and never got the ball into the net.  The other team got lucky twice, so they won.  Dane had a great time and is loving feeling like part of a team.  Since he practices with the school twice a week, has a German lesson, a music lesson, and is still on a local soccer club, things are still proving to be difficult.  He is still trying to decide if he can keep it all together.

The train must have been moving really
fast to get the picture this blurry

Deagan was informed this week that after 7 months of playing with a local Austrian soccer club, he was number 13 on a team of 12.  We were very frustrated at the timing of this, as we are now too late to get him into another soccer club, and too late to sign him up for any after school activities through the school.  Deagan got a new coach at the beginning of the school year.  He is Turkish and speaks a little German.  Deagan and I have had a hard time communicating with him.  So, on the same day that Deagan was cut, there was a new kid, a friend of one of the teammates, who speaks German and happens to be Turkish.  He made the team after one practice and Deagan was cut.  We can't help that with experience with 3 different Austrian clubs and 2 different sports, we feel that we are being treated very much like second class citizens because of the language barrier--particularly the American accent, who don't deserve to be on the Austrian teams.  It's true that our kids are not the best players on the ice or field, but they certainly contribute to their teams.  The coaches here have one goal and that is to win games.  They seem to not be concerned with developing any players.  They are only interested in the skills that you have at the given moment--they care little about potential, or what they can make of a team.  To be a coach at an Austrian sport club has prestige and you must win games to progress in your coaching career.  Considering that kids have chosen their sport at the age of 3 and practice 4 1/2- 5 hours a week year round, I find this to be a truly unrealistic way to develop children.  To end my ranting, with the exception of skiing, how many truly good Austrian athletes do you know?  Arnold Schwartzeneger excluded, as well.

While out driving we found this sign.
  It says:  Vienna has culture.  We found
 it ironic that they placed it right next to the other sign.

On a happier note, Dyllan is adjusting to school very well.  She got 98% on her first math test, which is her hardest subject.  She goes to a swimming class once a week, through the after school activities program.  She has had one class, and loved it.  They are learning proper strokes and perfecting them.  She gets a full hour of swimming laps once a week.  She loved the first week.

Dan and I tried a new restaurant this weekend.  One of Dan's co-workers suggested we go to a Serbian restaurant.  We enjoyed the restaurant and we enjoyed getting to know Dan's co-worker and her husband better.  The portions were big and we couldn't finish our meals.  We learned that my birthday and Yanina's are one day apart.  So, we've got plans to get together again sometime in October to celebrate!






The apple harvest is in full swing here.  The stores are selling Gala apples (my favorite variety besides Honey crisp and Fuji) all for 1.29/kg.  To better compete, one store was selling the apples with a free basket.  We loved the baskets, so we picked up two!  I think we can use 20 lbs of apples before they go bad, but at any rate, we have baskets that are worth 20 Euro or more, if I bought them in a local store--for free!  We also discovered this week why were having so much trouble with the grocery sales.  We get the flyers in the mail.  We write down the stuff we want to buy.  We get to the stores, on the dates the flyers suggest, and we can't find the meat or the price we were looking for.  This has happened to us several times.  Well, on Friday, Dan went to the store first thing, on the first day to hit a specific meat sale.  He got to the store to find what he was looking for, but there were only 2 of them in the store.  So, stores advertise a sale price to get you in the store, but have very few inventory of the actual sale items.

Another fantastic find we had this week.  We stopped in a Tracht store (traditional Austrian clothing), just to see what they had.  Usually these stores have very cool things, at very high prices.  However, we found some shoes for Dan at an unreal price!  This was awesome, as Dan had a new pair of dress shoes on his shopping list.  They are all leather, came with a shoe horn, and the ones with laces all came with an extra set of laces, all for 19 Euro a pair.  Since Dan was planning on spending at least 60-80 on one pair, he decided to buy a couple of pairs.  He took them to the register and he got a few dirty looks from the cashier, who couldn't figure out why you would need 2 pairs of the same shoe.  Dan really wanted one of the other laced wing-tips as well, but didn't have the heart after the looks he got.  He made me go back in the store and buy the other pair.  The lady recognized me (we're hard to miss with all our kids) and certainly gave me a few glares of my own, at buying, yet another pair.  However, at that price, Dan got 3 pairs for the price of one, and will be set with dress shoes for a long time!!!

And last, but certainly, not least, Crafting has begun again!!!  This week, I pulled out my tub of incomplete crafting projects.  I have been able to finish 3 projects this week.  I owe this to Dane being able to get himself to and from all his activities on his own, and Dyllan and Deagan having fewer practices to get to.  I have gotten the craft bug again, and actually have some time to do it!!  Just in time for Halloween, but Deagan (who wasn't thrilled about his s'more costume last year) insisted that we buy him a cheap skeleton costume from the store yesterday.  I told him I could make a cooler one, but he wanted nothing to do with it.  He said something about not being able to fit through doorways, or sit at his desk properly, when mom makes them.  Dyllan can't wait for me to make her a ketchup bottle costume this year.  I haven't decided what Danyon will be--could be a hot dog, mustard, or something.  I guess that depends if Dane is dressing up too.

Do you know where your child is?--Woche 30

We were down in numbers this week.  Dan traveled to Antwerp and was gone for most of the week.  Dane had his class trip and was gone from Wednesday to Friday night.  For his trip, he went to St. Johann and stayed at a Jugendhotel.  From what I gather, it is kind of like a youth hostel, where they have several activities that the kids can do like ropes courses, swimming, and zip lines.  The school plans their yearly overnight trips at the beginning of the school year because there is so much turn over in the school from year to year.  Having the trip at the beginning enables all of the new kids and all of the old kids whose friends moved out, to get to know each other and create bonds of friendship before the school year really starts.  Another way the school enables more team building is by not allowing any parents to attend this trip.  There are strictly no parents or cell phones allowed.  All of the chaperones are the teachers and school staff.  Dane really enjoyed the trip this year.  He still had a couple of friends from last year and was able to make a couple of new friends too.

Deagan got to pick his instrument to play and he got to bring it home.  He is going to play the viola!  He is very excited.  They have learned how to hold it properly and how to take care of it.  During the next couple of weeks, they have to earn their bows and their rosin.  Deagan has practiced and practiced holding his viola.  He has just started to learn to pluck the strings to get to know the sounds and notes.

Dan had his business run this week.  He returned home from Antwerp on Thursday night and headed straight to the start line for his race.  He was running a 4.1K race.  He was on a team, and the three of them would use their combined time to place.  Dan was able to run his in 18:49.  He came in 2nd in the men's group for all of Lilly and Elanco.  His team mates were not as fast, and his team ended up coming in second to last.  Dan was proud of his run (as he has not run for a couple of years since the doctors told him not to run anymore) and was glad he met his goal. 

Deagan got to have a fun experience this week.  I dropped him off at soccer practice on Friday afternoon.  Dyllan and I parked the car and then went to watch.  We were informed that we were not allowed to watch this practice.  We were told that the coach would be back at the gate in 2 hours with a ticket.  I would need to take the ticket and then head into the stadium to pick up Deagan.  Well, we waited for 2 hours, then we waited by the gate.  And we waited and waited and waited.  At 6:30, I finally gave up and texted the coach.  He called me back, but the coach does not speak any English and we couldn't communicate very well over the phone.  He finally handed the phone to Deagan.  I talked to Deagan and asked him if he was finished.  His response, "I don't know"  When will you be done? "I don't know."  Where are you? "I don't know."  So, finally, I told him that I needed to leave to go pick up Dane, but that Dan was there and would meet him by the gate.  Deagan said he would go over to the gate and meet him there.  Fifteen minutes later, Deagan was still not there.  We found out that there was a professional game going on that night.  Dan bought a ticket and headed into the stadium.  Just as he got into the stadium, he saw Deagan on the field with a professional player.  Deagan's whole team was able to run out onto the field with the professional players at the beginning of the game.  It would have been a lot more fun, if we knew what was going on.  Dan finally found Deagan and they watched the half of the game together before I came back to pick them up. 

Saturday morning, Dan and I were able to go for a run along the Danube.  We loved having the time together and being able to visit.  There weren't too many people out on a beautiful morning.  The biggest hazard of running in the early morning is avoiding all of the huge slugs out on the trail and dodging the homeless crowd and smell under all the bridges and by all the subway stops.  We have decided from now on, that all runs will go north along the river out of the city instead of into the city.  We passed by a lot of graffiti that we don't normally get to see when you drive by.  Here is a sample of some of the quality stuff around town. 







The kids had the annual kick off BBQ at the school on Saturday morning.  They had food and tons of activities for the kids to do.  We played for awhile then we headed back home.  Deagan enjoyed the face painting, as he got to be a vampire.  Dane played soccer and Dyllan played with Danyon and had fun exploring the fire engine.  As this is our second BBQ, we realized that arriving on time just meant that you had to wait for the food.  Coming late guaranteed immediate gastronomic satisfaction and a shorter line.  It pays to be a veteran at these things.  We also broke down and bought some school sweatshirts.  The school is always asking for money, and we found this to be a way to donate to the school but not just handing out cash for who knows what.  You would think that the very steep admission fees of more than 20,000 Euro/kid/year would be enough.  Allynn has vowed, however, that if they promise to use her money for a parking lot that parents can park in, she would be a platinum sponsor!  This makes Dan very nervous, but come on, what are the chances they are going to tear up the brand new outdoor classroom to make way for a safer, more convenient way of picking up our children without blocking all surrounding roads.

The Artis Theater

Dan and I headed out to a movie on Saturday night without Danyon.  We thought it might be interesting to mention how they do movies at one of the English movie theaters in town.  The movie started at 6:00pm.  We were at the box office at 5:40.  We bought our tickets and then headed to concessions.  We bought our popcorn which is reasonably priced.  We can get a large bucket of popcorn, 2 drinks, and a bag of candy for under 10 Euro.  (The other theater across town was priced at over 20 for just the popcorn).  We headed to our theater.  The door was closed, but, after opening it, we found no one inside.  So we went in, and found our seats (we have assigned seats at this theater).  Right at 6:00pm, the doors opened, and a lady told us something in German, of which we only caught the last bit:  have fun.  Then people started coming into the theater.  From what I gather, we were not supposed to come into the theater until the doors were opened.  I guess when the movie starts at 6:00, it means that the doors open at 6:00.  The previews do not last long--there were only 2.  The theater was far from being full.  Out of 250 seats, only about 30 of them were taken, but since they were assigned seats, we were all lumped together towards the middle.  I felt a little cramped in space, especially since there were so many open seats around the theater, but we were all stuffed together.  Making out in the back of the theater would not be an option here!  We had a great time and were glad to spend time together.

Bottom's Up!--Woche 29

Well, life here can not always be perfect.  So, this week, we discovered that one, or more of us (true number will remain undisclosed), have a confirmed case of pin worms.  After the shock of being disgusted, we did some research.  It's not as uncommon as you would have guessed.  Millions of people in the US get them every year, mostly kids.  You can pick them up anywhere--even on rare cases breathing in the eggs.  We could have picked these up in any hotel, any restaurant, any public place, etc.  The treatment is just a liquid medicine.  However, because the eggs are so easily transferred, treatment usually is given to the entire family.  So, Dan ordered enough de-worming medicine for the whole bunch of us from the Apotheke, or pharmacy.  When picking it up, the pharmacist was not very willing to part with so many bottles of this stuff; it was enough to treat a small army.  Well, he finally finagled his way around it, mumbling something about that's how much it takes to treat 6 people, and brought the medicine home.  So, for Family Home Evening, we all toasted and drank our medicine.  "Here's to no more worms!"  We need to repeat this process again in a couple of weeks.

Dane tried out for the AIS middle school soccer team this week.  He made the B Team!!!  We are excited for him.  This will make his schedule for the next two months pretty busy, with an activity every night of the week, some nights two, but this will only last for a couple of months, then life will settle back down to a more manageable state.

Deagan is loving his soccer and is very proud of his newly acquired superman soccer socks.  He is improving and enjoying it!  We got Dyllan signed up for swimming.  She is very excited!  I think that she will start this week or the week after.  Everyone is still enjoying school.  We are all looking forward to a very fun and exciting year.  I think that it will be a good one.

On the weekend, we had more and more rain.  It seems like our entire August has been very soggy.  We haven't been in the pool in several weeks.  That just seems wrong for August!  On the other hand though, Dan and I were able to go for a long run (30 minutes running, then walk back is a long run for us) in the light rain on Saturday morning--at least we didn't sweat very much.  With all the rain, we decided to try indoor activities.  On Friday, we went to IKEA for a new place to have dinner and a fun shopping trip.  We found colored toilet paper.  It was available in several colors.  We chose orange because Dan couldn't wait to host a Halloween party and try out our new find.  On Saturday, we took the kids to see "How to Train Your Dragon 2"--in English.  We all loved it.  Except for Dan, who had to take Danyon out, again, before the end of the movie.  Danyon can't keep his 3D glasses on, and then gets bored when the popcorn is gone.  He made it through most of it, but Dan missed the last 20 minutes of the show.  It is an improvement over our last attempt, where Dan only saw the first 20 minutes.  Maybe we'll try again next year.   Scratch that, Dan says that he is done trying, but I am welcome to try on my own again next year.  (Dan has battle scars to prove that it really was a fight to keep Danyon quiet, as Danyon got ahold of his nose and scratched it to bleeding before the movie was over).

And We're Off---Woche 28

School has gotten off to a great start!!  Dane thinks that seventh grade is a lot like sixth grade.  The first day was a little hectic, as they didn't have his schedule done correctly.  He didn't have a 6th period.  After the first week, his schedule is worked out and he is ready to begin another school year.  His teachers seem very nice and he likes them.  He will be making some new friends this year, as he only got one class with one of his friends.  He still gets to see his old buddies at lunch, but he will need to branch out and make new friends to do all of his group projects.  He is continuing with his soccer and saxophone practices as well.

Dyllan loves her new teacher.  She is excited about getting to play the cello again this year, and she moved up to the half size cello.  She also got to be in a class with several of her friends!  She is excited to get her homework done each night.  She has been a huge help this week with Danyon.  We have taken him to soccer practices and Dyllan has played with him so that he doesn't get bored or sad.  This school also does their school pictures during the first week of school.  I love it because the kids are still excited about looking nice--well, at least Dyllan is.  Dane and Deagan both had their pictures on the second day of school, and both failed to comb their hair for picture day.

Deagan is pretty quiet about his school life, but he seems to be happy about it.  He says that he likes his new teacher, and has asked to have a friend over to play already.  (We haven't gotten his friend over yet, but we're working on it).  He started soccer practices this week, and they are going well.  His trainer this year doesn't speak any English, so that is difficult for him, but hopefully, it will work out.  Deagan seems to zone out when the coach is talking, but he participates and seems to get into the action during the practice. 

We have also continued German lessons with all the kids.  Once we get Dyllan signed up for her activity, we will probably have activities every night of the week.  We will be busy, but only from 4:00-6:15 Monday through Friday--maybe a little later on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

In our trying to eat healthier this week, we found a great new recipe!  Dan made black bean burgers.  The meal was completely meatless and the patties were just black beans, bread crumbs, and spices.  The homemade salsa was yummy, too.  This was a huge step for Mr. Beef, to try a burger with no actual beef!  We were surprised at how yummy they turned out--they beat Boca Burgers and Turkey Burgers any day!!



Where's your sucker, Danyon?

After finishing up the first week of school, we decided to celebrate by going out to our favorite Greek restaurant for dinner.  Since it is just a couple of blocks away, we always walk.  Saturday evening, we ending up having a down pour.  The rain would not let up.  We walked to the restaurant with our rain jackets and umbrellas.  By the time we got there, we were all soaked anyway.  We had a nice dinner--despite all our wetness.  We couldn't even put our napkins on our laps because we were so wet that it soaked through the napkins.  After we finished, we put all our jackets on and headed home (by the time dinner was finished, it had stopped raining).  We got home and took Danyon's very wet jacket off.  We realized that in our haste to put the jacket on at the restaurant, we failed to notice that he had his sucker in his hands.  Well, he lost his sucker in the process of putting on his coat, and although we all knew where it had ended up, it took him forever to find it, but eventually, he got to finish his sucker.

We had to say goodbye to our good friends Liz and Csaba.  We took them to the airport on Thursday evening.  They are on their way to a new adventure at BYU, Provo.  Csaba will be working on a Masters Degree in music for the next two years.  We will miss them terribly, but know that they will have a great time in Provo!  (By the way, the shirts they are wearing are huge sellers here in Austria.  You can find this slogan on T-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, etc.  It says, "There are no kangaroos in Austria".   Everyone here really gets a kick out of them.  This makes sense since our mail occasionally routes via Australia and many people get confused about the differences between Austria and Australia.  To keep it simple for you north Americans, think Lederhosen and Europe for Austria; Kangaroos, boomerangs, and a giant continent in the middle of the ocean for Australia).

Surfin' USA Hungary Style--Woche 27

Dane has decided to close the hockey chapter of his life.  He still would love to play recreationally, but has decided that he would rather work on soccer instead.  Thus, he is back to full practice.  He goes three times a week, for an hour and a half.  Deagan will start next week.  He has also decided to skip hockey for this year ( I think that with his school schedule, hockey is a little too demanding and cold).  Soccer seems to be more relaxed--or maybe it's that you don't need to be there 30 minutes before, just to get ready for your 1 1/2-2 hour practice.  But, I think his practices are still three times a week.  Dyllan has decided to try something new as well.  We are working on it.  We have discussed swimming or dance, but have to take a look at schedules and find out what we can get her signed up for.


Dane spent a lot of time practicing his saxophone the last couple of weeks.  He is going to try out for the honor band.  It sounds pretty cool.  They only take a select group of kids (middle school-high school) from all the English international schools throughout all Europe and the Middle East.  They practice a couple of songs independently, then they meet together on a trip somewhere and perform at a couple of venues.  The tryouts need to be recorded and sent in to the directors.  He has been working hard, and we hope he has a chance at making it.


Dan's thinking that he is pretty smart.  We decided to go on vacation in late June/early July. It seemed a little early since no one else in Dan's office was leaving yet (since the Austrian kids weren't out of school yet).  Dan was hoping that not only could we take advantage of our kids getting out of school earlier, but also that when we returned that everyone else would be leaving on their vacations, thus allowing Dan some time to get caught up in the office without any distractions.  His secret plan worked and he was able to not only catch up a bit, but also clear his inbox to under 100 emails for the first time in over a year.  There was one day this past week when he got to the office at about 8:00, and he was all alone until a second person arrived at 9:30.  There ended up only being three people there total and Dan was alone again by 4:00.  September, however, is looking to be outrageously busy, but at least a little lull before the next storm (and part of the busyness of September is fun time with house guests!)

We tried to get some things ready for school starting next week.  Dyllan and I went shopping for school supplies, new shoes, and new clothes for everyone.  The boys were delighted to not have to go, and I was delighted to get to go on a shopping date with Dyllan.  We picked up most of the stuff everyone needed.  With as much fighting as has been going on in our house lately, I am excited for school to start this year--the first year ever.  It just seems that the dynamics of the kids really clash the past couple of weeks.  If you take one child out of the equation, (doesn't matter which one), then life is peaceful.  With all four of them together, it goes like fireworks and tornadoes!  During one of the most recent bouts, Deagan ended up running his ear into the door jam trying to get away from Dane.  Here is how he ended up:

Just starting out

But, to really make summer count, we decided to go on one more little adventure.  We took the kids back to Budapest and stayed at the largest indoor water park in Europe.  Friday was a holiday for Dan, so we were able to leave Thursday afternoon, and get to the hotel/park for a fun-filled long weekend.  On our way, we were able to stop at a Tesco and get some great deals on food items we wanted to stock up on.  We were able to finish up the school shopping, mostly, too.  On the drive to Budapest, you can see hundreds of windmills.  Also, we find that there is little to no road kill on the highways.  We think that this is because they have overpasses frequently that are covered with trees and shrubbery.  There are no roads on these overpasses, they are strictly for the wildlife.  We thought it was pretty cool.

Wipe out!!!

We arrived at our hotel and were very impressed.  We had an apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a ton of space--all in the hotel!  Friday, we spent all day swimming and sliding and hot tubbing.  They offered a learn how to surf lesson (30minutes of private instruction for 6.50 euro).  With a deal like that, we couldn't pass it up.  Dane was the only one old enough to do it. He didn't want to go it alone, so I took a lesson with him.  We had 30 minutes of pure fun!  I have to admit that Dane did better than I did, but I was still able to let go of the teacher several times.  On one wipe out, the water pulled my swimsuit bottoms down enough that I mooned the entire Aquaworld, but at least I didn't lose them completely, and have to have the instructor fish them out at the back!  We both had a ton of fun and told Dan that he should try it, but Dan was afraid he might hurt himself, so he didn't try.  I think that if I had been able to try switching my feet (not while moving), I would have done a lot better.  I would like to have tried again, but felt bad that the other kids couldn't do it, so I will wait until next time.  Surfing wasn't the only cheap thing we found at the resort.  Dan and I signed up for a sport massage.  We were excited that we could both get 50 minute massages for 30 euro a piece.  We found our hour to be very relaxing.




The next day, we spent more time swimming, sliding, and hot tubbing.  We went to the saunas.  Dane didn't want to try it, so he stayed at the room with Danyon.  The rest of us got all sweated up, but don't worry, we rinsed off!  Dan got a hair cut at the salon (again, cheaper than anything in Vienna).  But, we also found a cheaper massage at the water park, than what we paid at the spa (both connected to the hotel).  Dan and I signed up for another sport massage. The masseur was very good and strong.  He knew all the pressure points and found every knot instantly.  I have to say, it was the best massage I have ever had, but it was also the most painful!--yeah, I guess I'm kind of sick like that--no pain, no gain.  He apologized for every time I flinched at the pain, but after he was done, I felt like I had so much more circulation going through, especially my shoulder blades, than I have in years.  I felt like it was a real sport massage!  I think Dan felt the same.  We both still have sore spots at some of the pressure points, but feel like we both feel better!

30 min. is up!

Sunday, we just had a lazy day packing up.  We realized that with the three hour drive, we weren't going to make it back in time for church, so we took the kids to the playground and we kicked the soccer ball around a little.  We took it easy and hoped that the little vacation was enough to get everyone rested up and ready for school next week.

Is it time for school to start yet??--Wochen 25-26

The last couple of weeks have been kind of rough!  Despite having all the kids home, we found it very difficult to get our chores done in a timely manner.  We spent three days trying to get the house cleaned and laundry done.  The weather has been warm, but very cloudy.  Since we have been getting afternoon thundershowers, and we don’t swim until the chores are done, swimming has been off the schedule.  And on top of all that, we had to say, “goodbye” to Dakota. 

We were able to take Dakota out to a heurige before she left.  It is mushroom season again.  We had a great time at dinner and then had to get one more stop in of ice cream before Dakota left.  We walked around the downtown and saw the sights for the last time.   

After taking Dakota to the airport at a very early hour, we were tired and decided to nap when we got home.  After awhile, we decided to pick up our friends and head to the craft store.  I hadn’t been in awhile.  It was fun to be back!  We hung out with Csaba and Liz for the rest of the evening.  We are so glad to be able to spend time with them, as they are leaving for Utah in two more weeks.

Danyon has had his first burn.  We were eating dinner in the kitchen.  All the kids were finished, Danyon included.  We cleaned him up, and then set him loose to go play with the kids.  After a few minutes, we heard some crying.  I jumped up to see what had happened.  I walked into the dining room, and found that Danyon had found the iron, plugged it in, turned it on, and then touched it.  After inspecting his burn and cooling it down, we found that he had several blisters.  He was sad and cried for a couple of hours.  Hopefully, he now knows what hot means and he won’t do it again.  On a good note, he is using more words.  He does use both English and German words.  It will be interesting to see what language he gets more fluent.  We seem to stress the German words more, as we are trying to learn them ourselves.  He for sure knows, "heiss" and "ouch"!  The other day, he went to the refrigerator and said, "Habe ich eis".  Which sort of means, "Can I have ice cream?"  At least he knows the important stuff!

Last week, Dane had the opportunity to go to a 12-13 year old youth camp.  Dane was the only boy from our ward attending.  We were a little apprehensive because of the language.  We dropped him off on Monday night and didn’t pick him up until Thursday afternoon.  As it turned out, we had nothing to worry about.  Dane can hold his own, just fine.  He had a great time at the camp and made some new friends.  Although most of the camp was in German, he said that he understood all of it.  He came back doing more magic card tricks.



Danyon found a cozy place to sit!

The rest of us held down the fort around here.  We were able to get the cleaning and laundry done.  We were even able to swim!

Dan had to apply for a new Russian visa for work.  However, his passport is full (the Russians require 3 empty pages—Dan only had 1 left).  Thus, he had to apply for a new passport.  He went to the consulate, and discovered that he could apply, but that it needed to be sent all the way to Ottawa and back and that it would take a few weeks.  In the meantime, he is without a passport.  He dropped it off on Monday, and by a miracle, he had it back on Friday!  He is now ready to reapply for his Russian visa!! 

We had another birthday to celebrate.  Deagan turned 7 this week.  We almost had to cancel his birthday party, but then at the last minute, we did get to celebrate and have cake!  We invited Liz and Csaba over to celebrate with us.  Deagan wanted to swim, eat pizza, and play games.  We had a great time and I think Deagan loved his birthday.  I had trouble with the cake again.  I couldn’t get it to hold together.  Soon after we took all the pictures, all of the bowling pins fell over one by one.  We kept moving the ball to make it look like the pins were supposed to be placed that way.  But, by the end, Deagan bowled a strike—all the pins fell down.  We didn’t seem to have any trouble eating it anyway! 

Liz and Csaba invited us to go to a tiergarten (animal preserve) here in Vienna.  We met them and hiked through a wooded area that was home to some goats, deer, and we hear, wild boar—although we didn’t see any pigs.  In the park, there is a hunting lodge.  Franz Josef had it built for his wife, Elisabeth.  Since she was from a wooded area and loved riding horses and hunting, he built it to make her feel more at home.  I think that she spent quite a bit of time there, as it would have been more secluded than the other palaces and she would be able to ride to her heart’s content. 
 

After walking and playing at the playground, we headed to the church.  It was our turn to clean the building this week.  The kids all pitched in and we got it all cleaned in about an hour!  Then we headed home to get some yard work done.  We were able to get it finished and get a swim in, too.  It looks as if things are looking up for us after all!!!