Ikea Baby! (see below pictures for my wordy words!)

Our favorite Gelato spot...yummy

The tramp 'rental' - see below

Julia's new haircut - she likes it short. Mommy likes long :( Opposite the case for Evan!!!

Catholic Chapel built in 1898... in the mountain town we went to (Semmering)

View from the top of the mountain in Semmering (we hiked up for some good excercise and views!)

Thanks to my HS buddy Shelly, she inspired me to change the blog colors a bit - hope it is easier to read. I totally agreed, Shelly, just didn't take the time to do anything about it. Keep your comments coming!

So... started out the day with a workout in the 'fitness room' at our hotel. I put it in quotes because it sucks. :) It gets the job done and the kids just sit in there with us and play their DS's (aka fight) while we try to sweat off some of the bread and sausage we are consuming!

We decided to explore a bit and see if we could find IKEA via subway/bus. Note: Do not take the bus to IKEA on Saturday...talk about crowded BO. Geez, what is up with the lack of pit stick here? I have the Europe BO thing all figured out - if they would just wear some SUMMER clothes, they would not SWEAT so badly and thus the odor wouldn't be so bad. It was every bit of 85 today and everyone is still wearing jeans!! (and some jackets) I even saw a dude with a fleece jacket on! I digress....

We put the kids in the playland at IKEA.... Evan had a blast throwing plastic balls at other boys and trying out his German. Julia met a friend (Julia) and they played in the kitchen the whole time. She misses her 'stuff' so much!! (she loves her 'things'...he just needs a ball :))

We almost skipped shopping and just sat in the cafeteria for an hour of peace and quiet -- but looked around IKEA and had fun thinking of what we will need to buy for our new flat. We are hoping to get in Wed. or TH... we should know more Tuesday. Can you believe you can buy a beer at the IKEA cafeteria? Shelly Parrish, if you are reading this, I thought of you!! :)

We then decided to explore the Alta Donau area...which translates to Old Danube. Vienna used to have the Danube run through it in a natural collection of paths. When the United Nations built a big complex here (not sure what year??)...they rerouted the Danube and it now has an "old Danube" part and a "new part". The new part has a long thin island that goes on for many miles. We will have to wait for our bikes to arrive to explore this area fully. We saw some of the old part today which is very pretty. There are tons of beaches, parks, swimming, sunbathing (including some topless which we all found alarming - but it is quite common here!) etc... The had these caged areas with separate trampolines the kids could go on. 2 Euro for 8 minutes (although they were in about 25 minutes!)... crazy. The kids loved them. I will try to put a picture below so you can see what I am talking about. You would never see this in the USA... too many lawsuits I think!

We are headed back tomorrow for a fun filled day with NO errands for us all to play, swim, hang out etc...

We then headed to a big shopping district with the hopes of finding a sports store we heard about. I didn't plan for a rainy area very well and the kids needed nice rain jacket layers to head off to school. We found the store and jackets so it was a success. The MariahilferStrasse is LONG and there is TONS of shopping...I don't even like to shop that much and I was really impressed and excited! It was nice to see 'real' stores and figure out where I can find things. (i.e. a bed bath and beyond type place where I can purchase pillows - yeah!) I get excited about the simple things, huh?!

After dinner we hit our favorite gelato for dessert and headed back for some sleep and more laundry in the hotel laundry room.

Hope this finds you all well!!