Good Ole USA

Hi Everyone!

We have been in the USA for over a month now and time has FLOWN by! The kids and I flew into Chicago for a quick 3 days before flying out to Boise to meet up with Eric who had arrived there 3 days prior to spend more time with his family. We had a wonderful time in Idaho, most of which was spent in McCall area. We were staying at the Tamarack Resort for Kirk (Eric's brother) and Cherish's wedding festivities. We stayed at a GORGEOUS house with all the fine ammenities. We were also lucky enough to have the house where the wedding day activties were held. I had a lot of fun pitching in where I could.

We hiked, we swam, we talked, we all had a blast. It was especially nice to spend 4 fun filled days with family and close friends of Cherish -- it was great to get to know my new sister in law's family/friends. The wedding ceremony and reception were beautiful and fun! The kids had such a great time being involved too.

The second two weeks were spent in Washington - our home town. We stayed one week with the White's and one week with the Kostorowski's. I am sure all were more than sick of us when we left! :) We had such an amazing time catching up with friends and spending quality fun time together. I think it was especially nice for the kids and I to see that our friends still loved us, even after a year away! :) (we think! :)) Unless you have done something like this, it is hard to explain. But the kids were definitely struggling with leaving a 'life' thinking everyone would 'forget them' and then knowing they have to reenter that life. I think they are doing well.

We had so many highlights and so much fun! Thank you for all who made the effort to see us, hang out with us, fit us in, etc... We are SOOOO sorry if time ran short and we weren't able to figure it out. (Carrie - Evan is still mad at me that we didn't find Syd! Sorry!)

We arrived in Chicago a week ago and have been just as busy having fun with my siblings, their kids and my parents. We were lucky to catch my Dad's retirement celebration and even luckier to have him home this week as we wrap up our US Tour!

We are hitting lots of pools and I am doing much too much shopping trying to get us all ready to return. After a year in Austria, honestly there isn't a TON that I can't do without - but is is SOOOO much cheaper here and more fun to shop here!!!

I will write again soon with some more thoughtful notes on what it is like to be back and what we miss (besides Eric!!)

Fast or Slow?

I can't decide whether the last 10 months has gone by fast or slow... I guess both depending on the day! We are wrapping up our 'first year' in Austria and headed to the good ole USA on Thursday morning.

The kids and I fly to Chicago for a few days and then on to BOise and Tri-Cities. Eric flies straight to Idaho to spend some additional time with his family. Kirk (Eric's brother) and Cherish get married on July 7th and we are all VERY excited! Julia woke up this morning and began another bride and groom drawing - complete with flower girl and ring bearer! :)

After our NW swing, we will head back to Chicago for 2 weeks. The kids and I fly back to Vienna on August 7th. All and all, we are ready for family, friends and food!! :)

We have all made some nice friends here in Vienna and we will look forward to seeing them again in the Fall... they have mostly left for their holidays already.

If you have been following the blog, I am sure you have felt a little of the roller coaster that this year felt like. When i first moved here another Expat Mom on her 4th year here said, back in America it seems like life is sort of on a straight line and here there are more dramatic highs and lows. I would agree with that statement.

My favorite part by FAR has been the travel and also the exposure to new cultures and views from other parts of the world. Such an eye opener for me and I loved every second of that. I can talk your ear off about this if you are ever interested.

My biggest low was watching my kids struggle to adjust and not being able to fix it. I still struggle with this as I try to teach myself that I cannot fix everyone's feelings and I cannot take them on as my own and let them shape who I am or how my day will go. I have not mastered this and wonder if I ever will. Is this possible for a Mom? I still pray daily that this experience will enrich our kids and help them to become more passionate, tolerant, worldly citizens. The jury is still out on this one :)!

Evan and Eric went for a huge day hike on Saturday in the mountains. After missing the last train 'down', they had to hike/run down the mountain to get their train back to Vienna. They did 29 Kilometers that day - Evan is a gamer!

Julia and I took a day trip also -- to an outlet mall about 30 minutes away and then on to Bratislava Slovakia. (about 50 min from Vienna) It was a beautiful little town that I look forward to taking another day trip to with Eric and Evan. We didn't stay long, but had a great day. Our intent was to shoe shop and to add one more Country to our list prior to traveling home! We came home shoeless, but did add our 9th Country!

One last thought for today, thank you for reading our blog. It was a form of therapy for me when we first moved and a great way to keep people updated that were interested.

Auf Wiedersehen!

P.S. I passed my German 2 exam, but have a lot of studying to do this summer to actually be comfortable moving on to German 3!!

2 More Countries....

The kids had a great last day of school yesterday. Julia went on to a pool party after the 1/2 day of school. They also went strawberry picking. 7 - 7 year olds for an afternoon -they had fun! Evan and I went on to have lunch with Eric at the UN and then Evan has his last soccer practice for a bit of a break.

We went to a friend's end of the year BBQ last night and had a blast. There were a ton of Swedish people there and they know how to party and have fun! It was a great evening as we said "see you soon" to friends we have made this year. Pretty much all the "Expat" community leaves Vienna for the summer - and right away.

We headed out this morning and drove to Croatia. About 5 hours and we can make it to the closest "coastal" area of Croatia. We didn't see much yet, but we are in a great place with a nice pool 10 steps out our apartment door and a nice view of the Adriatic Sea. More exploring tomorrow!

Happy Father's Day to anyone reading this!

Wow.... Juni is here!

If anyone is even reading this anymore, I think I lost you for lack of updates. If you have perservered, thank you for checking back! :)

Like most families, it has been a busy spring for all I am sure.

I will try to hit the highlights!

Eric's sister Christy and her family moved to Germany (near Frankfurt) with the Air Force. We were able to meet up with them in Garmische, Germany - about in between for all of us. This is an incredibly beautiful town and area with an Army base. We were able to stay in VERY cute cozy cabins for 2 nights at a great price due to the Milners military status. YEAH! Garmishe is in the beautiful Alps, only about 35 minutes from Innsbruck. The kids had a blast together. We took a day trip drive to the Castle that inspired Walt Disney (first picture is taken there)

Pathetically, a huge highlight for us was going into their small commissary grocery store with Christy. The kids and I were so excited about some of the American (mostly junk) food that we had missed. I think I ate 2 bags of Peppermint Patties on the way home. (gross I know!) A great time had by all!

The kids had their spring concert, which was such a highlight. As I have said before, the music teacher at AIS is unbelievable! The concerts are so beautifully done with each grade singing (and doing moves!) to about 4-5 songs. I don't know how she does it. So cute! Another musical endeavor was Evan having a wonderful opportunity with his 4th grade class to sing at the Hofburg Palace. They sang 3 beautiful songs for the opening ceremonies of a big science and technology international conference on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. Much to my dismay, we couldn't get in to see them sing, but we were lucky they had a live feed so we could watch it over the internet from home. Phew! :)

The kids are excited to wrap up the school year on Friday. We have had some highs and some serious lows. I am excited for summer too. I pray that the lessons learned this year continue to stregthen our character, experiences, faith and family. I also hope we have less lessons next year! HEE HEE!

Sorry, too tired to turn the picture - this is the kids picking out 10 books each from the library with their summer reading program. Let's place bets for how many we misplace this summer.

Another HIGHLIGHT since I last wrote was the visit to Vienna of my very great friend, Tonia Kostorowski. Most that read this know T, but if you don't - she is from our home town and also took in our wonderful dog Mia to love as one of their own. We had a GREAT TIME. I was so impressed with Tonia - she didn't slow down AT ALL - no rest for the weary!! After landing on Sunday, we drove to Venice on Monday. The 3rd pic is us on the Gondola ride. We couldn't stop laughing cuz we kept saying "Can you take a picture of us for our husbands" - not that there is anything wrong with that! (Seinfeld) On Wednesday we left Venice and drove back VIA Salzburg (which is not on the way! :)) and did a quick 3 hour tour there before arriving back in Vienna at midnight. DIdn't stop there - NON stop touring and hanging out all over Vienna all the way through Monday night. Thanks to Dave, T's parents and her great kids for making that trip possible!!

Tonia left Tuesday and Christy and her kids arrived Wednesday. We have been having a great time with them too! We did a playground on TH and the zoo on Friday. More park time and hanging out today and they head home tomorrow. We will see them in Idaho next month and we are SO thankful to have family in Europe with us. What a huge blessing.

Next guests.... 2 college kiddos from our church back home are backpacking through Europe and making a stop here for a few nights beginning Monday. I am so excited to hear about their adventures. I always wanted to do this but never did! I hope to spend a little time with them, but will leave their itinery totally up to them. At the very least I may start them out one night at a fun restaurant and then take my old butt home at a decent hour and they can stay out! :)

Eric is doing well. His job is good and he bikes to and from work most days, which he loves. He is a master at German now and leaving me in the dust! Not unexpected! We are both finishing up German 2 in the next week. I have some serious studying to do as I missed 3 classes in a row with some hard information. Eric is planning to tutor me this week! :) I don't think I have much of a chance to pass this level... it got really hard for me, really fast. I do like that I can move around town fine now, restaurants are fine, grocery etc... I really need to put some more time in if I am to take myself to the next level. There always seems to be so many things vying for my time though. We'll see!

We are trying to squeeze in one more trip/Country before leaving on the 30th for the USA. I think we will head to the Croatian Coast on Saturday for a few days. We will drive through Slovenia on the way so that will bring us to 8 countries so far since we moved here. I may take a drive to Slovakia (45 minutes) just to get one more in! (it is like a game for me hee hee!) Austria, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovania, Croatia. So when my children need counseling into their adult lives for their parents ripping them from their roots and "ruining their lives" - I will remember our trips with great fondness. Ha ha!

Hope to see some of you very soon!!

Impactful Day

That was my word of the day yesterday - impactful! One of my friends called it an "Oprah Moment" - funny! Anyway, there is a family at our school - daughter in highschool, with a Mother that is a Holocaust Survivor. This woman came from Israel to our school to speak with the 10th grade students as they are learning WWII history right now. She also spoke to any parents that wanted to come -- there were about 20 of us in the room.

She is almost 82 and has written a book about her life journey called Life is a Gift. I purchased the book and already began reading it. She leads a 'quiet' life she says and hid what happened to her for decades. She told us after that she was nervous and doesn't usually do 'talks' - she was SO eloquant, that I was sure she did this on a speaking circuit.

Back up a little, I have been reading a book called War and Rememberance by Herman Wouk - Eric suggested I read it. It is a story about WWII - not just when the USA entered it, but when it began. It follows a fictional US miliary family - so for me, it makes learning the history more real and 'fun'. I have really enjoyed learning a lot more, specificalliy because we live in Austria now. I have friends that have visited concentration camps near Prague, in Poland etc.. I have Jewish friends that live here and we talk about what it feels like to live in a place where Jewish people were persecuted and killed. I have walked around the Jewish Quarter here and the Jewish Memorial and have seen the only standing Synogogue in Vienna from the war. (It was saved because non-Jewish residents lived connected to it on a city street) I say all this to say, I am living 'closer' to it now, so it has taken on more meaning than when I lived in the USA.

So back to the speaker, her story was awe-inspiring, tragic, magical in ways, and most certainly impactful. She finished and I felt like my life had just been impacted in an important way. She was given life 3 times - once when she was born in Berlin 3 months premature in 1928 and they wrapped her up and put her in a box to bury. She screamed out to let them know she wasn't dead. The 2nd when was 9 and 1/2 she was rescued after 2 brutal weeks (physical, emotional, sexual abuse) in an underground cellar. She was captured and abused by her brother's best friends - young neo natzi's trying to impress Hitler. The third was when she was the last boat out of Germany on the "Kindertransport" to be adopted by a London family. Her parents were killed/burned at Auschwitz and she doesn't have record of her brother, but he was not adopted and assumed killed.

Her lesson was - we are all Given the gift of Life - use it to it's fullest and if you see an injustice happening use your voice. This beautiful woman went through all of this and still has this message... amazing. I truly wish you all could have listened to her and met her. There is so much more to the story - if you want to borrow it, let me know!

A few other quick notes:
--The kids are having a fun week with Spirit Week. Evan brought this idea to his school and got it approved and planned it all out with a few friends, so we were proud of him!

--Today was also the fun run at school to raise money for Japan and Julia ran 13 laps around!! This is the girl that would say "Hold Me" after taking 10 steps a year ago. Moving here has changed her - we walk SO much more here - walk everywhere!

--We had a WONDERFUL trip to Garmische Germany to meet up with Christy (my sister in law) and her family. The kids all had so much fun, I missed Christy so much so it was so great to see her, AND I brought back great American stuff from the Commissary! :)

-- Eric is recovering nicely from his hernia surgery. He is biking again and doing some other things as he can without pain.

-- I am recovering fine from my bout in Turkey -- went to the dr. today and we are doing some follow up tests to make sure all the parasites are gone! Yuck!


Signing out...........

Spring Break Trip 2011 - Turkey

Pictures: 4 wheeling in Cappadocia, Hagia Sophia (once a Christian Church then turned into Mosque) not a museum - FASCINATING, Outside Blue Mosque, down under in the Basilica Sistern, Balloons taking off while we were.

So much to tell, but how to keep it short and sweet? Well, I guess if it is too long, you can just skip it! :) I will just do random notes and thoughts.

High point: would be the hot air balloon ride but see low point below. So, I would have to say our ATV tour or sitting inside the Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque.

Low point: the day and night I spent in a Turkish Hospital

We left for Turkey on the Friday morning before Easter. We found it a bit strange that we would be in a Muslim country on Easter Sunday, but we still talked about it as a family and remembered Jesus and what He gave up for us and how we try to incorporate his teachings in our lives. Eric and I actually relished the additional religious exposure for the kids (and us) as we think it is an important part in growing in your own faith.

Anyway... we got to Istanbul with time to see plenty on Friday. We also had Saturday and Sunday for touring around. We hit all the wondeful famous spots in Istanbul; the beautiful Blue Mosque, the Basilica Sistern, the Spice Market, the Grand Bazaar, the Hagia Sophia and much more... plus ate our way along every street.

There are mosques EVERYWHERE as they (the Islams) have a call to prayer 5x per day. Interesting is that they have a literal 'call' to prayer through HUGE speakers on every Mosque that echo through the entire city. Try to picture this - 5 times per day a loud arabic speaking voice chanting about 6 lines. It is odd, beautiful, unusual, fascinating all wrapped up in one. One got 'used' to it - but have to admit by the last day I was kinda like "enough of the loudspeaker thing" no disrespect intended.

We also took a cruise up the Bosphorus River which connects the Sea of Maramar and the Black Sea... and did a stop off in a small town on the Asian side of Istanbul. We all thought it was fun to be on Two Continents in one day! It was nice to see the beauty from the water also.

The major sights are beautiful, the history fascinating and the people extremely friendly. But the rest of the buildings are not nice looking, there are TONS of people in that city and it is definitely quite poor. This is just my observation. Plus: things are CHEAP!! We could eat and shop so much less than in Vienna - that was fun.

The Grand Bazaar is this GIGANTIC shopping area where you can haggle to your hearts content. We spent a few hours in it, but decided to hold off on purchases until we returned back to Istanbul to avoid additional lugguage on our trip to Cappadokia. This turned out to be a mistake: to be explained later...

On Monday afternoon/evening I came down with a fever and bad body aches but powered through with some Tylenol and Tuesday morning we flew out to Cappadocia, Turkey. This is a region in Central Turkey with lots of rock formations (from volcanos), chimey fairy rocks, cave formations etc... It is gorgeous, different, aweinspiring.
We took a 2 hour ATV/4 wheeler tour that first afternoon. We all had a blast and we let the kids sit in front of us and drive most of it. No one wanted to ride with me because I was slow and a worry wart. Everyone wanted to ride with Daddy, so they kept having to switch off and be with me sometimes. Too funny. It was a really fun way to see quite a few areas and famous formations.

I was feeling pretty bad by dinner time again so went to bed. Besides my fever and aches at this point, I had NO appetite whatsoever - and verging on naseau.

Early (5am!) we had to be up on Wednesday for the much anticipated Hot Air Balloon Ride! I planned this months ago and have been looking forward to it. I was still pretty sick in the am and had also added another symptom....what would you not want to have to do every 5 minutes while 1,000 feet up in a balloon. Well, by the grace of God I was able to take that 1 hour ride. I did have to sit down every 10 minutes or so because I was so sick and weak I could barely stand. I was still able to enjoy the beauty, but admitedly the experience wasn't as great as I hoped it would be. I am still thrilled we were able to do this as a family and I hope our kids remember it for the rest of their lives.

By 9am I was back in bed and didn't get out until the next morning when we headed to the hospital. I got so bad it was apparent I needed to go. Good thing I did as I had blood in my you know what and a bad case of Amoebic Dysentary. IV Fluids, IV antibiotics and lots of other stuff I don't know as no one spoke English. (very scary experience but they were so nice) I was there about 24 hours and then we flew out to Istanbul. I was still fairly sick so Eric and the kids did the shopping at the Grand Bazaar. I am so sorry I missed it, but I was just too weak and needed to be close to a bathroom.

Saturday we flew back to Vienna. I have never been so happy to see my own bed and own toilet in all my life! :) By Monday I was feeling a ton betteer and as of today, Tuesady, I would say I am back to 85%.

Side Note:
My friend just arrived back from visiting her family in Pakistan, not far from where Osama bin Laden was killed. She got out just in time before airport delays etc... and I was able to ask her all sorts of muslim/islam questions I had after visiting Turkey. It sure is fun to ask her these questions and have these conversations. I am growing so much in this regard.

Hope Spring has Sprung where you are!

Update

Hello!

Eric had a hernia surgery last Wednesday and he is doing really well. The surgeon fixed it orthoscopically which helps his recovery time. He is walking well now and back at work. The hospital experience was interesting -- tested our German language skills (luckily most spoke English when necessary!) and gave us a glimpse into socialized medicine in a public hospital. We could have waited a few weeks for the surgery and been in a private hospital, but Eric wanted to do the surgery quicker as he was in a lot of pain and unable to run etc... You know him, not high maintenance and has a great attitude - so he though the hospital experience was a nice glimpse into Austria life. (I thought it was gross!:))

He was back home after a night in the hospital (and fainting on me once after going to the bathroom - turns out I cannot hold up a 6'6" man by myself!) and a few quiet days on the couch. He was doing well enough to take our 2 kids and my running friend's two kids downtown to watch us run the 1/2 Marathon on Sunday morning. I am so thankful that Eric could do that as we loved seeing them and it was a fantastic morning.

The race was fun and a well run HUGE (over 33,000 runners!) spectacle. The weather was beautiful and I felt great the entire run. Good to check that off my list. Ida and I are enjoying the training - keeping us motivated and 'sane' so we will continue to look at future things to train for. I still have a thorn in my side to check a full marathon off my bucket list - but not sure I want to invest that much time to be honest. I'll think it over a bit. I'm thinking Destination Marathon sounds like a blast -- saw one Nice to Cannes on the French Riveria - wouldn't that be fun?!!

The kids are doing great. Julia's latest funniest story is on Sunday. Believe it or not, people just strip down and change after the race wherever they are. After seeing like 6 naked men Julia says "Boy, we sure have seen a lot of worldwide tallywackers since moving here!" I about died laughing.

Evan has a field trip tomorrow to the Natural History Museum, The Parliment and the Globe Museum. So glad he gets to do these things. Unfortunately I don't think the school does a great job tying in all the cultural things that are possible in Vienna to their curriculum much. Seems like the field trips are 'after thoughts' and depend on how hard the teachers want to work. Julia hasn't even gone on one yet this year. Another thing I would love to see improved at the school. Big news from 4th grade too... the AIS 4th Grade was asked to sing at the Hofburg Palace (the main residence of the Hapsburg royal family for 100's of years) for the opening ceremonies for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Science and Technology 2011 Conference. Parents cannot attend (doesn't that SUCK) but they are trying to set up a live feed for us to watch it via our computers. I am going to see of Eric can go 'for work' so he can see them!

We leave on Friday morning for Turkey. I have been trying to arrange last minute details, but I still have more to work on. It is fun though! We will be seeing Istanbul and Cappadocia and we are all really excited. Count on a blog after our return! :)