Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't written in awhile! Not sure who is still reading but I do like writing sometimes! :) The visit with my parents was really fun. We saw a lot, talked a lot, laughed a lot and just had a really great visit. I was so thankful for my Mom's 3rd week here (my Dad left after 2 weeks) as Eric was gone so it was great to have help with the kids and company. We also had a really nice week together continuing our exploring and going to lots of Christmas Markets here in Vienna. Thanks Mom!!!

Mom left on Tuesday morning and the kids and I have been keeping busy while we wait for Eric to return from India on Sunday. We are all VERY excited as we have missed him a ton and we can't wait to hear more about his adventures. We weren't able to talk or email with him very much, so that was hard. I have such an appreciation for military spouses that have months without their other 1/2!!!

The kids had Thursday and Friday off of school as they go to an American International School -- so we get American holidays off too. It was a bit odd to be in a place that doesn't celebrate something you are used too. Stores still open, people working etc... In fact, Eric doesn't even get Thanksgiving for a holiday. Anyway, the kids and I had a wonderfully lazy morning and then headed out to the store to purchase Nerf Guns for our upcoming Nerf War with the Stott family.

The Stott's invited us to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. It was so great of them to include us and we all had a blast. They are from California and their kids are 4th and 8th grade. Kara had never been away from her family for Thanksgiving (or any big holiday) in all of her 43 years.... so it was different for them also. We had all the great 'American' Thanksgiving food including "White Trash Green Bean Casserole" thanks to my Mom bringing me cans of those onion things you need. (they don't sell those here) Thanks to Sara Cabe (aka Betty Crocker), I made yummy pumpkin cheesecake bars. The kids played WII, we had a great time chatting and then we had a boys vs. girls all out nerf gun war - which was really fun! We also played Lets Dance on the WII - has anyone done this?? SO FUN!!!!!!!

Oh - I forgot to mention that we started out the morning with our own Turkey Trot. We are used to doing the REd Cross Turkey Trot 5K every year and the kids and I were missing it. So we did our own Fun Run around our big park here (about 1 mile) It was a beautiful morning and we had fun just hanging out together running around!


Today we had another lazy morning and then headed to the UN as I still had my German class that I didn't want to miss. It is getting harder now and it is difficult to miss one ... my final exam is mid January! :)

We ate lunch at the UN-- which we all love as it is CHEAP and REALLY GOOD! :)

We hung out this afternoon, playing games, shooting nerf guns etc..

We are off tomorrow to a friends house that is having a huge Thanksgiving like dinner for a ton of people. They are so generous and throw nice parties! Everyone is chipping in by bringing dishes, wine etc.. and they live downtown by one of the markets so we will also venture there to walk off some of our food. The kids will have lots of people to play with, so hopefully all will have fun.

Eric arrives home early Sunday - I'm most thankful for that! :)

Night Night!