IAEA Ball

Pictures: Evan and Julia over Christmas break on top of the Danube tower with Eric's work buildings in the back ground (the restaurant rotates) Eric and some of his colleagues at the ball. Kara and Bill Stott, our good friends from California that we went to the ball with.

Wow, I took a few weeks off from blogging. Had a great adventure last Saturday night attending the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency: Eric's work) Ball... it is Ball season in Vienna and this is a good one to attend we hear. We headed to dinner first with 2 other couples and had a wonderful Austrian food feast. It was amazing to be in the Hofburg Palace... the parties that must have happened in that place since the mid 1400's!! There were many kinds of music ... I think 10 different music rooms. Reggae, Latin, Disco, Symphony, etc... I believe over 3,000 people attend. In the "main" ballroom there was a show to start everything off with african dancers, ballet and accapello singers and lots of other stuff. Oh, then I don't quite understand all of this yet, but then the 'kick off' is all of the debutants (sp?) in their white dresses doing a waltz. It was just so much fun, an amazing experience.

We also went last Monday to our first opera, La Boheme, at the famous Vienna Opera House. It was really neat to experience that also. Apparently I have gained a few lbs cuz my skirt was so tight which was good because it prevented me from falling asleep. I'm kinda kidding - it was really neat, but I don't think I am going to become a huge opera fan. LOVED the experience though.

Eric got a day of skiing in last weekend with Bill Stott...they had a nice day up on the mountain.

Big news in the Smith Family - Eric's little brother Kirk is engaged - YEAH! We adore Cherish and are excited about their wedding in July in Idaho.

Austrians have a ski holiday week (I think most Europeans do actually) - isn't this funny? Anyway, ours is next week so we depart for Nassfeld on Saturday for the week. We are all excited and looking forward to a week away and more new experiences. I am kinda more excited about the snow shoeing and saunas then the skiing, but I will do some of that too :) There are a few other families that we know going, so that makes it even more fun for the kids...especially Evan as each familiy has a boy his age going. Julia just can't wait to hit the slopes again - she is adorable!

There is a new family that just moved here from Colorado and they are similiar to us in that her husband came here to work at the IAEA also. They are a very nice family and it is so interesting to see them go through some of the same stuff and be a few months removed from it. They are awaiting their boat shipment and so their apartment is empty; they are sleeping on our air matresses and have our card table and chairs. I have to say I don't miss that! Oh, and the no car thing... geez that kinda sucked! I have tried to take her grocery shopping etc... it is nice to remember what others helped me with and then 'pay it forward'. They have kids Evan and Julia's age, so that is really fun too.

Until later...