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!!