Busy Summer So Far Part 1

Like everyone else, I'm sure, our summer is just flying by. We've had no shortage of things to do and people visiting. Here is a brief summary with pictures of all we have been up to.

We began the summer with quick trip to Croatia to get our passports stamped. Going down was no problem, but coming back we got stuck in the line to cross the border. We sat in this traffic for over an hour. Good times!!!





I made jam with my neighbor again. Apricot this time and it is sooooo good.



Jake and I went on a bowling date. It had been a long time since we'd bowled, but we had fun all the same. Here is the one pic I got from the night.



Eight students from the OC Vienna Studies Program stayed after the rest of the group left to do mission work. We and 3 other families hosted them in our homes during their 1 week stay. Our family hosted 2 girls. It was so fun being around college kids again. It reminded us of our own glory days. Abby got totally spoiled with the constant attention and play companions who of course played whatever she wanted.



Before they left the team had a BBQ for all the students. It was a nice lazy evening sitting around eating, talking and playing games.

Fun Kids Site

I just found this site. It has lots of fun ideas to do with your kids.

On a separate note, we are enjoying a visit from our friends Clyde and Gwen Antwine these next few days. It is so nice to see familiar faces from home.

Have I Failed

Today, I was loading up the DVD player with a movie for Abby because, well, because I needed some quiet time. Anyway, there was a picture of Walt Disney standing in front of a globe on the inside cover. Here's the conversation that followed:

Abby: "Mommy, is that God?"
Me: "No, that's Walt Disney."
Abby: "Who's Walp Dibiney?"
Me: "Well, he was a man who made movies, like Snow White."
Abby: "Then he's like God because we have a lot of movies."

Hope your parenting day is filled with more affirming moments than mine.

Critics

I recently, once again, received a criticism about my frequency of posting to the blog. So, in order to satisfy those who can't get enough of us here is an update in list form:

-We have been in Vienna for over a year now. This is unbelievable. This means I haven't had a Sonic drink in over a year. A YEAR people. It also means lots of other things, but I'll save those for a later post.

-Jake has finished his intensive German courses. So, of course, he speaks perfect Deutsch now :)

-Abby and I are learning how to be home together during the day again.

-I've got a tentative date with my neighbor to make more jam, apricot this time.

-We recently learned we won't be getting our visas this year. Oh well, maybe next year.

-This week we have 2 OC students staying with us. They are staying over from the Summer Vienna Studies Progam. Abby is loving the constant attention and Jake and I are enjoying reliving some of our memories through them. Ahhh....the early days.

-As a team, we are getting ready to begin a new phase of our work here in Vienna. This is both excting and a little scary. We are once again entering unchartered territory.

-Finally, since the same critic mentioned above said "I really don't read blogs without pictures." Here is on just for fun.

School's Out

That's right folks, here in Europe school has just finished up for the year. Today was the last day for Abby at her kindergarten. Jake and I recently made the decision that next year Abby will attend a school closer to our home. Right now, it takes over an hour by public transportation or 20 minutes by car to get her there. With gas prices being what they are and the dollar in a seemingly constant spiral the choice was made. This was an incredibly hard choice, for me at least. So many things, ok almost all things have been new since we came here. We had to start at square one with everything, so now changing something I knew is difficult. We really loved her school and teachers. Last week, Abby and I visited her new kindergarten and it seems very nice. The facilities are great and the teacher and administrator I met were very friendly. I will say, however, that their English was pretty limited. That still describes my German as well. So far Abby seems pretty unaffected by the change, but we will have to wait and see what September brings. I would ask for your prayers during this time, for me and Abby.

Fussball

In case you haven't heard yet, the city of Vienna has been overtaken by very enthusiastic fussball (that's soccer for all of you who aren't so cosmopolitan) fans. In fact, Tamika and I had the distinct pleasure of sharing our train back home from Bosnia with A LOT of Croatian fans. If you've never witnessed the enthusiasm for fussball first hand, it is almost impossible to accurately describe it. Let's just say it starts off as terrifying , followed by funny and then just turns into annoying. I will admit as Americans we don't truly appreciate all the hype.
Well, Jake had the opportunity to go to a UEFA game of few weeks ago. How, does one come by such a coveted thing as a ticket to one of these games. There are many ways of doing this, some of which are a bit on the shady side, but Jake actually won a ticket. Last summer Jake began collecting Coke bottle lids to earn points for free i-tunes. Well, one day as he was entering in his codes a message popped up that he had won a ticket to the upcoming games. Let me refer back to the aforementioned statement of Americans not appreciating soccer. We really thought nothing of this and even forgot about for awhile. As the start of the EM (europmeisterschaft) approached it entered our minds again, but just barely.
One day Jake was speaking with someone and casually mentioned he had a ticket to the game. Well, the person nearly came unglued. Apparently, this is like winning a ticket to the Superbowl or something. Suddenly, we understood this was a big deal. However, for us it still wasn't a big deal, really. In fact, Jake had even told Bart he could have the ticket. But as it turned out, Jake got a special letter in the mail with his name on it saying he would have to pick up the ticket in person. We broke the bad news to Bart and Jake began looking forward to going to the game. He really was looking forward to it after he realized the game he would attend was right the day after I returned from Bosnia. Remember, Jake was on his own with Abby for a whole week. And as it turns out, the game his ticket to was the Austria vs. Croatia game.
Jake went to the game and had a great time. Since he won his ticket from Coca Cola there was a pregame reception that he also attended. Thankfully, he came home in one piece. Here are some pics of the big event.



And here is a short video that attetempts to capture the "fun"

I made strawberry jam with my neighbor this week. Strawberries are in season here right now and they are soooo gooood. I maen I have never tasted such yummy strawberries. Well, with such an abundance of fresh friut it only seemed natural to do some canning. I have made jelly in the past with Jake's mom, but have always been intimitaded to go it alone. A few weeks ago our neighbors had us over to dinner along with another young couple in the building. It was such a nice time, and we felt so honored to be invited into their home. Some how during the course of dinner the subject of jam came up and I commented on how much I enjoyed making jam with my mother in law. So, Christine mentioned she would be making some soon and offered to show me how. I jumped at the chance and finally this week we got together. It was really fun. We talked most of the time in German, she is very patient with me. We laughed and talked and canned. Below are a few pictures of the day.