Energy week and lots of snow...

I don't know the full history of why it is called "Energy Week", but it is part of the school calendar in Austria, and in February we get a week off of school!  Hooray!  Most Austrians go skiing during this week and we did too- but before our vacation started, we went ice skating at the Rathaus...

The following Monday, we headed out to Traunsee for a few days of skiing with friends.

and while the weather was a bit foggy and windy, the kids still had a great time

Ellie makes her way down the slope, while Carson rides the magic carpet

Milka loved watching all of the action and playing in the snow

and the hot chocolate was pretty good too :)

From our hotel we had a nice view of the mountains and the lake

and LOTS of snow

We came back to Vienna on Thursday, and it has been snowing off and on since

Crazy amounts of snow for the city!  

And while it is beautiful, I am having a little "Spring Fever" right about now :)

Berlin in Bits... Day 3

Our last day, the dads joined us for some fun family time.  We went to Tropical Islands!  It was amazing- once we got over the initial shock of how enormous/overwhelming it was! :)

Pools, waterslides, beaches, restaurants, hot air balloon rides, an indoor playground and good friends...what's not to like!

Berlin in Bits...Day 2

We were a group of 8 kids and 3 moms, that meant that our choice of sites needed to be very kid-friendly... so our second day of adventures in Berlin included the Zoo and the Aquarium...(almost all of the pictures are courtesy of Abby, Luke and Levi :)

we saw lots of animals

explored

climbed and just enjoyed one another

and they all got a kick out of this fountain :) hee hee!

after walking through the zoo, then we were off to the aquarium

It really was a fantastic day and if you get the chance...they are two fun places to visit!

Berlin in Bits... Day 1

Berlin was so fun!  While Brad and Lindsay took part in the City to City Conference with Tim Keller, I got to do fun things with the kiddos and a few families from the WHM Prague Team!

Our first adventure took place at the Legoland Discovery Center

Lots of playing, lots of building and lots of fun!

Then we were off for some sugar!  Yep- there is Dunkin Donuts in Berlin and I am proud to say that we stopped there more than once :)

We met up with the dads for dinner at Berlin Burrito Company...which we all would highly recommend, and then we went quickly to see some of the famous sites

On a side note, the last time Brad and I were in Berlin together, was in 1998, and we were visiting missionaries throughout German speaking Europe.  It was in Berlin where we learned we were pregnant with Luke!  Big surprise.  VERY BIG.  But very GOOD! :)

Checkpoint Charlie

Remnants of the Berlin Wall

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag

(sorry about the quality of the photos...most of them were taken from the car)

Stay tuned for Days 2 and 3!