Lantern Festival

Sebastian's kindergarten had a lantern festival, which is celebrated in Austria in honor of Saint Martin. Don't ask me the story behind it - I will have to google it as well. But all the kids make their own lanterns and parade outside. Also, people eat goose and red cabbage at this time of year for this holiday. Google that one as well!

Odile's Birthday Dinner

Yummy Indian shrimp curry!

Election Day

By the time we went to bed on Election Day last week, no results had been announced yet. But the next day Michi and I woke up, ran upstairs and turned on CNN - happily to see Obama giving a very touching (for me at least) acceptance speech as the President-Elect.

Here's a video just for that day...

Carinthia

We were in southern Austria (Carinthia) two times in October to celebrate birthdays of Michi's twin aunts and his uncle.

Sebastian and Annika, she is the daughter of Michi's cousin Martin. This is the first time Sebastian has played a "real computer", as he calls it, and was fascinated.

Michi in front of his grandma's house in Molzbichl.

Franz (Opa), Stella, Sebastian, Michi and Uncle Anton in the guesthouse where Michi's grandpa used to come play cards (and drink a beer or two?) on Sundays after church.

Wutzl, the Pucher family dog. Sometimes Michi calls him the 4th son.

Sebastian in front of Oma Pucher's house, with Franz (Opa) and Michi's cousin Berhard in the background.

Stella and Resi (Oma).

Great-Grandma Pucher (Ur Oma), Stella, Michi and Sebastian (who refused to put down his firetruck).

Family dinner on All Saints' Day (Nov 1st) in Molzbichl, Carinthia.

Here is a video of the men's choir from the village of Molzbichl. Apparently this song is quite emotional, as some people teared up, but I didn't understand it because it was sung in local dialect. Still beautiful.

Pumpkin Festival

We went to the Pumpkin Festival in Retz, north of Vienna, and stayed over night - like a mini break! The whole village was decorated with pumpkins, and every food stand had something made of pumpkin.

Walking the day after in the Thayatal National Park on the Czech border.

The amazing Michi who can carry two whiny kids up the hiking path AND still have a smile.

Hey, who put my "schnulli" up there!

The dads had a moment of weakness and bought the kids each a balloon - they cost 9.50 EUR each! That's over $10 for a balloon! Kim nicknamed the balloons "nine-fifty" in honor of the inflated price.

A whole bunch of "nine-fifty's".

The guys take a minute to catch a glass of wine.

Lucas, "Kitten" Kaya and "Batman" Sebastian

Extreme Kinderwagen

Another nice walk out in the woods on a fall day. Just that we took that path that was VERY hilly, and with all the strollers and pounds of crap we hauled around, we had quite a workout. Including the guys who were carrying the bigger kids a lot of the time.

Therefore, we have coined a new kind of sport called "extreme kinderwagen" - not extreme skiing or biking, but kinderwagen, otherwise the german word for stroller.



Suz, Stefan and Fiona pushing up the strollers. This hill was a lot steeper than it looks. Coming down the other side on the dirt path was a bit more challenging.

Barcelona

I won't bore you with the work stuff, but here are some images from the few hours of spare time I had in Barcelona at the beginning of October.

We stayed at a guesthouse in this street.

Barcelona harbor.

New York

Here's a shout out to the Kappa girls back home in the Midwest. Looking forward to the next meeting in 2010!

Ah, the nice Midwest girls hit Rockefeller Center.

Our view from the apartment in the morning - thank you Kathy and Harold for letting us stay!

After a night out on the town.

Suz and Kellie

I miss doughnuts.
Ground zero construction site.
Cocktails at the Ritz with a view to the Statue of Liberty - classic!

September 2008

Here are some photos from September.

Lainzer Tiergarten park on the seesaw with Kaya.

Suzanne and Stefan doin' a bit of crazy dancing near the deer.

Stella likes to "model".

"I am a tree!"

Sebastian was invited to an afternoon sponosored by the Children's Cancer Society in Vienna. He got to ride in a real fire truck and cook with one of the city's best chefs. Here he is in front of the "big" firetruck from the local village fire department.

He got to test out the hose and push over pylons.

Making a cheese cake with the chef from Meinl am Graben.