Schetteregg

This was also a few weeks ago on a nice sunny fall day. The fog was down in the valleys and we went to Schetteregg, a small ski resort close by to play in the sun. 

They have a nice restaurant there with a big playground. It was a little Sunday morning excursion and we will be back in the winter to ski!

Pumpkin - countdown to Halloween

In 2 days is Halloween and we are getting ready. Even though Halloween is not something usually celebrated in Austria, we (or I) decided to bring Halloween to our little street and have some Halloween celebrations. Our pumpkin is carved and we light it every night.

Here is our pumpkin - and early trick or treat candy from the neighbor.

Check this out. There is a candle inside.

Looking great a night.

Ready.

Finn Birthday

Finn's birthday was a few weeks ago and he turned 3. I can't believe that my baby boy is already 3. The time just goes by so fast!

October 12th was a fun day and we had parties all day long.

First thing in the morning, Finn got a birthday hug from his sister and she sang happy birthday. Then Oma, Opa and Alissia came by to bring him cake and presents.

We then had Spanish class and had a little celebration for Finn there as well. We brought muffins, sang "Cumpleanos Feliz" and played birthday games.

In the afternoon family and friends came for Finn's pirate party and it was wild. At some point we put all the kids on the couch: 15 of them at the age 0-13! I was so glad we were able to have the adults upstairs with my mom because otherwise we would not have had enough room.

Finn had a wonderful day, got lots of presents and keeps asking when his next party is going to be!

Birthday hug

Birthday cake from Alissia

Presents from Oma and Opa

More presents

Birthday celebration at Spanish class

The only picture of me and Finn on his birthday!

Ready for the pirate party

Lilly loved her pirate hat

Presents from Oma Lotte

Birthday songs for Finn (Alissia and Philipp played the guitar)

Cake for the grown ups

Yummy bread for the crowd

Margot made little Schaumrollen for the kids

Everybody enjoyed playing with the new toys

Anna-Maria and Oma Lotte

Trying to get a picture of all the kids on the couch

Next try

Finn blowing out his candles

Oma and Alissia made a pirate hat cake for him

Playing in the leaves

I better post these pictures before the snow pictures start showing up (it snowed the past 48 hours and winter seems to be here).

But before that we had some great fall days and were able to play outside a lot. The kids especially enjoyed big piles of leaves to jump and throw.

This one was outside our gym class and all the kids just dove right into the big pile of leaves.

Lilly did whatever the bigger boys were doing

Swimming in the leaves

"Look mama, I am making angels!"

I love this picture.

Innsbruck

I had to go to Innsbruck twice recently for work and I always enjoy it again. I studied there and I have very fond memories of my time there.

I also usually meet up with friends that I do not get to see very often and that is also fun. 

I had breakfast with my friend Dominique and the 2 hours just flew by.

After my meeting I met up with Judith and we went for drinks to my friends new restaurant/ bar and had pizza for dinner.

And then I slept on the train home. Successful day!

View of the Nordkette - one of the last nice and warm days

Drinks at "Zur Eiche" - the sturm was delicious

Judith gets around by bike in the city

Movies with the kids

The other day I had promised the kids to take them to the movies. There was a family movie day and all movies were only 5 Euros in the afternoon. Finn got to go with his 3 oldest cousins, Raphael, Alissia and Philipp. 

We saw Madagaskar 3 and it was fun. But once the popcorn was done, Finn was done too! 

And those kids eat me poor: popcorn, soda, candy,.... :-)

Ready for the movies 

It was in 3D and we had to wear the glasses

Pumpkin Festival

Fall is really my favorite time of the year and in the US it was always really fun with pumpkins, apples and Halloween. I thought we might miss out on lots of things being in Austria, but that is not the case. 

I found a local pumpkin festival the other weekend and it turned out to be really cute. We got to pick pumpkins, eat pumpkin soup and pumpkin Schnitzel, the kids got to play games and make buttons. And you could have even carved a pumpkin, but we decided to take ours home and carve it at home (photos later).

My cute kids dressed up in their knitted sweaters and Austrian hats

Finn was concentrating hard

There was an obstacle course and you had to carry a pumpkin on a wooden spoon

Lilly too wanted to participate

Picking the right pumpkin

Finn liked them all

The big ones make great seats

They picked 5 little ones which are their favorite toy at home now

Pumpkins everywhere

Finn tried to pick them off

Also potatoes and other vegetables were shown

Hm, pumpkin soup

Hm, pumpkin Schnitzel

Special juice for the kids

And one more time through the course

And time to leave, last picture