When the weather outside is frightful and you have a toddler tired of being couped-up in the house ... take 'em to Yabadoo! It's an indoor playground!
Aunt Susie racing to the top of the canopy ... Kelty made it about a 1/4 of the way up.
Air hockey for the little ones ... Kelty held his own against his fierce competitor ... Daddy
Daddy and Kelty tumbling down the slideIt's Christmas Market season!!! I LOVE the Christmas season and I love shopping and I love food and well .... I LOVE the Christmas Markets in Europe! We hit our first market the weekend before Thanksgiving and we plan to hit A LOT more! Gluhwein (a hot mulled wine) is the drink of the season here ... and it's great!
Susie and I eating potato cakes with applesauce ... this made me think of the awesome German meal my mom made for G'pa Lutz several years ago. G'pa Lutz was born in Germany and moved to the U.S. when he was in his youth ... we found his citizenship papers after he passed away in April 2006 and realized he did not become a U.S. citizen until he was in his 40's. I wished I would have talked to him about it more.
More "Cooking with Evi"! Evi and Heinz came over and made homemade pork schnitzel in our kitchen! It was WONDERFUL! As always, we had a really nice evening with them. Oh! We also introduced Evi and Heinz to a traditional "American" dessert ... the good 'ole Root Beer Float. Neither of them had heard of or tasted a Root Beer Float so we were quite excited to share one of our traditional drinks/desserts.Austria! We spent our Thanksgiving weekend skiing and snowboarding in the Austrian Alps! The Stubai Glacier in particular. It was beautiful and breathtaking ... I can cross that of off our "Bucket List" now (though we are planning to ski/board in the alps frequently). We stayed just outside of Innsbruck at Hotel Happy Stubai ... this hotel was amazing. They provided a sitting service for Kelty so we could spend a few hours skiing ... not to mention breakfast, lunch and dinner included in the hotel stay! The meals were AWESOME and they even prepared special meals for Mike to work around his food allergies. Our first night at dinner our designated waitress was concerned as to why Mike wasn't eating ... we explained his food allergies and then he went back to eating his "cold leftovers" we brought with us. The waitress came back again and asked if their was anything she could bring him ... we again said "no, but thank-you" ... then she came back a 3rd time and inquired exactly what his allergies were ... Mike pulled out the list (yes, it's quite an impressive list) ... she took it back to the chef ... then came back and said they will have special meals for him the rest of our stay! Whoa!
Oh ... did I mention the "nude" sauna ... and did I mention it was gender mixed? My favorite part was watching Al carry on a conversation with an older gentleman standing in the middle of the sauna (I am a mature adult ... I am not giggling ... nope, not giggling).
Riding the lift and bundled up!
I took it easy and snowbladed the first day. I re-injured my ankle a few days before we left and was actually back on crutches. I ditched the crutches for the trip but kept my ankle wrapped. My ski boots and snowboard boots kept my ankle really secure. :o)
My hot snowboarder of a husband!
Taking a break and finding a photo op
Cloud layer at the top of the mountain!
Kelty's "mannequin pose". A few weeks ago we were in a store and Kelty started running from mannequin to mannequin trying to imitate their pose ... it was hilarious! Now whenever we ask him for his "mannequin pose" this is what we get! :o) We took this picture outside our hotel. No snow on the ground yet ... just on the mountain!
I can't get enough of this landscape! Green hills and snow-capped mountains!
Mike and Sue. We hit the Christmas Market in Innsbruck both evenings. We took a horse-drawn buggy ride through the Altstadt (old city). We were wrapped in blankets and sipping Gluhwein (technically it was Sue's ... but we were sharing).
Nice little photo op of the entrance to the market.
Mmmmm! Potatoe Pancakes! Yummo!! I can't get over the picture of you on the mountain...how beautiful!! I like the photo op...that would be me only my skis stuck in the snow...ha!! Miss you and can't wait to visit!!!! humph..
ReplyDeleteThose are some great pictures, the Market sounds really neat. And my kiddos would LOVE that canopy, how fun! :)
ReplyDeleteyou are so blessed and we love the way you share all the fun and uique things with us. I am trying to find a 2 week time slot to make a personal appearance. anything less would be too too short. Looks like it might not be until after the dance thing!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. The highlight for me was definitely the mannequin pose! Classic.
ReplyDeleteWow! LOVE the Austria pics, just beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks again Jaime for the great update. You cover a lot of ground in a few sentences. Literally and figuratively speaking. Love the photos of the mountains and the valley.
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