pumpkin Festival- year 3!

Today we went to my favorite pumpkin festival! This is our 3rd year to go and it has been in a different place each year. I love how each year has had a different feel to it. This year, the village was surrounded by vineyards, which I absolutely love. I think that they are so beautiful. We ate lots of great food, like pumpkin cream soup, fresh cooked spiral potato chips, and an amazing hazelnut pastry. The weather wasn't too cold this year, so we were really able to enjoy everything. Here are a few pictures from our day...

There was a parade with floats pulled by tractors. Here are the Vikings. (Notice their helmets made out of pumpkins!)

You can't have a festival in Vienna without tables of meat and cheese!

There were these little wine cellars all throughout the town. Some of them were so beautiful!

This guy was carving mushrooms out of wood using a chainsaw!

At this stand you could buy the yummy sugar-coated nuts. You know the ones that smell so amazing as you walk down the street? But this time they had sugar-coated coconut! It was so delicious!

And this guy was carving wood into bowls and platters. I was so amazed at how smooth he could get the wood. The kids stood there and watched him forever.

another cotter story

One more funny story from Cotter...

Last night I was getting frustrated with my kids because I was having to ask them a million times to do something and they continued to ignore me. I sat down with them and had a nice long talk about how they had been acting and how I wanted them to act. Then Cotter said, "Oh Mommy, I'm sorry. What can I do right now for you?" I said, "Cotter, you're so sweet. Thank you. Please go right now and pick up the toys in your room." He said okay and seriously within 3 minutes he was back fighting with his brother and yelling and screaming! So I said, "Hey Cotter. Do you remember a few minutes ago when "Sweet Cotter" was here? He asked me what he could do to help me. Could you please go and find "Sweet Cotter" and bring him back here?" He got a serious look on his face and said, "Well, Mommy. I can't do that." I asked him why and he said, "He went to Germany!"

Cricket

The other day, there was a cricket on the outside of our window. Cotter went up to it and stared at it for a minute and then asked "Mommy, what is that?" I said, "It's a cricket." Then he looked at for a minute and said, "Oohhhh.... so THAT'S what gets in your neck when you sleep on your pillow the wrong way!"

Long Night at the Museums

Last Saturday night, Josh and I got to go out on a date. It was by far one of my favorite dates- EVER! Each year in Vienna, they have an event called "Long Night at the Museums". It starts at 6:00 pm and you pay one price (13 euros) and you can visit every museum in Austria until 1:00 am! We started a little after 7:00, and we went to 6 different museums, before our legs were so worn out that it was time to go home! We went to the Natural History museum and saw a huge display of animals. We even saw what a marten looks like. (That is the little animal that chewed through the hose on our car and caused all sorts of problems). Then we went to my favorite museum in Vienna, the Albertina. I got to see paintings from my some of favorite artists. I even got to see an actual palette and tubes of paint that Renoir used! I know that an entire night of going to art museums was not Josh's idea of the perfect date, but I was so thankful that he did it with me. It was a truly magical night!

We just had Josh's phone to take pictures, but here is a small glimpse from the evening.

German class

I started an intensive German class 2 weeks ago, which is why I haven't posted anything in awhile. The class is 3 hours everyday (Monday-Friday) and it takes me about an hour to get there and a hour to get back. Add 1-2 hours of homework each night, makes it almost like a full time job! I am really enjoying the class and I feel like I am learning a lot, but it has been very difficult for me to find time to get everything else done each day. I do very much enjoy the weekends! Here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks.

This is the view from our bedroom window early in the morning before school. It is so nice to wake up each morning to such a beautiful view of God's creation.