Durnstein Castle Hike post # 2

More Vineyards

View from the guard tower

In the tower

Luke and Grandpa

The arch in the wall

Into the castle

View from the castle

We made it!

Durnstein Castle hike post #1

Headed up through Durstein village

Esther gets a ride on Grandpa's shoulders

houses growing out of the rocks

Lily contemplating the Danube river

View of the village

part of the old fortification walls

Vineyards!

Luke forging his own path

Vienna Woods

The woods start a block from my parents' home; they were my favorite place to be when we lived in Vienna before. We enjoyed being there in the early spring this year.

Esther helping build a fort.

Inside the fort

Discovering moss

Luke playing in the leaves

Lily gathering wild garlic (ransom); it was delicious in my mom's salsa.

Fun with stumps!

We're Home!

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for a couple of weeks...well, not really off the face of the earth, but we did leave North America. We spent a delightful two weeks visiting my parents in Austria. To be strictly accurate, the second week was delightful--the first week was mostly a blur of jet lag accompanied by a cold that just wouldn't go away. Vienna was cold that first week as well--it seems we got at least some snowfall every day for the first several days, although it didn't stick for long. The second week was much more spring-like, and we had a wonderful time visiting the city, the Vienna Woods, and on Saturday the ruins of an old castle. Most of all, we enjoyed time with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle S. and Aunt K.
Vienna was home to my family through my late teen years. My parents moved back two summers ago, and I have been planning a visit ever since--but until we bought the tickets 10 days before our departure we didn't know when we were going--this spring, or in the fall, or next year... I'd been thinking a lot about the trip, and dreading the difficulties of overseas travel with small children. In the end, I decided rather precipitously that I would much rather make that trip now with 3 children than later with 4! We were hoping to go nearer the beginning of April, but found that ticket prices went up steeply about that time (Spring Break, I suppose) so we bought tickets, packed our bags, and made the trip in March. It was wonderful being with family and getting re-acquainted with Austria. I especially enjoyed hiking in the Vienna Woods with my family and taking them to see my high school and meet some of my old teachers. I'll try to get some pictures up soon--we've been home for almost a week but are just now getting over jet-lag on this end of the trip. Life is starting to feel normal again!

Lily's penchant for literary speech

Lily was unhappy with me for not dishing up lunch fast enough. This is how she expressed herself:

"It is highly uncomfortable to know that food is available just then, and is cooked in a pan, and that our mother doesn't intend to give us lunch"

New LDS Homeschooling Blog

This is a neat blog for and by LDS homeschoolers that was just launched yesterday, Latter-Day Homeschooling. The blog description states that it was "created as a gathering place for LDS homeschoolers to share their homeschooling experiences, offer tips, resources, ideas and encouragement to each other."
Sounds good to me! I get most of my inspiration and encouragement from homeschooling groups with various Christian and secular emphases, but sometimes it is nice to learn from others who share my specific religious beliefs.

Girls, Boys, and Construction Toys

My children received Duplo construction blocks from their aunt for Christmas. In the past two months, the blocks have received countless hours of use. Luke is especially fond of building airplanes, boats, tractors, etc., and can spend hours happily occupied this way. Lily plays with the blocks less, but it wasn't until this morning that I really paid attention to how she uses them when she does. She was happily playing this morning, and I listened in to an intricate game in which different blocks (not people figures, just blocks) were assigned characters: she was planning a wedding, and had a bride, a groom, and all their friends!