To Germany and Back...

We're back from our week in Germany...and we made it in one piece!

Overall, Elise did a GREAT job traveling, I'm thankful to say.  Let me break it down (mainly so I remember for the future)...

Flights:  On our flight TO Germany, E did GREAT.  She didn't cry at all, and slept mostly the whole way.  She took her paci almost the whole trip.  Walking the airports she was in her carrier and was just fine.  On our flight BACK to Slovakia, she did well until the airplane's descent.  She started crying from what I'm sure was the change in pressure.  Bottle didn't work, paci barely worked, but we did our best to distract her until we touched ground.  Then she recovered :)

Never fear, we documented her first flight, of course! (phone pics)

Conference week:  Given the circumstances, E's schedule was off most of the week and her nursing/napping times were changed...but all things considered she did a good job.  She didn't mind being passed from person to person and even showed off that little toothless grin.

Jas and I enjoyed the fellowship with friends, encouragement, and sessions.  We also got to take part in communion, which was a big blessing.  One afternoon, Jas and I got out in the lush green woods next to the conference center for some fresh air and good hubby/wife convo...

Since pics of he and I are less common these days, I felt two were needed ;)

We got to spend short but sweet time with these friends that we don't get to see often...

And while we were there Elise started (along with rolling over more and laughing) eating her feet...fascinating, haha.

Look at that baby tummy.  It's too much, I say, too much.

All in all, it was a refreshing and much needed week away.  Now I feel ready to start back with learning Slovak.  Bring it on, grammar, bring it on...

2011: Year in Review

What in the world!?  Another year down?  Wow, time seriously flies.

2011 was a big year for us.  Summed up in these words:

Training
Saying "see ya later's"
International Move
Pregnancy (aka weeks of nausea :)
Settling in
Trips to Ikea
Summer Camps
Trip to Poland
Learning to drive stick shift
Church Visits
Language Classes
Public Transportation
Building Relationships
Meeting Neighbors
DEPO
New friends
Trip to Vienna
Birth of our daughter
Family Visits
Becoming parents
Surgeries
Recovering
Mamaland
Thanksgiving
Mikulas
Christmas

I'm sure that's not an exhaustive list...but it's a start!  And one of my favorite things to do at the end of the year is to look back over pictures from that year.  Then I like to find ones that probably didn't make it to the blog and put them up :)

Some edited, some not, some previously seen here, some not.  So here it is...2011!

JANUARY:  snow at the beach

FEBRUARY:  1) Elise around 5 weeks...first ultrasound!
2) Valentine's Day in Virginia

MARCH:  Last meal at Bojo's before leaving for Slovakia

APRIL:  Jas spent many hours putting together lots of Ikea furniture for our flat

MAY:  horrendous picture, but funny nonethless...pregnancy photo around 4.5/5 months

JUNE:  first grillin' nights.  charcoal grill.  Jas loved it.

JULY:  1) Brooke and I at my baby shower (thanks Ridgecrest!)
2)  Maternity shoot photo...lots of love for baby E

AUGUST:  1) Cute building in Vienna
2)  Jester during a performance at one of the castles we attended with a team from California

SEPTEMBER:  1) Unsuccessful attempt at blondie brownies for Jason's birthday...oops.
2)  Elise Noelle arrives!

OCTOBER:  First parent-given bath :)

NOVEMBER:  1)  Very real family photo...haha!
2)  Oh. No.  The first glimpse of rolled eyes...

DECEMBER:  1) After language study relaxing.
2)  Christmas tree goodness.

What. a. year.  We are thankful for 2011, but looking forward to 2012! Happy New Year!

To the Market We Went...

Ah, Christmas, Christmas...three days away, WHAT!?

So in the spirit of Christmas, we tagged along with the Holloway's and Doyle's for their annual trip to the Vienna Christmas market.

We thoroughly enjoyed it.  The atmosphere was top notch, the food, of course was off the chain, and the company...exquisite!  We had a really good time.

I managed to get some photos in between nursing, checking on that hobbling husband of mine (he had to take it very slow), and eating!

Al and some cute girl in a lot of pink.

Bad lighting, but a family photo in front of all those awesome ornaments.

The one good group photo of the night (except Tom ducked out, and Mary is barely visible back there).  Please note how Jason is standing...he was either walking or standing the whole night, my poor waddling man.

Kara and Ellie.

Ben and, oh, who's that again?

Speaking of that little star, here she is herself...

And I'll end with one of my favorite photos of the night.  We loved all the lights and decorations.  Take these for example, they looked like chandeliers...

Great time.  Maybe next year we'll be able to go and both Jas and Elise can join me in walking ;)

International Christmas Bazaar

The three of us decided to check out Bratislava's International Christmas Bazaar the other day.

There were many different countries represented, all having small booths set up with goods and food for sale.  It was really interesting to see what each country brought, but to say it was crowded would be a complete understatement.

We could barely move through the aisles by ourselves, much less with a stroller.  So we parked the stroller and Jas and I went in shifts to check out the bazaar.

Here are the snapshots we got in between elbow shoves and stepped-on toes :)

Did you know Santa Claus was Swedish?  Yeah, we didn't either.

Some of the items for sale.

Of course there was delicious international cuisine.  We didn't have these pretzels, but we did taste some Vietnamese spring rolls made by this adorable little lady...

And while at that booth I captured this sweet scene...

We liked the concept and thought it was a neat representation of the world we live in.  But the people, oh the people. The word crowded doesn't do this bazaar justice.  However, maybe next year we'll check it out again...sans stroller :)

The Unexpected...

This week we went to the hospital for a baby check up.  Things looked good with baby girl's heart and we had a good appointment, but we found out that we have a WHOLE lot of paperwork to get translated and in order before she gets here!  That is, they finally let us know this, after having been there three times now...

Cue unexpected trip to Vienna.  Thankfully, we were able to get all paperwork translated and fairly quickly (we arrived at 8:30 and had all papers by 2:30).  Definitely a blessing.

And while we were waiting on Emmerich (such a great Austrian name) to work his magic on our docs, we enjoyed some Starbucks (I'm admittedly a sucker for their chai tea latte), studied Slovak for a while, and walked around some.

Want a camera phone's view of Vienna?  Here ya go!

Starbucks, studying, paperwork, walking, and waiting...waiting on this baby to come!

Vienna: Rose Garden

This is the last of the Vienna pics, but I definitely wanted to post some of the amazing flowers, namely roses, found in the Rose Garden.

We spent a whole morning here our last day just reading and taking photos.  It was quite enjoyable.

Lovely, right? Thanks, Vienna, for a great couple of days!