Francis Turns Six 🥳

Francis turned 6!!

It’s hard to believe that he was 3 months old when we moved here, and not quite 9 months old when he had his first Kartause beer! 

Time has flown!



Francis is still our happy, fun-loving guy! He’s super talkative and loves to be the center of attention. Wonder who he gets that from?! ;)

He loves deadly, dangerous animals - and cute little animal shows like Octonauts! So we had an Octonaut-themed party with cake, a piñata, and watching the Octonaut movie with all his Kartause friends!



















Francis has a couple more months of Kindergarten. He will be in the first grade come Fall! It’s so hard to believe that when we moved here he couldn’t speak and now he’s bilingual and speaks a lot!!!

We love you, Francis! 💙

Loop Around Lunz am See

One of our favorite nearby places to visit is Lunz am See!

What makes going there even better - is going with good friends!

And getting ice cream.

And feeding the cows!

Austrian Outing with 8 Kids Ages 8 & Under

What could be more fun than an outing in Austria?  Making it with your friends and their 4 children :)

On Easter Monday (aka, the day after Easter Sunday) our neighbor from Poland "surprised" us at our backdoor with a water spray bottle... we should have remembered from last year that it is a common tradition in our bordering countries for the men to dump water on their neighbors!

After soaking Brian, and offering him some deviled eggs, he suggested we take an outing on this same day.  Easter Monday is a holiday in Austria -- all shops are closed... well all shops have been closed here for months, but this official holiday means even the grocery stores are closed.

We happily agreed to join them for an outing exploring an area about 30/40 minutes from our home!

Our first stop... just some random "castle" you could see from the road.  It was fun to explore.. until we realized the sign (in German, of course) read "Private Property: Stay Out" - oops!  

Our next stop was a little shrine on the side of the road - also a very common thing to see in Austria!  There were a couple of benches, so we spread out our picnic and enjoyed!

Then we drove UP one of the nearby roads - and from up there we had a great view of Otscher mountain - the mountain where we went skiing all winter.  

The hills were really alive up there! :)

Easter 2021 💐🙏🏻🐰

“We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!” - Saint Pope John Paul II

Our family enjoyed a very blessed Easter Week!!

If you’d like to read more about JPII’s famous quote that I shared above, check out this article published last April: https://aleteia.org/2020/04/11/when-and-why-did-john-paul-ii-call-us-an-easter-people/

If you’d like to learn more about the blessing of the Easter basket - the food basket (not the ones from the bunny, although we had those hidden around the house :) & what the food items represent, check out this link: https://www.learnreligions.com/traditional-easter-basket-for-blessing-4161079

Enjoy our Easter pictures!

We hope you and your loved ones are filled with the Peace of our Risen Lord during this blessed Easter season!