Fasching & Guinea Pigs

It's Fasching Time!

Fasching or Carnival is the time right before Lent... in the USA we refer to the day before Ash Wednesday as "Fat Tuesday."  Here it is called "Fasching Dienstag" (Carnival Tuesday).  The kids and adults all dress up in costumes to celebrate.  And the children play games and eat Krapfen - an Austrian jam filled doughnut :)  We joined the kids and our neighbors for a celebration over the weekend!  The kids also enjoyed dressing up for school... and Isaac enjoyed dressing up for walks around town (which he does year round, I'm somewhat relieved when he chooses to go out in public as Br. Francis v. the dinosaur).

In other news, we're allowing the guinea pigs out of their cage more often.  Sr. Eliana told me we need to cuddle them so they learn they are our pets and not just animals in a cage in our house... hmmm, I'm kind of thought they were the latter.





Not sure if Sr. Eliana would approve of them joining Isaac's Mass....



But surely them watching other guinea pigs on YouTube is approved!



Many fun times around this place with 4 kids and 2 guinea pigs =)

Höhenstein Stube Hike

We hiked to the top of a mountain!

Thanks to a couple of wonderful students who babysat our kids, Brian and I drove to a nearby mountain in Lunz am See and hiked to the top (after driving most of the way up and parking at this beautiful little farm).  The views from the top were amazing and I got to sign our name in the book indicating we made it to the top!

Ellie Turns 7

Ellie turned 7!

She was happy to make treats for her classmates! And to invite a few of her neighborhood friends (English speakers) over to celebrate! She even got a birthday visit from Sr. Eliana!

Ellie’s super responsible, great with her younger siblings, loves to play the piano, enjoys gymnastics and dance classes, is fluent in German & is such a blessing to our family!

10th Semester Melk & Vienna Excursions

It's hard to believe - but it's our 10th semester at the Kartause! 

The kids were excited to greet the students - including their cousin Mark - in their traditional Austrian clothes!

The opening weekend of the semester we traveled with the students to nearby Melk Abbey, the following weekend we went with them to Salzburg, and this past weekend we did an overnight trip with them to Vienna.

Melk Abbey with cousin Mark:





Lipizzaner horses (Spanish Riding School) in Vienna:



Ellie's reader showed the Albertina Museum located in Vienna, so we decided to visit:







We went to see "Young Hare" - but it was not currently showing - at least we got a picture of it on the wall magazine:



We enjoyed a traditional Viennese lunch with the students and staff, including Fr. Stanley joining us this semester:





Then we went to an International Movie Theatre, aka, one where English films are played, to see the new Dr. Dolittle move in 3D:



A few hours later, back at the hotel, Ellie lost her second top tooth.  Appropriately she was wearing her Christmas pajamas so she could sing All I Want for Christmas is My Two Top Teeth:



And we went ice skating at the Rathaus on the winding paths in front of City Hall:













The semester is off to a good start!