You guys! This is why I stopped blogging!! I just spent 2 hours writing an awesome blog about our recent trip to Germany and Austria and then I went to "publish" it and then it disappeared! I am so frustrated... I will do my best to recap what I just did but I will not be spending 2 more hours so it will be shorter and not as good. So here goes..... Finley was napping, she sucks at napping lately and I was trying to get this done while she slept. The plan is to blog during nap time so I can capture this amazing life we are so lucky to live here in Italy.
I'll start with a recap of our typical Italian morning...... we were late for school and the kids all ate pop tarts while we ran to the car yelling, "we are late, hurry up!". After taking the kids to school, the little two and I headed to the cafe for Lucia's cappuccino, they are the best. Then we strolled around our little town to run errands and got some cheese, prosciutto and polenta for dinner tonight (yum!) an then some bread from the bread shop. I love our little town and all that Italy has, it is the best.
Here is a picture of sweet Reid, he is the best baby and we all love him so much. The picture of Leo and Finley give you a little glimpse into their personalities, they are hilarious together!
I wanted to add this picture of Dave with a beard because I love when he has a beard. He had to shave it off to go back to work so I wanted to get a picture with him. Then there is Quinn-Quinn. This was at the neurologist office in Udine, Italy. She has been having bad headaches lately and vomiting which is stressing me out! We went to a neurologist to get things looked at, he thinks it is migraines so now we just wait and see how they evolve to see what our plan of action will be. Having to see a doctor in a different country is very stressful and I really miss the United States at times like these. The Italian healthcare is good, it is just different and the language barrier adds to the stress too! I am thankful everyday she doesn't have headaches and hope that this was a one time thing and not something she has to deal with her whole life like Dave does!
Our trip started with an hour long scream fest from Finley because I wouldn't let her wear sweatpants in the 75 degree heat. After about 30 minutes of screaming in the car and trying to get our of her carseat she decided to take a nap and make everybody happy! Our day got much better and we stopped at monkey mountain (not the name but that is what we are calling it) to check out some monkeys and break up the drive. The kids absolutely loved it and the guide was awesome and did the tour in German and English (just for us!). He told us when the place first opened (I think like 40 years ago..) all the monkeys escaped and even stole food from a local grocery store before they were able to get them back to the park. We were also able to see day old babies. He was able to tell they were newborns because the mom was still holding the baby when she walked and after one day of life the babies are able to hold onto their momma while she moves around. It was really fun.
They had an awesome playground and a yummy lunch spot on the property so we enjoyed the afternoon there. I love Austria, I love the food and how family friendly it is.
Next stop for our long weekend adventure was our favorite hotel in Austria. I randomly found it while last minute planning our 4th of July trip last year and this is our third trip there. Finley was watching me do the blog and said, "when can we go back to the hotel, we haven't been in forever!"... we just went 2 weeks ago! It is the best, all-inclusive (including beer at the buffet) and has amazing food, 2 pools and so many playgrounds. The views from our balcony were amazing and we also were able to see into the nude spa pool, Quinn yelled over the balcony "OMG, I can see their butts!". They also had a bouncy house out front so the kids were pretty pumped. We finished out night one at the hotel with swimming at the pool, delicious buffet dinner and then playing on the inside playground. It was the perfect day. I love the mountain air and feel so relaxed when we are there. We have had craziness in our house since Reid was born and this weekend was a much need break from life!
On Saturday we walked over to the horse stables to let the kids ride horses. The weather was perfect the whole weekend. Quinn loves horses lately and said "Can you believe I rode a horse?", Leo also had a great time but Finley refused to ride the horse and preferred the pretend one outside.
We spent the rest of the morning playing at the awesome "color" playground near the stables that the kids have talked about since our last trip.
Last time we were at the hotel in September we took our pregnancy announcement picture so we had to retake it now that Reid is here. What a difference a few months can make! :)
We went and grabbed lunch back at the hotel before going to the ropes course. The food at this place might be my favorite part. I already want to go back just to eat AND it is included in the price of your room and the room is awesome for us because it is family suite with 2 bedrooms and one includes bunkbeds.
We headed to the ropes course across the street from the hotel after lunch and the kids had a blast. Finley was a little mad because she was too small to go with the big kids but there was a small one she could do without the harness and we probably did that one about 20 times. I was so proud of Quinn because the last time we did this, Leo was a natural but Quinn really struggled and cried most of the time. This time she was a rockstar and helped Leo when they went on one of the bigger courses and he wasn't able to reach. It was fun to watch them have so much fun and try something new and adventurous.
After the ropes course we went over to the hotel to enjoy some cake and coffee before going to the pool. While we were eating our cake, Quinn lost a tooth that was so close to falling out for weeks. She was very excited the tooth fairy would be coming to Austria!
My kids love the kids pool with the slide at the hotel so we spent all of our pool time there. We didn't even make it over to the other pool on this trip. Quinn loved that she could touch on her own and loves the pool, she is such a little fish.
Relaxing in the sauna after the pool is one of their favorite things to do, they have no clue how lucky they are.
Everybody was happy because we finished the day with Dave flying his drone and playing on the playgrounds outside and then the one inside. Quinn made some little German friends while playing outside and was able to play with them again the next day before we left. It is fun that the kids get to make friends from all over the world. It was the best weekend and I seriously love this place!
Three happy kids before leaving the hotel.
The drive from Austria up to Germany is so pretty, it is one of my favorite things in Europe. I love all the little towns perched up on the side of the mountain. We drove about an hour to Eagle's Nest to start the rest of our weekend adventure.
After getting a little lost, the tourist office helped us out and we found out where to go for Eagle's Nest, Hitler's holiday home. The kids kept saying, "the top of the mountain is a great place for an eagle to make a nest." Dave and I were cracking up. We took a bus to the top on a pretty sketchy road, I was terrified and closed my eyes most of the time, the kids loved all the views. The grumpy old man in front of us on the bus even politely told his wife he, "wished those kids would shut up!". Seriously they were being so good I don't know what his problem was... he got off the bus so fast he almost fell out the door!
I realized while I was feeding Reid at the top of the mountain how crazy this life is we get to live. We just took a weekend trip to Austria and Germany and got to see World War II history! It was incredible and we are so thankful for our time in Italy and the memories we are making. I did think we might lose a child off the side of the mountain but everybody made it down so that was a good thing!
Leo was having a moment here but tried to keep it together for pictures.
We enjoyed cake and beer at the restaurant at the top. Finley was getting on Dave's nerves as seen in the picture below. She kept smacking the menu after he told her "no!" and then cracking up, he is not happy about it.
The tunnel you have to walk through to get to the elevator to go to the top. It is crazy this house was built in just over a year. It was a pretty cool place that I am glad we were able to check out.
This fireplace was a gift from Mussolini.
This is the area where we waited for the bus to take us back down the mountain.
We finished our day with delicious German food and beer and walking around the streets of Berchtesgaden.
I am pretty sure this was their favorite part of the day. We are on a mission to find all the best playgrounds around Europe.
Hanging out in the apartment in Germany.
The next day we took the cable car up the mountain. It was an epic parent fail because we didn't have any cash and nobody at the top took credit cards and there wasn't an ATM. So we didn't get to eat, everybody was starving and we got to walk right by the super fun alpine slide and head back down the mountain! Dave also didn't have cell service so he couldn't fly the drone. So if we ever go back, we will take cash! We decided to find food and head to the Salzburg zoo.
We finished our weekend travels at the zoo. The kids had a blast but I was super hot and the water was expensive. I prefer cold weather and traveling in the summer is not my favorite! Dave and I were ready to get out of the zoo because we were melting.....the things we do for kids!!
In this picture, Finley is running away from the birds screaming... when she isn't crying at the top of her lungs she is actually pretty hilarious and fun!
We had a great weekend and made a lot of memories. We love traveling and all the places we get to see!
Austria is good, life is good.
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