Last day in Austria

Today was our last day in Austria. We promised son #3 to take a ride with the steam engine of the zillertalbahn, and so we did.
All the kids, our boys and my cousin´s daughter were in ´trachten´, so they were the talk of the town.
The steam engine ride was really great for the kids, and the views are amazing. A trip worthwhile making.


We drove from Kaltenbach to Mayrhofen, where we had a bite to eat in a Konditorei, and then we took the regular train back to Kaltenbach; At the moment we packed our stuff and I am waiting for DH to bring the car to the chalet to pack the car. So this is the end of a great vacation in Austria.

Kaprun

We visited the Wasserkraftwerken in Kaprun. This little town is famous for the big fire they had in one of trains that brings skiers to the piste.
But they have a beautiful attraction, the stauseen in the mountains. High up in the mountains they built three dams to generate power. You can visited them taking one of these big elevators and some busses.

The sights are amazing and they have fun playgrounds and exebitions for the kids. And the ride up in the bus is worth it, but not for people who are afraid for heights.

Krimml

Today we visited the local craft market in Krimml. We bought some great wooden toys and minerals. The boys love all the minerals you can find here and in this valley you can find a lot of mountain cristals, as the picture above shows.
We bought some smaller ones and spent some time enjoying some local specialities like Krapfen and bradwurst.
Tonight we had a swim at the Kristalbad in Wald, where this picture was taken of Groene beestje on a cristal, because offcourse he joined us.

Krimml Falls

Today we visited the Krimml Wasserfall. When we drove up to the falls we drove pass a forest where there were 2 big male deer. As they saw the car they ran away, but I have never seen the big males this close to houses. The small bambi like deer you see a lot, but the big Hubertus ones, wow...
My dad, DH and son #1 climbed the falls, and I stayed down with the other kids. We visited the visitorcenter.

As the weather is very hot overhere, we had days with 34°C at 1700 m, a hat is not a luxery. But the waterspray from the falls gave a nice cooldown effect.

I took the kids in a Kneipp bath... the wellness lovers under us know this. First you submerse your arms into icecold water for a better bloodcirculatio, and then you walk around in a small artifical lake with stones... Let me tell you... do people pay for this?

But we found some lizards in the water, as you can see, the kids loved them, so I had to get a couple of them for all the kids, as they all wanted to touch them.

Last week update

We didn´t have internet connection at our last appartment, but now that we arrived at our new accomodation, we have internet again. We have had a busy week, so I will just give a short update.

1. Looking for gold in a small creek; 2. son #1 on the witch ride, which is a small seat connected to a line along the longest suspension bridge of the alps (175 m); 3. The Reiseck bahn, a small train that takes you up the mountain on a 82% inclination; 4. The cross on top of a local mountain where we had a picknick and had to flee for a thunderstorm; 5. a deer we encountered in a wild life park; 6. Son #3 hacking for granates, we found quite a lot of good quality and the kids, and especially me had a great afternoon hacking for granates; 7. a Murmeltier, a local marmot that lives in the Alps, we encountered them twice; 8. Drinking for fresh mountain water on our way to Grosglockner, Austria´s higest mountain; 9. Me and the kids at the Kaiser F. Jozef lookout, overseeing the gletser of the Grosglockner.

Another day at Sinsheim

This morning we visited the museum again to see the other parts. DH and son #2 also went to the iMax theatre.

I also went from the slide with the boys, 3 times ! They made a slide from one of the planes on top of the roof, and you can take the stairs into the plane and then the slide back down; Great fun.

Then we drove to Augsburg, where we incountered a guy that made fun ballons, so the kids offcourse wanted one.

Had a great German diner and then took a tram back to the hotel, because son #3 is completely obsessed by trains and trams, so he was all happy.

Holiday

Every year when we drive up to Austria for our skitrip, we pass a museum in Germany; You can see a concord standing next to the highway; So this year we decided to stop in Sinsheim and visit the Auto museum overthere. It is really spectacular. They have an extraordinary collection of oldtimers.

1. Oldtimer; 2. They have amazing big engines; 3. Izetta; 4. Engine in motion, Ruben was mesmerized; 5. Great copper statue of an oldtimer; 6. Steamcrane lifting up engine; 7.Restaurant with planes you can visit; 8. Concord; 9, airplane with slides, great for kids.

There is also a big playground so the kids had a great time. A museum worth visiting.

Sewingmachine broken

At the momet I wish I still had one of the old machines. For some reason my sewing machine lets go of the tread and I cant get it right so no sewing for me today.
Every time I guide the tread and start sewing, the tread come out of the needle...
Oh well, I will look into it after our holiday. The quilts will have to wait...

Laptop sleeve

It has been a busy week as my vacation started last friday, so had to finish some things, but now, vacation started and I finished my laptop sleeve.
Until now I didnt have one and I must admit there are some cratches on the lid, so I decided to make myself a crocheted sleeve, and here it is.
The cute pink buttons I found at Hema, a dutch store that also has stores in Belgium. The came in a package with pinks and red polka dots, so the pink onces matched the colors of the sleeve.

I am very please with the result. If you want the tutorial on how to make the African flowers, check out Heidi Bears blog, she has a good tutorial.

Last day

So I havent been showing waht I was working on, but it was a gift to our au pair so I couldnt because she also looks at my blog. But here it is. The boys made drawings on pieces of white cotton and I also added two pictures so she can see what the boys looked like...

We had our last supper tonight, and she chose witlof in ham, a local dish, and we had ice cream as dessert. He also made a russian specialty, blinis, dont think I spell it correctly, but they are pancakes filled with meat, yummy...

So thank you very much Lidia, and we hope to see you again, here or in Russia. Good bye And we wish you all the best!

Weekend

We had an uneventful weekend, after a couple of weekends that were very busy, we had a nice and quite weekend. Although quite... the kids were very loud and in a crawling mood, so that was not OK. I tried to finish the binding on my start quilt as you can see on the pic.

Yesterday we went to one of the biggest markets in Antwerp for some vegetables and fruits. We always have a sort of pancake with goatcheese and honey at one of the local Maroccan stands and afterwards the kids get waffles and fruits. And while waiting at one of the stand, DH asked me where son #3 was. One moment ago he was standing next to me and the next he was gone.
We said that the boys had to wait at the stand and DH and I went both in a direction to search, but nothing. And I was just about to call the police when a lady asked if I was looking for a little boy... She saw him playing at the stairs, so I hurried back and saw DH on the way, and luckily there he was at the other end of the market. A gentleman thought it was strange that he was playing unaccompanied, but also didnt know what to do. So my heart started beating again...
Son #3 was not impressed...

Technopolis

We made a trip to Technopolis, a museum where you can do experiments yourself. They have a display with optical illusions, and even our au pair was amazed.

I was amazed by the pic above. they show a movies with some colors particles falling down. But if you put your arm horizontal, the particles add up on your arm and fall off behind you, as you can see in the pic.

Luckily they also have a part that is for small kids, like a supermarket, a pizzeria, and son #3 likes to make pizzas. But he didnt want to bring them with the small bike.
The kids also have printed money with their face on...

This is a section about animals, and as you can see by son #1 s face, bats hear very well.

When we left, the kids lifted a car... So a day well spent, interesting and great for kids and parents.

New camera

Yesterday I treated myself with a new camera, the Fujifilm Finepix HS10. It was a bit of a gamble as I alsways have compact camera´s. But this time I wanted a bit more zoom, and as this camera has 30 x optic zoom, I am very impressed with the results.

Today son #3 and I went to visit a friend who has bought a puppy this week, a Cavalier King Charles, her name is Charlotte (Charly) and she is such a cutie. I am not much of a dog person, but this little pup is adorable. Our friend already has two older dogs, and this is the latest addation.

At firts son #3 was not so keen on meeting her, but after some time they were the best of friends and he even fed her.

Wildlife encounter

I took the kids for lunch and we saw a circus that is visiting our town. We live in a town near Antwerp city and I told the boys that we could have a look at the tigers and elephants, since they made the news when the elephants escaped and were wandering in a corn field nearby.
So as we walked over to the tigers we saw that the giraf was very close to the road, and I know that there is no fence between the field and the raod, so we had a look and the giraf was standing next to the road, so we decided to go back home and get the camera and take a picture.

When we arrived back, a member of the circus staff was with the animal so we took some pictures and son #1 even tried to feed it, but it was not interested, we should have brought some bananas. It made a big impression to stand so close to the animal, wow, there is a big difference if you know that there is no fence in between you and this creature, but this is how memories are built...

Quilts

Today I went to the craft store to get some batting for two quilts that I am making and found some nice fabrics so I can finish my quilts once I received my cardridges for the printer because I want to print some pictures on fabric.
I found a great link how to print on fabric on Josjes Poppenhuis. I bought the spray glue in the Action and it worked like a charme, but offcourse, my ink was finished... So I ordered some new cardridges and hope to finish the top this weekend.

Son #3 turned 3

Today son #3 turned 3 and we had a small party for family and friends. He was spoiled rotten with Thomas the engine gifts, trains, blocks, view master, etc...
As he doesn´t like fancy cakes, I baked him a quatre qarts for him with a little train, and we ate the fancy ones... chocolate Mousse cake, biscuit with raspberries, etc... hmmm.

My parents gave hime a small New Holland tractor, and you can see by his smile that he loves it.
Tonight we had a BBQ and now all the guests left and we did a quick clean up, the kids are in bed and peace returned to our home.
Happy birthday son!

Aeroflorale II

This week an airship landed in Antwerp, the Aeroflorale II and its crew. It is on its way to Greenland, but because of the bad weather last thuesday it landed in Antwerp.
So this morning we had a look with the lids, because rumour goes that it will depart tomorrow.

So this is it, we were to early to see the crew perform experiments on the plants they brought, and I must say I think it is beautifully made, but we had nicer visitors in the past, like the Diver, the elephant and the princess.
Every summer they have something special with performance art, and I think this year is a bit dissapointing, but nevertheless, the construction is nice.

Hottest day

Yesterday was the hottest day until now, the temperature at our place was 37°C. But because it was so hot during the day, a thunderstorm formed and around 7.30 pm the storm hit Antwerp with these picts as a result. (The pics are taken from GvA).

At our place we also got some water in the houde, but a half bucket at the most, so no problem. And all our trees in the backyard withstood the storm, so nothing happened. But in the city there was a lot of water trouble as you can see.

However, the thunderstorm was beautiful to watch and the kids slept through most of it.

African flower

Just wanted to show you a picture of what I have been doing the last past weeks. I have been crocheting African Flowers. I wanted to make a bag, but I have decided to make a throw blanket. I like the colors so it will be a blanket for myself... The only downside... it is getting quite heavy.
The weather has been very poor over the weekend, heavy showers, so we stayed indoors mostly, so ideal craft weather.

Weekend

Yesterdaymorning we went to Planckendaal, a large zoo in Mechelen. As you can see, the kids had a great time.

Ealier that morning a bird flew into the window, nothing new at our place close to a lot of trees, but it happened three times so I had a look and so a young bird. I picked it up to show the kids and then released it in the back garden where I saw a sibling sitting near our back door. That one was smaller and not in such a good shape.

When we returned home in the afternoon, my DH called me and showed me one of the chicks sitting on one of our window sills, as you can see on the pic. His mum and dad were close because I could hear them. But where was the other chick.
I found it, but as I feared it that morning, I got in our pond and it didnt drown but I think it died because it was to exhausted trying to get back out of the slippery banks of the pond. I hope mum and dad will take good care of this chick.
P.S. I dont know the name in english, is it a Jay bird. We call it a Vlaamse Gaai.