Blueberry Picking

Last weekend we went blueberry picking with Alexa. It was great.

If you've never been berry picking before then you are really missing out. It's like endless snack time as you fill your bucket and mouth with berries. 

At one point, Alexa's little bucket was empty, so she ran back over to the big bucket and started stealing blueberries from there. I'm pretty sure she picked a total of five berries the entire time we were there, but that didn't stop her from munching on all of the berries that we were picking. She probably ate about half a pound of blueberries while we were there.

 We filled that bucket more than 3/4 of the way up with blueberries...it only took us five days to eat them all.

We paid for 6 1/2 pounds of blueberries. Alexa ate tons and Michael and I certainly weren't shy about popping berries into our mouths as we walked along the fields.

It was a great afternoon at the Brücklerhof. We look forward to going again soon.

I really wanted to get a few cute family pictures in the blueberry fields. It was so beautiful there! Alexa and Michael however, were not as cooperative as I would have hoped. We took a few pictures that came out alright, but you couldn't see the bushes in the picture so I wasn't pleased. Michael's solution was to shove part of the blueberry bush at me. It turned out to be my favorite picture!

And yes, it was roasting hot and we were all sweating like beasts by the time we left.

Pool Time

We have been at the pool on pretty much every single hot day this summer.

Alexa loves being in the water, although she has started to develop a little fear (her first fear ever) of the water. She will stand in it for a little bit, but prefers to sit on the side of the baby pool instead of being submerged in it. She won't sit or float around the baby pool either.

However, she loves to go down the big water slide and have us bounce her around in the deep end. It really doesn't make too much sense to me. I guess they're right when they say that fears are irrational.

Here are some pictures that I wanted to share of our adventures at the pool.

Birthday Week

Last Wednesday was my birthday. I turned the big 3-2. I love my birthday. I am a firm believer that on your birthday you should do whatever you want. You absolutely should NOT go to work. And you absolutely should eat your favorite foods! Even though I was still in the middle of the low histamine diet, I opted to take a day off and really enjoy my birthday.

For breakfast, I had toast on real bread, not yucky gluten free bread. (I know, it's really dorky to get excited about toast. I don't care.) For lunch, Alexa and I went and met a friend of mine for delicious cheeseburgers at the burger place in Linz. I was surprised by a few other friends, cupcakes and presents! Lunch was delicious and totally hit the spot. Then for dinner I made pasta with meat sauce. I think that pasta and a good sauce is one of the things that I have been missing the most on this diet. My day of food was delicious! It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday.

Alexa and Lemon were just exhausted after all those cupcakes!

Our Week in Pictures

Learning through play(ground) time

We have been having such gorgeous weather here in Austria, so Alexa and I have been spending as much time outside as possible. It is so amazing to me how much she has grown and changed in the last few weeks. Watching her on the playground I see just how much see has learned recently.

A few weeks ago she was very hesitant about walking on the gravel sidewalk in front of the playground. The playground itself has a sand bottom, so she wouldn't dare walk through the sand. She would just stand or sit wherever I put her. She was very unsteady and uncertain.

Now she jumps off her bike as soon as we pull up to the playground and off she goes. She slows down only to get down the small incline into the sand pit itself and then she's off again. She has no fear of other children and will go right up to them to see what they're doing and to announce that she is there. "Hi!" She greets every single adult, dog and child we meet. She's just so friendly, I could just eat her up!

She loves to follow all the bigger kids around and then copy whatever it is that they are doing. The last few days her favorite thing to do at the playground is to climb onto the concrete blocks and walk along them. It's what the cool, big kids do, soooooo obviously that means Alexa needs to do it too.

Big kid jumps on this weird silver thing. Alexa jumps on the weird silver thing.

It just blows my mind to see her climbing up ladders or onto slides and STANDING UP! She has no fear at all. I love how curious she is and it just brings a smile to my face to see how pleased she is with herself when she figures out how to do something new.

Spring has Sprung

We had such beautiful weather this weekend. It was nearly 60F and we took advantage of the sunshine! Saturday was Welt Frauen Tag, or International Women's Day. We spent the day in Neuhofen an der Krems with Michael's mom, sisters and the neighbors. The guys hung outside and washed the car while us gals chatted over coffee and cakes (oh yes, I said cakeS!). My mother in law made her delicious chocolate cake (which I sadly did not eat) and a yummy peach cheese cake. Alexa had a blast running all around the house and getting into everything!

Sunday was even warmer than Saturday and we were so lazy! We spent the morning relaxing and watching cartoons. (Rather, I watched cartoons while Michael slept and Alexa spread her toys all over the apartment.) When we finally got up and moving, Michael worked on cleaning up our balcony garden. He even planted our tomato seedlings into yogurt cups with dirt. We have had them in a bowl with wet cotton balls for the last few weeks. We also started some basil seedlings in wet cotton.

Alexa and I went out for a walk with her tricycle and she had me laughing hysterically the entire time. She was riding around with one hand on the handle bars and the other hand waving Miss America style to everyone we passed. She greeted them with an exuberant "HI!" and a very lovely pageant queen wave as she rode on by. It was as much a sensory walk for her as it was for me.

She took her bike for a walk by pushing it all around at the park. I even let her "walk" home on her own.

I pushed the bike and she walked (read: ran) back and forth on the sidewalk. She would get easily distracted by pebbles, people, bike riders, roller bladers, dogs, grass...it was a fun walk! She even found her shadow.

 
That was pretty cool. She leaned down and tried to grab her shadown and then started running after it.

It was amazing to see the world through her eyes for just a short amount of time. Everything is so new and exciting! Pebbles can occupy her curiosity for minutes, while for me they are just an inconvenience; always getting stuck in the bottom of my shoes or in the wheels of the stroller. A shadow is a new friend! A bike, roller blades or a skateboard spike new interest. Watching her take in the world around her is truly amazing.

How did you spend your weekend?

Hiking with a little bean

Last weekend we hiked around a lake with some friends. We drove about an hour away to go hiking around Offensee, a lake in Upper Austria. This was the first time we attempted to do something outdoors like this with a mobile bean. It was a great success and I can't wait to go hiking again with her.

Another first for me was carrying Alexa like a backpack in the baby carrier. I found it substantially more comfortable having her on my back. She, however, was not as impressed.

The lake is gorgeous and in good weather (or in our case, decent weather) you can see the mirror image of the mountain in the lake.

We had a blast walking around and taking in our gorgeous surroundings. We let Alexa get down and walk a little bit. She thought she was so cool walking on the paths in the woods.

 She was a little cautious about the squishy ground where we stopped for lunch.

 She enjoyed looking around at all the logs and sticks that were scattered around and on the path.

She didn't even have proper shoes on, but that didn't stop her once she got comfortable. She is definitely going to be an outdoorsy kid, just like her Papa.

What kind of outdoor activities do you like to do with your family? Happy Hiking!

Faschingdienstag - Fat Tuesday - Carnaval - Mardi Gras - Shrove Tuesday

Happy Faschingdienstag! Today is the last day before the beginning of Lent. Here in Austria, people celebrate this day by dressing up in costumes and eating krapfen (donuts). All over the world people celebrate with parades, pancakes, costumes, masks and trinkets. All of this celebration and excess comes before the fasting time of Lent.

Alexa and I decided to celebrate in style! We started off our day with apple cinnamon pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. I then got her dressed up in her Tinkerbell outfit and we headed to the Grottenbahn high above Linz to celebrate Faschingdienstag.

 
The Grottenbahn is a dragon train that runs in a circle under the Pöstlingberg (the Pöstling Mountain). The Grottenbahn itself follows a small circular track with dwarf scenes on each wall.

After riding the Grottenbahn around three times: 1st time the dwarfs on the left are lit up, 2nd time the dwarfs on the right are lit up and the 3rd time the entire cave is colorfully lit up; we ventured down into the mini village. The mini village is a child sized miniature replica of the city of Linz from 1900. There are also fairytale characters in the hallways, or the streets of the town. It is so cool!

Alexa had a blast running around a city that was her size!

We ended our Faschingdienstag with mini cheeseburger sliders, roasted cinnamon sweet potatoes and corn. It was a delicious, food and fun filled day!

My Little Bean is One Year Old!

I cannot believe how quickly the last year has passed. I feel like just a few months ago we were bringing her home from the hospital, our little polar bean, and now she is a walking, talking (sort of), noise making, curious little thing. Time really does fly by.

1 Year Old - slideshows

A Snowy Day at Oma's

Last weekend was a lovely snow filled weekend and we spent the day at Michael's parent's enjoying the snow and visiting with family. Alexa even went on her first sleigh ride, which she loved until she face planted.

Here are a few photos from our day...