Schnitzel with Noodles

Thanks to the planning efforts of Austin and the love of Grandma, Austin and I were able to spend a wonderful vacation in Austria and Germany. This trip was more about breathtaking outdoor scenery than seeing indoor art museums. We visited castles old and castles new(er.) We explored medieval villages, relaxed in gorgeous parks, drove on the Autobahn, and (my favorite) tasted our way from Vienna to Frankfurt.

Austrian Alps

We ended up in the town where "The Sound of Music" was filmed and had enjoyed visiting several locations that were in the movie. To be honest, I never noticed the background when I watched that movie. So we had a fun movie night with the kids after we got home with plenty of "We were there!", "Oh look, there's those dwarf statues!", "There's the fortress we climbed!"...

Clear water like I've never seen before in all the lakes and streams.

Snacks for the road.

Austin calls this the "Where's Waldo" picture.

We met up with Austin's sister, Emily, and got to stay in their beautiful home and be chauffeured through the Rhine River Valley chock full of medieval castle ruins. Thanks Emily!

Just one more picture...

After our return home, we gathered up the family to "look at pictures" from the trip. Avery, 4, understood this as the time to share all of her "pictures" from preschool. So, we began with an enlightening art exhibit.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of my mom with the kids. She is really the reason we were able to go. Thanks mom!