Ugh. I have had nothing but trouble with this website, so I’ve moved our blog to jabbersandnia.weebly.com. Please visit us there to hear about our most recent adventures!
Summer, part one
Wow, what didn’t we do this summer?
You’ve heard me complain about the heat before, so after staying here in Abu Dhabi for most of last summer I decided to do something different this year. I packed up the boys a couple of days after school let out and returned the day school started back up again. If you refer to my post about Ramadan last year, you’ll see that’s exactly what I said I was going to do.
The only people we’d have been able to mooch off of all summer in the States are my parents. They’re in Florida with weather similar to the desert we were trying to leave. Plus, there’s a 9-hour time difference that messed the kids up pretty bad last year (coming and going) and the trip itself would have been 14 hours on a plane. Alone. With two small children.
So I decided to take the kids to Austria and spend the summer on the farm outside Vienna with my Austrian family. They had offered to host us to beat the heat in Abu Dhabi, so we took them up and arrived on July 2nd. It was a beautiful cloudy day there in Vienna when my Austrian dad (hereafter referred to as “Opa”) picked us up wearing a jacket. I was so happy I could’ve cried. The flight was not much fun, but it was only 6 hours and Ian slept a good chunk of the way. Jasper…well, Jasper told me in advance that he wasn’t going to sleep on our red-eye and he followed through on his promise.
The Sir joined us in late July and stayed until mid-August. Below is a summary of our summer in pictures and captions. We had such a great summer. Exhausting as it was, I daresay it was the best I’ve had in a very, very long time.
Week ONE
This was our first field trip. We drove to Tulln, where I went to school as an exchange student. It was hot and the boys weren’t listening to me, so we ended up walking along the Danube for about an hour and going home. Tulln is the City of Flowers and I spent a lot of time trying to take a good picture of the boys amidst some of them, but they just woudn’t cooperate. I found that to be the case every time I pulled out my camera on this trip.
We spent a lot of time that week exploring the farm and the village. We jumped on the trampoline (Herbert now lives there with his wife and kids, so there’s a lot of things that weren’t there 20 years ago!), feed the chickens and brought in their eggs for breakfast, took walks along the creek and through the fields to get to the grocery store and picked a ton of fruit. My Austrian family has an orchard I never knew about and we went up there every day to see what was in bloom. Cherries were first – we made a ton of cherry jam after I climbed a rickety ladder to get several pounds of them, both sweet and sour.
We also had some visitors that first week in Wagendorf. Two of Martha’s kids came for several days and we spent the days hanging out with them. The boys remembered them from when they visited us in Abu Dhabi in February, so they were very excited to see them again. There was no common language between the kids, but it didn’t seem to matter. They got along great.
We went to a Heurigen where the boys poo-pooed the chocolate cake I ordered them. They’re still stuck on noodles and pizza, though we eventually go them to eat sausages and some other good stuff.
Below are pictures from our big outing to St. Poelten, the capital of Lower Austria. We took a train, which the boys couldn’t stop talking about, walked around the town and got some lunch, then got back on the train and went back to Wagendorf. Sounds pretty simple, but the boys were on cloud nine. They love trains, if I haven’t mentioned it before.
Week TWO
Siblings arrived to P-A-R-T-Y! Opa, the oldest of the clan, turned 70 on July 14th. Gabi decided that this would be a good opportunity to baptize the youngest (and final) family member that weekend, so a huge fete was organized for the two celebrations. Franz and family flew in from London, Gabi and family drove down from Munich and of course Martha’s family drove over from Krustetten. The baptism was at the church, where I quickly realized that we would need to spend the ceremony outside the church (the boys discovered their echoes). Afterwards we drove to a beautiful hotel about an hour away in Maria Taferl which is along the Danube. Here you see Franz and his kids waving to us out on their balcony and Ian sitting patiently waiting for me to take his picture perched high above the river.
After the weekend in Maria Taferl partying, all but Martha and co. spent the week in Wagendorf. Opa likes to fly remote control airplanes, so we took some trips to the remote control airport outside of Sieghartskirchen. Above we see Jasper watching Opa’s plane.
On the last night that Gabi and family were in town, we grilled. The boys were thrilled, as they thought we were camping. It doesn’t take much to impress these kids.
Week THREE
It took three weeks to meet up with my friend Marianne. But we did it twice that week. Marianne sat next to me the year I went to school in Austria, so we spent a lot of time together. She also visited me in the States after I got back from my year over there and we’ve kept in touch ever since. We went to a really great restaurant with her, where the outdoor eating area was turned into a giant playground for the kids. If we had something like that here, I’d be there every week!
The second time we met with Marianne, we went to her mother’s place and grilled in her backyard. It was about 103 degrees that day (part of the unseasonably hot weather I was talking about) and they decided that, to beat the heat, they’d fill a large tub with water and hang out in it all day. This green thing used to haul crops from the fields, I believe. It’s getting a better use as a swimming pool here!
I love sunflowers and Austria’s full of them. Their peak blooming season is in July, so before they got brown and droopy I tried to take the boys out for a photo shoot. Jasper absolutely refused to play along. I was not happy, but at least I got a nice picture of the flowers with a barn in the background.
Ian cooperated, but I think the picture below is too funny not to post. Jasper was yelling at me for making him smile.
Weeks FOUR and FIVE
Dad arrived!!!
The Sir arrived in late July and after a few days roaming around Wagendorf we took off on a road trip. But first we mourned the final Heurigen at the Kuehnrich family’s house. There were many factors in the decision to shut the seasonal restaurant down, but in the end it’s what they did. The local oompa band stopped by to play some music and the mayor of Sieghartskirchen presented Oma and Opa a gift. After 30 years of running the Heurigen, they will be missed.
We also took a day and went on a ship down the Danube. Jasper still tells the story about “King Harp” (Richard Lionheart) who had been jailed in one of the towers up on a hill near the river. You never know what’s going to stick in a kid’s head.
So we took off on our epic journey with dad. Our first stop was to Berchtesgaden, Germany, a town made most famous as the site of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. It’s basically a big house/restaurant on top of the mountain overlooking the Koenigsee (Lake King). The area was gorgeous. We took a bus up the hill to Eagle’s Nest to see the view. We also took a boat on the Koenigsee and spent the afternoon at a small town where the kids took a dip in the lake, played on the playground and drank a lot of apple juice. We also got on a mine train and took a trip through a salt mine, complete with miners’ outfits.
Our next stop was Munich, but not before stopping at a train museum along the way. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Obviously – note the picture of me in a conductor’s uniform below:
Munich is a lot different when visiting with small children. We stayed at a hotel downtown near the main plaza, the Marienplatz for a few days and, with the exception of a trip out to the stadium where Bayern Munich plays, we spent most of that time hanging around that area. We took the obligatory trip to the Hofbrauhaus:
Watched as the Glockenspiel played at noon at Marienplatz:
Went to the park where the annual Oktoberfest is held, then took a bike ride back to our hotel:
And the reason for going to Munich in the first place – for The Sir, for the first time in his life, to see the city of his life-long favorite soccer team. The players weren’t around, but we went to the stadium and had a look around. He also loaded up on fan paraphernalia.
After a trip to the big city, we headed southwest to Lake Constanz or the Bodensee which is the border of Austria/Germany/Switzerland. We went across the border to Switzerland for the day, but stayed outside the area in the Bregenz Forest. It’s known for its cheese. If you know me, you need not ask any more questions. So we stayed at a quiet little place in a small village in the westernmost part of Austria where it rained almost every day that we were there. We didn’t complain at all. We spent time taking the lifts up to the surrounding mountains, hiking around, taking a ride on an old steam train and basically just spending a lot of time outdoors. Below are pictures of those 4 days in Lingenau. Notice the license plate on the car below. Cool, huh?
We took an entire day to cross back to Wagendorf and made several stops along the way. The first was at a small town in the western region where my parents spent a night 23 years ago. They’ve been talking about it ever since. I had never been there, but we drove right through it on our trek back, so we stopped to get a picture. Coincidentally, I’m the exact same age in this picture as my mom when she visited.
We stopped at the Swarovski factory outside of Innsbruck for a few hours. I’m not sure if the factory is still off limits to visitors as it was the last time I went (13 years ago with my parents), but now the place has been built up around its museum and includes an incredible shop, restaurant, gardens and playgrounds for the kids. We went through their maze and wandered around the grounds. It’s in the most beautiful area and the clouds were rolling in, but I don’t know if I could quite capture the beauty of this place. I tried:
Week SIX
After traveling for 8 days we decided to stick around Wagendorf for a little while. We drove into Vienna a couple of days in a row to visit some sites and see my friend Marianne again. Below is Schoenbruenn, the emperor’s summer home. Yes, they drove all the way from downtown to the outskirts of town every summer. I love Schoenbruenn. I go every time I’m back in the Austria. It was great to be able to share it with my kids. With Marianne we went to the aquarium and spent some time in the First District where all the Mozarts walk around in costume. We ate ice cream near St Steven’s Cathedral, played at a park, then had a great dinner at an Italian place off of the main shopping street. That was a great day!
Week SEVEN
After bumming around Wagendorf and Vienna, we took a 2-hour trip to the Eastern Alps where my Austrian family has a house that was inherited from an uncle many years ago. They usually only go there in the winter to go skiing, but in the summer it’s cool and refreshing and quiet. We had a very relaxing time for a few days walking around town, going to the public beach (along the river), going for picnics, cooking in the ancient kitchen (no microwave!), driving around the mountains and finding playgrounds for the boys.
Week EIGHT
Back to Wagendorf. Finally Martha had some time (she helps run her in-law’s extraordinarily successful vineyard) so we visited the family in Krustetten before The Sir had to leave. We spent the evening at a Heurigen after taking a tour of the vineyard and the production facilities. The boys and I had been there earlier in the summer, but The Sir had yet to see the renovations and additions to the business. Yes, there he is inside a wine tank. We dared him.
Week NINE
Finally The Sir had to leave us and go back to work. We stayed on for another ten days and spent about half of that time back in Krustetten with Martha and her family. My Austrian parents went to Sardinia for a week and suggested we go spend the week at Martha’s house so we wouldn’t get bored. Also, I’m pretty sure my Austrian mom thought we’d starve without her there. I think she’s right.
We started the week at Martha’s vineyard by going to a wine fest out in the middle of their vineyard. They had set it up to feel like you were at home, complete with lights, leather couches and blankets in case you got cold. We were some of the first to arrive, but there ended up being over 300 people there. Very, very neat evening. The tables were set up between rows of grapevines and the kids ran around and we watched the sun set over the Goettweig monastery in the distance. This area is called the Wachau, along the Danube. If you know anything about wine, this is where the good stuff comes from.
We recovered from that night and spent the next day indoors while it rained outside. That week we took a train trip to St. Poelten again, but this time with Laurenz and Therese, Martha’s two youngest kids. Yes, I took 4 kids on the train to town, where we ate McDonalds, strolled around town, played on a train, ate ice cream, went to a toy store, then turned around and took the train back to Krustetten. That was exhausting. The following day we went to a Folk’s Festival, which is like a carnival. The kids had a blast going on rides, eating pretzels and carnie food, and watching all the people play games and win stuffed animals. Martha came along with the younger kids and took a ton of pictures…I will have to get them from her.
A day or so later I tried to take the boys to their first movie theater experience. Unfortunately, the movie we wanted to see was rated PG-6 or something like that. They wouldn’t let us in because the boys were too young. So we bought a giant-sized popcorn, took it home and watched a movie. Jasper told me later that he would have been afraid of the movie theater anyway. That kid.
At the end of the week I went to a class reunion. As luck would have it, some of my former classmates planned a get-together and I just happened to be in town. My Austrian “class” wasn’t how we would consider it in America – they sit in one room with the same 18 kids for 5 years and the teachers come to them. Quite a difference from our system, but boy, do they get to know each other. It had been 20 years since I left the class and it had been that long since I had seen most of them. Everyone looked the same, just a bit older. It was really great to see them all after such a long time. So glad I was in town!!!
And finally, we ended our trip with a bang. We attended the latter half of the wedding of Stefan, Martha’s brother-in-law. He married a lovely woman named Verena at that monastery I mentioned above, but I was with the boys elsewhere…long story, but we did make it to the reception and the boys held on until 10:30 when we all boarded a coach and headed for a tavern where the bride was supposedly “hidden”. It’s a tradition in a lot of parts of Europe to hide the bride. The whole wedding attendees go looking for her and when she’s found, they all sit at the pub and drink and have entertainment until the wee hours of the morning. The boys got scared at that point, so we headed home. But we agreed that it was a great wedding and we all had a blast. I stole some pictures from Martha. Below we have the bride and groom and their parents; Poldi with Diana and Therese (Martha’s husband and daughters), Therese bored with her flower girl duties at the playground; and me with Jasper at the reception:
It was truly an amazing summer. I didn’t even mention half of the things we did. But it’s time to log off and leave you readers with some additional photos. Thanks for reading!
Wedding Crasher
On Wednesday night around nightfall, we were greeted with the sound of drums coming from a house down the street. The beat wasn’t going away, so after a couple of hours, I decided to figure out where the noise was coming from and why.
I went up to our terrace to see where the commotion was coming from and when I realized it was the house next to our compound and that the drumbeat was coming from the street, I decided to get a closer look. I donned my dark hooded sweatshirt and dark pants, took my camera and went out to investigate.
I thought I was being slick and sneaky, but as I was hiding behind a truck getting video of what turned out to be wedding festivities, a young guy walked up from behind me and started talking about what was going on. I’m not sure he understood what I was asking, but since he told me it was OK to watch, I decided to get closer for a better look.
So from behind a wall, next to a bush, I figured I was pretty much hidden from sight enough to get more video. I think I was noticed after a few minutes, so I shut off my camera and quietly jogged back around the corner to our house…but not before gathering some great footage of true Emirati culture that has previously been missing from my life and I share it here with you now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBoWe6qarn0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBxkQ8Qob-0
The Sir told me that the men are doing the Sword Dance, but you’ll also see a couple of guns and an oboe or a clarinet thrown in there for fun. And don’t worry, ladies – the women are inside having a blast, probably smoking the shisha and telling the bride what to expect on the wedding night.
Good times.
Catching Up; Part II
Have I really not posted all of these activities?!?
Happy Thanksgiving! We had two families join us for Turkey Day 2012…
We went to the Marine Ball in November and Mother Of 5 wore one of my old bridesmaid dresses while I wore another one. Who said you’d never wear it again?
Merry Christmas! Ian and his best friend, Katharine on Christmas Eve:
Happy New Year! Channeling Madonna circa 1992 (again):
Camel Festival 2013: Enjoying first class camel viewing accommodations with the family:
Our neighbors and partners in crime:
Getting up close and personal with the camels:
Enjoying an introduction to camel auctioning and learning about the animal from locals:
Catching Up; Part I
It takes an eternity to post anything on this site. I’m not sure if it’s the internet connection here, the fact that they randomly shut down sites and disallow access or what…but today it took almost no time to upload pictures. So I’m going to take advantage and post a bunch of stuff and try (I emphasize the word “try” here) to catch my readers up on our lives.
Back in the fall Bahram came home from work and announced that tickets to the Abu Dhabi Film Festival Awards Ceremony (UAE’s version of the Oscars) had trickled down to him and that if I could get a sitter, we were on our way down the red carpet. I managed to find both a sitter and a dress in my closet in less than 24 hours, so we were off to the Emirates Palace for the evening.
We discussed the red carpet thing on the way over, not really knowing what it was all about. But since it mentioned it on the tickets, we figured we had one to walk down. We tried to avoid it, but as we approached the auditorium, there was no other way to get in. We turned a corner and were hit by lights from hundreds of flashing cameras. They weren’t taking pictures of us, but some Arabian film stars we had never seen before.
These pictures were taken around 2am well after the paparazzi had left and we had already taken our offical walk down the red carpet. The first time down nobody wanted our picture and we basically skipped down the carpet laughing at how silly we felt. After several drinks though, we felt pretty confident and practiced poses. We’ve got one of me pre-awards show and one of the two of us at the Hollywood-type afterparty. The ones on the red carpet were taken in an otherwise empty hallway between laughs and howls from the two of us…
Playing outside
Take a look at Jasper’s face…is that pure happiness or what?
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What The Fog?!?
Every once in a blue moon we wake up to fog. This morning was just such a morning. I tend to stay close to home on these days, as people have no idea how to drive in low visibility. They don’t know how to drive here anyway, but this makes life on the road just a bit more complicated.
It’s pretty, though. This picture is a view from our terrace. You may be able to make out a car out there on the street. Or not…which brings me back to the reason I stay close to home on these mornings!
Baby Football
About thirty years ago, I accompanied my sister and my dad to my sister’s first ballet class. I took classes and would come home in my leotard, tights and pretty pink shoes, so of course Sarah wanted to do the same. She talked about it so much that finally my parents decided to let her try it out.
When we got to the studio, all the little girls lined up on the blue line and for the next 30 minutes followed the teacher’s instructions. There were hops, skips, leaps, first position, second position, etc. But Sarah stood motionless. She did not move a single muscle the entire 30 minutes, which was odd, because Sarah was one super-hyperactive child who never stood still for even a second.
Dad and I were baffled. After class, when asked why she didn’t participate, Sarah responded that she already knew how to do all that stuff. We didn’t really know what that meant, so we tried taking her to the same class the following week and again she stood perfectly still for the entire lesson.
I was reminded of this story on Saturday when I took Jasper to his first soccer class. As The Sir is such a fan of the game and envisions his boys playing professionally (because honestly, basketball is probably out of the question for our kids), I started taking the boys outside to teach them how to kick the ball around. They both love it and Jasper began to ask about playing with other kids. He talked about it so much that I made some phone calls, did some research and decided to take him to “Baby Football” at the country club.
Below you see him at his first soccer class. He sat for the whole hour, despite my encouragement and offers to run the drills and kick the ball with him. He didn’t sit perfectly motionless, but he certainly wasn’t interested in joining the other kids for practice. Why? “I just want to kick the ball, mommy.”
The coach invited us to come back next week at no charge to try again. I believe I will, but I think daddy may need to tag along in order to give him the proper encouragement. We’d like to see him do more than warm the bench.
Jasper’s First Soccer Class
Little Gardeners
I caught Jasper urinating into a potted plant at preschool this afternoon. I was talking to one of the nannies and when she bade farewell, I turned to see what the boys were up to, and Jasper was doing his business in one of the potted trees just outside the toddler room. He told me he was watering the plants and assured me that now they would grow big and strong.
What puts these ideas into kids’ heads? Should we blame ourselves? I thought we had taught Jasper the difference between peeing outside at the farm and peeing outside the gift shop at the train museum (where it’s appropriate and where it’s not so much), but the lesson has either been forgotten, or the blame can be placed elsewhere.
Personally, I feel that Margaret Wise Brown is fully at fault. Below is an excerpt from one of the kids’ newest favorite stories called “Two Little Gardeners”. We read to the kids a lot, and they like to repeat what they’re hearing and seeing in their books. Do we need to censor our reading list now? I mean, come on – it’s just an innocent story from the early 1950’s…does it really need to go on the “banned book” shelf?
If only poor Margaret knew what terrible ideas she was giving our children…
On another note, I’m fully aware that it’s been 2 months since I’ve posted any updates. It’s difficult to get a moment at the computer with the kids running around. I can’t seem to pick up the internet downstairs, and when I come upstairs, the kids want to get on the computer with me or use it to watch Netflix. Right now I’m upstairs and I’m completely ignoring them as they play downstairs. Unsustainable…I’ll write again soon when I get another free moment.
The Adventures of Jabbers and Nia 