Just the Six of Us

There really isn't much to say about the title, other than that is exactly what we were for about nine days.  And it was glorious.  We had all the celebrations, Thing 4's birthday and Christmas, and yes New Years too.  Then on the fourth day of the new year Thing 4 left us as five and he traveled to the States.  All in all our days were filled with games, puzzles, movie watching, all the cafes and restaurants, a few walks, a couple museums and some rainy weather, which limited our outdoor plans but did not deter us from having fun.  So here is our photo montage of our time together here in Vienna.

Paremi.  Pastry pick up after Thing 3's new iPhone purchase.  The best croissants in Vienna.  At least that is our family's vote.  

Brunch at Eiles, our favorite traditional Viennese cafe, hands down.  All the drinks, all the food.  

Sparklers on the balcony, pre-fireworks show. 

For NYE we played minute to win it games, had fun with sparklers, watched movies and played games.  At midnight Thing 2, Husband Jared and myself walked to Prater and had a first hand experience of the danger zone that is Vienna on NYE.  People were lighting fireworks off their balconies, in the park, on the pedestrian bridge, everywhere!  Big, loud booming fireworks, every which way we turned.  It was awesome.  And frightening.  And completely worth the frigid walk.  

Chocolate unicorn: Stack as many Oreos as you can on your forehead, without holding them.  Don't let them fall.  If they do, start all over.  I couldn't stop laughing, which then made my forehead wrinkle, which ultimately lead to the Oreos falling off and making crumbs everywhere!  

Shake it.  Maybe my favorite minute to win it game of the night.  Tie a tissue box around your waist, fill with ping pong balls and then shake until the box is empty.  Oh yeah, we had fun with this one!  

Move the M&M's with a straw from one plate to the other!  

I think we all were ready to pass out after this game. 

Photo props from NYE!  

New Years Day brunch, memory sharing from 2018 and intention setting for the year ahead.  

Welcome to 2019!

On New Years day, after our slow morning, we found ourselves at the theater.  Things 1 and 4 went to see Aqua Man and the rest of us saw The Return of Mary Poppins.  So fun.  Husband Jared and I had wanted to share the Christmas market nighttime experience with the girls so we walked to the Rathaus but to no avail.  They had closed down the stalls and were setting up the ice rink.  We did see the stunning city lights on the trees, so the night wasn't a total loss.  

Our plans for this particular day included brunch at Figar, one of our fav cafes here and then a visit to the Albertina for the Monet exhibit.  Brunch was fantastic and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the vibe and the food.  Although, when we made our way to the museum the line wrapped around the building like people were waiting for a Disneyland ride.  We skipped out on that and chose to return the next day, after we had purchased our tickets ahead of time.  Plan B was the Globe Museum and National Library.  Although that line was just as long and come to find out the girls did not have their passports or student Id's with them.  Cue sad music.  Better informed we set off for the only thing that could save the afternoon, a hot coffee and walk through the Furstel passage.  A beautiful passage, lined with antique shops, a cafe, a chocolate shop and coffee.  Here are the Things in their natural habitat below.  

Thing 3.

Thing 1.  Maybe he had a hot chocolate, he's not much of a coffee drinker.  

Natural.  

Thing 1 took this photo and I was struck by the dimension and the lighting.  

Family selfie, of course!  

Finally we were prepared for museums and walking.  Everyone was armed with the proper identification and off we went, walking past one of Thing 1's favorite buildings in Vienna, the Palmen Haus.  It is the former green house of the Hapsburg family, now a restaurant, but all the glass and arches are really quite stunning.  We went for the trifecta, Esperanto, Papyrus and Globe museums, after the National Library that is.  

The Things were playing a video game learning Esperanto, a language still alive today, which few of us had heard of before our visit to the museum.  It was invented in the late 1800s by a Jewish ophthalmologist in efforts to create a unifying, international second language that would encourage peace.  Today the language is still spoken by approximately 2 million people and recognized globally.    We certainly learned quite a bit about the language in the exhibits and even saw marketing and adverts with Esperanto.  If I had to describe the language itself I would say it sounds like a combination of Germanic and Romantic languages.  

The ceiling in the National Library.  While Thing 3 and I had visited this epic building before the others had not and we were all just as taken with it's architecture, design, art, sculptures and collection of papyrus, artifacts and treasures.  

Outside the National Hall, or what once was the royal library for the Hapsburgs.  

Mirror selfie at the Globe museum, family tradition.  

One of several rooms of globes.  We learned how globes are constructed, the various types of globes, what purpose they served historically and continue to serve today and we were even privy to walk through and see a few private collections of globes, including one as tiny as a rubber bouncing ball.  You know the kind that comes from the machine after you pay a quarter?  Yes, that small.  

Mine and Husband Jared's view as we traveled through the city with these four, our favorites.  

Once home from our day of culture we were treated to a snowy wonderland, kind of like a snow globe from where we sat inside.  By the way, did you know that snow globes were invented in Austria?  There's a bit of trivia for you.  No additional cost.  This evening, our last one together as six, was spent watching family movies that we had not seen before.  We happened to stumble upon a collection of Thing 4's personal recordings, everything from dancing to lip singing and even pretending to be a reporter and announcing our move to Turkey.  Priceless.  The six of us laughed so hard we were crying.  And me maybe more so.  Because how often is it now that the six of us are able to have a shared memory like that and then relive it together?  

Once Thing 4 was on his way and it was just the girls with us we started scheduling our one on one dates with them.  Thing 3 chose Paremi so we all headed there, Things 1 and 2 sitting far away from us and Thing 3 in between Husband Jared and myself for our date.  Then the girlies made their way to the Albertina for Monet, he is Thing 2's favorite impressionist artist after all.  I had seen the vast collection before with Haylee and Callee so I passed but we did meet up with the museum goers for lunch and a walk to a new to us cafe.  They shared the paintings they most liked, what they saw and all about standing in the rain for forty five minutes while they waited to be admitted into the museum.  

Burggasse 24.  One of my new favorite places to write, sip coffee and people watch.  It is connected to a vintage clothing store and is just all around charming in the most quirky, hipster of ways.  Not to mention there are real candles burning on all the tables in old-ish styled holders.  Another special touch.  

Cuties at the cafe.  From here we were off to a dear friend's daughter's baptism.  It was a beautiful ceremony and we were thankful to be able to celebrate her decision with their friends and family.  The next day was our daughter date with Thing 2 before church, then church service together and Sunday pizza night per tradition.  Monday brought our date with Thing 1 and our dinner at Figlmuller, the Things' favorite.  There was schnitzel and bread and potato soup and all the food.  We shared highs and lows of the trip, although I think it was mostly highs and not too many lows, other than Thing 3's concussion recovery which took more than half her trip.  Besides that little detail it was all toasts and gratitude and full hearts and bellies around the table.  

Cuties working on checking in for their flights.  

On our way to the airport.  Three there.  Two below.  

And also, my least favorite part of any trip, the airport drop off. 

Yes, she sat on my lap for the picture.  And also because I wanted to pretend she was a little girl for just a moment.  Wink, wink.  That concludes our trip down memory lane, or at least the recap of our time as six this past winter.  Until next time...Which of course I am already planning!