A Day in the Life

Our next stop was Austria. We spent one day in Salzburg, and two in Vienna. We LOVED Salzburg. It is a big town, but feels small and quaint. Vienna on the other hand is a big city, and it feels that way. Salzburg and Vienna have musical significance, and as a music major, I wanted to see experience some of the music culture here in Austria. Zac was a great sport, even though I think he was a little less than enthusiastic about some of the stuff I had planned. Our activities in order:

• Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg, where the “Sound of Music” kids sung “Do Re Mi”. It was really beautiful. Oh and we saw two brides taking pictures there – one in a modern white wedding gown, and one in a dirndl.
• Salzburg Dom – this was our favorite Cathedral so far, although the exterior isn’t really amazing. The interior, especially the ceiling, was amazing! The artwork was beautiful, but the sculpted ceilings and walls were so detailed. I can’t believe they did all of that by hand!
• Mozart’s birth house – there is a museum there that tells about his family life, and has some original artifacts, letters from him, and one of his harpsichords. Very cool.
• Hellbrunn Palace in Salzburg – The palace wasn’t that great, but the Trick Fountains around it were hilarious. Apparently the archbishop who built it had a sense of humor, and would surprise his guests while out walking in his garden with hidden fountains of water. It is all natural, built near a spring that still supplies water to the fountains today. Most fun tour of a palace ever!
• Hohensalzburg Fortress – Original fort on the hill, and had a great view of Salzburg
• Vienna Haus der Musik – Music museum which included exhibits on the great Viennese composers, and where I got to conduct the Viennese Orchestra.
• Vienna Boys Choir – this was something I was really excited about. We ended up seeing them in a Mass on Sunday morning, and I loved it.
• Boat Tour along the Danube – not recommended. Mostly we just saw graffiti along the walls. But it was nice to get off our feet, since we were walking everywhere.
• Speaking of walking, the public transport in Germany and Austria were awesome, and easy to figure out. Subways, buses, and trains! Who needs a car?

It is crazy to think we are halfway through our trip. In case you have missed us, here is a link to some pictures of our travels so far: Europe 2010 on Photoshop.com

We will give you more information when we get home about all of our travels but we are killing time while our clothes are in the wash. Hilton Garden Inn, thank you for having a washer and dryer so we do not have to use the sink.

Sorry our writing is so weird, we are using a foreign keyboard, and there is no apostrophe. And no °at° sign, and apparently no quotes…

Peyton Manning Is Amazing

Andrea just told me very depressing news. I am scheduled to fly to Hawaii for work on Super Bowl Sunday. I will be flying when the game is on. I am so sad and I didn’t even realize it until right now. I am not going to be able to see my hero Peyton Manning beat the pants off the N’awlins Saints. And I am not going to see Austin Collie (BYU almost-alum) win a Super Bowl in his rookie season. Looks like I am going to have to bit torrent the game and watch it on my computer. This stinks.

At least I can eat pancakes with coconut syrup while I watch to ease the pain!

Not much has happened the last couple of weeks, but the blog needs an update, so here we are. Adelyn turned 11 months on October 5th, and weighed in at 17 lbs 2 oz. She is so close to walking, and it is so cute! She walks all over the house holding onto our fingers, or pushing her train, and she LOVES it. She does this funny laugh, where her face gets all scrunched up and smiley and she breathes really heavy through her nose. I’ll have to post a video of that.

Zac went on his 2nd to last business trip of the year, so we are excited about that! He was in Chicago, and next week he’ll be in Newark, NJ. After that, he’s homefree for the rest of the year! I wanted to come with him and spend a few days in NYC, but it was too last minute and I wasn’t sure how comfortable I’d be, traveling from Newark to NYC everyday, alone, and with a baby. Maybe next time.

I’m still teaching piano and voice lessons, and really enjoying it! I also love spending time with Adelyn and watching her learn new things every day. She is such a talker! She can say “Addie”, “Daddy”, “Mommy”, “Bottle” (sounds more like “body”), “Baby”, “Wow”, and “Hi”. And she still gives those slobbery kisses. She actually kissed a boy yesterday at church. Isn’t that where it always starts?! Good thing we like him and his parents:)

Here are some pictures of our little angel:

Andrea and I spent the weekend in Oklahoma City at the Red Man Triathlon. Since December my Dad has been a workout machine. He exercises a few hours a day and has since lost a lot of weight. He is in great shape but wanted some additional motivation to keep going. He signed up for the Half Aqua Bike event at the Red Man Triathlon. The Half Aqua Bike consists of a 1.1 mile swim in a lake followed by a 56 mile bike race. This was his first triathlon event and we are so proud of him for working so hard and accomplishing something so difficult.

The day started out rainy and cold. The race was delayed about an hour because some of the bike race roads were under water. Dangerous for road bikes… We didn’t prepare for cold rainy weather but we did our best. Notice the baby in a trash bag poncho / blanket in every photo. We were trying to keep her lips from turning blue. It rained all day and it turned the whole park into a red mud pit. Needless to say we were wet, tired, and covered in red mud at the end of the day.

Even though the weather was poor my Dad had a great race. He took second place in his age group and was 15th overall in his event. Not too bad for a “Big Guy” (that is what every one called him as he passed, “Good Job Big Guy!”) and for his first triathlon type event. Congratulations Dad, and thanks for inviting us. Now we just need to get training for the next one! Maybe I will join you.