More than I can chew Part Two

Here is the second half of our summer pictures. 

Salzburg, Austria

We are on the grounds of the VonTrapp family home in Salzburg.

Remember the scene with the kids running "fa" while wearing playclothes made from bedroom curtains?
It was filmed right here.

Munich, Germany

Brooke with a street performer in Munich

Connor and Pop Pop at Nymphenburg Palace outside of Munich

Just Trey

I LOVE LOVE LOVE German public transport!  It is awesome. 

Locals in traditional dress in the beer garden

Kandern, Germany

Just us being silly at the train station

Connor checking out a map of his future home 

Kissy Kissy

Black Forest Academy...Where Connor will attend boarding school next year.  He wanted us to leave him there this year, but we're holding on to him as long as we can.  

 Switzerland

View from the cable car that was taking us up into the Alps.  Brooke needed to stop for a potty break and we ended up taking a side excursion.  It was very cool.

Us with Pop Pop high in the Swiss Alps

 Verona, Italy

Kyle outside a coliseum in Verona.

Venice, Italy

Sweet hat

Nice new glasses

Sweet Brookie

Pop Pop treated us to a gondola ride.  Priceless!

We came back from the trip and KK and Pop Pop left a couple of days later.  We got busy getting ready for school to start and took a quick trip to visit friends in southern Serbia.  If you haven't already...you should take the time to read the post entitled "Too Good Not to Blog It" to find out about my most memorable few hours of the summer.

I think I've bitten off more than I can chew... (Part One)

This is what happens when you go for months without blogging and want to catch everyone up on your life in one massive post.  Well, there were too many photos for one, so we'll make this a two part photo entry to take you on a quick journey through our summer.

June

This is the grassy area we are so grateful for just outside our new home.  Lots of grass and lots of buildings full of people we are hoping to get to know.

We celebrated Father's Day on Ada, an island in the middle of the river.  It is a really cool place.  Lots of green grass, lots of good food and even a 9 hole golf course.

Brooke in her newly decorated bedroom.  It is such a blessing to be living with stuff we own for the first time in 18 months.  The wall decorations are cool sticker things we found at a store in Novi Sad just before we moved.

Nana and Grandaddy came to visit in June.  This is their first authentic Serbian meal.  Our friend Snezena cooked more that we could eat.  The food just kept coming and coming.  Nana and Gradad were real troopers.  We had a two and a half hour meal and it was all in Serbian on a very HOT July afternoon.  We love this sweet family and are so grateful for their generosity and hospitality.

Trey and Grandaddy got to play at the golf course on the island.  Mike drove in from Novi Sad to join them.  It was an experience from what I heard.

July

The crew ready to head to the states for three weeks.  

My three with Cooper...my sister's little man...I am so sad that I didn't get to hug on him.  He is growing up so fast.

This is the mural on the wall in the Mexican restaurant where we ate in Budapest.  It was the first "real" Mexican we'd had in a year and a half and it was good.  Good enough for the angels as it seems.

While the kids were gone Trey and I went to Budapest to meet Jason and Christy.  I somehow didn't get one picture of our time together loaded onto this computer, but it was a huge blessing to have time with them.  We laughed a lot and ate a lot.  Great memories with great friends.

August

.Our new colleague Amy arrived in July and we explored part of old Belgrade with her one afternoon in early August...I need some better pictures of her.  (If only she weren't so evasive. ; ))

KK and Pop Pop brought the kids back in August.  Here are a few photos of our fun in Belgrade:

 We went on a ROAD TRIP while KK and Pop Pop were here.  Seven countries in six days!

Sebia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and back home.

Driving directions and toll booth tickets
The Swiss are the most proud of their roads.  It cost us 40 Euros to drive there and we were only in the country about 5 hours!  

Nice nap on the road

More napping

Connor never sleeps on trips.  It would be hard with those big smelly sister feet in your face I guess.

Killing time on the Austrian highway while things were shut down for about 45 minutes.  It was a beautiful place to be stuck.  We sang our way through the entire Sound of Music soundtrack while we waited.

The Night the Lights Didn't Go Out in Belgrade

So, if you found a notice taped up in your building stating that your power would be out for 13 hours on Sunday what kind of things would you do?

I'm sure you'd start thinking about what was in your frig and freezer; trying to come up with a plan for all that food not to ruin.  You'd call your friend Amy and ask to stash your stuff in her freezer.

This the only picture that I could find quickly of Amy who I used for her refrigeration potential.  Clearly, I need more pictures of her.  This has nothing to do with food, but you can now put a face with the name.

This is the food that I wanted to save.

I'm sure you'd also look at the weather forecast...Will it be hot?...Too hot to stay at home with no fans or klima?  You'd find out that of course it will be hot...one of the hottest days in the last couple of weeks up to about 93.  You'd then check on the budget and the movie schedule to see how and where you'd be spending your afternoon.

You'd, of course, plan to go out to eat since there is no way to cook.

You'd spend some time charging all your electronics and phones.

You'd try to decide whether to relocate the kid's AWANA meeting that is planned to be at your house at 4:00.

AWANA cuties

You'd remind everyone to take a key with them because you can't get out of the building without a key when there is no power and it's a LOOOOOOONG way back up to the 7th floor with no elevators working.

You'd plan to only come and go one time if at all possible because you've calculated the distance up and down said stairs.  It's nine flights when you consider the garage is at level -2.

You'd talk to a friend and find out that there might be no power anywhere in the city!!!  WHAT?!?!?!?

You'd panic because if this is true...

Why did you take the time to cart your groceries across town?  Just so that they could spoil in Amy's freezer and she would be the one throwing it all out?

Where will you eat?  McDonald's will not be serving Egg McMuffins with no power.

What will you do?  The movie theaters can't run air conditioners (or movies) without power.

You'd call a Serb you've recently met who lives nearby and completely confuse him because he's not heard about this.

You'd talk to another friend and check the electric company's website.


http://www.edb.co.rs/


You'd actually figure out what that website says (well, pretty much figure it out) and know that your address isn't included in either of the black boxex on the map.

Here's the map from the website.

You'd have no idea what to expect the next day, but you'd make sure everyone showered, just in case there is no hot water.

You'd go to sleep wondering; but not really, because that's kind of how life is around here.

You'd be thankful when you wake up to find that you do in fact have power and go downstairs to find out that your building decided that even though your block wasn't included in black boxed zones "It's better to be safe than sorry."

You'd eat at McDonald's anyway because like you they have power, but unlike you they have real sausage and hashbrowns.

You'd collect your food from Amy's place and have a pretty normal day.

Then you'd be really glad it all turned out like that because you didn't know what you were going to blog about.

Well, I guess that's what you'd do.  It's what we did.

Too Good Not to Blog It...

After a long absence there have been some recent events in my life that have made it clear that I must return to the blogging world.

Let me start with a great story...

Many of you know the infamous Israel stories such as "I tried to do that to a dog one time", "The golfing explosion", "The bubble gum mishap", I could go on...

This one may surpass all the others...

It all began on a mountain top overlooking Kraljevo, Serbia.
We were having a great time looking over the city with great friends.  It was a really cool place that we look forward to visiting again.  We went to "The Cross" as they call for a quick drink and to take in the view before we left town.  As we headed back down the one lane road we met a monk in a Yugo...seriously...he had to back down the road a ways until he could pull over enough for our two big vans to screech past him.  About halfway down Trey and I looked at each other with that, "Oh no, I think something is wrong" look.

Yes, something was wrong...a flat tire on a one lane two way gravel road with barely enough room to get the door open.  We continued on down...very carefully, praying not to damage the rim.  We made it to a flat place and pulled over.  Josh and Kristen turned around and came back to help us.  After about and hour and a half of fighting with a tire, the help of two guys on a motor bike, a hammer and chisel, and a really nice man from the Hyundai place down the road, we were back on our way.  All the kids were disappointed because we were thinking we were stuck and might have to have the car towed (or spidered as we do it here in Serbia) and some major work done on the wheel.  They all wanted to extend the visit, and if we had been stuck it would have been a super excuse to hang out longer with the Hepners who we just don't get to spend enough time with.

After a quick stop on the way out of town to air up the spare and buy some drinks for the road Trey looked at me and said, "Well that sure was crazy".

My response was, "You don't know the half of it!"

He looked puzzled and asked what I was talking about.

And the real story begins...

Just as we realized we had car trouble I was becoming aware of my own trouble.  Immediately upon stopping the car I was in urgent and immediate need of a toilet.  As I reached into the glove box for some of the emergency toilet paper and began heading down the dirt road away from the car, Kristen saw me and asked if she needed to drive me back up the hill.  All I had time to say as I walked away was that there wasn't time.

I kept hoping to find a nice little secluded area for my first ever squatting in the woods experience, but alas, time did not allow, and as I was situated about six inches off the path I prayed that the people who lived in that little house would not need to walk into town or have any visitors in the next few minutes.  Just as things were getting better and I felt like the trauma was over I felt it...a HORRIBLE pain in the butt!  I had been stung!  By some terrible creature who, when I reached back in shock, got my finger too.

I couldn't see the site of the sting, nor did I ever see what had gotten me.  I just knew my left cheek was on fire!

I headed back up the road, telling no one of the injury that had been added to my insulting situation.  I mean really, what could anyone do?

Kristen and I were walking around with the kids and chatting as the boys were fighting a losing battle with the lug nuts.  Her little one reached down to pick up some rocks and she said, "Oh no, Josiah, be careful.  That is fire weed.  It will hurt!"

Hmmm.  I thought, fire weed..."Kristen, what is fire weed?", I asked.

"Well, it's this terrible plant that if you brush up against it will cause great pain." she replied.

I asked, "Does it feel like you've been stung, and then like you are on fire, and then does it tingle and make you want to cry?"

"Yes!" she said, "Oh no, where did it get you?"

I said, "On my booty!"

We both died laughing.  She told me it would feel better in a few hours and not to put water on it, even though it might seem like it might help.  It did feel better a few hours later.

There is nothing like a three hour ride home sitting on your firey fanny.

I shared the story with a friend on the phone as we drove and she told be she'd pray for my hiney.  I've never had anyone say that to me before, and I've never been so grateful for a friend who will lift up your every need.

You'll all be grateful that there are no photos to go along with this post. ;)