For the last post of Grandma’s visit we just have some random activities we did while she was here, although mostly we just took pics of the kids so she does not appear much in this post…
The beginning of my mom’s visit was during one of the hottest, longest heat waves Vienna has had in a long time (definately since I have been here), and my friend Becky graciously allowed us to come swimming a couple times at the place she was staying. Elora and Oliver had a great time, and the rest of us were super happy to cool off!
Elora loves her floaties and swim ring, they give her a lot of confidence to try out her swimming skills. She mostly just flails around… maybe next year we can give her some proper swim lessons. Oliver has this little boat that someone gave us when we were on vacation last summer and he loved it! He is so excited to be floating and able to kick his feet and propel himself somewhere.
Jumping to daddy is always a favorite activity (mommy does not enjoy it so much, I handled the camera, and Grandma hung out near the steps). Elora is getting so brave (scary!) and makes Chris move really far from the edge so she can really fly before hitting the water.
Look how high she jumps!
Oliver will tell Chris to move far away, then change his mind and point to the water directly in front of him and say “Daddy, here!” He wants to be holding your hands before he commits to jumping!
And that is an awesome face! But he also loves this game and will play as long as you let him…
We also went to the park to get out of the boiling hot apartment, and Elora finally got the hang of blowing bubbles herself! She has done it before, but not so consistantly as this time. Oliver was jealous so we gave him some to try too… he was determined to figure it out.
Elora has been trying to master the technique for blowing really big bubbles. I think she is actually better at it than me!
Ollie made a bubble! Usually just one at a time, but it was exciting to see success for him after he had been trying so hard.
Here he is sticking his fingers in the bubbles… he is pointing at the little bubbles collected on the stick and saying “bubbles! There!” The only bad thing about the kids blowing the bubbles themselves is they use up the bubble a whole lot quicker – Oliver kept spilling his, and Elora used her without pause for at least a half hour!
We decided to make Grandma some Erdbeer Knoedel (Little bread dumplings with strawberries inside). So yummy, and I am getting pretty good at making them too!
Oliver just wanted the breadcrumbs roasted in sugar. Funny kid, the strawberries are the best part!
Elora enjoying her Knoedel! Especially the whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Sigh. One day the kids will figure out how nice it is to broaden their food horizons.
Ollie liked the breadcrumb mixture so much he even volunteered to clean the table for us! His train ticket came along to help. His two favorite things – sugar and trains!
