GEM Annual Conference 2017

Our organization held its annual conference at a new location this year - the seaside in Slovenia!  As a family, we LOVED the change of venue!  The work conference was really great this year, and the kids did the best they've ever done at one of these conferences.  Of course, their ages make it a bit easier each year.  Traveling by car was nice in many ways, but the weekend traffic on the return trip combined with massive storms was a bit stressful.

A dream visit to the Police Helicopter Station

When I read that the Police Helicopter Station in Vienna was having an Open House for kids, I knew it would make Nathanael's summer.  It did not disappoint.  He took along one of his police helicopters and wanted pictures with everything.

Eva was just happy for a family outing.

The highlight was most definitely getting to talk to an actual police helicopter pilot and sit in two helicopters!

Nathanael applied to become a junior police officer, filled out an exam, and had his picture taken for a real junior police officer ID.

Proudly holding his junior police officer bag

And of course, he asked for a police helicopter balloon from the balloon artist, and we were quite impressed.

Auntie Carrie is here!

It's not always the case that we get to greet our guests at the airport, but this time it worked out perfectly with our schedules to welcome Auntie Carrie at the airport!

We began by taking her berry picking, of course.

Then we headed up to the Vienna Woods on a windy, rainy day for some hiking and ice cream, of course.

I think Auntie Carrie was well-entertained by these two performers.  They danced to every song we could find from the Kids' Club program from our vacation in Turkey.  And costumes make dancing that much more fun, right?

I am not sure who enjoyed the cuddles more, the Auntie or the ballerina.

Carrie and I went out for breakfast at a local gluten-free cafe.

We concluded our breakfast with coffee and dessert, of course.

We made a visit to our favorite Kurpark Oberlaa.

And we ate way too many gluten-free desserts at the restaurant there.

Oh, and she and I also went out for Turkish food and ate way too much...

Her visit ended all to quickly.  Bye, sis, come again soon!

I promise we'll do more than eat next time you're here. ;)

Berry Picking at the Faraway Park

When we returned from our holiday in Turkey, we discovered the berries in season at one of our favorite local parks -- ironically named Faraway Park by our family.

Amazing gluten-free berry bread!