Camp is finished....

and Leah is home! She had a brilliant time. Every night she rang home to say goodnight and talked non-stop about everything that had happened that day. She just loved everything about it from the gospel workshops, to the choir practise, to the Bible hour. It was all great! She is now already talking about next years!!

So tonight we went to her concert. On the last evening they hold a concert for all the parents. It was really good. A hundred young people singing or playing musical instruments, doing drama or dance. It was a great evening. Leah was singing in two different choirs, the gospel one and the rhythmic one. She got to sing solo in one of the verses. It was one of the few quiet songs, and she was happy about that. She did a good job.

Now I am about to go to bed! Tomorrow we head to London for the big wedding of the year!! I am so looking forward to it. No doubt you will hear all about it!

A day out....

...with me!! And it actually turned out great! There were sooooo many bargins in town. I had a ball. There was only one problem - too many bargins and not enough money!! haha

I must admit though, the conversations that I had with myself were pretty fantastic! (even if I say so myself! haha) I really enjoyed my own company today! Must remember to go out with myself some more!! haha

Anyway by the time Kristian came home I was all calm and content!! Not one bit of restlessness in sight! (Kristian was happy about that!) But maybe I was feeling that way because we were going out - something was happening this evening!!


We were off to a BBQ with our good friends, Jette and Filip. They have now moved to the big house in the country that they wanted us to share with them. (If you remember we said no - it was just not big enough for us, which was a real shame!)

But isn´t it just gorgeous? So cosy!!! I really wish it had fitted our needs cause we would have moved there in a flash! But it is great for Jette and Filip and their two kids.

The men went to get the grill going while Jette got the food organised and I played with the kids.

Jette had a friend visiting who I haven´t seen in a few years. Her name is Anne (Rhoda you maybe will remember her) I met Anne in 1992 at Kilchzimmer in Switzerland. She was 11 years old then and had moved with her parents from South Africa to Kichzimmer. Her parents were going to be working there. She helped look after Sara and was always playing with her and taking her walks.

Anne and Jette met each other at Kilchzimmer and became great friends. Then Anne came to Denmark to work for a year when Leah was just a baby. We haven´t seen her since then! It was really great to see her again and catch up. She is such a lovely girl! Great sense of humour too;-)

It has been a really great evening, and even though it rained, we had a very successful BBQ - just indoors!

My head is....

...officially empty! hahaha

I had a nice long lie in this morning before getting up and emptying my head of the last bit of information that was stored in there. This time it was to do with church work. I got a lot of preparation work done for our junior club. It was wonderful to get my thoughts down on paper and to also go back over old material that Rhona and I made a few years ago for our old junior club. It brought back many, very happy memories!

Late afternoon I got a load of washing done, got some reading done, and before I knew it, it was dinner time and Kristian was home from work.

Now having an empty head is maybe not as good as I thought it would be. Since emptying my head I have been sooooo restless. (I have been driving Kristian crazy!)


I have all this energy inside and want to do loads of crazy things. (You see I am still on holiday and I have still got this holiday feeling!) However my poor hubby isn´t. When he comes home he is ready to just relax, kick back and not think too much.

On top of the restlessness I have also been craving chocolate, coke, cake, crisps and all sorts of delicious stuff, so that hasn´t helped my mood. But I am not allowed those things until the weekend! I have lost 1kg 200 grms since coming back to Denmark! So I am quite chuffed with myself!


Anyway, to help with all this restless energy that I have, I have made a plan! Tomorrow I am going on a date with MYSELF!!!! I am going to do something fun....probably shopping (I think a big part of the restlessness is because I haven´t been shopping in days! and I´m serious!)...lunch by the lake...read a little, a walk in the gardens...and maybe even visit the castle. Tomorrow will be a fun day for me so that when my hubby comes home I will be content and ready for a quite night in relaxing!! haha (Only we are not home tomorrow night - we have plans!! hahaha)

A secret place...

...that is what I have been thinking about today.

Psalm 91,1 says " He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty."


Let me share what I read today; God has a secret place where we can dwell in peace and safety. The secret place is the place of rest in God, a place of peace and comfort in Him. This secret place is a "spiritual place" where worry vanishes and peace reigns. It is the place of God´s presence. When we spend time praying and seeking God and dwelling in His presence, we are in the secret place. This is the place God wants His people to live. (He who DWELLS....dwells means "to make one´s home, reside, live.") Our heavenly Father does not want us just to visit Him once in a while. He wants us to dwell under the shadow of His wings, to abide there, to live there. When we do that, we remain stable and fixed.

(There was a lot more but I will stop here!)


This just spoke to me today. How many times do I run in and out of the secret place?! Many times! I need to learn to dwell there...to live under the shadow of the Almighty. What a great place to be!! Under His shadow I find peace, joy, and strength!


On a hot summers day if I sit out in the sun I end up getting really uncomfortable. I sweat, the heat becomes unbearable and I usually end up having no energy, being in a bad mood and feeling sooo fed up. (that´s the truth!) But how wonderful it is when I find a tree and can sit under it, in its shadow. In the shade of the tree the heat becomes bearable, I don´t sweat as much and I find a little strength again.


Well how much more wonderful it is to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty! When the "heat" from the world is getting to us, when things are unbearable, when we are beginning to feel fed up, under there we can find rest for our weary soul, we can take a "break" from the "heat" and find the strength that we need to go on. (But I´m still learning to dwell there and not just go in and out on visits!)

Steven Curtis Chapman has been a "friend" of mine since 1989 when I first heard his music in Corfu on holiday with Rhoda.

When I was in Ireland I bought one of his CD´s for Kristian. Since then we haven´t stop listening to him. Well ,today I was playing piano for a while and came across one of his music books in my collection. I started singing my way through the book (not a pleasant experience for the rest of the poor family!) But I found one of his songs which I had not listened to in a while. It fitted in with what I was reading about a hiding place, so I thought I would share it. (it´s in the video above.)

One productive day...

I got up this morning with a goal - to clear out my head!!! Now some of you will probably be saying "Well I´m sure that didn´t take you too long, there´s not much in there to clear out!!" hahaha (and you wouldn´t be far wrong!) But with only 1 week of holiday left, my mind is starting to panic about all the things I need to prepare for the up coming months. Today I wanted to get a start on some of those preparations, and I did!!

For those of you who don´t know, I work in a school and I have been asked to teach the 3rd and 4th graders English - as their second language.(WHAT??!!!! I hear you scream!!!! I know, those poor children! They will be speaking with such bad grammar and a Belfast accent too, so they will!!! hahaha)

Well, I said I would give it a try as I do love teaching children.

Today I got out all the material and went through it. I made my years plan for the 3rd and 4th grade (something I have to do - this is given to the parents so they can follow what you plan to teach!) I even got my first 2 lessons planned in detail and 6 others outlined. I am soooo fired up!! It has been wonderful preparing things in English. I am really looking forward to this challenge. (Now wait to hear what I say at the end of August when I have been teaching for a few weeks - it will probably be another story! But I hope not!)


Andrew has been saving up for a Playstation 3. He has been wanting one for months. He finally had enough money from all his hours of cleaning at the school, to be able to go and buy one. When Kristian came home from work we decided to go to town and see if they had any good bargins. They did!! Andrew came home a really happy chap!

He needed a screen to go along with his PS3 (as his computer screen doesn´t have the right specifications - or something like that!) Unfortunately he didn´t have enough money for that, but next Thursday he has a birthday, so today we decided to buy him an early birthday present - a new screen to match his new PS3. He was over the moon. He didn´t have to wait to play with his new toy. (and now I don´t have to run around looking for presents for him! It´s a win, win situation!)

Off course Kristian had to get in on the fun too!

Yes - it has been one good day! I can go to bed with a half empty head!!! I still have the church work to organise, but I´ll make a start on that tomorrow, then my head will be totally empty and I can enjoy the last few days of my holidays!

Lots and lots and lots....

...of driving done today. I felt like a taxi driver again!

First Sara´s friend was needing a lift home. Something had come up at home and she was needed, so I gave her a lift. She lives in one of the towns close to Ikea, so I know the road well. Must admit I was very tempted to just drive on to Ikea!

Then Leah was going off to music camp. After a bit of food shopping it was home to get her and deliver her at the camp. She was so excited to be going. Her friend from church was going too and she was sharing a room with her.

Sara was off with her cousin to a concert. Andrew was playing some sort of computer game with his friends on-line. Suddenly Kristian and I had an evening at home without a whole lot of kids and their friends running around. We decided to go on a date!

At first we couldn´t decide if the date should be in or out. Out won in the end.

We headed out to a lovely café/restaurant that we have in our town, and had the most delicious meal. Then we headed to another town not far from us and took a walk around the town and lake. It was a beautiful evening - not too warm, just the way I like it.

We ended the evening by going to the cinema. We had a gift card to use and for once there was something on that we both wanted to see. We went to see "Knight and Day".

I so enjoyed it! It was filled with action (which Kristian likes, and I actually enjoyed it too) and it was funny. Now, it wasn´t that we were rolling on the floor laughing, but you did laugh from time to time. However through out the movie I found myself just sitting with a smile on my face. Whenever I looked at Kristian he was the same, sitting with a smile! Sitting looking at Tom Cruise´s smile all evening was not a hard thing for me to do either!!! hahaha

One thing about this movie - I don´t believe there was one bad word in it, and there was no bed scenes. Amazing eh?!! Totally recommend it for a "park your brain and just have fun" night out.

To end the night our big daughter rang. The concert was over. (The train line up north is being fixed so the trains are not running, only buses and they are not as effective.) She was wondering if we would pick her up at her cousin`s. So Kristian and I headed into Copenhagen to get her. That was ok for us! It gave us a chance to listen to a CD I bought Kristian back from Ireland, "All about love" by Steven Curtis Chapman. It was soooo good, especially number 13!! It was played on repeat a few times! (If you want to hear it, see the video below!)

Changes at home in Denmark....

...yes, there were a few changes here in Denmark. I arrived back home this afternoon. The first change that I noticed was when Andrew came to give me a welcome home hug. He had grown a beard!! so I got more of a tickle than a hug, when he said hello. (Look carefully, you will eventually notice it!!) Don´t worry it´s coming off soon - he was just being lazy for a while!


Then Sara got all domestic on me! (2nd change!) She decided to cook us dinner. (Long may it last!)

She had her friend Michelle visiting. They had a lot of fun together. She will stay until tomorrow, so there is a lot of girlie chat and giggling going on. (Good for both of them!)

Sara´s food was really delicious!! I was sooo surprised. There was nothing left at the end - we ate everything! So it´s not the last time she will make that dish!!

It´s hard to believe that 24hours ago I was a few thousand miles away in Ireland!!

Our last day was spent visitng friends at Portrush. They had rented a house at Portrush so we went to them for lunch. After lunch we went across to Portstewart for a walk. It´s years since I´ve been to Portstewart. It was beautiful. The weather was gorgeous. Leaving Belfast that morning it was raining, but the blue skies were over the north coast!

Thanks Sharon and Jeffrey for a really great afternoon!! (We got the most delicious hot toffee pudding!! I loved that Sharon!!)

Another walk down memory lane...

Tonight I was at my brother's place. We had a really fun evening with delicious food. I got introduced to a person that I had never heard of before: Shaun the sheep!! What a funny animation! Leah and I laughed so much. We loved it! (Thanks Jim for introducing us!hahaha)

I had, yet again, a walk down memory lane. My Aunty Laura (and my Aunty Min when she was home from Canada) would always have a dance whenever she came up for supper. Aunt Laura only lived down the street so she was often in our house for supper, so as you can imagine, there were many dances held in our living room. My aunt Laura loved to do the slush, and before long the rest of us would be up doing it with her. Great times they were!!

Well tonight Jim stuck some good music on and I must be like my namesake, cause before long I was up dancing and Jim joined in too!! haha It was fun!

A night with "old" friends...

I had a lovely day today. Been to town again - it was lovely!

Then this evening I met up with some of the people that I grew up with. We had a really nice evening together remembering days gone by. We were not so many - 5 in all! (a little more if we counted our kids, who took off and played hide and seek in the church)

One thing I am so impressed with is Charlene's memory! How does she remember every little detail about every little thing.

Anyway Charlene brought her guitar and we decided to sing a song that had been a favourite of ours many years ago! She is going to kill me for putting this on here!!

Family visit

Today my Aunt Kathleen was coming to visit, so I was up early to get things organised. I decided to take a walk up to M&S on the Boucher Road to get some things for lunch. It was raining and I sooo enjoyed the walk. On the way home I decided to literally go a walk down memory lane. I decided to go in and explore the Olympia Leisure Centre.

I spent many a happy hour there 25 years ago!! We would play badminton, swim, and when they finally got a fitness room we used that too, and after keeping fit we would stuff ourselves at the cafeteria!!

Well the Olympia has all changed. The fitness room is now moved to where the cafeteria used to be. The reception is also moved. The cafeteria is now moved to where the fitness room used to be. You can still hire the courts for badminton!! (I asked!) Oh the memories came flooding back!

You know I lived the first 21 years of my life here in Belfast and I have lived 20 years of my life in Denmark. So two places, with nearly the same amount of time in each place but yet I feel sooooo much more at home here. I fit in here!! Why is that? Its not like my life in Denmark is terrible. I have a great life in Denmark. I have wonderful memories of great times, just like here, but I just "fit" here. (Ok enough of my deep moment!)


So my Aunty arrived for lunch. We had a lovely afternoon of catching up.

Dad showed her his computer and we introduced her to Facebook and my blog. She saw a few few funny videos, like an irish woman trying to ride a horse!! haha We had a laugh.

We went up the Boucher Road to explore some of the shops there. It's amazing the whole shopping area that has been built there. It was then home to dinner before she left for home.

I really did enjoy the day.

Richview

This morning I was back at my old church. (It holds so many good memories for me!) It was really nice to be there again.

This morning, to my surprise, my friend Charlene son was doing the childrens address. I must say, I was impressed. He did such a good job. I know how nerve wrecking it is to stand up in a church and talk. He did sooo well. Charlene you can be sooooo proud of him.

So talking about Richview. Charlene and I have arranged an evening this Tuesday (20th July) at 7pm, down at Richview. It is open to all who wish to come. The idea is just to have fun and fellowship together. Maybe we will go a walk down memory lane by singing some old songs, or doing a GB dance or two, or a march around the room!!! haha There will be a cup of tea and piece of cake provided, so if you want to come along - feel free. (You can put a comment on here and let me know if you are coming, then I know how much cake to buy!)

Hope to see many "old" faces again!!

Same procedure as last time....

I don't have anything different to report from other times that I have been home. Friday saw us down visiting my sister-in-law, niece and nephew. (like we usually do!) As always, we had a great afternoon with them. Some good laughs and great food! We spent at little time in Bangor shopping. I found my dress for the upcoming wedding that Kristian and I are going to. (We not only get to go to "The Wedding of The Year", but we get to spend the weekend in London at the Hilton, with some really great friends!! We can hardly wait!)

Below are the two cousins! Where is the time going, they are getting sooo big! (I think they resemble each other a little - don't u think?)

Today, Dad, Leah and me went to town. I got into two bookshops!!!

It was a lovely afternoon.

I also went into The Body Shop and got them to do my makeup - just to see what they would come up with. Told them I was going to a wedding but that I wanted a natural look.

I wasn't too sure about the result. I felt like I had too much makeup on, but then I never wear make up so a little could seem like loads to me.

I have to think about it, but having said that, I did like the colours that they used around my eyes. Although, when my eyes are open they are soooo baggy that you can't see the colour anyway!! So what really is the point in spending money on the stuff!!! hahaha (I should just save up for a whole face lift!!)

Home again....

Yes we are back!!! You can never get too much of a good thing and Belfast is a good thing for me!! I love coming home.

Leah and I arrived on Wednesday afternoon. My brother Jim and his friend Garvin were in Dublin, so they were able to collect us at the airport. It was wonderful not having to get the bus to Belfast. It was also great to have a couple of friendly faces to welcome us at arrivals. (Thanks Jim and Garvin!)

We stopped for lunch at a wee hotel. It was really delicious and gave me just what I needed for the ride home - a full stomach to fall asleep on.

Before long I was home again hugging dad and unpacking things in my old bedroom. (this time with Leah as my room mate!)

Today brought a new day with new challenges, the biggest challenge being - shopping with Leah! (Oh help!!!!!) What a day it was!!! That girl can literally "shop till you drop" and I admit, I dropped today.

We arrived in town at 11am and were leaving at 6pm!!! Leah could have stayed even longer - I was already dead at 1.30pm....I really am getting old. (It was rather depressing to discover that today. I remember the days when I could run all over Belfast from 9am to 6pm.)

Well I warned Leah before we went that we were NOT spending all the time in Primark. I have been to Belfast, I don't know how many time in the last 2 years, and have only ever seen Primark!

So we spent about an hour in Primark and then did the rest of the town!! We got to Castle Court, Royal Avenue, Corn Market...it was amazing. But Leah wanted to go back to Primark....I couldn't cope!!!

I acutally hate clothes shopping! I am soooo not into clothes at all. My type of shops are book shops, music shops, dvd shops, household items or restaurants. So Leah and I made a deal. I would go to the Faith Mission bookshop and she would go to Primark. I would find her in Primark when I was finished. So for about 50 minutes I had a wonderful time in a bookshop. (By the way the Faith Mission is so lovely now! It used to be a real dump, books everywhere, even piled on the floor - not anymore. It was a pleasure to be there.)

I found Leah again in Primark and we went on to spend another hour in there while Leah tried on clothes and made up her mind what she would buy. (She didn't have enough money for everything so things had to be put back!!)

What I would like to know is how I got two daughters who are sooo into fashion and make up?????!!! Maybe it's seeing how badly I dress and how uninterested I am in fashion and makeup that has pushed them in the other direction!

Anyway I really had sore legs and feet by the time we got home.

Oh yeah, in the middle of that shopping there was time for a Subway!!

Begin with the end in mind....

...On our last evening in Austria, we took a final walk around the village and through their cementry. The grave stones and gardens were all so beautiful, filled with beautiful flowers and lots of colour. (I love to walk around grave yards -I know I´m weird)

All the grave stones had pictures of the people who had died engraved (or stuck) on them. It got me thinking. I was wondering about the different people. Did they achieve what they set out to do with their life? What were their dreams? Did they make a difference in anyones life? Were people glad when they came around or did people dread seeing them?


Well I voiced all this to Kristian and the kids who looked at me weirdly and told me that I was being far too deep for the last evening of a holiday!! (Honestly!)


Anyway this made me think about a book I have been reading..."The 7 habits of highly effective people". One of the chapters begins by telling you to go somewhere were you can be alone. (so go on - find a lonely spot!) then close your eyes and imagine yourself at a funeral. You see the beautiful flowers, you hear the organ music, you see friends and family, colleagues and neighbours. You walk down to the front of the room and look inside the coffin, and there you come face to face with yourself. This is your funeral, three years from today!


(When you get over the shock!) You take a seat and wait for the service to begin. As you look at the program you see there are 4 speakers; a family member, a friend, a colleague and someone from your church. What would you like each of these speakers to say about you and your life? What difference would you like to have made in their lives? (Now go do it! write down those things!)


This is your ultimate goal in life. You begin with the end in mind. By keeping that end clearly in mind you can make certain that each day of your life contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you have of your life as a whole.

I thought this was brilliant!!


I started thinking about this tonight as I packed for Ireland. The memory card in my camera needed emptied and there were photos from our last evening in Austria on it, which I had forgotten about. Seeing the cementry brought back what I was thinking that last night. I just thought I would share it with you.

And the picture above is one of my favourite spots in Austria. I loved that field. Just want to let you know that I will live here one day....wait and see!! This is were I am going to spend eternity in heaven. It is here God is giving me my log cabin!! (with the big fire place!) And in heaven I am not going to have a cat as a pet but a lion!!! and every day I will hop on its back and it will run through that field at top speed, with me holding fast to its hair while screaming my lungs out!! It´s going to be great fun!! I honestly can´t wait - and I am not joking!!!

Ok - one more deep thought for the evening;

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us! (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Good night all - I´m off to bed. The bags are packed the passports and tickets ready - tomorrow evening I´m sleeping in Ireland. (Wish the whole family were going though! )

I´m soooo cool....

...yes that I am!!! Me, with my new cool Samsung telephone! The kids are totally jealous!

Just before going on holiday my telephone broke. Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhh. So for a week in Austria I felt naked! I use my telephone as my arm watch and alarm clock. I was lost without it. So today I went out to find a new one and got a great deal on this Samsung. I have also got 1 months free internet connection - so I am living it up. (Although I am thinking of cutting the internet connection after the month!) I have never had such a fancy phone...but it´s easy to use and that´s what I need. As long as I can find out how to text from it, then I´m a happy woman!
Then it was out to do some shopping for the old lady that I visit. I spent a nice afternoon with her.

Sara arrived home today from her long weekend away with her friends at a go-kart race in Belgium. She had a lovely time but came home with fever and a sore throat. Typical Sara! So she was needing a little TLC (tender loving care) this evening.

It has been soooo warm here the last few days. I can´t stick the heat. It has been up in the 30´s. Our apartment has been unbearable. Tonight however there was a fantastic thunder storm!! At last we could feel a breeze, and it actually helped to have the doors and windows open. We got the apartment cooled down to 27 degrees!!

So tomorrow is a busy day. I have a load of washing to do and a load of packing too. Wednesday morning Leah and I fly to Dublin. We will be in Belfast visiting dad for a week. I have an idea in the pipe line for a get together, but it is, as I said, in the pipe lines. Keep checking the blog for more information!!

Remember the book I ordered for my holiday? Well it didn´t arrive in time for my trip to Austria!! The DVD with "Everybody loves Raymond" arrived and we had many laughs watching it. Today, however, the book arrived so I am about to curl up in a sticky, hot bedroom and start reading until my eyes close with sleep. I will keep you posted about what I think of it!! (Roll on Autumn and winter when curling up in bed with a book, is a most wonderful thing!!)

1458km...14 hours later....

and we are home!!!

We had a wonderful holiday, but it is nice to be home again!! The journey home went soooo smoothly. No traffic jams, in fact, hardly any traffic on our side of the motorway at all - really strange!! The other side of the motorway was another story! It was one traffic jam after another, around the south of Germany. We were thankful that we were not heading in that direction.

So now it´s time to catch up with all the blogs that I have missed reading. I think facebook will also be getting a visit before I head off to bed.

The weather is fantastic. A little too fantastic for my liking! It was 37 degrees the whole way home today. We were soooo thankful to have a car with air condition. (Thanks Hanne og Flemming for doing a swap - we would have died in our car with the heat!)

If at first you don´t succeed...

try again!! - and that´s what we did today.

On Tuesday we had tried to drive up to the Alpine Road in hope that the weather would change, but it didn´t. Well today we woke to a gorgeous day - perfect for driving on that road.

I tell you we were not disappointed. The views were fantastic!! (more pictures will come later on facebook!)

There was even snow!!!

A really fantastic day in the nature - now I better go. The bar is closed tonight and tomorrow evening and I am hanging outside it, in the hallway!!! haha I look desperate!! haha I am a little worried about getting locked in this hallway!! You probably won´t hear from me until we get home again. Bye for now

Salzburg

Today was our big day out. We were going to Salzburg to explore. The weather was totally different than yesterday. It was warm and sunny! Perfect weather!

We arrived in Salzburg around midday and went exploring. What better way to explore Salzburg than in a horse and carriage. It is a beautiful city and we got to see some of the sights where The sound of music was filmed.

It was then off to a beautiful place called St. Gilgen by Lake Wolfgang. The opening scenes of the movie (The sound of music) were filmed in this area. We took a cable car up 1500 metres (what an experience that was!!! – Andrew and I were a bit scared to say the least.) We wanted to get a better view of the whole area. It was gorgeous. We spent a bit of time on top of the mountain before taking the cable car down again.

It was then off to the town of Mondsee to visit the church that appeared in the sound of music when Maria and The Baron got married. It was beautiful. We ate dinner there before finally heading home.

We are now soooo tired! A day in the mountains has a way of making you feel that way. Good night all!! I´m off to bed.

Northern Ireland weather...

That’s what we had today. It rained most of the day. Kristian and I decided to go off exploring, even though the weather wasn´t that good. The kids didn´t want to go anywhere, they wanted a day at home to relax. So they got their wish.

Kristian and I were hoping that the weather would change as the day progressed and so we headed off to find the Alpine Road. The Alpine Road is a road that goes over one of the highest mountains in Austria. Even though it was raining, the clouds over the mountains were fantastic to see.

We found the Alpine Road but the weather didn´t seem to be letting up, so we decided not to drive on it. It costs about 20 pounds to drive through so we thought it would be wasted money – we wouldn’t get to see too much.

Instead we drove around different areas and found some beautiful places. The rain kept falling and in the end we gave in and went to the shopping centre. I had a ball!! I love shopping and I love visiting new shops.

It was then home to the kids. Leah and I decided to go down for a swim and a sauna. It was wonderful! It was then home to dinner and an evening of watching "Everybody loves Raymond." Leah and I watched a film on my computer and then cuddled up in bed with a book. The end to a perfect day!

Mountain climbing...

….that is what we decided to do today.

After breakfast and some food shopping (at last we have food in the fridge!) we headed out to explore some of the mountains that are close by.

It was a wonderful afternoon of walking in the mountains. It was a bit cooler here today. We awoke to rain but as the day progressed the rain disappeared. It was perfect weather for walking in the mountains as it wasn’t too warm.

After a good long walk we headed to a place called Zell am See. We had heard that there was a beautiful lake there, so off we went to explore again. It was beautiful and we sooo enjoyed being by the water. We relaxed a while there, each of us doing our own thing. Kristian spent the time taking pictures, while Leah and I read our books. Andrew played with his old game boy.

The weather started to change, so back to the car we headed and just in time. The heavens opened and it rained none stop the whole way home.

Now here I am again sitting at the bar drinking my ginger ale - not because I really want a ginger ale, but I need to buy something to be able to sit here with my computer! haha