Lederhosen Shopping and Other Obviously Lesser Shenanigans

Sing it!  Lederhosen shopping with Joe and John!!

Saturday morning, everyone was in a funk.  I don’t think Bailey got much more than six hours of sleep and the rest of us were probably less than even with that.  Attempting to sleep in, making it through a marathon breakfast and trying to get eight people cycled through 1.5 bathrooms made for a very late start to our day.  We did feel some sense of accomplishment, however, when we finally made it out to a second hand store on our block that sells traditional garb.  We even managed some pretty fantastic dirndl & lederhosen shopping before Bailey announced she had to poop…setting us back another good 45 minutes for a return trip home all for a false alarm.  That kid was not even trying to stay in the good books.  We persevered, though…this is all just part of life with Bailey.  

Mom loves candid shots.  This was one of her best.

Once we finally made it to the streets of downtown Vienna, the crowds were out in full force.  We managed a jaunt down Kartnerstrasse and a short turn 'round Stephansdom before deciding to stop for some coffee at Café Diglas.  This place is just around the corner from Stephansdom and it is really growing on me. We all ordered some Viennese Melanges and a bevvy of delicious cakes, tortes and even some enormous bread pudding.  Once we were done stuffing ourselves with sweets, though, we found ourselves a little gun shy of venturing back into the teeming masses of downtown, so we decided to hop along down the street to Stadtpark, which was just absolutely lovely. The girls showed everyone their favorite things: the ducks and fish in the pond, the best grass for laying in, the penguin fountain (forget Strauss)  and, especially, the swings.  Never a day without them. 

At Diglas!

The Bear in her natural territory

Time to party!

By this point I think we were all done; tired, coming down off of our sugar and caffeine highs…ready for some down time.  So, we did something else the girls love; we booked it home for a movie.  Joe and John popped out to The Four Bells for some Guinness on tap while the rest of us were home winding down. We spent the rest of our evening playing and making dinner of the eclectic mish mash left in the fridge.  Even though it wasn't exactly a feast, we did make a party of it... a birthday party, or rather an un-birthday party to be exact.  The girls got to open presents from Emma and the Grandparents since they weren’t here for Audrey’s big day and, as far as I know, don't plan on being here again in January.  

Grandma G gave both of the girls little canvas bags that she had personalized with their names; they were full of new books (complete with accompanying character finger puppets) and new outfits (including fantastic flippy skirts Mom had up-cycled from old t-shirts).  Emma, of course, was spot-on with some new duds for the girls. I haven't really had much call to purchase new clothing for these two in the last four-odd years...I'm thinking Mom and Emily have had a lot to do with that.  

We spent our evening reading books, changing clothes innumerate times and trying to act like we weren't gluttonously inhaling the baked goods Joe's (amazing baker!) girlfriend, Catherine, had sent along.  I'm pretty sure Bailey just had brownies for dinner.

...living the dream, that one.