Getting ready

I knew my car was awesome, but seriously, look how much she can hold! Kristi and I went to Metro (our Costco-type superstore) to load up with food and fans for the Fullerton team's visit. As we walked out of the store with our tottering and overloaded cart, I began having serious doubts that we would get it all in. Those fans took up a lot of space, but I still shouldn't have doubted my little Suzuki Swift. She did it! The newly-dubbed "Suki" is amazingly spacious. (Props to the Phillips kids for the car's new name! They couldn't quite say "Suzuki", but why bother when "Suki" fits so well.)

In any case, the team arrives tomorrow and I think we're set for two weeks of construction projects and fun. My sister Renee flew in a few days early, so we celebrated her 16th birthday together. We'll pick up the team in the morning, feed them, and do our best not to put the jet-laggers to sleep during our orientation time. Can't wait to see them!!

I'll try to post a few pictures and stories during their time here. Stay tuned . . .

Happy Viennese Birthday!

Tuesday was Renee’s 15th birthday, so we decided to spend it in European style in VIENNA. We didn't count on the fact that it would be so pickin' hot, but we still had a lovely time. How many kids her age spend their birthday in another country like this!? The day was grand. Hot, but grand.

We took the early morning train (3 hours) into Vienna where we met our buddy Phillip. He happened to be visiting Vienna the same day. (He’s been an intern at our church here in Budapest for the Summer.) The day was hot (did I mention that yet?!?!) with record-breaking highs this week, so our favorite things were anything cool and/or wet—A/C in the stores, the cathedral catacombs, Starbucks and McDonalds with iced beverages, and every sprinkler and fountain we came to.

We roamed the city and looked at a lot of buildings. Rick Steve’s travel guide was good to have, though even he mentions that this is kind of a nothing-town anymore. Back in the day, when all the musicians were around, this was the hot spot. But Mozart, Liszt and the others are just a bunch of statues now--at least, when you're hot and miserable, that's how it seems. Wish we’d had more time for a concert or something, but with the heat, I think we all would have just napped our way through. Since it was Renee’s birthday, we did things that made her happy; we mostly shopped, ate ice cream/Starbucks and stuck our feet in fountains.

We had dinner in an outside courtyard of a little beer house—still too hot to really feel like it was super quaint and inviting, but the food was good and the cold Pepsi-light was even better. Two small ice cubes, I think. MAN, I miss ice in weather like this.

The train ride home was an interesting adventure. Just barely made it on the train, sat bored in a full cabin for three and a half hours…our train was an hour late getting back, so I was so confused about where to get off. The hallways filled with gypsies and luggage, so we couldn’t get off quickly if we wanted to. Finally, we got to our stop (misunderstood and almost got off WAY too early), but then the conductor wouldn't let us off when we needed to. So we went to the next stop, WAY the heck on the other side of the river and had to take a $15 taxi back to my car at the other station. Renee was tired and ticked, and even more ticked when I started to laugh about the chaos of the whole thing—“How can you laugh at this!?!!? THIS IS NOT FUNNY! I’m tired and I want to go home.” I tried to explain that humor was the only way to survive life situations like this. THIS IS MY LIFE. Must laugh, or die. That’s pretty much how it goes anymore. She was not amused.

Needless to say, we were pooped when we got home. But it was a good day and a memorable birthday for her, I think.

Here are some more of our pictures from the day: http://picasaweb.google.com/robynsmith44/ReneeSViennaBDay