Road trip to Austria

We began our road trip about 7am on Sunday, August 14th... left Nice, heading into Italy when...

Bam!  Flat tire!  Thankfully, God had His angels around the car.  Tonio was able to pull right over.  Tonio and Pierre fixed the tire in no time by putting on the spare, which was a legit tire.  We drove on it all the way to Austria!

Pit stop.

One of the many DIY things I brought to keep this chica entertained for 10+ hours.  You can check out the link here {velcro dot craft sticks}.  She did great on the "going" trip... we'll save another blog post for the return - another story.

Her bed head is just the best.

Stretching the legs with Papi.

Then a little stroll with Papa.

Naptime.

Somewhere in Italy [picture from Pierre].

Her favorite Baby Einstein video to buy us the last 20-30 minutes before arriving [picture from Pierre].

Gorgeous clouds and mountains.

We made it.  Our first view of the castle! [picture from Pierre]

And here we are by the lake!

Daphné and I hung out while Papi, Mamie and Daddy went to the castle for the orientation night.  Here, she is looking at little fishies that some guys were catching.

I LOVE HER!!!

First swan sighting.

Where'd he go?

There he is.

We enjoyed the sunset together before it started raining and we ran across the street to our beautiful villa pension.  We stayed here {Villa Margarethe}.

Kisses.

She's coming in to plant a wet one on her mommy!

On target!

I think she was petting me, not sure.

And the end of our first Austrian selfies together.

Stay tuned for more blog posts!

 

Love Linz

Pre-Austria Photo dump!

Hey guys, well, our family of 3 plus Papi and Mamie are off on a 10-hour road trip tomorrow to Austria!  Tonio and I met at this Calvary Chapel Western European missionary conference in 2009, so it's a special place for us.  We will be introducing Daphné to a new place and some new people.

Before we leave, I wanted to update you on what we've been doing.  I call this a photo dump.  There is no theme, just the last pictures I had in my phone and in my camera.

Enjoy!

Sleepy girl with her pacifier and Pompn bunny.

Fountains.

Nectarine after the fountains.

Not bad for a small person.

Beach time.

Little surfer girl.

Another rough night.

Daddy's girl.

The cousins be like, "S'up?"

Beach picnic with Tonton.  Daphné sleeps.

Voilà.

Collecting rocks already.

Dressing herself.

Out at Mamie and Papi's house.

Stand-up paddling.  Seb.

Me.  Oh, how I love being on the water on a board.

Tonio.

And here's the 3 of us!

Rowyn and her French Tonton Sebastien.

She's got her peeps all contained.  We call Daphné a sheep herder, because she loves to have all her people accounted for.

Happy birthday Robi!  He let her help blow out the candle.

Big girl walking.

A visit from our friends in Grenoble.  Thomas, Maëva and Clément (10 months-old).

Glamour shots on her favorite slide.

She's so happy she can now walk around the park.

Here she goes!

Ah, how I love this little peanut.

Gidday up Lion!

And here, she was just standing in the middle of the park with her shirt up, patting her belly.  Ha.  Funny girl.

(And if you're interested, you can see the old blog post about Austria in 2009 here.  No, I didn't post pictures of Tonio... at that point, we were not really even a "thing", though I do believe we both knew we liked each other... girly giggles.)

Just for fun... here is a picture of us 2 days after we met.

So thankful I met this man!!!

Love Linz

Talented Friend!

So, one of my bestest friends in the whole, wide universal cosmos is selling her art FINALLY!!!  I'm so proud of her!!!

Her name : Crystal Sandoval.
Friends with me for : 16 years and counting...

Here we are together last summer! 

And here's what she's selling :

BUY IT!

It's a "doodle book" journal to encourage the younger crew to take notes in church.  Here is what Crystal says about it : "This doodle book is designed to help you learn God's word in a fun way and it is my hope that you become quick to listen to what the Lord has to say to you!"

Here's the back cover : 

BUY IT!

I'm thinking I need this book for me... I'm totally going to use it... so I'm ordering a few for sure!

And, not to mention... because she's just cool like that, she just opened up her own Etsy shop (Swan Lettering) with beautiful hand lettered designs ready for instant download.  CHECK IT OUT!

Love Linz

Hot, muggy days

This is an example of something we do on hot, muggy days...

Veg in front of her favorite baby Einstein video with a fan pointed at her.

Go to the air-conditioned mall and just hang out.

Play with the shopping guides in French, English and Italian.  [Mom will later re-organize.]

Visit the home displays and what around like a cute little monkey.

Chill on the couch that's not really ours.

Take selfies.

Try out all sorts of fun chairs... this furry one was her favorite.  Just like her stuffed bunny.

Love Linz

Pool Party

We visited one of our friends who has a POOL!!!  He and Tonio play soccer together during the year.  He's the one who dressed up as "Lindsey" at my "L" dress-up party.  You can see the pictures HERE.  Anyways...

Daphné is a quite the water bug!

(No pictures of her in the water, since I too was in with her).

She's really big on sun protection.  HA!

And I just love this picture of her.  Such a big girl.

Sun-in-the-face selfie!

Taking Daddy for a walk.

Wait, no, I want to go that way.

Look, Daphné!  A dolphin.

Love Linz