mowing the lawn

When Dad is home Sam loves to be with him and Saturday morning he decided to be Daddy's little helper. He wanted to push the mower and was so cute. I think he ended up helping mow the whole yard. It probably went a little slower than it could have due to his help but I think all involved had fun. Of course Arnold was very careful with Sam helping.

A teenager already?

Being pregnant again so quickly with health problems has really taken a lot out of me. I'm not the best at waking up if I don't have to. So last thursday I heard Sam singing away in his bedroom like he normaly does and thought, "Oh, I hope he doesn't wake up yet" as I drifted back into sleep. Pretty soon I heard him start to talk which means he's either close to being awake or if he does it long enough and it gets understandable he's finally ready to get up. Lucky for me I also realized Arnold was in there with him. "Yes! I get to sleep in for a bit longer while Arnold takes care of him" was my next thought as I drifted back into dream land. Then to my surprise I realized that Arnold was back in bed and Sam was still in the other room. Not being very awake I was slightly confuses since I was pretty sure I had heard Arnold talking to him a minute or so before. This is a later telling of the the story I got upon asking where Sam was...

"Thursday morning, I woke up. After a while I heard Sam starting to sing as he does sometimes in the morning when he is getting ready to get up. He sort of sings a merry little tune of "aaaaah" "ahaaahh" "aahhaaaa". It is rather cute. So, after having listened to this for a while, I decided to go and get him, as I only get a limited time to see him each day. So I walked in, opened the door and said "Guten Morgen SamSam!" He sort of smiled, looked at me and cuddled back down into his blanket. Since he had been singing for quite a while before I got him, I figured that he was ready to get up. So I walked over to him, picked him up, and walked him out the door. He squirmed and got back down, walked back into his room, and shut the door. I wasn't sure if he had closed it on purpose, as he doesn't always have complete motor control over all of his skills. So after a moment, I decided to open the door again. He was next to his bed, looking as though he were trying to get back in. I figured that that couldn't have been the case, and that he had just been walking around in the dark in his room. So I grabbed him by the hand, and walked him out of his room again, so that I could take him to say good morning to Mommy. But as we got out of the room, he turned around, bolted back into his room, and this time deliberately pushed shut the door and left me outside. I was quite surprised by this, and by this time, I was laughing. What had at first appeared to be merely an accidental closing of his bedroom door had not, after all, been an accident. I went back to Mandi and told her about it. We ended up getting dressed and coming back about 15-20 minutes later, and sure enough, he was laying in bed again, singing away... "

So to explain the picture. This is Sam the second time he woke up. Still a bit sleepy and not ready to get out of bed but his happy little self. I can't imagine what he'll be like as a teenager if he's like this already... :)

My big little helper

Sam loves to help me whenever he gets the chance whether it's doing dishes, cooking dinner or even vacuming. I always thought little kids were scared of the vacume since it's so loud and I never dreamed Sam would like it since any loud noise tends to scare him. However, we quickly discovered curiosity can overcome just about anything and he loves the vacume.

He got it the other day when we were rearranging things and cleaning up a bit and just had a blast. He even knew what sound it should make and was giving quite a show which we were lucky enough to actually get on video since he doesn't usually perform well for the camera. So enjoy!

Aunt Iris and a great end to a great trip!

Sam had so much fun playing in the backyard. He played with Dad on the trampoline and then decided he needed to wear Dad's socks. I don't know if you can see it here but his legs aren't nearly that white in real life... :)

Ok, so I'm putting this one in for Arnold. Me sitting on a swing and eating icecream :P

We had a great dinner outside and I think this is the only picture I have with most everyone in it except Arnold and I.Hannah (sorry if I spelled that wrong) became buds with Sam in the one day we spent there. She got some loves from him too! :)

Ok, so now for some videos. They are a little long but I have to brag on Sam and his amazing abilities. This one is of him climbing up the ladder to the slide at their house. I didn't know a 12 month old could do this but apparently it's possible. Arnold was there with him but didn't really do anything to help. No wonder I'm so tired all the time trying to keep up with all the new things he does.

Ok, so this one I feel a little bad about, but to be honest he had stopped himself every time previously at the bottom of the slide before getting off. So of course the one time I decide to take a video instead of catching him if he needed it he falls off at the end. He thought it was funny and wanted to go again so I don't feel too bad it's just funny and hard to watch.



Ok, so if that wasn't enough to convince you how amazing Sam is then this should do it. I didn't know a 1 year old could swing by himself on a swing. A normal swing that is... He is simply amazing! The best part of this video are the little squeaks of pleasure that he makes. It's a little hard to hear but he kept making the cutest little squeaks. Oh, and it is long so don't feel obligated to watch it all.

Last look at Graz

We went on a walk the last evening there and got pictures of all sorts of things. Unfortunately there is not enough room to do them all here without being annoying so here are a few more to finish off with.

Sam loves rocks and any time he finds them he likes to pick out his favorites and give them to people he likes. It's really cute because it's like getting a little gift from him.

Sam also loves his greatgrandmother. I think he knows just how special she is. This is just one time he stopped and gave her a little love. It was so precious and I'm glad we got a picture of it.

The old family castle

Ok, so I know it's not much but not too long ago this house, mini castle, was in the family and it's pretty cool. It left the family through marriage under a time of changing laws. I'm kinda glad things turn out the way they do but it's fun to get cool pictures like this and be able to say, "That was in the family once".

This is the really fun gate or entrance and Sam enjoyed sitting in the small opening. He won't be able to do that for much longer since he's growing too fast.

These pictures are of the house we stayed in while we were visiting Arnold's grandmother. It was so neat since it seemed like everywhere we went we were kind of stepping back in time.

To Grandma's house we go...

Arnold's grandmother lives with his Uncle on the bottom floor. His Aunt has a bunch of animals that she currently has running around the property and Sam just loved getting to see and pet them all. He was so cute with the bunnies, causious of the geese and scared of the chickens.

He loved the horses eventhough they were the ones I was the most worried about. They were friendly and just walked around not necessarily seeing the things down below like Sam.

This is the house where his Grandmother and Uncle live. I think Arnold's father spent at least part of his growing up years here. It's an old house but a beautiful and fun one.

Graz

We went to Graz where Arnold's father's family is more recently from. We spent a little time in the city and took a look around at all the fun stuff there. We decided to go to the top of the hill and when we got to the stairs decided that although it would be cool to say we walked up the elevator was looking pretty nice.

This is the view from the top. Sam was being pretty silly and curious as always so he didn't hold still well for the picture but he's still cute and smiling.

We went to check out the Armory which was absolutely amazing. I've decided every little boy should get a chance to see it. Although we couldn't take our cameras in we did get to see a glimps of some kind of military thing that was going on just outside of it.

Sam fell asleep by the time we finished with the Armory so I guess that's a good excuse to take him back later to see it again someday when he's a little older. :)

Flying...Glad I didn't do this one :)

Getting ready for take off. The checklist was complete and all we needed was a picture before we turned over the camera to the boys.
It was probably good that they weren't gone for too long. This is Arnold with his long legs in the little plane.

This is Dirk the amazing local pilot we found hanging around us while we were there. I think he was excited for a good excuse to fly again.

Sam was very anxious to see his Daddy again. They were only gone for an hour, but since Arnold was gone for 3 days to take the Bar he didn't like him being gone for that long.

Sam loved playing in the plane for a few minutes while we waited for a helicopter to move so we could put the plane back. However, I think the sunglasses case was his favorite part. :) I'm sure that will change as he gets older.

Sunday afternoon on the Danau

After lunch we headed to the Danau River to have a relaxing time in the shade and a bit in the water too.

Sam was so cute as usual and Dirk got some great pictures of Arnold and Sam.

Sam loved the water although it was a little chilly so he got a bit cold after a while. If it wasn't for the temperature I think he would have played all afternoon! :)

Sunday morning

So, I don't have any pictures from going to church but after that Dirk and Caroline met up with us and we took a stroll through the park to our next destination the Prater which was a little scary for me...

Dirk took a bunch of fun pictures from the worlds oldest ferris wheel... Yikes! So I'm scared of heights and this was a bit creepy for me but we made it. Notice I'm not next to the windows in this one. The wind kept blowing and it was just a bit shaky for me.

Afterward we stopped at a little cafe on the way back to the car to get some lunch. It was really fun cause we had little sparrows that kept coming and eating crumbs off the ground. They were so fun to watch and Sam loved them.

Later that evening...

Ok so after a short break that afternoon while we tried to get Sam to calm down and sleep we went back out again. This is a picture of a really cool cathedral we saw...not sure on the name but it was big and cool and once I find out (and I'm not tired) I'll post the name. They were also working on it at the time so if you look closely you can see that as well.

These pictures are more pictures of the palaces in Vienna. I think this one is the winter palace. We didn't get to go inside but it was pretty amazing from the outside. Apparently this is where they keep the jewels and all the treasury so Arnold and I will have to go back and see it some time.

I think this is the part of the palace that they still hold balls in although don't quote me on that. I'm tired and it's been a few weeks so I'll have to get Arnold to edit this later for me if you want to know details come back again. :)
Ok, so I have to include at least one of the statues we took a picture of since there were so many fun ones that we saw. And although I was not the one to take this picture(infact I think these were all taken by Dirk, Arnold's friend) it's just perfect! So enjoy! :)

Beautiful Vienna...

Ok, to start we probably have a million or atleast a lot of pictures of this place so I tried to pick out just a few. It's a castle or I guess more likely a palace that was huge and beautiful. The first picture is from the entrance. Once we got it and got the tickets we walked all the way up to the back and got a view from there....It was a long walk. Sam had fun climbing the stairs by himself but he decided to sit and take a bit of a break at one point. He's just too cute for words.

So this is a picture looking back at where we came from. The entrance is on the other side of the building in the distance so the grounds are pretty huge. I can't imagine having a backyard that big.

A closer look at the back of the palace and the pretty gardens. Not that you can see much but it was beautiful.

This is where we walked to and climbed up the stairs to the top so we could see the view. We then walked all the way back and took a tour of the palace. I have to admit I got a lot of excercise that day since this wasn't the only walking we did. It was worth it to see the old summer palace of the Austrian king. They really lived a completely different life.