Bratislava, Slovakia

For our last day trip from Vienna, we decided to head out of Austria and go to Bratislava, Slovakia.  It sounded sort of off the beaten path and unique, and it was only an hour train ride away, so we thought it would be fun.  Well, it was fun... once we finally got there!  Because of a new train station in Vienna that was very poorly marked, unmarked tickets, and unhelpful workers, we literally had no idea where to go to get our train.  After almost 2 hours of  searching and not knowing where to go, we finally found where we needed to be (which was at a separate location than the train station we were at).  We were frustrated and tired, but so happy to finally be on our way!

When we arrived in Bratislava, we found that it was not very tourist-friendly.  We couldn't find a place to buy a map for the longest time!  But we had made it!

Finally, we managed to find our way to the Old Town, which was so charming!  There were cobblestone streets and ornate buildings in every color imaginable!

 

We loved walking around and seeing all of these fun statues!

Then we headed to the Devin Castle ruins, which was a site that had been destroyed by Napoleon and his troops.  Turns out we couldn't get inside, and we were just about the only tourists there, but we had fun walking around the outside of the castle anyway!

To end the night, we warmed up at a quaint coffee shop before catching our train back to Vienna.  It was definitely an adventure of a day, but we had fun!  Traveling is always an adventure!

Overall, our trip to Vienna, Salzburg, and Bratislava was amazing!  We got to see and experience so many beautiful things!  And best of all, I think Vivi enjoyed it too!

Salzburg, Austria

Ever since I was little, I have loved "The Sound of Music".  It was a childhood tradition for me to watch the movie, while singing all the songs and doing all the dances.  I would even make my brother dance around the living room on the couches with me singing "Sixteen Going on Seventeen"!  In college, I was able to play the part of Liesl in a community theatre production of "The Sound of Music", and that was definitely fulfillment of a childhood dream. :)  So when I had a chance to visit Salzburg, Austria, see all of the real Sound of Music sights, and further fulfill my childhood dreams, I jumped at the chance.  Yes, it's cheesy and touristy.... but it was completely necessary.  Of course, Tim is not as big of a fan of the movie as I am, but he still had fun. :)

We took the 2.5 hour train from Vienna and arrived in Salzburg in the late morning.  Since we had a few hours before our Sound of Music tour started, we did some sightseeing on our own in Salzburg.  We loved it instantly!  

First, we walked down to Mozart's birth house.  We had seen one of his houses in Vienna too.

Next, we went to the Salzburg Fortress, which was built in 1077, and is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.

On top of the mountain at the Fortress.

 The view from the Fortress.

Walking around the inside of the Fortress.

After we visited the Fortress, we walked around the Old Town of Salzburg for a while.  The streets were so quaint and picturesque!

Then it was time for our tour to begin!  Check out this tour bus!

 Our first stop was to this lake that was used as the Von Trapp family's backyard area.  This is where Maria and the kids fell from the boat into the water.

 Then we got to see the "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" pavilion!  And yes, I sang the song in front of the pavilion too. :)

 In "Confidence Alley", where Maria sang "I Have Confidence".

The Von Trapp house!!

 Nonnburg Abbey, where Maria was a nun.

The hills are alive with the sound of music!

 Loving these mountain views!

The church where Maria and Georg's wedding was filmed.

The inside of the church.

Eating crisp apple strudel at the same place Julie Andrews and the kids ate during filming!

 Hitting the high do on the steps of the park where Maria and the kids sang "Do Re Mi".

At the end of the day, we boarded our train and headed back to Vienna.  But it had been an amazingly memorable and meaningful day!  I would say it was one of "my favorite things" of the week! :)

Vienna, Austria

I'll be honest... one of the reasons we decided on Vienna, Austria for our November vacation was because we are having a little Vivienna!  Since one of her possible nicknames is Vienna, we thought it would be a good idea to check out this city before calling our daughter by that name. :)

Well, it turns out Vienna is a perfectly wonderful place to be named after.  We loved it!  There was culture, music, history, beautiful architecture, and fall weather!  What more could you ask for?  Here is a photo recap of our trip...

On our first night in Vienna, we went to see "The Barber of Seville" at the historic Vienna Opera House.  It was a gorgeous building and an incredible show!  We had amazing seats on the main floor, and it was fun to get all dressed up and feel cultured. :) Tim and I both agreed that the tenor was the best singer of the night, but of course they all were amazing!  Vivi even enjoyed it!  As soon as the overture started, she was flipping and fluttering around in there.  I don't think it was a coincidence!

On our first full day in Vienna, we visited the Schonbrunn Palace, most famous for being the former residence of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth.  I previously knew nothing about this couple, but throughout our time in Vienna, came to know a lot about their fascinating and somewhat tragic lives.  Inside the palace, we got to walk through about 40 rooms of the many emperors' and empresses' living quarters, and it was gorgeous!  So many stories to be told!   

 Behind the palace was a huge garden (more like a huge park) that had endless paths, fountains, trees, and beautiful structures.  Our favorite part about it was the fall leaves!  It was such a treat to get to play in and crunch the leaves, and to smell that fall aroma in the air.  Cairo doesn't have a fall season like this, so we felt like kids again being able to experience it!

 Yay for Fall!

 One night, Tim and I went to a Mozart and Strauss concert in the Orangerie, a small concert hall that Mozart had played in!  

 Tim is a huge animal lover, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the world's oldest zoo!!  It was really well-kept with interesting looking buildings, and great animals!  They even had pandas!  We can't wait to take Vivi here. :) 

 St. Peter's Cathedral.  Beautiful architecture!

The Belvedere Palace, now an art museum.

We visited the cemetery where Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms, and Schubert are buried!  We were as close to these great musicians as we could get!

 Here is Tim at the Naschmarkt, a market of fruit, vegetables, desserts, clothes, and lots more!  We had fun wandering around and sampling different foods.

The St. Charles Cathedral, just a few blocks from our hotel.

Me in front of the Opera House!

 The Rathaus, a government building in Vienna, and probably the most beautiful building we saw on our trip.  It is perfectly picturesque, especially since it's all lit up at night.

 Our awesome hotel!  We would seriously do commercials for this place!  It was an amazing place to stay.  Among other things, we had free breakfast every morning, and free cake, tea, and coffee in the lobby at all times.  As you can imagine, we were happy. :)  

Needless to say, we will have to bring Vivienna to Vienna so she can see for herself this awesome city she is named after. :)  More later about Salzburg, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia!

Halfway there!

We're halfway there!!  I am 22 weeks pregnant, and trying to wrap my head around the fact that I only have four months left of this pregnancy!  At our last appointment, we found out that we are having a GIRL (I was right!), and we have already chosen her name- Vivienna Belle Courliss.  Vivienna means "full of life" and Belle means "beauty", so put together, her name means "full of life and beauty".  Also, the name offers great nicknames-- Vivi and Vienna!  I have been stuck on the nickname Vivi for about 2 years now, and even referred to our firstborn as Vivi long before we ever got pregnant.  So it worked out perfectly that we're having a girl because I don't think Vivi would work for a boy. :)

I'm so happy to be in the second trimester of pregnancy!  The first trimester was a little rough, although definitely not as rough as some women have it.  I did feel nauseous a lot though, and had to time my meals perfectly to ward off the sickness.  Also, I was SO TIRED!  I'm glad that I have my energy back now, and that I'm not feeling sick anymore.  And not only am I feeling better, but I get to feel little Vivi moving around all the time in there!  She is really active, and I have noticed her kicking the hardest during music concerts.  Future musician??  I think so!

Tim and I are really excited to be parents!  We have always loved kids, and always knew that parenthood was definitely for us.  Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to be a mom.  Having two younger siblings made me feel kind of motherly. :)  Actually, my brother always said that I was more strict than my mom was!  Also, growing up, my mom had a daycare in our home, so we were surrounded by babies a lot.  And the jobs I have chosen have almost all had to do with kids- camp counselor, daycare worker, teacher.  I have been waiting for my time to have my own, and it is finally here!  All of the advice and ideas I have stored up for years can finally be used!  And Tim-- he is going to be an amazing dad!  He has a way with kids that I have never seen in anyone before, and it's going to be so much fun to watch him with Vivienna!

Tim and I are happy that life pre-Vivienna has included a lot of traveling, because now we know that we want that to be an important part of her life too.  It's brought Tim and me closer together as we've been able to experience new cultures, foods, and places, and those experiences have shaped us so much.  Hopefully the same will be true of Vivi.  We can't wait to show her our favorite places (like Korea!)  as well as travel to new places together and make memories as a family.  We hope that Vivienna will have a broad world view and love traveling as much as we do!

I feel like the responsibility of parenting has already begun!  Being pregnant is a tough job!  Everything that I do, everything that I eat, everything that I listen to... has some effect on Vivienna.  For that reason, I have been working hard to diminish stress in my life, but that feat has been difficult.  School has been extremely rough this year; not to mention that I have some difficult kids to keep under control every day!  At least we have Vivi to keep things in perspective and remember what is really important.  And thankfully, many of my students are giving Vivi lots of love already, and they are really excited to meet her.  It's a good thing that tummy rubbing doesn't bother me, because I've gotten a lot of it (from students and adults)!  I just think of it as love for Vivi, which is always a good thing!

One thing that I am really happy about is our doctor here in Egypt.  We did not have a great experience with our doctor in the States this past summer, and in fact, she made the first trimester a pretty worry-some one for no good reason.  I could tell that it is all about the business, and not really about the care at all- at least with the doctor that I was seeing.  So coming back to Egypt, I was anxious to find a doctor and a hospital that I felt comfortable with.  And we have found that!  Our doctor is great!  She's a woman, which is rare in Egypt, and the doctor visits are very stress-free (unlike what we experienced in the States).  To make an appointment, or when I have a question, all I have to do is text her, and she gets back to me right away.  At every appointment, I get to have a 3D ultrasound, and they thoroughly check all the organs and make sure everything is growing properly.  It's fun because we can look forward to seeing Vivi every month!  And our hospital is probably the best one in Cairo, and has all of the modern conveniences and comforts that we will need for the birth process.  I'm so thankful that God has provided peace of mind in this area because that was one of our biggest prayers and concerns when we came back to Egypt in September.

So without any further ado, I will show you the progress that my baby bump has made so far!  It is growing fast!!  I read that the baby is the size of a cantaloupe right now (22 weeks), so I guess the huge baby bump makes sense!

13 weeks!

15 weeks!

17 weeks!

19 weeks!

21 weeks!

I am bracing myself for how much I will grow in the next few months, but at least I know it is all for a good reason!  Plus, it's the only time I can have a belly and people think it's "cute". Haha.  I'm loving this time of life right now, and trying to savor each moment as we anticipate new and exciting things to come!

It's Baby Time!

Tim and I are having a baby!!!  I am due March 21st, and we could not be more excited about this next step in our lives!  We had an ultrasound at 11 weeks, and were so overjoyed to hear the heartbeat and to see little Baby dancing around in there!  The ultrasound technician kept saying, "This baby is SO cute!"  We agree!  We can't wait to find out the gender.  I strongly feel GIRL, but Tim strongly feels BOY.  I guess we will see who is right in a few weeks!  Here are the first pictures of Baby Courliss at 11 weeks... YOU be the judge... boy or girl? :)

We had fun breaking the good news to our families this summer!

My sister (aka Auntie KK) is deliriously excited, and loves talking to the baby already!

 

We gave my parents and Tim's parents stork Christmas ornaments to announce our big news!  My parents can't wait to be grandparents!

 

Baby bump pictures soon to come! :)