Jumping into a New Year!

Little Boy jumps with much enthusiasm! The above photo was taken in Sept.

For New Year's Eve day we packed a picnic and headed over to this funny gravel pit... they dug and dug and so it is a big hole with lots of layers... the center is filled with water for swimming in the summer and surrounded by new condos. There is a little walk there, plus a statue to mimic something in Brazil (can't remember the exact name right off the top of my head!). I thought the statue was a bit tacky, but Little Boy was thrilled and insisted that we all walk up to the top of the hill for an up close and personal look . The parking lot is huge so it must be ridiculously overcrowded in the summer, but the last day of December was quiet with just a few dog walkers about. Hard to photo - but here are some small snapshots to give you an idea...

Little Boy absolutely adores a picnic and this one included hot soup in the thermoses which I mailed from the US for just such an occassion (yes, the boxes finally showed up after Christmas - via Holland or Australia - depending upon the box!). It was nothing fancy, but tasty after being outside in the cold - we had carrot and cucumber sticks, apple chunks, black bread, tunafish salad, and the soup - which we added rice and cooked veggies to from a seperate container. We ate in the car - balancing everything on the dashboard, but it worked and was fun!


For dinner we stayed home and had fondu. We put the fancy table cloth on and everything - even light a candle for the occassion!

Little Boy had a great time placing the good luck pigs on our plates (he has a small collection of stuffed ones from previous years all lined up by his plate). In Austria it is a tradition to exchange small pigs for luck, or small charms - including chimney sweeps and red mushrooms with white spots, plus other things. Charms can be simple 50 cent pieces up to elaborate gold and diamond ones! Just before New Year's the sidewalks are crowded with street vendors selling 100s of these little charms and fireworks. We watched the fireworks from our apartment (which has a good view) and promptly went to bed as soon as it was over! All in all, a nice, quiet, family day.