When the world’s cutest baby, and his lovely parents, are visiting, it’s tough to get much done. At any moment you may need to drop everything because the most adorable smile has just been flashed at you. 

Seriously the most smiley baby I have ever known which turns every adult and child into clown-faced goof balls just to win another grin. 

So that’s what we’ve been busy with; making silly faces and raspberries. 

The only problem we have now is that the kids want a baby. We tried a few times to suggest to Theo’s mom & dad that we’d be happy to keep him but they seem to have grown awfully fond of him over this past year. 

Despite some dreary weather we shared Theo with Winterthur and Konstanz, Germany. Even Theo’s wide, blue eyes couldn’t melt the cold hearts of the Germans who quickly proved to be just as rude and unfriendly as the stereotype. 

We had originally planned to include Zurich in our itinerary with the Galsters but then we found out our hockey schedule for the weekend… Sunday’s games would be played in… wait for it…
Österreich!!! (That’s German for Austria!)

And we thought that traveling to Okotoks was far for hockey; traveling to another country gives a whole new meaning to “away game”.

The 3 games today featured around robin with teams from Switzerland (that’s us), Austria, Lichtenstein & Germany. And guess who was the weakest team? 

Germany! Ha! Maybe that’s why they’re so grumpy all the time. 

The journey to Austria was a very pretty 2 hour bus-train-train-bus excursion. No unfortunate mishaps this time either, phew!

The whole hockey event involves a good deal of hurry up and wait for the family but we were lucky enough to find a flea market next door. 

This may not have been the very best first impression of Austria. It felt very much like the pages of an I-Spy book; creepy and mesmerizing at the same time. 

Thankfully we did see a prettier side of Austria too. One that just might inspire a return visit one day. 

We’re all pooped from our weekend adventures. Back to real life tomorrow without any cute babies to brighten the room with mega-watt smiles. 

These visits provide the perfect stepping stones for this year, each one ending with the next one on the horizon, like a beacon  in the night getting us one step closer to home. 

Next visitors, our BFFs from home. More exciting than Santa!!