It’s fall and the weather is turning cold, but not too cold to go out to the park and spend an afternoon jumping through big piles of leaves.  Necessary Childhood Experience:  Check.

Jake and Eli were excited to take Sahara and Hunter to the Prater, a huge park in the center of Vienna and one of our favorite places on the weekends.  What better way to experience this beautiful season than traipsing through leaves with cousins, or filling your pockets with handfuls of chestnuts and pretending to be squirrels?  Autumn here in Austria is full of such treasures.

We promised Jake and Eli that once Sahara and Hunter got here, we would rent one of these bikes.  They are finally here!

Built to seat 8, it was a perfect fit for our three large sets of buns and four small ones.  I think those of us with longer limbs found the ergonomics a little uncomfortable, but all the joy was worth our knees hitting the metal bars on the seats .  The kids thought it was a blast!  Some pedaled more than others, while Sahara, Jake, and Eli took turns driving off the road into trees and into signposts.  Nate had a Fitbit and was happy to see the exercise helped him hit his required quota of movement for the day.  That Nate is a cool cat.

A cool cat wearing a Fitbit.

The kids also took turns on the 9-meter swing,

Chased each other down the giant slide,

Spent some time digging trenches in the giant sandbox, and flooded small sand cities with water.  Hunter climbed a little too high in the bird’s nest but with a little coaxing, Daddy got her down.

The Prater is an interesting place, full of all kinds of everything.  Young, old, couples, families, we even walked by a group of people riding broomsticks and throwing balls through hoop-shaped goalposts.  Quidditch!  We watched a group of kids riding skateboards and showed off the wonders of Austrian public toilets (seriously, they are a wonder!).  So now for lunch…

What do you get when you ask a group of ex-pat American kids what they want for lunch?

Although I’m not sure if this love is driven solely by the kids…

A day full of playgrounds, trains, and McDonald’s.  Fun Day In Vienna With Our Cousins:  Check.