Budapest

Last weekend the three of us spent some time in Budapest, Hungary. We flew out Thursday(2/5) afternoon,(during Elliot's nap and thankfully he slept the whole flight!) and came back way too early Sunday am. We really enjoyed ourselves and thankfully there were a lot of pedestrian only streets so Elliot could get out walk and enjoy himself. Our hotel was in a great location, so Thursday night we went to dinner at place not from from us and walked around after. We of course had to have a traditional Hungarian Kürtőskalác for dessert. They are round and made from a sweet dough, wrapped around a cylinder, rolled in sugar and then cooked over coals. You can get different toppings and we went with the cinnamon one. Seriously amazing! Elliot of course loved it just as much as us.  

Our Kürtőskalác

Sharing with Papa

Thankfully, he shared with Mama

On Friday we had a big day of walking around and sightseeing. According to my fitbit we did over 22,000 steps! I had done some research on the city and we knew we wanted to spend a good amount of time in the Castle Hill area in Buda side of the city. We decided to take the cable car up since the hill was a bit steep for a stroller. To get to that area we walked across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. When it was built it was the longest suspension bridge in Europe. It is one of the bridges connecting Buda and Pest. Unfortunately, it was pretty windy so we didn't spend as much time up there as we probably would have had it been nice out. We had lunch at a traditional Hungarian restaurant and walked around while Elliot napped in the stroller. We took a TON of pictures so here is a little sampling of them. 

Elliot barely peeking out 

Cable car up with hill

Mathias Church. The roof was an amazing mosaic pattern. So hard to capture in picture bit incredible to see in person. 

I loved all the different colors on the buildings

View of the Parliament building from Castle hill

First attempt of many family pictures

Looking out over the city

One of the best family pictures we got 

Not many pics of just the two of us anymore!(Elliot was napping in his stroller we didn't leave him out :) ) 

Our little explorer

I'll recap the rest of our trip later in the week!

London Part 2

On Saturday in London we woke up and knew we needed to get Elliot some running around time. We made our way over to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens. We let Elliot run around the park on our way to the playground. Once we got there he was in heaven! And we actually saw Hugh Grant there playing with his little boy! When we left there Eliot crashed in the stroller and we headed to Trafalgar Square and had some lunch before our afternoon plans.

A little park bench snack

This squirrel followed us around the whole park

My little buddy

He over course loved the tractor at the playground

and the swing

Catching the changing of the guards

During the changing of the guards

We met up with Sam and Dan again and they took us to a little local spot for afternoon high tea. Under Westminster Abbey there is a place called a Cellarium. If you tell the guards at the back of the church they let you in. Elliot did surprisingly well, as long as we kept the treats coming :) 

Proper English tea!

Pinkies up! 

We flew out the next morning and got right to relaxing after a busy trip! We had such a great time in London and look forward to going back again some day!

Vienna part 2

Our last day in Vienna was on and off rain which meant a lot of sight seeing was out of the question. E and I did some exploring in the area around our hotel before meeting up with everyone else for lunch. After hanging out at their apartment we all went out for a late dinner with some of Noelle and Brady's other friends.

Elliot and Max earning their keep cleaning the apartment :) 

Elliot and I explored the vineyards near our hotel

Overlooking Vienna

Cheers to Milk and Beer at lunch

E was loving the music at dinner

All the kiddos dancing at dinner

Good bye until next time!

We had such a nice trip and Elliot was a great little travel buddy. I think I see some future mama and Elliot trips!

Vienna

The morning after I ran my half marathon Elliot and I had an early morning flight to Vienna. My good friend Noelle was visiting her parents and so we decided on a short trip to see them all. Noelle and her husband have an almost 2 year who Elliot loved running around with. It was such a nice change for our travels to have a little buddy for E. We got settled into our hotel and quickly got public transport figured out and headed into the city center. We had some lunch, walked around, E took a nap and headed back to our hotel around dinner time. There were quite a few traditional Austrian restaurants right near our hotel which was great.

Playground right outside of our hotel room

Outside the Stephansdom

E loved his worst and fries

On Tuesday we met up with Noelle and her family right away in the morning and let the boys play at her parents house. We headed into the city for lunch and then made our way over to the Vienna zoo. It is the oldest zoo in the world and was a great time. Lots of animals and a great environment. It was pretty cool to see Pandas and a few Giraffe up close. The zoo in located on the Schonbrunn Palace. We only got to see the outside of the palace and it was unreal. What's crazier is that the palace was only used as a summer residence.

My cute travel buddy

Elliot in front of the Schonbrunn Palace

On a train ride in the zoo

Zoo selfie

Running around the palace grounds

My little explorer

I'll have another post coming with the rest of our trip soon!

Elliot's 1 year pictures

I realized that I never shared any of Elliot's 1 year pictures. And since he is 15 months I figured it was time! We had the pictures taken while we were in Minnesota on his birthday at a barn in Eden Prairie. Our wedding photographer took the photos and did a wonderful job! I intentionally waited to cut his hair until after his pictures so I would always remember his baby mullet :)  

Elliot is never serious in pictures and for some reason I just love this one

My Favorites 

Baby Mullet is on full display here!

One of my favorite pictures of the 3 of us

Of course he is eating, this little one is always snacking!

I can't believe how much Elliot has changed in the 3 months since these were taken!