New City Wien Fall Retreat

In the beginning of November we had a church retreat.  It was a wonderful time of learning, renewal and just plain fun.  We went to a small town called Bad Goisern which is sort of in the lower foothills of the Alps. We arrived rather late on Halloween night.  The kids had put together some Halloween costumes, so we just wore them to breakfast the next morning.

Sweet ninja moves

They each made their own weapon out of Tinker Toys.  They're big fans of Lego Ninjago so they had a fun time dressing up and pretending. Worthy made shurikens. I love do-it-yourself costumes.  

However, I also really love amazing store bought ones too...

our little Picard (we didn't shave him!)

I'm pretty sure who is Commander and who is #1

 Dan is making me include here that this shirt was a GIFT to him.  

He did not purchase it and he's never worn it in public before now... anything else dear?!

 We had a good amount of time together building and learning about community...not many pics of that, but we extended that into free time as well.  One afternoon we went on a walk through the foothills.  It was a beautiful walk overlooking the town.

And along the way there were tree carvings about Austrian folk stories. 

 A bit grim.

 It was a great hike and fun to share it with friends.

And we had more meetings and stuff, but the next day we went to Hallstatt, which is a nearby picturesque town on the lake.

picturesque, eh?

so peaceful, you wouldn't know they're arguing over the telescope...

and I'm fairly certain this might be the first ever American football game played here...

 enjoying the playground during the football game

making s'mores 

a wonderful time - made all the more wonderful because we were together