Severson Family Odyssey

Farewell Blogger

2008-05-28T08:36:00.002-04:00

Since I have been unable to figure out all the ins and outs of using this site and my new mac together, I am closing this blog and starting a new at www.web.mac/jeriannseverson . Please head there for new info on the Family adventures!

2008-05-10T14:18:00.003-04:00

Well, it has been WAY too long since my last update. The good news it is mainly because we are so busy enjoying our new home here in Vienna. And because following my using the wrong adapter to plug in my computer, ( which sent sparks flying) Byron bought me an Apple.....which I am still figuring out. We just returned from a great trip to the US where Byron received his jet rating (this is a big deal for pilot types) and can now fly the Hawker jets he sells!! Alexander and I spent some time with our family in NJ and then in FL. It was fabulous! Seeing Alexander with his cousins Joe & Dante was incredible. He adores them both so much. The FL sun was spectacular and we hit the beach everyday. Our boy is a water beast! He had no fear and ran right into the Gulf up to his neck! Forget the pool,...he hops right in whether there is someone there to catch him or not! We had a blast. Alexander couldn't be more crazy about his Grandma & PopPa either. It could be the fact that they have a ceiling fan in every room, but I think it is more likely that they are just so much fun! He has been looking for them since we arrived back home. He wakes up and says "PopPa?"."FanFan?"...he has also been looking for his buddy Blue whom he would have games of chase with daily at their house. You can see photos and videos from our trip at www.gallery.mac.com/jeriannseverson

On the agenda for the next few months is a trip to Geneva, Berlin, and Chester. We are hoping to plan a family trip to Greece or Italy in June/July and then in October.........we are welcoming baby number two!! Please pray for safe travels and a healthy baby!

Elf (11)

2008-02-18T05:13:00.002-05:00

Hola from Malaga, Spain on the coast of the Mediterranean just 1.5 hours east of Gibraltar. I have had quite a week. I started in Berlin where I saw the remains of "the wall". After one short day there, I flew through Zurich to Geneva. I got in late and it took me some time to find the hotel (didn't help that I had no map!).

The next morning, I drove from Geneva to Sion in the Swiss Alps. It was a lovely drive with beautiful, rugged, snow-capped mountains and vineyards cut into the mountain bases. It was hard to imagine how the farmers tend to the vineyards since the gradients are so steep-thats a hard living!

When I got to Sion, the Swiss Air Force was practicing landings at this small mountain airport. They have something similar to the T-38 bit it's ppainted red with a big, white Swiss cross on the tail...pretty cool!

As I drove into the airport, I noted several castles built on mountain tops. The Swiss have obviously been masterful at self-protection and preservation! I saw my Ukranian customers off on their demo to Kiev and then went to buy some Swiss chocolate for my wife (being Valentine's and all) at a little gas station. The attendant spoke French, as most do in this area of die Schweiz (Switzerland). I've found that my French comes in as handy as the German I've learned.

Anyway, I returned to Geneva and past, once again, the lovely blue lake at the foot of a towering mountain just outsidse of Lausanne (breathtaking).

I flew to Manchester, England that evening through brussels. It was a very tight connection. I made my flight but apparently my luggage didn't. It will catch up to me in Vienna sometime next week. Meanwhile, I'm on day 3 with these clothes. Let's just say I'm starting to fit in with the aroma of the locals!Traveling light is key here I'm learning and I may get used to just carrying extra undergarments on these trips and a shirt or two. Losing luggage is a real drag.

Anyway, I hosted my Icelandic Hawker 4000 customer yesterday in Chester where we allowed himk to choose his colors for his new $21M jet. He and his wife are very nice, speak excellent English (and Icelandic and Spanish) and enjoyed the day. After, we flew down in a Hawker to Malaga, Spain.

I've told Jer that Malaga is a place we need to come to again. Its right on the mediterranean and the spanish would appear to have a great flair for life (so did my guest next door in the hotel apparently as he came crashing in at 1:30am). Well, we're on approach to Madrid, my connecrion on the way to Vienna so I'll sign off. Many beautiful sights this week but none as beautiful as the two to whom I'm returning!!!

Asta Luego
Cheers
A bientôt
Bis spater

Byron
+43.676.774.2779 (Vienna mobile)
+1.732.921.2100 (U.S. mobile)

CONGRATULATIONS MILLER FAMILY!!!

2008-02-15T03:40:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to our friends Rob, Melissa, and Jake Miller who are expecting a baby girl this July!!!

Zehn

2008-02-12T16:29:00.001-05:00

Today was our first snowfall in Vienna. The flakes were huge and just barely sticking but the park outside our window looked pretty with the white dusting. It was sort of like a rain storm in FL... after about an hour it stopped and the sun is shining crazy bright now. There isn't much new to report. We are settled in now and finally have the last room of the apartment organized. Ah no more shopping missions left. What's a girl to do? Oh maybe prepare for guests?? We are ready so come on over!!

Alexander is all set to start kindergarten in March. At the same time Byron & I are going to start taking some intensive German classes 4-5x per week. Hopefully we will actually get to use some of our German after that. As it is now, we say one German word and then everyone speaks English to us. I guess our accents aren't very good yet. It will be fun to see if we can keep up with Alexander in the language department.

Neun

2008-01-27T14:31:00.000-05:00

Greetings From Wien!! Finally a minute to type and an internet connection happen at the same time!! We have been settling into our new apartment for the last two weeks and it has been nothing short of wonderful. The apartment Byron found for us is perfect. Alexander is loving all the space to cruise and of course his own table with chairs in his bedroom. Byron & I are loving that he is sleeping in his own big boy bed all night long! Ahhh. We have been enjoying a ton of walking, eating, drinking, and of course shopping. We learned the hard way that adapters would not do the trick for most of our appliances so on the bright side we have a really incredible new coffee maker, toaster, and vaccum cleaner. After stinking it out for almost three weeks we also finally have a washer and dryer. Alexander & I have found a nice gym that offers babysitting 3 times per week. It is not ideal, but beggers can't be choosers. It is the only fitness center in the city that offers any child care at all! Luckily we were led to a nice church where we met several other expats from various parts of the world. The pastor's name is Tom, but he is surely no Tom Sigley. We are missing our Crossroads, but this seems to be a good place for us for now. Byron is waiting for an office at the airport which will be a quick train ride away but in the meantime he has a great temporary office that an easy 10 minute walk from the apartment. On the way he passes just about anything that should strike his fancy. Namely the "Anker" which is sort of the Dunkin Donuts of Austria. Coffee, Croissants, and Pastries. So life is shaping up and starting to feel more and more like we live here and aren't just on vacation anymore. This week we are hoping to recieve our official residence permits, cable TV (with a whooping 3 English speaking channels...BBC Prime, BBC World News, and CCN), a home phone, and a school for Alexander. Yup, big boy is heading to kindergarten. Children start school much earlier here, and we really want him to learn the language... so that he can help us!! We are visiting two this week. Please say a few prayers for us that we find the right place for our little guy. Check back soon to see a slide show of the city and our new home!

Temporary Living Slideshow

2008-01-10T16:39:00.000-05:00

http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff254/jeriannseverson/?action=view&current=1fde9790.pbw

Daniel Joseph Invictus McGuire

2008-01-05T20:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome Daniel Joseph! The new young McGuire arrived on 12/20 weighing in at 7lb. 10oz. Congratulations Joe, Chris, and Kayla!!

Achts

2008-01-05T20:04:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!! We welcomed 2008 with a "Salute to Vienna" and the company of Dean & Missy Severson! The Salute to Vienna is actually a show at Ruth Eckard Hall with the Viennese Symphony Orchestra, a Hungarian Ballet troupe, and some ball room dancers probably from the same. Although it may sound a little subdue, we were surely the youngest in the place! I have tons of photos and stories to share but that will have to wait until we are settled in Wien. I have been using Kate's computer while we are here in FL. Tomorrow we are off to Vienna to pick up our apartment keys and hit the ground running... hopefully. We we will be sorting out the apartment, setting up cell phones, and getting wired for cable etc so we will likely be out of touch until after the tenth or so. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travel and a smooth transition!!

Sieben

2007-12-19T03:21:00.000-05:00

The Sandler wedding was fabulous just as we all imagined. Dara was stunning, Adam was glowing and there are no words for how beautiful the ceremony was. Needless to say there was lots of amazing food, fantastic music, and not a photo to show how terrific it truly was. Alexander had a marvelous evening with Aunt Rita and Joey (her dog) and Sunday we all hit the ground running. We moved into the Residence Inn Sunday night and Victory Int'l moved us out of our house on Monday. It was a busy week but we had the chance to spend some quality time with Donna, Joe & Dante and managed to get out of town before the bad weather really took hold of New Jersey. Now here in sunny New Port Richey Alexander is in Grandma Katie & Pop heaven. He has been playing fetch with Blue, sleeping like a champ in his big boy bed, and singing the backpack song to anyone who will listen. For those of you without children, or that aren't on the nick/noggin bandwagon....that would be Dora's backpack song. The most important part of this song is that we haven't been hearing about the ceiling fans quite so often! Now we are looking forward to Katie's belly busting cookies, decorating the Christmas tree, Diane & clan's arrival and a new McGuire addition!! Joe & his wife Chris are at the hospital as I type!!!

Sechs

2007-12-08T07:35:00.000-05:00

North Dakota box checked! We cuddled twins, played in the snow, brought back Pearson's nut rolls & Widman's Chippers, and hung out in the Grand Forks airport for about 6 hours. What more could you ask for in a trip to the north in December? Tonight is the highly anticipated Sandler/Samuels wedding. Alexander is going to be with Aunt Rita while B & I are tearing up the dance floor. Tomorrow we move into a hotel in West Orange, and Monday is the big move day! Please keep us in your prayers that it all goes well!!!

Funf

2007-11-25T21:09:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving was perfect!! It was a fabulous day for a parade....but we didn't go! Byron was able to come home early! Alexander and I rushed out to grab him from the airport and missed the parade. We really weren't very disappointed about that. Sunny day or not Byron coming home was way better. Alexander was beyond excited to see his Dad and let him hear how well he says "PLANE". Of course there was a piano concert as you can see. The holiday and the following weekend couldn't have been better. We spent the time together and joined friends for dinners. We even ventured to "Bee Movie" with Alexander. Yes, we know we are courageous. He loved it and really had quite good movie go-er etiquette! Pop Maggio would've been proud. :) I also must mention Byron's trip sounds to have been incredible and complete with jet sales!! I leave it to him to give more details. As for an update on the countdown, there are 4 days until we leave for ND, 12 days until Adam & Dara's wedding, 14 days until the movers pack us up, 18 days until we get to Grandma & Pop's house, and approximately 44 days until we hop from Florida to Vienna.

If you have been wondering how you can contact us once we make to big trip, we are encouraging everyone to join Skype. It is free to join. Once you are a member it is free to call any other Skype member and so is much more economical then any of the international calling plans. All you will need is a microphone and speakers but if you have a web cam we will be able to video conference as well. Go to Skype.com to join. My Skype name is jeriann.severson.

Vier

2007-11-21T12:14:00.000-05:00

Byron found an apartment for us! I am thrilled to say we now have permanent housing in Vienna so we can skip right past the icky temp housing/hotel deal! We will be living in district 3 which is just on the periphery of the inner city. Although the kitchen is tiny.... my honey managed to find the only apartment in Vienna with a closet!! This is the view from the living room and a shot of the kitchen. Now all that is left to do is sell both of our cars, and some random items that can't be used over seas like our vacuum and coffee maker etc. We are headed out to ND for our visit with the Seversons and Adams next week, following up with the big Sandler bash, and off to FL we go!! All of our US mail will be forwarded to FL from 12/10 on. This is the address where we can be reached until 1/15/08. I will post our new address in Vienna as soon as I have all the details until then please use this one.

c/o Rich or Kathleen Maggio

3945 Headsail Dr.

New Port Richey, FL 34652

Drei Continued

2007-11-19T17:24:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of my favorite photos from our South Carolina trip...

Drei

2007-11-16T17:56:00.000-05:00

Alexander and I had a fabulous trip to Myrtle Beach. Our visit with the Schroeder's couldn't have been better. We went to Brookgreen Gardens, the beach, Nicole's school's Founder's Day (I even saw her classroom!) The Warbird Memorial, and of course hit the Tanger outlets. I was even invited on a bike ride with Danielle to visit her friends!!! I know, no one thought I was cool enough...especially me. Alexander of course was a big hit with everyone including Tigger the cat. However, no one could be nearly as huge of a hit as Aunt Diane was in his book. He is still looking for her! Aunt Diane plays all the best baby games. It was hard to leave, but I am pretty sure Tigger is happy not to have Alexander wagging his tail for him anymore!

Byron's trip has been equally successful so far. It has been extended quite a bit because he is such a mad salesman but thats okay. His stay in Dubai ends tonight and he is headed for our furture hometown of Vienna. He will be exploring some of the temporary housing options over the weekend and then unfortunately working all next week. Yup, in case it hadn't occured Thanksgiving is just another working Thursday in Europe. Alexander and I are planning a trip to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in NY and then dinner with some friends. We will miss Byron like crazy but it will be a fun day for the two of us no matter what. Check back for more news after the holiday!

Zwei

2007-11-02T11:44:00.000-04:00

We are now close enough to the official move date to start a count down. It is 38 days until our house is packed up for shipment and we move into a hotel in NJ, 45 days until we hit Sunny FL, and 73 days until we hop the pond! Somewhere in the remaining 38 days before things really get crazy Byron & I are trying to fit in as many visits as we can. Next week Byron is off to Vienna, Brussels, Iceland, Turkey and Dubai to start kicking butt in the jet market and Alexander and I will be headed to South Carolina to spend some much needed time with my sister Diane and her fabulous family Danielle, Nicole, and Paul. Then we will be together again for a few short days before we are off to Stanley North Dakota to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Seversons and of course then to Grand Forks ND to cuddle the Adams twins (Kylie & Jensen for anyone I might not have told). Oh yeah, it will be good to see Dave and Kim as well......maybe show a little Sioux Spirit with a hockey game. And then of course is the oh so anticipated Adam Sandler and Dara Samuels wedding weekend which will top off our last days in NJ. So that is the news for now. Check back soon to hear about all our travels and see more photos of the little man :)

Eins

2007-09-24T22:59:00.000-04:00

9/24/07

Thanks to Missy I set up this blog to keep you all in the loop regarding our impending move. And of course as yet another venue to show off photos and videos of Alexander. So for now...The house is rented. The movers are hired. The tickets are purchased. Stay tuned for a new update soon!