This will be our last post for the next three weeks, because a week from today, my family will be here! Mark your calendars–August 15 will be the next Sunday recap. Until then, I will most likely share photos and videos on my Instagram. Follow me there if you start missing us.

Back in February, we shared a poll asking where we should go on our first vacation once the borders open. The winner was Venice, Italy and we are excited to share we will be visiting Venice, among several other places, with my family during their visit.

I am so excited for next weekend to arrive. Not only because we get to show off our home and its surroundings, but also because our cat will be reunited with us! The original plan was for him to only stay in Kentucky for 4 months, but 4 months turned into 10 months.

Charlie and Denzel are best buddies and we are looking forward to seeing them back together again. The paperwork to fly an animal abroad is definitely a hassle and stressful. I recapped the entire process we went through with the dogs here. So, wish my parents good luck as they fly abroad with our cat next weekend.

Since we are preparing for family to arrive, we stayed in Gmunden this weekend. We went swimming in the Traunsee three days in a row which had me wanting to know more about the lake and what we were swimming with besides fish and a lot of swans.

Here is what I learned –

The deepest point of the Traunsee is 191 meters or 626 feet – the deepest lake in Austria!

On the last day of World War II, a P-47 Thunderbolt crashed into the Traunsee and remained at the bottom of Lake for decades. After reading a few articles, it was said to be the last plane the US Air Force lost in Europe during World War II. It was considered lost for over 60 years, but was recovered in 2006. The plane was called Dottie Mae. This is just one piece of history our little lake town has. There are books in the library of our house revealing much more.

Lastly, there is a local legend that speaks of a Waterhorse living in the lake. Locals refer to it as "Lungy", Austria's version of the Loch Ness monster. Here’s to hoping we never meet Lungy when we go for another swim.