Pre Vacation Pics

For those of you that have been wondering about the lack of blog posts lately, it is because we just got back from 2 weeks of vacation. I took a week to make my yearly bike tour - this year through Denmark and Sweden, followed by a week on the North Sea with the family and my in-laws. Eva was on the North Sea (with her parents) the week I was riding (as well as the week I was there as well).

The World Cup was in full swing prior to our vacation...which encouraged us to get Quinn a small soccer goal. We have been playing soccer for such a long time (it is one if his favorite activities - to kick a ball), so it was finally time.

The neighbors girls come down from time to time and play as well...this time in our Germany jerseys. The US advanced...and the German team played great, progressing to the semifinals...only to get beat by a much better Spanish team...only 4 more years to the next World Cup!
The night before our vacation, I had a work event just north of home. The place was a mini amusement park that my business unit rented out for the night...Westernland of all places. I felt like I was in an old west movie. It looked pretty authentic, but felt a bit like the Twilight Zone being in Germany.

I wore my boots, and the CEO of our Business Unit even looked the part (below).

Below is a pic of Quinn resting on his way to kindergarten...don't ask me why he needs to rest, since he is normally in constant motion.

There's my boy looking like a big boy...

Sledding Fun

We've a pretty long cold stretch these last few weeks...and a fair amount of snow to go along with it. Great dry snow that is bad for making snowmen, but great for sledding.
Since Quinn's sled broke a few weeks ago, we've been talking about getting a new one. I really liked the wooden toboggans - partially because I think they look cool (in an old school sort of way) and because I can ride with the kiddoes.

I have to admit, I was more excited trying out Quinn's new sled than he was. So, yesterday morning, I called the neighbor, and asked if they wanted to go sledding with us.

Kaya and Elena joined us (and brought their toboggan as well). I ended up pulling all three kids.

Afterwards, we played in our backyard and tried to build a snoman out of the dry snow. We played, and played, and played: everything from football, soccer, to 'horsey' (which is killer on my back), to 'tumbleweed', to 'running around like idots'...all of our favorite games made more fun by the snow.

It was a ball...but I'm hurting today...

OMG! What is my child doing?

When I got back home from a trip to the US, one of the first things that Eva said to me was practically a warning: If you put in a load of laundry, check the wash machine, since Quinn likes to put stuff in it.

Shortly thereafter, Eva put in a load of laundry and noticed about a half hour through the cycle that there was a lot of foam in the machine. Thinking something might be wrong, we stopped the cycle and opened the machine (our washer is a front loader, so this is more difficult than you would expect)...to find my last two bars of Ivory soap in the machine. Thanks Quinn!

I think this will mark the beginning of the 'oh my God, what did my child do'.
Last weekend, there was an open house at the local Fire Department (Feuerwehr Fest). They set up a bunch of cool demos, presentations of sort, and cool stuff for the kids to do. The weather wasn't all that great, but we went with Tanja, Rene, and their son Henrik. They had a bunch of trikes and Big Wheels (of sorts) for the kids to ride on. While Quinn's legs were too short (a common Gould ailment) to peddle, he had fun since I had to push him around (great for the back).

They had a kids version of a firehose that we could use to practice putting out fires. I think this was more fun for the adults, but Quinn tried to get into it.

On a conveyor, they had some mini 'fire trucks' for the kids to ride in. Quinn really liked these, and we rode two or three times...

We also got to slide on the poles. This was particularly difficult for both Rene and I...since we had to keep lifting the boys up so that they could slide down. That was my workout for the day.

Since the weather was significantly better this weekend, we were a bit more active: especially in Germany in the Fall, you need to get out on the weekends if the weather is this nice.

So, we headed into the Fränkische Schweiz for a Sunday morning hike with our neighbors.
We let Quinn run around in one of the fields, which he absolutely loved: running in the tall grass and picking the dandelions. The great thing about such a field is that he can run, fall, stumble, and pick grass with little chance of doing damage to himself.
Not too sure what Quinn is doing here: kinda looks like a cross between his 'I'm taking a dump now' and his 'Kung Fu Master' look. Thanks to Mom and Dad for the super cute jacket (that finally fits!!!). I think he looks like a little lumberjack here.
Quinn and Kaya.
Unfortunately, we got to the Biergarten a bit late. With such a nice day, everyone was out hiking, and the place was packed. We were told that it would take over an hour to get lunch, and there would be a risk that they would be out of food by then. So, we settled for cake and coffee (ok...I had a beer). Unfortunately, it was a shame, since their food is really good, and we were all looking forward to it.

I played with Quinn in the backyard after we got back, went on a nice bike ride in the Fränkische Schweiz, and now I'm pooped.

Quinn is picking up new words each day. He has 'cheese' and 'shoes' down pretty well, possibly perhaps to their closeness to the Germany word for 'bye' that he has known for a while 'Tschuß'. We're also trying to get him to know the 'magic word' (please). He'll say that he wants more of something (mehr), I'll ask for the magic word, and he replies: 'bitte'. Super cute in his 18 month old voice. Eva asks for the magic word like a normal human, but for me, the 'magic word' was something that stuck...so I'm passing it along to Quinn.

While he can say more German words than English, he understands both Eva and I equally well. Regardless of the language, there have been a few occasions where it was obvious he understood what we said, and you could see him contemplating whether he wanted to do what he asked...

Summerfest: All good things come in 3's

As we were planning this year's Summerfest, it didn't take us long to find a theme: All good things come in 3's. Eva turned 30 in December, I turned 33 in May, Quinn was born in the 3rd month, and our family now has 3 members.

To add more cool to the coincidences, we had our Summerfest on the 7th of July of 2007: 07.07.07. Pretty cool...at least for a bunch of 30-somethings.

Let's just say it took us a while to do the shopping for all of our guests. We had almost 40 friends and family over...and I got to grill for all of them. I made my 'almost famous' burgers - from scratch - with almost 20 pounds of meat. Just in case that wasn't enough, we added another 10 or so pounds of sausage.
It started out tame enough around 5pm. We had a nice mix of friends and family that travelled the 4+ hours (or more...due to some pretty bad traffic jams) as well as our local friends.
Kaya and Henrik looking at our lavender shrubs.
Britta, Christian, and his cousin Lars.
The gang from the Ruhrgebeit (the area of Eva's hometown), decided that beer and wine wasn't enough...let the schnapps drinking begin. All in all, we killed over 2 liters of Jägermeister and Sambucca.

Robin, Anna, and Christian: for those Pi Kapps that are reading, this pic reminds me of the thousands of similar looking party pics at the House.

As midnight turned, Babsi celebrated her 30-something birthday...Eva was prepared with a cake (that was really, really good...I hope she makes it again).

We really don't know how Quinn got in this position. He can turn really well onto his stomach, but he can't really get back on his back. Eva and I both missed this one, but it seems that he did the full turn...and somehow avoided banging his head on our hardwood floors.

The family and friends from the Ruhrgebeit meeting for breakfast in our yard. No grilling...just rolls and coffee.

...ok, and Quinn has milk for breakfast...

I really love this baseball hat, but his head is now too big for it. Quinn's fully rested and woke up at 7am. I went to bed after 3am and looked the part the next morning.

All in all, it was a great time. I was a bit worried that the neighbors would complain a bit, but Babsi emparted some great wisdom on me: everyone is allowed to be loud at least twice a year...

Hiking on the 1st of May

The first of May, the German Labor Day, begins what I call the 'Holiday Season' in Bavaria. Basically, beginning in May, there are 5 public holidays in a 5-6 week period of time. Thankfully, this year, most of these holidays fall during the week (unlike in the US, if the holiday falls on the weekend, the holiday isn't 'moved' to the closest Monday).

We took the opportunity to use the holiday and the great weather to head to the Fränkische Schweiz (about 20 minutes from Erlangen) to go for a nice hike.

This was Quinn's first time going hiking in his baby backpack. He had a great time...and (almost) slept the whole 2.5 hours that we were hiking.
We headed to a place called Walberla: basically a small butte that gives a great overlook of the Fränkische Schweiz and Erlangen.Here's the other view from the top of Walberla. As you can tell, there were lots of other people hiking that day, and there was even a group of friends playing some traditional music with their brass instruments. The 1st of May tends to be day when many will head outdoors to enjoy the (hopefully) spring weather and nature.
After the hike, we went to a local biergarten to grab a bite to eat (and drink) to power up before heading home. All in all, it was a great day in the sun.

Spring has Sprung

Quinn has been progressing right along. He has figured out that he has hands ... that move ... that can touch and move other things. Below, is Quinn and one of his toys. We must have spent an hour watching him try to move his hands to hit the wooden bells.

Last week, Eva met some of the other mothers from her Lamaze class (Geburtsvorbereitungskurs). Quinn seemed to figure out that he wasn't the only baby in this world...and seemed to be completely amazed by this. Oh...the new things in this world.

This one looks like Quinn is giving the 'Hang Loose, Hawaii' pose.
It's still a bit big, but we think he really likes his baseball hat.
Spring has definitely sprung. We've been spending some great time in the yard getting everything ready for summer. The tulips look great, and the ones we planted last year came up and multiplied. I'm in the background putting some bamboo poles in the ground to get ready for the pole beans I'll plant (along with corn) in May.
Quinn posing in his new pajamas. Thanks Grandmom and Grandpa Gould (it will take some getting used to calling my parents by their new names!).

Another view of the yard. The tulips are my favorites, but the other plants are growing well and are blooming. We should also get some great strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries from the bushes we planted last year.
On Saturday, we took the 10 minute walk from our house to the wild pigs (ok...as wild as they get being fenced in eating the scraps from the hikers). They also have some newborn pigs that are really cool to look at. We heard they like eating raw spaghetti...so when we saw some raw noodles on the ground, we fed them to the pigs. They seemed to really like the snack.
It seems that Quinn has picked up some of the more urban fashion...basically pulling his hat below his eyes. Before we know it, he'll be letting his butt and boxers hang out from his pants like the other cool kids.
Here's Betty and Kaya enjoying an afternoon at the zoo with Eva and Quinn.

Pinkeln lassen

Quinn had quite a few visitors his first days in the hospital, including his Aunt Nina, who hopped on a train to Erlangen after finishing her night shift at work after hearing that Quinn had been born.

Quinn is definitely taking after his father by taking lots of naps. I'm particularly happy about this because I now have a great excuse for taking a nap. The breast that is pictured is mine and not Eva's.
Here's Quinn in his hospital crib with his name tag.
Another picture I took while Quinn was napping. I'm getting pretty good at taking pics with one hand...
When the little guy is napping, you can tell he is dreaming about something because of how he moves his eyes and hands. I definitely wonder what he is dreaming about...maybe about the 'good ol' days' of swimming around in Eva's belly.
As is tradition from Eva's part of town, when the mother and child is still in the hospital, the father throws a party for their family and friends.

"Wir wollen das Kind pinkeln lassen"

Roughly translated, we want to let the child pee. Between the lines, this means that it is the father's last chance to really get hammered before the family comes home. So, last night, I had our neighbors and friends over for a small party to celebrate Quinn's birth.

Eva'a parents and Nina did a great job getting everything prepared for our guests! Only on very rare occasions does one see Eva's mom drinking...and below we have proof of the special occasion.

As is becoming 'tradition', the Gould-Göttgens party was a great time. We played the music louder than we should have and we drank more schnapps that we needed. It got especially loud when I played Quinn's theme song: "The Mighty Quinn". Nina hamming it up for the camera with a beer cap in her eye.
Before we picked Eva up from the hospital, we got the condo all ready for our new arrival. I even cleaned the toilets!
Here I am with Quinn shortly before leaving the hospital. The weather was perfect for the event - a beautiful spring day.

At the hospital, they had a map of the world, where we could put stickers denoting origins of the newborns' parents. I put a sticker over Borger, my hometown.
Now we are all home. Quinn has been perfect since we got him home. He's barely crying. He showed extreme patience when I was changing his diaper for the first time. I'm definitely going to have to get better at it (and faster). But, I think Quinn will give me tons of opportunities to practice.

We're now trying to settle into our new lives as parents...the next chapter of our lives has now begun!