Baseball and Berg

While I try to not get too down on the sometimes crappy weather here, the weather last weekend was downright crappy. The temps were in the 50', cloudy, and I actually had to put on long pants.

But, we tried to have a good weekend nonetheless.

I took a trip (literally) down the street with Quinn and Emily to catch a White Sox game. The baseball is decent, the stadium reminds me of the little league stadiums at home, and they have a great deal for the kids: when there is a foul ball, the kid who gets the ball and turns it in, gets a few baseball cards.

Quinn has a ton of baseball cards now.
Looking at a fountain during Altstadtfest.
We also did a bit of caching: here is Quinn with our first T4 cache...
A few weeks ago, I finally broke down and got a huge 2TB external drive to clear up some space on our computer. 2TB is huge! In the transfer process, I came across some pics from Easter that I thought I nuked with Quinn, Emily, and I at the soccer field at Eva's parents.
Emily did a great job playing as well...
As with every year, our local bierfestival, Bergkirchweih came (and went) a few weeks ago. I wanted to go with Quinn...and was thankfully able to convince Eva to come, so Emily could join us. Normally I have no problems being alone with two kids...but if you knew Berg, then you'd understand.

I got to go on a huge ride (above).
The weather was less than ideal...but we tried our best to enjoy Berg despite the rain and cold.
Lest you think that it is always cold and rainy, we have had a few days were the kiddoes could cool off with the sprinkler (naturally, during the week).
Another soccer pic from Easter...

Happy Easter 2011

Easter Time again. Quinn was old enough last year to remember the routine...and to really begin to look forward to the long weekend. In Kindergarten, they begin more discussion about spring and Easter, so this adds fuel to the fire.

Emily still has no clue...and why on God's green earth would you paint an egg? I love pictures like the one above where you can see Quinn deeply concentrating.

I was tasked to help Emily color eggs (also known as: don't get paint / markers on the furniture or clothes). How do you like my bald spot?

Brother and Sister.

In Germany (and much of the rest of the world except the US) there are these things called Surprise Eggs (Überraschungseier, ÜEi for short). They have different names throughout the world (as I've noticed in the many international airports I've been too). They are like a Cadbury's creme egg...but with a toy inside. Kinda like a Cracker Jack Egg. It is amazing what type of toy they can get into the darn thing.

Nonetheless...Quinn and Emily got an XXL ÜEi from our friends for Easter. While Emily has no idea what Easter is, she knows what chocolate looks like, and she got that thing unwrapped and started eating before Eva and I really knew what was going on.

Quinn was her accomplice.

...following pics not necessarily in order...

Eva and I thought that we were super smart in recommending two toy lawnmowers for the kids: one for each. The lawnmowers have always been a hit at the house, and now that Emily is old enough to 'have one' and since Quinn's had to get retired last year...it was time.

The whole thing backfired when Emily found Quinn's lawnmower (right) first. It was clearly on 'his side' of the Easter Egg Hunt. Quinn tries really hard to be diplomatic (he knows it was on 'his side' of the Hunt) and helps Emily find hers. In his 4 year old words, he tried to convince Emily that she found his lawnmower.

She didn't budge. Quinn gives up and just rips his lawnmower out of her hands. Crying ensues. She still thinks Quinn's lawnmower is hers.

Emily is very, very strong willed. Like her mother ;-) Quinn on the hunt.

It took Emily a while to figure out why we were looking behind the bushes so early on a Sunday morning. After all, she doesn't like eggs. Why would she want to find them.

Chocolate. That is the reason. Emily figured out quickly that some of the eggs were chocolate. Emily's *white* knit from my parents (Thank You!) is still clean...but we had to take it off before the lawnmowing got started.

The girl catches on quick. When she saw Quinn's Easter basket, Quinn was still basking in the glory of such a cool easter basket. Quinn, in all his pride, shows it to Emily and starts trying to convince Emily that she probably also has an Easter basket.

Emily sees the chocolate ladybug on Quinn's gift (you can see it in the pic below) and quick like lightning, she rips the piece of chocolate from Quinn's gift and starts running away, happy that she found the chocolate.

I didn't even have time to say 'no'.

Emily on the hunt. Thankfully, the weather was super warm and sunny, allowing us to enjoy the long weekend even more.

More chocolate for breakfast.

Attempted family pictures.

...it's down here somewhere...

...sunglasses from Tante Nina. Danke!

...next attempt at a family pic...

Quinn playing badminton with Tante Nina.

Unfortunately, I somehow nuked the pics of us playing soccer down the street.

As with many holidays, it is amazing how quickly they come and go...but this Easter was a truly relaxing long weekend with great weather and great family time. It is great to see Quinn's excitement as well as Emily's confusion (what's going on here ?)...both of which make me smile from ear to ear!

Easter 2010

Even though we were on a long vacation a few weeks ago, we were looking forward to the long Easter weekend, which is a 4 day weekend in Germany. Of course, we were looking forward to the time off, but we were also hoping for some good weather: so that we could work in the yard, play ball outside, and hide some eggs...
In kindergarten, the kids made Easter baskets. I love Quinn's smile (which is sort of a squint...).

Of course, we also colored eggs on Good Friday. Quinn's hands were red for the next two days.

The weather forecast said that it would be cold and rainy the whole weekend. While it wasn't exactly warm, it was mostly sunny and only rained in the evenings. We got to spend some time working in the yard - which was very much needed.

Similar to Christmas morning, Quinn is allowed to eat breakfast in his PJ's. Notice his Easter Morning breakfast of a chocolate rabbit. Eva and I paid for this later in the day. Quinn really loves chocolate, but we don't usually have it in the house. His sugar high lasted for hours...

Emily didn't know what chocolate is...but it seemed like she didn't want to miss out on Quinn's fun.

Quinn loves to hold Emily...and her head / neck are almost strong enough to not freak us out when he does hold her...

Since it rained Easter morning, we hid the eggs in the house...

Quinn finally found everything...at least we hope it is everything and don't start getting some odd odors in a few months.

Emily sticking her chocolate bunny in her mouth...Papa will have to take care of this rabbit in the middle of the night soon...

Emily 'found' her rabbit in one of the plants. It might be tough to convince Quinn next year that Emily can find her own stuff (Quinn loved uncovering Emily's stuff).

I was in the mood for a full-on Easter Sunday feast. We picked up a fresh, smoked ham from the butcher and a bunch of fresh veggies at the farmer's market (Gemüsefrau). For our Easter sunday meal, I made a smoked ham with a honey, molasses, bourbon topping with garlic, Bärlauch (sorry, no English translation of Bärlauch...it is just a plant that is 'in season' now that tastes like a refined garlic) mashed potatoes with stuffed, baked zucchini. I started cooking after church, so we were able to have a 3pm meal and not have to hurry with the meal with two tired, hungry kids.

With the leftovers and the bones, I made a pea soup today (with fresh broth, of course...even though my mother in law says you don't need broth in pea soup ;-)

Despite less than perfect weather, we had a great family weekend. We got to do some stuff that we wanted to do (gardening, cooking) and the kids got to play to their heart's content (Quinn and I played tons of soccer).

Quinn even played with the neighbor's kids, who are much older than he is, for a while. They ran, and ran, and ran. Even though the kids were at least 4-6 years older, they did a good job taking care of Quinn and making sure he was having fun. It was a bit of sad for Eva and I to see our little baby boy be able to play without us...but it was also very fun to be able to go back in the house, knowing that the neighbors kids were taking good care of him, and being able to hear him close by.

Thank You Easter Bunny!

After what seemed like a 6 month cold and wet winter, spring finally sprung! Just in time for the long Easter weekend. Both Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays here, so the perfect weather was very much welcomed for our souls.

After seeing the great, blue skies on Friday, we had a quick breakfast and headed outside. Quinn even seemed to be longing for the outdoors: after waking up and seeing the blue skies, his first word was 'draußen' (outside)...which is very abnormal, as his first word each day is either 'essen' (eat) or 'oatmeal'.
Eva found an article in the paper for an event close to home yet close to some good hiking: the village was showing off their 'Easter Fountain'. It is customary that the fountains and wells get decorated for Easter with flowers and eggs.

The ladies of the village were selling their hand painted (real) eggs. Since the insides are blown out (can't imagine how hard that is to do), the eggs make great decorations that last for a long time - depending on how well you keep the eggs from curious 2 year olds.

Their fountain was nice...we've seen better, but the decorations were only hand painted real (hollowed out) eggs, which is somewhat unique, and has a beauty of its own.

The real bonus of the side trip was the cake: the ladies had an unimaginable amount of cake and pie. So, we bought a few eggs and pieces of cake, and we enjoyed the great weather.

We then headed out for our Easter hike on the edge of the Fränkische Schweiz.
Quinn did a fair amount of walking this time...and we let him do his own exploring and walking on logs. We try our best to make the hikes fun for him in the hopes that he'll learn to love hiking as much as we do.

Great spring weather is not complete with out grilling. We had our friends over, grilled, chatted, and tried to tire the kiddos out. I think I was the only one that got tired...

...don't ask me what I was doing...

After almost a year of trying to convince me that I needed to rip up some of my grass to put in a sandbox for Quinn, I finally broke down, and we ordered a sandbox. I was dreading having to put the thing together.
Of course, Quinn wanted to help Papa. He had no idea what we were building or why...

...but after waking up from his nap, he was stoked that it was a sandbox. Getting the final items for the sandbox (e.g. sand) was a bit of a struggle. It is super convenient to go to Obi (Home Depot) since it is only a few hundred meters from our house, but going to Obi on Easter Saturday during great weather to pick up 300kg of Sand is not fun.

The lines were HUGE and Obi was super crowded (the German readers can fully understand the crowds at stores before a long holiday or on the Saturday between holidays), and it is not exactly easy to push around a cart with 300kg of sand in it. Of course, we walked to Obi, so we had to push the cart all the way home.

Seeing the excitement on Quinn's face made all the effort (and sore muscles) worth it.

Finally, the big day: Easter Sunday. Quinn was a bit too young last year to really understand what was going on, but he knew something was up when he saw his Easter basket on the table.

After he opened up the Easter Egg, he went right to opening the chocolate eggs. Ignoring our parental conscious, we let him eat the first chocolate egg, then the second...and third. Quinn was stoked, and seemed to be running on adrenaline (and sugar) most of the morning

He really loved his stuffed duck, which now has to come to bed with him.
Easter Sunday got away from us a little bit. We were at a local biergarten with some friends a lot longer than planned (the kiddos were playing in the biergarten's sandbox), and didn't get home until almost 9pm. So, we had to do our Easter Egg hunt on Easter Monday...
All in all, it was a simply amazing weekend. A nice, long weekend with great weather, family, and friends was much needed for all of us. You don't realize how much the cold, rainy weather wears you down until you have a weekend like we had: warm sun and blue skies.

After tanking up on some sunshine, we headed to work for a short work week. We are entering the very 'worker friendly' time of year in Germany, where we have tons of holidays and long weekends.

Hope every one had a great Easter!

Thank you Easter Bunny!