Emily turns 2

It is hard to believe that our little girl is now 2 years old. Our little Emily is no longer a little baby.

She is definitely developing into her own person...that we are learning to handle as a separate person.

She now understands the concept that presents are to be unwrapped. She no longer needs Quinn's help unwrapping her gifts.

Quinn is bummed by the development, but even on Emily's birthday, he got a few gifts to unwrap.

Blowing out the candles is still a highlight!

I absolutely love her face in this picture! Fast forward about 16 years, and this is the face of a party grrrl.

Emily on her first laufrad (walking bike...basically a small bike without pedals, which helps kiddoes learn to balance on a bike-like device).

Of course, there is cake and coffee in the afternoon.

Emily is, well, a girl. She loves wearing skirts (even though they are rather unpractical for her level of activity), and REALLY loves Hello Kitty. She also loved the hair accessories...she just needs more hair.

I still comb her hair and try to give her a pony tail (Pferdeschwanz). She loves them so much, that she can't keep her hands off of it...which causes it to unwind and fall apart.

The joy of a birthday!

Getting ready for being a school kid ... with her own backpack!

...let's go ride a bike.

Emily also hit another milestone two days ago: she peed (and pooped) in her training toilet! Yeah!

Now, the gross time comes when we have to clean out that thing after each use :-( But, we're one step closer to getting Emily out of diapers.

Vater Kind Zelten

After quite a bit of dreaming and planning, the time was finally here: the Father / Child Camping weekend. Four fathers and sons from Quinn's kindergarten went together to the Fränkische Schweiz near Pottenstein for 2 nights of nature, fun, fire, and camping!

I had some T-Shirts made up for the event, which we wore the whole weekend (and they were pretty dirty after all was said and done).

Emily wanted to get in the action. I'm hoping she can join us next year. As we drove away, she cried like a stuck pig. Man, she was mad that we left without her.

Each of the fathers had some pretty decent equipment, so we were set with the basics ... as well as some luxury items. P.S. the American Flag chairs were not mine...odd seing one of the German fathers unpacking those chairs.

We went on two night hikes with torches. Boys - big and small - love fire.

The view from our tents.

Another great view from our tents. As you can imagine, it took about 5 minutes for the first soccer ball to land in the water.

On Saturday morning, we headed to a nearby ropes course (Kletterwald).

The four boys with their gear.

Quinn on the zip line. All in all, he did a great job, and he showed his climbing capabilities...he just needs to be a few inches taller in order to be able to clip and out himself. But, the fathers were around to help.

Quinn ran around with the camera taking pictures. I still find it amazing what he takes pics of ... somewhat defining what he sees as being important.

In the pic below, I doubt he was trying to take as self portrait...and frankly, I don't know what he was doing. Perhaps he wanted to see what the camera did from the other end when it took pics.

A view of the campground with the sunny skies. While the mornings were cool, we had great, hot, sunny weather.

The boys even had quiet time near the campfire...reading a new book together.

Of course, Eva tried to make sure that Emily had a good time while we were gone...by taking a trip to feed the pigs.

Emily has some great facial features these days...and our little girl isn't so little anymore.

Quinn, I, the other fathers and kids had a great weekend. We kinda spoiled them, but we also spent some great quality AND quantity with our sons. Hopefully, Quinn will begin to love the mountains and nature as much as Eva and I do.

Perhaps he'll always have a soft spot in his heart for camping (as I do).

As a small sidenote: I brought a pillow this time. The last few times I went camping, my neck was killing me the next day. Eva's comment: you're getting old ;-)

The Grandparents Visit: time to spoil the kids

Each year, working families across Germany scurry to find ways to take care of the kids during summer vacation. The answer for most: Grandparents. We were no exception, with my folks coming in to help out for 2 of the 3 weeks that kindergarden / day care was closed.

We have it relatively easy as Kindergarten and day care is only closed for 4 weeks throughout the year (between Christmas and New Year for a week plus a 3 week summer break). Working families with school aged kids have it tougher: a 6 week summer vacation plus 4+ weeks during the school year.

If you can figure out why Emily likes wearing Quinn's helmet backwards, please let us know.

Quinn still likes getting pulled.

We tired the kiddo out so bad that he really didn't wake up after we parked the car in the garage. I took him out of his carseat, and I sat him down next to the tree.

A super cool geocache near Nürnberg that we found while taking a field trip on Brombachsee with my mom.

The boys went to a soccer game. We had actually planned to go to a baseball game, but the game got postponed to another city at the last minute.

Geocaching with Emily in Rothenburg ob der Tauber while my mom is checking out the Christmas shops and my dad is in the Museum of Medieval Criminology.

Quinn helping my dad open his birthday gifts.

A great pic of my mom in Fränkische Schweiz.

In general, the weather was super crappy while my folks were here, but we did have a few good Biergarten days, where we could eat outside and enjoy the casual atmosphere of a Biergarten.

Like I said, the weather was kinda poor...never thought we'd have to put on the long rain pants and rain jackets in August.

Tree climbing.

What kid doesn't love splashing in puddles.

A great shot of my mom and Quinn picking flowers near our house.

There was lots of spoiling going on.

Quinn on the zip line.

...and my mom tried it as well...

Here's the ship that took us around Brombachsee. It rained the whole time :-(

After the ship docked, the sun (thankfully) peeked its head out a bit...and we went on a hike and did some caching.

Father and son wondering why the weather is so bad.

It is really hard to summarize how great it was to have my parents here for almost 3 weeks. The kids are at a great age: Quinn already remembers other visits with his Grandparents from America, and Emily is now old enough to realize that my parents are not some sort of TV show (we do a lot of videoconferencing via Google Chat).

For my parents, it was probably challenging, and they were as tired as the kids when the day was over. But, as with most grandparents, when it starts getting tough, they can always go out for ice cream and spoil the kids. I also think it is interesting for my parents to see Eva and I work through the challenges of parenting, which brings them back to the days when they were our age, raising my sister and I.

For me (and Eva), my parents were a huge help, and it was a pleasure to have them around. Time with parents is wonderful...as it gives a different perspective and a chance to see things in a different light.

Most importantly, it is important for the kids. I never realized until I had kids how important Grandparents are. Since I am the only chance for my kids to get English (Eva and I chose the OPOL - One Parent One Language - methodology for raising kids bilingual) - and Quinn KNOWS that I understand German - it is extremely important for their language development to have another person that speaks that 'other' language. Quinn was forced to speak English with my parents if he wanted something. That provided the positive momentum and confidence he needed...and he is now speaking significantly more English with me.

The kids had a blast with their Grandparents. They got to spend a lot of QUALITY and QUANTITY time with them. And, this is one of the greatest gifts a loved one can give to a child (other than love): TIME.