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...
While the weather last weekend wasn't perfect, it was still dry, and we took off on a hike in the area. Quinn loved the scenery so much that he took a nap.
After our hike, there was a pumpkin festival nearby. Being October, we had to check it out.
As 'luck' would have it, Eva and I had exactly 5 EUR cash in our pockets...just enought to buy a few Bratwurst for us to snack on. There were no ATM's (Geldautomat) in the small village. No cash = no pumpkins :-(
The weather was pretty crappy this whole weekend, but around 1pm today, the clouds broke free and we dropped everything to head out on a hike to enjoy the great fall weather.
With all of the leaves changing, Eva had some great chances to use her good camera to capture the scenery.
At first, Quinn never really like ball caps...now he only wears them backwards. Don't know where or from whom he picked that one up.
I could have sat at this overlook for hours enjoying the scenery, weather, and my family.
Our attempt at a family pic. Not a particularly flattering pic of me.
There were tons of little rocks along the path...with Quinn tried to pick up and throw.
The last pic of me with my shades. Shortly after this pic, Quinn took off my hat and shades. Somehow, I didn't see or hear the shades hitting the ground. Now they are lost forever. Another reason to never buy expensives shades.
We were planning on a group hike on Friday, but had to cut it a bit short due to the snow. Many of the friends and family arrived on Thursday, so it gave us more time to get to know each other before the wedding.
...but at almost 12,000 feet, I'm breathing a bit harder.
We brought a bit of our German wedding traditions with us, and we gave BW and Melissa 'hearts': each guest got to paint their own heart in a square for BW and Melissa to hang in their new home to remember their wedding day. Thanks tons to Scup and his girlfriend Steph (pictured below) who did most all of the work gather canvasses and paints.
On Sunday, since I had a late flight, I headed to Denver to meet up with some of the other guys: Justin, Hunter, CY, Krier, and Darin....with of course the spouses and children. It was great to take the few hours to catch up with everyone and was unfortunate that I had to go and catch my flight.
