Day Care

Today was Emily's first day in day care. She was there for about 2.5 hours and did great! During the 'getting to know you' period, Eva stays in the area, so that Emily doesn't think that we're leaving her. As with Quinn, she was totally interested in all of the new toys, sandbox, and, of course, the new food.

We went together to day care...sort of. Since Eva had an operation on her hand (more on that later), she had to walk. I wanted to give her a head start...and Quinn was MAD that I was piddling. He ABSOLUTELY wanted to help out Eva...and show Emily his old day care (which is next to his kindergarten). I've never seen him ride his bike so fast.

Quinn went into his old day care...a bit shy, but still the huge big brother. He gave Emily a huge wet kiss, and then we went to kindergarten.

As mentioned earlier, Eva had surgery on her hand on Tuesday. She's had problems with it for a while and finally decided to get it worked on. Thankfully, things seem to be ok and healing well.

As one can imagine, being with 2 kids without the use of your right hand is a bit difficult...so I got to convince my boss to let me work from home during the mornings this week so that I could help out. Thankfully he obliged with my request.

...and since you don't look at this blog for my ramblings...here are a few random pics from the last few weeks.

Last weekend, we went to a 'festival' or harvest from an organic farmer. There were tons of things to look at (including the pigs and a ride on the tractor to the veggies) ... and to buy. Quinn even got to bake some bread.

At the playground...

...on a hike...

...eating corn on the cob (that we grew in our garden)....

...Papa eating with a bit more enthusiasm. Boy, it was SUPER tasty... Quinn feeding Emily.

Payback

About 23 years ago, I was filling up our dog's water dish and completing my chores. I was in a bit of a hurry, because after completing my chores, I could play at my friends house. So, I did was seemed to be completely normal. Back then, there wasn't even a word for what I did, but now, the word is commonplace: I multitasked. While the dog's dish was filling up with water via the spigot outside our house, I took a leak.

Actually completing the chores and then going back inside to go to the bathroom would cost me maybe 68 seconds. But, the urge to save every second was more important.

My dad caught me...and boy was he pissed (pun intended). To this day the ass chewing that I got is as vivid now as then.

*** Fast forward 23 years ***

Quinn and I are working / playing in the garden. I lose sight of him for a few minutes, but later see him on the porch, pulling up his pants. Since he tends to take his pants and underwear off when he pees, I didn't think any anything about it.

When Eva comes home from jogging, she asks Quinn why there is a puddle near our raspberries.

Then it all becomes clearer: he peed on the raspberries in our yard. Why, we ask? He wanted to not lose time playing.

Paybacks are hell. I was pretty harsh on him...but I had to keep back a small smile...knowing that I did the same thing.

I'm guessing that this is not the last time that something like this will happen.

Nookie

A few days ago, after getting back from a mountain bike ride, I was drying off after my shower, and I had the following conversation with Quinn:

Quinn: I wanted nookie, but Mama said NO! (for the German readers, 'nookie' is a very slang term for sex).
Papa: (Quinn having my immediate attention): What?!?

Quinn: (slightly louder now): I WANTED NOOKIE, BUT MAMA SAID NO!
Papa: You wanted nookie?
Quinn: Yes
Papa: And Mama said no?
Quinn: Yes. She said we had to use lasagna.
Papa: Hmmm. Can you show me.

Quinn proceeds very quick and with a step of self confidence to the kitchen, probably in the hopes that I'll give him some nookie. He opens one of the shelves and points at the very top shelf.

Quinn: There. Nookie. But Mama said no.
Papa: Oh! Gnocci! Quinn, that is called Gnocci (overpronouncing the G). You wanted Gnocci, but Mama said we were having lasagna.
Quinn: Yes.

Disaster averted. I was beginning to worry that Quinn might have heard that word from me (this is the danger being basically his only source of English. Any 'bad' words can only stem from me).

Eva and I smiled ... all night long. It is great when our son can bring such joy to our lives

My Little Girl is a Texan

The signs are obvious: she loved my black bean soup ... and loved the scrambled eggs with catsup (sans tobasco).

Eva left on Wednesday night for her annual 'girls weekend' - a much deserved 'time off' from husband and kiddoes. This time, she jet set to Paris to a friend of hers that lives there. So far, the first 30 hours have been a blast, but it is also obvious to me that I'd be a horrible house dad. Not that the house isn't in order (it is) or not that I didn't get the errands done (I did), but:
1) I forgot that children are not supposed to eat eggs until their first birthday (remembering this after the 5th spoonful of eggs...and Emily was so happy about the eggs, there was no going back).
2) I'd eat Döner Kepab every day (like today) and weigh 200 lbs in a few months
3) I'd spend tons of money. We went to IKEA today to get Quinn a new rug...and poof: 100EUR were gone after I got other 'small crap' in addition to the rug. Not to mention the 8 EUR for breakfast (which is really good at IKEA. And, they have something unique in Germany: free refills!!!!!)

I did have a blast with the kids today. Like the last girls' weekends, it has been a blast, but a bit tiring. I just hope the weather is good tomorrow so we can go to the pool!

More from Vacation

First, please let me be clear: we were not on vacation again. When Eva was at her hometown last week, she met with Babsi and Marc...and got the pics that Marc took during our long weekend together in Ostfriesland.
Quinn and Emma spent hours running and jumping into the baby pool. My knees hurt thinking about how Quinn would run full on into the pool and land on his knees, sliding to the end of the pool.

Emma wasn't impressed.

Emily in her pirate look.

Mother and daugher.

The house had a restored windmill (which was an actual mill) and a lake on the property. Babsi and Susi with Quinn and Emma on a short paddleboat trip.

The girls: Babsi, Susi, and Eva...who have been friends since grade school...with Emma and Emily.

A few soccer action shots.

Marc and Moritz got a slip and slide...which Quinn loved.

Of course, a Slip 'n Slide brought back tons of childhood memories...but I don't remember it hurting so bad sliding head first.

We even convinced Eva to get into the action.

...and Familie Spittler...

I'm trying to get the potatoes out of Quinn's ears...so that he'll listen better.

...and now the attempted family pics.

Us with the windmill in the background.

Emily and her happy face ;-)

Eva is not a fan of guns or anything that looks like guns...but looked the other way when the older boys brought back a water gun with the slip 'n slide. Quinn loved shooting that thing (of course). Can't wait to do water balloons with him next year.

Quinn was petrified of Mocca the first day or two, but by the time we left, Quinn couldn't keep his hands off of Mocca...

Cultural Differences

Sometimes, people ask me about the differences between the US and Germany. I've been here long enough that very little really catches my attention, because many of the 'differences' are normal now.
But, on my way home from work one day (on my bike), this ad caught my eye. I'm not too sure you'd see this sort of ad in the US...

Outside of the obvious connection to the Bryan Adams song, anything else pops into your mind when you see this ad ? ;-)

Weddings and Visits

With Kindergarten being closed for 3 weeks, Eva decided to take the kids back to her hometown for a week for a bit of a change of pace for everyone andto get a chance to visit her friends and family. Since Eva will be going back to work soon, this will probably be the last time that she gets to make such a trip (without taking vacation)...and probably the last time that I'll get a whole week to myself...
Of course, Kocka (and Katja) visited a few times...and a few games of 'Hoch und Runter' (Up and Down) were in order. It doesn't seem to bother Quinn that he's getting a bit big to thrown up in the air...but it is getting a bit more challenging for Kocka.

Quinn loving his little sis...

Kocka teaching Quinn some of the finer things in life...

Quinn on Tante Nina's police car.

The fam and Tante Nina went to a super cool zoo in Gelsenkirchen. Sounded like a great time. Of course, Quinn got to eat some ice cream.

With the seals. Quinn said that they smelled bad.

A great playground pic.

Slightly out of chronological order: the Saturday before Eva went to her hometown, friends of ours, Markus and Isa, got married...and we got to enjoy the whole wedding and reception - almost 12 whole hours - without our children (Eva's mom came for a short visit ... which allowed us to go to the wedding alone.) It was kinda odd not having to say 'no' for 12 hours.

Hamburgers Visit

I know...it was a cheesy attempt at humor, but last weekend, our friends from Hamburg - Mirja and Thomas - visited us for the weekend.
While the weather wasn't perfect, we made the best of it...and started out Saturday morning with trip to the wild pigs.

Quinn rode his bike...and I was racing behind him (notice how his feet are not on the pedals).

Emily is in full crawling mode now - especially on grass where she can get more traction.

Mirja and I soaking up the sun while the kids were playing on the playground.

Emily in full smile. She's got 6 teeth now.

There is something totally artsy about this pic that I really can't put my fingers on...but I love this pic of Quinn and his chalkline.

Emily even hopped on her Bobby car for a short ride (her legs are about 3cm too short to be able to scoot it around herself...)

The kids had a good time (despite some issues getting to bed at night), and we had a great time with our good friends Mirja and Thomas.

(P.S. Mirja was a roommate of mine in Atlanta for a few months and introduced me to Eva, and we've had some great times together: PCB, Currywurst in German class, TazoBerry at Starbucks, Grilling, Stone Mountain, Highly Busy, riding in Spyder Convertibles, etc, etc...)

Sommerfest 2010

As summer finally came to Germany, so came our yearly Sommerfest. This year's version included over 20 adults and (the challenge / fun of) 8 kiddoes.
Tante Nina, Kocka, and Katja even joined us from Ruhrpott...and thankfully, we had great weather to go with our visitors.

Emily is getting used to the fact that we have events with lots of folks over. Since we have a few friends that are bilingual families, we also had a colorful mixtures of languages.

Steinbachbräu Storchenbier was also on tap. This year, we got a 30 liter and 15 liter keg - an old fashioned oak keg. I spilled less on myself this year while tapping the keg.

We also had our babysitter over ... and she did a great job creating some activites for the kids. While she had her hands full, all the kids had a blast, and there were virtually no screaming kids. I had to remember one of my favorite activites as a child in elementary school when our babysitter brought out a 'parachute' and let the kids bounce balls with the 'chute.

All the kids got medals for their mini 'competition'.

We all ate and drank well...and most importantly, we had a great time together!

...and I even got to roughhouse a bit with the kids...

Let's Go Ride a Bike...III

Last week and again today, Quinn hit another milestone with his bike: last Tuesday, he rode all the way to kindergarten on his bike. I was running a bit late for work and hadn't put on my suit yet. When Quinn asked to ride his bike to kindergarten, I looked at my watch, looked at his smiling face...and put on shorts and a t-shirt and ran with him to kindergarten, while he rode his bike.

He did a great job braking, and other than needing some start help, he didn't really need my help...running by his side.

Today, he rode to the Gemüsefrau (where we get our fresh veggies) with Eva and Emily. No need for Papa to run by his side anymore, making sure he doesn't fall down.

O Canada

A short photocollage with the kids wearing their Canadian shirts...

...Emily working on smiling...and Quinn not being amused by the activity.

...better...

...now Quinn is playing along...

Mama quits the exercise...this is as good as it is going to get. Thanks Jo for the Canadian gear!