New Year's 2012 in Bayerwald

Almost two weeks after the fact, I'm finally getting around to posting the pics from the week before New Years.

We decided to have a mini family get together in the Bavarian forest.  While we to go Bayerwald relatively often (it is close to home), we were there last as an extended family 5 years ago (when Eva was super pregnant).

We had snow in the high country.  While it was too wet for sledding, it was perfect for snowball fights.  Quinn had a blast throwing snowballs at people.

Eva invited the family for a round of German bowling (Kegeln).  Both Quinn and Emily LOVE rolling the ball.  For those of you that have never kegeled, it is definitely different than bowling (9 pins with various types of goals / games...and the pins are on strings to let the machine reset the alley).

Like bowling, it is a blast, where one can have fun ... and chat with friends and family.

Eva and I went on a few hikes ... and searched for a few caches.

We had to come back to this one twice.

Of course, even with a great GPS, you don't always know where to go next.

More sledding.  Near our condo, we didn't have enough snow...and it was a bit too wet.  But, at least we tried.  Emily didn't want to get out of the car.

Amazingly enough, we were able to find the cache (at Maria Hilfskirche) in the snow.  Or, better said, Eva found it.

The pic above proves how difficult it is to get a nice pic of your kids where both of them are smiling.

Emily and Kocka.

A few from the Arber's base station (where we found some great sledding trails).

The big event of the trip was, of course, the New Year's gala, where we decided that the kids were old enough for us all to get hussied up and to stay up late enough to enjoy the event.

The kids did great, and I think they even had fun, despite being up late (the event was geared more towards adults than to kids).  The food was excellent, and I loved all the marzipan figures for dessert.

They even had an artist that did black & white silhouettes of people.  I remember the silhouettes that my parents have in their house of my sister and I (when we were kids).  Of course, this sort of thing brings back a fair amount of nostalgia, and fortunately the kiddoes did a great job sitting still for the 10 minutes.

...even Emily.

What can I say:  2011 was a great year for our family.  While it wasn't without its struggles, we would be complaining at a high level if we said otherwise (this is perhaps poorly translated from the Germany saying:  Beschweren auf hohem Niveau).  When we look back at our pictures, blog posts, and memories of 2011, we can only say:  WOW!

While perhaps a bit cliche, we feel truly fortunate to have been able to have had the chance to experience so much with our friends and family in 2011.  We hope that 2012 will bring even more fun, love, and adventure.

Stay tuned!

Fatherhood

On the first of the year, I started a new job.  Without getting into the gory details of why I wanted to leave my previous role, let's just say that I got a bit jaded, which allowed me to have even more realistic work hours.

In other words, I was home for breakfast and dinner basically every day.

In short, my new job is AWESOME, and I'm having a blast.  I haven't had this much fun and positive energy at work in years.  I also have a lot more energy and it is easier to get my butt out of bed at 5am to go running.

I'm also staying at work a lot later.  Since I'm in the office much later, I am adamant about taking the kids into kindergarten in the morning.  Per the collective agreement with the unions, all employees, regardless of grade (with exception of the executive class) have to leave the campus by 8pm.

Needless to say, I'm racing to get off the campus by 8.  I'm home by 820pm.

The kids are normally in bed by 7pm.

Ever since I started, Quinn was awake every night...waiting for me.  We talked a bit, and he fell asleep.

Tonight, as I was opening the door, I felt some resistance...and pushed a bit harder.  There was no sound on the other side...but I carefully opened wider.

Tonight, Emily was not only waiting for me, but she was sitting at the door, waiting for me.

Makes my heart melt with love, and yet gives me pangs of guilt...

Christmas Day Cheer

In the tradition of my family (and many American families), Santa Claus also visited our house sometime in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  

Quinn's Kindergarten has a year long program - Travel through the World - where I was asked to discuss America.  On my trip there a week ago, I talked about the 'typical' American Christmas Traditions ... with which I got to remind Quinn of the traditions (like Santa) that he doesn't hear about in Germany ... and to get him excited about 'my' culture...

Such culturally significant events are much more convincing as 'cool' when there are presents under the tree.

Emily and Quinn unwrapping a few gifts in their custom PJ's from Grandmom and Grandpop (Thanks!).

As was tradition in my family, we let the kids stay in their PJ's as long as they wanted...and they could even eat cookies for breakfast if they wanted.  Thankfully, they have enough Eva in them to have had the sense to eat more than cookies.

Another great facial expression from Emily.

Proof that we even had sunshine.  I think the sun was out today long enough for us to take this picture.  Emily is totally in a Hello Kitty phase...and she loved her Hello Kitty Duplos.

Oma, Opa, and Tanta Nina came down to visit us on Christmas Day.  This was our first Christmas as a family 'by ourselves' at our home, instead of going to one of our parents' places.

Opa seemed super excited about his custom made trail mix (my secret recipe).

Emily packed her Hello Kitty Legos in her backpack.

Emily was super excited about something...

Of course, there were tons of games...lots of playing.  Both Emily and Quinn seemed to have had a great time...and played well together.  With both kids getting older, it is very exciting for me as a parent to see their excitement ... and the anticipation in their eyes.

I also find it difficult to not be 'a parent' during Christmas:  the kids were totally wired, tired, and full of sugar.  While they were at times difficult, I think this was (is) completely normal.  Christmas is cool...there are presents to unwrap, we get to eat more sweets than normal, we have 'fancier' food for dinner, there is more talking on the phone with relatives and friends, there are more vists from family and friends than normal...and more 'Mama and Papa' time.  

I think we (our collective group of family and friends) were able to make Christmas truly fun for our kids - a truly special event.

It is now our challenge as a collective group to take this planted seed and help Emily and Quinn - over the years - understand the true meaning(s) of Christmas.

...Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Goodnight!

Christmas Eve Cheer

Merry Christmas!  I hope that all of you have had a great Christmas so far...and have been able to spend time with your friends and family!

As you can imagine, the pic above was not taken on Christmas Eve, but a few days prior:  Emily's first haircut.  I didn't take too much off...

Emily and Quinn wanted to paint a few pictures to give as gifts.  They both especially love doing their hands and feet.

For dinner, we had a smoked, honey baked ham (I did the honey / molasses coating).  We go the ham from a new butcher a few blocks from our house...and we were very happy with how it turned out.  I think I had well over a pound of ham that night!

Ok...not really easy with two small kids, but we tried to take a few family pics before all the excitement.

After lunch (the ham, mashed potatoes, and veggies), we headed to church...

...and after Church (German Tradition)...the Christkind had visited and left some gifts under the tree for the kiddoes to unwrap.

We were very happy that we had our big meal before church...because we would have never been able to convince the kids to eat dinner after they opened their gifts.

Emily and Quinn playing with a wooden 'necklace' making set.  This is a prime example how you sometimes just need to snap pics.

I really like how the kids are doing basically the same thing, albeit independent...and are very concentrated in their playing.

Especially now that Emily is older ... she seems just seems so much more photogenic now.  She has some great facial expresions (like the Party Grrl look I've posted previously).  Yes, I also have to admit, she has me (mostly) wrapped around her finger ;-)

After the kids finally powered out, Eva and I unwrapped a few gifts, and we watched the George C. Scott version of 'A Christmas Carol' ... like I had done so many times before, as a child, at home.  Christmas Eve is just a bit more perfect with this movie at the end.

Christmas Day pics will be posted tomorrow.  Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

World Famous Christmas Market

About two weekends ago, we headed to one of the most famous Christmas Market ...which thankfully had a whole section (away from the masses of tourists) for kids.

We decided to get there when the place opened...so that it would be a bit less crowded.

Of course, there were rides for the kids...and they had a blast riding!

Quinn tried a few rides...but Emily liked the carousel.

When the kids saw and smelled the sausages, they were, of course, immediately hungry.  They did smell great, but it was 10:30 in the morning.

We had absolutely perfect weather for the market...cold, but sunny weather.  We climbed up to the fortress and took in the views of the city.

This might be one of Emily's last time in the hiking backpack...she is really starting to get heavy!

Decorating the Tree

A few weeks ago, we bought our tree - early by German standards, and we then decorated the whole thing.

Both kids are now old enough to take care of the ornaments...and we actually put up our nativity scene as well.

I got to help the kids hang the ornaments on the top of the tree (for them, of course, the top of the tree is much more exciting than the parts of the tree that they can actually reach).

Another Emily Party Grrrl look.

For the first time, we have an ornament for the top of the tree.

I love how Quinn looks in turtlenecks.

In the evening, we watched a video from my childhood:  Frosty the Snowman.  I tried to explain how I only got to watch it once, since it was on TV...there were no DVD's back then (I didn't even try to explain VCR's...we didn't have one then either).  This was the first year that Quinn could actually sit through the whole thing...and he cried when Frosty melted.

I loved that video...and later that week, we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer...another Christmas classic.