Pre Easter Activities

Two days ago, we headed to a nearby forest to go on one of the published nature walks with friends of ours, who also have two kids about the ages of Quinn and Emily.

The hike itself was relatively non-eventful, but was nice in that the kids actually walked and entertained themselves with nature, letting the adults chat a bit ;-)

 Afterwards, we colored Easter Eggs, and then I took Quinn out to play soccer.  While the picture is relatively far away, one may see the relatively large spread of ages playing - from Quinn (being the youngest) to a few teenagers.

 When we were watching the boys play (we were kicking the ball at the neighboring basketball court), it was obvious that Quinn wanted to play...but he didn't dare ask, so I just asked him, he smiled huge, then ran out to the field.
Despite being a vary diverse (both age, culture, and language), all the kids were very well behaved, and they really took care of the younger kids -> helping them learn the game and encouraging them when they did good things.  It really made me feel like I belonged to a community.  

Quinn must have ran a marathon during the game, and he had a blast.  Once we got home, he asked when he could play with the 'big boys' again.  Before too much longer, Quinn will be one of those big boys, and he will bolt to play soccer right after breakfast.  As long as he has fun and treats the other players like he was treated today, I couldn't think of a better thing for a kid to do.

Happy Easter 2013

Normally, I do not like to post out of chronological order, since today is Easter, I thought I'd make an exception.

 As always, Quinn was up at the crack of sunlight to let us know that the Easter Bunny had come.  We have the rule that the kids cannot go into the living room until we wake up ... so Quinn was great, and he stayed out of the living room...but he shared his excitement with us in our bedroom.

 Quinn thought it was time to get up because it was already past 7am, but since we moved the clocks forward today, it was just way too early.  We tried in vain to get him to go back to sleep (I was the same as a kid).

 Unfortunately, the weather was way too cold to do the easter egg hunt outside, so we brushed off our standard hiding places...and had a blast looking for eggs and chocolate.

 Now I'm off to 'air out' the kids before preparing our Easter Ham, which I picked up from the butcher yesterday.

Happy Easter!

Pre Easter Festivities

Last weekend, suffering through yet another week of really cold, wet weather, we decided to head to a children's museum in an effort to have some fun, get the kids out of the house, and to stay out of the cold.

We weren't the only ones with this idea...the place was packed.

The museum had a very cool exhibit on chickens, and they actually had live chicks that you could hold.  Quinn actually wanted to go back and hold the chick a while longer, and he was very sad when we had to move on.

 There was a pretty cool playground in the area...with a very steep (fast) slide, but it was just too cold to stay out there too long.

Hopefully, Spring will come soon!

Greetings from the Schnullerfee

Shortly after coming back from vacation, Emily (finally) decided that she didn't need her pacifiers anymore.  On one hand, we didn't want to push this step, as she only used them for sleeping, but on the other hand, it was time, as she's getting mighty close to 4.

With Quinn, Eva and I invented the 'Schnullerfee' (literally translated 'Pacifier Fairy') to help encourage Quinn to give up his pacifiers.  Like the Tooth Fairy does with kid's fallen out baby teeth, the Schnullerfee comes to the house and takes the remaining pacifiers and leaves something in return.

 With Quinn, the Schnullerfee left a bike (used, which we got from one of the neighbor's kids, which was a bit interesting when the neighbor saw their old bike, but he was old enough to play along).

So, in an attempt to be fair, Eva found a used bike for Emily, which we had stored in our basement for what seemed like forever, waiting for Emily to decide that it was time for the Schnullerfee.  Not really knowing what the impetus was, Emily decided that it was time, and she packed up her remaining pacifier in a handmade Easter basket for the Schnullerfee.  The rest is history.

Emily's First Bike Ride

While it has already been two weeks since we came back from our 3 week vacation in Florida, due to catching up with 'the real world' as well as some computer issues, I'm a bit limited with blog posts, basically being handicapped or limited to those pictures or videos on my Galaxy Note II.  More content will follow

Just a short video of Emily on her 'Schnullerfee' bike, which the Schnullerfee (Pacifier Fairy) brought when she came and took the rest of Emily's pacifiers.  The bike was used that we got from a flea market...but Emily was so happy when she woke up and saw it in her room, that she didn't notice the scratches.

Please note that I have set this video as 'Private' on YouTube, with only a short list of people who can see this (you got an email or will be able to access).  I hope you understand my locking down these sorts of videos a bit more.

Valentine's Day Romance

What is more romantic on Valentine's Day than dinner for 2 (+2) at THE restaurant (McDonald's).

Yes, we stooped to new levels and celebrated Valentine's day at McDonalds. All kidding aside, it wasn't really planned that way, but Eva and the kids celebrated the 40th birthday of a friend of ours (and hence had the car) and offered to pick me up from the office, saving me the train ride.

The kids were hungry, as it was getting late, so we decided to spoil (the kids) and go to their favorite restaurant. And, while Mickey D's gets such a bad rep, I actually like their food (on the fast food scale). I'd gain 100 pounds if I ate their often...

 The kids really like McDonalds...and with the great marketing, they'll love McDonald's the rest of their lives..

...the kids helping me repaint Quinn's room...

Business Trip to Central America

Not that I want to give the impression that business trips are just company paid vacations, I do wish to share a few pics -> all either in the morning while I was running or taken on the weekend -> of my recent business trip to Mexico City and San Jose, Costa Rica.

While Mexico City gets a bad rap due to the crime and poverty in the city, there are some amazing buildings and churches to look at.  Some of the areas like Zocalo and Reforma are really nice pedestrian areas, loaded with police to keep the areas safe, and the tourist money flowing.

The highlight was the trip to the pyramids in Teotihuacan. 

Of course, a trip to Costa Rica bring back many warm memories of the trip that Eva and I took there in 2004 (?)...back in the day before kiddoes.  I was only there for about 48 hours, and was mostly in the office or at customers, but it was a great revisit nonetheless.

P.S.  More comments in the picture captions.  For those of you that are jealous of such great trips, I averaged about 5 hours of sleep during my 8 day trip...with a lot fewer 'business dinners' than one may expect.

Museum of Industry

As another great example of science oriented family fun, I took the kiddoes to the Museum of Industry a few weeks ago.  The weather was cold and crappy...so a great day for a kids museum.

They had some cool hands on experiements, like the can phone as well as a huge barrel with a membrane on one side (and open on the other) with a flag on the other end of the room, so kids could see how a drum moves air.

 Very cool for Papas as well.

They had a special exhibit called Mathland, where there were all sorts of hands on math exercises for all ages, ranging from easy to hard.

As a bonus for the adults, they had a huge bicycle and motorcycle exhibit, where I said 'Don't touch' about a 1000 times.

The extra bonus was in the basement, where they had various miniatures, a real US Army jeep, as well as a working printing press, with various presses through the ages.  They had two people setting type, explaining to the kids how the whole thing worked.

Unfortunately, the kids wanted to leave this part of the museum before I did.  Perhaps I'll go there again sometime without the kids.

Reverse Culture Shock

Despite the years in Germany, I can still recognize when things are just a bit different than the States. A prime example - which we will get to re-experience in person in Florida - is the 'family friendless' of Germany.

Of course, Florida is about as family friendly as it gets...but I mean in a slightly different way: the ability for families to bring food and drinks. While this may be a small item, and maybe I'm just cheap, but we bring our Camelback with food, drinks, and clothes EVERYWHERE we go. That is just what we do.

First of all, it saves money. Equally important is that it allows us to have tighter control over what we eat: water bottles (with water in it), sliced fruit, raisins, and of course a few cookies and gummi bears.

As we looked into the plethora of activities in Florida, it was strictly prohibited virtually everywhere we looked to bring in your food and water. More on that later.

On a slightly different note, I love this pic of Emily in her fairy wings and her stuffed animal -> she is such a girl.

 Quinn acting cool with Emily at Playmobil fun park is also a keeper.

Hiking and Caching on Staffelberg

Two weeks ago, we headed to Bad Staffelstein to check out a factory store for some furniture we were thinking about getting for Quinn.  He's about to outgrow his kiddie furniture, and with him about to go to school, he needs a bit more room for a desk.

So, we decided to wrap a hike and some caching around the 1+ hour car trip.

The furniture part was ok...(how much fun can furniture shopping be), but we at least made a decision.

The hike to Staffelberg was very cool.  It is sort of like Walberla, but bigger...and the hike was longer.  It was cold, but the temperature was OK in the sun.  I took a wrong turn during the hike, which lead us down a muddy path.  At the end of the hike, we found the cache, which was hidden in a very cool rock formation.

Of course, in true German fashion, there was a biergarten at the top (not far from the church).  It was too cold for beer (or sitting outside), but the kids decided they wanted ice cream anyway.

That turned out to be a bad decision...since the sun was now on the other side of Staffelberg, we had to hike down in the cold, windy shade.  The kids tried their best, but they were too cold for ice cream.

Quinn's chocolate ice cream actually froze to his face (if he could only eat ice cream without getting it all over his face)...

Despite the cold, we had a great time, and we got to see another great, hidden corner of Germany.

Janus

Janus, the ancient Roman god of beginnings and transitions.  In modern times, known as the god of the chaotic holiday season.

 Even though we stayed home again for Christmas Day, we still had our fair share of chaos, stress, and, of course, fun.  This year, both kids were super excited about the thought of getting gifts (last year, Emily really didn't understand what was going on).

 While I try not to post pics of gifts, I had to post two:  one of Quinn with his Lego box (he literally jumped out of his socks with excitement) and Emily with me and her Playmobil box (the directions said it would take 90 minutes to put together...I needed over two hours (with 'help') and I was afraid the authorities would take away my engineering license).  In addition, Quinn is posing with a green sweater that his cousin Lea hand knit for him!

 Like last year, we also headed to the Bavarian Forest, where we met up with Eva's parents and sister for a week of fun in nature.  The weather wasn't as snowy as we would have liked, but we got to go on some hikes and get tons of fresh air.  We also went bowling (kegeln) on Eva's birthday and could go sledding as well.

 One of our hikes to the Großer Arbersee was a bit of an adventure, as the snow was so deep with snow that we really had to tredge through the mess.  The panarama is also of the Großer Arbersee.

That was really deep snow...Emily got a great, free ride.

 Of course, a trip to Cafe Sahneberg is mandatory.

  On our hike to the Kötztinger Hütte (which has a very classic German mountain lodge, with a warm wood burning stove, hot soup, meat dishes, and cold beer, packed with hikers) was a bit of an adventure on the way down:  it was super steep and icy and I was a bit worried about Emily slipping.  I was really struggling to help her.  So, despite Eva's initial objections, I sat down on the snow/ice pack, put Emily on my lap, and sled down the hill on my butt.  

 Emily had a blast!

 The important part is the time together.  Sounds rather cliche, but in the fast times where there is never enough time and where I'm getting home later from work (the 30 minute commute also doesn't help), this intense family time is great, albeit stressful and challenging as well.

Now...what are those New Year's Resolutions again?

 ...and Quinn lost his first tooth.  He was SOOOOOO excited that he finally lost a tooth (he was the last kid in Kindergarten who will go to school next year that hadn't lost a tooth).  The next day, when the tooth fairy arrived, he was walking 6' tall...like a big boy.