Still Here!

Yes, we are still here. I am embarrassed that I haven't written since July! My main excuse (I can make up a few others) is that I lost my camera and video camera when we were visiting the States. I did buy a new one but it is not as simple to upload as the old one. So I decided just to write something and figure out the video later. So here is a short update from July till now.

July - Max and I spent a week in Atlanta visiting friends. Big thanks to the Foxs, the Natals, and the Whiteheads for housing us. Max had a blast with his best bud Owen. He also really enjoyed getting to see old friends, especially his teachers, Amy and Brianna. He got to spend 2 afternoons with them including a trip to the aquarium. I thought he would burst with joy! After Atlanta, we spent 3 weeks in Alabama with my family between Huntsville and the lake house. I took a 2 day trip to Texas to work with the company who is doing prototypes for my lounge wear. I think it was very productive (although this is where I lost the cameras)and I am expecting new prototypes in the mail in the next week. Max's cousin Campbell stayed with Mom and I for a week so Max got his cousin all to himself for a week. A group of dear friends from my old Booz Allen days came over to the lake house for a weekend while Mom kept Max so I got in a girls weekend too! Max was a fantastic traveler and was the vision of a corporate traveler when we got unexpectedly upgraded to first class on our trip home. His favorite thing was the little toiletry kit. He looked through it a million times and planned out to whom he was going to give each thing. Stephan got the socks (which Max insisted on carrying off the plane in his hand to give immediately to Stephan).

Back in Mainz in August, Max started going to kindergarten full time and I started teaching a financial English course on Tues and taking German lessons again Mon,Weds,Fri. We have worked in a few trips as well. We spent a long weekend in Nurenburg where we checked out the city - it has a great castle up on a hill, little canals and a really cool toy museum - and took max to Playmobil World. Playmobil World is a park with life sized Playmobil toys. There was an awesome life-sized pirate ship and knights' castle, a little river where the kids could play, tons of slides and areas to play with actual toys. One night we went to the city fair. max rode a couple of the kiddie rides and we had some super healthy fair food. At the very end of the night Max decided he wanted to ride the ferris wheel. It was a huge one so we didn't think he would really do it. He did and loved it. I on the other hand was a little nervous the first few times around!

We took a trip to Hamburg for our Brother-in-law's (Norbert) 40th birthday celebration. They set up a tent in the yard and had a roasted pig with sauerkraut. Stephan and I were in heaven. There were also about 15 neighborhood kids there in addition to Max's cousins so max enjoyed his visit as well.

We had a visit from Stephan's Dad and Stepmom where we ate a lot of great dinners, checked out a wildpark (a small zoo with local animals) in Worms and explored a bit more of Mainz. Luckily they were here when I cam down with strep throat so they could help out with Max. I was in bed with fever for 2 days and weak for most of a week. Why didn't I get my tonsils taken out when I was a kid???

Now Stephan's mom and stepdad are visiting. We checked out a Sensory Museum in Wiesbaden where there are lots of activities that play with your senses (looking at things that change as you look at them, bowls that you rub and create sounds, smelling stations where you try to guess what it is, etc,.) I'll have to write more on that later since it is hard to explain but I love the concept and wish we had something like this in the States. We visited a sensory playground in Nuremburg too that was really interesting. There was an area where we ground flour, made bread and then baked it. There was an area with rock carving tools where you could carve something. The thing that Max loved the most was a long jump station that showed how far different animals could jump so you could compare with your own jump. Max was a mouse, I was a squirrel and Stephan was a fox.

Yesterday we had brunch (note this went from 12:30 till about 5 - Germans love a good Sunday brunch!) with some of Stephan's great aunt and her family in a town just outside of Mainz. We had a really nice time chatting with all 3 generations present and Max was really great since we didn't have a lot of activity. I am attaching some photos from Udo (who I believe would be Stephan's 2nd or 3rd cousin, son of the great aunt). I think the pictures are wonderful. Udo took several so I can't wait to see the rest!

Enough for now. I'll try to be more timely!

Fourth of July & Upcomming Visit

Since we were not able to go to my parent's lake house for the annual 4th of July picnic and firework extravaganza we decided to check out a local lake and have a little picnic of our own. Here is some video from the Riedsee which is about 30 mins from Mainz. They lake was really well set up with shallow area for kids, lots of trees for shade, a play ground and a snack bar. We spend the whole day there and had a very nice 4th all on our own.

Max and I leave for the States in 2 days. We are very excited but I am just a little nervous for the flight - hopefully Max will be a saint in the plane and I can get a little nap in too.

I am looking forward to seeing the family and friends as well as...
Sitting on normal height couches (ours are all super low to the ground)
Sleeping in a big bed (ours is one of those low to the ground euro things with just a thin matress)
Showering in a big shower where my elbows don't hit the door
Driving (I have only driving once in the last 6 months since we don't have an automatic here)
Eating really good Mexican food!

Hamburg Visit 2

Last weekend we went back to Hamburg for a house warming party for a friend of Stephan's from high school and stayed with Stephan's sister. She has 2 boys, Ole and Claas, who are one year older and one year younger than Max. So we had lots of fun playing with the cousins and then went to housewarming party. Stephan's friend recently bought a house out in the country with fields on every side. They had tents set up for eating and drinking and had a horse barn where the kids could play. They also had 2 rabbits which Max feed for a couple of hours straight. We had some of the best butter cake I have ever eaten! Max had 4 pieces! Stephan got to see some friends from high school and Roman (Stephan's best man) was there with his 1.5 year old daughter. Since there was lots for the kids to do we actually go to sit and talk with the adults! Max found a couple of buddies and was running around until we dragged him back to Sabine's house at 10:30 pm. Sunday was more playing for the boys and a visit from Opa Dieter and Oma Daggie. We headed home in the afternoon only to be met by a huge traffic jam on the interstate so our 4 hour drive turned into a 6.5 hour drive.

Hamburg Visit 1

We have been up to Hamburg two weekends in a row to visit Stephan's family. The first weekend we stayed with Stephan's mom. Spargel is white asparagus. It is only available for about 6 weeks each year and is a really big deal here. it is much sweeter than green asparagus but has a hard outer coating that must be peeled before you cook them. Anyway, since it was the end of spargel season, we went to get some and Stephan's mom made us a fabulous dinner with spargel, hollandaise sauce potatoes and ham. Absolutely fabulous. See in the video the machine that they use to peel the spargel. Pretty cool. We went with Stephan's parents to a play group where Max got to test out his running bike on a skateboarders areas. He had no fear what-so-ever! Max's cousins came for the spargel and all the boys got bubbles from Oma. They had a blast!

Crazy Weather

We have been having a heat wave for the last week with temps around 85 degrees. I know that doesn't sound like much to you guys in the southern States but since we don't have air conditioning that means our apartment is about 85 degrees as well during the day. Same goes for most places here including the building where I take German classes. It is also very humid. Here is one of two hail storms we had this week. I'll have to check with Dad to get the full explanation of what causes hail. Max and I were out on the bike for the first one and had to wait it out under an awning. We were at home to catch the second one. All the windows were open so we could at least get some breeze and things got soaked. I was running around closing windows and soaking up water. Max was sitting on the floor eating hail balls!

Summer Fun

Since it has been on the 80's here and just about no one has air conditioning, we have been hanging out almost every day after school at one of the local water play grounds. There are several in the city. The closest thing I can think of in Atlanta are the fountains at Centennial Park. This day 3 kids from Max's kindergarten happened to be there too. He was so excited to see his friends outside of school and had a blast.

Munich Visit w/ Hagen & Natasha

A few weeks back we took a weekend trip to visit our Friends Hagen & Natasha and their two boys (Darius & Nils) in Munich. We enjoyed the great weather and good times with friends. I am not sure how good the audio is so here is a breif description of what you'll see. First up is a few pics from our trip to a wild park. The rat/beaver looking animal is a nutria. I heard these all the time scratching in back alleys in Boston while I was working there but luckily never saw one. They actually look quite cute but I would hate to run into an urban version! We also spent a day hiking in the Alps. Songs from the "Sound of Music" movie kept running through my head. You can see two cows in the video, one has his special "dress up" bell on and the other has on his "every day" bell. Hagen told me all cows have 2 bells one for every day and one for special events. Thought that was interesting. we stopped and had lunch at a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. The bread was amazing. They bake it themselves in stone ovens. We took some home! Lastly the huge green plants are rhubarb. I have never seen them so big. Must be the healthy alpine air.