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.

Opa Dieter's Visit

Going back a month, Stephan's dad (Max calls him Opa Dieter) came for a visit. Here is a video from our trip to Rudesheim which is a small town right on the Rhein. It was really cute and you'll see pictures from one of the most famous touristic streets on the Rhein - Drosselgasse. From there we took a cable car up a mountain to see the Niederwald monument which was built to celebrate Germany's defeat of French forces in the last 1800's.(I think i got that right). Anyway it was a beautiful day and an awesome view. Max loved the cable car ride and had lots of fun playing with his Opa.

Exciting things this week

So I am finally caught up with posts! On to what happened this week. Lots of big news. First off last Sunday Max announced that he wanted to wear big boy underwear and use the potty. He has been doing great and basically running off to do his business when he needs to without much direction from us. We had a couple of accidents the first 2 days but things have been going great even when we are out and about. So far he has not wanted to go to school in his big boy underwear so he is still in diapers for school but hopefully in a few weeks he'll feel comfortable going at school too.

Stephan has been looking for some classes for us to take for entertainment and to try to meet some more locals. This week we tried out a ball class for 3 to 6 year olds. Max had a blast and it looks like a good place for me to meet some German moms. It is a 30 to 40 bike ride for us so it will require some effort on my part.

I just finished my second week of German classes 3 days a week. It is good to be learning something and making progress. There are about 20 people in the class. About half of my class is Turkish. Then there are women from Latvia, Ukraine, Thailand, Guyana, Portugal, Morocco and a few others I didn't catch. We only have 3 guys (2 Turkish and one from Morocco). Some people have been here for years but haven't gotten around to taking language classes. There are 3 women who have married or are dating Germans and have just moved here. I sit with the Turkish ladies and they are really sweet and fun. A couple are from Izmir which is where one of my cousins was born. So I think it is really cool to get to learn a bit about the place. I spent one of the breaks having coffee with a lady from Izmir and the one from Ukraine. I enjoyed having a little girl time!

We heard from the rental agency in Atlanta that we finally have renters starting June 1st!!!! We are so excited to have someone in the house and relieved not to be paying for 2 places!


Stephan's father came to visit for a long weekend since Monday is a national holiday. I'll write about that in the next post. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Mainz Beach

When we got back from Italy we saw that the beach had followed us. Along the Rhein they had brought in truck loads of sand, beach chairs, umbrellas and tropical plants. They also set up some food and drink stands. Max and I checked it out one sunny day
after school. It was really fun with an area set up for kids with sand toys. it is just a few blocks from our house so we will probably spend a lot of time there over the summer. Sadly you can't swim in the Rhein any more due to pollution but it is a great place just to hang out and imagine you are on a tropical beach somewhere.

Opel Zoo Visit

Last weekend we checked out the Opel Zoo just outside of Frankfurt. It is a lot like the Atlanta zoo with lots of trees and green space. They had a great play ground so we spent some time there. My favorite thing was the hippo. His cage was mainly a big pool of stinky water that came right up to the viewing window. He spent most of his time underwater but would pop up at random in front of the window. At one point he popped up and opened his mouth for some carrots a lady was holding. it was awesome because we got to see all his teeth. It was so intriguing that I completely forgot to take any pictures!

More from Sardinia

Videos of Max's Pizzeria, meeting up with Phil & Kristen and the wedding weekend.

Sardinia Trip

So I have finally gotten caught up to the second week in May. We took a trip to Sardinia for our friends'(Phil & Giovanna)wedding. We went a few days early to spend some time on the beach with Max. We rented an apartment near the town of Villasimius on the southern end of the island. After 4 days there we went up the coast 30 minutes to the city of Cagliari. We had a rocky start as a few minutes after we left Mainz on our way to the airport Max threw up. We stopped and cleaned him up and he looked like he felt fine. He slept the whole flight which was great. I actually read a book! We flew into Algheri on the north of the island and had to drive about 3.5 hours down to Villasimius. Sadly as soon as we got in the rental car and Max had a little water he threw up again so we stopped and did the whole clean up routine again. We got back on the road but had to repeat the process 3 or 4 times, making a few miles down the road each time. We decided we would never make it to Villasimius and Max really needed some medicine to help him keep something down. So we stopped in the first city we came to and tried to find a pharmacy that was open at 7pm on a Saturday night. We say signs for an emergency room so we went there just to ask about a pharmacy. There was a line of people waiting at a door with no hospital personnel in sight. Turns out you wait in line by the door. Every once and a while it is opened and the first person in line goes in and the door is shut again. Needless to say I wasn't able to ask the hospital staff any questions - I never actually saw them. I did find someone was waiting in the line who spoke a little English and got directions to a pharmacy. We got Max some medicine and got back on the road. About an hour from Villasimius Max is crying and begging us to let him sleep in a bed. We just had to ignore and drive on. We finally arrived around mid night and Max went straight to bed (not normal for him). In the morning he was completely fine,playing around and eating salami for breakfast. Luckily that was the only major issue we had during the trip.

The weather was sunny and mostly warm - we had a few chilly days. Villasimius is surrounded by sharp, rocky hills dropping into beautiful beaches and turquoise water. The town itself is no more than about 10 streets by 10 streets. We spent most of our days checking out the different beaches. As in most of Italy everything shut down from about 1 to 7pm. This was a problem because Max without fail wanted pizza at about 5pm! We found a pizzeria called Max and he was thrilled to eat pizza at "his" restaurant.

We met many old friends in Cagliari for the wedding (Dave & Emily, Phil & Kristen, Morten, Troels). One video is of Stephan and Max seeing Phil & Kristen for the first time. Max could barely wait for Phil to show up. Another is us hanging out with Phil and Kirstin at the beach. Max was not too keen on the actual wedding ceremony so we stayed outside the church where he had a ball chasing pigeon and playing with confetti from a wedding that ended about 15 minutes before we showed up. He had a blast at the reception where he played no stop with other kids form the wedding in the courtyard which allowed us some adult time. The reception was a "lunch" which lasted from 1pm to about 7pm. I lost track of how many courses we had but they were all fantastic and we seemed to get several bottles of wine with each course! Even after a day of celebrating everybody went home to change and then met up again at 10pm to continue the party with some music and dancing. max and I opted out on this last part!

Last of Family Visit

Here are videos of a visit to one of the most well-preserved castles on the Rhein - Marksburg and a cute video of Max with cousin Campbell.

Amusement Park w/ Family

Here are some videos of our family trip to a local amusement park.

Knights Festival - Jousting

So we have been back from Italy for 2 weeks and I am just now getting back to the blog. Here is the last video from the knights festival we visited when my family was here.

Lots of posts

I was trying to get all the videos of my family's visit posted before we leave (in a few minutes) to go to Italy. Looks like I will only get half done so more to come after our trip to Italy.

Here is a castle above the knights festival. it gave us a great view of the area and the massive festival - tents for miles. Notice the big squares of yellow in the fields. These are everywhere right now and are fields of flax seed plants.

This video is of the jousting event. The costumes and horses were great. There are 3 women in this group and one of them was 15. Go ladies.

Oops I wrote about this video in the last post. The video in the last post was where our boys all got swords and had a blast acting like knights. It was great until max hit himself in the head with the very large sword he insisted on getting. After hitting himself in the head he decided he needed a smaller sword!

Knight Festival #1

This is the first video of a knights festival we visited. It was enormous and people created medieval camps where they stayed all weekend living in the style of the period. You'll see a sword fight enactment. First the knights fought one on one. When you were hit you sat down until the last man was standing. Then they did various battles with multiple people. The costumes were amazing and looked to be extremely hot. There were several women in the group which was really neat.

The Family Arrives

Here is video of us waiting for the family to arrive and our first days visits.

Family Fun

My family came for a visit on Tuesday. So we have my mom, my sister-in-law and 3 nephews, Max and Stephan in the apartment. It has actually worked really well. All the boys are sleeping in max's room and he is thrilled to have his cousins here. It has been pretty cold and rainy most days but we did get a great sunny day yesterday in the low 70s. We have visited the Gutenburg Museum workshop where Oakley and Henley (the 10 and 8 year old cousins) had a printing session to make their own prints. We have gone to the farmers market and loaded up on anything that looked interesting. We also did a tour of the old town, the citadel, St Stephan's church to see the Chagall stain glass windows and the swimming pool. Of course we stopped at many play grounds along the way. Yesterday we went to an amusement park (I mentioned this in my last post). Luckily we have video this time which I'll post in a few days after the family goes home. The boys had a blast and Max was so tired at dinner he was eating with his eyes closed! Today we are off to a knights festival that Stephan found and tomorrow we plan to drive up the Rhein to visit some castles. Sadly they all go home on Monday. Seems like they just got here. I know Max is going to be really sad to see them go.
You may be wondering how we get around with such a large group. During the week we walked around town but Stephan has rented us a 8 person van (enormous even by US standards). It is fabulous for getting us around with 2 car seats, 2 strollers, snack bags , etc,. The only problem is that is is almost as high as our parking garage so I have to push up the entrance gate to squeeze the van through. We'll see how it goes once we get onto some of the small streets in the towns along the Rhein! Lots of pics and videos to come!

Oops

I was sitting down this morning to download a bunch of videos sadly I accidentally deleted all of them. I was so sick about it I cried. So here is a brief description of what you are not going to see...

Easter Egg Hunt - We had a great Easter afternoon with our friends Melanie, Richard and Elena. They invited us over to their garden for an egg hunt and cake. The kids had a great time looking for eggs and chocolates until there was a sharing issue. We had a total melt down period but all was well after some chocolate ice cream!The kids played in the garden while the parents ate cake and drank champagne. It was a super break from our daily activities.

Water Playground - Stephan took Max to a local park that had just opened the water play ground. Picture Max running around in diaper climbing on rocks with fountains shooting water.

Play Date - We met some friends at the same park with the water play ground but stayed on the main play ground and then rode a little train that cruses around the the park.

Amusement Park - We took Max to a local amusement park last weekend. It is built on an old farm so there are lots of animals, 2 fake cows that you can milk, pony rides, an electronic donkey ride where you sit on a donkey and ride around a track. Stephan rode with Max and it was really a humorous sight. We tried out mini golf, Max got to drive us in a real tractor that runs along on rails and best of all they had a huge slide. It is about 5 stories high with 6 lanes. You carry up mats to slide down on. max started by riding with Stephan but in the end we all had our own lane and slide down holding hands. Max would have ridden a thousand times if we had the energy.

My mom, sister-in-law and 3 nephews are coming next week for a week long visit. We plan to take them back to the amusement park as well drive up the Rhein to visit some castles and to see a medieval festival. The two older boys are going to do a workshop at the Gutenberg museum where they actually get to print on old presses. In order to get all 8 of us around we are going to rent an 8 seat van. Should be interesting to see where we can park it and how well it fits in some of the smaller streets around here.

On another oops note - we were having such trouble with our dishwasher. The dishes were never really clean so I was basically washing them by hand first and just letting the dish washer heat them up to sanitize. Then one day Stephan finally looked at the powder we both had been putting in for weeks and realized it was not dish washing detergent rather powder to add to the dish washer to decalcify (apparently a big problem here since I see many kinds of decalcifier products in our pantry for some tea pots, coffee pots, pots and pans, etc,.) So now our dish washer is totally decalcified and our dishes are getting clean again with real detergent!

Here is the Easter Basket

Here is Max getting his Easter basket.

New New Wheels

So I enjoyed my new old bike for a day then I took it to a bike shop to have them add a basket. The man at the bike store told me he wouldn't add the basket because he didn't feel the frame was strong enough for a child seat so adding a basket to carry more weight was not a good idea. I got worried about having some major accident with Max on the back so I decided to just buy a new bike. So now we have 5 bikes in the house. Stephan's, Max's two bikes, my old bike and my awesome new bike. We are going to try to sell the old bike back to the guy we bought it from to get rid of at least one of them. The new bike is fantastic and is much more stable than the old one. I have loaded the saddle bags down with stuff, had Max on the back and stuff in the basket with no problem.

Max and I went to another circus this week with our play group friends (Yuki, Ky and Anyuu) and our German/English friends (Melanie and Ellie). It was a Russian circus with no animals just acrobatics and clowns. Best of all for Max they had motorcycles that rode around in a big metal ball. He was so excited! The kids played on a near by playground afterward so it was a great day for them. Max is really loving having Ky to play with. I think he was in need of a guy friend. They hold hands and run down the street. Max even wanted to go home with them after the circus. Sadly the will be moving to Munich in the summer.

Everything shuts down here in Germany for Easter weekend. Friday and Monday are a national holiday so Stephan was home on Friday. We packed a picnic and rode down the Rhein, stopping to picnic by the river. All in all we rode about 12 miles! The weather has been fantastic. Sunny and warm. Friday it was about 77 degrees. Our friends Frank and Tina drove up to Mainz on Friday afternoon for a few hours. We walked around town and then stopped for ice cream at an outdoor cafe. It seemed as if most of Mainz was doing the same with the great weather.

Saturday the stores were open so we ran out to do grocery shopping and picked up another fridge that sits under our counter so we now have much more space! - maybe about half of our fridge in Atlanta. It is Sunday morning and I am waiting for Max and Stephan to wake up. We made an Easter basket for Max but when I told him the Easter bunny would leave it for hi during the night he said he didn't the the bunny coming into our apartment and that the basket should be left downstairs by the front door. I got up a little early to take it down and am keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't disappear before he wakes up and goes down to get it. We are going over the Melanie's house this afternoon for cake and an Easter egg hunt for Max and Ellie. Max really wanted to do the hunt at his Mama's house in Alabama but I think over the last few weeks he has decided that this option should be ok. We dyed eggs yesterday morning in preparation for the hunt. Well Max is up so I need to go. More about our Easter later....

New Wheels

We finally have transportation! No the car is still being modified for German standards but we did pick up an old bike for me and a bike seat for Max on Saturday. I have already added saddle bags on the back and am looking for a basket for the front. Now Max and I can zip around town and not have to carry so much stuff. I took it for a test run to the grocery store on Sat and loaded up a back pack. It worked really well, only took 30 mins and was a lot less stressful on the back! Yesterday Max and Stephan took it out to venture over the river to a park and then in the afternoon Max and I took it across town to buy tickets for a circus this week and to check out a playground that is farther out. Since we don't have much luck with the bus we are excited to be able to bike to our weekly swimming pool visit. Never knew I would be so excited about a bike. We also finally took Stephan's bike out of the box and put it together. So now we all have bikes and hope to venture out on the weekends and do some ridding in the little towns along the Rhein.

Sleep Motivation

So ever since we were packing up in Atlanta and only had one bed Max has wanted to sleep with one of us each night. After various failed attempts to get him to sleep on his own again, I devised a Biene Maia sleep incentive game. Biene Maia is a German cartoon bee. Max saw a Biene Maia game (kind of like the game Sorry) in a store when we first arrived and really wanted it. So I created a chart with places for 5 bees. Max would get a bee for each night he slept on his own. Once he got all 5 bees we would go get the game. Luckily Max is really into bribery and this worked like a charm. After 5 nights of sleeping on his own we went tot get the game. Max was super excited. SO he has been doing great for 2 weeks now. Although the last 2 nights he has gotten up at 4 and come in to sleep with us. Not sure how to deal with that one since neither of us are functioning that well at that hour!

Play Date

We have found some friends at school and arranged to meet on Wednesday afternoons for some playtime with the kids. Last week was our first official play date and we checked out a great play ground just off the river. Our new friends; Dorris, her son Benny (3), Yuki, her son Kaima (3.5) and duaghter Anyuu (2)joined us. The kids and mommas had a really nice time. Dorris has 4 years, originally from Nigeria. Yuki just arrived from Ohio in January like us. They are originally from Japan/Hong Kong but spent a couple of years in the States. We had a really international crew. I am sure the German were wondering what brought this international mix to Mainz!

First Sunny Day

Here is a video of one of our first sunny (and relatively warm) days. Max and I went out looking for a used bike store - we are trying to get more mobile. We didn't find one but we did find some ice cream and enjoyed some time along the river. We saw a guy in a wet suit jet skiing on the Rhein. it was only about 55 so it must have been cold. It was the first really nice day so tons of people were out in the middle of the day enjoying the weather. We even saw some really brave people in bathing suits out sunning!

Grocery Shopping

Just wanted to give you a glimpse of what shopping is like for us. I pick up things just about everyday but when we have access to a car we load up at one of the big supermarkets outside of the city. Here is us loading all of our groceries in our tiny elevator!

River Walk

Last weekend we checked out the flee market along the river - not much to speak of but we had some fun with Max.

Circus

This is going back a bit but here is a video form our trip to the Circus with cousin Ole, aunt Sabine and Oma Daggie near Hamburg.

Misc Pics

Here are a few pics for you. My new hair cut with "monk" bangs, Max's new night light, and Max's daily get up for going to school!

Back in Business & Race Car

It has been a while since I posted. Max and I both came down with Strep Throat 2 weeks ago. He never seemed to feel bad but I have been pretty under the weather for 2 weeks. Yesterday was the first day I started to feel a bit better. Hoping to shake this thing soon because I need my energy back!

Max's week at school went really well. He is now going full time until 2pm. One of his classmates had a birthday and Max was so excited about having cake and singing. When we talk about birthdays back home he get really sad because he wants to go to the parties. His class took a field trip to a natural history museum last week and he loved it. They had a frog exhibit which was a big hit. This Tues his class is going to a wildpark (natural setting zoo). Max is super excited especially since we need to get him a back pack to carry his lunch in.

We met 2 families at school who speak English and ran into one of them on a playground after school one day. We ended up playing with them, going for ice cream and then they came over for some late afternoon play. Max was trilled to have kids in the house. We are trying to set up a weekly playtime just like in ATL with the kids. Our first one is this wed!

We had a major success this week. Max is finally sleeping on his own again! Ever since we had to sleep together during the packing up of the house he has wanted one of us to sleep with him. We told him if he slept for a week by himself then he would get a special game he has wanted. We went and got it yesterday. Needless to say we have been playing it non stop.

I did go and take my German placement test and got placed in the 3rd class - scares me a bit but hopefully it isn't too advanced. They said I spoke pretty well but my grammar was terrible and I have a limited vocabulary. I start morning classes 3 times a week in mid May.

Max has been testing me like crazy - laying down in stores and refusing to move. I had to drag him home kicking and screaming (a 10 min walk). I am sure we are now famous in Mainz. We had several incidents like that last week so I was pretty burnt out by Thurs last week. We took the bus to the pool Thur afternoon and yet again i got yelled at. This time by the driver who screamed something at me when I tried to pay while he was driving (interesting since every other time I have paid while the bus was moving and the last time I waited a sec I got a talking to by a secret bus controller man who wanted to fine me for not paying). It was the straw that broke the sick and tired momma's back. SO momma had a breakdown on the bus (even more famous now in Mainz). It was very cathartic and I felt much batter afterward!

Our car is still being modified to fit German regulations. We hope to get it this week and then start exploring more on the weekends.

Stephan heard he was going to be assigned as a project manager on a project in Macedonia which would mean 2 weeks away at a time. This made my heart stop but it looks like they have found someone else for the position. So Stephan should just be doing his regular weekly travel to various places in Eastern Europe.

Max got a little book about soapbox race cars from his Oma Stella. We got it out yesterday and made his own version of a race car. Check out the video. He looked in the book and gave me directions on what to draw. Then he went and got his bike helmet and scarf so he would look like the drivers in the book. Too cute.

We have a car, sort of!

Stephan and his dad spent most of Friday dealing with various German authorities to get our car from customs - proof of insurance, tags, this letter and that. In the end the customs people didn't believe Stephan had actually lived in the States. All of our documents just proved we owned property and paid things here not necessarily that we lived here. Customs let us drive the car from Hamburg back to Mainz and gave us 5 days to get ti straight with customs here in Mainz. Luckily, our awesome friend Carla happens to be a council woman in Atlanta. She wrote us a quick letter over the weekend confirming that she personally knew we lived here. Stephan took it in first thing on Monday and was in and out in less than an hour. Yea, success! Well that is just the first part. Now we have to take the car to another German government entity to have them tell us what needs to be change don the car to make it conform to German standards (could be lights, blinkers, emissions stuff, get the work done and them apply for regular tags. Stephan has tracked down a company that helps people through the process and is taking the car to them tonight so who know how many more weeks it will be until we can actually drive the car!

We had a great weekend with Stephan's family in Hamburg. While Stephan and his dad were dealing with the Car we went with Oma Daggie, Stephan's sister Sabine and her eldest, Ole to a really neat family circus. Max was afraid at first but once I wrapped his head with his scarf so it wouldn't be too loud he agreed to go in. Luckily it was nothing like the super loud circus we went to in the States. This one was just one ring in a little tent. They had lots of animals (tiger, elephant, hippo, rhino, horses...) and some acrobats. Just right for a 3 and 4 year old. We got to visit with Stephan's Mom and step dad too for some great lunches/dinner. They gave Max a shirt that says in German "if momma and papa say no, ask grandma and grandpa". Max loved the shirt and immediately understood the meaning. We took a trip to an indoor play ground on Sunday with Patci, Martin and Martin's daughter Antonia. Ole had an ear infection so had to stay home. The kids had a super time but never played in the same spot. The only time we got them together was jsut before we left when they sat down for an ice cream!

Max has his first full day at school by himself tomorrow. They are going on a field trip to a natural history museum a block from school with a frog exhibit. He is excited about the trip so hopefully all will go well. He was there on his own until 12:30 today so waiting till 2 shouldn't be too much more.

I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to test a language placement test so I can start taking German classes in mid April. With my status as a wife of a German citizen I can actually work here and get to take subsidized German classes. We went for our Green Card type interview on Monday so they could determine if I was really Stephan's wife. it was much easier than the one we had to do in the States for Stephan to get his green card. While we were there we were able to pick of Max's new German Passport! We have to check the details but he should be able to keep both the US and the German passports until he is 18 and then he needs to decide which country he will use going forward.

Stephan and I both got hair cuts this week. I made appointments for us both at one place but when Stephan came back Monday night with spiked hair I decided to check out another place that is in our building just below us. Luckily they had a cancellation and they let me bring Max along who was a saint! So now I have a short bob with a set of tiny bangs (less than 1/4 inch) under my longer bangs. It is hard to describe. I'll have to get Stephan to take a pic. i am still getting used to it. The little bangs remind me of a monks haircut but they are not that obvious form a far.

We got to do our first video Skype with my parents today. Max loved seeing Mama and Opa Bobbob on the computer. Unfortunately they couldn't see us for some reaosn so we'll have to work on that!

Well if it 6 pm and Max is still asleep from his 3 pm nap so I got to go and wake him up or we'll be up all night. More videos soon...

Our week

We had a lazy weekend since the weather has been rainy for days. We did go out for a traditional dinner at a brewery. On the way there we found some great places for Max to test out his bike - a cool curvy playground and a street ramp which scared Momma to death. In the brewery there was a group of guys on a bachelor party. In the video you can see a really tall tube which is filled with beer. They bring this to your table and you can serve yourself! After our dinner we came home and built our first fire since it was cold and rainy outside. Unfortunately we could not get the smoke to go up the chimney. We tried everything and ended up totally smoking up the house. Day later everything still smells like a campfire. We called the landlord on Sunday to figure out what was wrong and found out there is an exhaust fan for the chimney that has to be turned on so we made another fire and turned on the exhaust. unfortunately this time the exhaust didn't work. So we smoked up the place again. After checking breakers and getting into the wall where the exhaust switch is Stephan finally got it working and we enjoyed our first fire without smoke billowing into the room and burning our eyes!

Stephan's birthday was yesterday. He is traveling for work so we had a little celebration on Monday night before he left. I had planned on hidng a few gifts in his suitcase but Max told him that we had presents in his suitcase so we just opened them early.

Max stayed at school for 3 hours on his own yesterday and ate lunch with the kids. He said he didn't want to stay for lunch but when I got there he was happily eating his chicken nuggets and potato smiley faces. It was a good day for him to stay. Today they are having cauliflower soup. We'll see how that goes over!

I took the time to do a little shopping - it goes so much faster alone! I also finally set up hair appts for Stephan and myself. Stephan goes on Monday and I go on Weds so if Stephan's is terrible then I can cancel! I basically have just been looking at salons as I walk around town and seeing who is in there getting their hair cut. The place I picked looked kind of modern and had relatively young clients in there. So no real basis for the choice but it is all I have to go on.

Our car has arrived in Hamburg! Stephan is traveling this week so he will fly into Hamburg on Thurs evening. Max and I are going to make a big (6 hour)train adventure and arrive there Thurs afternoon. Stephan's dad is going to pick us up and then go get Stephan. On Friday Stephan and his dad are going to get the car (we are not really sure what all that involves) while Max, Oma Dagmar and I join Stephan's sister Sabine and her 2 boys at a circus! Sounds like we got the better end of that deal. Then we'll visit with Stephan's mom and on Sunday we will go with the cousins again to an indoor playground - probably something like the Jumping Bean. So we have a really great weekend planned and are really excited.

On another note, Max has started sleeping with the lights on so I bought a super cool night light for him and we tried it out last night. It is a little orange man. Will post a pic soon.

Grant Park Album

Here is a quick video of Max enjoying the photo album his Grant Park friend put together as a going away present. He has looked it often and loves to tell stores about many of the pictures!

Last Weekend

I am catching up on post since Max is sleeping late today. Last weekend we went to visit a friend of Stephan's from college

School, Travel and Cupella

Max spent his first hour at school without me yesterday. I stayed for the first hour and then left for an hour to go to the grocery store. I thin it went great. They brought him to the window so he could wave goodbye and then he checked out some puzzles. When I got back they were in a circle singing a song about a penguin. He seemed totally fine but when the song was over and we needed to get ready to go home he had a total breakdown about putting his boots on to go home. I tired several times to get him to put them on and then just put him in my lap to put them on myself only to get a strong slap in the face. So he got popped and set in time out until he would put his shoes on. This took several time outs and he cried all the way home about wanting to leave a ball he brought to school at school. Kids are only allowed to bring a toy from home on Thurs so we couldn't leave. Needless to say it was kind of a rough day but he slept for 3 hours at nap time so hopefully he was just completely exhausted and we won't see much of that behavior again. We go again today and I am supposed to try to leave after a few minutes so he'll be on his own for almost 2 hours. Here is a video of his first couple of days. At the end you see them singing the penguin song and you can see how small he is compared to the other kids. The class is mixed with 3-6 year olds so it is very different from his old school where he was one of the oldest and biggest.

We were planning on coming back to the states for 2 weeks around Easter but since Max will probably only have been in school full time a couple of weeks by then we are afraid to take him out for 2 weeks. So we are looking into coming back mid July when he has school break and Stephan can join us. I am pretty bummed we won't get a trip home but am more afraid of having to start all over with the school transition.

I got my first 2 Cupella samples this week and hope to run home today while Max is in school to make detailed notes on revisions since I have a call with the production company this afternoon. I tried doing this yesterday morning but couldn't concentrate with Max begging me to play cars every 2 minutes. In general the sample look pretty good but the support is not there so I feel like I am going back several months in terms of getting fit correct. Hopefully it won't be as much work as I think to get them right. It just seems pretty difficult to do this over the phone instead of doing a live fitting.

First Days of Preschool and Update

Max started preschool this Monday. We have gone from 9-11 each morning and I stayed with him to see how he was going to take to the new environment. Monday we arrived and put our things in their spots and changed into house shoes. All the kids have a cubbie box and a hook with symbols so they know where their stuff is. Max inherited a flower symbol - not sure he was so psyched about that.
The teacher set up cars and a parking garage for Max to play with. It was perfect since that is one of his favorite things. There are 24 kids in his class and it is mixed with kids from 3-6 years old. He did pretty well sharing with the other kids which is amazing since he has had our undivided attention for over a month now. After some play time the kids go in a circle for singing time with the teacher playing guitar. Then we all went outside to play on the playground which was completely crazy at first. All the kids have to put on these plastic overalls that look like fishing waders, rain boots and their coats and hats. They have a few tricycles that all the kids want to ride. Max really wanted to ride but we were one of the last to get out to the playground so everything was taken. Luckily one really nice little boy (Luca) let Max have a test spin. That was the end of our 2 hour visit so we headed home but Max wanted to stay and eat with the other kids (a good sign).

Yesterday Max rode his bike to school and really likes the thought that he can ride to school. The day was similar to Monday with some playtime, music time and then out to the play ground. There are 2 rooms of kids that do things together during the day. Max is kangaroo and the other class is bears. Every morning in the bears classroom they have drinks and cups out and the kids can bring their breakfast with them. When they get hungry they can pick up their lunch box and pour themselves a drink and sit for a bit to eat their breakfast/snack. I brought a snack for Max so he could practice. He liked the fact that he could do it when he wanted. Max got officially introduced to the class during music time and they sang a song where all the kids say their names. The teacher told them that Max speaks English but understands German and if he says something they don't understand then it is probably in English. Then they went around the circle and said what languages they spoke at home. I'd say 90% of the kids speak another language at home. There was Polish, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Gypsy, and several Eastern European languages. So most of them are in the same boat as Max just a little farther along with their German. Then they did a dance song since I had told them about the Cabbagetown "if you name is X get up an dance" song. In this song you get up and dnace like a butterfly until you pick a friend to dance with. Then the 2 dance aorund for a bit and the first person sits down. The second person then becomes the butterfly and picks a friend to dance with. Max loved it and one of the boys picked Max pretty early on so momma didn't have to worry about him being picked last.
After singing they went outside this time just with jackets and tennis shoes since it was nice and sunny and not so muddy.

In the afternoon Max and I had a big adventure. We decided it was time to try to visit Gigi and Greta who just moved to Frankfurt too. Greta was in the class above Max at Cabbagetown. We took the bus to the Mainz train station then caught a train to Frankfurt main train station, Then we got a trolley car to Gigi's house. It wasn't too hard but it did take us 2 hours door to door. Greta lives near the convention hall in Frankfurt and has a really nice walking path just beside her place. We took the kids on the path and stopped at a couple of play grounds. It was awesome to get to chat about how each of us are dealing with the transition and laugh about different things that are making our lives difficult. We coordinated with Stephan for us to be on the same train back to Mainz but when he didn't get in on the first stop I was worried. After a few calls back and forth we realized Max and I were on the wrong train heading in the opposite direction. It was just a 30 min mistake and eventually we did connect with Stephan who got off his train and waited till we came along the tracks to get back on.

I forgot to write about weekend. We had a great trip to visit one of Stephan's college friends (Frank) an hour south of here. Frank and his wife Tina, their 10 year old son, Joey and their 3 month old, Emily live in the countryside so we had a nice walk along the fields with Max and Joey on their bikes. Max loved hanging out with a big boy and I REALLY enjoyed hanging out with some adults. On Sunday we stopped by a little wildpark to check out some animals with Max. They had a nice playground too that we spent some time on. Sunday night we had our first babysitter come over - Pauline from from Melbourne. Max was great and didn't make a peep when we left. He was showing Pauline his photo album that we got as a going away present. Stephan and I went to an awesome Thai restaurant and checked out an Irish pub. It was a little dead being a Sunday night but we enjoyed getting out on our own and are so excited to have found someone Max likes to come over and stay with him.

I got carded & Found Crullers

We had our first run in with German authorities this week.

Max and I have taken the bus a few times here which is always a challenge trying to get Max and the stroller on board in a matter of seconds. he first time we tried it poor little Max got caught in the doors. Luckily he wasn't hurt just shocked! On the buses there is a place in the middle for stroller and wheelchairs. Usually there are a couple of strollers already there so it can be quite tight. We went to the pool again this week and took the bus since it is a good hike on foot. Going to the pool is pretty exhausting for me because I have to take the stroller and a big back pack with all of our swimming stuff. so we get on the bus and squeeze the stroller in between two other strollers. I set Max back in the stroller since there are no seats and then stop to take a big breath - yea we made it! About the time I exhale a guy is sticking a yellow card in my face. Stephan had mentioned there are people who travel on buses and trains to make sure everyone pays so I could guess who this guy was. Anyway I just held out the change I had meticulously counted out so I would have the exact amount to give the driver when I was able to make my way between all the people standing with my massive back pack up to the front. The guy was not impressed. He said it was too late that he had watched me get Max settled and then stand there and do nothing. Seriously it could have only be a few seconds. Anyway, a lady who was on the bus with infant twins in a stroller started yelling at him to give me a break and that it is too hard to make it all the way to the front with a small child. She was good and the guy let me of this time. I think there is a hefty fine - something like $50 if you are caught riding without paying. So now I am really afraid of the bus since I need to get on, get settled and run to the front to pay! I need to figure out a monthly card but we only ride once or twice a week so it dosen't make that much sense but it would be easier.

On a good (or bad) note I have discovered that they have cruller donuts here. The kind that look like tractor tires. When I was little we used to go to a little independent donuts shop after church and they had the best crullers - eggy inside with lots of air pockets - super light. I haven't found really good ones in the States in years. They are usually more cake-like on the inside. I saw them in a bakery window and was so excited. I have now tried several different bakery's and they are all fantastic! No wonder all this walking hasn't made one pound of difference!

Rosenmontag 2

Here the second and last video of carnival. I am already week behind in reporting what we have been up to so here is a brief summary. On Tuesday after the parade Patci and Martin stayed to do a little walking tour of the city with Max and I. It probably wasn't that exciting since everything was closed - I guess recuperating from a week of carnival. We did have a nice walk along the river and ended with a Mexican lunch which thrilled Max. Patci and Martin headed back to Hamburg after lunch and Max and I just hung out at home. Wednesday we went out to find a new potty seat for Max since I thought he had to go to school on Monday without diapers and thought we should at least start the potty training before he was expected to use the potty at school. Stephan corrected me on that. Apparently I completely misunderstood what the school had said and he can go in diapers to school. So no rush but it needs to be done any way. So far he has sat on it twice but no activity yet. The afternoon on Weds was beautiful - sunny and relatively warm so we rode the bike along the river and used the new bubbles we got to have some fun. Stephan had to work late so Max and I had an easy dinner at Pizza Hut around the corner. I was thrilled to find a salad bar! We also got a world map so Max can now point out where Georgia, Alabama, Germany and Australia are. Australia because we met with a woman (Pauline)from Melbourne on Thurs who has just moved to the area and may do some babysitting for us. Max seemed to like her so she is coming on Sunday evening to a trail run. Stephan and I will go to dinner or a movie near by in case it doesn't work out so well. Yea our first night out! We met some friends (Melanie and Elena) at the pool again yesterday afternoon and they went with us back to the Mexican place as they were interested in the experience. We are thinking of having Pauline spend 2 hours with Max and Elena every Monday afternoon and Melanie and I getting to spend some time on our own which sounds fantastic to me. Massage and pedicure here I come!

Max starts preschool on Monday. He will only go from 9-11 the first two weeks to get acclimated. I am hopeful that it won't be too traumatic. I am planning on staying the first day since it will be such a big change for him. So far he has said he doesn't really want to go but hopefully the kids and the toys will change his mind.

The rental car contract was up so it went back a few days ago. Stephan is now a train commuter. Hopefully our car will arrive in the next week or so. Not sure how long it will take to get any modifications done. it will be nice to have transportation to the big grocery store soon though. We are planning on visiting friend's of Stephan's who live about an hour south of here this weekend. We spend New Years eve with then when we were in hamburg two years ago and had a great time so I am looking forward to the visit. I guess that is it for now.

Rosenmontag 1

Here is a video of the final big day of Carnival. Stephan's sister Patci and her boyfriend Martin came in the night before. We got decked out in hats I made and Max put on his lion suit and we headed out to the platz by our house and scored a spot on a wall just above the parade route which worked out great for Max since he wasn't too excited to be too close to some of the costumes. He definitely got into yelling "hellau" and waving to get treats. If we talked to him when a big float was approaching he told us to wait until it had gone past. he didn't want to miss any treats! We got tons of things including a soccer ball, bags and bags of popcorn, candy, a roll, a soft pretzel, bags of chips, some cheese, a hot dog, packets of waffles, soup mix packets, loads of tissue packs and even a pair of men's thongs! In the second video you can see all the goods! The weather was pretty good. We had a few minutes of very cold rain but then we actually got a good hour of sunshine. The parade lasted over 4 hours! We then walked down to an area where there was music and people were partying in the street just to check it out. It ended up being a little to crazy/crowded for a stroller and a 3 year old we headed in around 7pm. Max was a trouper. No nap, tons of noise and people.

Carnival

Here are a few pics from carnival. I am uploading the video now. Max found the tiger women particularly scary. The statue is in one of the main platzs and someone climbed up to give him a more festive look. The big heads are a famous symbol for Mainz carnival. Stephan thinks they represent different political figures. Not sure though.

Apartment Tour 1

Trying again to upload the first part of the apartment tour.

More Carnival

More Saturday Carnival

Here is some more carnival video

Views from Carnival on Saturday - children's parade

First day of carnival

Thursday was the first day of carnival (Fastnach) here. Max and I scored a great seat in a cafe in front of all the action. Can't get the video to load just yet. You hear people yelling what sounds like "Hello" everywhere. Apparently for carnival everyone yells "hellau" as a greeting. I will be putting up video from the parade we saw yesterday and and you will hear it every 5 seconds! Max has even been saying it as we go down the street. We haven't gotten to check out the carnival nightlife since we haven't found a babysitter (we do have an appointment for next Thurs to meet one)but I hear people singing in the streets at all hours.

Apartment Tour

Here a look at our new place. This is the second video. i am having trouble uploading the first one.

Cupella

Many of you have asked what I am going with Cupella (my line of sleepwear/lounge wear). I have been working with a company in Ft Worth (In Style Exchange)to do product development and production. We had a major issues when the dying house sent my fabric and elastics to Ft Worth and the elastics somehow didn't make it for In Style to develop sample garments. This happened a few days before we left for Germany. So In Style had to source new elastics. I got news yesterday that the patterns and sample of 2 of the designs are done. They will be shipping them to me over here for review. Here is a pic of what pattern looks like. We'll see what the sample looks like when it gets here. UPS to ship a small 5 lbs box was over $150 so we are using the US postal service 2 week delivery to bring it down to $50. I had no idea shipping would be so much for such a small package!

Carnival Starts Today

Today at 11:11 am Carnival kicks off in Mainz. Not sure what that means. Max and I are finally going to register as residents today and try to get him a German passport so we will be coming back through the main platz around that time. I'll post later about what we find. I have been holding off on posting any more videos as our wireless data stick is saying we are over our time/data amount. Friday is the day they are supposed to hook up internet in the house so be watching for lots of pics/videos soon.

Just got an email from a couple in ATL who are moving to the area in March. They found us on an expat site I am on. Yea! Maybe a friend to explore and hang out with!

Happy Carnival (Fastnachts)

Party Horn Dance

Max loves the party horns Oma Stella sent. Here is the party horn dance he created.

First Paly Date

Video of the cafe where we had our first play date!

Jumping Place - Rambazamba

Here is some video of our trip to the jumping place this week.

New Toys - Message for Amy

We got Max a parking garage as soon as we got here and he has totally loved it. Now Stephan and I each spend a few hours a day running car through it. Max wanted to show his teacher (Amy) his new parking garage and bicycle man so he asked me to film this.

Shopping Mistakes

Here is what happens when you don't really know the language or the stores.

Nifty Plaground

Here is a nifty playgorund we found hidden in the middle of Aldtstat (old town where we live).

Care package

We got a lovely care package this week from Oma & Opa Stella (Stephan's parents). It really made our day as we were a little sad that Stephan was on his first business trip and we were on our own for 2 days. Max got all kinds of games and art supplies and I got a chocolate cake!

Possible Preschool for Max

Here is a look at the preschool where Max has a spot starting March 1st. I am still looking at a few other schools but there seems to be a wait list everywhere else. The teacher was very nice and Max liked playing with their cars. We'll see what he says when we actually have to go and stay. He was a little nervous that we were going to leave him there but did seem very impressed with the gym downstairs that each class uses a couple of times a week. They gave us a list of things he needs to start school. Rain boots, house shoes, plastic overalls that the kids wear to play outside. I'll take a pic of him in is new get up soon.

Fun in the House

Here is a little video of Max playing in the house in his new Strumfhose (basically tights all the kids wear here since it is so cold. it took a bit to get him in them but now he wears them daily).

First Sights in Mainz

Here is a look at our first days here. I plan on filming the apartment and uploading it soon.

Calm day for Max and I. We played at home in the morning and went out for a little grocery shopping this afternoon. We both got new umbrellas since there is a light rain here pretty often. Max's has cars on it. He is very proud of it and used it on the way home today. Stephan is back from Vienna and is recovering from a pretty bad cold - still dragging a bit.

Forgot to mention that I sat down and watched my second German tv show last night - Germany's Next Top Model hosted by Heidi Klum. Not in English but the closet thing to home! earlier in the week we watched the German version of American Idol which was also fun even though I don't understand much.

Max got a couple of party horns from Oma Stella (Stephan's Mom) and has been dancing around the house blowing the horns. It is very entertaining and I'll upload a video soon.

More soon...

Great Thursday

We had an awesome day yesterday. It was cold but sunny and we had 2 play dates! We met the wife(Paulina) of one of Stephan's coworkers for coffee and some playtime in the morning. Her husband is Greek, she is Polish and they have a little boy about Max's age and a little girl about 2. They have been here for years but remember what it was like to be new and not speak much of the language which is great. In the afternoon we met a German woman (Melanie)who was raised in the UK and her daughter (Elena)who speaks only English right now to try out the indoor swimming pool in the center of town. It was really fantastic. The water is about 90 in the up stairs Therme room. It is a tropical looking pool with two story glass windows. There is a ledge on the side of the pool that is about 4 feet wide and only about 2 feet deep so the kids can play easily and the parents can stand in the deeper water in the middle. There was a hot tub and a smaller water area with slides and animals that spray water for the really little kids. There was also a round area with fast running water that pulls you a long like a river. We were really surprised when we got in and went speeding around the corner. It was quite difficult to get out of the currant once you were in but Max thought it was fun. It was like zipping around a bundt cake pan that is wide enough for 4 people or so. Hope that explains it. No video from that trip for various reasons. The downstairs has swimming lanes for adults and a spa area with sauna and steam rooms. Apparently the spa area is coed and clothes are not worn. I didn't check that out yet. Not sure what I think about the coed part! The pool is open until 8pm and 2am some nights. On the 2 am nights the pool and spa are nude. Sounds interesting.

One other thing to mention is that everywhere we go (shops, restaurants, even the pool) has little candies or toys to give the kids. We are getting quite a collection of cars and gummy bears!

Well Max is up and very upset that Stephan ate the last of the chocolate marshmellows (Mini Dickmans) so I have to go. More later....

First Set of Videos

Here is a random smattering of videos I have taken since we got here. Still getting used to my little flip camera so things are a bit shaky.

We finally have internet access (via a wireless card - home to be up on Feb 20)so I am finally getting to start the year in Mainz blog I talked about. I have attached 2 email messages that we sent out in case you didn't see them on the first go around. Excuse all the mistakes they were done on the phone and texting isn't my forte just yet.

We had a good day today. Found a great playground that we had heard about but couldn't find. I convinced the DHL guy who delivered an awesome care package from Stephan's mom to go to the automatic pick up machine and get our package out and bring it to me. The package had the wireless card that I am now using to get internet access! Max and I tried a Mexican place (the second one we have found) since he was begging for cheese dip and chips - which they had! He ate a whole bowl of cheese dip, a serving of black beans and 1 1/2 baskets of chips. He was missing his Mexican food!
He has also been very attached to riding in the stroller. A few Germans have commented that he should be walking now not in a stroller. Anyway, he decided he wanted to walk home tonight and made it about half way. It is a good 15 min walk in the cold so I was impressed. So in general a great day! I am going to work on posting some video this evening and will write more later.

Previous emails...
2/11/09
I went to 2 places to try to get Internet service for less than 2 yrs and finally signed a contract. Supposedly we will have it in about a week. Max is feeling much better. We took his bike out on sun for a ride along the river andduck and swan feeding. Yesterday was really rainy and cold so we figures out how to take the bus to a jumping place. He had a blast but getting on and off the bus with a stroller in the rain and walking several blocks on both ends of the trip in the rain wore me out! Have to find so closer indoor options. We ordered a wireless data card so we could have Internet anywhere but they tried to deliver it while we were not home so it is now locked in a DHL automatic machine that requires a European debit card to get it out. We have been waiting on our card since before we left the states. This is a major prob since almost no one takes credit cars. This we are having to use cash everywhere. We have our first play date tomorrow at the swimming pool tomorrow with a lady and her daughter who we met at ikea this weekend. She us german but grew up in the UK and her daughter is about macs age. We will have brave the bus system again to go there. Hopefully I can figure out what line and stop we need. Stephan isin Vienna fir two days so this will be our first days totally alone. We will see how max reacts to Papa not coming home tonight! I got an email from Gigi (mom from macs Atlanta school who just moved to Frankfurt with her kids too). They aregavung the same internet issuesbut hopefully we will take the train to visit the inthe next week. Carnival starts here soon. They had a pick off gala last night in the plaza by our house. It was too cold and wet to go out but we watched it on tv. Lots of Funny costumes, dancing and singing. Max was very interested in the show. Stephan said mainz has about 200,000 people and it goes up to 500,000 during carnival. May get really crazy soon. I think the parades start in 2 weeks. Stepans sister and boyfriend (maxs favorrite person) are coming for the weekend in 2 weeks. They were going to drive stephans car down from the harbor but we got a message saying the boat it was supposed to go on got dry docked so it won't ship until deb 20 to arrive some time early march.

2/3/09
Max is doing really well – a little more sensitive than usual and he wants to stay in most of the time but no major breakdowns yet. We did go see a possible new school yesterday. He seemed really worried we were going to leave him there but he really warmed up when he saw that they have a little gym in the basement with mats and a big box of balls they can play in. It is 22 kids in a class which I think is really big for him so I am going to keep looking but at least we have an option. Max has made Amy several pictures already. We have to find a post office and we will send them soon. Max wants me to say he got a new bike today and rode down the cobblestone streets next to me as we went looking for an internet café and he is drinking his juice and water. Not sure what this is about. He has asked about you both tons and wanted to buy Isie some food yesterday. Luckily no breakdowns! We’ll try to write once a week until we get internet at home. Max has been really good while we sit in the café to catch up on some emails.