Getting ready for the Trip

I can not believe that it is less than a week until we are going to Germany. Even thou I don't like to admit it, I am pretty nervous. Traveling with two will me more challenging, especially since Amelia does not like to sleep in my arms. Marlene is very excited and started working on the German CDs again. It will be very interesting to see how her language abilities will grow. Last time (is it really nearly 2 years?) she was still little enough, that she did not have to talk, but now, especially given her size, everyone will expect her to. I have been doing a million of last minute things. Buying presents, getting my hair cut, getting all paperwork together, doing laundry, organizing Fish-sitting etc. It is not going to help that next week is midwinter break and Marlene will have no school on Monday or Wednesday. Our weekend was great. I did not get the Virus while Jason was gone (sorry, for all, who put money on that), I got it on Monday and it was not pretty. Luckily Julie was able to pick Marlene up from school and Jay was able to come home a little early. My birthday party was great, we had a lot of tea and tried many different cocktails. Marlene got her school evaluation. She is doing very good. She has mostly 3s (ready for kindergarten and just a few 2s. Now the next hurdle will be to get into John Rogers, the school by our house. In May they will announce school closures and I am very worried that John Rogers might be one of them. We will see.

Amelia's Week

All the action seems to happen around Marlene, so I decided to dedicate this blog entry to Amelia. She had a fairly big week. On Monday we had all the (younger) children from Totwatch over. She played for a while with/next to Asher with the Little people Farm. Later that day we tried riding the Princess Car. She absolutely loves it and get's really excited when she sees or hears the car. On Tuesday Vail and Hannah came over with their younger sisters. who loved playing with the baby. I think they enjoy not being the youngest. On Wednesday Amelia got sick. I don't know if it is the virus, but suddenly she developed a temperature of 103 F. Today, on Thursday we are planning on walking to the library and later dropping Marlene and Jason of at the airport. After that we are probably going to have dinner at Ikea. Tomorrow we have a date set up at Bellevue Square with one of my coworkers and her 5 months old son. And the weekend will be dedicated to my birthday. I am looking forward to spending some time alone with Amelia. The last time we were alone, I was 10 weeks pregnant with her and the placenta ripped off. So I am hoping for less upsetting events this time.

Superbowl and the aftermath

Well, on Sunday was the Superbowl. We went to a big party at Scott and Mara's house in Everett. It was a great place, because the boys were downstairs watching and cursing, while the women with children were upstairs. Yes, we live in a gender segregated society. Off course we were all upset about the result. It is a great conspiracy against Westcoast football (or so I have been told). My contribution to the party was a Seahawks cake, made with real homemade buttercream. I have never made buttercream before; it just sounded to daunting. I learned, that it is not that difficult and after tasting it, there is probably no way back. It was fabulous. The fallout of the party was, that Jason came down with Marlene's stomach virus. I think the consumtion of beer at the party might have had something to do with it, but this was not a normal hangover. Jason spent Monday and Tuesday in bed, after only throwing up twice on Sunday night. So far I have not gotten it, but I have been feeling a bit nautious. I am looking forward to a weekend just with Amelia, with Jason and Marlene gone to California (bets are being taken right now, over the fact that I will get the virus as soon as they leave).

Marlene's First Field Trip

Today Marlene's class went on a field trip to the "Museum of Future Flight" in Mukeltio. Everyone was very excited because for many children it was their first field trip and the first time to ride in a schoolbus (it was my first time in an American schoolbus, as well). I went along as a chaperone, which gave Jason the chance to spent the morning alone with Amelia. The museum opened last December and is basically a big promotion for Boeing's newest airplanes. Right now that is the 787, the"dreamliner", which will enter the testflight phase in 2007. We started by watching a 3D introduction to airplane construction. It was done so well that the children started to grab for the objects that seemed to hover over our heads. We got to enter the cockpit of a 727 and the kids got to touch and press all the buttons. We saw an empty cross section piece of a 747 and we got to enter into a section of the new dreamliner. We learned about the range and energy efficiency of the 787 as well as the new cabin layout and seating. Finally we took a class picture in front of one of the engines. Some of the children were quite worried that it would suddenly start. While we were waiting for our schoolbus to pick us up, one of the guides suggested, we watch a short 10 minute movie about Boeing. It contained a fascinating 5 minute time-elapsed construction of a 747-400, a process that usually takes between 7 and 10 months. It is hard to believe that less than a quarter mile away is this world largest building, where they can built 6 of these planes at the same time. The museum offered as well many computer stations where everyone is able to design their own airplane, but due to time limitations and the fact that we were there with 25 4-year olds made this impossible for us. By noon we were back at the Shoreline children Center. Marlene was especially happy to have participated in the field trip, since she had spent the previous evening an night, every throwing up every 15 minutes after contracting a stomach virus. Through the ordeal she was very worried that she might not be able to go, but by 7 am she jumped out of bed and seemed fine again.

The last Dance

Last Thursday was Marlene's last Dance Class. We are sorry, to say goodbey to her fabulous teacher Anne. It was time for Marlene to move on. We started Swimmlessons a few weeks ago and Marlene loves it. She is the one with the least water experience in class and I think it is good that she gets more exposure. So far they have learned the 'blast-off", "chicken-angel-soldier" and the "monkey walk". While she seems to have fun, Marlene is quite cautious and does not want to put her face in the water. After our return from Germany I want her to start soccer. She has the need to run more and dancing was just not challenging enough. Right now we go on daily walks to strengthen her legs and endurance. I just wish it would stop raining. I am contemplating to add a Gym to the Arch I am building. You just don't know how many days we will have to float.