Spring in Seattle

After all the snow in Germany the weather here in Seattle is so beautiful. It is warm, the sun shines and flowers are in bloom everywhere. So we decided to take some spring pictures with the girls. And here is a little contest. Who can tell me where these pictures have been taken?

Week 2 in Germany

Starting Ashwednesday our week was seriously filled with preparations for the baptism and all the guests that would arrive. My Aunt Gudrun has rented this old warehouse not far from her boutique and remodeled it for her fashion shows and business customers. It is a large elongated room with lots of windows, filled with antiques from my cousin Cornelia's grandmother. It is a beautiful room and absolutely perfect for this kind of party. We ordered a lunch buffet from one of the butchers shops in Oggersheim which is now owned by a female butcher master. She and her staff did a great job preparing the meal. We were responsible for deserts, coffee and cake for the afternoon, as well as drinks and the dishes that we needed. Gudrun organized the tables and chairs and managed the decorations. Everything ended up being perfect. It was nice to be in a private room, especially with the children, so they could run around, without disturbing waiters and other customers. While all these preparations were under way, I found time to visit my friend Virginia and her 15 months old daughter Felicitas, in a small village outside of Darmstadt. Our friend Jutta joined us as well. We spend a lovely afternoon talking about past and present times and walking across the fields in the snow that started to fall - Little did we know how much more was going to come. On Friday morning I woke up to the sound of the neighbor Frau Glaser showeling snow. It had snowed 4 inches over night on the 3rd of March! I could not believe it. This was the day my friends and in-laws were supposed to arrive. Marlene was excited and played all morning in the snow. She helped Omi to clean the sidewalk (a difficult task,since it came down at an inch per hour). Around 11 am Paula, Karla and Einar arrived. I was very glad that they made it. It is not only hard to find Oggersheim coming from the airport, but constant snowfall does not exactly help. They were tired from the long trip, but happy to have finally arrived. Unfortunately Paula's luggage took a detour and did not get delivered until the following Wednesday. Ben and Marlene were supposed to arrive in Frankfurt at 2.30 pm, but in tracking their flight we new early, on it was to be delayed for many hours. They ended up not arriving at all, because for the first time in it's existence the Frankfurt airport was closed due to snow. More than 500 flights were cancelled. Their flight, already in the air, was diverted to Strasbourg, were they decided to get out, because flying back to Paris did not make sense. They ended up spending the night in Strasbourg. My uncle Helmut picked them up the next morning and brought them to Oggersheim. Saturday was spent setting up the party room. Jason was lucky to arrive late Saturday afternoon, so by the time we made it back from the airport, everything was done. Sunday was a beautiful sunshine day. The Baptism went well. Marlene agreed publicly to be baptized in church, but complained that water was running down her neck. Amelia loving all kinds of water had a big smile on her face when Frieder poured the water over her head. The party was great, as the pictures show. I think everyone had a great time.

Week 1 in Germany

It is not even 4 weeks that we left for Germany, but it seems so much longer. It was pretty cold here, when we left, but we had no idea what we would be in for. Our first week was cold. The carnival parades took place at 25 F, and that was the midday high! Our flight over was very pleasant. Amelia had the bassinet and Marlene and I and the whole row to ourselves. Since Amelia had not taken a nap all say, she fell asleep as soon as we took off, because I nursed her to ease the pressure on the ears. She ended up sleeping for 5 house straight! Marlene and I had a drink and dinner and settled in for a movie. That is Marlene watched "Brother Bears" and part of "Wallace and Grommit". I had the choice of 12 other movies, among the "Walk the Line" and "Capote", but Marlene kept talking me through her movie, that there was no way I could concentrate on any of them. After a while we both fell asleep and got a few hours in, until Amelia woke up. And once she was up she decided it was way to interesting in the airplane to sleep. She stayed up for the rest of the flight. In Heathrow everything went without a problem and all three of us fell asleep as soon as we were in the plane to Frankfurt. Ourfirst few days in Germany were spent organizing the big party, shopping and visiting some friends. On Saturday my uncle Wolf and my cousin Helmut with his wife Sylvia visited us in Oggersheim, since they could not join us for the baptism. We had all a lot to tell, because we had not seen each other in years. On Sunday Marlene and I went to the big Carneval Parade in Ludwigshafen. It was so cold that Marlene had to wear a coat on top of her costume, under which she already wore a ton of fleece. We left Amelia with Omi, because it was too cold for her. They took us downtown and we stood in front of the library to see the Parade come by. We arrived at section 10 and left at 61; we did not make it to the traditional 111. Marlene was fascinated by the costumes, the music, and off course the tons of candy the were thrown off the carts. We saw kings, princes, and princesses, dancing girls and witches. Rose Monday we spent the afternoon in Speyer visiting the Theysohn family and talking to Frieder (the pastor) about the baptism. Marlene warmed up to them fast and when Rebecca and Daphne, the grandchildren, came over she had finally someone to play with. On Fattuesday we went to visit Karin, Christian, and Lotte in Heidelberg, were we went to the Heidelberger Parade. It was much smaller than the one in Ludwigshafen; And the people that stood around us were horrible. One lady was so set on getting the cheap candy, that she even tried to take the ones that fell into Amelia's stroller. And she had no problems pushing Marlene over to get to candy. I have never seen something like that. altogether I enjoyed carnival very much. I had loved it as a child, but later rejected it. I watched a lot of the shows and parades on TV. It is a fascinating piece of culture. Off course the "Berliner" (jelly doughnuts) were everpresent in the bakeries.