Before-After - Marlene's New Haircut

Today Marlene got her hair cut for the first time (not counting the home cutting of split ends). For weeks we have been battling over combing her hair, which had never been a problem before. After several threats that if she does not want to brush her hair we need to cut it, she embraced the thought. Marlene has been bugging us for several weeks now that she wants to get it cut. So today was the day. I made an appointment at the kids club hair place in the University Village since it was as well free cone day at Ben and Jerry's. And here is the result. She looks younger and older at the same time.

Amelia's First Birthday

On the 15th of March, one day before we left Germany, we celebrated Amelia's 1st birthday. It is unbelievable that she is already a year old. And while she was fairly easy as a baby she has definitely started to be challenging as a toddler. As soon as a door is open to the outside she heads for it. We (Marlene, my mother and myself) celebrated her birthday with Karin and her daughter Charlotte, Joerg (her godfather) and Eva, and my aunt Christel. She did not get one of my special cakes, that has to wait for next year. I made the "Tupperware Cake" which turned out great. But since this was nothing for a baby, I got her a "Berliner" at the bakery. The lady was so nice to pick the biggest, perfectly round one. We put a candle in it and Amelia actually ate most off it. Unwrapping presents was fun, too. Different than at the baptism, Amelia realized it was all about herself. That was a little difficult for Marlene, who had to make sure her sister unwrapped all the presents correctly.

Week 3 in Germany

We are back a full month now, so I figured, it is time to finish telling our travel tales. Paula, Karla and Einar left Thursday morning for their tour along the Rhine to Cologne and we got ready to head for Berlin. It had gotten much warmer over night and the snow was melting at a rapid speed (did I mention there were flood warnings everywhere because of that). It the last moment I through a few lighter cloths for the kids in the suitcase. The drive to Berlin was very uneventful. No traffic jams etc. The warm air and the cold ground made sure we saw nothing of the beautiful countryside, because the melting/evaporating snow produced a thick layer of fog. The fog lasted until we entered Thuringia, when we got hit by a new cold front moving in from Russia. Oh yah, it started snowing again. By the time we reached Berlin, about a foot of snow had accumulated. My mother had rented a vacation house at the outskirts of the city, between Charlottenburg and Tegel. That forced us to always use the car, because public transportation with the children in the snow, would have been very difficult. I was surprised, how easy driving in Berlin was. I think it might had something to do with the fact, that Berliners did not drive in the snow, so we had the streets nearly to ourselves. The next morning we headed out to visit Schloss Charlottenburg, where I had never been before. Everything looked so peaceful in the white snowcover, it had something timeless. There are many different parts you can visit in this palace, but it was recommended to us to just view the upper rooms which contained a lot of gold and treasure. Museums are difficult places with little children, since often you are not allowed to bring in the stroller (insurance reasons). My mother and I kept switching carrying Amelia, because even the lightest baby get's heavy after a while. Marlene loved seeing the chambers were real kings, queens, princes, and princesses had lived. I would have loved to see more, but time was running out with the girls patience. We left Charlottenburg and headed for the Kurfuerstendamm to have lunch at the KaDeWe, the best/biggest department store in Germany. They have several restaurants inside, among which on the top floor, is a kind of "garden" bistro self service cafeteria with a beautiful view over Gendarmenmarkt. Before we got there, thou, Amelia had fallen asleep in the car and so we decided to drive around the city and view the important sites from the car. We drove along Kurfuerstendamm, then Bahnhof Zoo, down "Strasse des 17. Juni", past Siegessaeule to the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate. We continued along "Unter den Linden" to the Deutscher Dom and Alexanderplatz. This is where Amelia woke up and we drove back to Gendarmenmarkt to go for lunch. After eating and resting, we walked down Kurfuerstendamm, probably the most famous and expensive shopping street in all of Germany (5th Avenue/Oxford Street). Oh what fun it was to fight the snowdrifts and try to stay warm in the wind. It was a very trying walk for Marlene which ended in tears (quite justified). The next day (Saturday) we meat with my brother Klaus st the Red Townhall to visit the Nikolaiviertel, which contained the oldest church in Berlin. It had snowed even more over night and temperatures never got above 30F. Bundled up we walked around (being pretty much the only people). Everything had shades of grey and brown. We decided to walk along the Spree to the Pergamon Museum. The Pergamon Museum is on the so called Museum Island, where there are at least 10 Museums, ranging from Art, Science, History etc. The Pergamon Museum is famous for the Pergamon Altar, the Citygate of Milet and the grand Ishtar gate of Babylon. While Amelia was quite excited to see the blue tiles of the gate, Marlene was done visiting places. In the afternoon we drove to Klaus' place and had dinner with Denise and Antonia. Marlene loved playing with Antonia and her barbies. Since my mother and Denise wanted to see the exhibit "Genius and insanity in Art" in Haus der Kunst, that was our destination for Sunday morning. As interesting as it sounded to me, I knew that a baby and a 4-year old would be very partial to that, so the girls and I went to the "Kunstgewerbemuseum" which is part of a large museum complex not far away. There we so craftsmen and everyday Products from the last 1000 years. Some clothes, glass, porcelain, furniture, and jewelry. Since I love fashion I am always fascinated by clothes that are 800 years old. How do they survive? I could have spent hours there, but again, with children time is short and we headed for the cafeteria and lunch. We were joined by the rest of the family and after they ate we walked over to the Potsdammer Platz. This is the area, which was for decades "no man's land", were the wall went through. Today it tries to be a buzzing, shopping and business center, but since the rents are so high, a lot of companies have left, to go to cheap business parks outside the city. It seems you find more tourists here than people from Berlin. We had a coffee at Starbucks and then Marlene got to take the underground with Denise and Antonia, while Klaus, Amelia, my mother and I took the car to their place. After a nice afternoon of talking and photos we said our goodbye. The drive back on Monday was easy because the sun was shining and the roads dry. Tuesday was spent, doing last minute shopping, packing and, preparing for Amelia's birthday (see separate blog). In the evening i visited my friends Thomas and Rainer in Schwetzingen. I love spending time with them and it is so sad that we can not meet more often. Wednesday we celebrated Amelia's birthday and finished packing, because early Thursday morning it was travel time again. The f;night back was more difficult since the girls slept less, so by the time we reached Seattle everyone was very happy to see Jason again. Overall it was a great trip and I hope we will go back soon. It is funny; Flying with children is like childbirth, you keep forgetting all the horrors.

Happy Easter

This week was springbreak. We were busy getting ready for Easter. On Monday we had an Easteregg Hunt at Tottwatch at Grey Birds house. Two years ago we had the same thing at the same place, but what a difference. The numbers have doubled! Amelia was not so sure what to do with these colorful plastic eggs. What a blessing the innocence about sugar is. On Sunday the Easter Bunny came to our own house while Marlene and I were in church. He left eggs all over the front and back yard. Even the squirrels were happy. One of the eggs was opened by the squirrel and half eaten.

Amelia is mobile

Peace is over. Amelia has reached her first degree of mobility. While sitting with her legs spread apart she is scooting forward. The times that I could put her down and find her at the same spot later are definitely over. She is rolling of beds, chairs and sofas. She does not want to sit on my lap anymore and the stroller is boring unless it is in constant motion. Up there you can see a picture of her first time going outside by herself. She was a little reluctant at first, but then she went for it. Spring is here and we are trying to do a lot of outdoor activities. So the zoo is on top of the list, but it get's very busy there. Here are some pictures from Willawong Station, the Australian Outback Bird House. For the first time Marlene was not afraid to hold a bird.

Week 2.5 in Germany

I did not want to upload too many images in the last Germany post, so I had to split the week. After finishing all the cleaning on Sunday evening, we had the next few days just to visit places. On Monday Ben, Marlene, Paula, Karla, Einar, Jason, Marlene, Amelia and I drove in three cars to Heidelberg and actually found parking along the river bank of the Nekar close together. I guess it helps when it is cold and snows, people tend to stay away. We walked along the Nekar to the "new bridge" and split up there. Jason, Marlene and Ben took all the children along the river to the "old bridge", and Paula, Karla and Karin walked up Philosophers Way. It was so nice to be up above the town again. I used to walk up there every Sunday morning. The view is breathtaking and it is a nice little workout. At noon we met up again at Heiliggeistkirche and had a coffee break at Starbucks because the children had gotten pretty cold. It kept snowing on and off a bit. Time is running when you are in good company, so we had not much time to see everything. We ended up just walking down Hauptstrasse and stopping to get more treats and snacks. We were all miserably cold by the time we made it back to the car. Marlene wanted to play at the playground by the riverbank, so we all went on the dragon teeter-totter, which was a lot of fun, but very dangerous by American standards. We had Dinner all together in Oggersheim at the "Topf" with Schnitzel, beer and wine, before Marlene and Ben left for Switzerland and Jason flew back home Tuesday morning. On Tuesday Karla, Einar and Paula went to Rothemburg ob der Tauber, while I and the girls rested and helped Omi clean up. In the evening I met with the dance girls in Dossenheim at a Greek restaurant. Off all the places to visit around Ludwigshafen, we picked the Schwetzinger Schloss on Wednesday. It was very frustrating too me, that the weather was so bad and prohibited us from doing so much more. If the strollers did not get stuck in the snow or ice, they did not want to move on the rock pebble paths. The statues in the park were all covered by wooden boxes. Soon the babies were nearly as frozen as the lake. And the birds at "the end of the world" were not in their cages, but probably kept inside somewhere. Two peacocks were walking around visibly not happy with their surroundings. Still I enjoyed our little walk. These Baroque castle gardens are beautiful at any time of the year. We had lunch at the "Cafe Journal" which was a very positive experience. It was warm, light, we had high chairs and the food was great.