The Best New Year

After an absence of 2 years we finally made it back to Chicago during Christmas time - and had a blast. So much fun in fact we forgot to take pictures most of the time, and as usual had to snap away in front of the Lufthansa counter at O'Hare, our normal point of departure.

The kids had so much fun with A-Kong and A-Ma, as usual. Monchichi even learned "Kong" during her stay, and now assigns it to any old dude with 1. white hair 2. knit hat 3. white gym shoes - my dad's fashion profile, obviously.

We got back in time to enjoy the snows and low temperatures in Cologne. When the radio advised people to stock up on goods one weekend we just had to laugh - I think the situation was as dire as nonstop overnight snowing and temperatures going down to -15C...or 5F truth be known...The snow did stick around for a while and one Sunday the sidewalks and streets were covered all the way into town.





So many highlights of the Chicago trip:

- spending time with my family
- going to the museums...truly world class. Pig threw a tantrum so I didn't get to take in all of the special diamonds exhibit at the Field Museum, but the dinosaur displays were amazing
- seeing Niki and Leanne and their families
- Alinea
- New Year's Eve...probably one of the best in recent years
- Jochen finally loving Chinese food, courtesy of Chef Ping
- And, last but not least, skiing in Wausau WI, where they believe a good snow gun should be pointed directly in the skiier's face
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Finally, some random pictures just to keep you reading. Unfortunately I think the blog may suffer a bit this year because 1. they're loading me up at work again...the post-maternity leave honeymoon/econ crisis is finally over 2. My new training regime is killing me. The only good thing about running at 6am outside is...you keep running otherwise you freeze your butt off! And you're pretty much looking for bed by 10pm....

1st Advent

And first visit to the Christmas market this year. Monchi had her first ever carousel ride - so looking forward to her experiencing Christmas more fully this year.

The ice-skating rink is a gigantic water puddle, but still an attraction.
The countdown begins to Chicago!!

She Speaks!

Ponchi lives a secret, if indiscreet life. According to the nursery she can walk about two meters unassisted, she has said ja, nein, and Eis. I've never witnessed any of this although the boys can confirm she's used some recognizable words in their presence. Last Friday one of the caretakers in her group caught a whiff of stinkyness and asked the kids who just made a big poo in their diaper. She turned around to see Ponchi raise her finger in the air and confess "Ich".

Belated Birthday Post

Hard to believe my two babies are now 1 and 5! A few weekends ago we celebrated Monchi's 1st birthday, and Jochen and I high-fived on what a good year this has been. Not to say we're not exhausted every day, but somehow the ease with which she joined and completed our family is something we did not expect, and still do not take for granted. We spent this day with Jochen's parents and enjoyed the intimate little party.

The big partying was next day for Pig's Big Do. First the origami invites.


With a bit of online research we discovered the Cologne museums offer a number of birthday party programs, and we were able to arrange a pirate theme party at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, which housed a largely pre-19th century collection.

We had asked all the kids to dress up as pirates - and everyone obliged.

They ran, they shouted, they painted, they played pirate roulette for gold (chocolate) bullions. They also went to the bathroom like a zillion times in the 3 hours. This was the first party we've had where the parents just dropped off the kids, but I have to say kudos to the little pirates - they all managed to mind their captain and stay dry.


Photography is not allowed in the museum, but this is the Arnold Boecklin painting the kiddies "studied". Not only did the docent discuss the picture with the kids, she had a treasure chest full of noise makers so the kids could imagine the waves, the thunder, the rain and the cry of the kidnapped princess. The complete visual/aural experience was eerie and awesome!!

And of course cake and presents



We got a big spontaneous hug from the Pig when we got home that day - aargh, that was reward aplenty, matey!

16 Again (almost) and My New Squeeze

Ok, so the standing joke for the last 7 years is I work for a car company but I don't drive. I started out driving here but after two years and an extra year's extension my MN license was no longer valid - at the time there was no reciprocal agreement with Germany and pretty much the only way for me to get legal was, horreur, sign myself up at the one of hundreds of Fahrschule in Cologne. For a long time I really resented the fact that I would have to subject myself to the whole process, and on the whole I didn't care enough to get my ass in gear to do the paperwork in the US (I haven't been back to MN since 1999, and I don't have state residency anywhere).
If you care to hear more excuses you can read about the trials and travails of getting a German license here.

So I'm bringing this all up now because I finally did something about it: back in February I decided to take advantage of this last mat leave and to just bite the bullet and get through this process. Literally I left Jochen holding the baby so that I could attend the worthless but required 1.5 hrs of theory...all 14 sessions. I also hunkered down and learned to love the stick shift (not really, but we've made our peace)and did the required 24 hrs or more of on the road driving. Given course schedules, Jochen's availability, 4 vacations, going back to work, I finally took the practical yesterday and passed...thank god because I was really getting fed up with the whole thing. I'm glad I did it, and the order has been placed for the Cologne plant to build my own Fiesta - this lime green color is called "Squeeze". I know it's hit Taiwan and I hope the Americans will also give it a warm welcome.
Jochen of course is grumbling about how we don't need two cars, and in my heart of hearts I know he's right. He also thinks I'm a scatterbrained driver and I've told my boss he may have to pay for a bumper or two. I want to practice but after the winter months maybe I'll give it up again. I know I'll miss my leisurely morning commute and the chance to read my New Yorker or IHT en route, but the time freed up from the commute (ok, I live like 3 miles away from work - my husband thinks it's pathetic I don't bike there in the first place, and he sorta has a point) will allow me to focus on my next challenge. I just registered and Hope has booked the flight to join me already - anyone else interested???

PS - although I have to say the Germans do a very thorough job of training their drivers, the whole Fahrschule industry is one that profits from customers paying around EUR1,200+ to get through the process. John, my cousin who took all of 3 days (aside from driver's ed in high school of course) to get me prepped for the State of Illinois driving exam obviously deserves a big thanks after all these years - how did you make it so easy the first time?!!

Until the Cows Came Home

Our week in the mountains in southern Germany turned out to be a bit of a dud, partly because the weather was drizzly five out of seven days, partly because our plan to offload the kids over the day and go hiking backfired once we realized the baby childcare was only 9am - 12pm everyday. That pretty much cramped any plans to go for longer hikes (rain's not enough of a deterrent), which sort of turned this into a passive beach vacation -except there was no beach, no sun, and no umbrella drinks. The hotel itself was nice enough and had a lot of fun things for the kids, we just wished it worked as well as the other places we'd visited in the past.






Pig enjoyed the menagerie on site. He also enjoyed hamming it up in the two shows they put on. In the first revue he was a frog.

Later in the week the kids had the opportunity to dress up as Bavarian princes and princesses. Instead of a feathered tricorn hat Pig went for the glam instead.
The one stroke of luck we had was this week coincided with the local annual return of the cows from the alpine pastures down into the valley, before the onset of winter. The sound of hundreds and thousands of cows and cowbells was most impressive.

So were the super short lederhosen hotpants, which I suppose is sensible wear given the amount of cow doo-doo the cowherds trample through....




And of course, where would we be without the beer tent?


Ponchi making friends with a native.


Loden hats bought at the fair, destined to become part of our Karneval repetoire.


And, last but not least, we did manage some modest hikes, despite the elements working against us. Sure the pictures don't look too bad, but we weren't exactly whipping out the camera in the rain, either.






Did I mention Monchi is significantly heavier than when she first rode in the backpack at the beginning of summer? We're seriously worried that we'll manage to hoist her for any extended period of time next summer!