Picture Show

The boys got to see their first feature film today.



Rather perfect fare. Even Henri was mesmerized. For a while at least. Karl was absolutely thrilled though. It is a great movie - here's Fred and Henri watching the scene when the pyramid of elephants comes tumbling down due to Dumbo's clumsy first efforts in artistry.

Occupy Playground

It's fun to see the boys making the neighborhood their own. The stroll around the beaten paths in a self-assured, relaxed manner, they wave at shopkeepers, when Karl pointed out "dad's barber" to his friends Maximilian and Ophelia the barber stopped cutting hair to briefly step out to distribute candy to the kids, Karl compares notes about ice cream parlors. Just when Karl and Ophelia took that new "Occupy Playhouse" game to the point of a crowd of crying kids trying to be part of the fun, some parental blue helmet intervention was called for.

Otherwise - a rather relaxed vacation, getting some cues in how to hang back from the boys.

Hangin' Out In The Neighborhood

Rather mellow Sunday without the pressure of an elaborately structured day. So off we went. Had some pancakes at the Cafe followed by some window shopping at the famous neighborhood chocolate maker's.

For a little while at the playground the boys looked like the whole no-schedule-business put the "bore" back into neighborhood. It turned into a great study of the looking-for-trouble-mentality of boys though.



After I kept them from climbing the fence, because they wanted to run off to look at some fancy cars parked along the other side of the street, after some other parental units stopped some instances of assault and robbery, I finally let them have some fun with their "occupy playhouse" mission. They met their match though. After they successfully kept a gang of girls from climbing the playhouse Karl kept on taunting them with the bugaboo-airpump, which he claimed to be a special gun. The girls laughed at him loudly, called him a little farter and dared him to shoot at them, which he did, which provoked even more laughter and taunts. Karl was very embarassed but kept on standing his ground. Until dad cleared the high altitude occupy camp with the stern reminder of an imminent bath.

2 !

Today is Henri's birthday. He was immensely thrilled to discover a chocolate cake with a mini-train and lots of smarties on the kitchen table this morning. And a colorfully wrapped present, which turned out to be a bright yellow muscle car with doors, hood and trunk you can open. Naturally he wouldn't let go of his new car for a second. More on this festive day later...

Touring Bavaria: A New Start

We definitely are not the most outdoorsy people (a.k.a. total shut-ins) and pretty much every year we tell ourselves that we need to get out there more often. Some years we do better than others and my hopes are high for 2012. Due to the renovations of our new home there won't be any long vacations like last year so it's time to tour Bavaria! It really is beautiful after all (if you ignore the Bavarians).



After some resistance (Andrian and I are not the only shut-ins) I took the boys out to the Ebersberg forest which is – who knew? – the largest contiguous forest in Germany. Karl had wanted to bring two backbacks and I talked him down to one, but luckily he ended up bringing his battle ax as well as his blowtube, which can also be used as a telescope, because he totally needed that stuff.



Of course we had to have a picnic ten minutes into the walk.



The tower on the right is part of the nature trail we walked. Henri climbed the whole thing by himself, but I really got dizzy watching after him while climbing. This thing is high!



Safer ground. Time for a late lunch.



Karl and Henri were so exhausted from all the unfamiliar nature that they were incredibly well-behaved at the restaurant. They happily ate their vegetables (french fries) and fruit (ice cream) and flirted a lot with older ladies at neighboring tables.

After some time at the playground we took off.



Andrian was on Sunday newspaper duty so we picked him up – as usual a highlight for the boys. Karl went back to his usual modus operandi right away: this is him in Dr. Buddeus-Buddes office (she's the childrens book editor, duh).



The two editors-at-large working on the final touches for tomorrows cover image.

Tantrum

One of the many great things about having a two and a four year old is that the four year old shows you how just skin deep those temper tantrums really are. Karl tried a belated one today (your really should get those out of your system by the time your terrible twos turn into the terrific threes, on the other hand of course, some people never get out of it, as many a Hollywood lawyer will tell you), but in the end he couldn't keep a straight face and had to laugh about the whole silly affair.

Ice Cream Season

Technically of course there's always ice cream season, but the outdoors ice cream season has officially been opened today.



It actually feels like Spring has been skipped completely and it's Summer already! The beautiful weather came so fast that Henri was just not yet comfortable to get rid of hat and jacket.

Juice Bar

The past two afternoons Karl spent at his BFF Ludwigs house. He has chicken pox and therefore can't leave the house. Meanwhile Henri and I hung out at the juice bar.

Busy Saturday

It was Saturday. I was running errands around the new house with Opa Paul riding shotgun in a rental cargo van to move some garden furniture friends of us gave us (they started the whole family biz early, so they're about to be empty nesters and they just moved from a house very near to our new house into an apartment around the corner from our current location, so we gave them restaurant tips, they gave us tons of garden equipment - score!) Fred and the boys stayed behind. Gleefully frolicking, as you can see.



We already told the neighbors that maybe not our days, but our months are numbered over here in our fantastic but increasingly crowded abode. They said they were sorry. I am sure they won't miss the drumming session at the kitchen, the performance space around here. Those kitchen utensils are good for some major decibels. Karl even broke a wooden spoon, which is even harder than breaking a drumstick. I think we should prepare ourselves mentally for some very annoying pop music choices come puberty. The next highlight of the day was of course the return of dad with Opa Paul in tow. They sure love their grandpa those two. Heavy competition for his attention, Karl definitely at the verbal advantage, which Henri counters with pouts, fluttering eyelashes and coy smiles. So far it's a tie.



It was right away off to the playground. First glimpse of spring, so there was a lot of running around and climbing and stuff.



Henri is about to master the hanging pirate's bridge, which made him very proud. Dinner with Opa and his spouse "Ria" followed, plus drinks with my stepsister and her new boyfriend the Swiss seismologist, who stopped by (first time meeting your new girl's folks and there's a an army of patchwork family members including two rowdy boys who try to recruit you for wrestling matches and Gruffalo readings? That young man sure stood his ground poised).

Plans for tomorrow - none. Which sounds just perfect.

Homecoming

Damn great to be back home again. Got the boys a Snoopy Snow Cone Maker. Which of course was a hit. Well, who doesn't love snow cones?



We tried a couple of flavors, Karl grinding the ice, dripping the fruit juice on the icy mountains of snow crystals.



Henri agreed. He was rather particular about the cleanliness of the table though, with his big brother and his dad spreading snowflakes around like it was a Noreaster in January.



Afternoon it was a visit to the house Henri got a kick out of the wheelbarrow. Karl was quite industrious. Rewarding himself with a quick read in the hallway after some hard child labor in the service of creating some real estate assets for the family.

Headline Goes Here

My two pretty boys here are quite excited to get their dad back tomorrow from his extended (felt like it anyway) trip to California.



I'm keeping this short since the pictures are cute enough and I didn't even have the chance to watch a movie while Andrian was gone. I've been watching these two.



So tonight, I'm going to watch (don't tell anybody): I Don't Know How She Does It.