Easy Rider (for real now)

Fred scored big-time on ebay, using very clever strategizing (if you bid on a kiddie item which closes on the first sunny summery day, you might be the only bidder), so she scored a Puky bike (tiger duck version), which normally goes for around 80% of the original price for a mere 5 % of. We weren't sure how Karl would fare. Obviously he saved the best for last - after his lackluster performances on tricylce, scooter and walking bike, it took him a combined 15 minutes to get the gist of his bicycle. So there he went today (off-day around here), cycling up and down the old cemetary park like a pro. He sure was rather proud of himself while stopping for a brief drink.

We later went downtown, got a bike bell and a lock, did some hardcore city cycling along overcrowded long-weekend-sidewalks (alright, some parental guidance was required for that part), taking some breaks to hang out in various parts of the city.

So - there you go, Mr. Karl. That new chapter started with impressive grace and speed.

Sunny

What a glorious day this was! The town was in complete Summer mode and – as you can see – so were we.

It doesn't look like anybody stayed in today. Because important things were to be done.

Like throwing pebbles.

Or counting them.

Or having an ice cream at Frau Fingerles kiosk.

Or eat Buchstabenkekse in the rose gardens.

Yes, Hubby, this is what you miss when you go on a party circuit from Hamburg to the Starnberger See for two days!

Summer Is Here

Yup, no interaction between these boys. Total focus on the ice cream eating process.

Dreamy, Lovely, Adorable

Don't be fooled – he's just putting on a show. A good one though!

Weekend Update

Faint notions of spring were in the air yesterday. So it was off to the zoo, which also has lots of playgrounds to roam, when you get tired of watching king penguins darting around their icy waters.


Of course one doesn't get tired of watching penguins that fast. So we had a rather drawn out day slouching from station to station down at the zoo. Since it's spring there was the arrival of new animals - baby giraffe, baby elephant and breeding Humboldt penguins were to be observed. Talking about observing - unfortunately missed due to regular working and day care hours was the performance of the massive crane the roofers brought along last week. They sure did an impressively fast job getting the framework up. I'm not sure if they needed that big a crane for the job, or if it was necessary to extend it to about twice the height of our house. But it sure was an impressive sight for me (and the whole neighborhood)... well, back to the boys. Highpoint of the day was of course the visit to the county fair style snack store where everybody got to pick a desert. Karl chose cotton candy, Karl eagerly pointed to the vitrine with chocolate colored berries. There was a distinct calm and focus in the group for a while. Well, of course...

Sick Days

Karl hasn't been sick a lot in Winter, so today he did some catching up with a high fever and overall achiness. He's in better spirits already and loves the fact that TV regulations are loosened in times of sickness.



Last Friday on the other hand it was Henri's turn to draw everybody's attention by falling over his feet and landing on the edge of our bed. Luckily Omi and Opa were there to take care of Karl while Andrian and I took our wild little man to the hospital right away. The laceration was pretty substantial but successfully glued together. Which sort of woke him up just a tiny little bit after he had fallen asleep in the waiting room.

Office Lunch

No kindergarten today, so I made it a bring-your-son-to-dads-cafeteria-for-lunch-day. Quite the success.

Easter Boys

Yup, we were rather late today coloring the easter eggs. Especially since we'll be heading for the mountains tomorrow to have the boys meet some cousins, an uncle, an aunt, grandma and grandpa at some very decent looking Guide Michelin starred country inn in Southern Tyrolia.



It was still a blast though, especially since we went wildly multimedia, assembling all the unused Easter egg kits that somehow got stranded in the closet during the past years. Both boys did a great job, although some of those coloring methods don't really come out as nicely as they look on the package. Well, hey! Got us in the spirit for a brief vacation in the northernmost part of Italy (yes, it's under three hours to the Italian border from here, but like most citizens of Munich this is mostly a bragging right to make Northern Germans jealous, because you make it about as often to Italy as the regular New Yorker to the Liberty Island. Alright, a little more often....)

Happy Easter!

Springtime in Munich

The big news of this weekend was of course that the scaffolding went up around our house. The building permit finally got in (after some impressive show of buereaucratic stamina by Fred), so the roofer will start this week. Before such brute tasks are begun Karl and Henri turned the scaffolding into a stage for theatrics first. Henri's red nose by the way is colored by some primo strawberry ice cream, which we got from the parlor next door (which had an line half a block long - well it was the first day of real weekend spring weather today and the self-made ice cream of the family run place is pretty good). So we had our first taste of a lazy afternoon on the garden side balcony, which gets some rather spectacular golden hour light year round.



There was also some major garden action with some left-over piping turned into ninja weaponry.



First stones were also cast into the waters of the "icy creek" which runs through the English Gardens...




...followed by some serious hammered dulcimer cadencing (which supposedly is really popular in Romania, where this gentleman was most likely from).



And then there was this great summer sledrun somebody put up on the side of the Monopteros Hill. You basically sit down on some sheets of corrugated plastic strings and go down fast. Afterwards your butt feels like a spaceship which just re-entered the atmosphere. But who could say no to the repeatedly squealed demands for just one more run.



Nothing beats a full Sunday of course like a chicken dinner eaten viking style on your mother's lap, while your fleet of toy cars is parked right next to it. As good as it gets in a two year old's book.