Everyone Had the Same Ideas

The hottest weekend of the year. 

We decided to cycle through the forest for a cool down at the Unterbacher See together with our neighbors Mark, Andrés, and Adrian.

 However, this was the line to enter the beach park. These must all be people who had circled in their car for ages to find parking only to be standing in this line now. 

 There was no way I was going to stand in that line, so we headed to the nearby playground in the forest to stay somewhat cool.

 Andrés and Sophie playing frog.

 After a couple of hours in the woods, we gave the lake another try as we were desperately longing for a dip in the water. The line was much shorter, it was still very busy inside, but manageable and above all the kids had a blast and wore themselves out. 

See if you can spot Sophie in this picture above.

There's a good way to handle the heat. 

Acquiring Essentials on Andrew's Birthday

We had our big helpers coming to visit for a few days: Oma, Aunt Helga, and Uncle Ralph. Armed with a drill, wrench and other handy tools, they were ready for our to-do list (not the honey-do list as I know better not to let Andrew near these fiddly tasks).

 First priority: setting up our Strandkorb (courtesy of Oma) while it was still mostly dry out. With this Strandkorb (literally beach basket) we have become very German. It really does block out the wind and some rain. And there is even a little table for our gin and tonics and apple juice of course - very clever design. Did I mention the foot rests?

 Quick break for the helper, Uncle Ralph. We beat the estimated set-up time of 2 hours by 15 minutes.

 My mum already promised that she would be spending quite some time in the Strandkorb this summer.

 Next, we headed to one of the numerous DIY-stores (the Germans have more than the Italians, British and some other country I can't remember put together) and to our surprise were met with excellent customer service by a first generation Italian-German. She sold us the "Bakersfield" grill. We downsized a little from our U.S. "monster" of a BBQ, but it can still cook good old American hamburgers. Andrew is happy.

 We had our neighbors (Andrés and Lina) over for our birthday dinner.

 ... as well as Berit and her friend Li.

I have to say, I was quite proud of my birthday chocolate cake creation. In never thought that baking could be so much fun. 

French Slumber Party

Drove back to the South Bay today. Sophie had a dinner and sleepover date with her friend Nico. While Andrew needed to have his chipped tooth fixed, the kids were busy playing. Time for Bea and I to catch up over some tea.

"I might have one more if s/he is at least 15 months old and as cuddly as little Alex (Nico's brother)."

 Bon Appétit!

 Post-dinner spa treatment

Personal story reader

... and then it only took Nico and Sophie a little while to fall asleep; they were so excited about the sleepover. 

Now let the wine flow!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

 With the weather slowly deteriorating, we tried to come up with a good indoor activity today. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is always a fun trip for Sophie (and the rest of us). Nanny had one more day off, so of course she came along. On the way there, we stopped at Moss Landing to visit Uncle Mick and see the real thing first. 

Uncle Mick had some fresh-caught crab for us. Yum yum.

Sophie was not too thrilled about the crab though. However, she enjoyed watching the seagulls fighting over some of the broken pieces. We also spotted sea otters and sea lions in the wild before we drove on to the aquarium. I hope this is not a total picture overload. I tried to pick the best ones.

Sophie enjoying the touching pool. Learning how sea otters eat abalone.

We could not get enough of the jellyfish exhibit.

A sunfish - odd looking creature.

Beautiful sea turtle

Sophie's favorite: the hammerhead shark

One more closeup of the sunfish

Little sea horse

Spicy ice cream treat after nearly four hours in the museum.

Carmel

Nanny took a couple of days off to spend more time with us (yay!), so we decided to take a trip to Carmel. The warmth and sunshine is slowly leaving us and the Bay Area seems to finally be getting some long overdue rain. We were lucky to be escaping the rain for one more day here. 

 (Auntie Sandra: note the jacket)

 Sophie's footprint (for some reason it looks like it's bulging on the picture)

 Looking for more sea treasures. Sophie is holding a piece of kelp in her hand.

 The only way to eat a hearty sandwich in the park.

When we returned back to Nanny's house, auntie Shirley and auntie Karen arrived to have dinner with us. Sophie is creating a bit of an Under The Sea atmosphere for them.

Play Date with Fiona

For the afternoon, we were invited to our good friends', the Skagens, house. Sophie had been looking forward to playing with her old friend Fiona and her little sister Maja.

 Maja, Andrew, Sophie, and Ciaran were playing with a rocket toy. Ciaran managed to shoot the rockets to the neighbor's and onto the roof - very impressive.

 Snack time for the girls. Ciaran decided to skip snack and enjoyed having the play structure to himself.

 Fiona had just had a pirate-themed birthday party and Ciaran and Sophie were given left over pirate accessories. 

No, no one is crying. They arrrgh just being angry pirates.

Beach Date with Ciaran

Today, we enjoyed Ciaran's company while Elly was busy with errands. Since it was another beautiful and sunny day, albeit a tiny bit cooler, we headed back to the beach in Capitola. Our original plan was to  meet Nanny for lunch, but unfortunately, she was not able to escape today. So we bought Togo's sandwiches for a picnic on the beach. Ciaran was a little upset at first that he was not going to eat his sandwich right then and there, but he quickly got over it when he set foot on the warm sand.

 Once at the beach, both only had a few bites. There were more important things to do.

 Did I mention that I love this blue sky?

 ... and the smell of the ocean?

 While Andrew and the kids were checking the water temperature, the girl on the picture was about to have her finger bitten and burrito stolen by a seagull. 

 Then Sophie and I baked cupcakes,...

 ... while Ciaran and Andrew played with a giant frisbee.

 Recharging with a bottle of apple juice (or coffee respectively) at a very cute café in the village. 

 Sophie and Ciaran found some kids' books at the café.

A tired boy on the drive home. And the day was not over yet.

Remembering And Discovering

I realize that we have not made a new entry in a while. This was for two reasons: 1) Andrew has been home and we have simply had better things to do ;-), 2) Andrew decided during the middle of the past week that neither one of us was allowed on the computer for two days except to briefly check our email twice a day. It seemed that Andrew had had a harder time with it (I caught him on facebook twice on day two). We agreed to make this a regular thing - no computer for two days per week. It felt very liberating I have to say. 

So if I am going to pick only one event to blog about tonight, I will choose to write about what we did today and then work my way back through the past week. Andrew is back to work tomorrow, so we made today very much a family day with a bit of an excursion, some fresh air and a nice Sunday meal. We are still getting used to German Sundays - nothing (only gas stations and restaurants are open). That results in everyone panicking and stressing out to get everything done on Saturday, only to sit there with nothing to do on Sunday.

It being almost Remembrance Day, we decided to take a short drive northwest to the Reichswald military cemetery where more than 7,000 allied soldiers lie buried, most of them British. 

 It was very moving to say the least. 

 It was divided into two halves: RAF soldiers to the left and army to the right.

 Soldiers that had gone down in one airplane were buried together.

 The personal inscriptions by family members in the gravestones (made from Portland stone!) were heartbreaking. We hardly found anybody older than 31. 

 The one soldier's grave who had received the Victoria Cross. 

 After our visit to the cemetery, during which Sophie was very patient and well-behaved, we had promised her a stop at a small zoo nearby. Not quite the San Francisco Zoo, but these birds could have fit right in there, we thought.

 Or how about this pigeon with those fancy feet.

 These castle ruins were right next to the zoo in Weeze.

 Very impressive deer. It's mating season - not that we saw anything we needed to explain to Sophie. Phew!

 Climbing trees with Daddy's help.

 A bit lopsided.

 By chance we discovered that the German war cemetery for the area was right next to this zoo. We thought we might as well take a look. It was deserted. And somber. What stood out was that most soldiers buried here were a lot older than the Allied soldiers, many of them 45 - 50 years old. The younger ones had already been dead this close to the end of the war. What a waste of lives.

This note was posted on a tree at the cemetery. One of many missing soldiers. Many bodies remained unidentified as the local population did not return to this area until August '45 to "clean up." 

While we were out it grew increasingly cooler and grayer. November has finally caught up with us. Brr!

Time for a delicious Sunday dinner: Duck a l'orange. Andrew outdid himself. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the dish. I was quite hungry. But here is one of Sophie eating her dessert. And no, that is not an alcoholic beverage in front of her. Also, please disregard the messy kitchen counter in the background.