The More the Merrier

We had friends over for a BBQ today. A perfect way to spend a Sunday in Germany. 

 Lara, Leon and Sophie were joined by Andrés and Lina for dinner.

Then a couple of nasty wasps wanted to join in as well.

The First Annual Robertson 4th of July BBQ

There was no question though we left the U.S. that we would continue to celebrate the American holidays like Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. Any reason to have a party, right? 

Our friends and neighbors were happy to hear that and we managed to get quite a fun crowd together for our first 4th of July BBQ in Duesseldorf. 

The planning was half the fun. 

I am quite proud of my little cheese cake creation. Not quite 50 stars, but 13 stripes! And it must have tasted ok, as it was gone in a heartbeat.

We went all over town trying to find a flag post to properly hang the flag Andrew had purchased on Long Island. We could only find fixtures for boats, so our bedroom window had to make do. 

Ah, the master of the beer and the burger meat fairy, alias uncle Ralph and aunt Helga, have arrived. Let the party begin.

Well, we opted for German beer instead of an American brew. That's understandable, right?

I think this was 8 lbs of ground beef. Twelve hours later, there was none left.

We could not have lucked out more with the weather. Probably the only nice day with California blue skies in the first three weeks of July. The rain arrived two hours after the end of the party and was to stick with us.

Two of Berit's friends - Li and Dennis hanging out in the beach basket.

We extended an automatic invitation to next year's BBQ to everyone who was present today.

More red, white and blue than I ever used to wear in the States.

Let me guess, airplane talk by the grill?

Kids' corner was in our neighbor's garden.

Lina's little brother Philip taking a siesta. He was to have a rude awakening when he was in the line of fire of a water pistol squirt from his big sister.

Andrew wearing his Hawaiian airplane shirt (making sure the grill does not catch on fire?)

Caught the kids finishing the candy underneath our dining table.

Finally, sparklers for the kids. For next year, we will save some proper fireworks from New Year's. 

The party went on for many more hours. Our margarita was flowing faster than the beer until we ran out of all three bottles of tequila. 

We thank everyone for coming and celebrating and look forward to next year's bash. 

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. 

To Schloss Benrath With Two Very Special Visitors

Yesterday evening, we picked up to very special visitors from the airport: Sophie's friend Ciaran and his mother Elly arrived for a three day visit. They are thus our first guests from the U.S.. Since they had flown from the U.S. to England a few days before, their jet lag should not be quite so bad. 

Fortunately, the weather is still helping to show Düsseldorf from its best side, and Sophie and I were excited to show our new home to our friends. After a good night's rest, despite Ciaran refusing to share a room with Sophie, we jumped on the bus to go to Schloss Benrath. 

 Ciaran liked riding on public transport very much.

 Who needs a playground when you can run around on the lawn?

 Both displaying their new favorite t-shirts (thank you, Auntie Sandra!)

 But a playground can't hurt. Or can it? Although this seesaw was the cause for a number of bruises on the kids' shins, it was still a major attraction.

 Monkey swings

 Little princess and her pink palace.

 Guards

 All different kinds of chocolate ice cream! Heaven.

As it was our next door neighbor's birthday, we all had a good enough reason to open the 2012 BBQ season with a potluck and keg of cold beer. The kids have been playing all across our three lawns in the nice weather - sharing and fighting over toys. Perfect. Loving it.

Here is also Elly's blog link to the Benrath excursion:

http://babyblogging.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/schloss-benrath/