Jump Around the Paddling Pool

Cousins Thore and Talea are visiting Oma in Geldern this weekend. Sophie went ahead with Berit on the train on Friday night to join them. This meant that Andrew and I did not only have an evening off (and we did not stay at home), we also got to sleep in the next morning before we also headed for Geldern 20 hours later.

 Oma had bought a giant paddling pool for the kids. She must not have been thinking because she does not have a garden hose. It took innumerable trips to the kitchen sink with the watering can. 

 One - two - three...

 ...everybody jump now!

And time for a break in true Thore-style.

G5 Summit in Geldern

Cousins Talea and Thore were spending a week with Oma in Geldern and the two other cousins Luca and Kiron were going to be dropped off as well this weekend. So we thought it would be a brilliant idea to add Sophie to the mix. After all, Talea needed some more girl support. In order for Oma not to get a complete nervous breakdown, Berit and I stayed around to help. But the kids actually entertained each other very well.

 Two princesses and a knight

 OK, so one evening Berit and I were able to escape to watch one of the football euro cup games (Germany : Greece) on the big screen. 

 Like a production line

 Special movie treat while Thore is napping. At one point, Sophie had her arm around Talea.

 Yes, who would have ever thought? I actually started knitting. My ultimate goal is to knit the Royal Family. 

Dessert.

No comment. 

It was definitely a very fun weekend. This here is a huge reason why we moved to Germany. 

Sick

Since Andrew is still in the U.S. working, Sophie and I decided to visit Berit and Oma in Geldern for the weekend. On Saturday, Sophie still felt just fine, even enjoying some ice cream in 8 degree weather.

... so we colored some Easter eggs.

 But then on Sunday, she woke up with a stomach bug (I'll spare you the details) and felt progressively worse during the day. She watched "Tangled" all the way to the end with Berit,

...but then she passed out for a nap. For Sophie to be napping in the afternoon, she must be sick.

Berit and Dennis were so nice to drive us home, where we stayed for the next two days, i.e. no preschool.

Carnival in Geldern

To my family's surprise I pulled another fancy dress costume out of my sleeve for the parade in Geldern today.

 The nice wicked witch

 Robin (aka Berit) and Belle with butterfly face painting (aka Sophie)

 While we watched the parade from Berit's balcony, my mum celebrated on the balcony across the street.

 dm - my favorite store (it's a drugstore) giving out sponges and soap instead of candy

Catching the mood

 Belle's boyfriend is a munk

Bellerobin

- one more day of Carnival with the big parade in Düsseldorf tomorrow, then off to Berlin

Helau! - Carnival Parade #1

We took the train up to Geldern today for my mum's birthday. Shortly after we arrived, Berit suggested we check out the Carnival parade in a little village nearby called Kapellen. Even though the big party does not start until Thursday, they stagger the parades out a little bit.

We quickly donned some silly hats and off we went. Too bad Andrew decided not to leave the Lederhosen on.

 Like I said, this is a very small town, so the floats were nothing like the ones in Düsseldorf or Cologne, but still quite cute.

 I always caught the floats from behind because I had to help collect the candy they threw first. Here is a bunch of Elmos and Cookie Monsters.

 Classic.

 So Sophie figured out quickly that the louder you yelled "Helau" the more candy they would throw at you.

 Andrew learned, too. 

We returned with a grocery bag full of candy and two plants. Who would like some? 

 Back at my mum's, Sophie continued digging through the fancy dress box and found the hula skirt.

Must have been an exciting day. Kiss goodbye from Daddy, as he left to go back to work. 

Christmas Day Dinner Or the Geldern Chainsaw Massacre

As opposed to the majority of other English-speaking kids, Sophie slept in until about 9 am on Christmas Day.

After some playtime with the new doll house and Ariel Barbie, we headed over to a nearby restaurant to meet with my sister Anke and her family for a Christmas lunch buffet. 

When we took a shortcut through the bushes and behind the patio from the parking lot to the restaurant we got the German stare. An entire family seated near the window turned around in unison to watch us do the forbidden. I swear one uncle spat out his soup. It must have been quite the boring family gathering if we were the attraction...

 Sophie and Kiron were certainly happy to see each other again. They spent a lot of time catching up under the table.

After lunch we headed back for coffee to my mum's house. More presents were exchanged for the kids. Kiron received by far the coolest toy. Yes it's a chain saw! And he had the word down fast, walking around saying: Kettensäge - he he.

Putting Some JOY into German Christmas

Today, one of my sister Berit's wishes came at least partially true: she has wanted her siblings to celebrate Christmas together at my mum's house in Geldern. Well, this had not been an option for me for years, as I could never take time off over the holidays. So I quit my job in September and here we are. Not all siblings there at the same time, but in stages over the next few days. 

Andrew, Sophie and I took the train to my mum's on the night of the 23rd. I got a few smiles for the Santa hat. Some Germans take this Christmas business very seriously. Since Christmas Eve is the big day and Santa has to magically deliver all of his presents to the German kids in a very short time span between church and dinner and not before it gets dark of course, we decided to come up a night early to get the English/American Christmas Eve feel full of anticipation and last minute tasks. We brought English Stilton and some good port (it was 'sweet' enough so that my mum would drink it as well) and enjoyed confusing Andrew with ever new rules to the board games we played. He thinks it's a mean German trick. 

So here are a few pictures of our not so white but very fun Christmas in Germany. I'm still sorry about the picture quality.

 Thank you auntie Sandra for sending Sophie this beautiful outfit. She took such good care of it that she was able to wear it again on Christmas Day. 

 Three generations.

 Happy times ... and off to church (!) for the kindergarten nativity play. Sophie was mesmerized, especially since her friends from her Geldern preschool were performing. 

 When it was getting dark, Andrew, Sophie and I went for a walk trying to spot Santa. It felt very cold, but we had to stay out for a little while. Only to find out that we had missed Santa! If only we had stayed home, we would have seen him drop of all of these presents!

 Oh, and Santa knew exactly that Sophie wanted a doll house.

 Andrew's present: a bottle of Laphroaig single malt. I don't think he liked it one bit.

 My mum stuck on the floor while...

... the three big kids played with the doll house. 

We had a relaxed and happy evening together filled with good food (raclette), drink, laughter and games. And although we missed our family and friends in California, it was nice to celebrate Christmas in this constellation for a change. If we ever host Christmas at our house in future years, we might ask Santa to come during the night while we are sleeping, however. That way we will not have to come up with some weird explanation why the NORAD Santa tracker showed Santa only over Russia when in reality he had already been at our house in Germany. 

Picking Our Christmas Tree

Today we drove out into the middle of nowhere past Geldern, got lost a couple of times, to pick up our Christmas tree. Unlike in the Bay Area, there aren't many places out here that will chop down the tree for you right there and then. I was really glad we found this place. 

 It was almost getting dark and a major storm was forecast for the next day - very eerie.

Sophie on the hunt for the tree that was calling our name. 

Last Day of Preschool in Geldern

Today was Sophie's last day in the Ladybug group at her preschool in Geldern. And although we are looking forward to moving into our own place in Duesseldorf, it was also sad to say goodbye today. Sophie had just started to make a couple of closer friends. We still think that placing her in this preschool for a couple of months has helped her with the huge transition of moving from California to Germany. It's amazing to watch her adapt so well. We could all learn a little bit from these kids. In particular living in the now.

 At the end of the last day, she was given a binder with a little report on how and what she did during her two months and other memorabilia, such as artwork and photographs.

 And a little gift to her big surprise.

 A small purse - perfect for her little pixie books.

 One picture with her favorite teacher Judith. Sophie adored her!

And one big hug for her other teacher Lissy.

We promised to come back to visit soon.