A Saturday in the Life of Sophie (and her parents)

Today was shaping to be a beautiful day, filled with fun activities and lots of sunshine.

In the morning, Sophie played with Lina.

 Here they are taking a moment to read a story. Sophie is actually translating the book for Lina as it is a story in English.

 Then Lina had to get ready and head off to the airport to go on vacation. Incidentally we were also taking the bikes on the train to the airport in order to go to a birthday party nearby. We promised to look out for Lina's plane. This one here is a plane just like the one Daddy usually takes to and from Leipzig.

 There was a bike path right along the perimeter of the airport. Perfect for plane spotting. Of course, we ended up being late for the party. "Just one more airplane." We were so close we could hear the wake turbulence from the planes.

 Although impossible to tell from the picture, this was Lina's flight taking off.

 Sophie was invited to Lara's 5th birthday garden party. It was her first drop off birthday party. Judging by Sophie's statements afterwards, she had a great time.

And it was an opportunity for Andrew and I to "kill" a few hours in Kaiserswerth. We cycled past the nearby moat castle in Kalkum, on to the Rhine, had a drink at the beer garden next to the Kairserpfalz castle and a lazy picnic near the Rhine River shore. What a way to spend a sunny afternoon. 

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 Piñata

Yes, a piñata in Germany! Not only did Andrés' and Adrian's Abuela help to build the playhouse in the back garden, she also transported a piñata in her suitcase. Our neighbor Gabi choose one early evening for the kids to have a go at that Elmo face. The closest birthday was little Adrian's, so that was more or less used as an excuse.

 Gabi giving instructions. For some reason, Lina and Sophie thought that they needed to get changed into their princess and fairy outfits.

 Andrés went ahead and showed the girls how to do it.

Then Sophie had a rather feeble go.

 And here is Lina with the piñata still intact.

 The final blow with the goodies spilling out.

 Followed by a mad hunt for the candy and various little toys.

Lina and Sophie found some Elton John-type sunglasses in the fallout.

Thank you, Abuela, please come again. We all enjoyed your visit.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

It is possible even here, if only for a couple of days a year: the temperatures hit a toasty 99° F / 37° C and no clouds in sight. I am not complaining.

Here is what the kids where up to after some indoor play time during the greatest midday heat.

(Actually this shot was taken a few days ago; today the kids were naked.)

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. 

A Very Special Guest

Back in Duesseldorf, Andrew back to work, back to routine - except that we had a very special visitor coming from a long way away. My very good friend Birgit was in Germany for a couple of weeks on a visit from Australia. She managed to add a few days to her business trip and spent them with us. 

 One day we went to Duesseldorf's largest book fair right on the Königsallee. At one stand, they were giving out tongue tattoos. Very entertaining!

 We did not really manage to browse the books and watch Sophie at the same time (it was probably a good thing for my wallet), but we found a tent with children's story time and a stand with very elaborate instruments. When Sophie recognized one of the odd-looking instruments from preschool, we found out that they were actually supplying her school with them. Sophie was fascinated by the collection of gongs. Must sign her up for music classes!

After the book fair, Birgit took us on a tour of her favorite shops and boutiques in town. She used to live here.

In one of the shops, we ran into Daddy! (I wish I had had my camera ready.) He had left for work early in the morning to be on call 3 hours from here. As he arrived he was given another 24 hours off and decided to turn around and surprise Sophie. Success!

With Andrew home, we had a babysitter for a girls' night out. Thank you!

 The next day, Andrew was really on his way, and we decided to explore another part of Duesseldorf: Kaiserswerth. It housed the rebuilt ruins of a once large and impressive castle, the Kaiserpfalz (imperial palace), built in 1045. It lay right by the shore of the river Rhine. For Sophie, the ruins made an excellent spot for some climbing (she is my daughter after all). 

 Balancing along the outline of the former keep. She could not get enough of this place.

 We managed to bribe her away from the rocks with the promise of a waffle at the adjacent beer garden.  We are in Germany after all. 

 Then we scrambled down to the Rhine shore. We spotted a lot of shells on the beach and many excellent skipping stones. Unfortunately, we also found a lot of glass, so we dragged Sophie back to the bike path.

 Two elves.

Sophie finished off the day in style with a good old water fight in the garden with Lina.

Blue sky in Duesseldorf.

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. 

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

While Daddy is hurrying home, ...

 ... the kids in the neighborhood were gearing up for the Veenpark (where we live) Easter egg hunt.

 Here are Sophie and her friend Lina, buckets in hands, ready to go.

 And off they run - very good teamwork

 Lina's bucket was getting too small and eggs started spilling over.

The two girls enjoying the cake at the subsequent brunch. What in the world happened to the warm spring weather we had last week? We had to pull our winter gear out again.

What Do Princesses Do All Day?

Ever wondered what princesses do all afternoon?

 Well, first they create a play-doh dinner. (Our neighbor, Lina, two doors down and Sophie)

Then they come over to our house, pull out their fancy dresses and get the watercolors flowing.