Weekend at Emma's

I've been trying to get this post out all week.

Maria mailed me some photos of the kids' weekend at their place. I now have proof that Jay ate at least one bite of salad. And Nils must be a big fan of the Queen.... You have to love the hat photo with his drool and AC/DC tee.

I seem to have a lot of photos of them eating while at Emma's. I think it's because we joked that we could take Emma for a week and train her to do something we have no problem with Jay and they could take ours for a weekend and get them to eat veggies (or anything in general since both are pretty picky about all food except cookies). So the photos are all proof. And I have to say both kids seem to do a lot better with fruit now- thanks!

Berlin Update

Berlin was amazing. It is one of the hippest towns I have ever been to. Okay, it's really a city, not a town and very spread out, sprawling all over the place. Since we only had a weekend, we decided to focus on just a few things to see rather than rush and try (and probably still fail) to get it in all at once.

We saw the Reichstag and the Kanzleramt and their architecture was amazing. We saw the Brandenburger Tor, Checkpoint Charlie (do you remember playing that game as a kid?), the Siegesauele (we climbed all 286 steps to the top for a great view) and much, much more.

Of course, I lugged the camera around and we did not take a single photo. We were too busy enjoying ourselves. If you want to see what I just wrote about, take a look at these photos here: http://www.berlin-tourist-information.de/english/sightseeing/e_si_sehenswuerdigkeiten.php

As for me, the best part was Berlin Mitte. We went to some great places there for meals, drinks, and shopping. We had dinner at an Italien place, Schwarzen Raben , that had excellent food and service. And we had excellent service pretty much everywhere anyway. That's a lot to say when you have American standards of service in Germany. Take a look at the restaurant here: http://www.locationsite.de/berlin/schwarzenrabene.htm.

There is Asian food everywhere and I was not disappointed. Until now, I more or less have not had a single good Chinese meal in Germany. I have a dim sum place, but that's good, not great. Here there were so many places to choose from. We chose two: a place with food from all over Asia called Pan Asia http://www.locationsite.de/berlin/panasiae.htm and a fantastic noodle shop, Monsieur Vuong: http://www.monsieurvuong.de/.

Anyway, enough about our fabulous trip... I will have to blog another day about how Jay and Nils napped long naps, ate veggies (salad even!) and were overall absolutely perfect children who, in no way, resemble the two squirts we have at home!

Berlin! Berlin!

Wir fahren nach Berlin!

It means Berlin! Berlin! We're going to Berlin!

OK, that was a chant during the World Cup because the finals were held in Berlin. The people here would get excited in the hopes that the home team would make it that far (they got close, to the semifinals and ending up third overall). But Michael and I are going to Berlin this weekend. Yay! The kids will be at Emma's house and hopefully we won't get any calls begging us to come back and take Nils or Jay off their hands.

So no blogging this weekend, perhaps I'll have some new and interesting photos to post when I return. Take a look at our hotel's website--http://www.lux-eleven.de/

When did getting into the "right" preschool become so stressful?

We just got the news that our first choice preschool (the int'l school, like ASIJ) for Jay didn't have a spot for him. While it was no surprise, it was kind of sad to hear anyway. There are only 18 spots and priority goes to siblings (we know 9 or 10 for this class alone). Then the other spots go to kids who don't have "local educational opportunities." In other words, kids who can't attend the German schools because of language barriers. The last two spots are saved for late arriving families from the States. So, as a half German family, we have to wait another year, when there are three classes instead of one.

It's not that we have no other options. As a properly neurotic stay-at-home mom, I put Jay down on the list of another two (and researched a few more than that as well). That's nothing- I know some who have registered at four or five places. Jay got into a German preschool that just became (read: lots of bumps still in the road) bilingual. I found out that there is only one other English speaking child there, so I think it's mainly just exposing the kids to English.

In general, Germans believe that kids should be kids and they shouldn't learn until the first grade. There is no structure- just playtime and occasional crafts. Most of all, the kids run wild. A good friend of mine works at the one where he'll go (another building, so he won't be in her class) and her stories amaze/frighten me. Jay is easily intimidated by a lot of action and craziness, so I know he will tend to play by himself a lot or get bullied.

So lets hope that Jay will start to get a backbone and stand up for himself in time! I like the fact that he will get to use his German more than his English. So there is a big plus to this all. But when did preschool become so stressful?

Jungle Gym

Since Michael has been on vacation this week, we've dragged the kids along on all sorts of errands. To reward them, we drove to a nearby indoor play gym. I've only been to one other before. It was a weekend during summer break and it was loud, crazy and filthy. This time we went during the week, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this place spotless and empty. The kids had practically the whole place to themselves.

Jay and Nils had a lot of fun climbing, jumping on the trampolines, playing in the ball pit, and doing all sorts of other stuff. I've attached some photos and videos (links) for you to enjoy.

Nils on the swing: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids

.individual&videoid=2036499901/index.cfm?

fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2036499901

Nils

playing blocks:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2036502367

End of Baseball

We just had our last baseball practice for Jay. Of course, out of six weeks, we only made it to three and the BBQ.... And Jay was never into it until the week leading up to the BBQ. Every day, he would wake up and ask me if we could go to baseball that day. It figures!

More Face Painting

This time Jay was not a tiger- he was a leopard. He's very into leopards, cheetahs, and panthers lately. I guess plain old lions and tigers aren't good enough anymore.

Yesterday was the official opening of the re-done market square in our part of town (we live in a historical district). Over the past year and a half, the main street and tram station have been rebuilt and spruced up. The city sponsored a small party with a carousel and face painting, as well as music and other fun stuff. Jay and Emma rode the carousel and got their faces painted. But it was so hot (30 in the shade), we didn't do anything else. We just went home and had popsicles under the fan.

A New Setup

We rearranged the living area two weeks ago and we all love it. We have more open space, the kids' play area is in the sunnier part of the living room, and we aren't sitting so close to the TV anymore. Why didn't we do this sooner? Nils has a new favorite place to sit- the windowsill. He will climb up, sit down, and read his favorite animal book in the sunlight.

Of course, Jay loves all the extra space too- more space to run around and play. We have a couple of photos of him here for you too.

Sweating & Sleeping

A heat wave just started anew here. But we have no right to complain since just a week ago it was still only 15 degrees with constant rain and we complained about that... Poor Nils, it is so hot it's hard for him to fall asleep. But he's a trooper. Michael took a photo of him almost asleep and one just as he drifted off. He always sleeps hugging his pillow, with his butt in the air. There's something about a daiper-padded baby butt that is too cute.

Grandpa Jay

Take a look at this photo of Jay- he looks just like my dad. Same tilt of the head, hands folded in front, shoulders stance. He's wearing his Oma's reading glasses here.