10!

David celebrated his 10th Birthday this April and we had a little celebration prior to heading for vacation. Our newest tradition is that each person celebrating his/her birthday can choose the restaurant of their choice. (I ate at home - why eat out when Daph can cook better than anyone I know?)

My son David selected..... The Hard Rock Cafe.

This is the face of happy young man. Chicken fingers and fries.

On the way out, Julia wanted me to take her picture in front of the Porsche SUV taxi. Only in Germany...

Paula Visit - Verboten

Paula McNick came for a great visit at the end of March (I know-I am behind).

My sister is a great guest. She's interested in learning what's happening with the kids, exploring the city as they see it, and she humored us by staying up late talking even when she was incredibly jet-lagged.


We did many of our regular routines with her there including a Sunday family walk to the castle. Still chilly in March but the flowers were out. We made a game out of estimating how many were planted - Brian concluded, "...a lot."
Paula asked each kid to pick out something they wanted to do or show her. Perfect for Julia. Paula and Julia spent an afternoon together, seeing some sights, getting their nails done, and shopping. Julia loved showing Paula how she can navigate the subway system without help and knows the key places to shop. It's really becoming her city.

David suggested the zoo. We have a great zoo here - huge, open, and of course, it has a big beer garden. Here we are outside on a statue...

The tall structure in the picture is a playground in the center of the zoo. The kids climb up this huge tower of telephone poles and then come screaming down a tube slide. (Julia in the slide - Brian is on top of the slide.) Paula and I agreed - there was a bit more danger and adventure than your average Chicago park.

Brian suggested a visit to the BMW museum. We concluded that Brian doesn't know his Aunt well enough. She hasn't owned a car in years and even when she did, I wouldn't call her a 'car person'. We overruled him.

Daphne took Paula to a store to buy some official Oktoberfest chairs (for the beer garden). Paula got a kick out of using the chair on the subway - not using the official subway seats. She proposed her act would be forbidden since several Germans frowned at her. She called her visit the "verboten tour".

Vulcan

About the only funny thing about this volcano eruption is that we have learned that the German word is "vulcan."

Sorry it has been a while between posts but I have an excuse - the McNick's were not in Munich. We spent the Easter week in Florida visiting Grandparents and other family and Daphne and the kids spent a second week in Ohio visiting Grandparents and other family.

And the funny thing is, now that Daphne actually likes Germany AND wants to come back, there is a vulcan to prevent her trip back. Life is funny, huh?

In the mean time I was able to spent 36 hours in Hong Kong visiting Beth and Dan.

Being alone for the foreseeable future means I should be able to catch up on the blog. Oh - and this also means George stays in the hundepension (kennel) for a few more days. Poor George.

Gretel visit

Gretel visited last week during one of the coldest weeks we have had in Germany. She was a trooper, however, and brought her upbeat spirit to sightseeing all over the region.
Daph and Gretel managed to see quite a bit of Germany while maintaining the regular household activities including getting the kids off to school and feeding our young men. They went to Crazy Ludwig's castle, visited the downtown sights of Munich and even spent a long day in Salzburg, Austria. While they didn't go on the "sound of music tour" they did see this great old town.



Here are some of their pictures.
They spent long days walking on their tour (as they appeared pretty tired each evening) but the visit was a great chance for them to reconnect.

They also re-kindled old memories of watching the Oscars together. Daph hosted a party for some of her girl friends to come over an watch the tape of the event. They talked about celebrities and fashion.
The visit was really a treat for Daph.

St. Patrick's Day

Today was an unusual day - even by our standards. We woke, called Hong Kong to wish a brother Happy Birthday, went to a St. Patrick's Day parade in Germany, then had Indian food for dinner.

It was cold and crisp like our memories of a Chicago Parade but they don't dye the river green.

You can see from the pictures that there was plenty of room along the route but the organizers claim that this is the biggest St. Pat's parade in Europe outside of Dublin. 15,000 to 20,000 people come out.

It was not a huge parade. One Irish sheep hound.

A couple of walking pints of Guinness (the sponsor).

Two bagpipe groups. Don't get me wrong - it was nice - just not huge. I think the parade took about 45 minutes to go by us.

It also had some marchers that seemed to be looking for any occasion to march. There was a traditional Bolivian dance troupe and several sports clubs that were marching in the hopes of gathering new members.

The final picture is Odeonplatz were the parade ended and they have a concert. Nice.

New visitor / Becoming European

Gretel came to visit today. It's impressive how many of Daphne's friends have been able to visit. Julia also loves to have a female visitor - she grows tired of her younger brothers.

I was asked to take the boys out to buy jeans and shoes this weekend. Daph thinks I have lost touch with our American sensibilities. Dave got these faded European styles jeans. Brian wanted the black Pumas and Dave got the classic Converse All-stars.

They wanted their uncles to see their new style - especially the fashion uncle - Uncle Dave in Chicago.

On a totally different note - George is onto his third doctor. George had three days of problems and had to get more help for a problem stomach. If he continues to have problems, the doctor thinks something is stuck and he will need x-rays and maybe surgery. George doesn't like Germany.

Learning to ski

The kids spent the two days in ski school with Soren from Denmark and David from New Zealand.

David loved skiing immediately although his teacher says he needs to practice more turns instead of going straight down the mountain. Julia was lukewarm after the first day but happy after day 2. I skied with both kids as our last runs of the vacation and they could both easily manage the bunny hill.

Brian was less sure about this sport. He had trouble "making the pizza" with his skis after the first day but could navigate the slalom poles in ski school after the second day.

I loved the little magic carpet for the little beginner kids. This is so much easier than the rope tow of our youth.

I failed to mention in the earlier blog that when Daphne and I tried to ride up a t-bar lift the very first morning, I tried to sit (which you shouldn't do on a t-bar) and ended up falling on top of Daphne. She started laughing and the Austrian lift operator shut down the lift and started yelling at us. "Stand, don't sit! Stand, don't sit!" It only made Daphne laugh harder.