Eine verschneite Ostern

Happy Easter! You may remember the verdant beauty of last Easter. This Easter, however, was a different story:

We made due though. Eliza was very excited about her Easter basket which included such treasure as Princess Scotch Tape, Hello Kitty bubbles, books, sand toys, a game and of course, candy! We had a good day at church. It was an exciting day as Primary President as ALL of my teachers (and substitutes) were out of town. Thankfully, we only had 5 kids. So, we made a party of it. But enough of my babble. You want pictures, right?

In other news, happy birthday to my baby brother, D! Here is a picture of him looking like a cave man. Love you, brother!

Schönen Valentinstag!

Germany hasn't fully yet adopted Valentine's Day. In the stores there is chocolate and cards for your loved ones, but the practice of giving out valentines at school hasn't yet crossed the pond. However, Eliza wasn't hearing it! She wanted to make valentines for her class. So, we did! She personally cut and decorated all the valentines. I did draw the patterns to help her. I also wrote on the backs. But otherwise, she did everything!

**I bought the candy before February. In full disclosure, it took one bag of mini Chupa Chups that I bought off the clearance rack for 1.69 Euro. Shout out to Tamsyn for finding the paper! She is really the best!!! We had the other supplies on hand.

Berlin Day #1

For the New Years holiday, Claron, Eliza and I rode with Claron's labmate, Florian, to Berlin. We stayed in Rohrdamm, which is in the former West Berlin.

The subway stations here are really quite bright; however, they are much dirtier and less accessible (fewer escalators and elevators) than Munich.

 Yes, I look really prego here, but it is to be noted that I am wearing two bulky sweaters in addition to my coat.

 This is the Fernseherturm (TV tower). It is the former East Germany. We waited in line for quite a while to go up.

 Views from the Fernseherturm. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy.

 This is the German Reichstag (Congressional building). See the dome on the top? To enter the Reichstag and walk the dome, you have to have an appointment. We had a 1:15 p.m. appointment. After the lines at the Fernseherturm, we had to RUN to our appointment here.

 This is walking up the dome. See Eliza?

After the Reichstag, we went to a festival at Brandenburg Tor. Unfortunately, I was too tired to take pictures by then. Eliza enjoyed TWO nutella crepes (aka "chocolate tacos"), hot chocolate, fries, and a bratwurst. It started to get cold, so we went back to the hotel and rested for awhile. We had noticed a steak restaurant by our hotel. I looked at the menu and it was only 10 Euro for a filet! So, we tried it, and surprisingly, it was excellent!

Say "Cheese"

This is what I get when I say "Say 'Cheese'":

Frohe Weihnachten

Merry Christmas from Germany!

Eliza had a great Christmas. Her big present was a bike (which she is still learning to ride).

Hiatus

Sorry for the "break." The last few months have been a bit difficult. I've spent most of it in the bathroom. Thankfully, I don't have a tape worm... it's just a baby. Well, I hope it is a baby:

I am due May 2012. Eliza says that it is a girl, and her name is "Joshua." Well, at least part of that will be proved to be incorrect. I am feeling a bit better and hopefully, I will update the blog (from the past few months as well as going forward).

A Big Announcement

We have a new baby! No, I haven't been keeping secrets from you. My mom (Mimi) skyped us one day, and this is what she bought as a belated birthday present for Eliza:

He She is a male female seal point Siamese kitten (9 wks now). Eliza is over the moon! Her His name is Kitzel which means "tickle" in German. Eliza named him her. The cat on the left is my stolen my parents cat, Simon. Kitzel will be returning to Germany with us after our visit the US in August and September (if Mom, Dad, D, and Micole will let him come. She's He's apparently entranced the entire household.).

Update: Turns out the breeder was wrong and Kitzel is a little lady. We don't really care. We are excited for her to (eventually) come home!

More Visitors

An old friend of mine came with his wife to visit. It was really nice to finally meet her as I've heard so much about her over the years. Here are Bastian and Nina:

We took Eliza to the Gasteig downtown. There were a multitude of cultural performances and workshops. Eliza attended a class on balancing on a ball and tight rope walking.

She also got her face painted. Many thanks to Nina! There was a problem with the line and our tickets, but Nina got it worked out in the end.

We also ate some awesome food. Sorry, no pics. After lunch we went to a "Self Cut Flower Field" and cut some gladiolas.

In August, we go to their house on the Baltic Sea! We are really excited.