Smaku&BIK

2011-04-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a Shiba hike. Most of these dogs are from Mrs. Mönch. We walked about 5 km and did some seeking activities with the dogs. The walk took place between Epfenbach and Reichartshausen.

Sisters: Sora and Ten-Ten

Ursula in Momma's Hat

21 Dogs at the Shiba Wanderung

2011-01-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

Eek! Is it already January!? Time for another newsletter about our year – so, what happened to us in 2009… Oh wait, what year was it again? I guess we kinda skipped doing a newsletter last year, meaning we’ve got to cover two years this time – settle down for a longish read, then!

2009: the expedited version

Let’s see, I finished my training to become a daycare provider, we bought a house, and my parents moved from California to a town near us. Simultaneously. It made for a few very exciting, chaotic busy months. We settled into our new home over the summer, and then reality hit. I wasn’t going to be able to set up a daycare in our new house. I wasn’t going to get a job as a nanny due to lack of transportation (can’t use the company car). I really needed to make some money to make the financing for the house work (hey, no pressure). Ursula went into nuclear meltdown headache-wise, missing two to three days a week of school. I could barely figure out how to get her to her various medical appointments, never mind where to find time for a job. Mike and I passed our orange belt test in Karate, and maybe it was part of my mental outlook at the time that I felt as though I had barely earned mine. When Christmas rolled around, I was in no mood to write about our year, despite the big “we bought a house” success story.

2010: starting out worried, and everything turns out fine

Sometime in March, I read an ad in our (very local) paper about a temporary position at a local kindergarten, the Apfelbäumchen (Lil’ Apple Tree). One teacher broke her finger and they needed someone for six to eight weeks. I got the gig, and then they didn’t want to let me go! I helped out until the end of the school year, and in September started my contract position, 24 hours a week. To give you a more complete picture, the Apfelbäumchen has a Krippe for 1 ½ to 3 year olds, an AGG for 3 to 6 year olds, and after school supervision up to 4^th graders. It’s pretty diverse! I’m in the AGG, working in a team of six teachers. I love my job, it goes from quiet/almost boring to hectic/chaotic, humdrum routine to let’s try something completely different, just as you would expect, working with kids. My supervisor strongly urged me to go back to school to get my certification, and I sweet talked my way into a really strong program at a school with a good reputation. So in addition to going back to work I’m also enrolled in classes for 10 hours a week, plus homework. It’s made for some interesting adjustments at home! We’re so grateful for my parents being here (they relocated to a gorgeous apartment in our town, just a 10 minute walk away). They have the girls over for lunches, they take Ursula to her one remaining appointment per week, and hijack Binky for her/their evening walk.

As for Ursula, in late spring we had our first glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel when we found a therapist she actually enjoyed talking to, and who wanted to talk to us, too (honestly, parents are so pesky). She helped us make the decision to transfer Ursula to another school. Ursula and Kathryn had been going to the same school, and we had no complaints against anyone – she just didn’t have any friends! She was becoming really isolated, starting on puberty, with absolutely no peer support. In Germany the same group of 20 to 30 kids stay together in one class from 5^th to 10^th grade, so this situation was intolerable. At that point I defined misery as knowing your child is deeply unhappy and feeling completely powerless to help. However, in the end we found a school in Heidelberg called the Internationale Gesamtschule Heidelberg, an all-day school and one that offers all three levels of education: Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium. She does homework with the other kids, which she enjoys, has lunch there (gourmet meals, and I’m not being sarcastic), and they have a class conference once a week to discuss any problems. There are only 20 kids in her class, with two homeroom teachers. She loves it. We’ve gone from having to pry her out of bed with threats or a crowbar to her running out the door early because she just wants to be there.

Okay, so that was a lot about Ursula and me, but as you can see, we had the major changes. Now for some more general family news!

We all quit Karate, the girls because I got tired of forcing them, and Mike and I just couldn’t find the time anymore. Ursula is still learning guitar, and has now officially overtaken me. Kathryn finished her first year of chanter pipes and just got her highland pipes for Christmas, so if you come to visit, bring earplugs – those things are loud! She also bought herself a netbook whose primary purpose is to store her innumerable stories – looks like we may have another writer in the family. Ursula still goes through unbelievable amounts of paper with her drawings, and still refuses to do requests (with rare exceptions). I did a few Japanese lessons with them and a couple of Kathryn’s friends during the summer, since they are all into manga and anime. Both Kathryn and Ursula are voracious readers; it’s difficult to keep them supplied!

Kathryn is quickly approaching the end of Realschule, and we’re holding our breath to see what happens next. Her ambition is to improve her grades enough by February to qualify for a Bio-technisches Gymnasium in Heidelberg. She wants to focus on the natural sciences, biology specifically, and later envisions studying animal behavior at university. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!

As for family activities, we still enjoy dressing up for various medieval fairs in our area. The one in Speyer turned out to be particularly huge, and in a very attractive setting. We heard a great bagpipe band, Schelmisch, gotta get a CD next year! Inspiration for Kathryn… We spent our vacation in May/June in Denmark, first in Rømø, then near Kopenhagen. The weather could’ve been a little steadier, but we really liked Denmark. I especially loved the food! Unfortunately eating out is extremely expensive. Still, I think we may try Denmark again… Summer was rather quiet; we didn’t plan any big trips since Ursula got her rats and didn’t want to leave them alone too long. Um, yes, I did say rats, neither the sewer nor the lab kind, but pets. They have a converted closet to live in (Walldorf Ratopia), and their names are Dot and Gracie. If you’re getting the willies, go back and watch Ratatouille. Disney can cutsify anything, but rats really are just as cute as mice, hamsters, bunnies and all those other verm… sweet rodents. We did manage a trip to Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, and wouldn’t you know it, they were having a medieval fair. We could’ve come in garb!

Michael reflects on 2010

When I look back on 2010, I see a couple of highlights regarding work, gaming, and sociability.

Work became more hectic. For me it was the year of the reorg. Liz and Astrid and I were organizationally split from our team. I still work in security, but now have a boss outside of the development organization. It was a move that I did not particularly agree with, but it is still a valid working model. I am still getting used to the new structure. It was too much to ask of my coworker Liz, who has now changed jobs. I still expect to see her at the Ami-Stammtisch for lunch. At the same time, we have switched to a lean programming model. This has resulted in me changing topics from my Java-based teams in Sofia to a local ABAP-based team in Walldorf. I still cover security topics, but I have lots of new stuff to learn about web services. With Liz’s departure I will also be picking up numerous other topics. In addition to my regular duties, I have been helping to organize the American community at SAP and host a monthly discussion group on technical writing at SAP. Am I bored? No, Sir!

As you know, gaming is an important part of my freetime activities. The first half of the year saw a less successful run of Grupo Martes at the qualifier for the German Boardgaming Team Championship. As Andrea’s work schedule increased, my ability to participate in the Tuesday night board gaming group has dropped off. In addition to my two regular role-playing groups, I lead a single session for the girls and some of their friends over the summer. I returned to the German ASL tourney this year and achieved a personal best: more games won than lost! I have found numerous opportunities to squeeze in other gaming sessions, such as visits from Kieran, to play Call of Cthulu, Arkham Horror, Android, etc. I try to keep track of all of these events in my gaming blog. Someone actually wrote me that they bought a game based on one of my write-ups. (Soon I’ll be famous! Well, probably not.) If that was not enough, I have had an on-again off-again relationship with MMORPGs: I have been playing Lord of the Rings Online. I stopped, because I felt obligated to play since I was paying a subscription. Since they have gone free-to-play, I jumped back in again.

All this activity has kept us in touch with a lot of people. Here is a short run through of some of the folks (that I remember) whom we visited or visited us: Kerry took Ursula to England in the new year and brought back her girls and William to us. Just before that, we met up with Jörg, Ines, Tom, and Mandy in Bavaria. On Epiphany we went to the Odenwald with the Childresses. We also visited the Guthardts in Stadtlauringen. In May we celebrated our traditional May Day Dance with the usual suspects. In July we had a visit from Erika and Martin and their boys. In August we had a return visit from Ming, who was just passing through on her European tour with some of her friends. We also exchanged visits with Anke and Ralf. At the end of the summer we dropped by Kerry again in Geretsried. We also went on our last field trip with the Plumleys before they returned to the States. We have also enjoyed visiting with the local folks, such as the Nos' or the te Uhles. Finally, in December my parents came to visit over Christmas.

2010 was stressful, but a good year. Here’s to 2011. We hope to see all of you in it!

Now that you have read through all of this, here are some photos from 2010.

Best 20 of 2010

2010-12-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Sunset over the Palatinate

Took this photo while walking the dog one evening. I just liked the colors.

2010-12-02T12:22:00.000-08:00

The Quarry and the Odenwald Beyond

Last weekend we went for a walk around the quarry in Nußloch. Unfortunately I never got a picture of the Königstuhl. The mountains around it were covered in snow. You can see some of it in the pictures below.

Nußlocher Wald

A close up of the tree tops.

Intrepid Hikers

2010-11-30T22:46:00.000-08:00

Winter has arrived early to Nußloch. Already in November the ground is frozen and the snow is sticking. Temperatures haved dropped below zero. Yesterday morning we had -5°C.

The First Snow (Our sign, from the Spinalis is still holding up.)

The Quince lost its leaves before the snow arrived.

2010-11-28T13:50:00.000-08:00

Cosmos crowding out the Hollyhock

Our Quince so loaded that some branches reach the ground.

I figured we had a little more than 100 kg (220 lbs) of fruit.

Now that winter has arrived, I thought I would post some pictures left over from summer.

2010-11-28T13:44:00.000-08:00

Binky and Vinnie

Andrea and Binky

The dog days of summer? Vinnie's owner passed on these photos to us from back in May. The photos were taken out in the fields around Nußloch.

2010-10-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

Meet our pumpkin family! This years harvest of squash. Looks like we might have some spaghetti squash in there, but we are not really sure. Some of them were supposed to be zucchini. Now if we were playing Agricola, we would have gotten full points!

2010-10-02T23:12:00.000-07:00

Mid September we went to the Viking Festival in Adventon. The best part of this festival is the hobby warriors who come out and smack each other with swords. Each side of the field cheers for their champion. I embarrassed my family by cheering for our hero, Wulfgar. After a couple mock-battles, in which Wulfgar's warriors were repeatedly victorious, all the Vikings got together and formed a shield wall. Then, all-comers were invited onto the field to try and break the wall. First the adults charged; with me of course. We did a fair job. I lost my wooden clog, trying to run across the field. The ultimate was the charge of the children. I regret that my camera pooped out while filming this video.

We enjoyed the show, though the size of the event was smaller than the previous year. Our favorite honey merchant from Poland was there with his ferrets. We bought cinnamon honey and a honey glaze for roasting chicken.

2010-09-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

Burg Steinsberg in Sinsheim

Looking back down into Baiertal

Descending into Baiertal

We walked some 8-10 kilometers from Nußloch to Oberhof in Dielheim. We had long looked at taking this walk, since it connected up a number of paths that we had looked at before. It took us some 2.5 hours climbing over the ridge, down into the next valley, then over the next ridge. We took Anke and Ralf with us. Alan and Dorle met us in Oberhof for lunch. We drove home in the Foster's car and our car which we had prepositioned in Oberhof that morning.

Kathryn climbing into Schatthausen

Cats in Baiertal waiting for the cows to be milked.

View Larger Map

We actually cut off the part that goes over Maisbach. Google does not show the trail that runs around the gravel mine and across to Baiertal.

Ralf

Yours Truly

Goldregen - Wildflower or Weed?

Gravel mine in Nußloch for Heidelberg Cement

Anke

Rest of the Team

2010-09-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in September we took a drive out to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It had been some 20 years since I had been here with my parents. Now we took our kids here and walked along the city wall. We stopped for lunch in the Burggarten and then walked back. We also stopped to try out snowballs, a baked confectionery. None of us really took to them. We had fun reading who had donated money to keep the walls in shape.

We were also surprised to find that on this weekend, the city was overrun with reenactors. They were from the medieval period as well as from the 30-Years War. Our daughters put up with the trip, but overall they enjoyed themselves.

The wall surrounds the entire city.

At the Southeastern Corner

A view towards the Burggarten

The view from the Burggarten

2010-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Meet Dot.

RATS!

Dot likes to ride on shoulders.

2010-09-05T23:44:00.000-07:00

We went to the medieval festival in Speyer. It was held in the Domgarten (cathedral gardens). The festival had a much bigger turnout than we expected. What I knew of the Speyer Domgarten is that it is not that big. So we planned to get there early so we could have a good look at the stalls. We were pleasantly surprised with how much was going on there. This one was put on by a travelling group called Mittelalterich Phantasie Spectaculum. Unfortunately for the participants, Saturday had provided a couple of downpours turning low lying parts of the gardens into mud pits at best and small lakes at worst. The wooden shows that Andrea and I had picked up at Adventon were the best thing for the conditions.

Shea Family in Regalia

A Diadem

The players coming to challenge the reputation of the Lady of the manor. Note the banner of Mordor.

So we spent a good part of the morning shopping. Ursula got herself an ocarina and a diadem. Both girls bought bags, too. I guess you could call us cosplayers at this point. We had ourselves some lunch then Kathryn and I watched the jousting tournament. The tournament would have been much more entertaining if we could have heard the players over the sounds of the medieval bagpipe rock band playing on the next stage. Andrea and Ursula wandered around and watched some other performances on the other side of the park. At that point it was about 2:30 and it was getting crowded. We decided to pack it in and head home. On our way out we were surprised to see traffic backed up all the way to the B39! As the rain began to fall, too, we began to feel sorry for the late arrivals.

At home with a tired kitty.

2010-09-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

We went to the Walldorf Flugtage (air show). We rode our bikes to the airport, which is little more than a mown lawn. We watched a few stunt planes and had fun watching a remote control jet.

Jet is banking...

and comes around for a pass.

Up close with the jet.

Someone brought their gyrocopter.

2010-08-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

Checking out a pier on Kochel See

Reeds and Schlehdorf

The girls and William

Walchensee Power Station

We took a weekend to visit Kerry's family in our old stomping grounds in Ober Bayern. The girls camped in their backyard. We had some rain to endure, but otherwise the weather cooperated. One day we hiked from Schlehdorf around Kochel See to the power station at Alt Joch. Then we took the ferry back. The other day we went into Munich and saw an exhibit on the Blauer Reiter. A stroke of luck. We had a lovely visit.

2010-08-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

Alles Anke zum Geburtstag

We made a visit to Niederklingen to wish Anke a happy birthday.

Ralf

Anke likes her present

We went for a walk in a corn maze. Everyone found all 5 stations except Michael.

Old people have lots of stories to tell.

Omi and Opi came along.

The Otzberg above the corn fields.

2010-08-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

View from the Kraichgaublick

We went hiking up to the Kraichgau Vista in Lingental. The air was not particularly clear, but we still had a good view.

The Steinsberg in Sinsheim, some 20 km away.

The hill in the center is Schlierkopf, about 50 km distant.

2010-08-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Walldorf Rattoria or Rattopia?

As part of a deal with Ursula, she has acquired two rats...Dot and Gracie. That means Papa had to build a cage to hold them. On the advice of the local Friends of Rats Association, we converted an old closet. Some chicken wire and some shelves, plus the loving attention of a new electric jig saw resulted in the spacious apartment you see below.

The rats are already feeling quite at home!

2010-08-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

Ming on European Tour

Ming came by at the end of her European tour with her friends before they all go off to college. We were glad to host them for a meal and an evening of conversation. Good luck, girls!

2010-08-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

Nussloch Garden Show

OK, the photos are a few weeks old now, but this is what are garden looks like....

Quinces are ripening on the tree with a little Waldmeister just left of the tree trunk.

The bumblebees are all over our Hibiscus.

Cleo is watching over our blackberries. We harvested the first two this week.

Tomatoes grow along the back of our barn.

Mischa patrols among the corn. Now the corn has flowered and the cobs are developing. Here you see our squash before it took over the yard. Now it is nearly twice as big, though the yield has not been great. The Mangold has been doing quite well, supplying a number of meals for us as well as for the Fosters.

2010-08-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Visit from Stade

Erika, Martin, Justin, and Patrick came to visit at the end of their summer vacation for about half a week. We went with them to Speyer and to the Luisen Park in Mannheim. One day we hung out a BBQ'd with Andrea's parents.

2010-08-04T13:54:00.001-07:00

Biosphere House in Dahn

We went on a final road trip in June with the Plumleys before they headed back to America. In Dahn we visited the treetop path, some 20-40 meters above the ground. At the end there was a slide that took us to the bottom. We followed this up with a walk and some lunch. I managed to injure myself trying to see how far I could sprint in 10 seconds. As my Dad said, I am not 19 any more. :-(

Flowers in the Meadow

A big ol' dragonfly

We found mounds of ants!

Stacey and Andrea watch the kids sliding

Wending through the treetops

Stairs down from the viewing platform

The view from the top

A long way down!

Stacey

Pete and Noah

2010-07-17T23:48:00.000-07:00

Walking in Paradise

We went for a walk in June in Mühlhausen. The area we walked through is known as Paradies or Paradise.

They grow corn in paradise.

Kati and Ursula approaching the Windhof.

The cows are white in paradise!

2010-06-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

We spent Pentacost vacation in Denmark this year. One week on Romo just across the Danish-German border on the North Sea and one week in Dalby Huse on the Iselfjord about an hour west of Copenhagen. Given it was early in the summer, the weather made a tolerable showing. Each week we had a day or two in the rain. Those days we either hung out inside or just braved the weather. Romo was cool and very very windy. Temperatures were around 14°C most of the time. Later in the week it warmed up to the high teens and low twenties.

Romo is primarily a beach resort. We stayed in a vacation home about 300-400 yards from the ocean. About 200 yards of that is a flat sand beach. You can take cars on the beach, too. We dug in the sand and flew kites and played in the water. Andrea and Kathryn went horseback riding. We also visited the local towns of Ribe, Tonder and Mogeltonder.

Dalby Huse is another vacation colony. The house we had was not nearly as nice as the one in Romo, but it was certainly big enough. From there we visited Frederiksborg, a former royal residence, and Helsinggor, a toll keep within sight of the Swedish coast and location for the play Hamlet. We also spent a day and a half in Copenhagen taking in the sites and visiting Tivoli.

2010-05-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

I took this picture with my cell phone while biking home from work last month: a double rainbow that went across the entire sky. It appeared after a brief hail storm.

2010-05-13T00:49:00.001-07:00

Kati was selected as one of four the kids in her school to participate in the School of Rock as part of the Popakademie in Mannheim. On Wednesday, she went with her friend Michele to the Alte Feuerwehrwache in Mannheim for the final concert. We went to cheer her on as her school sang with the other 10 schools participating, Hot N' Cold.

2010-05-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

May Day 2010

The weather cooperated this year and we were able to celebrate May Day in our own yard.

Pattern on the May Pole

Happy May Pole Dancers

Very Happy

Happier Still!

Following Maypole dancing we had cake before rain drove us inside.

Max

Aiden

Stacey

After cake the sun came out again and we hiked around the quarry.

Stefan, Peter, and Kathrin

Max and Felix

Field of Flowers

Felix and Michael

Peter, Silke, Andrea, Kathrin, Binky, and Stefan.

Flowers at the Frog Pond

The View Over Nußloch

2010-05-04T13:40:00.001-07:00

Hiking around Nußloch

The road to Leimen and Lingental

Sheep at the Schafhof

In the middle is Speyer. The peak at the top right is Kalmitt.

2010-05-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

This Easter the Easter Bunny made use of our backyard and hid Easter eggs!

Kathryn with an egg in the German national colors.

What is under this rock?

2010-03-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

The birthday girl!

She is enjoying her presents!

Mmmmmm! Marscapone Mandarin Cake!

2010-03-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

Obligatory cuteness: Cats on a blanket.

Kitty close up number one.

Kitty close up number two.

2010-03-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

Winter has returned!

Our backyard had no snow last night.

The view over the Rhine Valley.

Taking Binky for a walk.

Quite the winter wonderland.

We ended up walking around the gravel quarry. I shoulda brought my skis!

2010-02-20T02:48:00.000-08:00

Kerry brought Ursula back from a visit to the UK. She took Frances for her birthday and took Ursula with her. We she came down she brought Marlene and William with her and we spent part of Fasching together.

The girls are YouTube experts.

Much of the weekend was spent playing MarioKart.

Four controllers is a wonderful thing!

Aside from trying out Flammkuchen, we took them to Speyer, where the ladies looked at the cathedral, while the children and I checked out Sea Life, a local aquarium.

2010-02-20T02:43:00.000-08:00

On the weekend we visited old Siemenianer, Jörg and Ines. We played some games with them. They surprised us with a visit from Tom and Mandy. Unfortunately we could only stay for lunch, but we agreed to meet up again soon.

2010-02-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

What do they say about sleeping dogs...and cats?

2010-02-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

On another hike! This time we hiked behind Ochsenbach up to some of the trails we had covered from Lingental. Out from Ochsenbach we climbed to the top of the Bannholz at 276.8 m above sea level. We were already above the snow line. Warm weather had started to melt the snow. On the down slope it turned the logging roads into rivulets.

2010-02-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, Ursula!

2010-02-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

We knew the Guthardts from Geretsried. They have since moved to Stadtlauringen. We went and visited them for the weekend. We experienced more snow and had fun teaching them Werewolf. Unfortunately, the family photo did not turn out. The camera was left out in the car all night. I could not stop the lens from fogging up.

2010-02-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

On Epiphany we left Catholic Baden-Württemberg for non Catholic Hessia for a trip through the Odenwald. We went with the Childresses and checked out a quaint little town, where we walked around the castle and tried the local bread.

The Mamas

Can't get me with a snowball!

Too quick to catch!

Where is my next victim!

All clear here...Over!

After a snowball fight we drove back to Viernheim and tried out Bejamin's American Diner. Good stuff. They even have cream soda!

2009-11-11T07:44:00.000-08:00

Binky and Mama hiking near Three Oaks.

2009-11-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

Went hiking in Gauangeloch. In this spooky pine forest we found mushrooms.

This is Amanita muscaria or fly agaric. In German it is called Fliegenpilz.

The woods were full of them!

2009-11-09T00:11:00.000-08:00

Kathryn went to London and who should she meet?

2009-11-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

This year we took part in SAP's Global Diversity Days. We focused on Alaska and Hawaii, since both states turned 50 this year. Rhein-Neckar Fernsehen came and filmed the event. The video is available on www.sap-tv.com.

I embedded the video below. See if you can find me or Kathryn, or Alan and Dorle in the film.

2009-11-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

Scary Binky Dog

Carving Pumpkins

Scary Characters

Howdy Pardner!

2009-11-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

The following are some photos from the visit of my father this year.

Kati and Ursula hiking.

The 4-castle landscape, Neckarsteinach. On the left, the Schwalbennest (Swallows Nest) clings to the cliffs above the Neckar. Another castle can be seen at the base of the hill. The other two castles in Neckarsteinach are behind the hill to the right.

Dilsberg across from Neckarsteinach is a walled-town atop a hil. Alan and Dorle joined us on the walk. We then had lunch in the town.

Walking with my father in Gauangeloch. The corn has been harvested.

A field of rape seed in Ochsenbach.

2009-09-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

This week was the Viking festival in Adventon near Osterburken. Adventon is a permanent medieval village, where the founders want to make a historical village to use as a site for events like these.

Hungry peasants, Ursula, Kathryn, Aiden, and Noah.

Here come the Vikings! Their leader announced that they were there to sieze domestic animals, such as women and children.

The melee! After the last man was left standing, he would annouce that the warriors were not yet ready for Valhala. He would then command the dead to rise. The process would then repeat itself.

2009-09-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

We visited the Felsenmeer (Sea of Boulders) in Lautertal in Hessia a couple weeks ago with Mark, Vickie, Danny, and Sabrina.

Kathryn on a Rock

Kathryn, Sabrina, and Danny

Mark and Vickie

2009-09-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

A quick trip to Alsace and we found Monkey Mountain! These Berber Monkeys come from Morocco and Algeria. On entry to the park everyone gets a hand full of popcorn. Hungry monkeys wait along the trail.

Sleepy

Watching

Hungry

Afterwards we visited Haut Königsburg. This is an 12th century castle that Emperor Wilhelm II restored at the beginning of the 20th century.

The view towards Germany.

2009-09-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

Playmobil Park in Nuremberg

We went here with the Plumleys.

Kids behind the waterfall.

Stacie climbing around.

Ursula descending into the maze.

2009-09-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

The Shea family gets medieval! At the beginning of August we visited the Mittelalterfest in Angelbachtal. We made some progress on our outfits.

2009-08-12T01:19:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went to the Medieval Festival in Angelbachtal. We are starting to really look like a bunch of peasants. I had put a rope on as a belt. When I actually started looking at leather belts, the owner warned me off, saying that the rope was more authentic. Kati got herself a pair of boots, while Andrea and Ursula bought dresses. I satisfied myself with a staw hat. It was a hot day.

We are still unpacking boxes. At least we hung up our pictures. Kathryn is the first to empty all her boxes.

2009-07-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

The new kitchen has arrived!

2009-07-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Kathryn's room has a border.

Ursula's room has a border.

Kitchen is ready.

Still ready.

More of the lawn cut away.

2009-06-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

Painting

2009-06-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Yardwork

2009-06-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

A visit to Auerbach with the Plumleys!

The Odenwald

The view over the Rhine Valley

2009-06-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Around Pentekost we visited Susi and Udo in Königstein.

Baxter the Cat

Both Families

Katharina goes Medieval!

Is that what I think it is?

The Mysterious Archer!

2009-06-28T07:26:00.001-07:00

A birthday brunch at the Sonnenhof.

Kathrin and Peter

Here comes breakfast!

2009-06-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

More pictures of the house...

2009-05-16T03:34:00.000-07:00

The new Shea residence. We take possession in the middle of June. The house is a double-house. Number 5 is our half on the right. The odd building you see behind it is also part of the property. It looks like it was used as a stall for pigs or goats and possibly chickens via a ramp up to the second floor.

2009-05-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

Andrea and I took a little hike in Ochsenbach with Binky.

Fruit Trees and Fields in Ochsenbach

Waldmeister

Rapeseed Blooming in Lingental

2009-05-16T03:02:00.000-07:00

Maypole in the Rain

May Day 2009 consisted of our Tuesday night gaming group, Grupo Martes, and members of our D&D Group. Stefan, the Nos Family, the Childress Family, and the te Uhle Family all took part. We walked out to the fruit groves and had a picnic, before setting up the maypole. We had enough time to wrap up the pole before the thunderstorm swept in and began raining on us. We wondered if the pole would conduct lightning. We returned to our house to lend out towels and dry shirts before going to Kathrin and Peter's house. There we made hamburgers and played the afternoon away.

Michael and Silke

Kathrin and Mark

Michael and Stefan

Binky and Andrea

Mark also took pictures. See his webalbum.

2009-05-16T02:44:00.000-07:00

On Easter weekend we visited Martin and Erika (with Justin and Patrick). They live in Stade near where the Elbe flows into the North Sea. We stayed in a vacation home in Hollern-Twielenfleth. It is in a fruit-growing region called Altes Land just outside of Hamburg.

Our first full day there we visited Cuxhaven. The mudflats (Wattenmeer) are quite extensive. You can actually walk to the coastal islands and back during low tide.

Passing container ship

Tide Out

Tide In

We also took the commuter train, well actually a ferry into Hamburg and walked around the downtown a bit.

2009-05-09T04:52:00.000-07:00

Easter Vacation: Part 2
We made one field trip to a local animal park. The kids were especially happy to see the wolves. We also enjoyed the raptor show.

Wolves sleeping or looking for a better napping spot.

Katharina riding a wild boar.

A cavorting moose.

Ursula and a falcon.

Kathryn and a falcon.

2009-05-09T04:35:00.000-07:00

Easter Vacation: Part 1

For Easter Vacation we went North. Our first stop was with the Martin, Annette, and Katharina in Bad Pyrmont. On our first day there, Thomas and Ute came by for a brunch visit as well. We could only visit them for a short time before Kati and I were drawn into a Dungeons and Dragons game that we had planned ahead of time. While Kati and I did this Andrea and Ursula got to go to Hamlin of Pied Piper fame.

Over the 3 nights we were there we played a lot of games. For a summary of those, take a look at my other blog:

Martin also lent me Middle Earth Online. I swore I would avoid MMOs. Oh well.

2009-04-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

花見 in Schwetzingen

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom today so we went out to the Schwetzingen Palace for a hanami (flower-viewing) party. We made onegiri and had lunch under the cherry trees.

2009-03-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Ursula came with us on this walk. We walked between Schatthausen, Oberdorf, and Meckesheim. In a pond below a small farm, we found some frog eggs, waiting to hatch.

2009-03-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Birthday Girl gets her favorite cake; marscapone and mandarin oranges. On the weekend she took her girlfriends out to play pool in the local pool hall. She is not so little anymore.

2009-03-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Walking on the ridge between Ochsenbach and Maisbach.

2009-03-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

February brought more snow. Here we are taking a walk between Oberdorf in Dielheim and Baiertal in Wiesloch.

2009-02-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

Ursula has been drawing quite a bit lately, so I set up a web album to display some of her pictures.

2009-02-22T23:47:00.000-08:00

The Hills near Oberdorf in Dielheim.

Winter has returned to the Rhein-Neckar area. After a brief warming at the end of January, we have had a mixture of snow and rain. None of this is makes riding my bike to work any easier. We had some great snowman snow, but the next day rain made it soggy and heavy.

2009-01-25T03:23:00.001-08:00

Been a while since our last posting. We celebrated Christmas with Omi and Opi this year.

If you did not get our holiday greeting e-mail I apologize. We did however make a public photo album. Take a look!

2008-12-15T01:18:00.000-08:00

Ursula has had her annual guitar receital which Alan recorded.

2008-12-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

Here at the end of the month, we took time out to celebrate Thanksgiving. We celebrated with the Ami-Stammtisch at SAP. This year we had enough vegetables and more importantly, enough pumpkin pie. Unfortunately Andrea and I both came down with colds. The next day kicked off the beginning of the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) season.

Both Andrea and I had to drag ourselves out of bed and work for two hours setting up the booth for the PTA of the kids' school. We had enough time go home and warm up before we had to drive out there again and watch Ursula perform in her Orff Ensemble with her classmates. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the bakery and came home in time to drive Kathryn back to the Weihnachtsmarkt for her to take her turn at booth duty at the PTA booth.

Sunday we celebrated the 1st Advent. We invited over the Plumleys. We sang a few Christmas songs, ate some cookies, drank some tea, and had some live performances. Ursula on her guitar, Kathryn on the recorder, and Pete on his trombone.

2008-11-21T23:42:00.001-08:00

Winter has come to Nußloch! The first snow of the season came with hurricane-force winds of 119 kph (74 mph). The kids built a snow gnome in the garden.

2008-11-21T23:32:00.000-08:00

We went and visited the Breuberg in Hessia with Anke and Ralf. The owners of this castle went to war with the owners of the Otzberg, where Anke and Ralf live. The Otzbergers fooled the Breubergers into believing that they had enough food to survive the siege by choking the pig once per day. From the squeals of the pig, the Otzbergers soon believed that they were slaughtering one pig a day. That is hardly what one does when one is worried about conserving one's supplies in a siege. To this day, the Breubergers call the people from around the Otzberg, "pig chokers."

2008-11-14T01:31:00.001-08:00

A summer of activities! The kids were in the paper a couple times:

2008-11-14T01:23:00.000-08:00

Another birthday! Andrea celebrates with a Sachertorte and a Jogurttorte. She and Anke went on a shopping trip, while I manned the household for the day. Dinner out will have to wait. I returned too late from Grenadier to really go out.

2008-11-02T12:16:00.001-08:00

Halloween was pretty low-key this year. Ursula went on a night-time walk with us. Kathryn met with some of her friends and had some actual success at trick-or-treating. I carved a sad-looking pumpkin.

We also went to the Viking exhibit in Speyer with the Plumleys and had a very nice time.

2008-11-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went into Walldorf and took a look at the last meeting of the Walldorf Aero Club. The event was a lighting of the hot-air balloons and some night sky diving. The balloons never left the ground, but the sky divers did drop out of the night.

2008-10-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

The Girls of VfB Leimen

A couple weeks ago Kati played against Neidenstein on the C-1 Team.

2008-07-09T05:41:00.001-07:00

We supported the World Food Program by going on a walk around Ladenburg with the Childress family. We got our picture taken at the end of the walk. Noah and his father Pete went on the hike, too.

2008-07-09T05:38:00.000-07:00

Andrea made it into the paper for a hike we took with the goats from the local goat farm.

2008-03-28T01:05:00.000-07:00

It may be Spring but some times it feels like Winter. Last weekend we had weather shifting from rain to hail to snow. We actually had a thin layer of snow on the ground one morning. Here the kids are playing in the hail that came down. You can see the kernals up close below. The weather did not help much when we were moving Anke and Ralf to their new house, but at least it did not rain on us. Since then the weather has warmed up again. The tulips are getting ready to bloom. The magnolias already started.

2008-03-28T01:02:00.000-07:00

Is it puppy love or catatonic kitty? Binky and Mischa share the blanket we rescued from Anke and Ralf's attic. Mischa is sleepy here, but she has been even sleepier of late as she just came back from being spayed.

2008-03-17T06:54:00.001-07:00

Kathryn is another year older! She celebrated her birthday earlier with just her family. She requested the mascapone-mandarin orange cake with ladyfingers. Then on Friday, she had four friends over for pizza and a sleepover. Saturday it was a pancake breakfast before everyone went home. We took it easy on Saturday, recovering from Friday night. Sunday Kathryn got to choose the restaurant for lunch and we went to the Indian Garden. There the girls had their favorite, lentil soup!

2008-03-15T00:01:00.001-07:00

This week Ursula had her first guitar recital. Her teacher organized it with the local flute teacher. You can listen to a short snippet of her playing.

2008-03-09T03:27:00.001-07:00

On the weekend we were visited by the Waitzmanns. We went to a medieval faire in Mannheim. The girls each got themselves something. Above, the three archers. Below a lady-in-waiting.

2008-03-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

Ursula is now a white-yellow belt! She took her test on Friday night. In July, she and I will probably test for full yellow. Kati had to help out Mirriam by being her uke, that is, her punching dummy.

2008-03-09T01:53:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back we went on a hike with Kathrin and Peter in Spechbach. Near the gun club there is an educational forest path. OK, there was not too much there in the way of signage, but it was a nice hike nonetheless. We encountered a group of hunters, who were out hunting wild boar. We also found some signs explaining an old Roman road, which had run through the area.

Peter

Kathrin

Watch out for mole hills!

2008-02-20T05:08:00.000-08:00

On Saturday our Tuesday night game group, Grupo Martes went to the Mannheim qualifying round for the German Team Boardgaming Championships. I improved my position by 52 places over last year. I took 10th overall! Not only that, our team took 2nd overall. We get to go to the national championships! They will be on May 10th in Herne. You can read my complete description of the event on my gaming blog here.

(Photo courtesy of HAL9000.de)

2008-02-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

We went and took a look at Anke and Ralf's new house. They have just moved to Niederklingen. Afterwards we took a walk up toward the Otzberg.

2008-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas gifts have artistically inspired our children. First of all they have been reading the Warriors series from Erin Hunter. That inspired Ursula to draw a picture. Kathryn has been doing origami.

2008-02-10T04:40:00.000-08:00

We have been having some very warm weather this January and February, interspersed with some cold and rainy spells. To take advantage of the weather we went on two hikes. The first one we went to Angelbachtal. From there we climbed into the vineyards overlooking Eschelbach. We could see on the otherside of the valley, the hills in back of Balzfeld and Tairnbach.

On another hike we went to Meckesheim, between Mauer and Zuzenhausen. We walked along a forested ridge to Mönchzell and then walked back along the Lobbach. Below we are investigating what appears to be a rabbit hole.

The girls have had vacation because of Fasching "Carneval". Ursula chose to go as an Indian.

2008-01-25T00:55:00.001-08:00

Between Christmas and New Years we took part in a murder mystery party. It was pirate themed as you can tell from the picture. I was the admiral, while Andrea was a pirate captain. Thilo was one of my ship's mates. Alex was the governor, while Doro was his daughter and Kathrin was the daughter's governess. Peter (not pictured) played a hermit from the neighboring island. Stefan was the ship's doctor.

Well we arrived on the island to look for pirate treasure and found the dead body of the hermit. We had to find out who did it.

Spoiler alert! Do not read further if you think you are going to do this murder mystery from KRIMItotal
Turns out the hermit was the dread pirate Captain Black, who I had supposedly killed, and thereby got my promotion to admiral. Well the governor had been working with him all along. He found the hermit first and killed him because he wanted the treasure for himself. I found the body and hid it because I did not want anyone to know that the hermit was the pirate I had supposedly killed months ago. Then people would learn that I did not get my facial scar in a fight with the pirate, but rather by slipping in my cabin. Michael, the other pirate, was here because the piratess and her crew had mutinied and thrown him off the ship some weeks ago. Well, Andrea, the piratess, soon found herself in the same situation. Both knew that finding the treasure would be helpful to their own cause. The governor's daughter just wanted to have adventure, she did not want to marry the admiral with whom the governor had arranged a secret engagement. She fell in love with the ship's mate who was really working for the pirate (Michael). He had hoped to find the treasure and run off with Elizabeth. The governess just wanted to protect her ward. The hermitess just wanted people to stop coming to her island!

2008-01-25T00:08:00.000-08:00

Kathrin and Peter took this photo of Cleo when they cat-sat her last summer. She has *ahem* put on some weight since then.

2007-11-26T23:50:00.001-08:00

Last Friday, the Americans at SAP celebrated Thanksgiving. This is an annual event. This year we had a record turnout with 60+ adults and 30+ kids. Given that many of us have no other family here, it is a great way to share the turkey. Cooking and eating such a huge meal by ourselves would mean a lot of work and a lot of leftovers.

Pictures from the Thanksgiving event.

2007-11-20T07:16:00.000-08:00

Andrea and I successfully passed our belt tests in karate. I am now a white belt. Andrea did a double test and took a yellow belt. Pictures to follow.

2007-11-16T00:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had our first snowfall. It was just a dusting of snow. None of it stuck, melting as soon as it hit the ground.