I'm 5 years old!

Back in America. Are you ready for some Football??!
Our resident Leatherhead is up for a game.
Think you can take him? Think again Amigo!

It's the Birthday king! Aidan and his school buddies celebrate his Birthday.

We went to a beautiful park to have his party on Saturday.
The kids did relay races. Here is Aidan trying not to drop the lemon off a spoon.

Oops! There goes Jo's lemon.

Time to find the treasure chest. The big girl (who can read) reads the clues.

The kids follow their treasure map to find the next clue.

Digging for clues!

Whoops! I guess they meant the OTHER swing set.

Aha, found the next clue.
Run to the next one!
And yes, San Diego is always pretty like this.

And here is the prize: A Pirate Treasure chest!
Inside are toys for the the kids. Arrrrhhh Matey!
I built it myself. Stayed up all night sawing and nailing, yes sir I did.
Let them eat CAKE!

Back in San Diego - Aidan's first day!

Ready to Roll! Off to German class at Albert Einstein Academy Charter school. Look at his new team shirt! (Ok, uniform, but not for Aidan.)

Nervous Parents!

Let's go!

Soccer Practice: Todee (the ugly doll) Torwart. He sucks!

Off to see the Padres! 40th Birthday present.

Paris II

Yes, the food in Paris is very good. Stuff that face Kina!

We did manage to find a Fussball in Paris. Hooray! But it was a Barcelona ball. Boo!

Ooooohhh! TGV. The world's fastest passenger train! 150mph is slow for this bad boy. Makes the US "train system" look pretty ridiculous. As one commentator put it, we have a system Bulgaria would be ashamed of.

The ads for english courses were pretty funny. "How to speak Wall Street english." You can learn to say: "Fraud is good", "Taxpayers are suckers", and "Where's my bonus?"

New Paris eyeware fashion replaces Jackie-O sunglasses.

What a beautiful city.

Cathedral Saint Chapelle. I estimated between 10-20,000 pieces of stained glass telling over 1,000 biblical stories.

Can I get into Heaven with these guys? They look like fun!

Here's on version of Rodin's Thinker.

And here are some other models! I like the hole in the knee.

The Musee Rodin's garden and house have so many masterpieces. I was so excited to see the Gates of Hell which I saw in New York city as a kid. Probably the first piece of art I really "got". Here is an especially nice figure.

Oh, if only Rodin had seen Aidan, the sculpture we would have had! By the way, Aidan is busy proving that his head is bigger than this flower.

Paris! (Part I)

Our first big European trip to, where else, Paris! We went for 6 days and had a wonderful time. Our room was on the fourth floor of a wonderful little hotel and we could see Notre Dame out our window. (This shot is not out our window, but still!)

Speaking of cathedrals, here's one painted by van Gogh hanging in the Musee D'Orsay. I think this is my all-time favorite painting. Really beautiful and exquisitely sad. Nothing like seeing it in person.

Musee D'Orsay. Fantastic museum built in the middle of an old train station.

This was one of Aidan's favorite paintings. Ok, so he was a little bored in the museum but we got him interested in a few works and he liked Monet. He also like the idea that the paintings were made up of (millions of?) colored dots. Aidan can do dots.

Another glorius van Gogh.

Vive la France!

I loved this Degas. It was wonderful to see the focus on the orchestra in the foreground with the ballet dancers in the back (and just their legs). The juxtaposition of black and pink, old (well older) men playing and tiny little girls dancing is fascinating.

Another beautiful painting. I can't remember the painter or the title (help Kim?) but just wonderful.

Another Monet and another Aidan favorite. Mine too.

Easter Fire (Osterfeuer) Part II

And now for the main event. The Osterfeuer! Great excuse for getting together for a party and burning Old Man Winter!

And we're off! The firefighters are lighting the blaze with flares. Way cool seeing the flares streaking toward the mound.

Getting going.

Burn, baby burn! Look at all those Pagan-worshippers reveling in the writhing death of winter and breathing in the ashes of rebirth and fertility! Beer helps, too.

A cute little wood-spirit come to watch the festivities.

Easter Fire (Osterfeuer) Part I

The day before Easter Sunday, we went with our friends Georg and Uli to a truly Pagan festival: the ritual of the Easter fire. These are held in Northwest Europe, North Germany and up. (You'll see how wonderfully heathen they are in the next blog entry.) Here we are descending the beautiful hamlet of Blankinesee on the Elbe river, renowned for these fantastic steep steps. This beautiful place reminded us most of the Greek/Italian seaside villages we visited in 2001 and 2007.
Aidan and Uli pose on the steps. Nice face, Aidan! We have been lucky to make some terrific friends here in Germany. We didn't think it would be very social, but despite their reputation, the Germans we have met have been extremely hospitable. Our social calendar has been booked! One help has been the ease of getting around Hamburg. But, still, it is like pulling teeth sometimes to get together with friends in San Diego. No problemo here. I think it is a real cultural difference and perhaps a lifestyle difference. Both peoples work hard, but Germans definitely take "time off" and get together socially.

The trees were all in flower! Osterweg, means "Easter Way".

Looking back up the hill. The hamlet and some fancy houses.

Ooooohhhhh! There is old man winter, ready to be BURNED AT THE STAKE!

And some beautiful ships sail on by. I've never seen a three masted ship with the mailsail down. Just the jib and some top sail. Turning is optional I guess (or provided by a motor).

Fruehling Kommt An!

Spring (Fruehling) arrives (kommt an)! The pretty purple flowers say so. Nice photo Kina.

Hamburg is so pretty in nice weather. The sky is clear and blue, people on the bus are smiling (a rare thing in Hamburg - dour facial expressions are the norm). Speaking of the bus, here comes the fuenfundzwanzig (25). The 20 and 25 both take Aidan to Kindergarten (pre-school) and Muti to work. See the bike path right on the sidewalk? So much safer than the road.

Steig Aus! (Get off). Here we are at Loewenstrasse (Lions street) Aidan's Kindergarten stop. The trees are just vibrating with anticipation of spring.

The 25 provided a nice inspiration to Aidan. Here's his version. Vati provided a little help with the "bendy" part. (Piece of plastic bag.)

Aidan ready to leave the school with is friend Isabella (Aka. Pippy Longstocking).

Wow. Fell asleep right there in the chair. This kid plays hard!