THIRTEEN

Our sweet Josie Marie turned into a teenager on Sunday.  How could our tiny little baby of not so long ago already be a young woman.  It really is crazy how quickly time flies.  Everyone tells you this when you become a parent.  They actually

scold you for not LOVING every minute of their youth because it will go by so fast.  And it does but being reminded of the fact that time will fly does not make you love the hard days of their younger lives any more than you possibly can.
Josie has been a relatively easy child.  She was an extremely easy baby, a great sleeper and good eater and over all happy little girl.  When she hit around 1 year old she became VERY stubborn and very independent.  I remember one time as we were leaving Target she

actually held my hand as we walked to our car in the parking lot.  That girl did not like to be tethered... do a hand or car seat or back pack. She has always wanted to be free. 
She simply amazes me with how she is so well adjusted especially as she is raging with hormones.  They poke out every now and then with an emotional outburst but for the most part she is very even tempered.  She is extremely sensitive to other people's feelings and is always trying to keep the peace in our family and within her group of friends.  She is very inclusive and does not like it if anyone is left out.  She is extremely bright and is tackling high school here and all the new academic challenges like a champ.  Her language abilities astound me.  She is excelling in German and Spanish as well as English.  She is very kind and loving.  I'm so SO very proud of our beautiful new teenager. 
She really wanted to do an escape room for her birthday so we invited Julie and Micha to join us and we all met at the Europa Center downtown on a very rainy Sunday.  The mission she chose was called Revolucion Ole.  It was set in a place that resembled Cuba and I thought I would be able to help with my Spanish but no such luck.  Everything was in English and German at least.  The 6 of us worked very well together.  Only a few flare ups as we were all scrambling to crack the code.  Whenever any one of us would do something like find a key or figure out how to play the news or turn on a light the person responsible would yell "I DID THAT!!"  We wanted credit for what we were contributing.  Haha!!  It was very fun.  We ended up succeeding in our mission with 50 seconds left on the 60 minute clock!  Phew!!

Afterward we watched some of the rainy Berlin Marathon that was passing in front of us on the streets.
Then we took a train out of the center to an excellent Thai restaurant.  All Josie wanted for her birthday meal was Pad Thai.  We all happily went along.
She received gifts from family in the states and she was a happy HAPPY teenager. 

Josie's 13th Birthday Bake Off Bash

Josie decided that she wanted to do an escape room for her birthday this year.  The problem was that the escape rooms typically only allowed up to 8 people and she had a serious list of friends to invite.  She decided on 13 friends for her 13th birthday and who was I to turn down her request. 

We collectively decided on a baking contest.  Normally I would shy away from an enormous group of preteen girls taking over my kitchen but because of the remodel our house is SOOO dirty I figured this would be the best time to do something so potentially messy.

We had three stations set up.  One in the kitchen and two in the winter garten.  We divided the huge table into two work spaces.

In the morning Benjamin helped me decorate and surprise Josie with a ballooned and streamered and "happy birthday" signed winter garten.  We didn't have much else to prep.  We provided each team with the basics and anything extra or special that they would need for their creation they would need to walk to the local grocery store and buy.  Each team was given 10€ and the freedom to buy what they could with it.

Josie divided the girls into 3 teams.  And the minute we announced the rules they were off and running.  Each team was given a lap top to find a recipe. 

They really were self motivated and delegated jobs within their small groups.  Before I knew it one team was off running to the grocery store while a couple others were having some trouble coming up with a recipe that they wanted to make. 

Girls were coming and going but everyone seemed to have a job and were engaged and happy.
Benjamin roamed and quality controlled and for the most part her friends included him in when he would wander by.  Marty took Mogli to a new to us dog park which helped tire Mogli out and get him out of the kitchen. He still loves to get under foot while I'm cooking.  On their way back home they got stuck in a torrential downpour!!  They both came home soaking wet!!

As the last teams were finishing up their creations they were also cleaning up their areas and doing all the dishes.  I'm not sure what kids have against hot water but everything still has a shimmering, buttery coating.  They really did a good job picking up and trying to clean but without hot water things- even a couple days past the party- still had a light coating of butter.  But I can't complain.  The kitchen was in no way the disaster I was expecting it to be.

Clearly some of them need a lesson in loading the dishwasher!! It was so funny to open it and see the bowl dirty side up.

After the creations were done we had a bit of time to open all of her very thoughtful gifts from friends.  Then the pizza was delivered and devoured. 

Benjamin, Marty and I gathered the girls and the desserts and very thoughtfully went through the grading criteria.  Benjamin took it VERY seriously.  There was a raspberry/vanilla cake, a chocolate mint cake and chocolate/orange mousse.  The chocolate cake

probably tasted the best but looked the worst.  The chocolate mouse got top score for value as they only spent about 1.50€ and used barely any of the provided ingredients

but in the end the winner was the raspberry/vanilla cake.  The actual cake was beautifully decorated with chocolate covered raspberries but I forgot to take a picture of the whole cakes.  Here is what was left after the girls ate dessert.  They ended up playing a few card games and lying around laughing and talking.

All in all a VERY successful and happy 13th birthday party to our girl!!! 

55€, Spiderwebs, Seaweed and Sparks

On Friday I spent 75 minutes taking a survey.  This survey taking

paid 55€!  Last Spring I signed up to be a survey taker but up until this time I never made it to the short list of participants that they actually called in to take the survey.  It was a quick train/bus ride from school after I dropped the kids off.  It was a fancy, hipster place called Techspace.  A huge industrial building with many different start up companies on each floor of the probably 5 story building.  On the floor I was on it had a very modern reception area with a fancy coffee machine and water jugs and glasses.  They told me to help myself to a cup of coffee which I happily did.
The survey was about using an app to control all of our "smart" products in your home.  -

Lights, video doorbell, door locks, thermostat control, home stereo system, etc.  I used the app and gave my feedback and will hopefully get paid within the next week directly deposited to my bank account.  I figured it was totally worth my time since when I sub for an entire day I will only make around 90 €.

On the way home I coordinated a lunch with our good friends Juli and Corey and Marty and Mogli met us all there.  At - you guessed it, our favorite Vietnamese/Asian restaurant.
After school Benjamin had his buddy Evan over for a play date.  His mom is always SOO generous and often brings small gifts when she picks up.  This time it was Korean seaweed from their trip home to Korea this summer.  Benjamin LOVES seaweed and gobbled up the package before they even got in their car!

The seasons are changing and spiderwebs and turning up everywhere. This one looked particularly ghoulish with a fresh coating of dust and cement from the work done below the door.
And FINALLY FFFFIIINNNAALLLYY  they are started to fill up the stupid hole outside our back door.  Hallelujah!!!!
They are creating cement stairs that will take you from our back door into our back yard.  They started on the frames to pour the cement into with a bunch of sparks.  Finally something is being built instead of just torn out or down...

Oktoberfest 2019

On Wednesday morning I got up bright and early for a 6:30 flight out of Berlin.  I needed nearly an hour to get from our house to the airport.  I was actually flying out of the airport that is closer to us but because it was so early the bus that would make it the quickest wasn't running yet.  I ended up walking the 15 minutes to the sbahn and then took a bus and then the ubahn and then another bus.
The airport was not very crowded and I made it through security quickly.  I had about 45 minutes before my flight left which was nice.

There were many people
on my flight dressed like this.
I figured I'd just follow them 😆

The flight was super quick (about 50 minutes) I landed and easily found the ticket kiosk to buy a day ticket,  Even if there hadn't been signs I knew I could follow this couple that was on my flight and clearly heading to Oktoberfest.  Turns out there were many other people flying in just for the day!  The day ticket would get me to and from the airport and any other train/bus travel I would want for the day. The day ticket cost 13 Euro and apparently a taxi, one way, would cost 80 Euro. I was making money!!
The airport is a way out of town but within 45 minutes I was at the enormous main train station.  I met up with my long-time friend, Christina and we headed to a cafe.  I was starving because it was 9:30am and I had eaten breakfast at 3:30.... We hung out in the cafe for a few hours.  I charged my phone and we caught up. She was in Europe for a destination wedding outside of Munich.  The bachelor party was at Oktoberfest and then the wedding was a few days after in Garmisch - a beautiful mountain town that we drove near 4 years ago while visiting the area.

It was a gorgeous Fall day.  Warm enough for
short sleeves!!

After the coffee shop we headed into Oktoberfest.  I'm not exactly sure what I expected but it turned out to be the Puyallup fair mixed with a German Christmas Market - on steroids!!  There are 10-14 enormous beer tents that are built up each year just for the event.  Each beer tent can hold thousands of people.  We were there on a Wednesday around noon.  It was not overly crowded but full

enough to make it lively. In each tent there is a big brass - Ooompa Ooompa bands playing.  People are singing along and swinging their enormous liter mugs of beer.  It is a spectacle.
Prices were pretty crazy.  A liter of beer was 12-15 Euro.  A plate of food ( traditional hunk of meat and a potato dumpling) was 2-25 Euro.

After a few hours in the beer tent hanging out with Stina's friends and the wedding party we decided to walk around the grounds a bit and then into the main square of Munich to see the Glockenspiel and to walk around the town square. I was amazed that at the Oktoberfest festival 80% of the people

there were fully dressed in a Dirndl or Lederhosen.  We were some of the only ones not dressed to the 9s.  While walking around town in their shopping area I was shocked to see that every store was selling the traditional attire.  H&M and all of the major stores had their front display Oktoberfest garb.  I almost bought one for a Halloween costume but didn't find any that I loved and none of them fit well.

The hanging wreaths and greenery is all hops.  Each tent was decorated different,
beautifully and uniquely.

We had a nice dinner outside under a small beer tent and then it was time to already head back to the airport.  The day was full and it went by quickly but living this close to Munich I have to say this is the way to do Oktoberfest.  Just fly in for the day.

that was the guy
who got a ticket for leaving
his bag unattended. 

On the train ride back there was some suitcase that no one was claiming.  The security guards were starting to freak out.  When the train stopped again they demanded that everyone get out and wait on the platform until the suitcase was claimed.  Eventually a pilot, who clearly had not been paying attention, claimed it. He was read the riot act, he was given a ticket or fine of some kind and then we all got back on the train.  It sat there for a few minutes and then they demanded we get off the train again. We all did and we were standing on the

platform.  At this point 30 minutes had passed and most of us were on the train trying to get to the airport which was only a couple more stops away.  Finally another train comes and we all get on. Once the train stops we all start running as now most of us are worried that we will miss our flight.  Turns out security was the slowest I have ever seen it.  This slowness was partly due to the fact that there were handfuls of drunk young college aged guys, all dressed in lederhosen, trying to get through security.

I get to my gate panicked that the gate had already closed.. it was just 20 minutes before departure but thankfully the flight had been delayed.  We boarded and the plane took off within minutes. We ended up being on time in the end.  I was home in bed by 10:45 PM.  I'll say it again... this was the way to do Oktoberfest.

First Time/Last Time

I spent nearly an hour yesterday trying to sync my phone to the blog. It was very complicated because when Josie first got her email address it was tied to my google account.  I don't use my gmail account much so I never switched it from Josie's email address and password to mine.  Somehow the blog has been under her email and not mine but since I had automatic sign in I never cared much. But to sync up with my phone I had to reenter all the info. Anyway, I'm hoping that being able to post from my phone makes it easier for me to stay on top of the blog particularly when I am traveling away from home and away from my laptop.

Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day.  We had lunch plans at our favorite Asian place- I told you we keep them in business.  But our friend that suggested lunch was sick as was her daughter so we had to postpone.  It gave me time to clean up a bit and even mop the floors.  Sadly the dust and the dirt from the remodel are so constant that it makes cleaning even less fun and less satisfying (didn't think that was possible!!)

Both kids came home from school and did homework and read.  Benjamin is SOO into a new book series that his head is constantly in a book.  He is nearly done with the 5th book in the series he started on Friday.  One book per day.  These aren't enormous books but pretty good sized - maybe 300 pages or so each.   I know it is a good problem to have but I cannot keep up. I put the next 7 books in the series on hold for him assuming it would get us through the upcoming 2.5 weeks of vacation but at this rate he will be done with the series before the vacation even begins.

Mogli is not supposed to be on the couch. But how
do you deny that cuteness??

Josie has a bunch of quarter final tests this week.  It is crazy to think that a quarter of the school year is over??? How did that happen? She is actually feeling fairly confident about school which is fantastic given that half of her classes are taught in German.  I continue to be blown away by that.  She will be auditioning for the school play later this week - a musical so she has to perform a song and a monologue.

My friend, Gayla (Zeke's mom) stopped by spontaneously for a visit and to get a tour of the house and remodel.  She is such a great friend and I'm reminded how amazing it is that we moved here for a one year experience and we wound up finding a real, full, solid life here complete with wonderful friendships.  So thankful.

Julie and Frida came over for dinner.  Micha was home sick. I packed up the kids lunches an tried to get everything ready as I needed to get up the next morning at 4am for an early morning flight to Munich.

And after all the time setting up the Blogger app it doesn't work.  Well, apparently it works if I don't want to post any pictures... which is a dumb app.  So much for being able to post from my phone!

What Do I Do With My Days

What do I do with my days is a common question I get.  Funny, I was talking to my mom and she asked just today.  The days seem to fly by and even though I'm not working (for money outside the house) I feel like I'm ALWAYS working.  I've been trying to just pick up my book since we returned to Berlin and I have not read even one page. The days are always full.  Sometimes they are fun too but they are always full. 
One of the things that makes them so full is that everything here seems to take a lot longer for me than it would take in the states.  Even the smallest of things take an extra beat, an extra minute times 5,000 small things like that a day adds up to a lot more time than the equal things in Seattle.  It really is the simplest things.  The dates are day then month - filling things/forms out for school or for doctors it takes an extra beat.  I finally have a clothes dryer again but the dryers here don't have heating vents like ours does in Seattle but a water collecting drawer that has to be dumped every second load. The dryer is in one room and the bathroom sink is out and through a hall and into the heating room and into a small bathroom where I have to carefully dump the water into a small sink.  Every second load.  Plus right now there is construction down there so even getting to and from the machines takes awhile longer and getting to the bathroom with the full drawer for water takes a bit.  Not more than a few minutes, of course, but add that up throughout the day. 
The biggest chunk of my time that takes longer here is grocery shopping and transportation.  Because we only have bikes or bus or train or feet to get us around things just take longer.  I wouldn't trade it but the time getting to and fro adds up. And because we only have bikes I can only take what I can carry.  Today for example my bag was full when I remembered we needed toilet paper.  So silly to buy just 2 rolls - which they do sell here.  But two rolls for a family of 4 is silly.  So I bought the big bag and then I saw that our favorite chocolate bars were on sale for half off.  German chocolate by the way is AMAZING.  The brand we really like goes on sale at half off about once a quarter and then we just stock up.  Like 20 bars.  They last forever... or not that long in our house.  We typically have a smallish square each after dinner.  But I knew I didn't have room in my bag to stock up. 
Even without the chocolate I had a huge heavy load in my basket and had to ride with the toilet paper bag hanging off my wrist as I rode.  By the time I made it home all the blood had been cut off to the hand holding the paper.  But I knew those chocolate bars will not be on sale forever so I made another trip later to stock up along with some other things for Josie's upcoming birthday party.  In between the two trips we had a meeting with our architect that is working on our remodel.  I made lunch. 

Oh and after dropping off the kids this morning I had to stop by the library to turn in a few books for Josie, and renew one for her.  Benjamin has been rifling through his books at breakneck speed so while I was there I looked to see if

there was book 4 and 5 of his new series.  He checked out 3 books on Friday, his library day.  He had finished 2 and was half way through the third book by Monday morning!!😮 I had a book in my queue at the Seattle library for nearly a year.  I use their Overdrive system and then can download on my Kindle.  It became available while I was in Seattle but I didn't have my laptop with me and I pushed the wrong button my phone and I lost it and I had to put it back on hold.  I just looked and I am number 1,200 something!!  Clearly a lot of people want to read this book too.  While I was in the High School library I figured I might as well look for it there.  And lo and behold they had it.  It was brand new and not even registered yet into the system.  I had to wait about 20 minutes for that.  But I finally got the book.  Complete with the old fashioned check out stamp on the front cover 😄

After the architect meeting I made some lunch for me and Marty and then it was time to go pick up Benjamin.  After school on Mondays he has his friend Lukas over.  Like last week we took advantage of the nice days and headed to the little traffic school.  He has to go 6 times throughout the school year and 4 need to be before Thanksgiving.  This was his third time so he is getting there. 

This time the traffic school was much more crowded (it was another GORGEOUS mid 70 degree day!) so there were many more kids on bikes today.  The boys ride their bikes for 30 minutes.  Mogli and I sit quietly and happily waiting or the boys.  When they finish we have to wait an extra 20 minutes for a bus.  We decided to take another bus then have to run to catch the one we really wanted once we get to the downtown area.
Once home I make the boys a snack and they play legos and have their coveted 30 minutes of screen time.  Then they go up to Benjamin's room to read.  His friend, Lukas, loves reading as much as Benjamin does. 
I actually though, "oh, today is the day I can start to read again!"  But then I wanted to talk to my parents.  Had a lovely chat with them and then realized it was already 5:40PM.  I had completely lost track of time.  I hadn't started dinner yet.  I was supposed to get Lukas on a bus around 5:15.  Nearly hang up on my parents.  Turn on the oven (I had planned baked potatoes for dinner which take awhile.  I rush Lukas out the door, send a quick text to his mom alerting her that he would be late and then it is dinner, clean up, dessert (those yummy chocolate bars that I stocked up on - just four small squares each) the kids and Marty take Mogli on a walk while I clean up.  Then a few quick games of Schafskop.  And it is bed time once again.  So... what do I do with my days.  One small example of one of my days.

Oh and today as I was running my errands I thought to take note of the accordion player.  There more accordion players here, well

maybe all over Europe, than I have ever seen in Seattle.  They are street performers in doorways and on bridges and at train stations.  Today I stopped and listened for a few minutes reminding myself that this is not my normal.  Or at least the first 48 years of my normal.  I remember vividly when we were about 6 months into living here when I realized that the sirens no longer sound different.  They have that Neenaaa neennaaa sound whereas in the states it is more, I don't know siren-ish.  Things that were once new are now normal but I want to take note that we are, in fact, living somewhere so different from what we have always knows.  It is easy to forget because so much of our lives are actually the same as they were.... OK, enough musings for a Monday.