This morning we went to Kindermusik and this time Michael met me at the place. It was the first time for him to go and see what the boys are like. The boys were better than last time and they had a lot of fun with the instruments and the inflatable balls. We had this big bedsheet that’s supposed to be the water and the boys enjoyed sitting in “the water” and throwing around the little inflatable beach balls. They really like the bells with the handles. Elijah has to orally inspect each one. Rowan inspects some, but realizes that he is wasting time selecting instead of playing. The smile on his face is so precious when he walks around so proud playing the bells. We still have a hard time when it’s “put away” time, but they have to learn.

After class, they were super tired, so I put them down then I almost had to immediately go to class. This could possibly be my last class unless I can find babysitting for next week. For some reason, all 4 of my babysitters are not available. Either on vacation or have school something or another. So we’re resorting to friends of theirs, only for next week. Then my teacher is really busy with 3 different schools and doesn’t have time for private lessons, so I’ll take a break in July, and then maybe start up again in August. I’m looking forward to the break. There are lots of things I put on hold for lessons and I can get back to them and spend more time with the boys. I am going to have 2 days babysitting so that I can run errands and stuff.

In the afternoon, the boys were super cranky and I think just plain ol’ bored. Riki was going to this nearby lake, so there was a little bit of a scramble figuring out how we’re going to get there. I didn’t want to drive without knowing where to go (and have someone with me) and Riki didn’t want to take two cars. Today is the big quarter-final of the World Cup and Deutchland was playing, so basically at 5pm, everyone stops working. And there is no traffic. So, Riki decided to take her bike with Frederik and Michael came home and we took the car. When we got there, I got an SMS message saying that Riki turned around and went back home because Frederik fell asleep and his head was flopping around. So, we went anyways and had a great time! It was a really nice lake and there were really large meadows of grass, great for them to run around in, and also the lake had a nice gradual entry. The boys liked playing in the sand and going about knee deep in the water. We didn’t bring their swimming stuff because I figured they wouldn’t want to go in, but since they did, we just let them walk around naked. All the little kids there were naked, so they fit right in. We were having fun until Michael looked down and saw a large turd sitting in the water. It was so gross. The water was basically clean though, but seeing that made me think of how many kids pee and poop in that water. Yuck.

We had a great time just walking around and playing in the sand, it was a great afternoon. Needless to say, when we got home, they fell right asleep!

Today is my errand day and the baby sitter came early. I had time to run around, doing stuff that I haven’t had the chance to in awhile. Mostly just picking up stuff that I need. I bought some new German books for me to study while on my german lesson break. I decided on “Berliner Platz 3″. It looked the most colorful and interesting. I think they all basically have the same content, just a matter of pictures or examples. At first I was sad to have the break, but now I’m kind of looking forward to it, interested to see how I will do. I certainly am doing a lot of reading - I’m almost done with Hotzenplotz! I am very proud of myself for sticking it out. Even though it’s a children’s book, it is very hard! After I’m done with that, I want to take in all the Hotzenplotz fan-fare, the puppet show, the new movie, etc., etc. I am glad that Riki bought me this book, it has been really great to read. Michael is trying to read it as well, but he’s got so many other interests like mountains, mountains and more mountains that he can’t keep up.

I met Michael for lunch and we went to Sushi Sano. I first asked if they had Torikaraage and they said they did but it was the bad one. So, I’ve decided never to go there again, unless I’m really desparate. I don’t know why they stopped doing it the old way, I guess they can’t get the coating anymore. Time to find a new japanese restaurant.

This evening I passed out after dinner (kalua pig and portugese sausage…mmmm…) and then I woke up later to do my homework. I stayed up way too late reading and then watching Ice Age. It was a good movie.

Riki invited me and the boys along to a trip at Steinsee. I had to get up early and get everything together. Luckily Michael was up as well and could help. This is my first time I would be driving since December! And our car is a stick shift too. I don’t know when the last time was that I drove a stick shift. It turned out that the driving was pretty easy, because all I had to do was follow Riki and she drove slow for me. Her parents live about 1/2 way there, so we stopped by and picked them up.

We had a really nice time, Riki and her parents treated us to everything, even the parking! They are so nice! The boys didn’t really want to get in the water, so they just had fun running around on the big open grassy area. Rowan especially liked the metal trash cans because they made lots of noise. It wasn’t too bad corralling the both of them, thank goodness it was pretty empty.

We headed back at around noon, and made it home at 1pm. They slept 1/2 of the way and then when I brought them home, they immediately went in for another nap! I don’t think they got up until about 4pm! Man, that must’ve really worn them out.

For dinner I made spaghetti with Prego sauce. We’ve already consumed 1/2 of our stash, and I’ve been trying to save it too! Michael’s mom sent it to us and we are so grateful!

I fell asleep early because I’m finally sick like everyone else in the household. Oh well…

This morning I took the boys to the park with Riki and Frederik and the boys had a good time. It was pretty empty so they could run around wherever. I’m trying to be better about taking them out since they are so used to it. It helps when someone else comes along to motivate you to do it!

Today the boys learned how to say “please” by putting their hands together. I make them say it whenever they want a Leibniz cracker. They probably think “please” means “cracker”. It’s so cute though to see Rowan out of the corner of your eye and he is still and quiet and has his hands together, asking for a cracker!

Riki sent me a link to a website that has listings of classes for kids. It is really cheap (4 - 8 euros/child/class) but in German. They have all kinds of classes, so I’m looking forward to taking some. It will also give me good German practice! I don’t know why this isn’t more known in the English circles, I mean, it’s a kid class, how much German do you really need to know? Especially when it’s so cheap! The English playgroups here are ridiculously expensive, about 10 - 15 euros/child/class. That’s a big difference!

Nothing else really happened except that Michael is now officially sick. The boys haven’t gotten a fever so I’m not all that worried about it. This is #6 or #7, I lost count already.

This morning my parents left at around 4:30am and no one woke me up to say goodbye! I was kind of upset that I didn’t get to see them off. Michael decided to drive them rather than make them take the train, and since it’s so early, there wouldn’t be too much traffic. It has been a really good visit and they spoiled us and the boys rotten! Especially us though. They would take care of the boys from when they got up until when they went to bed and my dad would cook dinner if we didn’t go out to eat. In between my mom would clean up the bathrooms or the kitchen or whatever. Thanks mom and dad for taking care of all 4 of us!

So when I woke up this morning, the house was so empty and quiet. It felt really weird. And the poor boys usually have two or three people to play with them, now only has one. After eating their breakfast, Rowan went to get his shoes. Awww…. This means that it’s time to go out. My parents had a routine with them, they took them almost every day to Starbucks. I needed to get some groceries anyway, so we all went to Basic.

At my German lesson today, I found out that I can’t have any lessons until August, so I was really depressed today. I guess the thought of not having a structured lesson kind of scared me. My teacher teaches at 3 different schools, and it just so happens that she will be at all 3 of them in July. I think July/August is the busy season for the language schools. Oh well, I’ll just have to be more disciplined about speaking/learning German.

Since we went to Basic today, we just had Brotzeit for dinner, kind of a quiet day.

Today was my parents last day here. We didn’t really plan anything except to go to Pramilla’s house for a long overdue visit. In the morning, they went out to Starbucks as usual, then the boys had a nap. In the afternoon, we headed out to Pramilla’s place. We got stopped by the UBahn police, and it turned out that I stamped the wrong box on the strief-karte. The guy was going to write us up, but then the other guy figured that we didn’t know what we were doing and since they don’t have the instructions in English, how are we supposed to know? So, they just let us go. Whew!

We had a nice visit with Pramilla and her family and we stayed there for a little while. It was good to see them again! Bill got in a bike accident and broke his arm and now he has a metal plate with 9 screws in his arm! It looked painful! But that didn’t stop them from going to the “FIFA House” in their backyard and drinking a beer.

On our way out, Rowan was getting pretty gutsy with going up and down the stairs and then he fell down. He got a nasty scratch on his nose and forehead but is basically ok. He is getting better with stairs, but he still needs help. Elijah isn’t nearly as gutsy!

The evening was spent just hanging out at home. My dad made his very tasty chicken for us one last time. Boy, we will miss all these great dinners! My mom fell asleep early on the couch, and I woke her up at around 1am to start packing. I started frantically putting everything together, all these CD’s that I needed to make for my cousin and for my dad and getting together whatever my mom needs to take back with her. It’s a lot of work. I was hoping to get my office cleaned up while she was here, but didn’t get to it. I thought I would have all this free time when they were here, but sadly I didn’t and/or I just got so darn lazy! So many things I had planned and didn’t do not a darn thing!!!

This morning we got up super early and left the house at around 7:30am to get to the salt mines of Berchtesgaden. We had to leave early so that we got there close to when it opened. I read that the later you go, the longer you have to wait in line. It’s close to Salzburg, so it’s too bad that we couldn’t do both of these things at one time. Anyways, when we got there, it was pretty empty, and we got on our miner’s clothes and we just made it in time to catch the train.

The salt mine people were really smart. They figured, no one would come to see the mines if it was just the mines. So what they did was build a small train and some slides as an attraction and so now they have tons of visitors. I don’t think it’s something to see just in itself, but if you happen to be in the neighborhood, it’s definitely worth a visit. We had a short train ride on the small train, then we got out and walked to the slide. I was expecting a gynormous slide because in the brochure, it looks huge. Turns out it was just the wide angle lens. It’s actually pretty small (maybe 2 stories), but it was still fun. There was also a pretty cool movie about how the salt got there and the process they use to get it out. We learned a lot about the salt! It was kind of irritating because the tour guide dude was German and would speak to the German people, then they would all leave the area, and he would press a button and the English version would play. But we felt like we were missing something. He also told some jokes in German that wasn’t on the English version! Not fair! Anyways, there was then yet another slide and a vernicular (sp?) and then the train ride back. I was really looking forward to the raft ride, but it was broken or they no longer was doing it. We did pass by the lake and it didn’t look anything at all like what the picture showed. Kind of dingy. All in all, it was a fun time and I’m glad we went. Of course we had to buy the pictures they were peddling. I thought it would be 10 euros each, but they were fair about it and it was 4 euros or 3 for 10 euros, totally reasonable.

After that, we searched in vain to find a rodellbahn (one of those slide things), we had to pay 10 euros just to drive on that mountain. Instead of just wasting that money, we stopped, walked a little and got a nice view. Michael made my mom spin around like in “The Sound of Music” and took some pictures.

Then we went to a mountain (can’t remember the name) nearby and went up the lift. The lift was a 2 person car, and it was super hot in there! 2 tiny windows all the way down did NOT help at all. We were all dying! We finally got to the top and had a nice view and lunch. The food at these places aren’t all that good, but better than nothing I guess. Alas, we couldn’t stay very long and had to head back. On the way down, it was much cooler, I guess because the wind was blowing against the car and going in a little.

We were all tired when we got home, but I don’t think as tired as the time we took the boys! Dad made his stir fry…mmm.mmm.good!

This morning we went to Kindermusik again. The boys weren’t as excited as last weekend, it could be that they were still tried from yesterday, don’t know. They were kind of grouchy, and wasn’t as excited about the instruments as last week, but they still played with them. There was another set of twins that came to the class, but they were 14 months and I think they were too young because they couldn’t walk yet. It was a little chaotic, but we got through it. Elijah of course loved looking at himself and Rowan was excited to have such a big area to run around in.

This afternoon I went with my dad to the Japanese store to pick up some supplies. Other than that, nothing else happened.

The boys are sure learning a lot from my mom. When my mom comes down to put lotion on her face, she has her mouth open. One day she noticed that Elijah will copy her and open his mouth whenever someone rubs something on his face. Too cute!

Michael took my parents to Dachau today, you can read about it in Michael’s blog here. I got a babysitter and had a free day. I ran errands and did all the things that have been piling up (as usual). I also had to go to my German class too.

When I got home, it was really quiet and it turned out that everyone was sleeping, even the boys! What a strange sight. Dachau was very tiring for everyone and then when they came back, they took the boys to the park and so they were tired too. My mom and dad didn’t like Dachau very much, only because it was so depressing and it was really hot and they had to walk a lot. I guess you can’t expect a place like that to be really fun. But I think it was a good thing for them to see and experience. My dad talked a lot about it after that day, even though he complained about it too!

In the evening, Michael and I went out with Riki and Arne (a first!). We babysit each other’s kids, but never get to go out together. So, my parents watched all the kids and we went out to a mexican place around the corner. We were originally going to go to Sausalito’s, but I didn’t want to sit there in the heat and it being so loud, so we decided to try a Mexican place close by. It was pretty good. The food wasn’t as good as Sausalito’s, but not too bad. I wish we could do this more often, they are so much fun!

So, I don’t really remember what happened today, please forgive me. But it’s pretty much a routine. My parents wake up with the boys and then take them to Starbucks, either one or both. There is one on Residenzstr. and one at Marienplatz. My dad is getting so confident with his navigation skills that either the trip is really short (correct) or they get really lost. Once they ended up in Schwabing, which is pretty far. They always go the wrong way when they go to MiniMal, don’t know why that is. Maybe that shopping center really throws off his sense of direction.

Anyways, we went to dinner at the HofBräuhaus and we were expecting it to be packed. I mean, it’s always packed, but at least there wasn’t a line. We could sit in the “non-smoking” area, but it’s such a joke because there’s so much smoke in there it doesn’t matter. But at least the person next to you isn’t smoking. We had the luxury of having a big table all to ourselves and we immediately got a pretzel for the boys. They were kind of grouchy but the good thing there is that they can kick and scream and basically it’s so loud that no one will hear them or care. Cool! It was a lot less stressful than the last dinner we went to because of 2 things. One, we weren’t stressed out about bothering other people, we were probably the quietest table. And two, I brought milk bottles, the secret weapon. I will never forget those again. Dinner was pretty good. I liked the chicken and everyone else liked their meals too. It’s not really a place to go all the time, but everyone should go just to see the sheer numbers of people crammed in there, all drinking beer and celebrating something or another.

It was raining outside, so we got soaking wet, even though we brought umbrellas. The “big” umbrella that I had isn’t adequate for 2. Oh well. The boys were the dryest and super cozy with the stroller cover.