first sleepover

Our friends Vasso, Sava, Alexi and Melina came from Belgium for a visit. On the last night, Melina and Dessi had a sleepover in Dessi's room. So excited! They clamored and laughed for about an hour, then passed out. Perfect!

first day of school for adai

Here we are in the kitchen before Adai's first day of German kindergarten. Dessi started there in September, but we wanted to wait till Adai was 2 1/2 before sending her in. Adai's German is already pretty good from her 5 months with a tagesmutter. Apparently she understands most everything, although she speaks very little so far (which is normal for a second language for a child her age).

Fasching

Fasching in Germany seems to be the equivalent of Carnival. It starts the week before ash wednesday with parades, etc., and at night the women go around snipping off men's neckties with scissors, then kissing them (I heard this, but I have not seen anyone doing it and eric's necktie seemed unharmed to me).  Today all the kids at Grainau Kindergarten dressed up, our girls are ballerinas (of course). Here they are in the kitchen before heading to school for the morning.

 I think this one's my favorite:

Prague, day one

Here we are leaving a wonderful coffee shop with the nicest woman ever who adored the girls and kept bringing us treats (and no, that's not why she was the nicest woman ever. She also told me that I was pretty.) Dessi is smiling wildly because she's amped up on the black tea she was served. I had never heard of such a thing, but in fact now I realize they also serve it in her German kindergarten.

Dessi found a little ladybug -- let's just say it was resting -- on a leaf, while Adai stretched out on a bench in a pretty, smallish outdoor sculpture museum by the river.

Prague

Here we are in something-something square (Prague), waiting for the bell to ring (a little puppet-ish man comes out of the church door and hits a bell with a stick) (Seriously, I used to be such a good tourist. Now, with these two it is survival mode. If we happen to see something interesting, then great! If not, well, just keep moving and soon enough it will be time to eat again.) My grandfather is from Czech Republic. It was interesting to walk the streets and think about whether or not he had ever been on that same sidewalk.

These are some pictures of the famous (in our circle, anyway) Bubble Guy of Prague. St. Charles Bridge? Ha, no thanks. Where's that Bubble Guy?

We later bought big bubble makers of our own from amazon and celebrated Dessi's birthday (October) with ginormous bubbles in the backyard. They are not that easy, we mostly made bubble tunnels. This guy has a special gift.

Salzburg

Eric was in charge of the camera this trip, so only two pictures and none with people in them!! It was a good trip, but except for the Mozart experience it was a pretty traditional European city. (I'm so spoiled, huh?!)