XMas 2013 - Fort Warden

The yearly tradition at this point to go to Fort Warden State Park for Christmas. Tons of fun this year, as it was the first time I really felt like we could kick back and relax. The weather was fantastic (upper 40's, low 50's), sunshine, no wind. And for the first time all kids are old enough that we don't have to constantly be worrying about someone crying, getting hurt, falling down the stairs, biting, fighting.

It was good stuff. Some pics below:

As usual, it all begins with a ferry ride from Edmonds to Kingston.

Too cool for school.

Kingston harbor

Next we stopped by Port Gamble, and old port town built in the late 19th century in the style of an east coast Cape Cod town. All the old houses still remain, it's very quaint. Called Washington's best kept secret.

Then we arrived at the "Weihnachten Haus". Everyone excited.

Later on the 25th, Said and I prepared "Camp Lutz" for the bigger kids. It was basically a "Schnitzeljagd" where the kids had to find 3 packs of Gummy Bears we spread across the Fort.

The kids were supposed to take pictures of themselves at each site, but only managed to do so at the first site.

Watson says...

Der Watson hat ziemlich viele verrückte Ideen und Charaktere. Zwei, die er seit ein paar Jahren macht sind "Gew" und "Melch". Beide sind so ziemlich das gleiche.

Er streckt die Zunge Raus in eine Richtung, macht ein Auge zu, guckt in die andere Richtung, und reibt die Finger zusammen. Er macht das wenn er sehr aufgeregt ist und sich freut.

Vorgestern sagt er zu mir:"Papa, Ges und Melch ist jetzt vorbei. Ich bin zu alt dafür". Mal sehen!

Leila says...

Milo ist zu Zeit super an "Rubik's cube" interessiert. Irgendwie hat's in der Schule angefangen. Er hat einen nach Hause gebracht und angefangen mit Youtube zu lernen wie man ihn löst.

Jetzt will er immer mehr Rubik's Cubes haben, welche die man schneller drehen kann damit er sie schneller lösen kann.

Als er einen neuen zu Weihnachten gekriegt hat, hat sich Leila sehr für ihn gefreut.

Sie nennt die Würfel allerdings "Rubike's Cube". Jetzt sagen wir auch alle "Rubike's Cube". Hört sich doch viel besser an, oder?

Leila said...

I haven't shaved in three weeks. I looked pretty scruffy and Leila noticed.

Leila:"Warum hast du da Haare?"
Me:"So halt."
Leila:"Aber warum hast du da Haare?"
Me:"Weil die da einfach wachsen. Magst Du das?"
Leila:"Das ist so wunderschön!"

And then later, the next day:

Leila:"Papa, warum hast du da Haare?"
Me:"So halt. Magst du das?"
Leila:"Nein, ich mag das nicht. Du sollst Haare auf dem Kopf haben, nicht da."

Leila said...

Leila:"Papa, warum sprichst du Deutsch?"
Me:"Weil ich Deutsch bin."
Leila:"Aber warum sprichst du Deutsch?"

She seems to be intrigued by the fact that I speak a different language from everyone else she knows.

Me:"Weil meine Eltern Deutsch sind. Ich bin aus Deutschland. In Deutschland spricht man deutsch."

Leila:"Ist die Mama aus Englischland?"

wenn ich nach hause komme

Die Party, die hier abgeht wenn ich nach Hause komme. Den Milo interessiert es zwar schon nicht mehr die Bohne, aber Leila und Watson sind überglücklich.

Im Video unten kann man das ein bisschen an der Leila sehen. Ich habe versucht es auf Video zu kriegen, es ist mir aber nicht ganz gelungen. Sie huepft immer rum und sagt die niedlichsten Sachen. Heute zum Beispiel hat sie gesagt:

Leila:"Ich bin so gleucklich dass du zu haus bist. Papa, du bist so cool!".
Oder:
Leila:"Ich magst Du!"

Sie macht immer noch den Fehler wo sie immer die zweite Person singular fuer aller Verbkonjugationen benutzt.

Fast, aber nicht ganz im Video:

Halloween 2013

We just moved into our new house in Bryant-Ravenna. It's a really cool neighborhood and we can walk to a couple of cool restaurants and bars. Glad to be closer to the city again.

Anyway, this year Halloween was exceptionally warm. Leila is now 4 and she is really into Halloween. She didn't quite get it last year and the year before she had to stay home with Melissa.

Now she is old enough and she went trick or treating with much enthusiasm. Watson is mid-stride, loving it and cashing in big time on the candy.
Milo is probably on his last legs and I assume next year he will only go out by himself to see if he can run into any girls or something.

Some pics:

Oktoberfest Berghaus 2013

After our work party on August 23rd, the idea was born to have another camp trip before the year is over. The problem with camping in the Fall is that you just can't count on the weather. It also gets dark sooner so the time at the camp fire just isn't as magical as in the summer when we stay up late and tell scary stories.

So the idea was to remedy that by staying at the Berghaus and there, it's quite plausible to stay up outside with even less then summery weather and then later retreat to the dormitories.

After some brainstorming we thought it may be a good idea to do an Oktoberfest. Since we're all German it made total sense. Alex had purchased Dirndls the women/grils could wear. The guys could wear Lederhos'n. We'd make real German food. we'd go for a hike.

Oh, and the coolest thing was that we found out about the Goldmeyr hotsprings, which is a 9 mile drive and 5 mile hike into the cascade mountains. It's maintained by one of the "friends of" societies with a year round care taker. They only allow 20 people a day to visit, so Said had kindly organized the permits a couple of weeks in advance.

Pics below!

Me in my lederhos'n

Enjoying a cold brew on the balcony.

The mountain peaks are already beginning to be snow covered

Double rainbow!

Took the kids to hike up to the ski lift

Donauwelle courtesy Valerie

Bretz'n with home made Obatzda

The kids and I made Pretzels from scratch. They all enjoyed rolling and folding the dough.

As you can see some of the Pretzels are really rolls from the littler ones.

All the delicious German food!

Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!

Off to Golfmeyr!

Crystal clear water

The caretaker's office

Amazing pools at different temperatures

That cave goes back about 7 meters, awesomest hottub ever!

Time to chill.