4018

It's official, Eric and I have been married for 4018 days. The girls and I have spent the last few evenings watching the video from that day. It has been really neat watching the excitement through their eyes of our wedding. Seeing all of our family and friends who celebrated with us then and continue to be part of our life is wonderful. I am very grateful for the love and friendships that support our marriage and our family.

We celebrated this anniversary by participating in a "Running Dinner". The progressive style dinner was organized by a few of Eric's co-workers with a few surprises. We only knew our starting location, the times we would change, and that we were responsible for bringing a dessert. 

We started a 7:20pm in the north side of Frankfurt at the first host's apartment with the host couple and two other female colleagues. The  ladies responsible for the appetizer served green asparagus topped with shrimp and meat and an asian sauce. It was very tasty. Promptly at 7:55pm, the doorbell rang. Our chauffeur was giving us a five minute warning before we headed to the next house. At 8:05pm, we climbed into our personal black sedan and were on our way to the next house on the south side of Frankfurt. 

We arrived 15 minutes later than the planned time, but we were still in time for dinner. At this apartment, we dined with a few of the guys Eric had been in training with. The guys served fresh crepes filled with white asparagus and ham along with spinach pasta all topped with gorgonzola sauce. They said they started with their mom's recipe, but then fine tuned it for tonight's event. It was delicious and filling. Just as everyone was finishing up their meal, the doorbell rang. We quickly said our goodbyes and were off to the last house.

At 9:25pm we arrived at our last house. I am not sure of the exact location as I only remember the landmarks we passed in the beginning part of this journey. We enjoyed the raspberry trifle and chocolate brownie bites with two other couples. I was happy the trifle made it as the driver made a quick stop one time and it dumped over in the trunk, but the presentation and taste were not effected. While we were finishing up dessert, the doorbell rang to let us know it was time to head to our last destination. 

The entire group ended up at Hoppers, a cocktail bar, in Sachsenhausen. It was a trendy quaint place in the southern historic area of Frankfurt. It was good to see everyone again we had so quickly dined with throughout the evening. 

The spontaneity and surprises throughout the evening made it a great anniversary night out to remember with Eric. 

Violin Performance

This afternoon was Adeline's violin performance. The teacher had the children play a few pieces using different techniques and instruments. Adeline was very posed as she played the violin and the cello. Even the boy's mothers commented on how well the violin suited her. 

Adeline enjoyed playing the violin, but still ranks the guitar as her favorite instrument she has tried so far.

Spargelzeit

We have had another week of rain, but we have not let that dampen our appetite for asparagus. It is asparagus time here and the fresh spring vegetable is in many restaurant specialty dishes and quickly sells out at the market. It makes me so happy when Adeline requests it for dinner. We have enjoyed the fresh green and white asparagus a few times each week along with some potatoes and ham. Emmie enjoys it the most when she can dip a few pieces of the "sword" into the hollandaise sauce. 

Caterpillar or Raupe

On Tuesday, a Hamburg theater group presented The Very Hungry Caterpillar for an English performance in the morning and a German one in the afternoon. 

Adeline's class attended the morning performance. Her class arrived so early, they had to wait half an hour for the other schools to arrive, but it allowed them to sit in the front row. Since her class is beginning to learn the English language, she only had to translate a few times throughout the show. She had a fun field trip.

Us girls attended the German afternoon performance. When we arrived, Adeline was excited to show us the entrance doors. Not even realizing she, along with Emmie who was following, causally went in front of about 30 mothers with their young children, to touch the door and inform me this was the way in. Within a minute, I had the entire crowd standing directly behind me. When I looked around and saw this, I was not about to head to the back of the group as I already understand how Germans do not understand how to form a single file line. 

It was a good thing I held my ground for Adeline and Emmie to be the first ones in for the show. It allowed them to get seats front and center for the performance. I sat towards the back of the room. The first few mothers with their children who we cut in front of all sat in the first few rows and blocked the view for the numerous children who had to sit behind them.

The performance was creative and brought much laughter. At the end, while the large beautiful butterfly was flying around the room, it landed on my head. The girls thought this was neat that I became part of the show. 

Recess

This week is back to routine as school has started up again. Unfortunately, we have had rain everyday and the even the girls are starting to feel cooped up as recess and afternoon activities are not much fun in the cold and rain.

Fortunately, Eric has sent us pictures from his recess breaks to help us cope with the dreary weather. He has been in Kitzbühel, Austria all week in a training session. He claims he is attending training, but we hear about how the food is good, scenery is great, and the recreational activities they have been doing to pass the time. Seems a little suspicious to me, but I am happy it is good week for him.

Pedal, pedal, pedal

Saturday we finally a had few hours without rain. We jumped on the bikes and headed to the Main River. This was Emmie's first big trip on the follow-me. The same path we take to get to the river, Emmie found to be very interesting as she could now see everything we were passing. She had fun looking at whatever we pointed out along the route and sharing with us the new things she saw too.

We made it to Okriftel and the playground. We stopped for lunch and a break. Afterwards, we headed home. Our outing was planned just right because about an hour later, it hailed and then rained the rest of the evening.

Sunday afternoon, the weather was sunny, but it was raining intermittently. We decided to take a walk downtown. Our neighbors who were also leaving at the same time on a walk commented that we had about an hour before the next big downpour. I agreed with them as I had also checked the radar. Just as everyone was finishing up their ice cream, black clouds started rolling in. Bandit and I ran alongside Adeline who was riding her bike quickly back up the hills as we were trying to stay ahead of the storm. I gave Eric the umbrella as him and Emmie were walking. We all made it home with 10 minutes to spare before the hail storm started.

Wet vacation

The cold spell from Easter weekend turned into a long week of rainy days. Fortunately, we did not have any outdoor plans or activities planned for the second week of vacation. The girls thought it was great to have a pajama day and movie day.

Adeline was proud of the block tower she created with Eric. She had to be on her tip toes to start the marbles at the top. They did a great job as only a few marbles escaped the tower at the end when it had shifted slightly from all of them racing to the bottom.

Adeline's cancelled sleepover with Clara because Clara was sick turned into Emmie's fortune of having a campout in the family room with her sister. I think Bandit had the most fun curling up on the girls' sleeping bags while they watched cartoons.