Wednesday, February 17, 2016

back blog

Time keeps on slippin', slippin' slippin' into the future.... and suddenly it has been more than a month since I sat down to blog. I'd like to say that my life has been so awesomely busy as to prevent me from sitting down at the computer, but while we have been doing some fun stuff (pictures below,) mostly I have just been a bit apathetic about it. The blog, that is. I do value the family history side of this endeavor though, so I am back at it and will try to get back into the groove of regular posting.  Here's what we have been up to the past month.

We made a weekend trip to Garmisch in search of snow fun.  Our families have enjoyed lots of snow this winter in the US, but here in Germany we have had like, one day of flurries, and that is it. We like staying at the American Lodge in Garmisch because it is easy.  I am sure I have said this in past posts, but the family room, pool, buffet meals... it just makes for a very laid back holiday.
 
We went sledding, swam, and Rob took the big kids to a skiing lesson. The last day we were there we were graced with some fresh snowfall and we ran out to build snowmen, make snow angels, and throw snowballs.  Fun family time.

I didn't go to the mountain for skiing day, but Rob took just a couple of photos for me with his kindle.  Toby and Charlotte really like skiing so far. Charlotte says she is "really good at it."

Miss Amelie got her first haircut!
I love her cute little bob so much... I might cut mine the same way.  I am very tempted.  This is pretty much the haircut I had most of my childhood and I HATED it.  And now I love it.

Toby had his first viola recital. If you are familiar with Suzuki method, this was his Twinkle recital, where he played six variations of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. We had it at home and invited his school music teacher from last year. (She lives near us.) At Toby's request we had ice cream and popcorn for refreshments. He did a great job.

Charlotte started going to ballet again!
I am sooo happy. We were looking at the offerings for Spring sports, and when I read about ballet she said that she really misses doing it.  I told her that ballet is year round, and she can't do ballet and cheerleading, so she should think about it.  And she chose ballet!  Hurrah!!!  There are just four little girls in her ballet II class and they have a male teacher, which Charlotte finds very novel.  Three weeks in, she is loving it so far.

And finally we are up to last night.  I gave Rob concert tickets for Christmas to see Andy McKee play in Frankfurt. Yeah, I know this is a terrible selfie but it was just a quick one while we were waiting for the doors to open at Batschkapp.

The venue was smallish, and the performance was very down to earth and I guess you would call it intimate- with minimal effects and such.  Just a guy and his guitars. He told a few personal stories while he tuned between songs, and I loved his description of where he grew up in Kansas for the Germans, "it's the kind of place where you can watch your dog run away for a week." Rob first came across Andy McKee on youtube nearly 10 years ago when his song Drifting went viral.  Rob and I have VERY different musical tastes, but we both enjoy this artist, so I was ecstatic when I came across these tickets back in December. 

  
We had a super fun, rare for us, grown-ups only date night out on the town.  You can see us in this shot from Andy's facebook page- we are about 6-7 rows back, center left.