Happy Birthday Steve!

Today was Steve's birthday!  He didn't want to celebrate but we thought he should anyway.  Thanks to all our facebook friends who sent him messages to wish him a happy day!  We thought we would share a few pictures from his day!

The girls found this little deer (dear) in a shop in Starnberg (our town).  They thought Dad should have a buck for his birthday since he wasn't able to go hunting this Thanksgiving like he normally would!

Dominic carved him an "S" bottle opener and AJ found him an antler paperweight.  AJ gets extra sneaky points, he left his present in Steve's car with a card for Steve to find when he went to work in the morning.

I'm pretty sure in the end he enjoyed his day!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving a day early here in Munich.  Since the kids had the day off from school Steve took the day off too so we could make a whole day of the celebration.  Tonight on the actual day, we will eat delicious leftovers and watch the Macy Day parade and a little football.  

Do you like my special plates?  

We started our day with breakfast from the bakery and delicious hot chocolate.  A new favorite treat is hot chocolate made by mixing steamed milk with a block of chocolate on a stick.  It's fun and so heavenly!

Waiting for them to learn that whether or not they cooperate
when I take the picture I'm still going to use it!

Next it was time to cook.  Some cooking shortcuts are not readily available here.  The missing items that affected us most were: canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, ready made pie crusts, cream of mushroom soup, fried onions, canned sweet potatoes, stuffing mixes, unsweetened chocolate and of course brown sugar (which I learned how to make right after we moved here).  However, I have found substitutions or new recipes to deal with each and every one of these missing ingredients!  By the way, it's a good thing I didn't make that list of "can't find in Germany" before now...

Seriously, all three of these pots are for the green bean casserole!

We started preparing on Sunday by baking cookies, Monday was cranberry sauce and shopping day, Tuesday was pie day.  Pumpkin pie, from scratch, apple pie, always from Steve's mom's recipe, and chocolate silk pie. Today, everyone helped with the cooking and the final product was definitely satisfying.  Everyone had to help because "from scratch" cooking is definitely more labor intensive!  We even tried the turkey a new way, cooking from a frozen state; and yes, it worked, and even better, was quite tasty.  Why would we cook a frozen turkey instead of defrosting one?  Mainly because there is not room in our refrigerator to thaw a turkey for three-five days.  Really, this 12lb turkey barely fit in our freezer.

While dinner was cooking the kids frosted cookies and we watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.  Frosting cookies during the Macy Day parade is our usual tradition so we just had to mix it up a little.  They also had a little homework to do, no additional day off tomorrow.  Although they did try to convince me that "no one" was going to school on Thanksgiving.  Considering less than 20% of their school is American I find this unlikely.

Our final dinner consisted of: Turkey, old-fashioned bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, butter-pecan sweet potatoes (these were terrific and a new favorite, for any meal), homemade green bean casserole, gravy, corn, salad, rolls and cranberry sauce.  Well not really the cranberry sauce, we forgot it in the refrigerator so we will have that with our leftovers.  Things can't be perfect.
  
After dinner, the kids did the dishes and I did not help at all.  I loved that.  Truly.  Afterwards we watched a movie and had dessert.  The pies were scrumptious and we all went to bed happy!  

Pies!

While we miss all of our family and friends on this special holiday we are truly thankful for what we have and that we are together.  We wish everyone we know a Happy Thanksgiving and now that we know how to do it in Germany, let us know if you're coming next year!

Sports!

Sports

Tonight we went to the MIS Athletes Recognition night for high school sports.  It began with each team in its own classroom with the coach speaking about the team and a short video presentation.  We had three varsity athletes so that was a little tricky.  Rachel went to Stefanie’s room, I went to AJ’s and Steve went to Dominic’s.  Afterwards there were team presentation in the auditorium.  Everyone does not get a trophy here.  One coach’s award and one most valuable player award per team.  However, we were surprised because one DelRosso did bring home a trophy tonight!!!

All four kids played a sport this fall. We had decided before school started that this would be a great way to meet more friends and be active at school even if that meant not knowing anyone when they went to try-outs. Lots of opportunities to embrace inner courage here. 

And as an aside, I can relate a little. I almost didn’t go to the first MIS Mom’s tennis day because I was afraid. What if I’m not good enough?  What if I don’t know anyone? What if I suck? What if everyone else plays all the time? And then I thought, my kids all tried out and are playing a sport, how am I going to explain to them that I wimped out on going to play tennis? So I went, had a great time and now have friends I play with every week!

Sports are a bit different here.  In general the international school community is not as competitive as the American system.  Most kids don’t play sports year round on travel teams so the level of play is just different.  A bonus for us here is that they are all at one school which means one place to pick up kids after practice and one recognition night.  Logistics are easier.  

Dominic decided to give rugby a try, something different after many years of soccer.  He liked some of the kids playing and we had heard great things about the program.  Not only did he make the team but he started all season and has really learned quite a bit about the game.  Thankfully he plays on the wing which means he isn’t always in the middle of the ruck, but it is still really hard to watch him get tackled.  No pads in rugby.

AJ had to make a choice between volleyball and soccer since both are played in the fall here.  He chose volleyball which he really grew to love this past spring at Charter.  He also made the varsity team and had a great season.  He’s already looking forward to next year and what he will be able to do as a setter.  

Stefanie also played volleyball.  While middle school volleyball is played in the spring, high school girls is played in the fall.  The school’s website said if you were 13 you could play high school sports so we, incorrectly it turned out, assumed lots of kids played from the middle school.  Since volleyball is Stef’s only sport we had her try out.  She was the only 8th grader, and she made the varsity team.  This was a big deal and she did great all season.  Stefanie is also our family’s winner of a trophy - she received the Coach’s Award.

Rachel chose to stick with soccer, her sport of choice.  She played on her grade’s middle school team and had a great season.  While she has most recently been a defensive player she did start switching to offense and played quite well.  She was asked to play with the 8th grade team for their end of the year tournament in Frankfurt.  This was a fun opportunity for her since 6th grade students don’t usually travel overnight.  

A highlight of playing in the international community is that the competition is other international schools.  Dominic went to Zurich and Zuoz in Switzerland, AJ visited Frankfurt and Warsaw, Stefanie went to Zurich and Vienna and Rachel made a trip to Frankfurt.  The kids usually play a Friday game, spend the night with a family from the school and then play a Saturday game and come home.  At the end of the season there are tournaments that last three or four days.  

We also house students when teams visit our school.  So far it has gone really well.  We had lovely girls from Austria and some fun British boys from the Zurich school.  The British boys played monopoly with our kids, it was fun to watch and we enjoyed the internationalness of our American kids playing Monopoly with British boys who live in Switzerland at our house in Germany.

Four kids in four sports does make for a busy fall, but it’s just like what we did at home which provided great familiarity. We are glad they played, and they are glad they played.  

Suß oder Sauer

I have been asked by many friends if Halloween is celebrated here in Germany. The short answer is yes. The longer answer is not by everyone and not all Germans love it. I have been told that five or ten years ago there wouldn’t have been any Halloween.  

An awesome part of celebrating Halloween in Munich is that it is in the Bavarian part of Germany which is mostly Catholic. In fact some Catholic Holy Days of Obligation are actually holidays.  One of these is All Saints Day which falls on November 1st. This makes celebrating Halloween in Germany particularly terrific because the kids don’t have to go to school the next day.  Really, what could be better than people giving you candy and then getting to stay up late eating it!

Rachel, Stefanie, AJ & Dominic

We had about 30 trick or treaters at our door and 90% of them were German little kids who did not speak English. They knew to try our door though, the four jack-o-lanterns (the only ones I saw) on our gate were a big clue. As a side note, jack-o-lantern pumpkins were just piled up in the corner of a field. We picked our four and left our money in an honor box posted next to the pumpkins.

Some kids know the english phrase of “trick or treat” but many just said Suß oder Sauer” which literally translates to Sweet or Sour. While I tried to get them to say “trick or treat” it was quite hard with the little kids. Most kids don’t start English until the fifth grade so unbelievable as it may seem, they know less English than I know German.  

Within our international school community different areas of trick or treating were organized. AJ volunteered with friends at one where they had a haunted garage, a ghost walk and trick or treating. 

Stefanie and her friends trick or treated where AJ was. A key difference to the US, the kids rode the train on their own to the neighborhood and returned when they were finished.  Kids are much more independent here and in general it is quite a bit safer.  Stefanie continued her trend of non-scary costumes as Minnie Mouse while surrounded by ghouls and zombies and devils. 

Rachel had a sleepover party with friends, where they played spooky games and dressed up and trick or treated through the community. The neighborhood where she was has many international families who embraced trick or treating. She had a blast and unlike her sister completely loves the creepy and scary aspect of Halloween. She was a princess zombie.

Dominic completely abandoned Halloween activities and met friends in Munich for the evening.  They had their own kind of no school the next day fun!

And since the kids had their own plans, what did Steve and I do?  We gave out candy and then met friends for drinks.  A fun evening for all of us.

First Day of School 2012

Stefanie, Rachel, AJ & Dominic

Happy First Day of School in Germany. Today begins our journey at Munich International School. It's hard to know what to expect and everyone is a little nervous to see how it all goes. Luckily we had a great day of orientation yesterday and everyone gets a "buddy" who meets them at school. Rachel is in sixth grade, Stefanie is in eighth grade, AJ is a sophomore and Dominic is a junior.

I abandoned my traditional chalk drawings at the bus stop this year. The idea of something to make them stand out was not appealing to the kids! Luckily Steve came up with a solution - use Rachel's easel!

Move-in Day!

So after waiting for customs to clear our shipment we have finally arrived at move-in day.

The kids are all ready to move in and start making their rooms their own. The biggest positive for them at the moment is that they all get their own room. Everyone has shared a room at some point and the boys in particular have been roommates since they were 1.5 and 2.5. Their own rooms are a big deal.

Every box that isn't collapsed is filled with packing material or other boxes!

There are a ridiculous number of boxes. They are all in the right rooms and the kids, Steve and I are busy unpacking. About halfway through this is what our front yard looks like filled with empty boxes!

Clearly, we are big believers in get it out of the box and get it put away. Steve is particularly good at this which keeps me very motivated. After all, I do like to know where things are!!

First European Vacation - Italy

Top of Mount Baldo

We were all ready to move into our house with one small problem. Our shipment was stuck in customs. Instead of moping around waiting for it to arrive we decided to take our first vacation. In two days we planned a whirlwind trip to Italy. Limoncello out of lemons!

There really was only one place to start. The Ferrari Museum. Our plan was to leave early Saturday morning to make the five hour drive to Maranello. It was a good plan except for one thing, Bavarian school holidays began that day. We were driving to Italy with what seemed like ALL of southern Germany. We had been warned, but figured traffic couldn't possibly be that bad on the autobahn. We were so very wrong. That five hour drive? It took eight! We will never leave on the first day of school holidays again.

Luckily, we made it to the museum before it closed and we were able to enjoy a wonderful afternoon there. This is hands down Steve's favorite museum, ever. The mix of history, the old and new cars, the racecars. We unfortunately were too late for the tour of the racetrack. We'll just have to make another trip.

We spent the night in Modena, Italy. The hotel was an older, beautiful building, with the teeniest showers we have ever seen. We asked the owner for a dinner recommendation and ate at Zelmira. The food was delicious but much more nouveau cuisine than our kids had ever experienced. They were however particularly excited that they were all served lambrusco. When in Italy...

Pool kids

The next morning we drove to Bardolino which is on Lake Garda. Steve's co-workers had recommended Lake Garda as a popular summer vacation spot. We stayed at the Parc Gritti hotel which was right across the street from the lake and a had a gorgeous swimming pool. The kids were thrilled too because the boys had one room, the girls another and Steve and I a third. Steve and I didn't mind that either. 

The next three days were mostly about relaxing and proving that traveling in Europe was going to be fun. We walked into town for dinner, enjoyed long Italian dinners and ended our evenings with gelatto.

Corte San Luc

Pizza at Il Gabbiano

Pizza on the first night lived up to everyone's expectations. Personal pizzas take on a whole new meaning in Italy. They are huge and so very, very tasty. Another restaurant we ate at in Bardolino was also delicious and the waiter talked us into a sample of desserts which were of course amazing. Plates of profiteroles, tiramasu and lemon cake filled our table. We decided that you should always say YES when the waiter says he has something special for you. As a bonus while we were waiting for dessert we watched an elevator rise out of the terrace next to where we were eating. Not just any elevator, an elevator for a car, for the underground parking.

Stefanie

Dominic

AJ

Rachel

We also took a day trip to Mount Baldo. we rode the cable car up to top of the mountain for some magnificent views. It was a popular tourist outing so we had a long wait but that allowed the kids some time to make friends with the Israeli kids in front of us. Turns out they all knew the "chopsticks" math game that is played with fingers. Fun to watch. While we weren't quite dressed for hiking and definitely didn't have proper footwear (remember we were still living out of suitcases, our household was stuck in customs) we did get to explore a little. The kids enjoyed posing for pictures with the awesome view behind them. Then we were surprised by an out of the blue thunderstorm so we had lunch in the cafe at the top and then evenutally made our way back down.  

It was a wonderful trip and the perfect way to relax before we started unpacking and organizing our house. Luckily we timed things perfectly and our shipment arrived the day after we returned to Germany!

Bardolino

Bardolino

We were really there!