The Family

What we did when we were bored

I saw my very first schluempf haus (Smurf House)in a toy store in Germany. Matthias then informed me that he owned several...and so we found them. We also found their collection of Monchhichis.








We also made a few Smurf videos but they're too big to upload on here.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

So, I'm apparently behind!

On Thursday we had a change of plans and instead of shopping in Kiel we drove to Hamburg to see the zoo. Some of the pictures were posted the other day. They had a baby elephant who was very cute. They had a film crew doing news while we were there. We also got to play with a very cool toy. Of course it was meant for kids but we couldn't resist.

On Friday we stopped by the church in Grossenwiehe to pick up some paper work for Matthias and then headed to Kiel to do some shopping. We went to the Christmas Market and picked up a nice scarf (which Matthias' sister also has!). We then made a trip to Conrad, a big electronics store that Matthias has been missing all year. It turned out to be a bust though and Matthias was disappointed. We then visited Matthias' friend Diana and her family. None of them could speak English so while they were chatting away I made friends with their 14 month old daughter, Sophie; the only person who could understand me. :) After a few hours of visiting we headed to downtown Kiel for chinese food with Kathrin and Andreas.

On Saturday we said farewell to Kathrin and Andreas and went to a nearby park to play on a GIANT swing. It was a lot of fun!

From December Germany Trip

From December Germany Trip

We also stopped by at Soeren and Anika's place for a quick game and to say goodbye. Then we were off to Grossenwiehe where we hung out with Matthias' grandparents and did a final round of shopping for some board games before crashing for the evening.

Today we're going to see what fits in the suitcases, help Matthias' mom decorate her Christmas tree, and relax before our flight tomorrow.

Some Pictures

Christmas Market in Flensburg:

From December Germany Trip

Christmas Market in Luebeck:

From December Germany Trip

View of Luebeck at dusk:

From December Germany Trip

Luebeck is the 2nd largest city in northern Germany and is surrounded by water. It is famous for marzipan, pretty alleyways, and 7 church towers. In the picture above you can see the Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church) on the left (double tower - one of the bells fell during WWII) and Petrikirche (St Peter's Church) in the middle - which no longer serves as a church. The one in the middle has an observation tower on the top now and is where Matthias proposed to me.

The Holstentor (one of two old gates that used to be the only way into the city) and St. Petri's:

From December Germany Trip

The Christmas Markets are full of vendors selling food, drinks, and gifts. But this vendor was creative and used their tent as a Christmas workshop where kids could make cookies. It was too cute:

From December Germany Trip

Baby Elephant at the Hamburg Zoo (Thursday's adventure):

From December Germany Trip

Bears:

From December Germany Trip

A way cool toy. Yeah, so it cost 1 euro, it was so much fun!

From December Germany Trip

Me with an elephant. You could feed them! We didn't have any food though, but it was fun to watch:

From December Germany Trip

Matthias' Birthday

Wednesday was Matthias' birthday. It ended up being a quiet day. We had breakfast in Kiel with Soeren and then grove to Grossenwiehe for lunch and a black forest cake. After lunch we took a nap and just hung out at the house for the evening and watched a movie.

Yes

Yesterday Matthias and I slept in and then headed for Luebeck around 11. While Nuremburg is known for it's amazing Christmas Market in all of Germany, Luebeck is said to have the best one in the north. So, I guess it shouldn't have surprised us that there were a lot of people in Luebeck. We enjoyed the day by wandering around all of the stands. A lot of food and drink stands were there offering ginger bread, bratwurst, hot chocolate, and gluwein (hot spiced wine). We grabbed a snack for lunch as we wandered around checking out all of the crafts, ornaments, and toys and picked up some cute keep-sakes. We're also on the hunt for another Steiff bear as a friend for Finn, the bear we got in April, but no luck so far. After awhile of browsing and shopping we went to a restaurant that Matthias loves. They hand-make amazing bread with a delicious butter-garlic sauce. It was so good!!

After lunch we wandered over to St. Petri's tower. We opted to not go up the tower in April since it was raining so hard. St. Petri is an old church that is now managed by a university and no longer serves as a church. HOwever, it is one of the 7 towers in Luebeck and gives an amazing view of the city. We decided to head up this time to enjoy the evening view with the lights and Christmas Market below. Luebeck is a beautiful city - from the ground and the air. :) As it was the evening we were the only 2 people in the observation tower. Matthias surprised me by proposing up there and of course I said yes! He was so sweet and it was very nice.

After the lovely engagement proposal, we headed back to Kiel to celebrate with Anika and Soren and headed to the Christmas Market in Kiel to enjoy some hot drinks.

All-in-all a wonderful day!

Sunday and Monday

I forgot to bring my camera cord so I won't be able to post pictures until I get back. On Sunday Matthias and I went for a walk with Matthias' sister, Anja, and her new dog. We had lunch with Matthias' mom and Oma and went back into Flensburg to enjoy the Christmas Market. On Monday after taking the dog for another walk and hanging up some Christmas lights we headed for Kiel to visit with friends. I ended up crashing in the afternoon and slept on the car ride to Kiel plus about 1-2 hours after we arrived. That evening we enjoyed some Thai food with Soeren and Anika and played some board games.

Yeah Germany!

I made it! And I'm exhausted. I didn't sleep at all on the flight over despite being exhausted. It was hot on the plane and dry and I had a middle seat. The guy next to me, as nice as he was, graded finals from his college French class for the entire 6 hour flight. I'm pretty sure I could have graded them faster and I don't speak any French.

Thank goodness for E.U. immigration! I had exactly 1 hour from the time we landed until my connecting flight. Fortunately it was early in the morning and literally at customs they take your passport, swipe it, and give it back. No forms, no questions, nothing. After a brisk early morning 15-minute walk through the airport I made my flight to Hamburg on time.

I'm now in Grossenwiehe with Matthias and his family and getting ready to head out to Flensburg to do some shopping after a nice nap.

The Deck

Matthias and I spent a majority of last weekend working on the deck. We still don't have the steps done but the top part looks gorgeous (or at least I think so). It's a major improvement over what it used to look like at any rate. There were some casualties along the way however. A little bit of blood, a very nice splinter, majorly sore thighs, hamstrings, and backs, and Matthias' pair of jeans which didn't make it through the project.

Tools of the trade:

From House

and

From House

We removed the planks a few at a time. Any bigger than that and Matthias freaked out. I think he was worried I'd fall through or that my legs would be too short to get across. Safety First!

From House

Matthias cutting wood:

From House

Very funny....

From House

All that is left to do (plus a whole bunch more screws and getting rid of the old wood and some painting and....)

From House

The Final Product:

From House

Done, but dirty

Yeah, Day 3 and contractor is done! It's still dirty and I have to clean up but the bathrooms and flooring are done.

Here are the final shots of the basement bath with the tile installed and then the door re-installed:

From House

From House

The next project was fixing the ugly floor seam I had going on in the kitchen by replacing a section of vinyl with laminate:

From House

From House

And finally the flooring in the upstairs bathrooms. Both bathrooms were the same.

Original flooring:

From House

Destruction:

From House

Cement board:

From House

Tile:

From House

Final product:

From House

Other bathroom final:

From House

Day 2

The contractors were back working on the bathrooms yesterday. They got all of the tiles in after a long day. It looks good so far! They're going to try to finish up today, so I should have some exciting and new bathrooms to look at when I get home from work tonight. I'll try to post pictures soon.

After a long day of watching contractors work yesterday I went to see Cirque du Soleil. Matthias bought us the tickets. Unfortunately he managed to schedule a work trip to Florida this week and couldn't go with me. I invited my friend Alicia along and we had a great time. We were in the 3rd row and had an amazing up-front view of everything going on. It was awesome.

Let the Contractors Begin!

Today marks Day 1 of flooring and bath repair. The contractors started around 9 this morning and left around 4. Today they worked on the basement bathroom for the most part - demolition and installation of everything but the tiles. Tomorrow is tile work and upstairs bathroom floor day! They're shooting to be done on Wednesday.

This work is kind of happening in between Matthias and I working on the deck. We got all of the wood pieces painting and Matthias installed about 11 pieces. When he gets back from Florida this weekend we'll try to get a lot more done!

Here's the before pictures and progress so far...

We had to rent a truck to transport the wood for the deck (two trips) and because someone didn't have his insurance card with him I had to drive!

From House

Deck at the start:

From House

Painting the boards:

From House

Start of the installation:

From House

Before photo of the shower with the crack in the base:

From House

The reason for the crack was that there was a giant hole under it (in this photo my contractor had filled it with old tiles):

From House

Concrete board and base installed:

From House

Trip to Connecticut

Matthias and I spent the weekend in Connecticut visiting Ruth, RJ, and Kai. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures (even though I had my camera with me)! We spent our time playing wii, making Lebkuchen cookies, going to the aquarium, and then to a neighbor's Oktoberfest party. It was lots of fun!

North Carolina

This past weekend Matthias and I along with Kyra, Sarah, Grace, and Amy from work went to North Carolina for a surprise baby shower. The mother-to-be is a former co-worker who abandoned us for the corporate world and reasonable housing prices. Booooo. We took advantage of our trip and stopped in at the North Carolina State Fair. We passed the time on our 5 hour drive playing Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. Here are some photos from the baby shower and the fair.

Baby Shower

Matthias documenting that he had 3 women in his hotel room:

From North Carolina

Who Knew?

From North Carolina

Sarah at her very first baby shower (note the beer)

From North Carolina

Christine and census folk:

From North Carolina

Christine and Chris opening Kyra's gift (wonder what it is?)

From North Carolina

We didn't play any games so the census group (kyra, sarah, grace) made up their own: Fancy Hand Tricks

From North Carolina

The Census group (Sarah, Eli, Christine, Kyra, Amy, Grace)

From North Carolina

And Now the Fair

Cow that looks like a Fair

From North Carolina

Giant Potatoes (and Kyra):

From North Carolina

Giant Pumpkins:

From North Carolina

Giant Watermelon:

From North Carolina

Prize winning steer:

From North Carolina

Fuzzy Donkey!

From North Carolina

Pygmy Goat Judging:

From North Carolina

Kyra and Matthias at the Guernsey cow judging competition (I forgot to take a picture of the Guernsey Queen in her tiara, oh well, next time):

From North Carolina

Eating (Eli with a giant turkey leg):

From North Carolina

Derby Cars getting ready (unfortunately we had to leave before the show):

From North Carolina

Man on a scooter in a straw hat in the parking lot:

From North Carolina