Outnumbered

Will and I had fun hosting Gus for half a day last week. Unfortunately Gus, having only been back from the U.S. for 72 hours and currently going through a HUGE separation anxiety did not appreciate the disappearance of his mom to her first day reporting back to Munich International School.
William was a super friend sharing toys and his mother's lap as we tried to keep Gus as happy as possible. The only time I had free arms to snap a pic of these two buddies was during lunch time.


My shining moment of the day was crawling around our kitchen island playing peekaboo. William shrieked with laughter and Gus mustered his only smile of the day. Let me pause to give myself a pat on the back . . . .

Ahhhhh Cheerios and peaches (in that order) keeping Gus and William happy.

Jeff's Birthday

It's August 15th . . . which can only mean two things . . .
Jeff's birthday and peach pie!



This was my first pie crust and filling with all German ingredients. It took two trips to the grocery store to locate and muster the guts to purchase shortening. With the heavier German flour and thicker shortening, the pie crust was super easy to roll and didn't get as soggy in the subsequent days. Why was I sooooo nervous??? Thank goodness it is peach season and the luscious fruit forgave any heaviness associated with my newly found ability to bake pies. If he's lucky, Jeff just might get one for Thanksgiving too!

Just want to give a quick shout out to William who helped out with this pie by napping super long. Way to be a team baker, Will!

Waldwirtschaft

With great weather and Jeff's friend Michael from PATYO in town on business, last Friday definitely called for a beer garten. We first learned about Waldwirtschaft during a July 4th party. It's known at the jazz beer garden, for it always has a live jazz band playing. Its in the southern part of Munich near the ritzy town of Grunwald. Located near the lush banks of the Isar, it's such a beautiful setting.

Michael, Will (with his latest and greatest pointer), and Jeff. Yes, that's a playground in the background complete with trampolines and a train ride. There's even a mini-golf area. We love this place!

"Michael, let go of your beer and no one gets hurt. Dad, I don't even know why you're waving that silly teether toy. I'm not falling prey to your sophomoric distractions."

Our photogenic son's latest camera pose. Christmas card pics are going to be rough this year.

The boys.
Had to include this pic because it's got Will's latest "Rock on!" arm thrust.
Rock on!

Bad Wiessee

Another sunny Sunday calls for another Munich wanderin. This time we took off to a little town on the western side of one of our favorite lakes, Tegernsee. There in the little town of Bad Wiessee we began our morning with coffee and some of the best pastries we've had thus far. After a quick breakfast for William too, we were off!


Some nice hikers offered to take our picture along the way. Great picture of us, too bad they didn't catch any of the great background!

Okay, take two. Same spot as the previous photo, but with the waterfall too. There were many, many gorgeous little brooks and waterfalls along the way. Quite different than we've seen on any hike before. We presume the lushness was on account of recent rains?

At the top. Does it get any better than weissbeer and Dr. Seuss? I think not.

We took another path on the way down that took us through cow pastures (mooing cows and quaint cow bells included) and past this neat feeding hut.

The hike continued through a lush, lush forest too. So neat!

We emerged from the forest to see this awesome view of Tegernsee. The slope behind me is a downhill racing slope used in the wintertime. Unfortunately, our descent from here was one of the steepest we've encountered. Of course, we took it in stride, but our knees weren't thanking us by the time we got to the bottom.

At the this point in the blog post I'd like to give a shout out to my fabulous pair of sunglasses I purchased at Urban Outfitters while we were home in February. They're huge, pink, and will be sooo completely dated when we look at these pictures years from now my son will be overwhelmingly mortified and embarrassed. Mission accomplished.

Wendelstein

My awesome parents, in addition to taking care of William for 24 hours, proceeded to board a train with their grandson (with one change, mind you!) to meet Jeff and me in South Germany the next day for a day outdoors and a hike. Jeff and I greeted the three at the local train station where we were heartened and heart-broken that William didn't miss us more. Oh well, no time to wallow, we had a mountain calling our name!

Jeff really wanted to take the Wendelsteinbahn for Father's Day, but the weather was so horrible it wasn't worth it. Luckily Grandma and Papa were up for the adventure with us. The train was built in 1912 and was the first cog-wheel of its kind in Germany. After a 30-minute ride, we arrived at the top for gorgeous views and some steeper hiking than we expected.

The happy hiking crew

On our way down one side of the mountain. There are my boys down below. After reaching a stopping point, we decided to turn around and return to where we started. Every trail around us felt more like rock climbing than hiking. Oh well! We'll try another mountain next weekend. :)

A beautiful valley from the other side of the peak

Mom and Dad's Big Adventure

Grandparents craving grandson time + new parents craving couple time = a win win weekend away for us in Kitzbuhel, Austria! (Yes, I went to Austria twice in one week. How crazy is that??)

My parents were so generous in taking William for 24 hours so Jeff and I could have our first night away from our little cherub. While we missed William, we did enjoy our together time. We forgot how good it felt to eat WHENEVER we wanted, to be outside of our house after 6:30, not-forgetting sleeping in! It's the little things . . . .


Wandering around downtown

More wandering

Jeff stayed at this spa hotel a few summers ago on a long business trip, and he's always wanted to bring me back. Here is Jeff in the ice-cold rooftop pool.

Such amazing views from the pool area!

Grandma and Papa Visit

We've been so blessed with visitors this July. Grandma and Papa Milam arrived mid-July. They played around and baby sat while my friend Jennifer was here, took off on a fun Danube cruise through Vienna and Budapest, then arrived back on our doorstep for another week of fun! It is so special to watch William play with his grandparents, and even more fun for this haus frau to see the new and exciting songs or games they play with him.

While in Munich we had fun showing Grandma and Papa the in's and out's of A-Day-In-The-Life-of-William, Gymboree, gelato, favorite restaurants, and a few touristy places of course!

Having my mommy and daddy here was a little slice of home -- thank you for making the trek to see William! (Well, to see Jeff and me too, but we really all know the TRUE reason they came.)

Books and Papa -- 2 of William's favorites (in no particular order!)

Bathtime silliness with Grandma

I love bathtime!

Boys with brezn
We made sure we spent our fair share of time in beer gartens eating wurst and drinking beer.

Having fun in Salzburg, Austria
The weather report showed Wednesday's weather was our only sunny day, so we screamed, "GOOOOOOO!!!!!" And we did. We hit Eagle's Nest and Salzburg all in a day. It was a quick 90 minute tour of Salzburg, but it's how William rolls.

Playing around at lunch at Eagle's Nest.

A game of chase with our super-speed, commando crawler.

My latest favorite photo of William in the gardens of Schloss Nymphenburg

On my parent's last day we walked the grounds of Schloss Nymphenburg, swung by the Oktoberfest grounds to witness the beer tents already being constructed (we've got a 5-week countdown people!), and had one last fabulous cone of gelato.

Thank you for bringing California love and sunshine our way! We miss you!

William's Harem

Sigh. Another rainy day in Munich. My dense self is finally beginning to understand why when Germans ask where Jeff or I am from, their response is, "Why here?" Why would we leave California's beautiful sun, ocean, and consistently fabulous weather? Jeff and I are starting the think, "Why here?" as we grab our umbrellas to go to the indoor pool or hit the summer sales. Leave it to our son to know exactly why he is loving Munich. William's response?
THE LADIES!!!

With our lake day canceled due to rain clouds and promised rain, William and I opened up his playmat and toys to whoever liked to join us. It came as no surprise that our entire lake group arrived dripping wet and ready to play!


Here's Will with the usually shy Isabella. However, today we realized it was all an act. Isabella planted a sweet 13-month-old kiss on William's forehead. Ahhhhhh. So sweet! Miss Isabella has GREAT taste!

William and his arch toy-nemesis, Holly go head to head in name of rattly zebra.

Elle playing hard to get in the exersaucer.


* Okay, okay, I confess, William didn't have all the ladies to himself. His swing buddy Tim was here too sporting some pretty sweet Levis that had the ladies favoring him for his fashion. He just happened to be asleep in his stroller in our front hallway when I finally remembered to pull out the camera!

When it rains . . .

it pours! . . . . Friends and water, both!

We were so lucky to have two of Jeff's dearest friends in town at the same time. Chris Neumann was on a business trip in London and bopped down for a short weekend in Munich. (Soooo nice of him!) Jeff Ota was in Munich on business and allowed us to hog him for half the weekend too.
Unfortunately, our fun Saturday plans were subjected to a Plan B as the Munich weather chose not to cooperate and pour rain all Saturday.
Our outdoor bike ride and beer garden plans were moved inside to the Hofbraukeller in our Haidhausen neighborhood.


The Schmidt family even joined us for some weiswurst and beer.

I know William loves me, but he really enjoyed this male bonding time on his playmat.

Jeff was missing his 7-month-old son Tanner, so got his baby fix with our little monkey.

Two pretty cool guys!


Thanks for bringing California sunshine (figuratively) to us, guys!
Let's do it again! . . . . Oktoberfest, anyone????? ;)

9 months old!

Here are some fun photos from our 9-month-old photo shoot.
As you can see, poor William was still recovering from that silly Hand, Foot, Mouth disease. His eyes may not be as sparkly as usual, but his adorable smile and attitude seemed to make up for it. What a guy!