Happy New Year

Hello all,

happy new year to all of you. We’ve returned from our 1 week trip to North Germany yesterday afternoon and had a wonderful time there. Little Tim was unbelievable. He didn’t make any trouble during this long ride so we’ve traveled more relaxed than I ever expected. We prepared his food in the car so he was satiesfied. You must know that the most important thing for him currently is to get a regular meal! :-)

Wether was great – no rain during the whole week. It was cold but the air was fresh and I think it was doing good for all of us including this little guy, although he slept most of the time when we went for a walk. I think you can see it at the picture with his red cheeks.

I’ll have another day off tomorrow and have to be back in the office on Thuesday. So I’ll try to relax the rest of my vacation because the next 4 months will be very exhausting.

Attached please find some impressions of our trip and of course some of the most fotographed baby in the whole world (I really believe).

Merry Christmas

Hello dear friends,

here is someone who likes to wish all of you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.



Secondly I would like to say sorry for not doing more post on the blog but I was completely overloaded with work. Now my vacation has started and therefor I’m feeling pretty well. On Saturday next week Katie, little Tim and I will go to north Germany at the coast of “North Sea”, somewhere northwest of Hamburg for a week. We’ve rented a house with Jo and Jeanette (and of course Aldo) and hopefully will have a good time. I’m really curious how little Tim will look, when he’ll see the “big pond” for the first time. Anyway, we’ll wave to you.
Our Christmas tree this year is smaller than usual because we’ll leave on December 27. But that doesn’t matter. Katies Mom told us years ago that she’ll have another Christmas tree not before she’ll have her first grandchild. So some weeks ago I said to her: “Hey Mom, it seems you’ll have to buy a tree this year”, and she did. I’ve been there today and she bought a really big one.
Commonly we’ll visit my father on December 24 in the afternoon and then go to Katies Mom in the evening to celebrate Christmas eve. This year we decided to stay at home. We don’t want to pack all the things you need for a little boy in our car. So we’ve invited the family to our house. I think I will put something in the pizza oven in the back yard and we’ll have our celebration here. Little Tim is absolutely fascinated about all the lights in the tree.

Please let me not finish without wishing you a warm, happy Christmas, a wonderful 2009 and thank all of you for your friendship.
Holger

Most Beautiful Baby....Ever!

I mean really...have you ever seen eyes like that before?

Some Laughs for the family

Pictures from the North Georgia Mountains

Holgar, I wanted to thank you for sharing the highlights of Tim's trip and the beautiful pictures.

I loved the "Short trip to France. What a great place to go. I can't imagine hiking past a castle. What fun. When you talk about going to France or Spain or Switzerland, etc. it sounds like such a long way and we forget that all of the countries are so close to each other.

Tom and I spent several days in the North Georgia mountains last week and the leaves are just beginning to turn. The Sourwood Trees are always the first to change color in the fall so I'm adding pictures so you can see "my mountains"

It was a rainy, drizzly day but I love to see the mist rising from the mountain. Our leaves will be in full color in about two to three weeks.

This is the view we get from our deck. We have an RV up there, I think you call it a caravan. It sits on 5 1/2 acres and we love it.

Please tell Katie hello for me and give Little Tim a big hug

Don't forget to post new pictures of Little Tim.

Oh, by the way, I enjoyed talking to you last week.

Judee

Hey Dad I felt that I needed to put this up here for you to see.

Love Ya Dad!

Josh

Short trip to France

Weather had not been gentle to us the last past days so we really thought wether to go to France or not. At least we would have missed something if we hadn’t gone. Weather was better than expected and we always found a shelter when it started raining. So the decision was right to go. Distance to our home was approx. 300 km and we arrived 3 km behind the German border at noon. We started our hike but unfortunately took the wrong way. At least we came where we wanted to go.


We had a nice lunch in a restaurant and big Tim absolutely wanted to take the check. So thanks again Tim for inviting us. After that we came to a place where we found a lot of boulders in the forrest. Some looked like people.



That part of the hike was absolutely amazing. We passed castle Fleckenstein on our right and came back to our car at approx 5:30. On our way back home we saw 8 rainbows(!!!) and we retured to Neunkirchen at 9:00 pm.

Today we were invited to Jo and Jeanette’s house. They prepared a very nice dinner with an appetizer of roasted nuts and after that, rolled ham with red cabbage and potatoe dumplings (where I ate 11 from – much too much). Little Tim broke the record by drinking 380 ml at one sitting. After 300 ml he started crying so Katie hurried up to give him more. Now we are at home again and will have something to drink as soon as we finish this post.

Time flew by and so will Tim – we will bring him to the airport tomorrow moring at 9:00 am. So the week is over and it seems to me that we just picked him up at the main station of Frankfurt yesterday. At least I think we had a great time and probably will meet again soon. In any way he’s always w e l c o m e!!!!

Holger

Exhausting Sunday

Here we are again. I don’t think I lie when I say that we had an unbelievable Sunday. Our friends Jo an Jeanette invited us for a nice breakfast, before we started our 360 km trip. We first went to Nürburgring (one of the most famous racing tracks in the world, also known as “green hell”, because it has a length of approx. 21 km(!!!), and is leading through the forrest around Nürburg). Unfortunately we couldn’t drive above because there was a race of historical cars – but it was also fun to watch them.

2nd stop on our journey was in Cochem, a small town at river “Mosel”. Please see the picture of the castle (I forgot its name, sorry). We found a car like Jodis and wondered where she might be?








Hey Jodi, where are You???


After that we took a small snack and a glass of white wine with “onions cake” in a nice restaurant at the river bank.





Then we went to Koblenz at “German Corner” (this is where river Mosel meets river Rhine) with the view to castle “Ehrenbreitstein”. Good old “father” (river) Rhine kept us company then and tempatures went up to 23° C so it was really warm and nice.


A little later we became hungry again and so Jo lent us to a place, which, I deeply believe, we’d never ever had found without him and had our dinner there. Little Tim became a little bit tired and started “complaining” so I hurried up to finish my meal and carried him in my arms for some time. We went back to Jo’s and Jeanette’s home, had a last drink there and came home around 10 in the evening – tired but happy! Today we will stay home and relax. Tomorrow we will go for a hike in lovely “Siegerland” and Jeanette will join us as well. As I told you before, in any way we’ll keep you updated!!! Talk to you later.

Tim and Holger

Short update of Tim’s journey

Hello all,

Just a short update to let you know that Tim ’s doing fine. I guess little and big Tim became very good friends in the meantime (see attached picture).

On Saturday afternoon the two Tims and myself took a nice walk in the forrest arround our house for nearly two hours, while Katie was doing some homework (among others ironing behind the house – Tim told me that this is not common in the USA). But Katie likes to be outside and since Tim arrived weather has changend to the best you could expect for end of September. So we could walk in our t-shirts as well and had a nice day by doing a new sport called “extreme relaxing”.

Holger

„Big“ Tim has arrived

Hello all,

Short update on “Big” Tim’s trip to Germany. Train was in time and Tim arrived with a big smile on his face from one ear to the other. I thought you could only remove it with an operation. But Katie and I are very pleased to have him here and looking forward for a wonderful week with our good friend. In opposite of what weather he usually brings with him this time it is perfect. The last 14 days had been wet and for September much too cold. I had to scratch ice from my car 3 times.

Weather forecast now says that we will have a large high over Middle Europe and when I look out of the window I can see blue sky and sun is coming up now. So we will have a nice day today with shopping, visiting my sister in law for her birthday, meet my father and in the evening we are invited at Silke’s home for a nice Thai dinner. She is Katie’s youngest sister and my “favorite sister in law”. Tomorrow we will have breakfest with our best friends Jo and Jeanette and will go with them to river Rhein or Mosel for a nice trip over the day. In any way we will keep you updated.

Have a nice time,

Holger