Heidelberg Half Marathon 2013

First things first: We did not run this race!

But, we really enjoyed watching and cheering the ca. 3000 runners who participated. We met Sherry early in the day (after a substantial walk, because large parts of town were closed to bus traffic because of the race) at one of her friend's houses, who lives right on the route. They apparently have a tradition of cheering and were well equipped!

Alex found the spread of noisemakers - slash - kids instruments particularly impressive. (I have often thought that kids instruments really are primarily noisemakers, but have never had the chance to use them in a sports contest like this.)

There were also balloons and we got busy with the other folks readying ourselves for about 45 minutes of cheering. But then the first runners appeared!

One of the hosts had created this tuft of balloons on a long stick which he dangled over the street and many runners tried to jump and hit it with their hands. It helped that our location was only a few kilometers into the race which would later include two major climbs up local mountains on both sides of the Neckar (more than 300 meters in altitude total)! I doubt the runners would have had the energy to jump at the end of the race, but then again, I know nothing about running.

Alex switched out noisemakers several times. Here he is working a triangle to great (loud!) effect. You can see the runners whizzing by him in the background.

Yet, at some point, it had all lost its interest for him and he settled into drawing with chalk on the sidewalk.

After the race, Alex got to take home one of the purple balloons and Sherry and I rewarded ourselves with a yummy breakfast at a local bakery. We sure did get hungry watching all those runners ...

Circus, Playground, and other fun

The weather has been great almost every day since my mom left, so we've had fun being outside and going on new adventures.

One of the first ones, just a few days after my mom left, was a trip to a circus with our friends Irene, Kristyn, and their grandma, who arrived the same day my mom left. Unfortunately, getting there was a bit of a hassle, because public transportation was on strike that day (and several days since then...) and the taxi we ordered didn't show up, but we did make it there barely in time after all and fun was had by all. I think at least in part because of the disaster with public transportation, the circus was only about half full and we scored seats in the front row (I sat in the second row, because, well I don't like the front row ... too close to the action). The show included everything! Clowns, acrobats, elephants, horses, tigers, strong men, etc. It was truly a classic circus presentation and the kids loved the action!

You can see the wonder in their eyes.

We really were this close to the tigers!

Here are two acrobats doing a roller-skating act. Death defying, but oddly compelling.

 During the intermission, Irene's grandmother, took the kids to see the animals.

and they even got to ride the ponies!

After the show, there were no taxis to be had and we set off on the rather long trek home...

On another day, we all met at a playground, which Alex has dubbed the pirate playground, because of the big ship.

Observant readers of this blog might recall pictures of this same spot in the winter with snow.

One day this week it got so hot that Alex talked me into taking him to another playground after school. This one has a water pump where the kids can pump water and create a wonderful muddy mess in the sand. Alex met 10 or more kids from his preschool and they played in the wet sand like we were at the beach. At some point he had stripped down to just his underpants and t-shirt and some other kids wore considerably less. Nobody cared about any of it and we loved it!

Here he is making some kind of pirate-move.

And then there was the day he was swinging from a rope hanging on the big magnolia tree in the backyard of his school when I picked him up. I shot a short video, but like most others, blogspot has refused to let me upload it.

Instead, I leave you with this shot of my Euro-boy in his tight red Euro pants and hoodie that has non-sensical English on it (in this particular case, it says: Faculty Member and I just couldn't refuse to buy it).

Goodbye to Omi

Sadly, my mother has left to go back home to the US. It was time, she had been here many weeks, and my poor dad was ready for her to come home!

But before she left us behind on a train platform, we managed to have a lot of fun that last week.

Most afternoons/evenings, we just hung out at home after getting Alex from school. Here my mom and Alex are studying an important book about pirates from the public library:

Alex spent a lot of time each night goofing around in the bath. This time - after washing and combing his hair, he started laughing and said he had Playmobil hair.

We made worlds out of home-made play dough (thanks to Mrs. Hamm for the recipe!).

And we even made our own masks to play superhero - or whatever.

But we really made the most out of our last weekend together! On Saturday was the first really nice and sunny day in a long time, so we ventured up the castle. 

First we took the funicular up the mountain.

Then we showed off "our castle" to my mom.

We hit all the sights there. Here they are making funny faces while looking out of a watchtower.

Here Alex is reenacting a story about someone who jumped from a high up castle window, leaving his footprint in the stone.

We took a break at a cafe.

And posed in the courtyard for pictures in the sun.

These last two were taken by Alex. Not bad for a 4-yr old, I think.

On Sunday, the weather got even better (note the lack of jackets) and we packed even more into the day.

In the morning, we headed to the grand opening of a new foodcourt that had promised to have all sorts of kids activities. But first, Alex had to sample a Belgian waffle outside in the sun:

Then, he jumped in the bouncy house,

got a balloon animal and his hand immortalized in a plaster cast,

tried his first cotton candy (which he didn't really like, apparently),

and got his face painted with a scary pirate design!

Later, the same afternoon, we had visitors from Wiesbaden. Friends of my mom's (actually the pastor who baptized Alex in Washington in 2009 and his family who have since moved back to Germany) and we all took a little trip to another castle/cafe in the small town of Schriesheim for coffee, cake ice cream etc. It was a wonderful visit and a great afternoon.

Alex once again took my camera and here is some of what he came up with:

(This was the view from the terrace where we were sitting.)

It was a great full weekend and a fitting and fun end to my mom's visit. We miss her very much, but we know that she had to go home eventually. Alex cried bitterly when she left and I was very sad as well, but we skype almost every day and we've managed fine without her.

We're Back ... in Blog World

Well, of course, we were never gone, but various things have intervened and I wasn't able to blog in the last while.

On March 22, I had a checkup, on March 26 I had surgery and I've now been home a little less than a week. It all went fast, but it also all went well, and thankfully my mom was still here and could extend her stay to watch over Alex while I was gone. I had very different plans for Easter, to put it mildly, but it's all worked out ok. Alex still had a great holiday, he really bonded with my mom, my new and old friends stepped up big time to help out, and I managed to mostly ignore the indignities visited upon me.

For the first few days of my absence, Alex was still in school, but things closed down here on Thursday mid-day and didn't reopen until Tuesday (during the Easter weekend). One day, Christian took Alex to the pool, another day, Alex went along to a Föhr family birthday party. One day, they went on a nature hike on the mountain behind the Heidelberg Castle, called the Königsstuhl, ("King's Throne") and here's Alex sitting on the mossy throne in the woods.

One day, he spent the afternoon with the Föhr's coloring 50 (!) hard boiled eggs and on Sunday, Alex and my mom went over to the Föhr's for Easter dinner and an egg hunt in the yard. I'm told that fun was had by all. Thank you so much Sherry and Christian for making Easter so fun for Alex. The Easter bunny visited him at our house, at the Föhr's house, and later at a Irene's house. He had quite the haul.

In fact, on Monday, Alex spent the day with his friend Irene and her mom and they did 100 activities by the sound of it.

They did some kind of "floam" activity (?!)

clearly enjoyed by all:

Alex got a new pair of Batman socks that the Easter Bunny had apparently brought to Irene's house by mistake.

At some point the two friends watched a "Curious George" movie in rapt attention.

When the sun came out a bit, they colored on the balcony. You can see Alex making good use of the giant syringe given to him by one of my nurses.

It looks like they made quite a mess!

Then, they came inside to collaborate on a puzzle - which Alex got to take home!

They each scored an orange popsicle,

and ran around on campus, scaling some public art,

topped off with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Mama.

Thanks, Kristyn, for giving Alex such a perfect day.

In the meanwhile, I suffered quietly at the hospital. The surgeons were incredible and the nursing staff was great, too, but the infrastructure was not what I had expected. I was in a small, cramped room with 2 other women. Our beds were probably less than 3 feet apart, so you can forget all about any kind of privacy. That took some getting used to. I'm spoiled, I know. The toilet and showers were down the hall, not ideal right after major abdominal surgery... I was particularly struck by the food we were served. They had asked me if I have any dietary restrictions and I said no, but I didn't expect to be fed like a medieval manual laborer 48 hours after surgery. Here is a sampling of the offerings. They were tasty, but not easy to digest and most was sent back, of course, which seems like such a waste.

Beef stew with egg noodles:

Thick pea soup with a fatty sausage (this is what the plate looked like after I was done eating!).

Pot roast.

Let's just say I was glad to come home after 7 nights to enjoy my own bathroom and my mom's scratch-made chicken soup.

We all laid around the house for a few days, but yesterday managed to venture out for a bit for the first time. In the morning, Sherry and Christian invited us to come along on a little Neckar cruise and though it was cold, it felt great to be outside. Maybe spring will arrive after all.

In the afternoon, Alex, my mom, and I went out again for a little walk around campus and into the Botantical Gardens.

We look forward to more adventure ahead.