Boo...!!!

 

Halloween 2013! 

After two years of absence we had a halloween again. No snow storm, no Sandy, but many happy kids. 

Jakob was one of them. 

Olaf actually, too.... ha, ha. 

They went for trick or treating with friends, while I was welcoming all the cute costumes with a lot of candy at home. Scary times...

A night with Orlando Bloom...

...and my husband (and hundreds of other people) !!

We made it to Broadway once again and got to see real Hollywood celebrities! 

While Jakob was camping with the scouts last weekend, Olaf and I decided to try to get tickets on sale for Romeo and Juliet. We were lucky! Premium seats! 

It was a wonderful play with great actors, no matter how often we already saw it. 

I looked Orlando right in the eyes... Oh, I just love NYC!!!

PS. This Saturday we made it all together to the Avery Fisher Hall: Beethoven's Symphony No.9!

Did I mention that I love the city??!

Visiting the Wine Country

 

No, I am not talking about Napa or Sonoma. This wine country is right in our back yard: the Finger Lakes in State New York!

We spent with our friends four very relaxing days at Seneca Lake. 

I was amazed how many wineries there are along the lake and how good the wine (especially the riesling and chardonnay) tastes.

And we did many wine tastings...! 

My favorite winery was the Red Newt Cellars (not just because of the cute label). I would say, our wine fridge is filled up after this vacation.

What else did we do? 

We hiked along a beautiful gorge (waterfalls included) in the Watkins Glen State Park. 

We went biking and kayaking. 

We visited  a great Museum of Glass. I especially loved the contemporary part!

In the morning we enjoyed the breakfast at our B&B, in the evening we watched the sunset from the patio. 

But most of all we enjoyed each others company, a glass (or more...) of wine included!

Family time in Germany

Jakob and I spent the past two weeks with family and friends in Germany. Because Olaf has only three weeks of vacation time (which clearly is not enough for us...) he and Joey stayed back home. (And were missed terribly!!)

As usual, visiting family you spend most of the time having long talks and good meals together. 

There is always so much to say, especially if you see each other just once a year. 

Jakob loves to watch soccer games in Germany, so my cousin (a soccer fan himself) took him to Moenchen-Gladbach to watch them play against Hannover. 

Jakob was in heaven: just the two young men and soccer! (And hot dogs!)

Another highlight for Jakob was the visit at the Lego Land. So much fun! 

And still not too old for this...!

We also went all together to the Neanderthal Museum. We found they didn't look so much different than we look today...

Besides there was swimming with grandpa, jumping on the trampoline with uncle, playing with younger and older cousins...and so on.

Of course, we enjoyed to be pampered for two weeks!

But there is no place like home, so we were happy to see Olaf"s face at the airport and the skyline of NYC in the background!

Jakob all by himself...

....Not exactly.

 He is together with hundreds other scouts, but without mom and dad (!) for a whole week. 

Jakob loves scouting, so he decided to spend a week at the scout camp, over night!

A completely new experience, not just for him... 

The question is: Do we still know how to entertain ourself without Jakob? Ha, ha (Yes, we do!)

Vacation at the West Coast!

We spent 10 wonderful days in the northern part of the West Coast: in the States of Washington and Oregon. What a beauty!!! 

Every single day was a highlight and every view was just breath taking!

Beginning with Seattle, where we visited our friends, who showed us the best sites of the city, a jazz club and good restaurants included. 

Of course, the best view over the city offers the Space Needle, number one on Jakob's list. 

Next to it, EMP ("the Museum of Rock"), which he just loved! 

The city has it all: location at the water, mountain views, great contemporary architecture, museums, excellent restaurants ( we especially enjoyed the fresh seafood and oysters!) and a good music scene!

We even made it to a jazz club. 

Not to forget: a nirvana for coffee drinkers! Washington and Oregon are a paradise for coffee and wine drinkers (and organic food fans!!).

From Seattle we took a ferry to the Olympic Peninsula to hike two days in the Olympic National Park and see the wild beaches. 

At the highest points of the Hurricane Ridge there was even snow. 

I also was very impressed by the rain forest (never have been in one before). Some of the trees were 70-100 meter.

But absolutely amazing were the huge tree trunks laying on the beaches of the Olympic Peninsula! Even in front of our lodge!

We left Washington and drove along the Oregon coast. Gorgeous!! 

We even saw sea lions on one of the rocky beaches. And we were able to see the caves where they live. Not a very good smell there...

We also liked the Oregon Aquarium, especially the sea otters. The world under the water must be so colorful!!

My favorite part of Oregon were the Pacific and the beaches, which you can walk for miles.

On our way back to Washington we crossed the wine country and saw the wineries where all the good wine comes from.

One of the absolute high lights was the hike at the Mount St. Helens volcano.

It's not possible to look directly in the crater, but you can hike around with a view of the volcano. And see what happened to the whole area during the last eruption. So scary! 

Our trip ended where in began: in Seattle with our friends. 

One more delicious dinner, one more stroll through the city Olaf and I, for sure, could live in... Who knows...