Our Weekend At Music Camp

Hi Mom,

Thought we'd let you know how we spent this weekend (15-18 September).

First of all, it is the first weekend of Oktoberfest!!  The big tents are up, the people are arriving, and Saturday they bring in the beer in (symbolically) horse drawn wagons.  We had to come back from the mountains on Saturday to babysit for Vivienne and Svea.  Bernie and Anja had a wedding to go to.  Well, driving into Munich near the Deutschesmuseum, we find ourselves behind a Hofbräu beer wagon.  Had to take the picture out of the window of the car.

Hofbräu Beerwagon

 Anyway, that was the side show.  Thursday we made our annual trip up to Schliersee and Josefstal to have a 3 day musical experience with the school choir.  Emily and Evelyn have been doing this for over a decade.  Always an interesting time, usually a good time.  Here are some pictures of what goes on with the camp.

The kids with our choreographer practicing some dance moves

A little more formal sitting and practicing the singing.  Evelyn checking the notes for singing.

Evelyn and Emily.  Evelyn was complaining she was never in the pictures so we corrected that.

And of course behind the scenes work.  Katy preparing snacks.  That had been my job on Friday while Katy had to be teaching

 The nice thing about the trip is the location at the edge of the mountains.  Usually on Sunday, they finish up with a hike to the waterfall a little over a half mile away by the shorter route.  We were anticipating a big rainstorm on Sunday, so we walked on Friday.  It was beautiful weather, as you can see, and it did pour down today.  I got up both mornings and ran.  It was fantastic!

The kids starting the hike, with Emily heading the wrong way.  She forgot something.

We took the longer way, about a mile, and were rewarded with these scenes.

More above the waterfall

 Eventually we did reach our destination.  Not too much water on Friday, probably really gushing today and tomorrow.  It is an annual pilgrimage.  Glad we made it, and glad we went the long way.

A couple of the kids at the waterfall

A little bit of a close up.  Nice way to take an hour and a half break.

 Anyway, we had missed this last year, and who knows about next.  It was a nice way to spend the weekend, and the first time I was able to be there for Thursday evening and Friday.  I usually didn't get to go up until Friday after classes. 

Finally! A post!

Hi Grandma!
Sorry it has taken me so long to do a post...but, because it has taken so long, you're going to get lots and lots of pictures from 2011!  YAY!

So, I will start with April when we went to Sequoia and Yosemite.  It was beautiful and because they had had record snowfall, the waterfalls were AMAZING!  We hiked 17 miles in 3 days! We were exhausted, but I think we will definitely go back.

Ok, I don't know how to rotate photos, I will figure it out. soon!

Then, I went to New York to visit my sister!  We had a great time going to Fire Island...

We saw two fawns!!



The we ate lobstah!!

 Our friends own some property about 2 1/2 hours northeast of town...so we headed up there for a long weekend.  We went on a short hike to a lake that we had not been to before.

Then, the guys caught some crawfish...



...but they were definitely not big enough to eat!

Finally, I just got back from Lousiana for my friend's commissioning to officer in the army after finishing PA school.  We went to her ceremony there and then headed to New Orleans so that I could check it off my list.  The weather was nice and we had a great time!



This is the view at sunset from her house on a lake!  It was super nice, but there were A LOT of mosquitoes!





At the ceremony, we were all room mates my last year of college...it was nice to get together again to celebrate her accomplishment!




Bourbon Street.




Beignets and Iced Cafe au Lait at Cafe du Monde.




The church which I can't remember the name of...


We have moved out of my old house and into a bigger one...I will try to take some pics soon.

Hope all is well and I am TRYING to get down there to visit you soon!!  When I do, I have a SUPER surprise for you!
Love,
R


The Munich Zoo

Hi Mom,

We went to the Zoo with Vivienne on Thursday.  It was not a pretty day, cloudy with a few drops of rain mostly when we were eating lunch.  I'd not been to the Zoo here in Munich before, so it was kind of nice.  We rented a wagon to pull her around in.  As is typical with modern Zoos, the distances you have to walk are considerable, particularly for a 4 year old.  We had a good time.  It was the first time we've taken Vivienne on an excursion without her mother or father.  I think we'll do it again.  She was very well behaved and was willing to put off having icecream until we were ready to head for the exit.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Vivenne Outside the giraffe enclosure

We had to cover her cast with a plastic bag since it was raining.  She'll get it off just after her birthday on the 19th.

Just monkeying around

Emily and Vivenne watching our hyperactive Polar Bears

Grandma and granddaughter with the bears in the background

What was Vivennes favorite part of the visit?  Using the hand blowdryer in the restroom!!  What can I say.  I liked the gorillas and the orangutans, though the orangutans seemed somewhat sad compared to the ones we saw in Borneo in May.  They have such a sterile environment here.  Emily liked the polar bears.  As she says, "It's all over for them, they have no home anymore."

Pictures of Beth with her horses

Hi Mom,
 
These are some pictures of Beth with her horses that she asked me to post for you.  Perhaps she can edit the post and put captions with the horses names with the pictures.

Beth, I took the liberty of cropping some and adjusting exposure values.  I hope that was ok.

Jim

At Home in Neuaubing

So here we are getting all settled in.  We're about a half mile from the forest so that is where we can walk (or I, run).  Had a nice day the other day so Emily got some shots of me running.

Me running in the forest

Arriving home to the hollyhocks (our landlady, Stilla,  has lovely gardens

Speaking of home, you've not seen any pictures yet.  Not many to show, the place is small.  A bedroom, a kitchen, a bath, and a long livingroom.  At one end is the living area and the office (aka desk) and at the other is the dining table and Emily's new electric piano.

Living area

Obviously the kitchen.  Not too big, but big enough for two of us to cook together.

The bedroom with the infamous clothes cabinet we had to assemble.  It was difficult!!

And finally.  Emily on her new piano, with Stilla, our landlady on violin.  I should have tried a video clip so you could hear.  They were really quite good.  Along with some German songs, we got Tennesee Waltz, Chattanoga Choo Choo, and several others of their ilk.

Emily and Stilla on a rainy Saturday afternoon

That's all for now.

Thursday July 21

Hi Grandma!

We're in the middle of a heat wave here in NYC but I am savoring it knowing that come March I'm going to be longing for some heat!

Last night I got to go to a Mets/ Cardinals game, and it was amazing!  My first time at a game which went into extra innings AND the first time got to witness a walk off home run!  

I'm thinking seriously of heading to Munich for Oktoberfest again.  My friend, Jocelyn, has it on her bucket list and is really wanting to go. 

I love this idea of a blog, Dad and I'll try to give little updates as often as I can.

Love to you all!

This is me, ecstatic after our win in front of Citi  Field.  It's beautiful but I kinda miss Shea.

I was worried that all my pictures were going to be of me with a drink in my hand, because let's face it...my favorite thing to do is go out with my friends and get delicious food and drinks, but then I looked at Dad's blog and realized that many of their pictures are like that too.  I figure, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree:)

The following pictures are from a beer festival I went to over Memorial Day weekend on Governor's Island off the south side of Manhattan.  Its' this amazing space which used to be a military facility for over 200 years and now has parks and you can rent bikes and ride around...all this open space so close to NYC!

Don't worry, their not all for me and I was just trying not to spill...

My friend Dawn is the blond and the girl in the middle is one of the organizers of the beer festival and she was amazing.  Dawn and I accosted her to come to the dance studio.

August is looking to be an adventurous month for me so I'll update as soon as possible

Friday July 8

Hi Mom.  Emily and I just had a lovely bike ride around our new area.  We stopped at a "pilgrimage church" dating back about 160 years, Maria Eich.  Maria Eich means Mary in the oak tree.  It's about two miles from our house through the forest.  We then went exploring in a wonderful park area about a mile from our house.  They have the schools in that lovely setting.   Then we discovered a very nice beer garden adjacent to it.  Here are the pictures.

 

Maria Eich church.  They are set up for out door services.

The church is set up for outdoor services as it is quite small inside.

The next pictures are from the inside.  People hang pictures and write their requests on the wall.  We found requests in Turkish, Slavic, Spanish and German.

Inside the church.  This is why it is set up for mass outside

Here are some of the pictures and request written directly on the wall - no other graffitti

The church's altar

After this we cycled around the neighborhood exploring and found our lovely park and Biergarten.  I managed to accidentally order a 2nd beer.  Oh well, it is the best of the Munich brands - Augustiner.

Enjoying a lunch of sausages and sauerkraut.  Great hair day!  Love my bike helmet.