An unwished sightseeing tour

Monday morning Markus was due to depart for a business trip to Warsaw with a client and when he was picked up from home Vienna was covered in ca 10cm snow. Traffic to the airport was relatively light as obviously many people decided to leave their cars at home and use public transport instead. Markus flight took off on time and nothing indicated any potential delay. Come 0945, shortly before scheduled arrival the passengers were informed about the fact that Warsaw airport was temporarily closed and that they were expected to land with a 30 minute delay. As the snowfall in Warsaw did lose intensity during the time the plane was n the holding pattern the airport remained closed and thus the pilot had to reroute to Krakow in the South of Poland.

The airline organised a bus transfer, but as this trip is expected to take ca. 3,5 hours already in good conditions this sounded like a endless trip in wintry conditions. Hence Markus decided to take a train for the journey, leaving Krakow at 1403. The trip itself was smooth, the train was less busy than Markus expected and the closer he came to Warsaw the denser the snowfall was and the colder it got. Not only has winter arrived in Europe, but Markus finally also arrived at 1715 in the epicentre of winter at.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

The gingerbread man

Having travelled to Vorarlberg by plane, Jakob returned home on Wednesday by doing his first trip on a train. Together with Sandra and Kerstin he boarded the train early morning in order to get on the way for an 8 hour trip from the Western to the eastern part of Austria. Jakob enjoyed the privacy of the compartment, played and had fun and after a while even fell asleep and rested for good two hours. Like that the trip felt much shorter than 8 hours would suggest. Unfortunately Markus missed the three on Wednesday as he was going to London for the rest of the week and thus he had to wait until Friday night to cuddle Jakob again.

Pretty hard work to flatten the dough

The past weekend was very nice and wintry with first snowflakes falling Friday night in Vienna. Markus took care of Jakob on Saturday while Sandra and Kerstin did some shopping and it felt very good to spend time with the sunshine after not having seen hi for almost two weeks. On Sunday, the first advent Sunday, we did start preparing Christmas cookies and Jakob was very helpful. He was working hard to cut trees, snowmen, stars or hearts from the gingerbreaddough His favourite form though was the simple round circle which he hardly gave away. With that circle he decorated the dough and cut circles but also moons. As our junior enjoyed the work so much we were not concerned about the fact that the flour was all over the kitchen as well as all over Jakob’s. When we finished baking the cookies it the forecasted heavy snowfall started.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Not feeding chicken pocks, but tuna, chicken and beef

With Markus' hefty traveling schedule these days Jakob and Kerstin end up home alone most of the time and thus they decided to fly away. Firstly, Jakob liked it on the plane when we went to Mallorca and secondly grandma Heidi is still dire straits since she tripped, fell and broke her arm a few weeks ago. So Markus drove the two - who were actually a little bit nervous - to the airport on Sunday morning and waived them Good-Bye before he himself left for Warsaw onMonday where he sent all last week with a client. The short flight to Friedrichshafen was smooth and Jakob did again like it. He likes even more the fact that the whole family is there to entertain him in Vorarlberg.

One would question, whether a little energetic 16 month-old like our little sunshine could really make the life easier for someone handicapped with a plaster, but experience showed: it does. Jakob has finally made really friends with Tom, the cat. he strokes him and more importantly - makes sure that Tom gets something for breakfast. Once Tom has finished his meal, Jakob puts away the feeding bowl so that noone trips over it. In summer Jakob still tried to eat out of the bowl instead - this time luckily seems over!

J knows how important food is for him. It also has to be for Tom!

By mid week Jakob has picked up a cough, had slightly higher temperature and we also found two blisters on his body and so we thought that he would have picked up the chicken-pocks - which Anna was suffering from the past weeks - as well even though Jakob was vaccinated against it. A visit to the pediatrician did not confirm the chicken pocks, but diagnosed an inflammation of the middle ear in a very early stage and prescribed antibiotics. So there is a sick bay anyway on the western front of Austria. Our junior though does not give us the impression that he is sick - he is full of energy, smiles and laughs and does not mind the coughs or pain he for sure has.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Just like in Bedrock

Most likely everyone still remembers The Flintstones - Fred, Wilma , Barney and Betty. The cartoon series from the 1960-ies is for sure well known in general, but do you also know how Barney & Betty's son was called? Hi sname was Bamm-Bamm. and his girlfriend was Pebbles - Fred & Wilma's daughter. Bamm-Bamm's name came from his only ever words he spoke and the fact that he liked to hit hard on things with the club he carried around at all times. Our little junior is also a real bundle of energy: he is runing around all day, riding his rocking horse, chasing people and even more so likes being chased around in the flat. Jakob currently is also using everything for making noise - his beloved toy is a hammer with which he even likes to hit on his head - and he also has a girlfriend - Anna. Together they remind us a lot of Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm.

The original characters from the 60-ies...

...and the couple today

When Kerstin had her ladies' night this week Wednesday and some of her former colleagues visited us at home Jakob was everything but tired. He turned on the volume, and provided his best for the audience. He entertained the ladies for a while making fun and noise by throwing toys on the table and using the hammer of his workbench as drumstick - yet again. Just like Bamm-Bamm.

Bamm-Bamm, Betty & Barney