A busy time of the year

The past few weeks have as with most probably everyone around the globe quite eventful. For us it was for the fist time a completely new experience as we not only had christmas to look forward to, but also the first birthday of our daughter Julia. But first things first.

When winter arrived in Western Austria 8 days before Christmas we were very excited about white christmas and could not wait until we finally could hit the road to driver to Vorarlberg. By the time we finally got to set off, on Friday December 21st, warm weather has set in and all the snow that was there - and apparently there was a LOT - was gone. It even got worse as temperatures rose continuously and it rather felt like eastern than Christmas with temperatures peaking at 31 degrees in the sun on the 25th of December! We however did not throw in the towel but had a tons of food as always (including an 8 1/4 kg Turkey on December 26th and just  great time. The Christkind was also extremely supportive and had lots of presents for the three juniors, Julia, Ylvie and Jakob. It even followed us from the Burgenland to late-deliver a few presents overnight from 24th to 25th.

Only one of the many presents

On December 28th it was them Julia's big day and she seemed to enjoy it big-big-time. Not only did she behave as if fully aware that it was her day, but she also ate cake and all the other good things she never was allowed to have before, as if she has eaten nothing else beforehand. Our extended festive season continued a few days later following a little bit of sportive activity as Markus did participate in 

the Silvesterlauf in Altach on Sunday 30th - his first run in quite a while. Great weather and perfect support by Heidi, Sandra, Ylvie & Flo as well as  Kerstin, Julia and Jakob - the big boy even accompanied dad over the finishing line - made the event a big fun and success. New Years Even might not have been the most exciting thing one can imagine, as we had raclette at home, but the night passed by so fast, that midnight almost passed by unnoticed. We did not miss it i the end and Markus did celebrate it with some fireworks on the meadow in front of our Heidi's house. Next day in the morning another party was on the agenda: Ylvie-Marie turned 2 years old and we all have been there. The brunch ended for us around 1700 and we wnt home one person short as our son decided to spend the night with his cousin and godmother. His first night away from mom & dad. We did expect a call from Sandra anytime asking us to pick Jakob up again, but this call came only next day morning. It was a strange feeling.

Frosty came for a visit

When back in Vienna also we finally saw some winter with snowfall and low temperatures. Jakob was glad for several reasons as we finally could hit the slopes again after a 10 months break on the Semmering together with grandpa Kurt. Jakob was still a bit rusty, but the winter only has started. By the end of last week Vienna was all covered in snow as ca 40cm of snow fell inner city. Due to Jakob having some fever an not being completely fit we had to skip skiing this weekend, but managed to do some bobsliding and snowman building on Sunday. And later this week we will head west again as Markus goes skiing to Lech with friends and clients while Kerstin and the kids spend time again with family.

Julia, Jakob, Kerstin & Markus 

Hot summer in the city and on the roof

Last week Wednesday Markus's sister Ines has had her 30th birthday and we celebrated the day all together in our flat. Given the warm weather we decided to spend the day on teh terrace where a small pool offered kids and adults the possibility to refress and cool down. in the later afternoon we then had delicious barbecue before the birthday child made her way home again where an evening out with her friends was on the agenda.

On Friday afternoon Jakob had his first kindergarden summer party in the nearby Prater and the small kids had prepared songs and dance performances over the past weeks. Jakob was all shy in front of the many parents and friends attending and it took a while for him to "warm up" which surprised us given the summer temperatures were felt even underneath the protecting treet of the Prater. Our little butterfly did have fun however and when we returned home and jumped again into the pool the fun was even greater.

What sort of butterfly am I?

Over the weekend the summer has taken an even tighter grip of Vienna and the Eastern part of Austria with temperatures peaking at almost 38 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday. The four of us spent most of the Saturday at home and only hit the Stadionbad in the later afternoon. Given the fact that both Jakob and Julia had a long sleep after midday a good decision, yet the heat was still close to unbearable when we got to the super-packed Stadionbad. Thanks to our season pass we did not have to queue at the entrance, but still the pools were massively overcrowded and the spots in the shade were also very scarce. Jakob did not mind as he was cooling himself off in the water, but our little one was just hot and uneasy.

Water - here I come!

We therefore decided that on Sunday Kerstin would stay home with Julia and Markus would hit the Stadionbad early morning already together with Jakob. This plan was a good one as Julia had much mroe fun in an airconditioned home and "jumping" into our pool a few times, and the boys had fun on the waterslide and the cool wet in a crowded but not overcrowded outdoorpool.The afternoon they spent almost exclusively inside our little pool on the roof in the shadow, the probably best place to hang out in such weather. Given the heat will stay for the whole week Markus has overnight cleaned the pool and refilled it with fresh water so the the fun can continue. He himslef knows what he will do right after work Monday evening.

Julia, Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Going the long distance

Tuesday evening it was time for Julia's first long trip: Markus had his annual skiing trip with colleagues and clients to Lech on the agenda from Wednesday until Sunday and took the opportunity to take the whole family to Vorarlberg to spend some time with grandma Heidi and cousin Ylvie, aunt Sandra and uncle Flo. Not that we were at all surprised, but our car was filled up to the roof and even the new roof-box Markus collected on the weekend was completely packed. Julia was feeling comfortable on the front seat while Jakob and Kerstin were in the back next to some bags and our jackets. With traffic reasonable we made quite good progress and only stopped once shortly as Julia was feeling hungry. Jakob was super patient while his sister was fed and soon after we continued our journey both kids fell fast asleep and allowed us to continue our journey without any further stops resulting in us reaching our destination just after midnight.

Happy Birthday Renate!

While Markus headed towards the mountain the next morning the others had quite some work to do: the final preparations for Kerstin's godmother Renate's 60th birthday on Thursday were due: Bakery Blaser was working all Wednesday preparing several cakes for the upcoming party, Flo had to finish and place the large billboard with Renate’s picture on her balcony and Jakob was working hard learning the text for his song. Thursday afternoon the party kicked off with family as well as neighbors, colleagues and friends invited and thus Meier’s home was packed. Anja and Katrin have prepared a crossword which Renate had to fill in and which granted her small presents with every correct line and with the main price having been a guided tour on a glacier in Tyrol. In order to qualify for that present she had to undergo a 6 x 60 seconds fitness test for a 60 year old. Having passed this test as well she got the bonus of two nights in a hotel in Tyrol before and/or after the glacier tour. Afterwards Jakob had his big appearance by singing “Happy Birthday Mamagota” together with all the guests. As our junior is singing the song permanently anyway it was an easy thing for him and he only had to take care of addressing it to the right person. Jakob enjoyed staying up much longer than usually and was yet again very fond of the older children that were at the party. Given he was behaving so well and not showing any sign of tiredness he stayed up as long as 2300 when however he fell asleep very fast joining Julia in the land of the dreams until late next day in the morning.

Julia, Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

A feast with Gruffalo

Sunday afternoon Jakob was invited to his friend Serik's 3rd birthday party. Serik, Fritz & Jade's son, has picked the offices of the Astria Kids Academy as location for his party with 15 of his friends. As usually Jakob was rather shy and quiet in the beginning and it took him a while before he joined into the musical programme the team of the kids academy has prepared. But once the hand puppets have disappeared - our sunshine is not very much into anything that is in disguise - and real instruments as well as balls came into play Jakob was all fired up and enthusiastic and danced, played piano and jumped around.

 Jakob and music go along well

Later on a few parent s performed a little play and we were prepared already to leave the room with our junior as all the characters were disguised. Some more. Some less. Interestingly Jakob was all fine to stay, even when the terrible, terrible Gruffalo - Fritz portrayed him almost perfectly - appeared. Most likely the fact that the Gruffalo was afraid of the "mighty" mouse took away a lot of its scare.

Jakob was respectful, but not scared of Gruffalo

After the performance it was time for pizza and cake and Jakob obviously was all excited about that, taking the seat right next to Serik and sharing a piece of cake with mom and two slices of pizza with dad before playing with the other children (aged between 2 and 6 years) on the slide, improving further his piano skills and collecting the sweets and mars bars that were raining over the children (alongside lots of confetti) from paper buckets as grande finale for the party.

Finally - Food also for the children!

When we reached home at 1800 Viki and Stefan as well as Marina and Fabio were already waiting for us and they joined us for cold dinner and gave Jakob the opportunity to continue playing with a friend in a however more  calm way than at the birthday party and thus conclude a very nice and exciting Sunday.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

We gotta feeling

When we woke up on Saturday morning everyone knew its gonna be a special day – not only the adults but also the two juniors Ylvie-Marie and Jakob sensed it. At 10.00 the flat was taken over by the ladies and Markus was kicked out from home. He drove through the rain to pick up his best man Peter and they then moved on to his brother’s flat where the boys had vintage champagne with pizza (unfortunately for all of them the pizza-service added garlic for free and made the experience of the food last longer). When the boys left for the Lusthaus, the location for both the wedding ceremony and the party, the rain has stopped and they could drive through Vienna with Markus’ open convertible. Upon arrival at the Lusthaus, where Sandra, Heidi and Flo have finished the decoration already, some guests have already arrived and thus the 45 minutes to the ceremony flew by very fast.

When Kerstin and the girls – Evi, Lini and Lissi – together with our sunshine Jakob approached the Lusthaus in a horse carriage not only the clouds disappeared but also Markus left. He did not run away but went upstairs where he was awaiting the bride. A few minutes later Eugen, Kerstin’s dad accompanied his daughter into the room accompanies by live guitar music by Kerstin’s cousin Katrin and handed her over to the husband-to-be. The ceremony was personal yet pretty much straight forward and after 20 minutes Markus was allowed to kiss the bride. When a short while later the new family left the room the sky was clear blue and the backdrop could not be more perfect. While we accepted congratulatins from all our wedding guests the impressive Nebuchadnezzar bottle of Veuve Cliquot has been opened, served and enjoyed very much by everyone.

"You now may kiss the bride" - no need to say that twice

For us the afternoon went by extremely fast thanks to a walk through the Prater in order to find the right spot for wedding pictures and it seemed that our friends and family did not get bored while we were away as they all were still present when dinner was served upstairs again. Each table had a little guest in the middle – a beautiful butterfly was circling over the table flowers – and made the whole experience even better: delicious food, sunshine on the balcony, good wine and most importantly a bunch of cool people. Before the party kicked off our group of closest friends – the Bella Familia – presented a lip-dub video of “I gotta feeling” in which they wished us all the best of luck. It was hilarious and moving at the same time and definitely provided the hymn for (at least) our wedding and the first part song our DJ played was – surprise-surprise – ‘I gotta feeling’.

The party started relatively early but lasted long, the dancefloor has never been empty and both the delicious wedding cake as well as the late night goulash soup were highly appreciated by the party-people. Just after 0300 in the morning we closed the shop and we left the Lusthaus. We dropped off Viki and Stefan at their flat before heading to our room for the night – the Romeo & Juliet Suite in the Triest which has been organized by Kerstin’s cousin Anja. As the bar was closed already by that time we had the strawberries and water that was waiting for us in the room before having a wonderful first night of sleep as married couple.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

The final countdown

The clock is ticking louder and louder ahead of the big event tomorrow: our wedding. While one would immagine that after 12 years the ceremony is something like a formality, slowly but surely some sort of nervousness appears.

In order to cope with that we have family and friends who are coming to the wedding from outside and arrived already today in town as well as our witnesses Mary and Peter for drinks and BBQ at our terrace. The party weekend is starting!

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Girls aloud - the story of a hen-night

Part two of our “farewell-to-singledom” took place this past weekend and this time it was the ladies’ turn. Hence Kerstin was picked up from home on Saturday just after lunchtime by her maid of honour Maria in order to kick of a weekend themed “Mad Women”. While Jakob was initially not too impressed with the fact that his mom would be leaving him behind – he tried several times to take off her shoes and make her stay – he soon after the ladies have left could be effectively distracted by playing with grandma Heidi, cousin Ylvie, uncle Flo and Markus. A total of 18 ladies congregated to celebrate Kerstin’s hen-night and gathered at Motto am Fluss for a warm-up and afterwards Kerstin checked into her hotel room, a stylish master suite in Le Meridien by the ring road. The girl’s plan to have drinks in outside the Moet Bar of the hotel but the fact that the funeral procession of the last heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Otto von Habsburg, was just passing by the hotel was a bit too depressing and so the drinks were in the outdoor-loungearea at the back of the hotel. Time now also was ripe for Kerstin to be properly adjusted for the night amongst other stuff with a little black dress and phenomenal high-heels which she was wearing for the rest of the evening.

So close, but no-one dared to jump...

For dinner the group had a reservation in Holy Moly – situated on the Badeschiff, a floating pool on the Danube channel – and they left the restaurant after midnight to hit the dance floor of Platzhirsch located right next to the Meridien. Kerstin not only endured dancing in her high heels for a very long time and only by 0300 decided to shrink by 10cm but also managed to have fun and enjoy the night without any drink while the girls around her had drink after drink after drink. The visit to the sausage stand at dawn however was a must and the sausage tasted similarly good with or without a drink. Having hit bed by 0600 Maria, Evi, Doris and Kerstin had nice breakfast/lunch in Palmenhaus on Sunday morning while Jakob was impatiently waiting at home for his mom and asked in regular intervals about her whereabouts. When the doorbell rang around 1400 and Jakob heard Kerstin’s voice on the intercom one not only could see his joy about hearing mom but also his relief that she returned. Our sunshine was awaiting her by the elevator and embraced her tightly as soon as she left the elevator. We are not sure, when he allows her to go out again without him!

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Jakob turned 2 - that has been celebrated!

When Jakob woke up on Wednesday morning he was well aware already that the day would be special as a chocolate cake was "parked" in the air-conditioned bedroom and as a consequence our junior asked for some cake for breakfast. By the time Jakob reached the kindergarten he was confronted with more evidence of a special day: Kerstin took along a (different) cake for J's comrades and he was immediately decorated with a crown and placed right in the centre of a children's circle. Our sunshine seemed to have been fully aware of what all that was about and put forth his hand to every child around him in order to accept compliments and afterwards they all had the delicious chocolate cake. At 1030 both Kerstin and Markus - who took the day off - picked up Jakob from the kindergarten and made their way across the bridge home where grandma Heidi, aunt Sandra and cousin Ylvie were already waiting for us. There was also something else waiting for Jakob: a fully assembled brand-new Duplo deluxe train set - the present from grandma and godmother. Jakob's excitement was so large and he liked playing so much that he completely refused to go to bed for his lunchtime/afternoon nap which we did not like too much given the programme we expected for the rest of the day.

Cool!! I've got my own railtracks!

Just after 1330 the doorbell rang and Markus' family - grandma and grandpa, godfather Stefan and Viki as well as aunt Ines - joined us to celebrate Jakob's 2nd birthday. The weather was very similar to July 13th 2009 with hot temperatures (reaching 35 degrees) and thus we spent actually most of the afternoon in the air-conditioned living room. After the birthday cake - a delicious Sacher cake decorated with a train made of marzipan which Jakob ate straight away - it was time for the second round of presents. This time our junior was allowed to unwrap and he very much liked doing that. He took his time for each present and celebrated the unwrapping procedure and to all our surprise spent some time to play/look at and show around each present before moving on to the next parcel. He is now proud owner of a few pieces of clothing, two more books, a carpet with roads and buildings for playing with cars and a basketball set with a height-adjustable basket and a ball in order to one day follow the steps of dad and godfather. The latter present was tested by all party guests and Jakob was all joyful whenever someone scored and exclaimed a loud "NOOOOO" whenever the basket was missed. Guess what we heard most?

Practice for the NBA Slam Dunk Contest 2032 has started already

Later on we moved up to the terrace where the children's pool was waiting, but for some reason Jakob was less excited about swimming and playing in the water and thus it was mainly the adults - Stefan, Viki and Kerstin - who cooled off in the water. We did not find out whether it was due to Jakob being a bit tired, the water being too chilly or because of the many presents one floor lower. When Anja, Lini, Peter and Jakob's friend Anna completed the round of party guests junior could unwrap yet another present - a "travel highway" with a few toy cars made by Lini which impressed pretty much everyone. The day was concluded with a big barbecue whereas we did eat inside due to the heat that was still intense after 1800 and when bedtime came Jakob was fast asleep within a very short period of time. The excitement of the second birthday was obviously very tiring.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Past weekend it was time for Markus' stag weekend which was organised and coordinated by Peter, Markus' best man. As it is tradition, the groom has no idea what would happen to him and had to be "ready for take off" Saturday morning at 0830. After a breakfast in Do-An at the Naschmarkt Peter and Markus together with Flo, Stefan, Bruno, Mirko, Geri, Christoph and Oliver got into two cars to drive on to the destination of the bachelor party. Markus, still not knowing where they would end up and what he had to expect, could only guess and was extremely confused when the convoy was split (unintentionally) with one car following the A2 southbound and the other one the S6 westbound. After the re-union on the A2 at the Pack however he was sure that the destination would be the Woerthersee in Carinthia. The guys checked into a hotel in Reifnitz - famous for the annual Golf GTI meeting - the wolf pack, joined now also by Christian, made its way to the lake where they enjoyed the sun, had several beers and did some watersports - wakeboarding and waterski. Markus' 4 wakeboard attempts anded all abruptly after a few metres whereas his 4 water ski attempts at least took him a total 100 metres into the lake.

Markus' outfit for during the day

In the evening the 10 boys met up with Fritz in Velden and Markus got the instruction for his evening's job: an accelerated bookbuilding of 50 useless shares issued by himself and signed by his honorable supervisory board consisting of Mr Madoff, Mr Strauss-Kahn and Mr Kulterer. Via speedboat they crossed the lake to reach Lakeside, a nice restaurant in Reifnitz where Andi and Klaus joined and completed the party guests. After dinner the majority of shares has been placed with other restaurant guests and at midnight the guys crossed the lake by speedboat again to Poertschach where drinks at teh bar of Schlosshotel Miralago and party at Anna W followed. Even though are mostly remembered but remain private.

Sunday was for some people slower than for others, was spent again by the lake in Reifnitz before drinving back to Vienna in the late afternoon.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Buy turkey for christmas

Due to a stomach virus which Markus caught on his way to Frankfurt Monday morning ended up spending the rest of the week in Vienna which Jakob really liked as it gave him a lot of opportunity to play and have fun with Dad. Working from home when fit again on Thursday and Friday gave Markus the oportunity to plan and prepare everything for Saturday's christmas lunch with his parents. First thing Friday morning he headed to the supermarket and bought all necessary ingredients for roast turkey with currant glaze. In the late afternoon Stefan came by and together they prepared the 4kg turkey by drowning it in salt water and putting him on ice. simultaneously the starter, a carrot-ginger-soup as well as the currant glaze were prepared.

A salty bath for the bird.

Early evening Kerstin headed off toward her office as she joined her colleagues for the corporate christmas dinner and in order to make her departure easier Jakob and Markus joined her on the way and while Kerstin had her first drink the two boys wanndered through the cold but beautifully decorated city towards home. At home Jakob was absolutely lovely, had dinner , played with Markus and got ready for bed withou any complaint of any question about mum. He fell aspeel peacefully and when Kerstin came home after 0100 Jakob was still fast asleep in his bed.

Lots of raw meet in the morning...

Saturday morning we started early again as the turkey needed a lot of time for the final touches and even more so for the roasting. Stefan made his way to the wintry city - it was snowing all night long - and the two chefs stuffed the bird and prepared it with the delicious glazing before putting it into the oven just before 1000. When the grandparents and Ines arrived in Vienna Jakob was again on excellent form and enjoyed the large group showing all his skills. Lateron Ines and Kerstin went to the toboggan hill together with Jakob in order to make him tired for a lunchtime sleep before the bird was finished.

... and a crispy Turkey 4,5 hours later

After almost 4,5 hours we finally could take the turkey out of the oven and get ready for lunch. It was a mouthwatering sight and a delicious smell that we could all enjoy when the roasted turkey sat on the dining room table and was waiting for being filletted. The taste was definitely living up to the smell and sight and noone dcould recall when we had such a tender meet last and we all were stuffed even though we did not manage to finish the whole bird. Given the big success of the lunch - we can live with the large knife Stefan broke preparing the side dish - it seems that a new tradition has been borne for the christmas celebration in Vienna. With this years experience we will make some adaptations for a repeat next year.


Jakob, Kerstin and Markus

360° and you too

Monday morning was wet and cold. Cold as one usually would expect in October, but not late August as the temperature did not manage to climb above 11 degrees. This fact per se would not have been a problem, but given we had plans for the evening outdoors,we were worried about the rain as well as the chilly temperatures. At least the rain stopped during the afternoon and made us hopeful for a great night out in the nearby Ernst Happel Stadium. Grandma Heidi as well as Renate and Werner took care of our little sunshine in the evening and thus enabling us to be part of a the biggest crowd ever in Vienna's largest arena: We were two of the 75.000 people seeing and hearing U2 in their first concert in Austria since 5 years.

For two hours U2 excited more people than ever in the Prater

Due to the fact that Sandra and Flo were lucky enough to get hold of two separate seating tickets but not being able to take two days off from work we inherited the tickets and were able to see Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen live on stage for the first time. Our seats provided us with a great view overlooking the crowd and were absolutely rain-secure as they were at the very top of the stadium just below the roof. Thanks to the huge 360°-videowall above the impressive stage we could see well anyhow and the mood up there was great as well -neither of us was sitting during the whole concert. The gig was a great music show where the band fas clearly the centre-piece rather than dance acts etc like we have seen at Madonna's concert two years ago. Not only that Bono hit the tunes at all times - even when obviously his technicians deafened him with too high volume in his earplug - but also the band came across as very sympathetic, the highly respected charity projects were not thrown at the crowd but delivered in a very decent way and on top of all that the gig itself offered a great mixture of old classics, new stuff and great atmosphere.

Overall the concert was a very memorable event in which we only would have wished the weather to be nicer (and maybe standing tickets) and with Jakob having behaved nicely the door seems open now for more evening events to attend together again in the future.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Summer activities in and around Vienna

Since our return home from Vorarlberg after a smooth journey last week Wednesday night we have been pretty busy actually. Luckily there were no bad surprises waiting for us at home as Markus' brother looked well after our home and so we could concentrate on getting our "Vienna rhythm" again and on enjoying the warm summer weather. On Saturday morning then we drove to Oberwart where we had birthday lunch with Markus' Dad followed by Fabio's 1st birthday party in Stinatz.

On the way to an appointment in the pool

On Sunday morning we went to meet family Strutz and by lunchtime drove to Bad Voeslau to spend the afetrnoon in the very nice outdoor thermal pool. For some strange reason we were not the only ones with this glorious idea on a day when the thermometer showed more than 30 degrees and thus we were not only looking for a parking space for quite a while (before deciding to park right in the middle of a car park) but also we had to take any left space on the lawn next to the playground with the shade of the children's slide as the only sun protection. The day was absolutely perfect, Anna and Jakob had fun, we all enjoyed ourselves and a great barbecue in the Strutz's backyard was the icing on the cake of a wonderful summer day.

Rain in summer is not necessarily a horrible thing

At the beginning of the week we continued to exploit the sunshine and did some more swimming in the Stadionbad before clouds and rain started to appear on the horizon. Come Saturday, grandma Heidi as well as Renate and Werner arrived in Vienna for a few days and a clear mission: They are due to take care of Jakob on Monday night.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Big day for the big boy - Vol. 2

While Markus was sailing around the Balearic Island of Mallorca Kerstin, grandma Heidi and godmother Sandra and our friend Sandra prepared the second part of Jakob's birthday celebrations which was planned as picnic in the Prater with lots of friends. Small meatballs, tuna, noodle and greek sheperds salad as well as a cake were on the agenda alongs side drinks for the juniors and the parents. When Markus stepped off the airplane on Sunday morning in Vienna he was though pretty shocked: having departed at 0850 at temperatures of 28 degrees and sunshine in Palma Vienna welcomed him with overcast sky, a cold wind and temperatures in the area of 15 degrees.

4 little people had fun together

Given the circumstances and the fact that it was raining during the night a picnic outside would have been a chilly and wet thing and thus we decided to hold the party in our flat. As some of our friends unfortunately could not come anyway there was no space problem and so Jakob could play with Sofie, Laurenz and Felix in the living room, while we had coffee, cake and the salads together with Tanja & Christian, Claudia & Oli and Jutta & Tom as well as Sandra and Doris who we have not seen in a very long time. Jakob received a lot of nice presents like a picture, clothes, lots of books to read and a small chicken on a stick to push similar to the frog he got from Sandra on Tuesday. this was the main attraction during the afternoon and he likes it a lot. In the evening our junior was (again) so tired that he fell asleep instantly and was shortly afterwards followed by his parents who were also pretty tired.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

More than just Saturday Night Fever

Just on time for the official start of summer, the warm weather returned to Vienna and we are enjoying warm, but not yet superhot temperatures. Jakob is practicing and improving every day his walking skills whereas he prefers to carry watering cans, boxes or any of his toys with him. The larger the items are, the better and sometimes he looks like an ant, carrying something which is larger (yet lighter) than himself.

For both Kerstin and Markus Saturday evening was highly anticipated date as Kerstin has planned a girls’ night out for months and Markus was invited to a special 40^th birthday party of one of his former colleagues who is now working in Moscow. As Jakob has developed over the past weeks to a more “user friendly” boy and now could be calmed down during the night also by someone else than Kerstin, we did dare to stick to the plans and follow the invitations as Viki & Stefan volunteered to do the babysitting.

Come Saturday afternoon and the build-up to the evening out we realised that Jakob was quite hot which we initially believed was caused by the hot weather, but when checking his temperature we were quite shocked as the clinical thermometer showed 39,8 degrees. As Jakob was eating & drinking well and also was still quite active and smiling (though he was falling over often) we treated him with antipyretic medicine and calf packing. As a consequence of Jakob’s Saturday Night Fever Kerstin was very disappointed that she missed the girls’ night (while Markus did join the birthday party until shortly after midnight), but it was quite clear that our junior did need his mom. Jakob’s situation did not really improve throughout Sunday – he even reached 40,3 degrees Sunday afternoon – and so Monday morning he will see the doctor and we hopefully find out what the problem is and even more important what to do against it. Fingers crossed.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

The Easter bunny does not mind the roaring lion

The preparations for the big Easter weekend with the enlarged family were well advanced when Markus arrived in Hoerbranz late Thursday night having left Vienna after work. Friday morning Jakob was full of joy seeing Markus again after more than 1,5 weeks and the two spent quite some time together playing, laughing and having fun. They also enjoyed the beautiful weather walking alongside Lake Constance towards Bregenz while Kerstin was in Heaven, her hairdresser in the city centre. Having slept all the way into town Jakob was wide awake when they strolled through the centre visiting some shops and buying flowers on the market. In the afternoon Kerstin went for a run together with Sandra while Markus went for another "sleep-walk" with our sunshine before we had meatless dinner - grilled trout with vegetables

The house was decorated nicely

On Saturday morning the three of us walked together to Bregenz meeting Sandra & Flo there for some more shopping. As the last day of nice weather had to be exploited we took along our running gear and after having fed Jakob's lunch at Sandra & Flo's place Sandra & Kerstin as well as Markus & Jakob set of to run back home to Hoerbranz to earn the traditional Easter dinner - eggs, boiled ham and fresh horseradish.

A toyboy in the new toybox

Sunday morning the big family brunch was on the cards and the Easter bunnies had lots to do indoors as it was cold & raining. Jakob crawled through the house, featured his impressive roaring sounds and was not yet too impressed with the easter eggs, chocolate rabbits and presents that were hidden all over the living room. After all he did discover though his presents: new hats, a cuddly bathing-poncho and a large wooden box for his toys - built by grandpa. We do hope that the weather will be better next year on Easter Sunday so we can search the Easter eggs and presents in the backyard where. Already now we are looking forward to that!

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Joining the club - Jakob's christening

The past weekend was a very big one for Jakob as Thursday night the first family members arrived in Vienna from Vorarlberg for our son's christening. By the time the big day came not only we had full house with Kerstin's mom and dad as well as her aunt Renate and uncle Werner staying in our place, but godmother Sandra and Flo stayed with godfather Stefan and Viki and Anja & Gian-Luca stayed in a hotel. On Saturday morning we all met for brunch in our flat at 1000 and one could tell, that it was not a normal day as everyone was a little bit nervous. Markus parents and sister joined us around lunchtime just as well as our neighbors Stefan and Andrea.

The sun was shining and heated the air to mild 20 degrees when we got on our way at 1300 towards the 19th district where the Jakob's christening was scheduled in the Weinbergkirche and once we have reached our destination the first thing on the agenda was to change Jakob's diapers as also he had to pay tribute to the nervousness and filled it on the way in the car. Once he was fresh again, Markus uncle and godfather has arrived and when the priest, one of Markus' teachers back at school, was ready the ceremony got under way. Jakob, neatly dressed in a white shirt and dark blue trousers, was very calm and focused when we the organ was playing and we were all singing but was talking and active whenever the pastor was preaching. Luckily Werner was filming so both Kerstin and Markus can re-visit the sermon as the parts that we could pick up were very nice and moving.

A large group gathered for Jakob's second big day after his birthday

When the highlight of the ceremony was approaching Jakob got a little bit more unsettled as it seemd that he wanted to play with the water rather than only having it poured over his head. Sandra almost struggled to hold him steady and as soon as the first drop of water touched Jakobs still hairless head he started complaining loudly. Somehow we were not really surprised about the scope of the reaction, even though we were optimistic that he would not mind the water as he loves babyswimming and bathing. But quite obviously its something completely different.

The moment of truth

Lateron there were a few more very moving moments in the ceremony like when Heidi wanted to recite a short poem for our sunshine but choked and had to ask her sister Renate to step in for her or when Sandra, Ines, Stefan, Markus' dad and Markus recited their intercessions. At the end of the service Jakob was all delighted again and was very pleased once the worship was over and he was allowed to "play" with the water while Flo took some pictures.

Finally allowed to have some fun!

After the Agape in the foyer of the church we made our way to nearby Heuriger Kroiss, which is run by one of our friend's brother where we had booked the back room for food and drinks. While Jakob slept for more than an hour after the exertion of the christening the rest of us enjoyed the delicious homemade food, wine and grapejuice. Once Jakob was awake he received lots of presents from all the guests - some for right now (various toys) and others for later in his life (cutlery or a savings plan for his first iPhone) - he was in a good mood and had a lot of fun with the gifts and guests. The early dinner was rounded up with delicate cakes prepared by Markus's mom and Andrea before we headed back home where the big day was concluded with a large bottle of champagne we had on the health of our little sunshine.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

A slow start leaves room to improve

2009 is history, but kept well in our memories. In order to celebrate the beginning of the new decades we did plan a nice evening at home with Heidi, her brother Manfred and his family (Lissi, Barbara & Monica) and Markus has gathered some pyrotechnical gadgets in order to shy away any evil spirits. While New Year’s Eve is probably the most horrible night for animals kept in homes, be it cats or dogs, as the cracking of fireworks makes them feel very uncomfortable. Heidi’s cat Tom for example disappeared undiscoverable in the cellar late afternoon of the 31st and resurfaced again in the early hours of the New Year when the cracking died off.

Not a hangover, but recovering from a stressful night

Kerstin and Markus did somehow expect and fear that Jakob might have issues with the noise as well, but were completely surprised by the peaceful sleep he had. The junior could not even be bothered by the bangs while he was feeding shortly before midnight. What was concerning though, was that the peaceful sleep seemed to have found an end once Kerstin and Markus went to bed. should they be worried?

"No need to be around me all the time anymore."

The first days of the year were on the one hand lazy as apart from a walk with the stroller allowing Jakob a good set of sleep in the fresh air and watching the ski jumping events in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Innsbruck – part of the 4 hills tournament - not much else was on the agenda. Jakob was the most active one of the family as he started attempts to crawl (albeit backwards) and perfected his sitting skills. By now the little sunshine is sitting completely on his own playing with his wooden bricks, balls or pillows and to a certain extent does not even need company or interaction from anyone. It feels like Kerstin and Markus regain some sort of freedom again in small steps.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Rainy days at the end of December

One could almost interpret the weather the past two days like that: Heaven is crying for Sandra and Flo having left to Thailand. Their timing could not have been better to leave as it is almost constantly raining the past two days and it for sure is much nicer in Asia with 30 degrees rather than ca. 8 degrees and raindrops. Jakob, Kerstin and Markus were lucky enough to have used a dry window on Wednesday lunchtime for a walk to Bregenz allowing Jakob a good amount of sleep during the day and his parents as snack and some shopping in Vorarlberg’s capital. As both the weather was stable and Jakob still fast asleep they also decided to walk all the way back and so the junior only woke up once home has been reached after more than three hours of sleep.

Wednesday afternoon was spent inside improving further the sitting skills and keeping the parents busy entertaining little Mr. Sunshine. While Jakob was very much resisting to fall asleep in the evening once he did reach the land of the dreams we enjoyed a relatively good night which ended only at 0715 on Thursday, in sharp contrast to the usual 0515 wake-up time. Unfortunately the rain was persistent and even got stronger so that preparations for the New Years Eve celebrations are going to be focussed on the inside. Kerstin’s uncle and family will join for raclette for dinner and Markus has planned some fireworks for midnight. Fingers crossed, the rain stops as otherwise one has to fear the fireworks to be extinguished.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

One last time: Bella Familia in da house

Monday presented itself ice-cold again with temperatures far below the freezing point, but apparently this cold winter weather shall take a break the next days with temperatures rising again. As a consequence of the cold Markus had to leave his Vespa at home, the Italian lady was on strike for the low temperatures, and Kerstin only had a short walk with Jakob covered in a lot of layers.

Not only mummies were at our place. You spot the dad?

For the afternoon Kerstin has invited all our friends with their children to our place and so we have had full house yet again. The little ones – ranging from 3 months up to 6,5 years – had a good time and made our flat a very lively place while the parents had a last possibility this year to sit down and spend time together. When Markus came home around 1800 it seemed to him as if the noise level was highest as even an discontent Jakob, who in such case can be heard from a long distance, did not really stand out. The more the afternoon progressed the more fatigue spread within the juniors and thus marked the end of the get-together. We are all looking forward to more days with ouor friends like yesterday in 2010!

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Una Bella Familia

The past weekend was exciting and eventful as firstly we had Spanish/Italian guests from Thursday onwards. Gianluca surprised us with presents for all of us, foremost by making Jakob an early fashion victim with a full outfit by Giorgio Armani, which is his (Gianluca's) most favourite designer. As soon as Jakob is grown into the latest Italian fashion trend, we will have a photo shooting and share the trends with you! Due to rather unfriendly weather on Friday Anja and Gianluca explored Vienna on their own while Kerstin and Jakob were hiding at home. After a late breakfast and a looong time in the bathroom the two set off for more sightseeing, visiting Schloss Schoenbrunn and the Christmas market there.

The Spanish-Austrian-Italian Trio Anja, Jakob & Gianluca in action

We skipped that as in the late afternoon we were invited to the traditional chilli-party hosted by Evi and Cristoph and our junior is not so keen on a full day of programme. When we arrived at the Jaeger's home at 1700 Cristoph has just started to prepare the chilli - just in time for a party that starts at 1900. Jakob and Anna who also came early had a very good time together while Christoph worked hard on the onions, garlic, chilli and minced meat, but at the end of the day he had to make a round of calls to let people know the start of the party was postponed by 1 hour. We having been looking forward to the delicious Mexican food quickly tasted it on the way out when we left for home at 1945. Christoph, who was still working on the food at that time resolved to start earlier next year. Bets are being taken if that happens.

One of our new favourite restaurants?

On the way home from Christoph and Evi Jakob was very unrelaxed and cried all the way, but after changing to the pyjamas and a good dinner he fell asleep peacefully and had one of the best nights in a long time allowing also us to relax. Sunday morning we had brunch with Anja and Gianluca before they left for Vorarlberg at lunchtime and in the afternoon we had the third big event this weekend: the Bella Familia Christmas get-together in the Praterfee, which is a very children-friendly restaurant near our home in the prater. While the mobile children Emma and Max (Valentin was missing due to illness – we wish him a fast recovery – used the restaurants playroom as well as the possibilities to play outside Anna, Leo and Jakob entertained the parents and presented themselves from their best side. As it has been quite a while that we all have met we had a lot of things to chat about and we all had a very good time time was really flying by and a wonderful weekend ended far too fast.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus