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

Back in the box

Almost 20 years ago, in March 1992, Markus travelled for the first time to London for a 1 week Easter city break organised by a teacher of his high school. At that time they travelled to Budapest, boarded a British Airways airplane and stayed for 5 nights close to Hyde Park in a pretty shabby hotel on Inverness Terrace. The city left however a great impression on though Markus thinking that he would ever live in London for a while he was sure that he will come back at one point of time.

That is how the City of London looked like in 1992 from Tower Bridge

A few hundred flights later Markus did travel to the airport again o Sunday night – this time it was though the airport in Vienna – and boarded a flight to London again for a whole week of meetings with clients. The weather on the weekend was just fabulous and so we spent all Saturday and Sunday outside on our terrace protected from the sun by our new Soliday sunsail which has been mounted Saturday morning as well as in the Prater where Jakob practiced and further improved his skills on the trainer bike. Given the summer weather and similar forecasts for London Markus decided to leave jacket and umbrella at home and travel light and appropriate for summer. When the plane touched down with an hour delay in Heathrow Markus could not believe his sleepy eyes as it was raining cats and dogs outside and it was pretty cold – at least if one is wearing only a polo-shirt and is used to 30 degrees.

Just larger than a shoe-box - Markus' room for the week

Due to the rain he jumped into a cab at Paddington station to take him to the hotel he was booked into for the week. For any unknown reason London was pretty booked out and so there was no room in any of the usual hotels Markus usually stays, but it turned out that he would not be staying in a new hotel: When the taxi stopped and the cabbie indicated that they have reached their destination Markus yet again could not believe his eyes as he was standing right in front of the hotel he stayed back in 1992! The hotel has got a new name – Grand Royale Hyde Park – but did not change much otherwise from the outside. Inside they seemed to have redecorated and renovated a little bit, refitted the rooms, but the changes can rather be called “cosmetical”. The “big” slap came however when Markus entered the room and found himself in a shoe box. The single bed took 40% of the bedroom, the shower did not allow to turn around and overall the room had an estimated 8 square metres – more memories from 1992 returned to his mind.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

A lovely funday afternoon

Following a few colder and overcast days with several rainshowers sunday was again full of sunshine and warm temperatures. When Jakob woke up from his lunchtime nap Valentin, Maria and Mirko have already arrived in the prater and we had agreed to join them and so we did not loose much time and collected all the sand toys, a ball and for the first time we also took along the trainer bike. When Jakob got it for Easter it was just too high by a margin and thus we have hidden it under the staircase and on Sunday we gave it a try. On the way to the prater Jakob struggled to get on well and in order to not spend 1 hour for the 500m we decided to carry the bike and train lateron. Valentin was already heavily engaged playing and Jakob pretty soon joined in chasing the ball, running around and exploring the area.

Arghh!! We forgot the helmet at home!!!

The visit to the sandpit took the afternoon from good to great for the juniors as the warm weather allowed for water to be used and that meant: wet clothes, mud and lots of fun. The fun continued afterwards when the two boys were allowed to run around naked and we were both amused and impressed when Jakob was standing up and chasing all naked and face covered in chocolate to three older boys who were playing "Knights". Only when they started a fight with wooden swords (Jakob liked that a lot!?!?!) Markus intervened and saved the three boys from the fearful duo Valentin and Jakob. On our way home then Jakob was already much better on the trainer bike and he showed yet again a lot of will as he declined all our help and got on the back whenever he fell over again. His attitude in that respect is amazing and we definitely hope that he will keep that also for other issues (like at school).

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Stag night with a 22 months old

No, this entry has nothing to do with the movie The Hangover and the sequel that started in US cinemas this weekend but its about the first evening and night that Jakob and Markus spent together without Kerstin. The teamwork on Saturday afternoon when Jakob helped his dad to fix the bed bonded the two and so the stage was set for a harmonic saturday night and Sunday morning which gave Kerstin the opportunity to spend some time with her cousin Anja, do "normal" stuff like going to the cinema and sleeping in Anja's flat without being disturbed at any time by our junior. The three of left left home on Saturday afternoon to buy some new shoes for Jakob in the first district, Jakob did chase pigeons in the pedestrian zone Kaerntner Strasse and lateron we seperated. While Kerstin moved on to meet Anja after she finished her work in Le Meridien, Markus and Jakob made their way home along the ringroad and through Stadtpark, where our sunshine again used the opportunity and chased pigeons and crows.

Once they arrived home it was football time. Not as a build-up for the Champions League Final in Wembley between Barca and ManU but as game in our living area - Jakob loves to kick the ball and perform his "Tooooorrr" cheer. Dinner for our junior was easily made - the soup and noodles just needed to be warmed up there was no disruption to the fun and there was also no issue getting ready for bed and when the two boys went to bed. Jakob was briefed once more before bedtime that it will be only dad and him that night, he was ok with that and everything went smooth. Shortly before midnight - more or less the usual time - Jakob woke up and was looking for mom insistingly so that for a short second Markus was fearing the worst. But it did not take too long that our sunshine could be reminded of the terms of this night and fell asleep peacefully next to Markus until 0530 in the morning.

When Jakob has woken up Sunday morning he was pointing at the empty space next to him and did say that mom was missing there, but it was more a statement than a scared question. He was all happy, accepted that Markus needed a bit more time to really wake up and was full of energy for the new day. Jakob even declined the morning bottle (or better said mentioned that he does not want one) and was focussing mainly on playing. shortly after 0700 then he indicated that he wold be ready for breakfast and like that the day continued. It does seem that the two boys work well together as it was very harmonic and cooperative, both had lots of fun and Jakob was full of joy when his mom called in. Kerstin enjoyed a long sleep - getting up only at 0830 - after a night at the cinema watching Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and took an easy start into the day. When she arrived back home Jakob was obviously very happy and showed her everything he learned and improved in the past 12 hours. What is however the best takeaway from our "experiment" is that there is a glimmer of hope that Kerstin can leave our junior "alone" overnight with someone else and as Jakob has also significantly improved his bonding to Markus.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Like father, like son

There is countless evidence that Markus very much likes to perform some DIY and mount lamps, assemble furniture, lay wooden floors, build beds etc. There is also evidence however that he has a certain talent but still messes up things every now and then and therefore he probably will never build a house as he is scared of the roof falling on his head. Jakob seems to have a similar stance towards the art of handicraft and prefers a screwdriver or hammer over every toy. The toolbox he received for Easter is still one of the most used toys, there has been a time when it was the first and the last thing he used and played with.

Two experts tackle a problem

The sight Kerstin was confronted with today afternoon was absolutely hilarious. Markus decided to fix a screw that loosened at our lath floor and crawled under the bed. As soon as Jakob realized that a real toolkit was used he got on the floor as well, joined his dad under the bed and provided him with his view of the situation, his idea of how to fix it and also handed him the necessary tool. Like that the problem was solved much faster.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Two premieres within less than 12 hours

Last night it was time for the showdown in the Austrian basketball league with the decisive game 5 in the finals series in Gmunden. While Markus’ brother Stefan and some friends travelled to the Traunsee to watch the game live Markus, Kerstin and her dad Eugen, who visited us late afternoon, watched the lived broadcast on Sky. During the first 10 minutes the Gunners were not really present, Gmunden controlled the game and built up a significant lead and winning the first quarter 24-11. At this point Markus was not concerned at all as so far in the finals the team which has lost the first quarter could win the game in the end. During the following ten minutes the Gunners finally arrived in the game and managed to cut the lead slightly. Whatever coach Asceric told his team in the locker room at halftime, it did the trick and Q3 was clearly won by 16-26 and the lead almost disappeared. In Q4 the Gunners took the lead and to many people’s surprise The Swans’ reaction was unusual for an experienced team like them as they tried to go primarily via their two strongest players, Ian Boylan and veteran D.T. Mayes. The Gunners on the other hand played real team-basketball - the scoring was spread fairly evenly with 6 players scoring in double digits. The result of all that: after 5 unsuccessful attempts the Oberwart Gunners crowned themselves for the first time Austrian basketball champions. Finally. And well deserved.

At a time when most probably the party was still ongoing in Oberwart our day started again with Jakob waking up just before 0600 and making both Kerstin and Markus get up as well. Its truly amazing how fast our sunshine gets up to speed in the morning. Within minutes he is all over the place, ready to play and have fun. Hence Markus had to soon prepare the morning bottle which he prefers to drink together with Kerstin, followed by some cooking in his play-kitchen and some football in the living room. While Markus got ready to leave for the office in Bratislava Jakob got rid of his diaper and indicated to us that he wants to/has to go to the toilet. We have been trying that several times already without any success. Today however we saw a premiere, as our junior for the first time ever took a pee on the toilet. He was very proud of himself and so were we and that’s we we went one step further: Given Jakob just took a pee, we did without a diaper and just put on short pants and told him to let us know again when he need to go the loo. Less than half a minute after that the second wave came and the floor was all wet. Next time we try that again when we are outdoors.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

A perfect weekend

Past weekend was spent in Oberwart where Saturday night the Oberwart Gunners were fighting to prolongue their season by 5 more days and to keep the chance for the first championship alive. In Game 4 of the Finals series in which they were trailing the reigning champions – the Gmunden Swans – the team not only was with its back to the wall but also without one of their key players who injured himself in the loss of game three on Wednesday night. After having beaten Gmunden in the first 5 games this season – Oberwart won all 4 games in the regular season as well as it dominated Game 1 of the Finals – the past two games were unfortunately lost by a narrow margin and so it was quite obvious that the Sporthalle Oberwart was packed with supporters pushing the team to tie the series. A relatively nervous start into the game in Q1 which ended 12-18 for Gmunden was followed by an outburst of probably the most enthusiastic player in the Gunners team and the whole league – Hannes Artner. Within 4 minutes he scored 4 three pointers, turned around the game and injected massive self-confidence into the whole team. Great work on the defensive end, nervousness on Gmunden’d side as well as a few additional three pointers Kelvin Parker for the Gunners resulted in the probably game decisive score 28-7 for Q2.

Whoever has thought that the game was over was proven wrong as Gmunden did work itself back into the game and quite clearly was keen to take home the championship and won Q3 16-22. Also in the beginning of Q4 Gmunden was able to make the game even closer and when Enis Murati dunked the ball on a fastbreak to cut Oberwart’s lead to 65-56 the momentum seemed very much on the Swan’s side again. The following timeout taken by the Gunners however did its trick and the Gunners managed to take control over the game again both on the front as offensive as well as defensive end keeping the lead in the area of 10points and controlled it until the end. When the final time ran out after 40 minutes and the score was 78-67 the whole arena was reliefed and enthusiastic. The fans were chanting “Gmunden wir kommen” and one can rest assured that the traffic between Oberwart and Gmunden will be quite dense this coming Thursday when the decisive Game 5 of this series will tip off at 1930. Fingers crossed, the Gunners can seal the first championship, which would be well deserved for the team, the management and the fans.

Sunday afternoon was very relaxed - as one can see

Sunday morning we spent some time in Markus’ parents backyard playing with Jakob before visiting Michi, Klaus and Nikolaus for barbecue. We were a little bit uneasy as Jakob did not take his lunchtime nap and were worried that our junior would be “difficult” but we obviously underestimated the effect a playing 4.5 year old playing partner and a large backyard would have. Jakob was super happy running around, jumping on the trampoline, climbing up the climbing scaffold, going up- and downhill on the Bobby Car and one could not tell that he has not had a nap. Given the weather was so nice and both our juniors were so happy we stayed until late afternoon and had a second round of delicious BBQ for dinner before putting Jakob into the bathtub and making him bed-ready and, as expected, shortly after we set off towards Vienna Jakob fell asleep – the perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

The burden of the Easter Bunny

With Easter being very late this year the chances for nice and warm weather very obviously quite big and we all were lucky as the last 2 weeks have indeed been full of sunshine and warm temperatures almost like in late spring. Even though Jakob picked up some fever, a heavily running nose and strong cough he did take most out of the beautiful weather during his 1.5 weeks with Kerstin at grandma's place in Vorarlberg. He spent a lot of time outdoors, feeding the ducks, playing sand in the backyard or sitting in the newly attached swing on Heidi's terrace. In the meantime Markus back home in Vienna fitted the terraces with new wooden panels as the ones we had laid out turned out to be unsuitable for a terrace which one walks on with bare feet and crawls around. Hence we now ended up with some tropical, but very nice wood on bothg roof terraces. Thursday afternoon after work and after having picked up and registered our new car he set off to follow Jakob and Kerstin to Vorarlberg and spend the Easter weekend with family.

Ready to shoot a new season of "Home improvement"

While the early summer weather continued on Friday and Saturday when we met Mirko and Maria on Bregenz, played and enjoyed ourselves while still fasting Sunday morning was overcast and featured a light drizzle and therefore we expected the easter bunny to hide presents and sweets for Jakob and his cousin Ylvie indoors. The bunny must have had a huge basket on his back as the presents he left behind were quite large - a whole box of lego bricks, shoes and some pacifiers for Ylvie, a trainer bike, helmet and a child-toolbox for Jakob. We knew that the trainer bike is currently just on the limit (Jakob just touches the ground and might need to grow another centimeter or so to really do well) and so we were not too worried about him not using it all Sunday long. We also knew that the toolbox was the perfect gift and ever since he is fixing every screw in the house. Not only has he tightened all loose parts in grandma's place but after our nightdrive back home to Vienna Sunday night he also did some extra work on the terrace and tightened all screws which Markus obviously has not tightened enough when he laid out the wooden floor.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

No sign of pirates in the Caribbean

Over the past years Markus has established a certain tradition by going usually for a weekend long for a sailing trip with his former boss – who is co-owner of a Swan 82 sailing yacht – and friends. While the past trips took them to Sardinia, Sweden and Mallorca the trip in 2011 has been scheduled earlier in the year and to a more exotic destination: the Caribbean. Hence Markus boarded a plane on Thursday morning to Paris and from there on to St. Marteen where the group of 7 got on the Astro de l’Est. Even though the new main sail has not arrived on time for the trip the Swan, a racing yacht, travelled at pretty good speed – more than 9 knots - with only the jib sail for the first three days.

The beaches on Prickly Pears Cays are far from being busy

After a swim in the Caribbean Sea early morning and a healthy breakfast on board they headed on Friday to Anguilla, an Island close to St. Martin where they enjoyed the peaceful bays of Prickly Pear Cays and Sandy Island, an island which consists of nothing else but sand, a bar with a few tables and 5 palms. On Saturday the crew travelled back to St. Martin where the new main sail was picked up and continued further towards St Barths, a mountainous island with a crazy airport – the short runway starts right after a hill and ends on the beach – and some of the most exclusive hotels and clubs. The whole island was preparing for a 5 day regatta - Les Voiles de Saint Barth - and so the marina in Gustavia, the capital, was full with large sailing yachts as well as huge private motor yachts which could be mistaken for cruise ships.

Turquoise sea viewed from Nikki Beach Club

On Sunday the crew was working all afternoon to put the new main sail up – tough work even for the whole crew of 4 people – and so the passengers decided to spend the day in St Jeans in the Nikki Beach Club. The club in St Barths is apparently the most scenic one in the world, not only as it is next door to the Eden Rock Hotel, and thus frequently visited by lots of celebrities who spend their holidays on or off St Barths. The lunch with cocktails served into the sea, delicious food, lots of french Rosé and fine tunes mixed by the DJ lasted all afternoon and the group only returned at 1800 back to the boat which was finally fully equipped thanks to the hard work of the crew. The next destination for the Astro is Barbuda which is reached after an approximately 12 hour trip and thus the yacht set off at 0230 in the morning but beforehand they dropped Markus off in the Marina as his sailing trip ended according to plan on Monday. He spent a night out on the road, had and early start and soaked up a lot of sun at Nikki Beach Club again before enjoying the experience of flying the short 15 min trip to St. Martin and then onwards via Paris to Vienna again where on Tuesday morning he finally could hold Jakob and Kerstin in his arms.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus