Ice age 2013?

The winter 2012/13 will probably go into the history books as one of the longest all over Europe in a very long time. Jakob was running through  the first snow late October in grandma Heidi's backyard and today both in Hoerbranz as well as Vienna roofs and streets are covered in snow again. It's about time to end the winter though and let spring really begin. Easter markets appear more like christmas markets and Easter Eggs might be found on a white bed rather than on green grass. Jakob definitely is on spring mode already and has the last few days, before snowfall set in in Vorarlberg, trained big time his biking skills and has made significant leaps forward from autumn. He now easily cycles a couple of kilometers on his second hand holiday bike we bought for him together with uncle Werner and aunt Renate. As a consequence he drops dead to bed in the evening. Lately even with grandma Heidi and yesterday even at uncle Werner and aunt Renate's place! Its fair to say, that he has matured.

Enough of that white stuff!

Our little treasure Julia has quite exciting weeks behind her as well. On March 17th she had her big day at church when she was christened in the Verklaerungskirche am Tabor in Vienna and enjoyed a great day with the big family from the Burgenland as well as Vorarlberg. Unlike Jakob, who was christened 6 months younger we gave Julia the chance to decide herself a little bit as she actually could have walked out in case she did not like it. But apart from watching the priest a bit skeptical before and even more so after water was poured on her head she had fun with the big crowd in the church. 

After the ceremony with godmother and godfather

For now we are separated as Markus is back in Vienna working still this week while Julia, Jakob and Kerstin are already enjoying Easter holidays in Vorarlberg. Excitement and fun is guaranteed and the hope for sunshine, warmer temperatures and green grass in the backyard is still intact. 

Julia, Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

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 

In the summertime...

The past 6 days have been absolutely amazing and incredible as since Friday we basically got summer. The temperatures climbed towards and above30 degrees during the day, there were hardly any clouds on the sky and also during the night temperatures did not drop below 16 degrees. The only things that are missing in Vienna are the sea and a sandy beach. Markus was lucky as he has decided a while ago to take Monday off work so we can have a long weekend and thus the four of us could enjoy the early summer. While outdoor pools were still closed - they opened only yesterday and thus missed a break start into the season - we spent Saturday morning at Biohof Adamah north of Vienna and visited family Strutz in the afternoon. Jakob and Anna had fun in the backyard, Julia and Emil had fun inside and all of us had a great barbecue season opener for dinner. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we spent most of the time on our terrace and our big garden, the Prater in shorts, skirts, flip-flops and tank-tops. What can be more relaxing?

Is it obvious, we enjoy that weather?

Our youngest one has enjoyed the heat in her very own way: Each day Julia was freed of her diaper for a long while and she used her temporary freedom to practice her turning skills - she is almost there to spin herself from the back to her belly - and to move around on the floor. Besides moving around and making her funny sounds she every so often also pees on the blanket we place her on. Julia also is by now very eager to listen to the people around her which was most obvious when grandma Eva and grandpa Kurt visited us yesterday and she almost lip-read what everyone was talking. Somehow she has grown up a lot in the past week. After all she turned 4 months on Saturday.

Julia, Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Strictly according to textbook

Jakob has reached an age at which children start reducing the use of diapers and use the toilet or a potty. Ever since he went to the kindergarten we started asking our junior whether he needed or wanted to go tho the loo or not without applying to much pressure. During the day, also enhanced by low riding, childfriendly toilet seats he (apparently) sometimes uses the toilet but at home Jakob was rather hesitant. Before christmas and also under the Christmas tree he got several books on the topic, but while he loved to look at them and likes it to have the stories read to him it seemed as if they had absolutely zero effect on our sunshine.

Hey! Close the door! I want some privacy!

The past few days however there was some development visible: Jakob regularly asks for underpants rather than diapers and he is trying to pee on both the toilet and the potty several times during the day. Yesterday morning he was half there when he spent a while on the toilet and in the end pooped right on his diaper which was sat on the floor - good boy!! ;-). Today in the morning he asked us to put the potty into the ground floor toilet, demanded a book to be brought to him and the door to be shut. We followed his demand and there he was: sat on the potty reading a book and waiting for things to happen just like in one of the books he received for Christmas. After a while we heard a loud yell, were ordered into the toilet and had to applaud our son for filling the potty quite significantly. While we are quite happy about that major step we at the same time were shaking our heads as ideally we don't want Jakob to get used to the potty as we don't really want to stir sh*t every day. But one step after the other. 

Julia, Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Happy New Year

The end of the year has this year for obvious reasons been very very different. With both Julia and Kerstin returning home from hospital only a few hours after giving birth everything at home was focused on the newcomer. Jakob has grown up big time during the past weeks and welcomed his sister just like a big brother does - full of love and care - grandma Heidi helped us handling both Julia and Jakob as well as our lives and Markus tried to as well to relieve Kerstin from any work apart from feeding and took care of lots of admin stuff as well. All that sounds absolutely normal when a family is growing and it was very similar when Jakob was born 2,5 years ago.

Julia's main activity: sleeping!

After our first visit to the paediatrician on the 30th and a visit from Markus' parents & sister on the 31st however it got really obvious that this year is different. While seemingly the whole world was preparing for a big party for the year end our evening was just like any other evening - playing, having dinner, getting ready for bed. There was not much feeling and excitement about the changeover from 2011 to 2012 and it was the first time since being a child that both Kerstin and Markus were in bed when the fireworks outdoors welcomed the New Year. The good thing however was that both Julia and Jakob had a very peaceful sleep and not only were not disturbed by the noise of the fireworks but also slept long and thus we all had a lie-in on January 1st.

Julia, Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Tim Taylor instead of Cinderella

Christmas was very different this year as we spent it for the first time NOT in Vorarlberg with Kerstin's enlarged family but instead celebrated this special day in Vienna together with Markus' parents and sister. It was however not only due to the premiere of celebrating Christmas in Vienna a very different feeling this year round, but also due to the fact that we did not really know whether we can follow our master plan for the day or need to quickly re-adjust everything in case our daughter decided to join us. With her calculated due date of December 22nd it really could kick off any day and thus planning was very tricky and when Markus' sister turned sick the night before Christmas Eve the whole situation did not really get any less complicated. As a consequence it was only his parents who arrived in Vienna late morning. After lunch they went for a long walk with Jakob who after awhile fell asleep and slept peacefully in his push chair providing Markus and Kerstin with plenty of time to finish the last preparations. When they came back home our sunshine was (not surprisingly after a long sleep) in very good form and we had coffee, cocoa and cookies in Jakob's room, played a lot got Jakob into festive outfit and waited for the ominous pinging of a little bell.

The last time Jakob saw the tree it was only a green tree...

By the time the dusk set in we suddenly could hear that special sound and all out of a sudden Jakob was very anxious and nervous about what would happen now. Slowly we made our way upstairs and four ourself in front of a beautifully decorated and illuminated christmas tree. Jakob's eyes were all shining and he was truly impressed by what he saw and it took a fews minutes until he dared touching any of the presents underneath the tree. What followed was a very uncommon behavior for a child as Jakob started to pick up the presents from one side of the tree and made his way present by present to the other side. While he claimed each present for himself - pretending he can perfectly well read already - he accepted our objections when it was not the case but helped the respective person unpacking. Once Jakob has unwrapped one of his presents he took his time examining and watching (like the books or hard hat & safety goggles he received), trying (like the ski boots or his skis) or playing with them (like the puzzle he received) and as a consequence the whole procedure took about 1 hour. Only at the very end our junior tackled the largest present which also unraveled the mystery of the hard hat, ear protector and safety glasses - a Bosch mini Work station perfectly fitting the tool box he already has. Tim Taylor and "Tool time" is on now in our flat every day and no more screw is safe. 

"No rushing - I test it all before we can move on!"

As Markus parent's had to go back home right after dinner due to Ines being sick we agreed with Kerstin's mom to travel to Vienna early and so she arrived i the late afternoon on Christmas Day in order to be available to look after Jakob when things are getting serious. So far our princess however is taking her time and seems not to be willing to join us. While Jakob was born on the 5th day after the due date there are no such signs for the second one yet. We are still waiting.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Waiting for ...

The advent season 2011 is a very special one for us for several reasons. Firstly, it’s the first time Jakob is undergoing the lead time to Christmas (almost) fully aware of the meaning of it as both in the kindergarten as well as at home he is learning why we are celebrating this special time and he also made the first acquaintance with the Nikolaus last week Tuesday. On the past weekend the three of us tackled the project "Christmas cookies" with Jakob both rolling out the dough as well as cutting out the shapes. Not surprisingly his endurance is still rather limited and thus we focussed on cutting and baking the gingerbread cookies as well as preparing the short crust on Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning Anja joined us to bake the short crust cookies and Jakob was all happy to play around with dough, flour, his rolling pin and the cookie cutters and even more glad he was about "tasting" the dough before reaching the oven as well as the finished cookies as soon as they came out of the oven and have cooled off a bit

Making cookies is big fun and tasty!

As this Christmas we are not only awaiting the arrival of the birth of Jesus the advent time is lived by us in real. Any day our daughter could join us, whereas currently everything is calm still. Obviously we are a little bit nervous and also curious as to whether she is going to be born on the estimated date (December 22nd) or whether she will be a real "christkind" born on December 24th. In any case - we are ready and prepared - on the weekend the boys finished the last necessary bit and assembled - and whenever she is ready she can come. Let’s see when that is going to be the case - we are looking forward to her.

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

Typical behaviour in untypical weather

The past 1.5 weeks the weather was anything but summer-like as temperatures dropped into the mid-teens and it was raining a lot. As a consequence we not only could not use our season ticket for the nearby Stadionbad and had to look for alternative entertainment for our junior. On Saturday we initially wanted to do some shopping at a Swedish furniture chain in the north of Vienna, but a combination of construction works and an early morning accident on the A23 made us postpone the trip to the afternoon . When Jakob woke up after a more than two hours long lunchtime nap we got into our car again and wanted to follow an alternative route to Ikea. However the inner city routes were clogged by that time as many drivers used this detour to avoid the still completely blocked A23. Hence we changed plans again, returned home and went into the Prater instead - Jakob was riding his bike and we tried to keep pace with him. We spent time on the playground on the large slide as well as the flying fox and our junior, who is currently ion the phase of “I can do that on my own” ordered us several times to stay away from him and not get near him to help. The following movie is evidence for that:

Sunday was a carbon copy of Saturday with weather not having improved at all, cloudy skies and temperatures below 20 degrees. We decided to go the zoo in the morning before lunchtime as we haven’t been there for ages and only last week Saturday had to call that plan off due to rain. We watched the feeding of the seals which as always has been a highlight. Jakob for the first time watched the whole procedure very concentrated and was laughing lout whenever a seal jumped out to grab some fish. The less than 1 month old newborn seal also used the morning feed to present itself to the public. It was clumsily getting in and out of the water and even made the typical seal-noise the animals make when the demand something (at least they do so here in Schoenbrunn). We afterwards went to the elephants as it started drizzling and hid in the indoor compound until it stopped raining , moved on to watch the white-hand gibbons playing outdoors in the trees and took a glimpse at the newborn giraffe. By lunchtime we were back at home again and spent the afternoon chilling and relaxing before getting to work and to nursery again on Monday morning.

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

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

Ylvie in da house

Last weekend we had full house as Jakob's cousin Ylvie -marie had convinced her parents to drive her all the way from Bregenz to Vienna in order to be able to spend some time us. At the age of 2.5 months a 630km journey is like a "round-the -world-trip" - we very well remember our first long distance journey! The little lady - similar to Jakob at the time - was well behaved and thus the three reached us after a not too long trip safely. Ylvie has developped very well in the past month, added decently weight and is well behaved as well. There are some similarities to our sunshine as also the little lady prefers to be walked around rather than sitting down with her.

Its not a toy - Its my cousin!

Jakob liked the company very much and from the very morning all we heard from him was "Ylvie" and his first way in the mornjing was to go to the guestroom, open the door and see if she was still there. As if she would have threattened to run a way overnight! But he also liked the Vorarlberg tradition of extened breakfasts every day. One reason why we believe him to like that is that there was always a time when he managed to snatch a bite or too of a roll or bread with delicious Nutella. Even though the weather could have been better we also spent a lot of time outside walking around, playning in the mud and shopping and were not bored at all. With Anja and Gianluca also in town who visited us as well on Saturday evening we have had a really crowded place and all enjoyed ourselves. We were all sad when Ylvie, Sandra and Flo left Vienna again on Sunday morning driving back home and jakob ever since states "Ylvie - brrruumm", telling us that she left by car. As Easter is approaching however we soon will see them again, whereas this time we will be the ones traveling.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

A new gem on the roof

Entering the last third of his gardening leave Markus got some inspiration from his youth: When he was a teenager and also as student he used to spend a few days during his summer holidays doing some DIY together with his granduncle Adolf - applying wooden wall panels, laying of paving stones or tearing down walls and redoing whole rooms. It was always hard work, but fun and great to see something new being created with one's own hands.

The lessons he learned many years ago now paid back when Markus decided spontaneously on Monday to tackle a long awaited project: a wooden floor on the terrace. During the morning he drew the sketches of the terrace with exact measures, calculated the necessary wooden beams for the substructure & the bars - we decided to go for larch rather than tropical wood like bangkirai - and In the afternoon of that rainy day he headed off towards one of his beloved stores - OBI - and took along Jakob, Kerstin and Heidi who wanted to pick some stuff up at Ikea next door. More than one hour later Markus left the store as large client (which meant that he got the VAT back!) and his three passengers a little bit shocked as Markus brought along a huge trolley full with the beams as well as screws and some other tools. The question that arose at this point was: One of the three passengers or half the beams? Not surprisingly the beams stayed back in the store and were picked up half an hour later. Tuesday morning Markus went back yet again to pick up the larch bars which have been cut to size in the meantime and spent the late afternoon transporting the wood upstairs onto the terrace. At night, when Jakob slept and Kerstin had her girl's night out - she is on the road a lot these days - Markus moved all plants and furniture from the terrace-to-be-transformed in order to be ready to kick off next day morning.

Wednesday late afternoon: If only all the bars would be fixed already

Monday morning the weather was glorious though chilly and thus perfect for construction works. The first hours were dedicated to building the substructure in order to make the job of fixing the bars onto it easy and smooth. As Jakob was quite keen to wander around the terrace and find out what's underneath the beams the job took a bit longer and so Markus could screw the first bar onto the beams early afternoon. The first few lanes were pretty difficult as they had to be properly straight but at the same time the substructure was still fairly loose. After the fourth lane everything was pretty stable but unfortunately Markus has killed already two drill bits and thus he was scared that he would soon have to stop soon if equipment keeps breaking at that pace. While Jakob liked the terrace with the substructure he was absolutely crazy about helping when the power drill or screw driller were in use. Markus had to regularly stop and let the junior "work" with some tools as otherwise the little one would have gone crazy and so by the evening ca. 1/6 of the terrace was done.

There was someone who helped Markus. Sometimes.

Thursday morning, Jakob's first way was all the way upstairs to the terrace where all the tools were parked and when Markus started working again he had to shut the doors and work as quietly as possible in order to not get too much of Jakob's attention. When Jakob and Kerstin left after lunch to visit Doris, the signs for Markus were all on "GO" and so he worked his way without further damage to any drill bits all over the terrace on his knees only making occasional breaks to drink something or to give the screw driller some time to get recharged. When Jakob and Kerstin came home at 1900 Markus was finished physically, has finished the flooring and fell into bed soon for a good sleep. Friday morning some detailed finishing work was done as well as moving plants and furniture back to the re-designed terrace and in the afternoon our new "lounge area" was open for business.

The result of some hard work.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Lots of action

As the weather forecast was not good for sunday - not good meaning not ideal for going to swim in a lake or pool - we decided to meet Valentin, Maria & Mirko, Laurenz, Claudia & Oliver and Rosemarie, Sandra & Thomas in the Zoo in Schoenbrunn. Somehow though the weather was also not so ideal for the zoo as it started drizzling and so we ended up at Maria & Mirko's flat for some coffee, cake and drinks in the afternoon. That was also nice and gave Jakob actually more possibilities to pursue one of his major passions at the moment: cleaning. he is helping Kerstin cleaning up his high-schair with a sponge, loves to play with the hoover and is crazy about cleaning the floor with a wiper. For now we like it, but shall we be concerned if that habit remains?

Arghhh!!! If i dont clean up permanently, its gonna be completely messy!

Tuesday evening long awaited visitors stopped by in our flat: After more than two years Sissi and Andi finally made it to come and see our new home alongside Felix and Jutta and so the seven of us ad barbecue (again). Felix seemed to like the food judging by him eating three pieces of corn as well as sausages and Jakob, who has not slept in the morning was still full of energy and only went to bed at 2100, 1,5 hours later than normally. The gettogether was very nice and we hope that it wont last another two years for the to to come and see us again.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

The heat is on!

Thursday evening Kerstin’s sister Sandra arrived in Vienna for a business trip and used the opportunity to stay with us and spend some time with her godchild. By the time the weekend arrived Jakob has regained his full health, the rash has disappeared and he was running around in the flat from dawn till dusk. Saturday morning the 4 of us had breakfast on the terrace together before Sandra and Kerstin headed out into town to do some shopping while Markus spent several hours with Jakob at home. The two boys did not go outside as it was so hot but played, ate and slept in the airconditioned & darkened flat. In the afternoon Markus’ fear became reality when Argentina crashed ouot of the World Cup against Germany 24 hours after Brasil also failed to qualify for the semi-final due to a loss to the Netherlands. The stage for his “horror-scenario” – a final Germany vs Netherlands – is now set and only Spain or Uruguay can prevent that.

Sunshine & water means Jakob is happy

Sunday morning Sandra left for the railway station after breakfast to get back home to Vorarlberg and when she left Markus prepared Jakob’s pool on the terrace. We decided to spend the day at home bathing in our very own pool rather than joining millions of other people in any of the outdoor pools. Jakob had a lot of fun playing with the water whereas he clearly is enjoying more to spill water and play WITH the wet element rather than IN the water. Our suspicion I, that he is currently dreaming of a job as firefighter, just like Grisu, the little dragon.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Finally summer has arrived!

So far late spring has presented itself rather unfriendly with cold temperatures and rain (luckily not as torrential as in Poland or Hungary where the country is still partially flooded) and doubts about a warm and nice early summer already appeared. At the end of last week though summer finally broke and temperatures rose sharply towards the mid-twenties and the sun managed to sooth our skins. Having built up a large sun-deficit over the past weeks we tried to soak up as much of it as possible and spent the majority of our weekend on the roof terrace. On Saturday we started the day with breakfast together with our guests, Kerstin’s former schoolmate Monika and her boyfriend Stefan who visited Vienna for the long weekend. As it was not only sunny but also the wind was very calm Jakob could basically spent most of the afternoon without a diaper on our terrace lawn. He quite obviously enjoyed his freedom, practiced his walking skills and explored everything. Late afternoon Evi and Christoph stopped by and we decided to heat the barbecue and have dinner together alongside one or the other Aperol Sprizz.

Playing on the terrace was fun. Especially without any diaper!

For Sunday we have had planned for a while already that Anna, Lini and Peter would come and visit us and given the summer weather we quite obviously spent the day again to a large extent on the terrace. Sunshine, temperatures of close to 30 degrees and a breeze made a perfect setting for chilling, our juniors did play with each other and we had drinks and late afternoon again a delicious barbecue and for desert we had yummy cheesecake which Peter has prepared. In the evening we paid tribute to the two days in the sun and fell into bed quite early. While Markus had to return to work on Monday Jakob and Kerstin could for the first time use our season ticket in the Stadionbad. Even though Jakob loves the baby-swimming, he was a bit sceptical about going into the baby-pool but the two had lots of fun in the shade of the trees. We are optimistic to spend some more time going forward in the Stadionbad as the weather forecast says: Summer will stay with us for a while now.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

A nosy & fast omnivore

The past weeks have been pretty busy and yet enjoyable. While Markus was increasingly active again travelling and visiting clients both in Vienna and abroad Jakob improved his pace of crawling, his ability to stand up and is even walking already when we give him a hand. That said, our living room looks more and more empty as we had to remove almost everything that is not fix attached to the floor or the wall. Our junior also loves to dig the potting soil in our flowerpots and also tends to taste it. Given that the temperatures have increased to an early summer level we did spend some tome on our roof terrace and Jakob always used that opportunity to indulge on his passion.

The stroller race between Serik (Markus' ex-boss' son) and Jakob

Jakob seems to love mother nature as he really enjoys himself outdoors – be it on the terrace, be it racing in the stroller through the woods or be it on the meadows of the Prater. He is not sitting quietly in one place but crawling around in order to explore the surrounding area, chasing ants, picking up leaves and plucking flowers and grass or playing with any shoes left unattended. As he is still right in the middle of the oral phase he is trying to taste everything and it is one of our main duties at the moment, to prevent him from feeding himself with soil, leather, rubber or sand instead of freshly cooked meat and vegetables, fruit and his beloved evening porridge.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus

Re-united in a sunny place

Saturday morning at 0700, almost 18 hours after having stepped on a Mercedes Vito minivan outside his office in London Markus parked his car in front out our home in Vienna. The trip via the EuroTunnel, Dunkerque, Brussels, Aachen, Frankfurt, Wuerzburg and Munich airport where Stefan was already waiting for him is definitely one to remember. The flattened bum and the sleep deprivation during the drive will be forgotten soon, but not so the cumbersome and long drive. The big smile and joy on Jakob’s face let Markus forget immediately that he was dead tired when he entered the flat and we were all extremely happy that we were re-united.

Afternoon in the park with the Bella Familia

As the weather was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday there was no way Markus wanted to go to bed and get some sleep, but we went out doing some weekend shopping, spending time in the sun and in the afternoon we met up with the Bella Familia on the Jesuitenwiese for Max & Bruno’s combined 40^th birthday pick-nick, Jakob was in top form and enjoyed the large crown and on his first contact with the lawn on Jesuitenwiese our junior did make friend with the grass and in the end he even preferred to sit on the lawn rather than on the blanket.

4 fans cheering for Peter and some others

On Sunday morning not only the Austrian airspace remained closed but also a large part of the Viennese city roads was closed due to the Vienna City Marathon. We followed the race together with Anna and Lini as Peter decided to take the challenge of the half-marathon distance. While the temperatures were perfect for runners (yet a bit chilly for spectators) the wind was a bit too strong so that the top athletes could not improve the race record and also the Austrian athletes Andrea Mayr and Guenter Weidlinger failed to improve their personal best. Peter was definitely a winner and very happy when he reached the finishing line after 2:25:47 and was already talking about the next race. Our large group of fans and spectators (more than 10 parents and almost 10 kids!) gathered and warmed up in the kid-friendly restaurant Dschungel Wien in the MuseumsQuartier.

On Sunday evening Markus was “able” to stay at home as airports in Vienna and London were still closed and so he was stuck with the family. While Austria opened up the airspace and airports on Monday morning, many other European countries still have the restrictions in place and its very unclear as to when the situation will change. So long we will enjoy the time together

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus