Late Christmas CD (now known as New Years CD)

We are mixing things up this year. For the last 10ish years, we have made an annual end of year CD mix for friends and family. We continue to love finding new music and enjoy how our love for music helps us remember time gone by, and while we don't feel like we came across a lot of new music we loved this year, we wound up with thirteen tracks we really like. We weren't able to burn CDs for friends and family as we usually do, so we're doing it blog-style this year with links to YouTube videos (well, some are videos and official, some aren't so official). We'd be happy to make hard copies for people once we get back to Portland next week, just let us know if you want one. And let us know in the comments which are your favorites!

The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home: Discovered it on So You Think You Can Dance, a very unique voice.
arcade fire - half light II: Actually found their new album a bit disappointing, lacking the sweeping anthems of the previous albums, but the end of this track is pretty close to perfection.
beach house - zebra: Nate loved this album of down-tempo rock
the national - bloodbuzz ohio: This got a lot of play in the car this year
vampire weekend - giving up the gun: Another somewhat disappointing album but a good song
la roux - bulletproof: catchy tune
Hi-Lili Hi-Lo: One of the reasons I love the name Lily is because of the old musical "Lili" and this song from it.
Bruno Mars - You're Amazing : Lots of play in Germany, loved it instantly
Knaan - Wavin' Flag: WORLD CUP! Geh' Deutchland!
Gossip - Heavy Cross: (live on ZDF) : Another song with a lot of airplay in Germany, catchy guitar riff
New Pornographers - My Shepherd: the worst band name of all time, but a very sweet song
Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar : Heard this on the radio and assumed it was Bill Withers from the 70's, but nope, just a great new soul song
Sie Liebt Dich - The Beatles : Had to throw a German language song in for kicks.

Happy New Year!

Auf Wiedersehen and Hello

Making our way back to the US tomorrow. 3 months flew by way too fast. Nate gets to celebrate his longest birthday ever tomorrow, 31 hours. Hopefully that makes up for our long flight with Lily way too early in the morning tomorrow.

Here's our little German girl. She came a long way here. She was barely talking and walking but not running when we got here and now her mouth is running just as fast as her feet.

Winter Wonderland

We've been enjoying quite a white winter here in Heidelberg. As I type this I'm watching snow come down quickly as Lily takes her afternoon nap. It snowed about eight inches since I arrived in town Tuesday, then most of it melted overnight. But now it's snowing again and we've probably already had another three inches today. I guess it's an ideal time to be on vacation because I definitely wouldn't want to deal with the traffic that this causes.

Lily has had a love/hate relationship with snow so far. For a while she refused to wear a hat and gloves, which made going outside difficult. But she's turned a corner on that and now likes to run around outside in the snow with her gloves and hat on. At least as long as everyone else is wearing hats and gloves too. She still doesn't like touching snow though. If you pick up some snow and offer it to her she'll whine and walk away, kinda strange but funny.

We've borrowed a tricycle with a long handle out the back so we can push her on it. She's been playing with this on Oma and Opa's dead end street the past few days and likes to alternate between riding it (being pushed) and helping push it. This was great until today when we were walking back home from the library and there was about an inch of wet snow on the ground. The snow kept packing onto the wheels until they couldn't turn, so pretty soon it turned into Lily riding on Daddy's shoulders while Daddy dragged the kaput tricycle home up the hill. Needless to say by the time we got home we were both ready for a nap. Whew.

Lady and The Tramp...oline

Scattered around the room are all the puppets and Barbies (Ken too of course) I played with back in the day. When I brought them out for Lily, first thing she went for was Ken and she asked me to take off his clothes. He does have a good body. Lily is living it up with Oma and Opa. Whether she's opening up her daily gift from her advent calendar or getting spoiled with lots of tasty food, she's living the high life and I'm tagging along for the ride. It's been great getting such a good amount of time to bond with Oma and Opa. It's only going to get better when Nate returns on Tuesday.

Lily's fascination for the trampoline has been really cool. She got the timing pretty much right away and likes to grab other kid's hands and jump with them. Here are a couple videos. The first one shows signs of Lily being coordinated and then the 2nd video nixes that thought quickly.

Tschuss Munchen (Bye Munich)

And just like that, our Munich adventure is over. Poop. Nate is already back in Portland for a couple weeks and Lily and I are now at my parent's place in Heidelberg.

Looking back at our time in Munich, October was all about being a tourist. November ended up being much more about being social for both me and Lily by going to regular playgroups with Lily and seeing friends. Throw in a side trip to Vienna and it was a month to remember.

Here are our November in Munich pics.

November 2010 Germany

I have a feeling I'm going to get quite a few silly photos of Oma and Opa playing with Lily this month. I've already caught my mom cradling a cabbage patch doll while baby talking to it while on the stationary bike because Lily asked her to. We'll see what's next.

What a Run

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm enjoying the day off from work, even if we're not celebrating today. Oma and Opa are coming over Saturday for a feast before we pack up and part ways. I fly back to Portland on Monday while Nicole and Lily will make their way back to Heidelberg with Oma and Opa and I'll fly back two weeks later after popping into the office for a bit.

This is a post I've been meaning to make for a while, and I guess it's a fitting farewell to Munich. Nicole and I have been marveling the amazing sights here since we arrived, even when we go for a run. When I run in Portland it's usually either through Forest Park (definitely nice, but no stunning views or anything) or along the industrial part of the waterfront (not so nice). But the routes we've been taking here have taken us past some beautiful buildings, monuments, and sights. I figured it would be fun to take you on a photo journey of our favorite route. The run is about four miles starting from our apartment, going along the Isar River, then through the English Garten, then turning around and heading for home.

First we pass Maximilianeum, which is the Bavarian Parliament building.

Then we come to the Friedensengel. (photo by Oliver Raupach)
Then we pass the Bavarian State Museum (photo by Oliver Raupach)
Then we pass maybe the coolest thing on the run, people surfing in the Isar river. Yes, surfing in the river. When I ran by a couple of weekends ago there was a big crowd of people watching and about eight surfers on each side patiently waiting their turn on the wave.

Then we enter the English Garden, which is actually bigger than Central Park. On a nice day this field is full of people soaking in the sun. (photo by Jiuguang Wang)

Our final cool sight before turning for home is the Chinese Tower, where there's also a beer garden. An oompah band plays from the second floor of the tower on weekend days. And right now there's a Christmas market set up around the tower. (photo by Frank Brenner)
Hope you enjoyed our favorite run!

One and a Half Years of Lily

Today is Lily's half birthday, or semi birthday, or anti birthday, or whatever you care to call it. I guess it's a good day to take a step back and think about what she's been up to lately and how it compares to the past. It's funny, "the past" used to mean pre-Lily to me, but now the past definitely includes Lily time too.

Lots of things are changing quickly for Lily, mostly her vocabulary and how she finds a new obsession every few days or weeks. Right now she has two obsessions - horses and dirt. I think horses will pass but dirt may be with us for a while. She found a love of horses about a week ago while we were in Vienna and there were horse-drawn carriages making their way through the streets of the old city. Whenever we'd hear hooves clicking down the street she'd say "horses, horses" (actually "husses husses") until she saw them. It eventually evolved into her saying it any time we went outside, and now she says it many times a day, and asks for the toy horses in her backpack ("dakdak"). As for dirt, first she started saying dustpan ("duhdauh"), then mama told her that the dustpan picked up dirt, then Lily started to point out dirt ("dit") on the floor that needed to be swept up. Now, she equates any cleaning activity or anything that's dirty with dirt, and actively talks about it. As an example, the hotel we were staying at last week had very friendly staff in the breakfast room who loved Lily. But since they cleaned the tables, she started pointing at them and saying "dit"... so these very nice ladies were known as dirt, and by the last day, we went to breakfast and before she saw any of them she was asking for "dit" as in "where are the dirt ladies"?

Lily is super friendly with strangers, smiling at everyone and saying "hi" and "tchuss" (German "bye"). We definitely hope she keeps up this trait, as well as continuing to say "yeah" to everything... she hasn't hit a "no" phase yet at all. There are still a couple of things we wish she'd cut out - biting (it's lessened, but she still does it when she's very frustrated) and pulling her hair and eating it. The last one just began a couple of weeks ago and while it's pretty gross we're ignoring it on the advice of a book since it's not dangerous and the theory is that it's a power grab ("you can tell me to not pull out my hair but I'm going to keep doing it because I can do whatever I want"). But we really can't complain, as she continues to be a great sleeper and eater. Knock on wood...

If I had to sum up Lily in this phase I would say she is high energy and emotional. She always wants to be on the go getting into something, and she can get pretty whiny if her every whim is not catered to. This is especially true in the car, where Nicole has to constantly give her attention in the back seat and lately has to keep her hand on Lily's leg to let her know she's paying attention. It's definitely hard for us to balance caving to her every desire versus dealing with a tantrum (they're starting) or whining, but I guess we'll continue to find our way on that one.

O Vienna

Had a wonderfully memorable Birthday trip to Vienna. I have called it my favorite city since I first visited over 15 years ago. It will continue to hold the title. Here are a few pics from the trip.

Vienna November 2010 - Nicole's Birthday Trip

As a side note, we stayed at Hotel Austria which I would highly recommend. 3 star hotel with 5 star service. I liked it so much, I am writing a review on trip advisor which I've never done.

Churches and Animals

The first month of our Germany adventure is complete. Lily sums up it best by the words she says a lot these days...oma, church, duck, horse, and tschuss (german bye). Because Bavaria is very catholic, everywhere we go to explore whether it be to the tallest mountain in Germany or a small town somehwere nearby, there is a church or a cross everywhere. Lily likes to point out churches and tell us when the church bells are ringing (it happens A LOT).

Besides being tourists, we have spent much of our time with animals. If there's a duck, deer, or goat, Lily wants food to feed them. There are some really cool zoos and animal parks around here (big recommendation for Animal Park in Poing in case it ever comes in handy).

I asked Nate what he'd want to add to this blog and he said "he's over trade shows." He's traveled a lot on this trip which has been by far the biggest bummer about all this. The up side is that we have seen a lot of Oma and we love having her here. Opa deserves a shout out too for spoiling us - thanks Dad.

Here is our past month in pictures. We are excited for this coming month. Lily and I are tagging along on his next business trip to Vienna which happens to fall on my Birthday, weekend trip with a couple of German friends that used to live in Portland and their friends, and hosting Thanksgiving with my parents.

October 2010 Germany Adventure - Month 1.

Tiny Dancer

I slowed down the tourist part of me and went to a couple playgroups I found online and through a friend this past week. One was in English (all British moms) and the other was in German. I learned that Lily doesn't like me speaking German for too long and she's all about music and dancing and playing with any doll she can get her hands on. Ever since we left Portland, she has started to really cling to dolls. She has to have her baby "Ana" with her much of the day and she sleeps with 4 dolls in her crib right now. It's pretty cute...when I put her to bed, she's holding 4 dolls in her arms. When I get her up, she's standing in her crib holding all 4 dolls. Ana is like Toy Story's Woody though...the #1 doll Lily always asks for. As a quick really cool side story, Ana is the same doll my sister was attached to at Lily's age. When we first arrived in Germany, my mom led Lily to a room full of dolls and stuffed animals (I'm talking at least 20 choices here) and Lily chose my sister's special doll.

As for Lily's other new things recently, I would say the main thing is her ability to now either lead a game or order us around. She will now tell me where to sit and when to get up, asks (who am I kidding, orders) me to spin around and then she spins kinda like the first signs of a simon says. I am more amazed by how much she understands than by how much she's talking at this point. It's cool to hear her put 2 words together once in a while but wow, I could be talking to Nate about some pigtails that look like horns in passing and Lily will suddenly start making the horn sound with her mouth.

No question Lily loves to dance. Here's her first time listening to music on head phones.




We did have a perfect fall day so I had to take her to Olympic park and see the view from the tower.

At the German speaking playgroup. Lily's first attempt at painting. She was more interested in checking herself out in the mirror off to the side.

A nice walk along the Isar river. I love this shot because I asked Lily to smile for the camera and this is what she gave me.

Day Trippin

As of this coming Thursday I'll have been in Munich for a month. We're pretty settled into our routines at this point, but it seems we're still settling into our apartment. I'm writing this from our living room which is a bit of a jumble. When we arrived it had a couch, two normal chairs, two weird chairs that are like pool deck chairs but on rockers, and a hammock (don't really know why there's a hammock in the living room, but it's here). Since then we have brought in the patio table and chairs to use as a dining table (the huge dining room table is in Lily's room and is too big to move it out) and a futon which is about four feet from the TV which is where it needs to be since the TV screen is literally the size of my laptop screen. We don't have any real complaints, it's just quirky.

Our routines are basically this. On weekdays I hop on the train and head to work, Nicole and Lily do some kind of touristy outing in the morning then come home for lunch and naptime, then out for errands or a short jaunt. I usually come home a bit early because I have evening phone meetings a couple of nights a week. Since I'm heading to an office Nicole hasn't seen and she and Lily are off visiting places I've never seen, it kind of feels like we're living dual lives here, but at least we have weekends to share some good experiences. And Nicole and Lily are planning on coming out to the office for lunch one day this week, so that should be fun.

For weekend days we get out of the city and do day trips as much as we can. We've done this twice now, and I'll give you our photo tour...

First we went to a strange amusement park in Wolfratshausen called Marchenwald. It's centered around the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm, and there are a bunch of animatronic sets around the park to recount the (oddly morbid and disturbing) tales. There were also a bunch of random rides, most of which Lily could do, a few of which she loved.

Here she is riding the miniature train through the forest. Three notes: 1) the "what the heck is going on here" look on her face. This would be a theme for the day. 2) the pictures from this day were shot on my cell phone, so the quality isn't so good. 3) we got there early and it was cold, so we had the place almost to ourselves for a while.

She LOVED these cars, we probably rode this six times.
I don't know why I find this one so hilarious, but I do.


After the park we drove over to Chiemsee (see = lake), and the sun came out so we could see foothills of the Austrian Alps as we drove. We also walked around a quaint town next to the lake called Prien. This pic is in the town square.


Ok, so that was last weekend... this weekend we started Saturday at an animal park, sort of an overgrown petting zoo. Lily enjoyed checking out the different animals, and she said afterwards that "ee-aw" was her favorite - the donkey. Here are a couple of shots from there.

Then we were going to drive to Tergensee but wanted to give Lily an opportunity for a longer nap plus the weather wasn't great so we drove down into Austria. The clouds opened up a bit and the scenery was amazing. We were driving along a long lake with sort of rolling hills/mountains on the other side, really beautiful. On the way back to Munich we stopped in what our book said was possibly the most prototypical Bavarian town, Neubeuern. A nice town square with one lane town gates and a castle on the cliff above the town. We hung out in the town center for a while admiring the flower boxes and murals painted on the buildings. We managed to get a nice self-pic too.

Then we noticed that the small statue on the water fountain at the center of town had a little quirk. Here he is.

I'll leave you with that one. Until next time...

Snack Trap

After our first full week in Germany, I know I have learned a lot but there is so much more to learn that I have to take the time and stop and look back to see how far I've come already. All I'm doing is looking forward on what else I want to figure out. The snack trap has turned out to be a great conversation starter with 2 moms so far. Apparently, they are not that common here; I should start an import business. The playgrounds here are pretty much all based in sand so you'll see the little kids wearing what look like oversized fishing overalls. As far as shopping goes here, I'm still overwhelmed by all the shopping options from farmers stands at street corners (imagine a fruit stand every few blocks on 23rd street), organic only stores, bigger USA size stores with organic sections, and then those cute little bakeries and delis that are tough to pass without stopping in to take a peek (great place to practice German).

Nate has had to work a lot this week with evening calls with the US, and he's off to Copenhagen for 4 days next week. We haven't had as much family time together as we're used to and it shows in just how clingy Lily is to me. It would be nice for her to want to play with only Daddy for a while so I can just take a break even if I'm in the same room but as with all things with little ones, this too shall pass. Lily and I have been tourists in the morning and more like locals in the late afternoon with going to parks and running errands. A friend asked me what my favorite thing about living in Munich is so far and at this point, it has to be the touristy adventures Lily and I have taken. I love that even I can go explore something new which is usually something really old around here. My biggest challenge is how lonely I already feel at times. The people here are much more reserved at first so I just have to be patient as well as gain more confidence in my German speaking abilities.

Here are a few pics from this past week

At the English Gardens (HUGE urban park with of course beer gardens mixed in)

In the kids section of the German museum, music part with oversized instruments.
At the Munich zoo which feels more like an open preserve.
Frauenkirche tower in the background
Here's a cute little video of Lily and a Chimpanzee.

Mathers are in Munich

Tonight is the first night in our Munich home together. It's a great apartment with a few quirks - hammock in the living room, sexy blue lights in the bathroom, no window coverings, tiny TV (can see in picture), and a washer but no dryer in the bathroom, come first to mind. We visited the first park just a couple blocks away and even though it's not really great for anyone under 4, it was still great to see lots of other kids around. It gave me confidence knowing that I could at least converse with some 6 year olds in German without asking them to please speak in English. There's a lot of foot traffic, much more than even Portland. I can watch lots of people walk by from the kitchen window.

Here's our first family pic in Munich in our living room. Nate is busy watching the Michigan Game on the computer and I'm busy feeling wide awake from jet lag. I think I'm having a harder time than Lily is but I wouldn't trade that for a second.

Special thanks to Oma and Opa for spoiling us and helping so much the last few days both in Chicago and Heidelberg.

Hallo aus Deutschland

As I write this I'm sitting in the living room of the apartment that will be our home for the next two months. I moved in this afternoon and now I'm just waiting for Nicole and Lily to join me later this week. Until then it will be a busy few days as I have late meetings with the US and I need to make it to the store to get a few things to prep for the ladies' arrival. This sounds easy if you're in the US, but as the stores close early here and have limited/unexpected selection of items, it may be a challenge. Most stores close at 6PM and are completely closed Sundays. And where I'd usually go to any old grocery store for diapers, the couple of grocery stores I've been in so far here don't seem to have any. Even the selection of fruits and veggies is about 10% of what you'd find in a typical American store. Oh well, I guess I'll just ask a colleague at work tomorrow and get it figured out. Folks at the office have really been helpful so far with every random question I have, and there are lots.

Even with the differences here there are plenty of comforts from home too. At the moment I'm watching an NFL game on ESPN America (we have better TV in this apartment than we subscribe to at home!). And I was able to watch yesterday's Michigan game as well, so sports-wise I'm content.

It's definitely been a unique week, as this is by far the longest I've been on my own since Lily arrived. I've had some fun, meeting up with old friends for a nice evening and checking out Oktoberfest this afternoon. But it was also pretty lonely without Nicole and Lily around after work. I won't claim to miss having a human alarm clock in the next room though. After waking up really early for a couple of days due to jet lag I decided to sleep as long as I could a few days ago, and somehow didn't wake up until after 10. I don't know how many years it's been since I slept in until 10, but it's been a long time. I've been over the jet lag for a few days now, but as I was going through it I was thinking about how Lily will adjust. We've heard a wide range of stories from friends about this, from the kids who adjust just like adults over a few days to the kids who are completely flipped (sleep all day, awake all night) for over a week. Really hoping that Lily doesn't have too hard of a time.

Before I go I have to give my impression of Oktoberfest, where I spent a couple of hours this afternoon. I had no idea what it would be like, even with the descriptions of folks who had been. The only thing I knew to expect was that it would be very crowded. And it was. The subway was packed for the last few stops, and when we got to the subway station it took about 5 minutes to get from the train to the escalators due to the crowd. And on the other side of the platform they were stuffing a train and tons of folks were waiting for the next one. Wow, tons of people. My overall impression is that Oktoberfest is like a huge American county fair with lots of food stands and midway games and rides, plus about a dozen huge beer halls (several thousand people in each). I heard these referred to as tents, but they are really semi-permanent buildings completely packed with people. It seemed that all the tables required a reservation, and they were all full. Each hall had a band playing, and lots of the people at the tables were standing on the benches singing and dancing. I was unfortunately alone, as my schedule today didn't align with the people from work I knew were going. In retrospect I think it would be a really fun thing to do with a big group of friends and a table reservation in one of the halls. Of course I had a big liter stein of helles bier, and I soaked in the atmosphere in the Hacker hall. But it would have been a lot more fun with at least one partner in crime.

Before this turns into a novel I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from the week.

Our apartment is in the pale yellow building on the left.

A view overlooking Oktoberfest. This area was less busy than most, and this shows about 1/20th of the overall fest.

St. John's Cathedral, about a 5 minute walk from our apartment.

Bitburger and Brownie

I just finished enjoying a Bitburger and a Brownie, looking at packed bags by the door (I have way too many carry ons - o well), and one single post it note of things to do in the morning (must not forget to take car seat with me) before the adventure officially begins. It feels like my mind is fighting the urge to become too sentimental about tonight possibly being the last night I spend in our home of 6 years - our first official home together, the home I was proposed to in, and the home Lily took her first steps in. I'm so focused on preparing for Germany and staying positive about our house selling that actually moving seems way too far off.

I look forward to enjoying another Bitburger in Munich next week with Nate in our new apartment toasting to the friends we already miss back home and to the chance to immerse ourselves in a whole new city for a little while.

Here are a few videos from the last couple days. The first couple of videos were special because Mali and Lily took turns on the train sharing really well and I can't help but think "look ma, no hands" seeing Lily on the train. The last one was a sweet little goodbye between Sam and Lily this afternoon. Thanks for the Brownies Megan!

In Need of a Little Laugh

Nate left this morning for Munich. Lily and I will see him again in 10 days. I can be excited and sad at the same time, right? I get to see my family in Chicago for a few days and Nate gets to do his thing in Munich on his own a little bit. We'll be in Munich together before I know it and until then, thank God for Skype.

Anyway, I am in the need for some laughs, so here are a few recent videos of Lily that made me smile

The first video is of Lily and her buddy Sam at the AT&T store in Pioneer Square. Lily broke my phone (again) so I had to rush out and get a new one. I thought Lily and Sam would be bored and restless but we were very wrong. AT&T surprised us with a great little child friendly section.



This video is of Lily and her favorite dog friend Augie (lives next door to us). She loves all dogs but has a special spot for him. She will easily walk to their front door when only the screen door is open and knock on the glass looking for him.



This last video really displays Lily's babbling these days (16 months old now). Nate is having a conversation with Lily who is playing with mommy's credit cards by the shelf of books.