Tuesday August 2, 2011 will be our last day in Berlin. We head home Wednesday morning early. We should arrive in the Twin Cities around 3:30 pm (it will be 10:30 pm in Berlin). It's going to be a long day on the plane with two kids but both are excited to see family and friends. Especially Grandma Marilyn, Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Pete.
Three years have gone by quickly.
Tom gets star treatment from our friend Madlen. She'll be catering to his every whim while Chris vacations in Minnesota for two weeks. He'll get on a plane later this month and I'll pick him up from the airport ready to introduce him to his new home. I'm worried as always about my littlest guy and I'm hoping and praying he'll have a safe journey back.
Please pray for us that our travels home to Minnesota are safe and painless :-)
Thanks Berlin for a great few years. We'll miss you but we'll be back for plenty of visits and who knows maybe one day we'll be happy to call you home again.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tschuss Berlin
Logan, Connor, Tom (the kitty) and I are headed back to St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota this summer. We leave on August 3rd which is Connor's 4th birthday.
Chris will stay in Berlin (he's the one with the steady income) until I can find work in the Twin Cities. Let's hope that I find a job quickly :-)
We are all sad to be leaving Berlin. It's such a wonderful city. Most importantly we've made many many wonderful friends. This is going to be difficult. Thank goodness for Skype!
The other day I was headed to St. Hedwig for Church (in Mitte...middle of city). I stopped in the middle of Gendarmenmarkt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmenmarkt) to soak up the scene. WOW! It's just crazy that I live here. I continued on my way to St. Hedwig's and again stopped and looked around Bebelplatz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebelplatz). I try to imagine what it was like here before the war, during and after. Just amazing!
Even after 3 years I'm still in awe of this city. The culture, the people, the architecture, and the history. I'm going to miss it.
Now that I'm leaving I have been taking the time to stop, look around and take it in. I always praise God for his graces and gifts. Truly it's been a gift to live in such a wondrous place.
We've been trying to do a few things around town that we've put off for one reason or another over the past few years. We made it to the beach one Sunday afternoon but didn't stay long. It was a scouting trip but we had wished we had worn/brought our swimsuits. Boo! Check out the website at http://www.strandbadwannsee.de/Strandbad.htm ... if you click on Geschichtliches via the navigation to the left you'll see pictures of the beach over the years. Pretty cool. We really liked this beach a lot and plan to go back before we leave Berlin. Maybe even this weekend. Yippee!
We'd also like to go to the Friedrichstadt Palast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstadt_Palast). We've never been and every time we come to Berlin we always say we'll go and never do. Here we are again on our way back to MN and still haven't made it to the show. BLAH! Not sure if we'll have time to go or the funds, but Logan and I might try to get tickets to a matinee.
I did manage to make it to the Pergamon Museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum). It's pretty impressive. I've also been to a number of other galleries and museums with Logan and his class from school over the past few years. I'm grateful for being able to go to so many.
I usually use my bike for transportation. I whiz by everyone and everything on my way to my destination, but lately I've been trying to get out more often to just have a look around. Chris, the kids and I often take long rides on the weekends to new places in Berlin that we haven't been. We've found lots of interesting and fun neighborhoods, parks, restaurants, cafes, etc. FYI: Berlin is one of the more bike friendly cities in Europe. There are tons of bike trails and paths all over the city. It's really awesome. I love riding my bike and the freedom that comes with it.
We also made it to Grunewald (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunewald) a couple of times. Not sure if I mentioned this story before, but the last time we were there we packed a lunch. We found a nice bench to sit on with the kids and took out our sandwiches, chips, grapes, drinks, etc. We watched as people and their dogs walked past on the trail and said hello. One dog got past our defenses and ate up Logan's sandwich along with Connor's. He also got a few grapes and managed to lick the others. Yuck! Connor was crying, Logan laughing (he didn't want to eat his sandwich anyway...ha ha), me screaming and Chris yelling. The owners of the dog didn't do anything and then their second dog came in for lunch too. More yelling, screaming, crying and laughing. Logan thought the whole thing was hilarious. Poor Connor was so upset that a dog at his sandwich. Chris and I laughed too. What fun. I threw out the rest of the grapes later. More yuck! After our botched picnic we continued to ride into the woods. It was so lovely. We all slept good that night :-)
Boy, I could go on and on, but I've got to pick up Connor from kita (nursery school) soon. Connor slept over night last night with all his friends and teachers from kita. We didn't get a call so it must have been all OK! Hopefully Viola and Carmen (this teachers) survived. I'll find out soon. What fun! ha ha
More later.
Chris will stay in Berlin (he's the one with the steady income) until I can find work in the Twin Cities. Let's hope that I find a job quickly :-)
We are all sad to be leaving Berlin. It's such a wonderful city. Most importantly we've made many many wonderful friends. This is going to be difficult. Thank goodness for Skype!
The other day I was headed to St. Hedwig for Church (in Mitte...middle of city). I stopped in the middle of Gendarmenmarkt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmenmarkt) to soak up the scene. WOW! It's just crazy that I live here. I continued on my way to St. Hedwig's and again stopped and looked around Bebelplatz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebelplatz). I try to imagine what it was like here before the war, during and after. Just amazing!
Even after 3 years I'm still in awe of this city. The culture, the people, the architecture, and the history. I'm going to miss it.
Now that I'm leaving I have been taking the time to stop, look around and take it in. I always praise God for his graces and gifts. Truly it's been a gift to live in such a wondrous place.
We've been trying to do a few things around town that we've put off for one reason or another over the past few years. We made it to the beach one Sunday afternoon but didn't stay long. It was a scouting trip but we had wished we had worn/brought our swimsuits. Boo! Check out the website at http://www.strandbadwannsee.de/Strandbad.htm ... if you click on Geschichtliches via the navigation to the left you'll see pictures of the beach over the years. Pretty cool. We really liked this beach a lot and plan to go back before we leave Berlin. Maybe even this weekend. Yippee!
We'd also like to go to the Friedrichstadt Palast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstadt_Palast). We've never been and every time we come to Berlin we always say we'll go and never do. Here we are again on our way back to MN and still haven't made it to the show. BLAH! Not sure if we'll have time to go or the funds, but Logan and I might try to get tickets to a matinee.
I did manage to make it to the Pergamon Museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum). It's pretty impressive. I've also been to a number of other galleries and museums with Logan and his class from school over the past few years. I'm grateful for being able to go to so many.
I usually use my bike for transportation. I whiz by everyone and everything on my way to my destination, but lately I've been trying to get out more often to just have a look around. Chris, the kids and I often take long rides on the weekends to new places in Berlin that we haven't been. We've found lots of interesting and fun neighborhoods, parks, restaurants, cafes, etc. FYI: Berlin is one of the more bike friendly cities in Europe. There are tons of bike trails and paths all over the city. It's really awesome. I love riding my bike and the freedom that comes with it.
We also made it to Grunewald (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunewald) a couple of times. Not sure if I mentioned this story before, but the last time we were there we packed a lunch. We found a nice bench to sit on with the kids and took out our sandwiches, chips, grapes, drinks, etc. We watched as people and their dogs walked past on the trail and said hello. One dog got past our defenses and ate up Logan's sandwich along with Connor's. He also got a few grapes and managed to lick the others. Yuck! Connor was crying, Logan laughing (he didn't want to eat his sandwich anyway...ha ha), me screaming and Chris yelling. The owners of the dog didn't do anything and then their second dog came in for lunch too. More yelling, screaming, crying and laughing. Logan thought the whole thing was hilarious. Poor Connor was so upset that a dog at his sandwich. Chris and I laughed too. What fun. I threw out the rest of the grapes later. More yuck! After our botched picnic we continued to ride into the woods. It was so lovely. We all slept good that night :-)
Boy, I could go on and on, but I've got to pick up Connor from kita (nursery school) soon. Connor slept over night last night with all his friends and teachers from kita. We didn't get a call so it must have been all OK! Hopefully Viola and Carmen (this teachers) survived. I'll find out soon. What fun! ha ha
More later.
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Seven Last Words - Loyola Press
The Seven Last Words - Loyola Press
More for Lent!
I will mediate on these for 7 days. I began today.
Very nice!
Praise be our Lord Jesus Christ who has saved us from our sins.
More for Lent!
I will mediate on these for 7 days. I began today.
Very nice!
Praise be our Lord Jesus Christ who has saved us from our sins.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Happy New Year!
Hi.
Happy New Year!
Thought I better get that out there. I'm a very bad blogger sorry. Life is crazy busy as usual with all my boys.
Chris will eventually get all our new pictures off the camera and on to is website soon. http://www.macgowan.com. He still has our advert for renting our house on his site. **Sigh**
Chris is busy working lots of hours at his job with Mister Spex. He's not sure how he feels about it but working 10 hour days is no fun.
I've been working on web projects at home and also searching for a job. I had an interview at Mister Spex's a few weeks ago and will go back for a "work day" next week.
I am taking a few online courses over at sitepoint.com. They're pretty good. I've taken two CSS courses, a Javascript course and a PHP course. I'm also trying to learn jQuery on my own. We'll see how I do.
Logan is busy finishing up his 1st semester at JFK. He'll have a week off early February and then the new semester begins. He's doing pretty well in his classes. His teachers this year are really great. Logan is really motivated and Chris and I are so proud of our tweener. Yes Logan will be 11 years old next month. Two more years until we have a teenager. We're already feeling the pinch :-) ha ha
Connor is becoming a master at speaking both German and English. It's tough learning two languages at once and we are super happy that he's doing so well. Seems like every few weeks or so more words come out and together in sentences. I don't always understand what he's saying when he's speaking German and have to ask him to speak English. He says OK and tells me what he wants me to know. Pretty cool.
Speaking of languages; I've met this great woman named Madlen from the Facebook Tandem Language website. We get together once a week for a couple of hours to speak both German and English. It's just great and Madlen is very nice and patient with me. I'm learning lots of new words and learning how to string them altogether. Yippee!
Berlin received a lot of snow this past December but in the last couple of weeks we've had some pretty nice temps that have melted it all away. All that's left is the sand and rocks which some folks here have been so kind as to sweep away. It's really sort of a mess on the streets and sidewalks. Lots of dog poops too. I hate the fact that there isn't a law forcing the German's to pick up their dog's poop. Some of the poops are as big as human poops. It's really disgusting.
Not sure how long this warm weather will last and if more snow is in our future. The florist and markets are selling spring flowers already and it's lovely to see. I can't imagine this will last until March or April but one can always hope.
I'm not spell checking this entry. It's late here and I'm off to bed. Please forgive any errors :-)
Happy New Year!
Thought I better get that out there. I'm a very bad blogger sorry. Life is crazy busy as usual with all my boys.
Chris will eventually get all our new pictures off the camera and on to is website soon. http://www.macgowan.com. He still has our advert for renting our house on his site. **Sigh**
Chris is busy working lots of hours at his job with Mister Spex. He's not sure how he feels about it but working 10 hour days is no fun.
I've been working on web projects at home and also searching for a job. I had an interview at Mister Spex's a few weeks ago and will go back for a "work day" next week.
I am taking a few online courses over at sitepoint.com. They're pretty good. I've taken two CSS courses, a Javascript course and a PHP course. I'm also trying to learn jQuery on my own. We'll see how I do.
Logan is busy finishing up his 1st semester at JFK. He'll have a week off early February and then the new semester begins. He's doing pretty well in his classes. His teachers this year are really great. Logan is really motivated and Chris and I are so proud of our tweener. Yes Logan will be 11 years old next month. Two more years until we have a teenager. We're already feeling the pinch :-) ha ha
Connor is becoming a master at speaking both German and English. It's tough learning two languages at once and we are super happy that he's doing so well. Seems like every few weeks or so more words come out and together in sentences. I don't always understand what he's saying when he's speaking German and have to ask him to speak English. He says OK and tells me what he wants me to know. Pretty cool.
Speaking of languages; I've met this great woman named Madlen from the Facebook Tandem Language website. We get together once a week for a couple of hours to speak both German and English. It's just great and Madlen is very nice and patient with me. I'm learning lots of new words and learning how to string them altogether. Yippee!
Berlin received a lot of snow this past December but in the last couple of weeks we've had some pretty nice temps that have melted it all away. All that's left is the sand and rocks which some folks here have been so kind as to sweep away. It's really sort of a mess on the streets and sidewalks. Lots of dog poops too. I hate the fact that there isn't a law forcing the German's to pick up their dog's poop. Some of the poops are as big as human poops. It's really disgusting.
Not sure how long this warm weather will last and if more snow is in our future. The florist and markets are selling spring flowers already and it's lovely to see. I can't imagine this will last until March or April but one can always hope.
I'm not spell checking this entry. It's late here and I'm off to bed. Please forgive any errors :-)
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Bad Blog Writer
Yes it's true. I'm a bad blog writer.
*sigh*
I just got finished reading "Eat Pray Love" and felt motivated to write on my blog. Gosh I wish I could take the time I need to write the way Liz Gilbert writes. I think I could do it but I just don't.
Insert more *sighs* here!
I did do something very proactive today. That is with regards to my German language skills. I signed up on the FB German/English language tandem page as well as Scrabbin which is a tandem language site. I figured the best way for me to learn besides going to a class (which can cost lots and lots of money and time -- neither of which I have in abundance) is to try to meet up with someone to just speak the language.
I know it's going to be hard at first but I think if I really want to speak German before we leave Berlin I need to do this.
Again this proactivity is partly due to that book again "Eat Pray Love". Liz did this when she went to Italy and it seems like a good way to learn. I'll give it a try.
Now I haven't exactly contacted anyone yet myself but I'm trying to work up the courage to do it in my mind. Maybe next week?? ha ha
I suppose folks are wondering how the kiddos are doing?
Logan is great. He just went back to school after a two week fall break. He read 2 books during his break for his Mother Tongue class (English); "Guardians of Ga'hoole" and "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid". He has to read 9 books before January 7th. Yikes!
Anyway, we went to coffee shops in the mornings after dropping Connor off at nursery school (kita). It was fun hanging out with Logan and just reading and having a coffee (Logan drinks hot chocolate -- heisse Schokolade -- see I'm writing in German).
Now that he's back at school I miss my little guy (not so little I suppose at 10). My mornings now are spent working. That is looking for work (updating the resume/cover letter) and putting the finishing touches on a website project.
Connor is also great. He's just having fun being a 3 year old. Playing and learning! He needs a haircut however.
My furry kitty kid is well too. Tom's been keeping me up at night though, and I don't have the heart to kick him out of my bed. The apartment building we live in has a small backyard so I take him out there to explore. We have mice so he enjoys hunting for them and a neighbor cat he tries to avoid. I tend not to go out with him if the neighbor's cat is out. They don't like each other (go figure) and the neighbor's cat has already beat up Tom once. Now if Ted were still alive the neighbors cat would be TOAST!
So what else is going on?
Well let me see.
I had coffee this morning and started to re-read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" again. The movie will come out here on November 18th. Logan, my friend Jia and I will go see it. Can't wait.
Chris and I are going to parent night at Connor's kita this Friday. That's if we can get a babysitter for the kids. Otherwise only one of us can go. I'll send Chris as he doesn't really get an opportunity to see the parents anymore.
This weekend we'll try to find Halloween festivities around Berlin that we can take the kids to since German's don't do treats or treats. We really miss this American tradition! There's something going on at the Botanischer Garten so we may check it out on Sunday http://www.bgbm.org/halloween/.
Chris' birthday is just right around the corner, November 12th. He'll be 48 this year. Whoa! Not sure what he wants to do but we'll do something fun. I'm going to have the kids make him some birthday cards and we'll make him some cookies. I now have a signature recipe for choco-chip cookies (can you believe it???). Chris can eat 12 at one time (I make 'em small folks). Oh crap! I just realized he'll read this post. Oops! Sorry honey. I'm going to have to think of something else for us to bake/make for you this year. Too bad!
Well I don't have anything else to report at the moment. I sure hope I spelled everything correctly. Blogger's spell check isn't that great.
Sorry no pictures this time around either. I have some new ones but as usual they are stuck on the camera.
Have a lovely day!
More soon.
*sigh*
I just got finished reading "Eat Pray Love" and felt motivated to write on my blog. Gosh I wish I could take the time I need to write the way Liz Gilbert writes. I think I could do it but I just don't.
Insert more *sighs* here!
I did do something very proactive today. That is with regards to my German language skills. I signed up on the FB German/English language tandem page as well as Scrabbin which is a tandem language site. I figured the best way for me to learn besides going to a class (which can cost lots and lots of money and time -- neither of which I have in abundance) is to try to meet up with someone to just speak the language.
I know it's going to be hard at first but I think if I really want to speak German before we leave Berlin I need to do this.
Again this proactivity is partly due to that book again "Eat Pray Love". Liz did this when she went to Italy and it seems like a good way to learn. I'll give it a try.
Now I haven't exactly contacted anyone yet myself but I'm trying to work up the courage to do it in my mind. Maybe next week?? ha ha
I suppose folks are wondering how the kiddos are doing?
Logan is great. He just went back to school after a two week fall break. He read 2 books during his break for his Mother Tongue class (English); "Guardians of Ga'hoole" and "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid". He has to read 9 books before January 7th. Yikes!
Anyway, we went to coffee shops in the mornings after dropping Connor off at nursery school (kita). It was fun hanging out with Logan and just reading and having a coffee (Logan drinks hot chocolate -- heisse Schokolade -- see I'm writing in German).
Now that he's back at school I miss my little guy (not so little I suppose at 10). My mornings now are spent working. That is looking for work (updating the resume/cover letter) and putting the finishing touches on a website project.
Connor is also great. He's just having fun being a 3 year old. Playing and learning! He needs a haircut however.
My furry kitty kid is well too. Tom's been keeping me up at night though, and I don't have the heart to kick him out of my bed. The apartment building we live in has a small backyard so I take him out there to explore. We have mice so he enjoys hunting for them and a neighbor cat he tries to avoid. I tend not to go out with him if the neighbor's cat is out. They don't like each other (go figure) and the neighbor's cat has already beat up Tom once. Now if Ted were still alive the neighbors cat would be TOAST!
So what else is going on?
Well let me see.
I had coffee this morning and started to re-read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" again. The movie will come out here on November 18th. Logan, my friend Jia and I will go see it. Can't wait.
Chris and I are going to parent night at Connor's kita this Friday. That's if we can get a babysitter for the kids. Otherwise only one of us can go. I'll send Chris as he doesn't really get an opportunity to see the parents anymore.
This weekend we'll try to find Halloween festivities around Berlin that we can take the kids to since German's don't do treats or treats. We really miss this American tradition! There's something going on at the Botanischer Garten so we may check it out on Sunday http://www.bgbm.org/halloween/.
Chris' birthday is just right around the corner, November 12th. He'll be 48 this year. Whoa! Not sure what he wants to do but we'll do something fun. I'm going to have the kids make him some birthday cards and we'll make him some cookies. I now have a signature recipe for choco-chip cookies (can you believe it???). Chris can eat 12 at one time (I make 'em small folks). Oh crap! I just realized he'll read this post. Oops! Sorry honey. I'm going to have to think of something else for us to bake/make for you this year. Too bad!
Well I don't have anything else to report at the moment. I sure hope I spelled everything correctly. Blogger's spell check isn't that great.
Sorry no pictures this time around either. I have some new ones but as usual they are stuck on the camera.
Have a lovely day!
More soon.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Connor is 3 TODAY!
Today is the big day. Connor is 3 years old.
Today we celebrate with a BIG FAT CHOCOLATE CAKE! His (and our) FAVORITE!
Happy Birthday Connor!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Preemie Journey of Colin and Veronica Fiegel
Check out my friend's blog at http://www.preemiejourney.blogspot.com/ as she talks about her adventures with her twin newborns; Colin and Veronica. They were born I believe at 28 weeks.
Both babies are doing well. Keep them and their family in your prayers!
Both babies are doing well. Keep them and their family in your prayers!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Harry Potter
I can't say enough great things about Harry Potter. My head is about to explode!
I just finished the last book, The Deathly Hallows. Boy o'boy was it good.
Now I'm sad. I miss Harry, Hermonie and Ron.
Someone suggested to listen to the books on tape series.
This sounds like a great way to revisit my old friends in a different media.
I want to talk more about Harry but it looks like it's 1 am in the morning and I'm so tired so I'll have to finish this post another time.
Nite nite.
I just finished the last book, The Deathly Hallows. Boy o'boy was it good.
Now I'm sad. I miss Harry, Hermonie and Ron.
Someone suggested to listen to the books on tape series.
This sounds like a great way to revisit my old friends in a different media.
I want to talk more about Harry but it looks like it's 1 am in the morning and I'm so tired so I'll have to finish this post another time.
Nite nite.
Three Weeks Off -- Yeah Right!
Logan finished school on July 2nd but had two weeks of fun camp following the last day of school. He had fun!
Connor is on break from his nursery school or kita as they call it here in Germany for three weeks. He's been home since July 12th.
Last week was my first week to have BOTH kids home. It's been an adjustment (that's all I'll say) but now that we've got the hang of it we are set for some fun fun fun this coming week.
Monday we head to the Berlin Zoo. Tuesday we go to the pool. Wednesday is our buffer day. Thursday we'll go to the farm, and Friday we'll head into Berlin's forest or what the Berliners call the Grunewalde.
We're pretty excited to have a plan. Last week we didn't but we also had very hot weather and only ventured out of the house in the morning. We don't have air and only one fan so the most you can do is read a book, watch a movie or just sit and sip a nice tasty beverage.
The last couple of days have been very pleasant here. In the low to mid 70s. I hope it continues. I haven't really looked so I hope our plans are still a go.
When Connor goes back to school on August 2nd Logan and I will be reading "The Graveyard Book". A wonderful gift from Logan's friend Juju. Thanks again Juju!!!! We'll take field trips to some of the more notable graveyards in town and do some research on ghosts. It should be loads of fun. Good practice too for school which will start back up on August 23rd.
My Mom sent the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books. I've been reading them and they are quite delightful. We'll read these too and do some research on the Greek gods. Maybe even get to some of Berlin's museums for a real look at some of the Greek/Roman art, sculpture, and myths.
Before we'll know it we'll be back at work and school. In the meantime we'll try to continue to enjoy our summer days and nights before they're gone.
Connor is on break from his nursery school or kita as they call it here in Germany for three weeks. He's been home since July 12th.
Last week was my first week to have BOTH kids home. It's been an adjustment (that's all I'll say) but now that we've got the hang of it we are set for some fun fun fun this coming week.
Monday we head to the Berlin Zoo. Tuesday we go to the pool. Wednesday is our buffer day. Thursday we'll go to the farm, and Friday we'll head into Berlin's forest or what the Berliners call the Grunewalde.
We're pretty excited to have a plan. Last week we didn't but we also had very hot weather and only ventured out of the house in the morning. We don't have air and only one fan so the most you can do is read a book, watch a movie or just sit and sip a nice tasty beverage.
The last couple of days have been very pleasant here. In the low to mid 70s. I hope it continues. I haven't really looked so I hope our plans are still a go.
When Connor goes back to school on August 2nd Logan and I will be reading "The Graveyard Book". A wonderful gift from Logan's friend Juju. Thanks again Juju!!!! We'll take field trips to some of the more notable graveyards in town and do some research on ghosts. It should be loads of fun. Good practice too for school which will start back up on August 23rd.
My Mom sent the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books. I've been reading them and they are quite delightful. We'll read these too and do some research on the Greek gods. Maybe even get to some of Berlin's museums for a real look at some of the Greek/Roman art, sculpture, and myths.
Before we'll know it we'll be back at work and school. In the meantime we'll try to continue to enjoy our summer days and nights before they're gone.
Connor is Three Years Old
Connor Macgowan turns 3 years old come August 3rd this year. It's only a mere week away.
Can't believe my baby is 3. That went sooooooooo fast.
We're celebrating with friends next Saturday July 31st at this cool kid/family friendly restaurant called KiiWii. Here's the link to check it out http://www.kiiwii-berlin.de/.
They have this great indoor jungle gym thingy that the kids love. What's awesome is that the restaurant has glass in the wall so you can sit at your table, eat your dinner and watch your kids play. Connor and Logan usually come out every so often to take a bite of their food and drink something quick before heading back to play. It's really quite nice.
The food is kid friendly too and not half bad. I usually get the cheese burger and it's quite tasty.
I'll post pictures when we have them.
Happy Birthday Connor! We love you!
XOXO
Can't believe my baby is 3. That went sooooooooo fast.
We're celebrating with friends next Saturday July 31st at this cool kid/family friendly restaurant called KiiWii. Here's the link to check it out http://www.kiiwii-berlin.de/.
They have this great indoor jungle gym thingy that the kids love. What's awesome is that the restaurant has glass in the wall so you can sit at your table, eat your dinner and watch your kids play. Connor and Logan usually come out every so often to take a bite of their food and drink something quick before heading back to play. It's really quite nice.
The food is kid friendly too and not half bad. I usually get the cheese burger and it's quite tasty.
I'll post pictures when we have them.
Happy Birthday Connor! We love you!
XOXO
16 Years of Blissful Marriage
Hey all!
Yes it's true. Chris and I have been married for 16 years come July 30th. We celebrated actually tonight with dinner at this great Indian restaurant by our flat and seeing the movie Twilight Eclipse (movie was OK, Chris liked the first one better and I the second -- oh well).
It was a nice time for Chris and I to go out ALONE and talk, eat good food and watch a movie without distractions. Hey don't get us wrong we love our kids! Love love love them but sometimes Moms and Dads need a little break :-)
This past March Chris and I met at 1st Avenue 26 years ago. Crazy right?
We still consider each other best friends and with every passing day I love him more! It's amazing how intense my feelings are for Chris even after 26 years :-) WOW it must be LOVE!
So Happy Anniversary to us! I love you Chris!
XOXO
Yes it's true. Chris and I have been married for 16 years come July 30th. We celebrated actually tonight with dinner at this great Indian restaurant by our flat and seeing the movie Twilight Eclipse (movie was OK, Chris liked the first one better and I the second -- oh well).
It was a nice time for Chris and I to go out ALONE and talk, eat good food and watch a movie without distractions. Hey don't get us wrong we love our kids! Love love love them but sometimes Moms and Dads need a little break :-)
This past March Chris and I met at 1st Avenue 26 years ago. Crazy right?
We still consider each other best friends and with every passing day I love him more! It's amazing how intense my feelings are for Chris even after 26 years :-) WOW it must be LOVE!
So Happy Anniversary to us! I love you Chris!
XOXO
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Two Years Today
Hi.
It's been a long while since I wrote anything and well today/tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary living in Berlin, Germany.
I can't believe we've been here two years already. It went so very fast.
What's new? FYI. I'm going to randomly spew! :-) Also didn't spell or grammar check. I'm too tired and hot.
Well Chris got a job two weeks ago at Mister Spex's an Internet company. They sell eye glasses. Check them out here http://www.misterspex.de/.
We are very excited that Chris got a job just in the nic of time. It will allow us to stay here just a bit longer.
Jennifer is working freelance as a web developer. I got my work permit about 3 weeks ago. I'm working hard to find new clients. At the moment I have one that I'm working on. Check it out here http://www.xleft.com/. This is just a test site. Jan's website will go live at the end of July at http://www.treuholztraining.de/.
Logan just finished 4th grade at the JFK School. He'll be attending "Fun" camp for the first 2 weeks of vacation. Fun camp is sponsored by the JFK after school program. They've got a lot of fun adventures planned for the kids. I'm a little jealous. Logan will go back to JFK in the fall for 5th grade on August 23rd I think it is. Only 6 weeks off but he gets a lot of time off during the year so this schedule isn't too bad.
Connor is attending the Friedenau Kinderhaus, an all German Kita (kindergarten/nursery school). He'll have 3 weeks off beginning July 12th. He's doing great over there and learning lots and lots of German words. It's fun to hear him finally speak. Chris and I were a bit worried as he didn't say much we understood, but now the words are flowing. I guess we just had to be patient. For gosh sakes he's learning two languages at once.
Chris and I aren't big TV sports watchers but have been enjoying watching the World Cup games. Today Germany just kicked Argentina's ASS. GO TEAM GERMANY!!!
Jennifer is finally reading all the Harry Potter books. They are just great but I'm slow to read the 5th book "The Order of the Phoenix". Just haven't had the time to read lately. I need to read all the books before the new movie comes out in November. Hope I can do it.
Jennifer can't wait to see "Twilight Eclipse". Yes groan if you like. I enjoyed the books very much especially "Breaking Dawn". Will go with my friend Annerose when she gets back from Norway. GO TEAM EDWARD!!!
My Mother celebrated her 80th birthday this past April! Happy Birthday Mom! Now get on a plane and come visit us so we can celebrate Berlin style. We are ready to go on an Italian adventure too!
Weather is HOT HOT HOT here in Berlin. Don't much care for it. Our flat has been rather cool so we are thankful for that. No one has air here. Not even sure how you would work it with these windows. I've seen air conditioners at Bauhaus (like a Menards or Home Depot) so if this hot weather continues and becomes too hot we may have to break down and get one. Probably start with a fan first.
Our friends Becki and John Fiegel just welcomed their two twins; Veronica and Colin. Only 28 weeks gestation and doing well. Please if you pray do so for them. They have a long up hill journey to go. Check out their blog at http://www.preemiejourney.blogspot.com/.
We are hoping we can make it back to MN for a visit this winter. Our goal is Christmas and New Years! FYI if you have plans to come visit us.
WE WANT VISITORS! Come and see us!!!! We miss our friends and family and want to show you are new adopted town. There is so much to see and do here plus the rest of Europe is waiting for you. Exchange rate is looking pretty good these days!
Tom our 15 year old kitty is doing well also. We have a nice backyard for him to hang out in (escorted by me of course) and we found a mouse so he's pretty happy. Can't seem to get it though. Mousing was Ted's passion. We miss you Ted! You would have loved this new flat.
We are still looking for renters for our house in MN. No takers yet. We lowered the rent from $2,300 to $2,000. Here's hoping we find someone soon. Would hate to have to sell or lose the house because we couldn't rent it. If you know of anyone who is looking for a house to rent please have them go to our website at http://www.macgowan.com/ for all the details.
Logan just started training to become a server at the Catholic English speaking mission we belong to here. He was so excited to follow in his Mother and Uncle Sean's foot steps. When I was a kid I don't remember it being so intense, but these folks take it very seriously. Logan goes every Friday evening from 5-6 pm. It's a nice time for me too as I get the opportunity to spend some time with my Lord! Logan will have the summer off now and will start back up in late August or early September. If all goes well he'll start serving in October. I'll be sure to post pictures.
So that's what we've been up to since I last posted. If I think of more I'll be sure to post again.
Have a lovely 4th of July everyone!
We miss you all!
XOXO
It's been a long while since I wrote anything and well today/tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary living in Berlin, Germany.
I can't believe we've been here two years already. It went so very fast.
What's new? FYI. I'm going to randomly spew! :-) Also didn't spell or grammar check. I'm too tired and hot.
Well Chris got a job two weeks ago at Mister Spex's an Internet company. They sell eye glasses. Check them out here http://www.misterspex.de/.
We are very excited that Chris got a job just in the nic of time. It will allow us to stay here just a bit longer.
Jennifer is working freelance as a web developer. I got my work permit about 3 weeks ago. I'm working hard to find new clients. At the moment I have one that I'm working on. Check it out here http://www.xleft.com/. This is just a test site. Jan's website will go live at the end of July at http://www.treuholztraining.de/.
Logan just finished 4th grade at the JFK School. He'll be attending "Fun" camp for the first 2 weeks of vacation. Fun camp is sponsored by the JFK after school program. They've got a lot of fun adventures planned for the kids. I'm a little jealous. Logan will go back to JFK in the fall for 5th grade on August 23rd I think it is. Only 6 weeks off but he gets a lot of time off during the year so this schedule isn't too bad.
Connor is attending the Friedenau Kinderhaus, an all German Kita (kindergarten/nursery school). He'll have 3 weeks off beginning July 12th. He's doing great over there and learning lots and lots of German words. It's fun to hear him finally speak. Chris and I were a bit worried as he didn't say much we understood, but now the words are flowing. I guess we just had to be patient. For gosh sakes he's learning two languages at once.
Chris and I aren't big TV sports watchers but have been enjoying watching the World Cup games. Today Germany just kicked Argentina's ASS. GO TEAM GERMANY!!!
Jennifer is finally reading all the Harry Potter books. They are just great but I'm slow to read the 5th book "The Order of the Phoenix". Just haven't had the time to read lately. I need to read all the books before the new movie comes out in November. Hope I can do it.
Jennifer can't wait to see "Twilight Eclipse". Yes groan if you like. I enjoyed the books very much especially "Breaking Dawn". Will go with my friend Annerose when she gets back from Norway. GO TEAM EDWARD!!!
My Mother celebrated her 80th birthday this past April! Happy Birthday Mom! Now get on a plane and come visit us so we can celebrate Berlin style. We are ready to go on an Italian adventure too!
Weather is HOT HOT HOT here in Berlin. Don't much care for it. Our flat has been rather cool so we are thankful for that. No one has air here. Not even sure how you would work it with these windows. I've seen air conditioners at Bauhaus (like a Menards or Home Depot) so if this hot weather continues and becomes too hot we may have to break down and get one. Probably start with a fan first.
Our friends Becki and John Fiegel just welcomed their two twins; Veronica and Colin. Only 28 weeks gestation and doing well. Please if you pray do so for them. They have a long up hill journey to go. Check out their blog at http://www.preemiejourney.blogspot.com/.
We are hoping we can make it back to MN for a visit this winter. Our goal is Christmas and New Years! FYI if you have plans to come visit us.
WE WANT VISITORS! Come and see us!!!! We miss our friends and family and want to show you are new adopted town. There is so much to see and do here plus the rest of Europe is waiting for you. Exchange rate is looking pretty good these days!
Tom our 15 year old kitty is doing well also. We have a nice backyard for him to hang out in (escorted by me of course) and we found a mouse so he's pretty happy. Can't seem to get it though. Mousing was Ted's passion. We miss you Ted! You would have loved this new flat.
We are still looking for renters for our house in MN. No takers yet. We lowered the rent from $2,300 to $2,000. Here's hoping we find someone soon. Would hate to have to sell or lose the house because we couldn't rent it. If you know of anyone who is looking for a house to rent please have them go to our website at http://www.macgowan.com/ for all the details.
Logan just started training to become a server at the Catholic English speaking mission we belong to here. He was so excited to follow in his Mother and Uncle Sean's foot steps. When I was a kid I don't remember it being so intense, but these folks take it very seriously. Logan goes every Friday evening from 5-6 pm. It's a nice time for me too as I get the opportunity to spend some time with my Lord! Logan will have the summer off now and will start back up in late August or early September. If all goes well he'll start serving in October. I'll be sure to post pictures.
So that's what we've been up to since I last posted. If I think of more I'll be sure to post again.
Have a lovely 4th of July everyone!
We miss you all!
XOXO
Thursday, March 11, 2010
New Pictures Ready for Viewing
Hi folks.
Chris uploaded some new pictures on to his web site at http://www.macgowan.com/photo_index.php.
Check them out.
Chris uploaded some new pictures on to his web site at http://www.macgowan.com/photo_index.php.
Check them out.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Logan's Turning 10
Logan Macgowan, my first born child is going to be 10 this month. I just can't believe it's been 10 years already. Logan is a "leap year" baby so we'll celebrate on the 27th and 28th this year. We are having a party with some of his friends from school at Bamboo land not from from us in Steglitz. Here you can check out their web site http://www.bamboo-land.de/dasat/index.php.
Logan is on winer break until the end of the week. We are going to go see a movie tonight and maybe head to the zoo tomorrow morning. He really wanted to go to Bamboo land but we told him he has to wait until his birthday party.
Chris and Logan will go out on Thursday for some vacation fun. Not sure what they will do.
There aren't a lot of indoor places to go and hang out (other than malls) so being outside in the cold isn't our idea of fun. BLAH!
Again I've failed at delivering any new pictures, but I will one of these days and you'll all be surprised.
Later.
Logan is on winer break until the end of the week. We are going to go see a movie tonight and maybe head to the zoo tomorrow morning. He really wanted to go to Bamboo land but we told him he has to wait until his birthday party.
Chris and Logan will go out on Thursday for some vacation fun. Not sure what they will do.
There aren't a lot of indoor places to go and hang out (other than malls) so being outside in the cold isn't our idea of fun. BLAH!
Again I've failed at delivering any new pictures, but I will one of these days and you'll all be surprised.
Later.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
2010 - Can you believe it?
As promised I'm back even if it's three weeks later. My goal is to try to remember to post at least once a week but I'll be glad if I can remember to post once a month. ha ha
So on with the show.
P.S. My spell check isn't working so forgive me for not spelling certain words correctly :-)
NO PICTURES
All our new pictures are either on the camera or Chris' computer. I'll make it my goal this weekend to get some up here for your viewing pleasure.
NEW ADDRESS
The Hays/Macgowan clan moved from Niedstr. 19 to Wielandstr. 12 in November 2009. We initially started looking at the end of August for a cheaper place to live. This would help in our quest to stay in Berlin a little longer.
We spent about three weeks looking around Friedenau (the area we've been living in) and a few areas close by. We found two great places; one in Friedenau and one in Steigliz. It was a tough decision as both places were really great. There were three exceptions. The place in "S" was on the 5th floor (no elevator) and was smaller than "F". "F" didn't have a balcony. Both had many many pluses but in the end we decided on "F" specifically Wielandstr. our current home. We all love our new place a lot and am glad we moved.
We have three huge rooms; two are bedrooms and one is our living/family room. We have a smaller room that is our office. It fits four desks nicely. We have a new bathroom that is just HUGE. We have a stand up shower, tub and lots and lots of space. We are able to fit our washer and dryer in there too. This is without a doubt my favorite room in the house. I missed taking showers. It's nice to have one again. We also have a new kitchen. It's pretty nice.
We have really nice neighbors and the house itself way nicer by like a 1000% from our last place. A few of the neighbors will gather this spring to do some gardening in the yard. I'm excited for this as I haven't done any gardening since moving to Berlin. I miss my yard in MN.
We are truly blessed to have such wonderful digs.
TOM TURNS 15
Our kitty Tom turned 15 in 2009 on December 5th. We celebrated with a can of tuna and various other treats. He was happy. We are looking forward to bringing him outside in the spring. He's comfortable in the flat and enjoys walking the halls as long as no one else is around. I'm hoping in a few more months he'll want to venture out. A neighbor in the next house over has a kitty and hopefully Tom can make a new friend. He misses his brother Ted. It will be a year in March that he died. We miss him. Love you Ted.
WEB CONSULTING
Chris and I have taken matters into our own hands and have started doing some web site development. We currently have a few clients and are hoping to get more. I'm working on getting business cards made as well as a web site up. The consulting company is called PBC Consulting which is short for Pretty Black Cat Consulting. Our new web site is at http://www.prettyblackcat.com/. There is nothing there at the moment. I just got it all set up in the last couple of days.
We are pretty excited about this opportunity. If you know of anyone that needs a web site built tell them to give us a call or shoot us an email. Until I get our site set up our resumes are online at http://www.macgowan.com/SoftwareConsulting.php.
KIDS
Connor started nursery school (Kita) in September and has been doing well. He got a nasty eye infection just before Thanksgiving and was in and out of Kita until winter break (around Christmas). He just went back this week after being home for 4 weeks. His English language skills have grown but his German not so much. One of his teachers mentioned that he doesn't understand anything but I think in time it will come back. He was so happy to see his teachers and his friends at school. It was great to see.
Connor is just as feisty as ever and is always getting into trouble or beating up on poor Logan. He says the funniest things and is making sentences out of the English and German words he does know. I finally had to cut Connor's hair as it was so long that it was unmanageable for him. I only had the guts to cut it straight across the back and shorten his bangs. He looks cute and the curls stayed. YEAH!
Logan started the 2nd half of 4th grade after the winter break. He was happy to go back and see his friends. Hey don't get me wrong he really liked having two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's but he missed his buddies. Logan really enjoys most of his classes. His favorites are Math and Science. He likes German too and is really doing well. His pronunciation is just great. Almost as good as a native speaker. He's talking more and more without help and can pretty much understand most Germans. We are very proud of our eldest son.
Logan is still gaga over anything Star Wars and Pokemon. I think I remember him telling me that he has something like 500 Pokemon cards. He does a lot of trading with kids at school. Logan and I like to play the game the cards were intended for and he usually beats me everytime. Logan's other new favorite pastime is playing his DSi. He loves it! My brother Sean and his wife Paula gifted one to Logan. He just can't seem to get enough of it. Sean, Paula and my Mom have supplied him with a nice mix of games. He seems to conquer them quite quickly. I'm hoping some day soon he'll let me play it.
SNOW AND MORE SNOW
Berlin has been blasted with cold weather and snow over the past couple of months. This is not the norm. We think the snow is great (not the cold), so we took the kids sliding a week ago. There is a hill near our flat so we took a few plastic trash bags with us (no sleds) and headed over there. We had a blast. The bags were a hit. They were used by other kids in the park that day. Who knew that a plastic bag would make such a great sled.
BOOKS
I've been reading a lot lately (unfortunately my eyes are getting bad -- old age). I read "The Hobbit", a few novels by Ann Patchett (currently reading "The Patron Saint of Liars"), all 7 of the Narnia books and Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. All are great and I highly recommend any of these. I'm also reading "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold and so far I've had force myself to put it down. I could sit and read it all day like I did the Twilight Saga books (read all 4 in a week) but I would never get anything else done. I plan to read all the Harry Potter books after I finish the two I have started. I can't wait. I was hoping I could read them all before the last two movies come out.
MOVIES
I haven't been to as many movies as I would have liked to go to but since I last posted I've seen "New Moon", "Moon" (rented from iTunes), "9" (rented from iTunes) and "Avatar". Eeeek! That's not many at all. Oh well. I'm saving my money for some big ones coming out this summer. If you haven't seen "Avatar" you should go see it. The tech is pretty awesome. The story is average but the tech is just wonderful. Be sure to see it in 3D as it was intended. I liked all the Twiligt books so of course I liked "New Moon". It wasn't as good as the book or the 1st movie but I still liked it. "Moon" and "9" were interesting movies. I had heard about them from my Screen Rant guys http://www.screenrant.com/. Both were really good movies. "9" was a bit scary and Logan didn't want to have anything to do with it. I don't blame him. Not really a kid movie even though it was animated. I really liked "Moon" but it was sad. Great story and I'm a fan of Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey.
THE END
No, I'm not talking about the Black Eyed Peas' new album even though it's pretty good. No, I'm saying goodbye. Hopefully I've given you a fair amount of update since my last postings. I hope everyone is healthy and happy. Please come and visit us or email or call or comment. We'd love to hear from our family and friends. We miss you all and hopefully we'll be back this summer for a visit. That's the plan anyway. XOXO
So on with the show.
P.S. My spell check isn't working so forgive me for not spelling certain words correctly :-)
NO PICTURES
All our new pictures are either on the camera or Chris' computer. I'll make it my goal this weekend to get some up here for your viewing pleasure.
NEW ADDRESS
The Hays/Macgowan clan moved from Niedstr. 19 to Wielandstr. 12 in November 2009. We initially started looking at the end of August for a cheaper place to live. This would help in our quest to stay in Berlin a little longer.
We spent about three weeks looking around Friedenau (the area we've been living in) and a few areas close by. We found two great places; one in Friedenau and one in Steigliz. It was a tough decision as both places were really great. There were three exceptions. The place in "S" was on the 5th floor (no elevator) and was smaller than "F". "F" didn't have a balcony. Both had many many pluses but in the end we decided on "F" specifically Wielandstr. our current home. We all love our new place a lot and am glad we moved.
We have three huge rooms; two are bedrooms and one is our living/family room. We have a smaller room that is our office. It fits four desks nicely. We have a new bathroom that is just HUGE. We have a stand up shower, tub and lots and lots of space. We are able to fit our washer and dryer in there too. This is without a doubt my favorite room in the house. I missed taking showers. It's nice to have one again. We also have a new kitchen. It's pretty nice.
We have really nice neighbors and the house itself way nicer by like a 1000% from our last place. A few of the neighbors will gather this spring to do some gardening in the yard. I'm excited for this as I haven't done any gardening since moving to Berlin. I miss my yard in MN.
We are truly blessed to have such wonderful digs.
TOM TURNS 15
Our kitty Tom turned 15 in 2009 on December 5th. We celebrated with a can of tuna and various other treats. He was happy. We are looking forward to bringing him outside in the spring. He's comfortable in the flat and enjoys walking the halls as long as no one else is around. I'm hoping in a few more months he'll want to venture out. A neighbor in the next house over has a kitty and hopefully Tom can make a new friend. He misses his brother Ted. It will be a year in March that he died. We miss him. Love you Ted.
WEB CONSULTING
Chris and I have taken matters into our own hands and have started doing some web site development. We currently have a few clients and are hoping to get more. I'm working on getting business cards made as well as a web site up. The consulting company is called PBC Consulting which is short for Pretty Black Cat Consulting. Our new web site is at http://www.prettyblackcat.com/. There is nothing there at the moment. I just got it all set up in the last couple of days.
We are pretty excited about this opportunity. If you know of anyone that needs a web site built tell them to give us a call or shoot us an email. Until I get our site set up our resumes are online at http://www.macgowan.com/SoftwareConsulting.php.
KIDS
Connor started nursery school (Kita) in September and has been doing well. He got a nasty eye infection just before Thanksgiving and was in and out of Kita until winter break (around Christmas). He just went back this week after being home for 4 weeks. His English language skills have grown but his German not so much. One of his teachers mentioned that he doesn't understand anything but I think in time it will come back. He was so happy to see his teachers and his friends at school. It was great to see.
Connor is just as feisty as ever and is always getting into trouble or beating up on poor Logan. He says the funniest things and is making sentences out of the English and German words he does know. I finally had to cut Connor's hair as it was so long that it was unmanageable for him. I only had the guts to cut it straight across the back and shorten his bangs. He looks cute and the curls stayed. YEAH!
Logan started the 2nd half of 4th grade after the winter break. He was happy to go back and see his friends. Hey don't get me wrong he really liked having two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's but he missed his buddies. Logan really enjoys most of his classes. His favorites are Math and Science. He likes German too and is really doing well. His pronunciation is just great. Almost as good as a native speaker. He's talking more and more without help and can pretty much understand most Germans. We are very proud of our eldest son.
Logan is still gaga over anything Star Wars and Pokemon. I think I remember him telling me that he has something like 500 Pokemon cards. He does a lot of trading with kids at school. Logan and I like to play the game the cards were intended for and he usually beats me everytime. Logan's other new favorite pastime is playing his DSi. He loves it! My brother Sean and his wife Paula gifted one to Logan. He just can't seem to get enough of it. Sean, Paula and my Mom have supplied him with a nice mix of games. He seems to conquer them quite quickly. I'm hoping some day soon he'll let me play it.
SNOW AND MORE SNOW
Berlin has been blasted with cold weather and snow over the past couple of months. This is not the norm. We think the snow is great (not the cold), so we took the kids sliding a week ago. There is a hill near our flat so we took a few plastic trash bags with us (no sleds) and headed over there. We had a blast. The bags were a hit. They were used by other kids in the park that day. Who knew that a plastic bag would make such a great sled.
BOOKS
I've been reading a lot lately (unfortunately my eyes are getting bad -- old age). I read "The Hobbit", a few novels by Ann Patchett (currently reading "The Patron Saint of Liars"), all 7 of the Narnia books and Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. All are great and I highly recommend any of these. I'm also reading "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold and so far I've had force myself to put it down. I could sit and read it all day like I did the Twilight Saga books (read all 4 in a week) but I would never get anything else done. I plan to read all the Harry Potter books after I finish the two I have started. I can't wait. I was hoping I could read them all before the last two movies come out.
MOVIES
I haven't been to as many movies as I would have liked to go to but since I last posted I've seen "New Moon", "Moon" (rented from iTunes), "9" (rented from iTunes) and "Avatar". Eeeek! That's not many at all. Oh well. I'm saving my money for some big ones coming out this summer. If you haven't seen "Avatar" you should go see it. The tech is pretty awesome. The story is average but the tech is just wonderful. Be sure to see it in 3D as it was intended. I liked all the Twiligt books so of course I liked "New Moon". It wasn't as good as the book or the 1st movie but I still liked it. "Moon" and "9" were interesting movies. I had heard about them from my Screen Rant guys http://www.screenrant.com/. Both were really good movies. "9" was a bit scary and Logan didn't want to have anything to do with it. I don't blame him. Not really a kid movie even though it was animated. I really liked "Moon" but it was sad. Great story and I'm a fan of Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey.
THE END
No, I'm not talking about the Black Eyed Peas' new album even though it's pretty good. No, I'm saying goodbye. Hopefully I've given you a fair amount of update since my last postings. I hope everyone is healthy and happy. Please come and visit us or email or call or comment. We'd love to hear from our family and friends. We miss you all and hopefully we'll be back this summer for a visit. That's the plan anyway. XOXO
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Happy New Year!
Hi everyone.
It's been a long time. I thought I better quickly write and say Happy New Year!
Life has been busy so blogging hasn't been a priority but hopefully I can change that in 2010.
Chris has added some new pictures to his web site at http://www.macgowan.com and here is our PDF Christmas card http://www.macgowan.com/christmas_card_1_20091228.pdf.
WOW!!!! I can hear the fireworks going off already. It's a big deal here in Berlin to shoot them off on New Year's Eve.
I've got more to share but will do this when I have my pictures downloaded from the camera.
I wish all of my family and friends a wonderful and blessed New Year!
St. Faustina, Pray for US!
It's been a long time. I thought I better quickly write and say Happy New Year!
Life has been busy so blogging hasn't been a priority but hopefully I can change that in 2010.
Chris has added some new pictures to his web site at http://www.macgowan.com and here is our PDF Christmas card http://www.macgowan.com/christmas_card_1_20091228.pdf.
WOW!!!! I can hear the fireworks going off already. It's a big deal here in Berlin to shoot them off on New Year's Eve.
I've got more to share but will do this when I have my pictures downloaded from the camera.
I wish all of my family and friends a wonderful and blessed New Year!
St. Faustina, Pray for US!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Tropical Islands and Dresden
Chris, Logan, Connor and I had a mini-vacation to Tropical Islands and Dresden from August 5th to the 10th.
Our pictures are located here http://www.macgowan.com/PhotoIndex.php. Check them out.
TROPICAL ISLANDS
Tropical Islands is an indoor water park/tropical forest/spa. You can read more about them at their web site http://www.tropical-islands.de/en/visitors.html.
Logan and Connor had a blast here. There are several pools including a beach, water slides, and restaurants. They have a fun kid park with go-carts and mini-golf (18 holes).
We didn't get a chance to explore the tropical forest or the spa/sauna. Maybe next time.
Chris and I thought to really experience Tropical Islands in all it's glory would be to stay one or two nights inside the bio-sphere. They have tents or huts to rent.
We stayed in a nearby hotel that was about a 15 minute drive.
Tropical Islands is about 45 minutes to an hour away from Berlin. We had rented a car and the drive went quickly.
AUTOBAHN
I DROVE ON THE AUTOBAHN for the 1st time and let me tell you folks, people DRIVE REALLY REALLY FAST. I stayed to the right most of the time and let everyone fly by me. Eeek! I must say though it was FUN! My top speed was 250 kph which is about 155 mph. More EEEK!
DRESDEN
On Friday, August 8th we headed for Dresden. What a great city. It's about a 2 hour drive from Tropical Islands maybe a little less.
We stayed at the Westin Hotel right on the Elbe river. We had a wonderful view of the old city. There is so much history here. Dresden was completely bombed by the allied forces in WWII. Many of the historic buildings and bridges were bombed to their foundations. You can read about it on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden.
Again we have lots of pics on Chris' web site at http://www.macgowan.com/PhotoIndex.php.
Chris, Logan and I (we took shifts hanging out with Connor) took a bus tour which was very good. There was so much to see and we just couldn't get to it all in only a couple of days. We hope we can go back maybe next summer.
Our pictures are located here http://www.macgowan.com/PhotoIndex.php. Check them out.
TROPICAL ISLANDS
Tropical Islands is an indoor water park/tropical forest/spa. You can read more about them at their web site http://www.tropical-islands.de/en/visitors.html.
Logan and Connor had a blast here. There are several pools including a beach, water slides, and restaurants. They have a fun kid park with go-carts and mini-golf (18 holes).
We didn't get a chance to explore the tropical forest or the spa/sauna. Maybe next time.
Chris and I thought to really experience Tropical Islands in all it's glory would be to stay one or two nights inside the bio-sphere. They have tents or huts to rent.
We stayed in a nearby hotel that was about a 15 minute drive.
Tropical Islands is about 45 minutes to an hour away from Berlin. We had rented a car and the drive went quickly.
AUTOBAHN
I DROVE ON THE AUTOBAHN for the 1st time and let me tell you folks, people DRIVE REALLY REALLY FAST. I stayed to the right most of the time and let everyone fly by me. Eeek! I must say though it was FUN! My top speed was 250 kph which is about 155 mph. More EEEK!
DRESDEN
On Friday, August 8th we headed for Dresden. What a great city. It's about a 2 hour drive from Tropical Islands maybe a little less.
We stayed at the Westin Hotel right on the Elbe river. We had a wonderful view of the old city. There is so much history here. Dresden was completely bombed by the allied forces in WWII. Many of the historic buildings and bridges were bombed to their foundations. You can read about it on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden.
Again we have lots of pics on Chris' web site at http://www.macgowan.com/PhotoIndex.php.
Chris, Logan and I (we took shifts hanging out with Connor) took a bus tour which was very good. There was so much to see and we just couldn't get to it all in only a couple of days. We hope we can go back maybe next summer.
Body Worlds
Last Friday Logan and I went to see the "Body Worlds" exhibit.
All I have to say is WOW!
If you haven't seen it it's pretty amazing.
Check out http://www.bodyworlds.com/.
The big "to-do" at this show is the plasticized couple posed in the "sex" position. It was at the end of the exhibit and to be honest was no big deal. In fact, I had forgotten all about it until I was in the "special" room where it was being exhibited.
Logan was a little freaked out by it all (except the animals) so he didn't look around too much and just focused on the animals being displayed. He would then sit down at the end of each section/room.
The exhibit was about the human life cycle from birth to death. Each life cycle had it's own section and in each section there were topics on the various parts of the body like the heart, lungs, kidneys, nervous system, etc.
What I thought was cool was the transparent slices of a giraffe. It was life size. Logan thought it was neat too.
The other thing that was cool was the 4 reindeer and Santa plastinates. Just amazing. Logan thought this was creepy. He just gave a quick look and moved on to the next section.
I would have stayed longer but Logan was ready to leave.
I'm glad I got to see the exhibit and would highly recommend it to those of you who haven't been yet.
If you've seen this show already let me know what you thought.
All I have to say is WOW!
If you haven't seen it it's pretty amazing.
Check out http://www.bodyworlds.com/.
The big "to-do" at this show is the plasticized couple posed in the "sex" position. It was at the end of the exhibit and to be honest was no big deal. In fact, I had forgotten all about it until I was in the "special" room where it was being exhibited.
Logan was a little freaked out by it all (except the animals) so he didn't look around too much and just focused on the animals being displayed. He would then sit down at the end of each section/room.
The exhibit was about the human life cycle from birth to death. Each life cycle had it's own section and in each section there were topics on the various parts of the body like the heart, lungs, kidneys, nervous system, etc.
What I thought was cool was the transparent slices of a giraffe. It was life size. Logan thought it was neat too.
The other thing that was cool was the 4 reindeer and Santa plastinates. Just amazing. Logan thought this was creepy. He just gave a quick look and moved on to the next section.
I would have stayed longer but Logan was ready to leave.
I'm glad I got to see the exhibit and would highly recommend it to those of you who haven't been yet.
If you've seen this show already let me know what you thought.
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