Ellen's Brunch

Charly's sister, Ellen, turned 50 years old last week and had a nice brunch with about 40 friends and family members. The brunch was at the really nice Le Meridien Hotel in Stuttgart. In the room next to ours was Stuttgart's pro-Soccer team, VfB Stuttgart, having lunch before their big game against Hannover. Of course the boys were excited and took pics with some of the players. Here are a few.

Ellen

Ellen's son, Maurice

Ellen

Marcus & Thomas Hitzlsperger

the boys with Mario Gomez

the boys & Matthieu Delpierre

Jens Lehmann (the goal keeper)

Marcus & Maurice

me & Reimund

New Pool

We bought an inflatable swimming pool for the kids to "swim" in the backyard. It was on sale for €50, so we said what the heck! It took over 3 hours for our super slow water hose to fill it up. The kids like the fact that they have something to cool off in and splash around a bit. The water is pretty cold, about 32°F, so we hope the sun heats it up a bit before winter comes. But Marcus doesn't care, he'll swim in ice water. He went scuba diving in it! We think he's part Eskimo. I'm not getting in til it's at least 80°! You know I'm from Cali.

Quick-Up Pool Set

Max and me filling it up

Marcus is checking on it

almost full!!!

Charly & Marcus' first cold test swim

Max first test swim

Marcus scuba diving!

Row, Row, Row your Boat

We borrowed a canoe from a friend of ours to go canoeing on the Enz river near our house. I dropped Charly and the boys off in Vaihingen/Enz, went shopping and picked them up 1 1/2 hours later in Oberriexingen which is about 7km on the river. The river is really nice and calm with only a few fast flowing parts. The boys enjoy rowing and looking at the trees and birds along the way. It looks really fun so maybe I'll go next time.

unloading the canoe

helmets and life vests of course

drag the canoe into the river

London

Last weekend I went to London with three girlfriends. On Thursday, we took the bus from Stuttgart, Germany at 8pm and arrived in London on Friday at 10am. It was my longest bus trip ever! We had a great time and I did all the things I wanted to do: see the Tower of London, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, ride the red double-decker bus, eat real British fish and chips and drink a pint of beer in a pub.

We did a little shopping for souvenirs and such. I also love to hear the British talk, their english is so different from American english, especially the kids. They say "Mum" for mom. I also think it's so weird and strange the way they drive on the left-hand side of the road. We drove back with the bus on Saturday night at 12am and arrived in Stuttgart at 3pm! The trip was nice but too short. I will definitely like to spend more time there again but next time I'll fly. Now that's one place I can cross off of my bucket list.

Tower of London

me and Feray having our first pint

on the red double-decker bus

London Eye Ferris Wheel

red telephone booth

?I forgot what this was?

one of the Tower of London Beefeater Guards

another guard

knight and horse armor in White Tower

London Bridge

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

fish & chips and another pint of London Pride

Buckingham Palace

Happy 10th Birthday Maxwell

Maxwell turned 10 years old on August 17!!! I can't believe my baby is 10 already. Time goes by soooo fast. I told him he is not allowed to get any bigger than this! He just laughed. We didn't have a big party with all his friends. We went to an amusement park called Europa Park with a few friends. I'll put those pics up in a few days.

Here's some pics and videos from our small family party. Grandma Lola sent M&M two Nintendo DS games. I knew they would be so excited so I video taped them opening them. They like me to hide their presents in the living room and then they search for them. Max found his first and was so excited, I thought he might hyperventilate. Marcus almost started crying asking if he had one too. Max said that he thought he was dreaming. They are talking in German but don't worry their reaction is all you need to understand.

Marcus with orange soda in his beer mug

Lunch with the Family

We went out to lunch with Charly's mom, Helene, his sister Ellen, her husband Raimond, and her son Maurice to a local restaurant. Maurice is 18 now and just got his driver's license in April. He also came over one day by himself in his mom's little Mercedes A Class looking so cool!

Biking with Friends

Maxwell and Marcus have lots of friends who they play with and all the kids like to play with them. But their best friends are a brother and sister named Luca and Maxi. Luca is 10 and Maxi is 11 and they are really nice kids. They are always either at our house or their house. They also like to eat lunch and dinner together and do sleep-overs. They play really well together and get along great, always laughing. Luca and Maxi have a 15 year old cousin Timo who lives across the street from us, he's really nice and plays with them as well. I also help Timo with his English for school. Charly took the boys bike riding up to the next town where there is a BMX bike racing track with these bumps and hills. They had a blast!

Marcus, Maxwell, Luca & Maxi

Timo, Luca, Maxwell & Marcus