20 months and really liking ...

On Friday, Andrin turned 20 months. Unbelievable!

Papi was fishing and did not celebrate with us, but we still had a great time ...

Playing with his animals from Noah's arch.

Who said that you should use parchment paper only for cooking and baking?

Suddenly, Andrin really is into glasses ... Here, he is showing off his sunglasses.

Mami and Papi had to put in another order with Green Toys ...

Cuddlebug

Andrin paid attention when Mami was using the Cuddlebug!

Dancing with the stars!

Pleased to introduce the newest star!

In this video, Andrin is performing a traditional Greek dance!
And of course his own personal choreography!

Andrin meets the Wolff(s) in San Francisco

What a relaxing, fun, just wonderful weekend! We had planned to visit our dear friends, Kirsten and Gilad, a month ago, but then Papi had to travel to Switzerland for his presentation. It turned out that it was better since it gave Kirsten and Gilad time to unpack their boxes and get some work done in their house. They were happy to see us this weekend ... it gave them an excuse not to work on their projects (they are still in phase 0 = not yet ready for the housewarming party). We tell you, these two are quite ambitious ... but their house is beautiful. If they would not be our friends, we would give them a thirty day notice to move out!
Andrin loved the flight to San Francisco, even though the flight was delayed. This gave him more time to see all the airplanes at the airport in Eugene. He knew what to call them and that they go up in the air. During the flight, he was quite happy, and we were busy keeping him occupied with books, animals, ... He fell asleep for about the last 20 minutes of the flight, even though he was fighting it.
As you will see, we just had a good time exploring Kirsten and Gilad's new neighborhood (it gave them a chance to discover it as well:), playing on playgrounds, having coffee in coffee shops, catching up, baking Zopf, living Kibbutz-style and ... chasing the cats.
Thanks so much, Kirsten and Gilad, for having us!! We are looking forward to our camping trip this summer!

We went to the playground for Andrin ... or someone else?

Kirsten demonstrating to Andrin how to hold on to the bars.

Beautiful view from Kirsten and Gilad's home. You can even see the Golden Gate bridge in the distance from their living room ...

Andrin getting up close with Kirsten and Gilad.

Enjoying some coffee/milk with Papi.

What a breakfast table ...

This is when all the drama around the duck started ...

Where did it roll to?

Everybody looking for the missing wheel ....

Wondering where Andrin was? He was sleeping in the stroller!

What a beautiful couple!

Another playground. It was rather windy and cold!

It did not help that there also was a monster or something like that on the playground roaming around freely!

But the playground had a beautiful view!

The grill master is hiding ... Delicious chicken for dinner!

Andrin enjoyed his new friends, Gilad and Kirsten!

Fun with "Ente," until it got sick and had to go to the hospital due to a broken leg ...

Where are they? Andrin on his quest to find the cats ...

Never a dull moment ...

With Mami and Papi both having done martial arts, Andrin could not resist the temptation. (By the way, next time, ask Papi about the story of carrying a "Bo-stick" on your bicycle and being stopped by the police :) One of our bamboos did not survive the winter and we thus had to cut it down and this was reason enough for Andrin to take the opportunity to practice some martial art himself.

warrior pose ...

stab at the invisible enemy with a corresponding war cry ...

just in case you were wondering what Andrin really was doing ... a contemporary art installation ...

final touches to his master piece ...

Raccoon

Andrin really was into Raccoon today ...

Mother's Day

Today, we celebrated Mother's Day! We all got up in the morning after Andrin decided to sleep in until 7.00 am. Since Mami is so used to getting up early, she decided to get up with the boys, even though Papa offered to let her sleep in. While Mami was taking a shower, the boys sneaked outside and picked a beautiful flower bouquet for Mami. Papa told Mami later that he told Andrin to put his shoes on and then go outside really quietly and that Andrin was intrigued by all the secrecy. After a nice breakfast with pancakes, we took it easy and then skyped with Opa. We spent some time outside in the garden until lunch. After lunch, Andrin went to bed to take his afternoon nap. After he woke up, we took a looooong bike ride. We rode along the river with our destination of Sweet Life, a really known bakery/patissery in town. While we ate our sweets outside, a big and impressive thunderstorm swept over Eugene. But what better place than Sweet Life to be stuck?! We waited out the storm, and let me tell you, it was raining buckets and there were several lightning strikes and thunders ... and then went back home. What a wonderful day with our family!

Finally!!!

You just have to love this one. It is old, but I just could not get it uploaded. This is my Mother's day gift to Papi Clemens!
(Notice - in the beginning, Andrin actually falls backwards because he is laughing so hard ...)

Garbage ... and alligators

After blogging about it - here is actually a proof of Andrin putting something in the garbage (and yes, it ends because his alligator also dove into the garbage!).

Videos - and some more ...

I have had problems uploading some of our videos lately, but today is another day ...

Enjoying some WATER with Papi (I know, I know, it looks different!).

There was a piece to our sandbox missing and then we get a entirely new sandbox in the mail ... Andrin did not care and took the opportunity to play on top of the box.

Lately, Andrin has been really into playing with the wooden animals that came with his Arch Noah. He really likes the giraffes and the alligators. But the alligators always get in trouble and get themselves hurt. Andrin then comes running up to us and we have to kiss them so that they can fell better again.

Just shortly before Andrin went to bed, Papi was playing this funny game with Andrin.

Silly boy!

This morning, Mami was folding the wash in the office. Andrin wandered off and found his backpack sitting in one of our little walk-in closets. He asked to sit in it and was happy playing in there for about 20 minutes. Silly boy!

And there is the sand!

Papi and Mami were fortunate today because their dear neighbors "borrowed" Andrin for a couple hours and they went to get some beach sand for Andrin's sand box. Andrin always loves playing with Nana and David! Thanks so much, Nancy and David. And then there was the big surprise when Andrin came back home: there is actually sand in the sandbox.

Now Andrin can actually lay in the sand!

Andrin decided that the bamboo also was in need of some sand and was happy to share.

Garbage and compost ...

The other morning, Andrin just astonished me by taking a piece of garbage and putting it in the garbage bin underneath our sink. He even closed the door to the cupboard afterward. So when I asked him this morning to put something in the compost, he took it outside and put it in our little compost bin ... Amazing, how he just picks up on everything! We also think that he might be getting ready for toilet training. Whenever he has to poop (excuse my language:), he goes to the bathroom and sits down on the little stool or his potty.