2024-03-29 08:47

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8/6/2008 12:00:00 PM
Austria
Vienna

A last hello from Vienna...

Summertime, movingtime, a wonderful time in Vienna...!

Hallo everybody

Only a few hours and I should get up again for our flight to the US... But my thoughts are running through my head and I therefore I' write a short report and keep you guys posted. Thanks to many of yo for your nice e-mails and calls with best wishes for our new start back in California - it is so nice to know that your are with us and following our plans - THANKS!

The last few weeks were quite intense and hard to express in words - I guess the closest I can compare it to is the (emotional) waves on the boat. From: the yearning of being the four of us again, to: sorrow and sadness of leaving family, old/new friends, back to: the excitement of the new start in LA and down again: all the work a move takes physical and emotional. Well one couldn't say that we don't have experience with it... But I hope that we will stay put for a while now and that I can finally gather all our belongings from the different places (storage from the house, boat stuff and all the things collected in Vienna..). I guess a move is similar to a birth - one forgets all the pain and difficulties...

Here now a short review of the last 8 weeks>

- The boys finishes school with only "A's", which makes us very proud! A perfect base for us to continue with German now - I wonder if Benjamin will loose his Viennese dialect...?!~

- A visit at my sisters' in Munich with my mom. We had not managed to get all of us together all this time, so therefore my 40th birthday and the move were a perfect reason to do it. My nephews (Alexander 22 and Dominik 19) were so sweet with their little cousins, which they were in big boy heaven! They played soccer together, hours of UNO and looked at Alexander's DJ stuff. I for-warned my boys that this is what is going to happen to them in 10 years when their cousin Jakob is their age... ;o) I was so happy for my mom to have all her 3 daughters and 4 grandsons together - too bad I had to turn 40 for this...! ;o)

- Sebastian went on soccer cam again for a week with his team and Benjamin joined again, although this year for the whole time (last year he only went 3 days). They had a great time, fun practicing and playing all the time and it seems that the whole team got along really well. Our two boys were in separate rooms, which did them well for a change.

- During that week I packed up the apartment and put everything that fit in the container, which is on it's way and should arrive in LA by hopefully the end of August. My mom was a big help to me physically and emotional, how thankful I was! The last 2 1/2 weeks we've stayed at my father in law's and thanks to the extra apartment they added last year we've had our own entrance, bedroom and bathroom - a perfect visitors quarter!

- The time in-between we had a lot of gatherings with friends, trips and swimming time as well as getting together with family as often as possible. Robert's mom turned 60 on August 26th, and had a wonderful party in the Danube Valley - even a firework was shot off at her honor! A few days later she started her well deserved retirement and we are happy that she finally now has time to visit us a bit longer!

- Well, the last week there was a lot to finish up on and make this move happen, forgot that it takes quite a bit of time so unfortunately we did not get to see and do everything we wanted but hopefully everybody will forgive us. We'll be back to visit next year and I am sure we'll have more time then!

I want to finish up with a traditional Schmid report: the High and Low of the last 1 3/4 year, pretty difficult one, but here are a few of ours:

HIGH: The time we've had with family, intensify old friendships and make new ones, how well the boys speak both languages now and the better understanding of their parents' roots

LOW: That Robert wasn't here as much as we would have liked to and that he could not experience it the same way as we did, to leave the loved ones behind and the sometimes really sh...y weather...

So, next time I'll write from home in the US and now that I am finally tired enough to sleep a few hours I say good bye for now from Vienna...

Yours Niki and the 3 boys plus Matey (who is already on her way to the US!

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