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10/1/2001 11:15:00 PM
Boulder Creek, CA
In the Santa Cruz mountains and the redwood forrest

August/September 2001

We actually should be in LA tonight (9/16/2001) and on our family vacation to Disneyland, Lego land, etc. but we are still home - because there was Tuesday September 11th

Hallo everybody,

We actually should be in LA tonight (9/16/2001) and on our family vacation to Disneyland, Lego land, etc. but we are still home - because there was Tuesday September 11th.! I don't want to make this report all about 'IT' but because it has affected us all, our daily lives and our world history I definitely need to write some. I guess I'll just start this report with last week working my way back.

We had concert tickets for George Winston (beautiful piano music) for Monday night (Sept.10th), which we had been looking forward to for a long time. Not only is it very nice to have a date night but it was a special event for us. We had been listening to his music for more than 15 years and he finally gave a concert close to us, we had the babysitter arranged, Robert was able to work from home that day so we did not have to use two cars and it seemed perfect - until.. He got a phone call at lunch time that his meeting next day in LA was re-scheduled from 10am to 7am! Therefore he had to leave that night and not next morning! I was so upset and disappointed that the only thing that comforted me was, that he would be back next day in time at  SFO airport to meet us and pick up our friends Nina, Ritchie and Philip (dear friends from Austria - Ritchie is Robert's best man). So my friend Maura joined me for the concert - thank you for always standing by and being my 'alternative date' - and was very excited for the next day.. We had prepared everything so nicely for them - the pond was ready for swimming and playing, the garden all groomed and pretty, the house cleaned (more than usually) and in all ways we were SO MUCH looking forward to their 2 week visit. And then there was Roberts call at 6.45am on Tuesday morning with those horrible news. First I hardly realized what he meant with "An airplane had flown into the World Trade Center in New York and that all air traffic is on hold, so I should go and check if Nina and Ritchie can even fly into SFO". I thought maybe he had heard the story wrong or there was an accident of some kind - but after a few minutes of CNN I too was awake and in shock (like the rest of the world). In the meantime the 2nd airplane had hit the tower and I couldn't believe my eyes and was in awe to actually watch the two towers come down live on TV. I was glad Benjamin was still asleep (he usually gets up earlier) and Sebastian had a sleep over at his friend Sammy, so that I could have a moment to realize what was happening and "calm down" a bit. I was almost like paralyzed sitting in front of the TV and everything stood still for a (long) moment. I cannot even describe my feelings (as probably most of you), I was numb, hot and cold at the same time, shivering - it was surreal. The telephone did not stop all day, family and friends from Europe and here - nobody could really believe it.

The next personal disappointing news were, what it going to happen with the Seilers? I could not get through  to the airport nor Lufthansa Airlines, their webpage had no concrete information except that flights would be re-routed to Canada or turned around to Germany. Well it did not take long to realize that they were not going to come that day. Roberts meeting also was canceled and once you could see that air traffic wasn't going to operate very soon again, he and 3 colleagues rented a car and started their journey up north. We talked at least every hour, everything was up-side-down. Sebastian came home late morning and I had to tell him that Nina, Ritchie and Philip would not come and tried to keep and shield this horrible situation from him as much as possible. He was very upset and cried, I felt like joining him. In the afternoon I finally found out, with the help of my sister in Munich, that their flight got turned around and that they were back on their way to Germany. So a little tower crashed inside of me and all my hope to see them soon. I was certainly happy that they were well and nothing happened to them, but I could not deny that I was very sad and plan less. The rest of the week I had no desire to do anything, just wanted to stay in our house far away from all the things happening out there. I guess this was a "normal" reaction and I wasn't the only one feeling that way in such a tragedy. At the moment the whole world is waiting and I wonder what I will have to write I my next report.

Nina and Ritchie certainly were not able to come back and I told myself over and over again that it is for the best and believe in my live philosophy: There has to be a reason for everything. For them it was even more disappointing, they had planed this vacation for more then 2 years, traveled over 40 hours just to get back at the original destination HOME! We sure hope that maybe they can come out at another time. So therefore we also cancelled our holiday plans and hope that we might go away the first week of October, we'll see - more about that in our next report. What absolutely amazes me here at the moment is the way people "treat" each other - united we stand - Everybody is really helpful and goes beyond their limit like airlines refunding tickets even though they are not refundable,. There are more American flags hanging than on 4th of July and even though some patriotic actions might be a bit much for "us" foreigners it is wonderful to see how people hold together and support each other.

It actually has been two days that I have stopped writing this report and it was the first days that the event of September 11th wasn't dominating my constant thoughts. Let's see what had happened the weeks before all this. Early August we were busy getting ready for my nephews visit from Munich. Alexander (15) and Dominik (12) arrived on August 8th and stayed here for 3 weeks. Sebastian was really excited to see his cousins and even though they probably were annoyed by the little ones once in a while  they had a great time together. They played a lot with them, watched them for me so I could do at least the grocery shopping (double the things with 2 teenagers) by myself and really were very loving with each other. Benjamin's first word in the morning and last at night was "Sander, Dominic?" Even now that they are gone back he asks for them, specially when he sees things that remind him of them like the Basketball, Nintendo Game,.

The first days we took it easy and stayed around the house and Boulder Creek. Benjamin had his 2nd birthday right the first day (August 9th) and we had a quite day. Since we had no kids party we celebrated him all day and gave him presents all day long - the first one in bed and the last one at dinner. He seemed to have enjoyed that ritual a lot, in the afternoon he had cake (with presents) and in the evening Maura, Bob and Melissa (Maura's daughter - 23 - and the best babysitter the world when she is around!) came for a B-B-Q.

After a few activities around the Schmids Hitt'n playing basketball, swimming, jumping on the trampoline,. we went out to do things: Kayaking in Monterey, Outlet Shopping (8 hours!) - without the little ones!, it was nice to have the big ones for myself for a change - a day in San Francisco (including a shopping trip at THE record store, very important!), a Giants Basketball game, etc. A week after their arrival they went off for 5 days to see Barbie and Jimmy in Temecula. Alexander had spent some time alone with them 2 years ago and they love it their. It was a nice change and "kids break" for them. Sebastian was very upset when they left but glad to hear that they would come back - a good preparation for their final leave. The last week here we sort of stayed low key again, took a train ride to Santa Cruz, went minigolfing and to a miniature race track. They really enjoyed the house and things to do here, so we did not do too much.

Well and then Wednesday (8/29) came around, their departure day. Half our before we had to leave for the airport Alexander noticed that his passport was in his wallet that he had been missing for the last couple of days. Needless to say how he and we all felt. We started to search the suitcases, backpacks, their room, beds, both cars, high and low - no luck! After a call to Lufthansa I soon realized that he will not be able to fly without a valid ID. Since we had to go to San Francisco anyways to apply for a new passport we stopped by the airport, just to see if we could do anything besides rebooking them - no chance! My sister had to fax a written statement to the embassy that they could issue a new passport and because she was already on vacation she was able to do that right next day. First they were a little disappointed that they could not go home (to mom, friends and girlfriend) but it did not take us very long to be happy to be together a bit longer. We played some more games of "Settlers of Catan" (you get addicted to it!) until late at night and on Friday August 31st, they finally left with no problems. We had to go and pick up his new passport just 2 hours before their flight but everything went smoothly that day. We really had a good time together and I would say it was a very successful visit. I did not know what to expect from 2 teenagers and even if all kids behave better at other houses I was prepared for the worst. Much to my and also Roberts surprise the boys were wonderful and very easy to handle, I hope we have been able to bond some more and look forward to many more visits (next time they probably want only a place to sleep and and a set of keys for the cars and house.)

Yeap, that was it for August, September turned out to be totally different than expected and we hope to be off on our vacation week early October and relax a bit. We still quite don't know were we will go yet, but I will let you know in our next report. For today we hug you all and send you many positive thoughts your way

Yours the  4 Schmids and Zoo

PS A cute Sebastian story that I want to keep in my records: He joined Robert, Bob and his cousins for the Giants Baseball game and because we had been busy all day in San Francisco (without a nap) I thought he might be a bit difficult at night and warned Robert. Apparently he was very good and behaved superb even until 10.30pm so Robert told him what a good boy he had been which Sebastian replied with: "Please tell THAT to mommy!"

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