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9/10/2000 10:30:00 PM
Boulder Creek, CA
In the Santa Cruz mountains and the redwood forrest

August 2000

We had total fall weather last week with fog, rain and pretty low temperatures but since yesterday the HEAT is back and it is almost too warm in the sun ...

Hey, it's me again!

There is actually not that much to tell about the last month but since both kids are taking a nap I thought I should take the chance and at least start writing. The alternative is to iron clothes, but I don't feel like it at all and besides it is much too hot today for that anyways. We had total fall weather last week with fog, rain and pretty low temperatures but since yesterday the HEAT is back and it is almost too warm in the sun! (Never seems to be right, does it?!) So therefore we took our walk already in the morning where it is still nice and cool, specially to carry Benjamin in the back bag - I look forward once he is walking himself too. We try to walk 1-2 times during the week with our friend Maura, who lives just down the road. She is a fond hiker and loves the woods, often only Sebastian goes  with her  (and 4 dogs!), which is a special treat for him. She knows many neat stories and things about the forest, that he really enjoys. They both like their company and Maura is wonderful with kids (I don't only write that because she gets this report too!) and a great help to me. Sometimes they take 1-2 hour walks (they need to collect sticks, rocks, berries,...look at things a bit closer along the way )and if it is around Benjamin's nap I get some time for myself, Broesel also gets her exercise and we are all happy. It is really nice to have the woods right at the backyard, - that is country living! There really is a lot of things to do for the kids, the big garden area, bike riding, the sandbox - beach at the pond, the trampoline,... all of  that the kids of our visitors early August got to enjoy too.

Christine and Martin came with their 2 children (Dominik 9 and Lena 7) and Christine's parents for 5 days. We know each other via our very good friends Michi (my maid of honor) and Richard in Vienna, but never really had close contact and also had not seen each other for quite a while. They were on a 4 week trip through California and Oregon and had asked if they could also come and see us. Well, and those of you  who know the Schmids well know that we love to have visitors and everybody is very welcome at our house. We had some wonderful days together and Sebastian was constantly at Dominik's and Lena's side around the garden. Christines father often watched and joined the kids and since Sebastian did not know his name he instantly called him "Opa (grandpa)". Christine's parents stayed at a motel next town where they also went a couple of times (with Sebastian) to take a dip in the pool, since our pond unfortunately is full of algae. We did a few things around the area and in the evening cooked dinner together. The last day we even got treated with a homemade blackberry cake (freshly picked ourselves during a walk!) by grandma Richter. Even though we did not know each other that well, or maybe because of that, we had a lot of things in common and to talk and for sure will stay in contact now. I really have to say that we love to have guests, whether it is family, close friends or somebody we know just briefly, the days together bring us closer and lots of many memories that we would not want to miss.

On August 9th Benjamin had his 1st birthday, unbelievable how fast time goes by?!?! We had a little party at the park and even though he really does not know what is going on it was to satisfy Sebastian. He had already asked me several times before if we would do a party for him and there was no way out. We also had a big get-together for Sebastian when he turned one, back in Austria during our Christmas visit, so it would have been kind of unfair to Benjamin not to do anything. The big kids had fun at the playground and eating cake, and even though we were a small crowd, we had a good time and I am glad I did it for him.

   Short cut - this is were I ended yesterday after Sebastian woke up from only a 45 min. nap. So therefore I kind of lost the flow of my writing and now have to get back into it. I guess the best is to stick with the last subject "Benjamin". By now this little guy is so incredibly fast with his funny crawling method and so we think that is why he is holding off on walking. He will walk along things or with his little walker but has no desire to do it by himself, except last Sunday when he took 2-4 steps between Robert and me a couple of times. Sebastian got very excited even more than the two of us. Benjamin is still quite little and even though he finally made it on the 5% (18 lbs) on the chart in weight and 15% in height, he is very small compared to other children (my friends 4 month old son weighs almost as much!) - but he got charm and an irresistible cute smile ... He definitely is a healthy camper, at his 12 month check-up last week the doctor was very happy with him and could not find anything "wrong". His teeth are coming in one by one and so therefore is quite cranky at the moment - it somewhat reminds me of the first 4 month!!!! At least he still sleeps through the night and if it wouldn't be for Sebastian who joins us in bed every night between 2 and 4 o'clock, we could nicely sleep 6-7 hours straight (he just needs so much space in bed and loves to cuddle...which is cute but not at this time!)

Sebastian's pre-school started again last week and this time he has no problems staying by himself right from the beginning, I think it helped that he attended summer school for 3 weeks in July. He also told me I could leave him for the swim lesson and gym class and do something else. I guess even the most clingy kids do grow out of it and get independent. Right now he is at a friends house for playtime and dinner, Benjamin is taking a nap (as well as Robert - he works out of home today and now is right next to me on the couch snoring... - what a live - I have to say that he has been on 4 hour conference calls already... ) and I take advantage of the time to write to you. I had hoped to get it out before the weekend but this way it will be a nice Monday morning hallo.

Well there is not much to report, besides all our "small" and "big" activities like birthday parties, a visit to the children's theater "Aladdin" and circus (the biggest one in America with 3 arenas - very impressive for Sebastian!), trips to the park and river,... Last week we finally fulfilled one of Sebastian long asked requests: To take the bus to Santa Cruz! Well that's a kids dream in America, I think that this was very exciting for me when I was little (even though my parents also took the car everywhere...) He had asked me many (many) times where and who rides the bus and when I told a friend, she said that her son (the one he has a play date right now) also loves to do this and we set up a trip. We wanted to take the boys for ice-cream and to the beach but the rain took us for pizza and the toy store. Sebastian and Seamus (Benjamin too) had a great time and entertained the other passengers. Sebastian also had fun riding the trolley in Vienna during our last visit and I thing that this will be something we have to do more often now... Sebastian is also in the questioning and why phase and we are trying to find out how many of these questions he really wants to know and who many he asks to keep our attention. One of my biggest challenges so far were "Why do we have to pray at night?" "Where does God live?" "Why do boo-boo's hurt?", after too many "why" (s) I give up and ask him back "Well, why?". Very cute was his curiosity a few weeks ago, when we were driving back from a trip to the beach and were admiring the beautiful sunset "Mami, why does the sun drop into the water?" After trying to explain this phenomenon (well it is going to sleep now and gets ready to get up on the other side of the world..) he said "So she also has to brush her teeth?" - what else is there to say!!!!

Robert has once again (the 3rd time this year) changed jobs within his company and is working together with another company to build a new sales project in the US and Europe. He has to start from scratch, which is really interesting and challenging, just what Robert needed and enjoys. Sales certainly also means travel, and so he is gone anywhere from 1 to 4 nights a week, sometimes nothing at all and if he goes to Europe it could be 7-10 days. In the beginning I had a hard time adjusting to it but now we have made the best of our new situation and also Sebastian is ok with it "Papa has to stay at a hotel tonight", which means he can stay in bed with me all night, and I don't feel so lonely. I guess this is it from us, as always I am glad it did not get to be a 2 or more months report and I did my share. Now it is up to you to write us your news (big, small, irrelevant, funny, sad - whatever) - so that I can get back to you on a personal basis. We / I am looking forward to your mails and send you for today many, many greetings and hugs over the computer

The 4 Schmids and a big lick from Broesel

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