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11/25/2001 11:55:00 PM
Boulder Creek, CA
In the Santa Cruz mountains and the redwood forrest

September/October 2001

It is hard to believe that it is already the end of October. Besides all the Halloween stuff there is already Christmas items out on the shelves

Hallo everybody, here are the Schmids again!

I just read my last month report again - how awfully long, sorry! Since there was not that much happening the last weeks (Thank God!) it will be "much" shorter this time, let's hope!

It is hard to believe that it is already the end of October. Besides all the Halloween stuff there is already Christmas items out on the shelves and the other day a clerk said to me, while joking around, next year they are going to put up the Christmas lights right after 4th of July.... could very well be?!? Nevertheless we are still in the fall mood and far away from Santa. Today we had our first drizzling rain, in time for Halloween, but had a wonderful and warm October, specially right in the beginning when we went on our vacation (the first weekend it even had close to a 100 degrees down in San Diego!)

Since the weeks after September 11th stayed fairly calm we went on our well deserved vacation. We decided to take the car for a family-hotel-camping trip - first to Temecula (1 hour north of San Diego) to Barbie and Jimmy, then Santa Barbara and at the end Big Sur. We left Friday (9/28) afternoon at around 3pm took advantage of the boys nap time, after a couple hours of entertaining with books, colors, tapes we stopped for dinner and then we took off once again for a few hours while they were sleeping to arrive in Temecula at 11.30pm. It went really smooth and we only had a few whining moments - the first one right after we left the house (not even being on the next road) Sebastian asked "When are we going to be there?", and once we explained to him that he will be falling asleep tonight in the car, he understood and was satisfied. We also included a few stops along the way to stretch and break the long drive. After about 2 1/2 hours we realized that we forgot the bag with the kids clothes (shoes and jackets were in a different one) and after a few seconds we decided it would not be worth turning around. So the first thing I did on Saturday was to go shopping (luckily everybody had summer sale) and doing laundry (the least I had in mind)... How fortunate that our first stop was at Barbie and Jimmy, much easier than at a hotel!

We took it very easy, spend a lot of time at their house, Robert went paragliding and on Sunday we all went to Legoland. My cousin Barbara an her daughter Lara (6) - the next family members moving to the US from good old Europe - also joined us. The boys and I already went in April but Sebastian is such a Lego fan that he could go everyday, he also remembered it quite well. He again had a wonderful time and was much more into doing all the different rides, Benjamin seemed to enjoy it a lot more this time and went along wherever big brother went... It really is amazing to see everything built out of those little Lego pieces - also Robert had a great time and was very impressed by it all. On Tuesday we left for Santa Barbara, we had planned to go there for a while since it  had been 13 years that we were there last. We stayed for 3 nights at a nice hotel right at the beach, where we could enjoy the last few days of summer. We also visited the Zoo, rented a Rickshaws (I don't know the English term - it's a bike on 4 wheels, the photo will explain) - which brought back childhood memories for me being in Italy with my parents every summer... - riding along the beach at sunset and had fabulous meals fresh from the sea! From there we left along Highway # 1 north, and were very lucky to find a camping spot right before it got dark. Everything was booked out due to the Jade Festival but with the help of a park ranger we were able to hook up with a group of hang gliders from LA. It was absolutely perfect since they were all well equipped and we only had the most necessary items with us. Sebastian had been asking to go camping for the last months and since our car is big enough we took the basic stuff along (tent, sleeping bags, toilet paper and flash light). I am glad we did this part of the trip at the end because we all (including the car) were so dirty - there was no shower at the campground - that we needed a bath badly! Robert was able to join the group and go paragliding both days with wonderful views of the Californian coastline - yours to enjoy too!

Once back home we jumped right back to our "normal" routine - Robert had to leave right next day for a new project on the other side of the bay and has been working there since. It is a 2 hour drive each way and having a lot of early morning meetings and evening dinners with the client it is not worth coming home, which was quite a big change for all of us. The kids are finally adjusting to it  and come Friday afternoon they are very excited and running around like crazy when Robert is home. The last couple of weekends we kept busy in the garden, getting it ready for winter, planting a few new plants and fruit trees (in a few years I'll be able to cook my own apricot jam...!), extend our irrigation system,.... We hope that next year we can enjoy the garden and pond without too many big projects.

Sebastian is in pre-school Mon-Wed-Fri from 9am to 1pm and also has lunch there, Wednesday he stays for nap and I can pick him up between 3pm and 6pm. That is quite nice, so that I can do things that are difficult to do with both boys or just to catch up on things at home and with Benjamin. His music class started again on Monday mornings and even though shy in the beginning he now enjoys it a lot, just like gymnastic they both go to on Tuesday mornings.

The last couple of weeks we had to skip a few classes because the boys were sick on  and off, just a few days at a time, but always when we had something planned. One week we also got to experience every mothers biggest "school" fear - HEAD LICE! I was absolutely shocked, I never had them, I never knew anybody who had them and I was totally overwhelmed with the situation. After a few good advice from friends, a trip to the pharmacy store I  got it under control and are glad that we  got rid of them the first time round! The only thing that had to go was Sebastian's hair - once I saw how little the comb is you have to use I knew that there was no chance to do it with him (he doesn't even want me to use a brush). He looks totally different and even more like Robert, he even admits it now. So I was busy washing everything in the house - beds, towels, clothes, car seats, pre-school nap bag,.... all the stuffed animals had to be bagged up for two weeks, couches needed to be cleaned - WHAT A PROJECT! We were lucky that none of us got it as well and I will make sure to check their hair more carefully now (specially after school breaks)!

Tomorrow is Halloween and Sebastian is already very excited, they will be Buzz Lightyear and Woody from the movie Toy Story - what a team! Boulder Creek has a special celebration, since most houses are farther away, they close the main street and the stores give out the treats. It is one big costume party and always a lot of fun. That means October is over, it is not far to Christmas and Sebastian is counting the days to his birthday...!

We hope you are all doing well and with my computer working and running again, please send me your news we love to hear from you!

Lots of hugs and greetings

Yours the 4 Schmids and zoo.

PS Benjamin had his 2 year check-up 2 weeks ago and he is still under the 5% rate in weight and at 25% in height. No wonder, since he hardly eats anything... the doctor is not terribly concerned since he is developing like a "normal" 2 year old - climbing everything, opening doors, talking,... Sometimes I underestimate this little guy, but he is one kind of a self dependent rascal. I can see that he will initiate a lot of silly tricks with Sebastian, being the "innocent" one at the end. He is quite a talking machine (German and English) and I think much better to understand than Sebastian was at that age. Sometimes I have a hard time but Sebastian will easily translate for me - how could I know that "numb" is "balloon"? He is a perfect 2 year toddler with big tantrums and his own mind... With Sebastian I still could/can reason things but if Benjamin has his mind set up there is NO way around it. Robert is always very amused by it, since we both (Benjamin and I) are so stubborn...!

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