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5/15/2000 5:20:00 PM
Boulder Creek, CA
In the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Redwood Forrest

March/April 2000

The probably most important (or shocking) news are, that Robert got his hair cut totally short AND dyed light blond!!!

Hi everybody

First I have to apologize to you "English" readers, you always get the report even a couple of days later than the German ones.... sorry. My good intentions to be on time with my report didn't last very long.... but I hope you can overlook my delays and are happy to hear from us at all, even a bit later. April was pretty busy with my moms visit and I actually  thought I would be able to write this mail, but the few hours we had by ourselves in the evening were more important at the end. We were gone last week (more about our vacation later) so I couldn't get it done either and then it took me 5 days again to finally find time to sit down and translate the German original for all of you, but before it gets to be a 3 months report again lets get started..!

Looking at my calendar I have to say that March was pretty quiet and that there is not much I can tell you about. The probably most important (or shocking) news are, that Robert got his hair cut totally short AND dyed light blond!!! This is no joke, the long brown hair is gone (it used to be his trade mark within his company: "Robert Schmid, who is that?' "The guy with the ponytail.",  they did not know him any different) His hair had gotten pretty bad and he wanted to get a change for some time now. For those who watch "Ally McBeal" know that "Billy" gave him a good example (he doesn't have the black dressed women clan following him - I think/hope...) First it was a bit of a shock, because he looks SO different, but by now I really like it and he gets a lot of positive reactions. The first one came from Sebastian (who went with him to the hairdresser) and when she was done dying it the first time (his hair is too dark just to color it) he said;" Papa, now you've got yellow hair...!", it took a while for him to understand that this should actually be blond!

The end of March Robert went back to Austria (actually on the same day my mom arrived) for 5 days - to shock his family...! No not really, but they didn't know about his change either, but the reason was his dads wedding. It doesn't happen too often, that you can attend your own dads wedding, and since it was only a very small ceremony (they did not even announce it before) it would have been sad for his dad not to have both sons there. It was quite short notice for us as well, only for a couple of days and my mom came at the same time, so we decided that the kids and I would stay back. Robert enjoyed the "120" hours and got very little sleep. Right after his arrival on Friday he met his friend Markus for a drink - Saturday they (Roberts brother and girlfriend) left for Styria (that's were the wedding took place) - at night he went on to Villach (another 3 hours) to visit our friends Ritchie and Nina, whom we couldn't see during our fall visit because of illness - on Sunday he went back to Vienna - Monday he surprised his mother and grandmother and spent a day with them - in the evening he met a few close friends - and on Tuesday morning he headed back to the US!  He had a busy but great time and was happy to be there for his fathers "big day".

In the meantime my mom and I enjoyed a quiet and relaxed first weekend alone with the kids and she got to get acquainted with the Schmid's Hittn. We had gorgeous weather  and were running around in bathing suits all day. Unfortunately the sun and warm weather did not stay too long and the rain came back. So we kept the weeks with my mom relaxed and easy, it had been her 5th time here anyways so we covered the major sightseeing programs and extensive shopping trips to the malls already. We spent a lot of time at home and in the garden, a few times at the beach in Santa Cruz and short trips around the area. The 3rd weekend she and a friends au-pair girl watched the kids and Robert and I flew to Las Vegas! - A DREAM! Our last weekend together was about a year ago, I was pregnant and we were in the middle of building the house! So this time we could enjoy it much more and had a great time. We met our friends Melissa and Mark from Chicago, stayed at the new and beautiful Bellagio Hotel, had excellent dinners (these restaurants didn't even carry any highchairs...!), left our watch at home and did not care about any daily routines. On Saturday night we saw the Cirque du Soleil show "Mystere", a superb performance of art and "body movements", a must to see! At home everything went well, the kids did not miss us a bit and grandma had a wonderful time alone with her boys, and with Irenes help managed to keep everything under control, also our third "child" - the dog. Broesel has grown a lot (twice the the size from when we got her) and has eased out a lot, even though she still has her crazy moments.  She finally is house broken and probably weighs by now 50lbs. Once we have less visitors we will take her to the obedience class, so that she will learn more than just "sit", "down" and "leave it"...

One week before Easter my aunt Barbie came and for the Easter weekend also my uncle Jim. We again had a relaxed time, Robert and I took advantage of our babysitters and went out a few times. For Easter we met our Austrian friends Hemma and Christoph, Cathrine and Paul (from Australia) for brunch at the close by Brookdale lodge, a former High Society "hangout" in the 1930's, it could need a good dusting but the unique thing is, that the river runs through the restaurant and the tables are placed right on its banks, you can actually feed the trouts! Afterwards they all came to our place and we did a Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, enjoyed a few warm sunny moments and had a good time together. Well, and on Monday my mom, aunt and uncle flew to San Diego. The 3 weeks went by so fast and Sebastian was really sad to see his grandma leave. It was a nice time and I certainly enjoyed all the help with the kids, household, etc, Sebastian the extra attention and Benjamin to be carried around again..!

The break was only short, because on Thursday night Roberts father, Katherina, Werner and Elli (his brother and girlfriend, for those who wonder) came. Friday we took it easy and in the afternoon we picked up "our" motor home, which we took out for a week together. We originally planned to visit Yosemite and Sequoia National Park, but we liked Yosemite so much that we extended our time there. We took an open air tram tour and got acquainted with the area, went for a hike up to one of the waterfalls, a bike tour through the valley and on our last day a visit to the giant Sequoia trees at the Mariposa Grove (up to 3000 years old and 300ft. tall!) On Friday we split up with the four in Fresno, they went on for a roundtrip and came back today and we made one more stop  at a nice reservoir, before we brought the camper back on Saturday. It was a really nice week, and even though a few friends thought we were crazy to have only one motor home for so many people, it went surprisingly well. It certainly wasn't very spacious and we were lucky to have nice weather, but it is really was ok for a week. The only down side was, that Benjamin got pretty sick (constantly runny nose, bad cough and fever) and whined the whole time. Nevertheless we did all our things but it was a bit more stress for me/us than expected, specially the nights... So we took him to the doctors when we came back (our trip to the hospital in Yosemite wasn't very successful since he did not keep his medicine), and it turned out that both kids had an ear infection on both ears. Sebastian had not complained once about an ear ache and Benjamin unfortunately cannot speak yet, that would have made things easier (he did not pull on his ears either, a typical sign for it). The rest of the weekend we took it easy and the kids enjoy being in their own beds again, taking 2-3 hour naps! We really liked living in a motor home and decided to plan 1-2 trips per year, a perfect way to travel with kids.

Well, that basically was the most important news from the Schmids. I am always happy and relieved when I accomplished writing to you and to document it also for our own memories. Enclosed also a family picture and for those who don't believe it: It is Robert! We are looking forward to some replies from you and send you for today many, many dear greetings and hugs from Boulder Creek

The 4 Schmids and Broesel (unfortunately not on the picture)

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