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11/18/2005 5:00:00 PM
San Diego, CA
Shelter Island, Kona Marina

Good old Austria...

We've been back for more than 6 weeks from our trip to Austria and are only a few weeks away from finally starting in our adventure.

Hallo everybody,

We've been back for more than 6 weeks from our trip to Austria and are only a few weeks away from finally starting in our adventure. For the ones who usually don't read past the first few paragraphs I would like to post our information about future contact addresses right now so you don't miss them...

Regular snail mail, which will be forwarded to us every few weeks/month:

PMB 502 88005 Overseas Hwy #9 Islamorada, FL 33036

Our cell phones will be disconnected around the 3rd of December but you can reach us via the computer and the phone program Skype as follows:

1. For free directly over the internet, as long as we have WiFi, which we hope to have at some anchorages. Both parties have to have the Skype program installed and we are ready to talk! Our Skype ID's are: roberteschmid and nikischmid

2. You can call us at the following telephone numbersn via Skype, again as long as we have Internet connection we'll be able to talk but you can also leave a message which we can receive later on.

Robert  +1 (408) 228-4920 Niki    +1 (408) 228-4910

Email will work as usual, mails will be forwarded automatically through our Hamradio, the only thing we cannot receive are attachments, those we'll have to pick up once we have internet connection. Both e-mail addresses will work robert@lawur.com / robert@theschmids.org - niki@lawur.com / niki@theschmids.org and the same for Sebastian)

Well now, let's proceed to the actual report:

As mentioned in my last mail we were visiting back in Austria for 3 weeks in September. It was a great trip and we all had fun with family, friends, beautiful landscape and delicious cuisine. It was nice to see that many of the places, houses and people (besides grandparents) were familiar to the boys and specially Sebastian could remember a lot from our last trips. Benjamin learned lots more German this time and can easily translate from English into German now.

We actually only spent a day in Vienna (which we spent at the Prater, the big amusement park, the kids favorite attraction!) before we took a little Austria roundtrip. We started at Robert's mom in Aggsbach (Danube Valley), continued to Tyrol where the 4 of us spent 4 family days at the same place that Robert's father already was when he was a child - so we basically are bringing the 3rd generation there. We did a few hikes - one of them almost 6 hours (3 1/2 up and 2 1/2 down), and the boys didn't even whinch once. We were very impressed specially since we do not go off on long walks or hikes very often (which will change now with having no car!). We entertained them in-between with games, picking blueberries and ice cream at the middle station. One day we went to the farmers museum to see a bit of historical and local architecture and life in "old times". Sebastian's still talks about Hilda's good cooking, and I don't think I have seen Benjamin eat that much, ever!

Afterwards we visited our friends Gabi and Walter (Sebastian's godfather) in Salzburg for 2 days. We had 2 relaxing days with a lot of chatting, good food (Walter's venison "trophy") and fun shooting with the Bibi gun in the garden. Ferdi - their 15 year old son - showed the boys how to make baking powder bombs with a little plastic egg, which was a big hit and we showed it to many others (much to all the mother's and Opa's joy!). Babsi - the 13 year old daughter - took them out for a ride on "her" horse, which specially Sebastian enjoyed a lot. On our way back to Vienna we spent a day with my sisters. Christiane had moved a few years ago from Munich to Chiemsee (which is only 1/2 hour from the Austrian border) and opened a small boutique with her partner, that I haven't see before. Ines came with my nephews  - Alexander 20 and Dominik 17, who had just visited us in August for 3 weeks - from Munich. The 4 boys played soccer all day and despite the big age difference the 4 cousins had great fun together. Even though it only was a day it was wonderful to see everybody and catch up on news personally. The next 2 days we went back to Robert's mom and unfortunately they were the only 2 raining ones during our trip, but we cuddled up in her cozy house in front of the wood burning stove and relaxed.

Back in Vienna for the last 10 days we were busy as always - a few shopping trips, strolls in old town, an afternoon at the circus, and a visit to the famous Hotel Sacher for the original chocolate cake, Sebastian's favorite which he had probably 10 of during our whole stay. Both boys also went back to spend 2 days at Robert's old elementary school. Sebastian already was there 2 years ago and since Robert's teacher and her class (now a 4th grade) also enjoyed it a lot they were able to go there again - sort of a tradtion, at least until Fritzi retires... Sebastian gave a little slide show and presentation of our whereabouts, the boat and life on it. He talked a bit English with the kids and I was amazed how calm he was and had no problem talking in front of 28 children that he did not really know.

On October 4th Robert's father had 60th birthday which we spent all day with him. We drove around Vienna passing by all the places he grew up, lived and were important to his life, which basically brought us through all of the city - a nice tour. We ended at his little garden, that already belonged to his mother. Robert and Werner (Robert's brother) had installed a sprinkler system the week before and we totally surprised him with it. In the evening we all (Ernst, Katharina, Werner, Elli and the 4 of us) went to a ice-hockey game of the Vienna Capitals and the Salburg Red Bull team. It was a very exciting game and we wondered how much tip Katharina had to pay for this special birthday treat.... Both brothers had played ice-hockey since they were 7 and it had always been a big family sport with the Schmids. The Saturday after they had a nice party for him with a few friends and family.

Two days later we headed back to the US, feeling very happy to have spent so much time with family, experience so many different things and bring Austria and the culture even a bit closer again for the boys.

We did not even spent 24 hours in San Diego before we took off for Mexico (with the plane not the boat!). We had booked this "marathon tour" already in March and even though on our way back we were wondering "why?", we were so happy we did. Christoph and Hemma (our Austrian friends from the Bay Area) both celebrated their 40th birthday this year and invited 7 family friends with/without kids to Puerto Vallarta/Mexico. They had spent a few vacations at the same resort (www.beachfrontmexico.com - pictures of the complex) and really like it. It is a small 7 unit villa/studio resort with its own pool, beach access - ideal for such an event. We were 10 adults and 12 kids from 5-11, who got along just marvelous. We basically spent the day doing nothing (contrast program to Austria!) getting over the jetlag much better than attending to boat work in San Diego. The kids spent the whole day either at the pool, boogie boarding, playing gameboy or watching a movie. On Saturday we had a big birthday bash for them with a 12 piece mariachi band, wonderful food and lots of laughter. Most everybody left on Sunday and we all knew that these were special days to have had together - maybe to be repeated in 10 years...?!

Now we've been back for a few weeks getting the boat ready for us to leave soon. Robert had installed a new refrigerator system, at the moment he is trying hard to get the water maker in (reverse osmoses to make sweetwater from saltwater). It all takes as usual a bit more time than expected, but they both are a great addition and luxury for us and Lawur. In-between there are 1000 of little things to do - getting shots, stock up on food (like they have nothing to buy in Mexico...), sort out the boys school stuff, the list goes on and on but we have accomplished quite a bit already and hope to head out of here at the end of the month.

We also want to see a lot of friends, so that keeps us busy with a dinner here, a visit there and lots of good bys.... Well that's how it goes - but I am certain that this is part of our life and that we would not want to miss anybody that we have met during all of our moves. Each one is a mosaik piece in our painting and an important part to us. One of it are our friends Bonnie and Julie whom we have gotten to know very well over the last year. They gave me "A day with them" for my birthday which I was finally able to trade in last week. We spent at the museums in Balboa park, one of my favorite places in San Diego. Dined at great restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner, had wonderful chats and even better laughs - what a treat! Robert watched the 4 boys, enjoying another sleepover with Griffin and Phoenix. Today we had our last cooking class with Ted, Palin and Kaitaia. We had put a menu together for them (carot cream soup, bread - store bought this time, cheese and homemade chocolate pudding with raspberries and whipped cream). They had to put together the shopping list, do the grocery shopping and cook by themselves except at the stove, where we assisted them making sure they and food did not get burned... In the evening Robert and Tanya - Ted's wife - joined us and we all had dinner together. The kids also set the table with candles, flowers, menu and name cards - perfect! At the end Ted and I presented them each their first own cooking spoon, which they were thrilled with - it was a nice ceremony for our successful 9 months of cooking class. .  On November 5th we had our farewell party, just like in Santa Cruz - with a pig on the spit, a big jumping/sliding castle, a few hours of sail and a bonfire at the beach in the evening. Melissa, Maura's daughter, came down from the Bay Area for 3 days and it was wonderful to have her here (as a representative for our friends up there) for this event and to see her again. It was exciting to have so many friends come that have been such a big part of our journey and stay in San Diego and even though it is very, very hard to say good bye again it is wonderful to have them all in our lives - well and who knows maybe some of them will come and visit us here or there?

It looks like that our friend Frank will join us for a few weeks going down the Baja California. He had wanted to come and visit us again before we leave and since he came with us from Santa Cruz to San Diego we all thought it might be nice if he would come again, for nostalgic reasons. He is such a great guy and easy to have, so we are definitely looking forward to seeing and having him around. Two weeks ago we met a very nice cruising family at the marina pool and to make a long story short we spent the next 5 days together finding out all these similarities between us. We were able to pursue them to stay for our farewell party, which they did. Lisa and Bruce, the parents and their two boys Tristan 10 and Matthew 7, left in July from Washington, are heading down to Mexico now and will cross the Pacific in spring, go to all the islands and then on to New Zealand (exactly our route, except that we would like to get to Australia afterwards)... They are also on their first long journey and even though they are a bit ahead of us we hope to catch up with them soon again and share some or our adventures and memories together. You can read about them on their cool webpage www.ohanakai.net

We are very much focusing on getting everything ready, being very ready ourselves for all the new steps ahead of us. Even though Benjamin keeps claiming that he doesn't want to go sailing he is looking forward to swimming in warm waters, go snorkeling, boogie boarding and fish  for dinner... When Tristan and Matthew left a week ago Sebastian asked if we could leave earlier! With this said we hope to send our next report from Mexican waters and send big hugs today,

TheSchmids - Niki, Robert, Sebastian and Benjamin

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