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6/23/2004 2:15:00 AM
San Diego, CA
Life as usual

Life as usual

Our life in San Diego has settled into a nice routine and we just agreed a few days ago that San Diego is the ideal place to extend a year before our adventure.

For those who do not want to read the whole report but would like to see new pictures, check out the 3 new albums at www.lawur.com - Have fun!

A wonderful good morning to all of you!

Here is a life sign from the Schmids again. I guess it is time to write again, since I got a few mails lately with questions how we are and what we are doing. The weeks and months just zip by like crazy (maybe it's got to do with ageing...?) and it is hard to believe that we have been here for more than half a year already!

The last time you heard from us was with Robert's race report, well and that was sort of the highlight of the last few months. Our life in San Diego has settled into a nice routine and we just agreed a few days ago that San Diego is the ideal place to extend a year before our adventure. The possibilities and places to see here are incredible and we are taking full advantage of them. I concentrated on our home schooling schedule and found a good rhythm for Sebastian. The last few months we have been doing 3-4 times a week for about 2-3 hours a day. The nice thing is that we still can stay in bed longer, start the day with big cuddles and tickles, do school in our pajamas and are very flexible around it. Sebastian caught up a lot, is reading nicely, does well in math and is proud to see the results we both get from it. Just a few days ago he said to me "Even with just 3 days of school I learned a lot!" Benjamin still only joins when he is in the mood and I don't pressure him. He also is doing well tough in writing letters, counting and doing easy math examples. I can also tell that he is learning subconsciously by listening to Sebastian's lessons while playing. By fall I'll start a Kindergarten program with him and a bit more of a routine.

The rest of the time we do a lot of field trips which I really don't want to bore you with. Just for my own memory and the boys later on I want to list a few of them, not counting our many park and beach trips... * Old town San Diego - rebuilt old buildings on the original grounds, saloons, bank, hotels, Spanish haciendas,... * Maritime Museum - 4 old ships, one a steam ferry from San Francisco, an old power cruiser from the 1930's, the original boat from the movie "Master and Commander" and the "Star of India", an old tall ship that brought the first immigrants to Australia * Balboa Park and its many museums - the Aerospace, Car, Sports and Museum of Man (the beginning of mankind and Egyptian museum), the Science Museum and Imax theater (Australia!) and many more that we haven't done yet * Point Loma - the most western point of San Diego and sight of the first explorers in 1452, the lighthouse and tide pools (with many crabs, barnacles, sea slugs, etc.) * Sea world, the Zoo (one of the finest ones!), Wild Animal Park and Legoland, all those we have visited already in December but are definitely worth many trips back. For Seaworld we even have a membership since it is only 10 minutes away from us and we all have a lot of fun there. As of June 19th they even have a firework every night! Yippee! So it was just appropriate to celebrate my birthday there with a nice dinner and all the new night shows. Thanks to many of you for your wishes per phone, mail and postal mail, I loved it!

Both boys also continue with soccer and Benjamin graduated to the big league (5-6 years) now, even tough he is still 4. He is quite talented, a very fast runner and kicks like crazy. He has attended two sessions of the Pee Wee league (3-4 years) and his coach agreed that he would be bored for another season and signed him off with the big kids. You can imagine how proud he is, and now we can attend 2 soccer games at the YMCA each Saturday....

Four weeks ago Robert started back in San Jose with his old client. The project is planned until late fall and that was a good re-start and perfect timing for our plans. I get asked a lot how I am doing by myself on the boat, and I have to say it is no problem at all. We have had this situation a lot in our relationship (by the way, we've had our 17th "dating" anniversary on May 24th!) that he had to work out of town, so it is not that new for me. The boys and I really like the boat (which makes it a lot easier) and I am happy to be in such a nice and secure marina. The days go by so fast that we hardly have time to miss him. I guess one needs to make the best out of each situation and we all seem to manage that quite well.

In July I plan to go up to the Bay Area myself, to join Maura, Bob and their family as well as Broesel (very important for the boys) for their annual camping trip. I want to spend some time before and after there to see other friends and help with the preparations. So it works out very well that he is up there and we can combine all of it. Another thing over the summer/fall will be a big boat project. We noticed this winter how much worse our deck has gotten and that we need to renovate it completely. The old teak deck has to come off and will be replaced by a new PVC teak imitation. Robert has done his research already, checked web pages, talked to people and is on a mission again! You know him, once he gets going he goes, so I am sure you'll hear more about it in our next reports.

The last few months we also made some nice connections and extended our "social life" in San Diego a little, besides our "old friends" Sonja and Tommy (he studied with Robert in Leoben) as well as Barbie, Jimmy and my cousins. Life on the dock has gotten busier too and we have befriended our next boat neighbors (they live in San Diego, but not on the boat and have a 9 year old son Keenan) and the ones from across (family from Texas, grandparents, their 2 sons - our age - plus granddaughter Brynne, 6 - they come every 3-4 weeks for about 5 days). The boys love the kids contact and there is always something going on, also with some visitors from the Bay Area.

Well, that about wraps it up, and even though nothing extraordinary has happened you are up to date again and I can cross it off my "To Do" list. It is not easy to get my act together and write it, but it keeps me going. Attached a few pictures, and thanks to our new camera we also have posted a few new albums on the web page www.lawur.com, go check it out!

Maybe next time I'll be able to write sooner again so that the mails don't get THAT long... With that being said, so "long"

Hugs and kisses The 4 Schmids Niki, Robert, Sebastian und Benjamin

Two brothers holding on...

Two brothers again...

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