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1/5/2001 10:20:00 PM
Boulder Creek, CA
In the Santa Cruz mountains and the redwood forrest

November - December 2000

Many of you already know that we had been on a 4 week trip to Austria in November (this is why I did not get to write my report) and only came back a few weeks before Christmas ...

Hallo everybody in the New Year!

The German readers were lucky to get the report just the last day of 2000, sorry it took me a bit longer to write to you folks. Robert its playing Ice hockey tonight (just like the night were I wrote the German one... ) and both kids are in bed, I got to pick up the house and finally find time to sit down. So let's get started:

Many of you already know that we had been on a 4 week trip to Austria in November (this is why I did not get to write my report) and only came back a few weeks before Christmas. We had to do our errands for our third and last green card phase (visit at the doctors and a interview at the US consulate) and since it is much faster and easier to do this at your home town we decided to do so. Apparently 90% of the applications in the US come from California and again 90% out of them come from the Bay Area, so you can imagine how slow the system is here. Anyway, we or more or less our lawyers office have applied for this visit to the doctors and consulate early October and we were told that it takes approx. 3-4 months to get an appointment, so we had planned to go back home sometime in the early new year. By the end of October we get the message that we have to be there November 16 and 17, that was quite a surprise and shock, and we certainly were totally unprepared to go home even before the holidays! Luckily Robert was able to take two weeks off and we could have a little vacation out of this.

There were many things left to do before and that kept me quite busy, all the things we had to bring, Christmas presents, warm winter clothes for the boys (we practically had the end of summer here!) etc. Two days before we left I had tickets for "Toy Story on Ice", and I was glad that I had not booked them at a later date because this was a very special "Mommy-Sebastian" event, that we were looking forward to. We already left in the afternoon to go to San Jose and meet our friend Jen and her daughter Hannah (4 ears). We all went out for a nice dinner and enjoyed not having the little ones as well (Jen also has a 20 months old daughter), just like "old times". Sebastian and Hannah have known each other since babies. They both had a great time at the show and Sebastian was very impressed with all the characters (very familiar to him!) on skates! One day before our departure my friend Terry and her kids (Mike 4 and Cheryl 1) came to keep the kids busy while I finished packing and decorating the house, so when we come  back mid December everything would be Christmassy.

On November 10th (exactly 1 day earlier than the year before) we finally left, before that we dropped Broesel at our Austrian friends Huberta and Andy (they have a 6 months old lab, which we will watch when they go away), and off we were! The flight was quite ok and we were lucky to have all 5 middle seats for ourselves, Sebastian and Robert slept on the floor for 4 hours, and for Benjamin I prepared a bed at the very 2 middle seats and he was able to snooze for 5 hours. We had about 3 hours layover in Frankfurt and both boys were very happy and rested. They really managed to get over the jet lag this time without major problems, which isn't that easy going East. Unfortunately our luggage did not make it all the way but after the first disappointed we were quite happy because we did not have to carry it! We were at Robert's dad that afternoon and basically got the most important things, the boys had to sleep one more time in their clothes (what's another 8 hours at a total of  25 hour travel - there was just no space left for extra clothes in the hand luggage...). Finally at midnight all the baggage's came, but for some reason we had to carry it ourselves up to the 4th floor (there is no elevator in Roberts mothers apartment house). I always wonder how his parents (specially his mom) managed to do this without two kids and all the stuff one has all the time, nevertheless we are very grateful that we can stay there, specially now that Roberts mom has moved to her new house in the country (1 hour from Vienna) and we can have all the space for us.

The fist week basically was booked with family visits and our appointments at the doctors and consulate. Everything went well and smooth, and we were happy to receive our official immigration file on Friday. Our friends Hemma and Christoph (who had to go through this process 2 years ago) already prepared us that the doctor was very strict and had a very dry sense of humor, to say the least - and I think it helped to have 2 little children with us! The interview at the consulate was very informal and I think the refugee from Iraq had a harder time, specially since her husband already lived in the US and that seems to be a big risk factor for the US embassy. She also received her immigration file and we all left very happy and ten tons lighter that afternoon (we were the only two interviews that day! - I don't want to know how many they schedule here in the Bay Area!???)  Right afterwards we left for a little family vacation, first we visited our friends Gabi and Walter (Sebastian's god father) in Salzburg for 2 days and then we went on to Tyrol (western part of Austria). On our way there we had a stop over and a big family gathering at my sisters (who lives right in between Salzburg and Tyrol). My aunt from San Diego was also on a 6 week trip to Germany and had planned a visit at my sisters together with my cousin and her family exactly that weekend. Also my other uncle and his wife came, as well as my mom from Vienna, my other sister and her boys from Munich and at the end we were 16 all together! To make it even "worse", our good friends from Munich also came by and the house was full! But it was a one time opportunity to get that many family members together, specially since Barbie and we were in Europe at the same time.

Monday to Thursday we really were by ourselves and it was very relaxing and fun. The kids had some time to spend just with us and did not have to be dragged from one place to the other, falling asleep in "their" beds every night. We also go and stay at the same place, where Roberts father already spent his childhood vacation - it is just wonderful and relaxing. Hilda and Franz spoil us a lot, playing with the kids and cooking wonderful homemade dishes! We also went ice-skating, swimming and Sebastian even one time skiing up on the glacier (there was not enough snow down in the valley). We had a private teacher for 2 hours and even though he had some weak moments in the beginning, he quite enjoyed it later on. We basically wanted to get him prepared for our skiing vacation in February, were he hopefully will join a ski school. We really had some fun family days, but certainly less time in Vienna that way but it was very special since we had not had a real vacation that year and time for ourselves. On our way back on Friday we visited Roberts mother one more time and on Sunday he left back to the US.

I also went back to my mother in law for 2 days, since we don't get to see her in Vienna anymore, that way it is more quality time and I get to do NOTHING at her house, how wonderful! The last week I stayed at my moms and tried to not overbook my time. My mom watched the kids a few times and I actually got to shop by myself, have a ladies night out and a visit to a Vienna Philharmonic concert. The last week turned out different than planned, because Benjamin got sick with 5th disease (3 days of high fever followed by a rash), light bronchitis and a strong cold. So he was pretty out of it and we could not do much anymore but sit around the house (not what I wish for when visiting Vienna and friends!) The doctor recommend to reschedule my flight so we only came back on Saturday instead of Thursday. The flight was pretty ok, considering that we had to get up at 5am! Sebastian was very good and even went to the bathroom himself (about 10 times, since he drank so much!), which helped a lot. We were able to get 2-3 hours sleep in the beginning, giving us enough energy for the next 9 hours! Benjamin is already in the 2 year tantrum phase which sometimes can be very embarrassing, having all the other passengers eyes on you! I always tell myself "What are 11 hours in a life time"....

Needless to say that we were all happy to be back safe and  Robert and Broesel were glad to get some life and noise back into the house! We were able to keep the boys up until 8pm, our friends Maura and Bob came by after a walk in the woods and stayed for dinner,  and that kept them busy and energetic. With this tactic we again were able to get over the jet lag quite quickly and easy. Sebastian unfortunately had a stomach bug the first week and we all had a terrible cold, so we basically stayed at home the first days and it took a week to get everything organized again. We also tried to get into the Christmas spirit with baking cookies, listening to X-mas songs, etc.  Christmas eve day we spent typical Californian at the beach, first we had lunch and than we built sand castles and took a walk along the beach - something for everybody - Broesel also had a great time. In the early evening we did our main celebration and Sebastian was very impressed that the Christ angel  really brought him his knights castle! We also celebrate Santa Claus and before Sebastian went to bed we put a plate with cookies and a glass of milk in front of the fire place. As usually Sebastian climbed into bed with us around 4am and told me with bright and awake eyes, that Santa was here because the cookies are gone!...... Aren't those traditions just worth it!  On Monday we had an Austrian gathering here at our place, our friends Hubert and Andy plus boys and Christoph and Hemma with kids. We all cooked together and prepared a traditional holiday meal (goose, red cabbage, dumplings, etc.) We also went for a walk and Hemma and Co. stayed overnight. The second holiday - here a regular working day again - we took it nice and easy as a family. Luckily Robert was not too busy during this time and was able to take off a bit or worked out of the house. In-between he tried to finish our home theater and we were able to watch our first movie New Years Eve! Before we went down to Santa Cruz, where whole downtown is closed off for a big party (no alcohol and smoking!). They have many different bands and in the afternoon kids shows, magicians, clowns, etc. Again we were by ourselves and really enjoyed being just us! It was great having Robert home so much and the kids got very attached to him. Well the New Year started with Sebastian's birthday and I will tell you more about that in our next report. Thanks to many of you for your holiday greetings per mail, computer or phone - I'll try to get back to you personally within the next weeks.

I am glad that I was able to get this letter out the first week on January and hope that all of you had a great Christmas time and a very good start into 2001! Tell us all about it, we look forward to your replies (don't feel guilty if you don't - no obligation there!). We send many, many dear hugs and kisses to you

The 4 Schmids and zoo

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