some sun on some snow

Posted on January 31, 2012 by kerths

early blooming shade perennial

Posted on January 25, 2012 by kerths

It’s cold outside and foggy and no sun and not nice and it’s still January…..But there is this Helleborus (lenten rose) blooming in front of our door. Too nice!

pink

Posted on January 24, 2012 by kerths

tiny writer’s block

Posted on January 20, 2012 by kerths

…but pictures are easy!

Is this already spring? Hope so!!!

Do you see the pink Queen? She is THE solar queen and she waves with a subtle twist of the wrist. An awesome birthday gift!

This is one of my birthday gifts. Steffen thinks it looks like a huge insect. Marlon loves it and wants one for his birthday too. Maybe he will get mine and I will try to find one which we all like…

the party can start

Posted on January 14, 2012 by kerths

still 29 (plus something…)

Posted on January 14, 2012 by kerths

This is the newest picture from our former neighbor’s house.

Copy from our old blog!

Donnerstag, 28. Juli 2011

hinterer Nachbar baut an VI und letztes Foto

Wer den spannenden Umbau bei unserem Nachbarn mitverfolgen möchte bekommt hier ein neues Foto!

Mitte Mai

Mitte Juni

22.6. morgens

22.6. nachmittags

27.6.

6. Juli

13. Juli

14. Juli

Heute 28. Juli 2011

Das ist enttäuschend. In 2 Wochen ist kaum was passiert. Zumindest äußerlich! Schaffen tun sie nämlich täglich. Wohl der feine Innenausbau! Der Grund, daß ich dieses Foto trotzdem veröffentliche, ist, daß es das letzte ist. Morgen ziehen wir hier aus und dann kann ich nimmer über den Zaun glotzen. Wir werden für die letzten 4 Nächte zu einer Freundin umziehen, die selber grad in Deutschland Urlaub macht und uns ihr Haus zur Verfügung stellt. Danke nochmals hiermit! Morgen wird nämlich die Luftfracht (50kg pro Person!) und das Auto abgeholt. Dann müßten wir ins Hotel oder direkt ausfliegen. Beides wollten wir nicht und so ist dies jetzt die ideale Lösung! Wir haben aber fest vor nächsten Sommer auf Urlaub her zu kommen und dann knips ich wieder über den Zaun! Ihr werdet staunen!!!

December 2011

This is the newest picture from our former neighbor’s house. The next and I think final one will follow in July 2012!

Winter vacation in Jersey and New York, part 2

Posted on January 10, 2012 by kerths

Day 7, 12/28: Trixi had a play date at Casey’s house from 10:30am-4:00pm, Marlon spent the day with Ethan and stayed with the Mannings over night. Steffen and I went to an Indian restaurant for lunch and after that to the Menlo Park Mall but there we received a call from Kim: Jake hurt himself on their trampoline, got sick, went to bed. So we rushed home (a 30 minutes ride) just to hear from him that he was feeling much better again. He was dizzy and saw stars but now he was fine again! At 6:30pm we were invited to Stefanie B’s. who was very pregnant. Trixi and her sons had a lot of fun and we too!

Day 8, 12/29: After the play date with Casey went so well yesterday Trixi had a sleep-over with her today. The problem was that Casey and her family were in the City for a show and lunch and couldn’t be back before 5:00pm. But we had already reserved a table at the Blue Hill restaurant at 6:30pm and that was a little tight. Getting into THE City takes sometimes a while and we wanted to spend some time in THE City before dinner….So we dropped off Trixi at the Sherry’s house at 1:00pm and there she had a play date with “baby” Oliver (he turned 3 in November!). At 5:00pm Casey’s mom picked her up and everybody was happy!

I know Steffen doesn’t look that happy on this picture but he was! It was just a little too cold.

The food was great at The Blue Hill. This night Jake had to walk and feed Jagger.

Day 9, 12/30: I picked up Trixi at 10:15am from the sleep-over at Casey’s house and dropped her off at 10:30 for a play date at Martha’s house. There she stayed till 5:45pm. Again: everybody happy! In the meanwhile we took ALL the boys to the Roosevelt Park Family Ice Skating Rink and after that into the Menlo Park Mall.

We had to wait for a whole hour for a table at the Cheesecake Factory. Crazy popular!

After that we spent some time at Brookstone and in the apple store.

This night we moved to a new house. The Butera’s were back and we stayed at the Koglin’s place where we had delicious Cocktails after dinner….Here you can see Trixi, Linus, Steffen and Ann-Sophie with the Wii.

Day 10, 12/31: The Americans are usually not the big New-Years-Eve-Party-People. In the two past years we had parties at our house and nobody was allowed to leave before midnight (some did it still!!!) but this year we had no own house and so we decided to party with some other Germans. There was one party at the Mies’ house near Princeton but our kids wanted to stay with their friends in Westfield. So we celebrated New Years Eve for the first time without our children (Trixi is just 8!). Marlon was very lucky and went with the Sherry’s to a Devils game again! This time they had seats in the very first row! They played the Pittsburgh Penguins and won 3:1.

Day 11, 1/1/12: HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

Our final move to the Sherry’s house. We are lucky that the renovation is over (took them nearly 1.5 years!) and we got a great guest room!

Trixi went for another play date to Martha and we bought the best steaks at Wegmans for a winter BBQ at the Butera’s house

Trixi had a lot of fun at the Sherry’s house with Maddy and Truly. Here Maddy feeds Truly scrambled eggs with chop sticks!

Day 12, 1/2/12: lazy day. During the day we visited our former neighbors from our first house in Westfield: Donna and Neville. And for dinner we went with the Mannings and Kudlas to Hibachi at Fujiyama Mama Day 13, 1/3/12: First day of school for the Westfield kids. We picked up Jake at the Manning’s house at 8:30am, drove to Jersey City, took the PATH into THE City and arrived at the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center at 10:00am. We had tickets for 10:30am but it was ok to be early because it seemed to take for ever to get through all the security checks! The museum is not opened yet but the two pools are impressive enough!The names of the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 terrorist attacks are inscribed on bronze panels lining the two pools. Waterfalls cascade down all four sides of each pool, creating a special place for remembrance and reflection.

Swamp white oak, Quercus bicolor were chosen because of their stately appearance, durability, and full foliage in the fall. The leaf color ranges from amber to a golden brown.

In between all the oaks is one pear tree. I didn’t take a picture because it’s not so great without leaves…This Callery pear tree (Pyrus calleryana) became known as the “Survivor Tree” after sustaining extensive damage yet enduring through the September 11, 2001 terror attacks at the World Trade Center. In October 2001, the tree with burned branches, snapped roots and a blackened trunk was discovered and removed from the piles of smoldering rubble of the World Trade Center. It recovered in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx under the care of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The tree was returned to the Memorial site in 2010.

Can you really call this a lawn?

The two pools are the footprints of the former North (1 WTC) and South tower (2 WTC). On these two maps you can see that pretty well.

After the memorial visit we took the subway to Chelsea Market to have lunch. It was a really cold day!

I went for a half hour walk onto the highline after lunch. Love it! The others got crêpes at the Bar Suzette and went into the apple store.

We were back in Westfield at 3:00pm because the kids didn’t wanna miss one minute with their friends. We dropped off Trixi at Mackenzie’s house for a play date, Jake at Jack’s house and Marlon and us at the Sherry’s house. For dinner we went with the Sherry’s (just the grown-ups!) to the Taormina, a nice Italian restaurant in Kenilworth. Here I finally got my Cosmo!

Day 14, 1/4/12: School day for Trixi! I drove her to Ellie’s house at 8:15am and the girls went together to school, had a play date after school and Trixi was brought home at 7:00pm. Jake got a really short hair cut at Supercuts and then we went once more to the Menlo Mall. We had to get books for the Christmas gift cards from Barnes & Noble, some t-shirts, sweaters and sweatpants from Abercrombie & Fitch and lunch at the Cheesecake factory. Then we dropped off the boys at their friends’ houses and went on into THE City. Our first stop was the Guggenheim Museum with a great exhibition from Maurizio Cattelan.

Then we walked Madison Ave from 88th Street down to 59th street and here you can see the pretty window of a butcher store on Madison Ave. Lobel’s. It was a tiny shop and I counted 9 butchers working there at the same time.WOW!

To get in contact in person:
When in New York City, visit us at Lobel’s Prime Meats at 1096 Madison Avenue (at 82nd Street). Our store hours in New York City are:
January–June: Monday–Saturday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m.
July–August: Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m.
September–December: Monday–Saturday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m.

Finally we had dinner at the restaurant Marea. Great!

Day 15, 1/5/12: In the morning we visited baby Theo who was already 3 days old and his mom Stefanie B. Unbelievable how small they are at the very beginning! Steffen and the kids just enjoyed themselves and I met two more friends. Hala for breakfast and Karen F. for lunch.

Sydney had had the great idea to invite some friends of Marlon over for a pizza party at her house. 10 boys were able to make it and arrived after school at 3:00pm. First they played football outside, had pizza outside, went into the basement to play and went outside again as it became dark to play men hunt.

Steffen enjoyed the open fire outside the most!

At 7:00pm the boys went home and we went with the Mannings and Mark to Chipotle for our last dinner. That’s a great Mexican fast food place!Trixi, Ethan and Marlon enjoyed their Burritos.

Jake was not happy about leaving tomorrow….

After dinner we stopped at the Buteras’s house to have a beer and say good-bye. Sad!

Day 16, 1/6/12, last day: Jake’s friend Mark didn’t feel like going to school today and spent the day with Jake. Steffen and I visited Susan in her new house and were really impressed! For our last lunch I took the boys and Mark and Trixi to Five guys to have a great burger. After that we had to pack, say good-bye and left Westfield at 4:30pm.

Last sunset at the Newark airport!

Those two weeks were great. Sometimes it didn’t feel like being on vacation. It was just like being back home. We felt so welcomed everywhere and had a lot of fun. Thank you to everybody! It’s hard to adjust again in old Germany. We weren’t even done with adjusting before we left for the winter break. There is still a lot to work on in the next months….The boys still call Westfield home.

Winter vacation in Jersey, part 1

Posted on January 9, 2012 by kerths

Day 1, 12/22: arrived in Westfield in the afternoon and 4 of us stayed with the Mannings, Marlon with the Sherrys.

Day 2, 12/23: the boys went to school with their best friends. In the morning we went to a special international coffee at Karen H’s. house, then to Franklin school for the lunch break. It was pizza day and I met a lot of the pizza moms and Trixi all her friends. At 5:00pm we were invited to the Butera’s happy hour and at 8:00pm we went to the Rush’s Christmas party. In between we picked up the key for our house down the shore during the Christmas days. Marlon went to the Devils hockey game. The played the Capitals (Washington DC) ad won 4:3.

Day 3, 12/24: we had to go grocery shopping because all shops are closed on 12/25, THE Christmas day in the US.

Here you can see Joe taking care of the kids while baking cookies for Santa.

From 1:00pm to 5:00pm we attended for hilarious Christmas party at the Dispenza’s house. Here is Steffen with some caviar on blini with crème fraîche and Johnnie Walker Blue label

After that party we drove down the shore and stopped on the way to our house in Rumson, where Kim’s father lives and celebrated Christmas with about 60 guests, all family! It was great! So many nice people, a piano player, a beautiful house and a river behind the house (from here it is not far to Jon Bon Jovi’s house!). At about 8:00pm we continued to Lake Como where we stayed in a nice house near the beach. Trixi’s friend’s grandmother owns this house, stays there in the summer and was so nice to let us stay there! While Trixi took a shower, Christkind (Christ child) found it’s way from Germany to New Jersey and laid some presents in front of the fire place. What a surprise as she came out of the bathroom!

Day 4, 12/25

Not every store was closed!

We found this restaurant in Asbury Park but the line was much too long for us. And a great self-made pasta dish was waiting for us at home (noodles with tomato sauce!)!

Marlon in front of the sunset

Day 5, 12/26 Stores are open again! And the Jersey Shore premium outlet mall (exit 100) near Lake Como opened even at 7:00am! We didn’t make it by 7:00am but at 9:00am! As I went to the car at about 11:00am to get rid of the first full bags the parking lot was packed! We were done by 1:00pm and drove back to Westfield. We checked in at the Butera’s. They spent a few days in New Orleans and we sat their house and dog Jagger. Marlon stayed at his friend William’s house and Jake at Jack’s. Here you can see William in his kitchen and bed room. At 6:00pm we went to a Cocktail party at Maiju’s house. Kiitos!

Day 6, 12/27: Trixi had a play date with two friends (Mackenzie and Julia) from 10:00-1:30pm. After that we drove into THE City. Unfortunately we had picked the only rainy day for this trip. We met the Mannings with Jake at 2:30pm at Footlocker at Times Square. Finally Jake got there some new shoes! Then we walked to THE tree at Rockefeller Center.

Here we had a quick look into my American girl doll store. It was much too full!

After that we spent some time in FAO Schwarz and bought expensive candy. Finally we had dinner in a nice Italian restaurant and came back at 9:00pm. Marlon was so nice to feed and walk Jagger at his regular dinner time!

jet lag

Posted on January 9, 2012 by kerths

is a really, really bad thing. The kids were still up at unusual times of the night! I think I heard Marlon at 4am! But they made it to go to school at 8am!