The View from Here (revisited)

I've been thinking about this particular photo for about a year now. I've either forgotten about it with everything going on, or the weather wasn't right, the light wasn't right, or I thought I'd do it "later". Well, "later" was today!

This is the view from our patio (and the living room window too). It is a view that we enjoy daily. The castle (Burg Lichtenberg) has been featured in several of my photos before. I considered cropping out some of the satellite dish nonsense, but that would just take too much time and I'd rather spend it doing other stuff.

This is where we eat al fresco when we outside at home. Today was most certainly an al fresco day!

After dinner I got out my flash and umbrella to get some portrait-y type photos of the kids. Ian didn't want to stand still for very long, so I'm happy I got this one of him.

Leah was dancing for a song that Ian was playing on one of his toys. This one is not shy in front of the camera!

And here you can see Leah doing her "vogue".

Finally, I sneakily left my camera on its tripod during dinner tonight to try to capture some of the action. This was the best of the mess - nothing terribly interesting, just a view of us enjoying dinner and the local scenery.

Oh yeah, this has been a super weekend. Nancy and I made a trip into Belgium on Saturday so she could reunite with Miho and I could make a beer run (JACKPOT!!). I was truly like a kid in the candy store - check out Pelgrims if you are ever north and east of Brussels and love Belgian beers. AND Christina arrived earlier today. Naturally we had to rush over to St. Wendel for the Easter Market, the warm and lovely spring version of the much loved Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market).

Have a wonderful day everybody, we most certainly have.

Cheers,

Marc

Loving Germany right now...

We've been having the strangest weather here in Germany. Sunny and warm!

I've been able to drive home from work with the top down on the Mini - I'd say this is nearly unheard of in this part of the world. Lot's of sunny days and warm(ish) weather. The trees are starting to bloom and the first tulips have started to bloom.

To get out an enjoy the weather today, I dragged Ian, Leah, and Nancy out for a walk in the woods between here and Baumholder. It has been since 2008 since I've been out there, and I wanted to see the overlook (that's the "Blick" part in the sign).

Ian and Leah did okay, especially once we turned around. The overlook was a bit different from how I remembered it, but I guess that is how it goes. The trees had grown just about as fast as the kids have.

And I finally hit the shutter in time to catch Ian looking right at me!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day - we sure are!

Cheers,

Marc

A nice walk

So today wasn't quite as nice as yesterday, but all in all, it has still been a very good day. I even got to take a nap - which is very unusual for me.

We decided to take a walk through the woods about a mile or two from here. I've been back there numerous times, but this time with Nancy and the kids we took a path I've never been on before. It was mostly uphill on the way out, which made it a nice downhill on the way back.

Along the way we found a nice hilltop with an interesting old tree. I have a couple of good photos of Leah there,

as well as some nice photos of Ian. Nancy pointed out that Ian is difficult to photograph well - I know! Here he is with his Jedi lightsaber attached to his belt- can't leave home without it!

After the walk we drove a slightly different way home which brought us to the castle, rather than just skirt the foot of the hill where it sits on top. The kids had a great time climbing up and down the little hill of rocks inside the castle grounds, pretending that lava was rising and receding depending on whether they were at the top of the hill or at the bottom. They really play very well together - a blessing which I hope lasts quite a while longer.

Finally, I took a couple of closer-up "portraits" of both Leah and Ian. This one from Leah was from the walk in the woods.

Ian's is from the castle grounds. You really need to prefocus and have the shot composed because once Ian looks towards the camera, he won't stay looking directly there for long.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day out there. I know we have!

Tschuss,

Marc

Happy Day

Today was a stunningly beautiful day here in Germany!! The weather was perfect, I was surrounded by family, and no impending time away from the family was hanging overhead...

To celebrate a fine beginning to the day, I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Shortly after that we all loaded up in the car and went to the flohmarkt in Homburg - where we picked up a few nicknacks.

We had a nice "picnic" outside while we enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. After lunch we came back to Baumholder for Leah's ballet recital. She was a Munchkin for "Return to Oz". This was her outfit:

And here she is during her routine clearly having a ball:

Outside there was a horse and carriage/buggy giving rides. Nancy won and got to ride with Ian and Leah.

Finally, we had dinner al fresco on our front porch. Warm sun, soft breeze, Catherine, and a view to die for. It was as close to perfect as I can imagine a day, and the happiest I've felt in quite some time.

May your day treat you as well as it did me! Cheers,

Marc

A growing problem solved

The weather man was dead wrong yesterday (yeah!!! It was supposed to rain) and today. Another sunny, beautiful day here in Germany.

I got the kids' bikes down out of storage and they rode them around for a bit. Problem is, the bikes haven't grown at all over the winter. And the kids HAVE - like weeds. Ian still is the big boy in class and Leah now is taller than everyone else in her class too. I identified the problem, and came up with a solution - I'm guessing this problem isn't staying solved...

Don't worry, no kids were harmed in the making of this photo. I had the kids hold one brick on their head and then photoshopped in the stack (which I'd taken earlier in the day).

Prior to the shenanigans above, we all hopped in the Mini and drove a bit down the road to the walking/bike path that was most likely an abandoned railroad line, complete with a tunnel through the "mountain". There are some interesting things to see, but today's was mostly Catherine, Ian, and Leah.

Catherine was a photo diva today. The kids brought their camera and Ian must have taken five or more photos of just Catherine. No one else was allowed in the photo! I just took advantage of his timing, is all.

Finally, one last very exciting development that happened while I was in Georgia: Ian learned to tie his own shoes! He is getting to be such a big boy (which is why I need more bricks).

Have a wonderful day everybody. We did here in Germany!

Cheers,

Marc

Photos of the kids

Ian and Leah are just too photogenic!!

They can be difficult at times to "direct", but ultimately I can count on a couple of keepers every time we go out! This one below is from the Schloss Oberstein (yesterday's castle). I really do love when they hug and have fun together. Not only is pleasant, but it provides me with awesome ammunition in the future...

It seems I always end up cropping my photos to a 4x5 factor (from 4x6), it seems to clear away some of the clutter. This is probably my favorite portrait of Leah from Saturday.

And this is my favorite of Ian's. He seems to be sad or really hamming it up for the camera, so this is a nice one of him just having a nice time.

Have a wonderful day!

Cheers,

Marc

Schloss Oberstein

I got back from the States a bit early - this Thursday instead of this upcoming Monday. I put in most of a full-day's work on Friday, and we got to have some family fun today (Saturday).

The day started grey and rainy, but thankfully cleared up wonderfully for lunch. After lunch we all took a nice walk on the paths out behind our house.

It isn't too often that I get in front of the camera, but Catherine coaxed me out there.

And again with Leah this time.

After our walk I wanted to see Schloss Oberstein (Oberstein Castle) in Idar-Oberstein. I've driven past it many times, but have never actually been there. So I loaded up the kids in the Mini Cooper and off we went. The GPS got us close, but ended up leading us on a wild goose chase. Thankfully there were signs, but it did take some careful looking. There are actually two castles there (apparently brothers had built their individual castles 300 meters apart), and this one is the lesser of the two. The bigger one has a restaurant and what looks like a B&B, though I'm not too sure of the latter.

I have a couple more photos of the kids that I took that I really like that will be posted tomorrow, so look for another post shortly.

I'm glad to be back home, it was a long 2-3 weeks away from Catherine and the kids. And hopefully the last time for quite some time. Have a wonderful day everyone - we've certainly had one.

Cheers,

Marc