It seemed longer, but Yukie’s 2 week departure was a new family adventure of mama, papa, and Kai all day everyday (with some babysitter help). A wonderful experience, but we are glad to have mom back. To celebrate, we went to an upscale Chinese buffet at Ming Dynastie across the way from the Chinese Embassy. It was quite satisfying, and Kai ate it up. Literally.
So we haven’t worked out the plans for leaping over a building in a single bound, but Kai certainly aims to someday lift a car over his head, or at least the box that the car came in for this case. By popular demand (pop-pop loved this video), we bring it to you here.
It wasn’t midnight (in Germany at least), but we did make our own mini celebration New Year’s Eve day. An over-anticipated screening of the latest Mission Impossible installment, was salvaged by each enjoying an entire bag of gummy candy each. Afterwards, we had tried to go for a drink at the Ritz Carlton, but the bar there was not that special. So we hopped a quick S-Bahn train to Brandenburg Tor (or Gate) to find out that the Adlon Hotel was off limits since it was too close to the festivities (maybe we book a room for next year). But two young kids having a good time, we made do and grabbed a hot cup of gluwein (hot, spiced red wine) and took a nice stroll before heading home to relieve the baby sitter. But not before Chika had prepared some traditional Japanese New Year traditional udon noodles. A tasty and happy way to end 2011 and head towards 2012. Will be a great year for the family I am sure.
Yes, Kai has been to restaurants before, but usually sleeping or eating food we brought with us. But now, Kai is a true customer. He had woken up a little earlier from his nap than usual in the middle of our lunch, so we just asked for a high-chair and gave it a go. We quickly realized that buffet is the right way to go in these situations. You can select from the foods which you think he might like, and not worry about the cost (zero) or if he likes it or not. It turns out, he was into most things including noodles, fish, rice, miso soup and almond jelly was one of his favorites. Now we also have a new favorite lunch place to go for the family to enjoy (details after the photos).
It was a last minute decision to go out — the rain had stopped, and our morning playdate had cancelled. All the old routine came back in force — packing all the requirements for a journey, e.g. food, diapers, clothes, drinks. But in actuality things went quite smooth. We explored a new Vietnamese cafe (although the owner almost scared us off saying there might not be room for the stroller, but in the end there were 3 tables occupied in the whole place) and a Italian wine bar/cafe waiting for the Vietnamese place to open. In fact, Kai cooperated by sleeping so long we were almost late getting home to meet the baby sitter later in the day. But we did manage to spend some time with Kai cruising around in his new boots around the mall. Now inspired, I think we will try to be more adventurous when given the chance.
It brings back great memories as a child lighting the menorah with Kai. I remember gathering around in our kitchen every night for the 8 day festival. Sometimes the presents were good. Sometimes they may have been practical. But always was a special time to be with family. And it was really special to have this with our own family.
Since Kai can’t have milk yet, we need to get creative for food. Since lots of bread has butter or milk, Chika has invented the bagel French toast. And its really quite good. Sarabeths watch out!
Wow! What an amazing day. It began by a late sleep of the whole family in bed until around 10am. A chocolate croissant and latte and I was all set for a nice 60 minute massage session. Afterwards, I was treated to a luxurious lunch at a fantastic Italian restaurant Bocca di Bacco downtown. Chika said we had one more stop to pick up some last minute supplies on the way home at her favorite Japanese cafe. I only was expecting to see a nice cake waiting for us, but to my surprise the cafe was full of friends, amazing food, and drinks. The ambiance was incredible — intimate, fun, lively. And the party continued on into the night, at least for one more bar as well. A very memorable night for a birthday which I had written off as not so special, but now I got to live my 21st birthday a second time around thanks to my lovely Chika.
Chika and her mom went to the Xmas market in Nuremberg overnight, so I had my first solo run taking care of Kai (in full disclosure I did have some baby sitter help during the day). Kai was great, and with the exception of waking up around 3 and rolling around the next 3 hours it was a great time.
It’s taken us a while, but we finally escaped the powerful gravitational force of Kai (he’s hard to leave behind). A magnificent bright crisp Sunday and an afternoon of being pampered at the Mandala Hotel day spa was the ticket.