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.

So it’s been a while — you would think that being on vacation would mean plenty of time for blogging.  It turns out our days were filled to the brim, and the little downtime we had in NYC was usually spent playing with Kai (to be fair we were dragging him to all our appointments, so he deserved to enjoy some quality parent time too).

It was great to see everyone and enjoy a few of our old haunts in NYC.  Plus sharing Kai with our friends and family was a treat in itself.  Some highlights: Kai’s 6 month birthday/Easter party/dim sum brunch + revisiting our wedding day at the Central Park Boathouse + extreme shopping + extreme eating.

Aunt Paula and Uncle Alan came out to see Kai, and we decided to meet up in Philadelphia for a lunch before they returned to Milwaukee.  Our original plan of going to a kosher turkish restaurant (to make it easier for Chika to avoid dairy because Kai appears to have some allergies) was aborted as they were closed for Passover.  So we went to plan B, which turned out to be better than plan A — having lunch at Morimoto’s, one of the finer japanese restaurants around.  Good food and good times were had.

It was a long time in coming, but the first Wolfson clan meetup was an incredible experience to finally be together face to face as a family.  Yes there was fantastic food and drink (exquistely selected bagels, fish plate, bloody mary’s, etc.), but the real show was introducing Kai and cousin Sydney.  It’s obvious that this is the beginning of a fanastic friendship that will be the beginning of many adventures in the years to come.

We had multiple reasons for a celebration, most notably Chika’s birthday and Yukie’s last week with us.  We had been evaluating quite a few scenarios — renting a car and driving to world class spa outside of Munich, going to Venice, visiting a castle outside of Hannover — but after weighing all the options and requirements (7 hours in car seat for Kai wasn’t going to cut it), we ended up going back to Vienna (or as the gate attendant instructed us “Wein”) where we had traveled to over the summer with my parents.  We knew we liked the city, it was easy to walk through, just over an hour flight, all with fantastic architecture and history.  What sealed the deal was finding a last minute package which made it the perfect choice.

Everything went our way this trip.  We had easy flights (there and back).  The hotel allowed us to upgrade to a MASSIVE 2 room suite for a mere 75 eur per night.  We were able to get 2 opera box seats for the sold out Vienna Opera (it was actually a ballet of Don Quixote, and was excellent) which Chika treated me and Yukie to.  The weather was fantastic, and we spend most of the time strolling the city and even made it to the top of the gardens at the Schönbrunn Palace.  We discovered an amazing new place for cakes, Zum Schwartzen Kamel, which we visited multiple times.  Our only subpar experience was at the Palmenhaus for dinner, which severed a well-done lamb filet (had to send it back) and served a salad for Chika which we specifically said could have no milk product, yet used yogurt to connect the cracker bowl to the plate.  We survived.

We are already thinking about when to make another trip.  Hopefully sooner that later.

It was a beautiful morning in Prenzlauerberg, after a late night of work.  I was craving fresh bakery goods (unfortunately my craving the day before was denied due to sell out of my favorite cinnamon/sugar crusted croissant). So I decided to go for a morning run with Kai.  With Chika’s help I strapped him on, and while he was a bit fussy at first, we were soon cruising the hood in the fresh morning air.

It was the first of many bakery runs for me and Kai.  But a special journey as it bring backs golden memories of some 40 years ago when I used to go on bakery runs with my dad, riding in on his shoulders and getting a free cookie from the man behind the counter.