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USA 2018

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Sometimes the fates blow the wind in your sails, and this year it brought us back to the USA. It was all the usual subjects: Yardley, Philadelphia, Atlantic City (extra special thanks to Mike and Mel for offering their penthouse condo at 9600!), New York, and Bryn Mawr. And all the core team was present: Grandma, Pop Pop, Uncle Mike, Aunt Mel, Cousins Sydney and William. But we had some special appearances with Paula & Allan, Lenny and Rose, cousins Jeff, Oliver, Sharon, Michelle, Joel, Barry, Judy, Marsha (and even a PDS classmate I hadn’t seen in 30 years). And also got to visit Allan & Alaina in Phila plus Kevin, Joe, Cat, Dave and newcomer Oliver in NYC (and Anri & Yass via NJ Transit delivery service). From people menu perspective, we dined extravagantly. On the food menu we did that as well. There were steaks: White House Steaks, Sacco’s steaks, steak steaks, porterhouse steaks. There was dim sum (both New York and Northeast Phila). There was seafood: lobsters, scallops, shrimp, and salmon. Of course there was sushi — both of the every day variety and the Michelin star variety (thanks KC!). There were cakes: full doses of Casel’s sticky buns, Sydney and Grandmom’s homemade delights, and an epic Japanese crepe/creme/fruit cake from Anri & Yass. There was ice and ice cream (although the portions were so insane — the kids size was basically 3 scoops in Germany). And there were a few drinks. Gin featured quite prominently on the trip. As did sake (especially at the Double Knot). All rounded out with a Kettle One gibson at Tomatoes towards the end. There was beach (aka ocean) and pool basically every day. Even when it rained. Between Teo going floatee free and Kai wanting to jump in the surf, I barely sat 10 minutes on the beach.

Beyond family, friends, food, and beach and pool there wasn’t much more. And there didn’t need to be. I am ready to go again.

On Da Way
Backyard Games
Bocce
Toast
Phila Matcha
Ice time
Da Crew
Gillians
Cousin Time @ Gillians
Cousin Time @ Gillians
Ridin’ 2
Ridin’
Da Beach Crew
Cousin Time
Cousin Time 2
Cousin Time 3
Stylin’
Mo’ Sylin’
Beach Moon
Beach Moon 2
WHITE HOUSE!!!!!
Visit With Dr. Hung
Crusin’
Roofies
NYC Roof Views
ROOFIE SELFIE
NYC Baby Visit
Sack’o Subs
Diggin’
Chowin’ Down
First Date + 53
Mi Casa
Cuz @ Da Beach
Cuz @ Da Beach 2
At the point
Readin’
HOLE IN ONE!
Sunset
Rodin Museum
Chess Time
Slurp
Franklin Institute
Flying
Tooth Fairy Comin’
All in the pool
Steak!!!
Grace
The Old And Olders
Fishies
Lifeguard
Poolin’
More Poolin’

Adventures in Florida

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Like usual, when there is a big occasion the Wolfson clan begins planning in advance. It was mom and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary, which meant that it was an all-hands-on deck affair, which means planning around school holidays, doctor’s rotation schedules, and seasonal context (the warmer the better). Running through all the permutations, we decided that the Club Med Sandpiper Bay in Southern Florida in October was a good fit. Good mix of activities for kids and adults, functional transportation logistics (there was even direct flights from Berlin to Miami), and then of course there was the unlimited food and drinks which came along with it.

While planning was good — we had locked down everything in February — the universe wasn’t always cooperating. A Hurricane Irma was heading to Florida in late August, which could have wiped out the whole resort. Luckily things moved further west and we never really noticed much impact. Around the same time Air Berlin (our carrier to Miami) filed for insolvency. What made matters even worse is that given that the whole of Berlin was off on school break that week, the remaining flights were scarce and extremely expensive. To hedge our bets, I cashed in the bulk of my United Miles but still could only get flights from Munich. While it was definitely an unpleasant episode to lose our flights, at least we were able to add on a few extra days of holiday in Miami and have a chance to visit Uncle Lenny and Aunt Rose.

When the trip finally came, it seemed that all the bad luck had passed. We had a fantastic time with relatively smooth travels, pleasant weather, lot of eating (maybe too much), and quality time to spend together.

While it has only been a couple of months, I feel I am ready for round 2!

Adventures in Italy Part 1: Lake Como

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So it may be a bit presumptuous to start off with Part 1, but since we had such a great time on this Italy trip I can undoubtedly state we will be back for sure. It was Easter break holiday for schools and since we had already planned major long haul trips to Japan in summer and USA in fall we therefore decided to try an extended driving trip. Chika drove down with the boy on the Wednesday evening and then on Friday morning we drove to Lake Como. Our trip over took us through the mountain passes, what Chika then coined the “spaghetti” roads which has so many turnbacks, everyone but me had was getting carsick. On the bright side, the alps were gorgeous, the sun was shining, and the boys fell asleep allowing us to make the whole trip non-stop. We arrived late afternoon at our accommodation (up another winding road off the lake, but only 5 minutes off the main road). The view of the lake and the mountains was fabulous. We had a simple 2 bedroom apartment — it worked out great to allow the boys to have their own room, but we all could get together for nice breakfasts on the terrace with views of the lake.

On the second day. we went to see our friend Manu who lives close to Como center, and stopped on the way at a park in Lenno where the boys fell in love with the dandelions. After meeting up in the city, we had great meal at a lovely restaurant on a quiet square with some of the best tiramisu we’ve ever had.

On the last day, we decided to stop at Villa del Balbianello. We even took a short boat ride there to at least get a short time on the lake itself. Amazing garden and house developed by a cardinal in the 17th century. Will need to go back for the full tour. Afterwards we ended up skipping the tourist pizza and went straight to La Fabbrica Del Gelato for a different lunch. Chika and Kai even had seconds after their doubles (and then Teo I think stole most of Chika’s).

Finally, it was time to drive home. After crossing the mountain passes, the weather went from 24C and sunny to 2C and snowing! On top of it, I had wanted to wait to Germany to get more gas and it seems there aren’t so many stations along the highway as in the US. By the time we reached the station it had been registering 0KM left for the last 10km. Chika was not so amused, but we made it home safe and sound. It’s less than 24 hours, but I am ready to go back again!

Kai 1-1-1

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Today was a great milestone for our family — our first child on the first day of first grade. The principal and master of ceremonies provided a few anecdotes in the introduction, including new things can be both exciting and scary at the same time (especially when she mentioned that Kai will be in the graduating class of 2029!). Here is to new adventures!

Kai’s Class
Ready to head in
Waiting for the ceremony to begin
Mission accomplished
Group B (Kai’s Class)
Waiting for the show
Pre-ceremony portrait

Playing Hookey

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I knew that Chika was off on a business trip to Paris, but what I didn’t realize was that Kai’s school was going to be closed on Monday.  Oh, and in addition we were having sub-freezing temperatures reducing the options for entertaining our two boys even further.  I was in the last days of my German class, but since I wasn’t getting as much out of it as I would have liked I decided to have a mini-adventure instead.  About 70km from Berlin is Tropical Islands, the largest free standing dome in the world with an indoor beach resort operating 24 hours a day, 364 days a year.

I suggested to my friend Joerg (his son also goes to the same school as Kai) since he is quite the adventurer, and also invited Maki our au pair to join.  Joerg had just bought a new 7-seater car, so we managed to all pile in together for the journey.  When you first arrive, it is almost out of a science fiction movie — a giant dome in the middle of nowhere.  But as soon as you walk inside, you feel like you are in the tropics.  It was a great day for the family and much better than staying home in the cold.  Big thanks to Joerg for the excellent transportation and food services.

Kid Maintenance

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It’s scary how as your children grow, there is an ever-growing list of maintenance reviews that needs to be taken care of.  First, it was the doctor.  Then the parent reviews at the kita on progress.  And now we are in up and running with the dentist.  I have to say that I am envious of Kai’s experience.  A quick 5 minute check, no real poking or prodding, and then getting a toy parting gift.  And then papa takes you to the bakery for pretzels and foamed milk.  But hopefully Kai will be more proactive on his teeth care and not suffer the 8 visits this year that his papa had.

 

Japan | Day 3 | Nagoya | Hatsui (Hot)

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The sun was out, so we decided to head to a big park complex a short drive away.  It was hot, but cool breeze time to time and refreshing drinks sustained us.  But Kai wasn’t bothered one bit (maybe some of his legacy Atlantic City summer genes still in the DNA), and played non-stop for a few hours with his new cousins.