Zoo perfection...

Today we decided to go to the Heidelberg zoo. As I've said before in this blog, it's a whole different (and better) experience if you get there early. It opens at 9:00. We parked directly in front of the entrance at 9:45. I've always been impressed with the zoo's design: it gets you really close to the animals. Today was no exception. We went into the enclosed space that houses a lot of birds and were also treated to closeups of monkeys and even a sloth (who appeared to have been given on overdose of Redbull).

The kids were in top form for most of the trip. I attribute their good mood to the almost perfect weather (sunny and in the 70s).

The highlight was the seal show/feeding. Today it started at 11:00 and kept the kids spellbound.

Robert is beginning to show the same compulsive need to take pictures or video 24x7. Although I recognize it as a clear sign of genious, B’s not sure he can handle 2 shutter bugs under one roof.

Voodoo in the burbs…

Our obsession with grilling shows no signs of abating. My lust for chicken hearts is also in full effect. Even I think they look spooky on skewers. I discovered today that they are excellent in a salad. 

Was playing with settings on my camera and took this test shot of dandelions  . Oddly beautiful somehow.

Spring flowers…

After a winter that was real bummer, I can’t say enough about this spring. Feels like we’re in Southern California (a version with better beer). Yesterday B took the kids to the pool in Schwetzingen. I somehow lucked out and got to stay home. I worked out and then took a jog in the woods close to the salt mines (work). I must say I was really impressed with “Walldorf Pond”, as I affectionately call it.We’d been there once for a function for Robert’s school, but it was dark and extremely cold. Yesterday was gorgeous. Tons of sunshine, flowers everywhere and a nice pond to stare into to relax the ol’ melon. I went back later with Robert, who also enjoyed it.

Today, Sophia’s school had an event at the Catholic church on the Hauptstrasse in Walldorf. She didn’t participate on stage, but was very cute singing along in the audience. My patience for virtually all things religious is well know. I lasted through about half of it and the went down the street to have a cold beer. Something about knowing I was missing an incredible Spring day.

I was later joined by the kids, who wanted ice cream. I gave Emily 5 Euros and sent her on her way. She spent most of it on a 4 scoop monstrosity that only she could dream up.As usual, Sophia knocked back a cold one with Daddy. If you’re offended by a four year old drinking beer, you should see her with a hangover. Brutal. By the way, I am kidding.Showing an international flare, Emily got her hijab on (really a scarf she borrowed from B)        but soon after was spied praying in front of the church. It reminded me of the time we were visiting a cathedral and when B explained what a confessional is; Emily all but broke into a full sprint in the other direction!

On the way home, the girls bought roses. Nice touch, no?

Now we're talking...

It was an interesting weekend weatherwise. Saturday was kind of cold and very rainy. That night we went to Anrea and Thomas's house with the intent of going out to hear some live music. We sat down in their living room to have some wine (chicks) and a few cold ones (dudes) and nosh on some appetizers Andrea made. The next time we looked at the clock it was 3:00 in the morning. No live music, but we had a great time anyway.

Today, Sunday, was a glorious spring day. Emily spent the night at a friend's house so things were pretty calm at the Prickril Compound. We met Thomas, Valeria and the cutest Volmering, Gabriel, on the Hauptstrasse in Walldorf for some more beer and conversation. Spring reconfirms that we made the right choice moving here. On a final note, we still haven't stopped our compulsive grilling. I keep thinking we'll get sick of it but it hasn't happened yet. I'm now serously addicted to lamb, Greek style. B is running some errands now, but as soon as she gets back we'll fire up the Weber and continue the assault on our arteries. This week I'm going to look into legally changing our last name to Adkins...

I love a parade...

Actually, I don't. I make an exception to my "no parade" policy when my kids are involved though. The weather this weekend was exceptional, sunny and in the low 70's. The kids acclimated with impressive speed.
On Sunday, Robert and Emily participated in a parade that started at their school and wound its way through Walldorf's Hauptstrasse. The costumes were colorful enough to put Frosty the Snowman himself in a Springy mood.

Emily made a beautiful flower.
Robert was a gardener, appropriate given how well he typically takes care of his sister (the daisy).
It turns out Sophia is not the most patient parade watcher I’ve ever seen. Below, you can see her resting before the parade got into full motion.
Here you can see her filling the entertainment void (in her mind anyway) left by the parade.
After an hour or so of marching (maybe less), the parade ended at the Astor House.
We then headed to the Hauptstrasse to drink Hefe and have ice cream (I’ll let you guess who had what).
The sun poking through the clouds over St. Peter’s church on the Hauptstrasse inspired me to take an HDR shot. Not too bad (if I do say so myself).

By the way, my blood is a thick jello of saturated fat after a full weekend grilling everything we could get our hands on. It was good, but I've never craved roughage so much in my life. Just a heads up that my next post may be written from the cardiac unit at a hospital in Heidelberg.

It's a Webbuh...

Ever since we moved into a proper house last August, B has been dreaming of buying a grill. Today we finally decided to pull the trigger. We carted up the kids and went to the big Bauhaus in Viernheim and bought a Weber Q200 with a handy dandy stand(y?). In Seattle during the summer, we grilled almost 3 meals a day (throw another Eggo on the barbie).
While I risked our lives setting the thing up and connecting the gas tank (basically a rented bomb), B went to SBK and bought an obscene amount of grillable stuff. As I type, the luscious smell of steak, chicken and linguiça is wafting from our patio through the living room. It's a little past 20:30 and the kids are ravenous.
Now that the temperature is reaching a respectable 20 degrees (about 70 for those in the States), the smell of grill'n has officially kicked of Spring for us at the Prickril compound. We're counting on seeing a lot more of Thomas now that he lives down wind.

By the way, grilled chicken hearts (seen above on skewers) are a taste I developed in Brazil, where they are common in churrascarias. While at first seeing them on spits spooked me a little, I must admit that now they're my favorite part of the grilling experience. All I can say is "don't knock 'em 'til you tried 'em".

Back in the saddle...

as far as blogging goes anyway. The treadmill that is my career hasn't let up a bit so haven't had the time nor desire to blog much. A good friend of mine from my days at Lotus blew into this part of Germany this week so we decided we would go to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart together. Jordi (of the Barcelona Rieras) is well known as an old school Porsche lover. His visit was all the excuse I needed to get back in touch with my inner blogger.
But first, allow me to vent. Spring has NOT sprung in Heidelberg. It's getting a bit warmer but the trees are still bare and the weather is unpredictable. A week or so ago flowers started to bloom in our garden, which is definitely a good sign, but can the folks controlling the weather (refer to the conspiracy website of your choice) please bring on the sunshine and shorts already?
The weather was cold and rainy today until early afternoon; a perfect day to spend at a museum. Although the Porsche Museum is an impressive building and collection, I would recommend the Mercedes Museum for the overall experience (for those that don't have a particular Porsche fetish). Jordi picked us up on his way from Düsseldorf at about 9:30 or so. We were ate the museum an hour and a half later.

The collection is relatively small, but full of functional works of art. Jordi reminded me that Porsche is a much newer company than Mercedes and for many many years offered a very small line of cars. Unless you're absolutely obsessed with cars or a general stickler for details, I think you could visit both museums in the same day, no problem. I would however recommend a weekday as the crowds get pretty dense on weekends. There is clearly no shortage of power and beauty on the Porscheplatz in Stuttgart.This all aluminum model is an impressive work of art in its own right.Here's the Porshe model favored by us Okies (a real sheep magnet!).Finally, Thomas (a.k.a. Wolverine) is back from Brazil with his wife and brand spanking new (literally) son Gabriel. Ain't he cute?

It's a long way to Heidelberg...

from Walldorf anyway. Today the kids and B had a full schedule so I decided to go walking near the Neckar. I figured I would take public transportation as I was in no hurry, hate to drive and hate even more finding a place to park. Turns out you should know something about public transportation before you take it. Who knew?
For those that aren't aware, virtually the entire country of Germany shuts down every Sunday. Restaurants and bars are open, but not much else. Public transportation like buses and streetcars also run far less often. I can drive from Walldorf to Heidelberg in about 15 minutes. Today, it took me an hour an a half to get there, most of the time spent waiting for a stupid bus/Strassenbahn (streetcar) to appear.Anyway, today was the first day I can remember that was warm enough to not require a jacket (in the sun at least). Throngs of folks seemed to be out enjoying it. I took a few pics, but nothing spectacular. BTW, this is the first time I've ever gone to the Altstadt and not had a beer. I've been working out lately and the lack of oxygen I suffer from while begging god to live while on the eliptical seems to be causing atrophy to the beer drinking center in my brain.

By the way, today was the first time I noticed that there are marks on the bridge showing the level of the Neckar during different floods (I've only been at the same spot a thousand times). Looks like 1784 was a whopper. That line seems way higher than the level of the Haupstrasse (main street) today. Wanted to show a close up of that line, but every once in a while a picture gets haunted and Blogger shows it with the wrong orientation. Between that and the random white space inserted into posts, blogging elsewhere is looking better all the time...

A sensation...

is the only way I can describe the pictures B took of the kids before a Fasching (Carnaval) party last week. She posted them on her Orkut site and the folks in Brazil (many of them family) went nuts. Thought I'd share a few of them here. The girls went as Flamenco dancers with costumes we bought in Barcelona.
Robert may have stumbled onto a performance enhancing technique with his Batman mask. You can see above how it drastically improves his oxygen intake by forcing his nostrils wide open. Could that be Batman's real secret weapon? One can only speculate.

Many reading this probably aren't familiar with Orkut. It's a social networking site that was hijacked by virtually the entire country of Brazil. Amazing how you can find everybody (from Brazil) on this site. For purely social purposes, it's almost replaced e-mail for the folks we know.