Sunday, March 17, 2013
Uncle John
Our Uncle John passed away on February 8th.
He was a very hardworking and talented musician who played drums with many Bay Area groups and also taught music lessons. He had been having some big mental health challenges for nearly a year and a half before his passing.
The last time we saw him was Thanksgiving. He played games and read stories with Noah and Isaiah and was very understanding when Anna came busting into his room to use the blue potty under his bed (he was staying in her room).
We will miss having him here in person, but we have our memories and those that so many friends and family have shared with us, many photos, his music, and his love.
Our Uncle Ben put some of his music up on Sound Cloud. Our favorite is Bodhi Seeds -- this is one he wrote for (and taught to) the kids he worked with at the Buddha Gate Monastery:
https://soundcloud.com/#ben-lazarus/sets/jonathan-lazarus-memorial
He was a very hardworking and talented musician who played drums with many Bay Area groups and also taught music lessons. He had been having some big mental health challenges for nearly a year and a half before his passing.
The last time we saw him was Thanksgiving. He played games and read stories with Noah and Isaiah and was very understanding when Anna came busting into his room to use the blue potty under his bed (he was staying in her room).
We will miss having him here in person, but we have our memories and those that so many friends and family have shared with us, many photos, his music, and his love.
Our Uncle Ben put some of his music up on Sound Cloud. Our favorite is Bodhi Seeds -- this is one he wrote for (and taught to) the kids he worked with at the Buddha Gate Monastery:
https://soundcloud.com/#ben-lazarus/sets/jonathan-lazarus-memorial
Winter
January was snowier than usual (and cold!) in Boise this year. We made this huge snowman at the park with our friends. Yes, that is a banana peel mouth.
Papa got back country skis and boots...
and had a few opportunities to try them out
And we went on a really fun back country yurt trip with our neighbors Jeff and Darcy and Noah and Lucy. We hiked about 1 mile in (and up) from the road to the Stargazer Yurt, which is north of Idaho City. We dragged our food and gear on sleds. The yurt was fully equipped with most of the comforts of home away from home -- a wood stove and plenty of wood for heat and snowmelting, a Coleman stove for cooking, solar-powered lights, pots, pans, plates, cups, bowls, etc., bunk beds and a futon, an outhouse, a greywater pipe, a snowy backyard playground, a million dollar view, and billions of stars. We spent the days sledding and hiking and skiing and playing in the snow until we were wet and cold , coming in to warm up and change, and then doing it all over again. The first night we went night sledding with our headlamps and Mama heard Noah say, "I could do this all day!" The next night we took a nighttime snowshoe but headed home quickly when we thought we heard wolves howling. The main drawback was that it's not easy to sleep with 8 people in one room, especially when four of them are small children, but we managed.
Anna fell asleep on the hike in. She has it pretty good for now.
Anna and Lucy, one of her best buddies. "Anna love Lucy"
Snack break
Our neighbor Jeff grew up in upstate New York. He spent winters building sled jumps and snowmen and snow forts. Now he works for the snow survey. This guy loves and understands snow, and he and both Noahs spent most of a day building and using a bobsled course.
We found some really cool igloos on the way home.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Weihnachten und Neujahr in Ortenberg
We spent Christmas and New Year's in Ortenberg, Germany with Oma and Opa and Onkel Thomas and Onkel Matthias. It was warmer than usual -- some of these photos look as if they could have been taken in early spring rather than December. We arrived early enough to hang out and visit lots of Christmas markets (street markets with crafts for sale and food and spiced wine and sometimes music or ice skating or other activities for kids -- not pictured -- sorry)
Kettcar driving
Oma doing some much-needed Hase (rabbit) repair
Hiking at the edge of the Schwarzwald (Black Forest)
Playing music
A day or two before Christmas Eve, Noah and Opa collected moss and ferns from the forest and set up the Krippe (nativity scene) underneath the Christmas tree. It was a real work of art -- it had all the ususal people and animals lit with strategically placed lights, a bridge over a (foil) stream, a rocky road, and two campfires. Noah spent a lot of time just looking at it after it was completed.
On Heiligeabend (Christmas Eve) we attended a church Christmas pageant and ate Oma's traditional Pasteten (pastry cups filled with a hearty stew). Then Noah told the Christmas story as he remembered it.
Next it was time for the Bescherung (opening presents). In Germany you don't have to wait until Chistmas morning to open your gifts and it is the Kristkind (Christ Child) rather than Santa Claus who brings them (wink wink).
Anna's favorite Christmas gift was a Puppewagen (doll stroller), which came with this Baby.
Noah's favorite Christmas gift: a remote control car
On Christmas Day we went to Onkel Willi and Tante Maria's for lunch and coffee and Kuchen and lots of cookies. In case you can't tell from the photo, Tante Maria is Oma's sister. Papa's cousins Melanie and Daniela were there as well, and we met yet another Thomas, who Daniela married this past spring (he's the guy behind the camera, so you can't see him, but he did a good job taking the photo -- thanks, Thomas!).
After Christmas, Mama and Papa took a short trip down to Rome and hung out in piazzas and ate good food and enjoyed warmer weather and some time together. Mama also tried out her Italian and was generally answered promptly in English, except for one successful bus transaction and one cute little old lady, whose answer Mama mostly understood.
They visited Ostia Antica -- the ruins of Rome's earliest port on the Tiber River. As the city grew, it wasn't big enough or deep enough any more, but there is still an impressive collection of buildings as well as some nice mosaics in what used to be the public bath.
Then they took the train a little farther out to the Mediterranean and were the only people sitting outside at the only seafood restaurant they found open off season. The food was worth it, though: insalata del mare and seafood gnocchi.
Coliseum with Christmas tree
Pantheon at night
Trevi fountain at night (with 500 other couples, not pictured)
Between this trip and New Year's, we got a visit from Cari, Rob, Will, and Lex who are stationed in Wiesbaden. It was great to see them and we did some fun stuff together, but we forgot to take any photos with them. Sorry about that.
On New Year's Eve Oma made Neujahr's Brezen (large soft pretzels with a sweet yeast dough)
Opa revealed that he still had a few bottles of Hochzeitswein (wine he made for Mama and Papa's wedding in 2004), one of which he opened and found to be quite drinkable.
Anna went to bed, but Noah got to stay up and watch (and set off) fireworks in the vineyards at midnight. Staying up that late was easier than expected because we played lots of games. Noah introduced Oma and Opa to Headbands -- a game where the person wearing the headband tries to guess what is on the card with hints from the other players.
Friday, March 08, 2013
Christmas preparations and early Christmas in Boise
We just made a few gingerbread cookies, since we knew Oma would be making lots of cookies...
And one gingerbread house
And we got enough snow for a little sledding up in the mountains....
Artist at work
Thanksgiving
Everybody came to us this year. Mama made her first turkey ever (with a recipe that got over 1000 positive reviews on allrecipes.com, and with a little help and advice from Aunt Andrea and her Cooks Country magazine and her meat thermometer -- how could you go wrong with all that in your corner?).
We also celebrated Nana and Grandpa's 40th anniversary in the Lazarus Special Day style with pizza and oreo pie and poems.
And we had lots of fun time with our grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Anna and Iyla playing duets
Noah and Isaiah taking every opportunity to be read to
