Start of Summer?

For Memorial Day weekend, we took a trip down to ski resort of Wengen in the Swiss Alps. Wengen is a tiny village in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. As is the case with most of the villages in the area, it's accessible only by cog train, so we parked our car in Lauterbrunnen and took the 15 minute ride up into the mountains. The weekend was quite an adventure; we took some hikes through the mountains and saw many of the things one would expect to see in Switzerland, including immense cliffs, glaciers, alpine meadows full of wildflowers, and lots of farm animals. We experienced a wide range of weather, from 70 degree temps when we arrived on Saturday to 10+ inches of snow on Monday. We were even snowed in most of the day because the trains lost power and they closed the road between Lauterbrunnen and Interlaken (the only way out!) because of so many downed trees. We finally made it back to Ramstein-Miesenbach in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

Finn, the world traveler, had a ball being in a new place, seeing the sights from the comfort of the Bjorn, experiencing his first walk in a winter wonderland, and generally charming the hotel staff, who gave us the use of one of their nicer rooms for the day on Monday just so he could get some sleep in peace.

All in all, we think this trip put a nice close to our whirlwind time here. See the pictures here.

An Infant's Cries: A Study in Sound Development

Finn's crying has, um, ripened over the course of his short life. Below is a chronology, a discography, if you will. I wish I had actual recordings of all of the cry styles, but you'll have to use my onomatopoeias (never thought I'd use that word in a sentence!), rough translations, and your imagination for the earlier ones. Think of the volume increasing with each stage.

Age 0-1 Month
la!
Translation: Excuse me, ma'am? I'm a bit chilled and could use a bite to eat. Perhaps you could help?

Age 1 Month-2 Months
GA!
Translation: Jeez, I really don't like it when you put me in the car seat. I strongly suggest you stop doing that.

Age 2 Months-3 Months
WAAAA!
Translation: Yo, Mom! Don't you know by now that when I wake up I want milk now? Not 3 minutes from now, not after my diaper is changed, I said NOW!

Age 3 Months-4 Months
YaYaYaYaYa!
Translation: Hmm. I think I can talk to them in their language. Maybe that's a better approach to getting what I want. Hello!....Hello? I'm bored with this toy. I'd like a different one, please.

Age 4 Months-5 Months
Click to listen
Translation: You evildoers brought me into this world just so that you could torture me and quite possibly starve me to death by leaving me ALL ALONE in my room for HOURS, no, DAYS after I've woken up from my nap. You're going to burn in hell for this. And to that I say, Good Riddance!

And from what I've heard, it will get worse before it gets better.

The Rhein River...A Different View

While Beach and Finn were admiring the castles and green hills of the Rhein valley, I was busy taking in the scenery of a different kind. The people watching in Europe is great, and when you're on a sightseeing cruise, you can feign like you're looking at a lovely castle when you're really staring at your neighbor. If you're lucky, you can even get pictures.

I had to get a shot of this guy's mullet (because mullet pictures never get old!), but what I didn't realize until I saw him leaving the boat is that he was wearing overalls with a cardigan thrown casually over his shoulders. Beach and I call this "worker chic."

This next outfit defies explanation. I first saw the shirt and thought it looked like a Vera Bradley pattern gone awry (no offense to Vera Bradley - she has some lovely things), but when the sweater appeared I had to document the combination. Here's a tip for tourists: Pack solid colors. If she wasn't a tourist, she's beyond help.

Is this a sign I've become jaded to Europe's beauty? Probably. I guess it's time to come home. But not before our trip to Switzerland this weekend (if we can find a hotel). Stay tuned for pictures of Swiss things, like cows, mountains, and maybe a Swiss Miss or two.

Boats, trains and automobiles

We had heard that the cruises on the Rhein River are nice and decided to spend our Saturday up on the border between Hessen and Rhineland-Pfalz.

Our day started by driving up to the Frankfurt Airport. We needed to buy my tickets to Virginia and get Finn's tickets as well (government and infant tickets have to be paid for in person). Having tried to do this the day of departure last time we thought it prudent to go early this time. During our last trip back to the States, we arrived at the airport 4 hours early, but the ticket purchase process took so long that we barely made our flight. This time was not much faster, we spent almost 2 hours in the terminal, but we are now confirmed to be going home in June.

We drove on to Rüdesheim am Rhein where we hopped a boat down to Koblenz. The river runs between picturesque bluffs which are frequently dotted with châteaux and castles. The weather cooperated: mostly sunny and 70 degrees. It was a nice ride down the river with stops at sites like Assmanshausen, St. Goarshausen, and Loreley.

As we approached Loreley, all the Germans started singing a folk song and then the song was played over the boat's intercom. Since this was not a narrated trip, we weren't sure what was going on, so we Googled it when we got home. Loreley is located at a bend in the river at its narrowest point between Switzerland and the North Sea. At this point, the river runs quickly and used to be full of rocks and small waterfalls and it's the site of many shipwrecks. The song that was played is about the Sirens' call to the river boatmen to luring them to smash their boats on the rocks. It is kind of like singing "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" when going out on Gitche Gumee.

After arriving in Koblenz, we walked over to the Hauptbanhof to catch a train back. We bought our tickets and then got some Chinese food to eat on our ride back to Rüdesheim. It turns out that Finn loves trains. He spent the hour train ride back smiling, laughing, and eating his hands. The picture above shows another red train on the opposite bank to help you visualize our trip.

When we got back to Rüdesheim, we wandered through the town. It is a classic German tourist town with Bier Gartens and a lederhosen-wearing band in the street complete with sousaphones. We had a great wander around the town and came across a drunk Polish guy who said he also had a 4 month old kid in Poland. After saying my name is Beachkofski, he said that his name family name is Bieńkowski. We thought that he was lying, but it seems to be a real name.

All said, we had a great time, good weather, and Finn seemed to enjoy it. You can relive the experience through our pictures.

2nd grade joke is near reality!

I've been doing a lot of research in my family history lately. I came across my 2nd cousin once removed who has also been doing a lot of research recently. He made trips up to the old family land and has copies of old records. He was very nice and gave me copies of all the documents and what he has found.

In an old document to start mortgage, the family name is written as "Bitchkowski". Now when someone says it, I can say I have proof that they are unoriginal and that the same joke has been used since at least 1891. All the research is worth it if only for that reason.

He also sent an old family picture in front of the family house in Menasha, WI. My great-grandfather, Frank Beachkofski is the handsome short guy on the right. He is two years older than the tall guy on the far left and 3 years older than the kid next to him.

It is great to know more about the family and our history. I still haven't come across someone who would qualify me for the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists, but there is a rumor of a name change to flee a sketchy past. No proof as of yet.

I am just glad that of all the alternate spellings that I have seen, "Bitchkowski" was not the version our family settled on.

Bad grammer brings sham

I reread my posts and realised that I m either a terrible writer or a nouveau stylist similar to e.e. cummings. I define my own laguge and speelling rules. if that causes readers to misunderstand or be confused, the fault rest squarely on them.

The Child Sleeps!

Miracle of miracles, joy of joys! Finn started showing signs of being sleepy at 8:30 last night. We put him in his crib where he fussed for less than 5 minutes. Then, not another peep. When my alarm went off at 6 this morning, it took me a minute to remember - Did I get up to feed him? No?! Did he cry? No!? Oh lord, something's wrong. A quick peek into his room to confirm that yes, he was still breathing. I got ready for the day and made myself some coffee before I went in to wake him up (yes, wake HIM up!) at 7. Ten. And. A. Half. Hours. Wow.

This is the best day EVER! Let's just hope this becomes a trend...

Happy Mother's Day

It's Mothers Day and Finn was willing to give mom a night off. He decided to sleep from 9:30 last night until 5:30 this morning. That was very appreciated to say the least. It seems *knock on wood* that we may be winning the battle of wills. That was the best gift little Finn could have given Sarah and is also the prize for the mother of the year award.

Our other Mother's Day plan includes a new friend coming over. There is another little boy, Nate, who is here for a short time like us. He's 8 months old, so he's doing things Finn hasn't dreamed of yet. We'll see them play together today; I wonder what that actually entails.

Happy Mother's Day you all you moms and moms to be out there!

UPDATE! Playing means staring at each other. No fighting or biting or nothing. For those expecting to see some gladiator pit you would have been disappointed.

On Spoiling a Baby

To this point in his life, Finn has flat out refused to sleep in anything other than his car seat, his swing, or our bed for more than an hour or two at a time. This week Beach and I decided that since Finn is now 4 months old, he needs to start learning how to sleep in his crib.

What we didn't realize until we started this training is that somewhere along the line, Finn seems to have learned that when he cries, we pick him up and cuddle him. He is currently using this knowledge for evil, not good, and is spending several hours during the night screaming his head off. I hestiate to say he is manipulating us, but let's just say that he seems to have us figured out and right now, this is not such a good thing.

Not that there’s anything wrong with cuddling – the doctors and baby books all say that you can’t spoil a baby before 3 months and no amount of cuddling during this time is too much (since Finn was a month early, we were told to measure milestones by his due date, not his birth date). The doctors and books also say that at some point, you should let a baby learn how to settle himself down. What they don’t say is how do you know when to make the switch? Do you all of a sudden one day stop cuddling your baby? Do you just start ignoring the crying? Wouldn’t that just teach the baby that you’ve spent all these months getting to trust you that really you can’t be trusted at all? I’m confused. At what point does cuddling = spoiling?

For those of you familiar with Sex & The City, yes, I've been watching a lot of that lately.

Height and wait

A day at the doctor's is a day full of waiting rooms. Yet it was eventful day you can see by the holes in Finn's legs and heels. They were caused by the testing and vaccinations to keep him a healthy boy. Still, they have caused him to be a very grumpy munchkin.

Like a prize-fighter, he looks bigger than he weighs. His official weight is 12lbs 1.5oz and he's 23.5" in height. That is just the 5th percentile for his age in each. Though, his giant head is in the 25-50th percentile.

All in all, he is putting on weight and developing well. Most of all he's a healthy, scrappy kid.

Our summer plans

Since we don't have a summer picture of all three of us yet, I filled some space with a photo of us on our last trip before we came to Germany. We went to sunny San Diego. As you can see in the picture, it was super squinty-bright out.

In preparation for our summer back in the 'States, we've been pulling together our schedule of events. It will be a very busy time and to help everyone coordinate Finn viewings we're publishing our Summer 2007 North American tour schedule:

6/17 Germany to Virginia - I'll be continuing my reserve duty there for another month.
7/6 Concert in DC with Team Podolak.
7/10 Sarah and Finn go to the Berkshires - the advance party goes to see if our car/cats are ready for the return trip.
7/14 Beach flies to Boston and hitches a ride west in the back seat of a wagon with a retired greyhound.
7/18 Mass. to Cinti - We hop in the old silver bullet and rentre chez nous. We'll probably overnight in Eerie, PA or Buffalo, NY. Those places rock!
7/23 Back to work - I rejoin the Civil Service "work" force.
8/6 Go to St. Louis - Our Civic will be back from its voyage across the sea. The closest to our home that they deliver is St. Louis. We'll go there and drive black beauty home.
8/10-12 Long weekend to Wisconsin. I'll steal away from work and we'll visit everyone up there.
8/25-9/3 Vacation to the Outer Banks. After working for nearly 3 weeks with only a couple days off, I'll need a break. We're renting a house that we'll share with a retired greyhound.

That's Labor Day and the end of summer. Hockey season starts after that.

Luxembourg calls

Having had enough of relaxing around the house, Finn wanted to go see a Finn-sized country. Accepting his suggestion, we made our way up to Luxembourg this weekend. They are geographically close to the Belgians, but very different in mentality.

Exhibit A. The Luxerious (that is what people from Luxembourg are called) claim to have the best waffles in the world. Compare that to the Belgians who said that they "probably" had the best waffles. Also the contrast in quality is amazing. Whereas the Belgian waffles were probably the best, the Luxembourgian's were definitely not the best.

Exhibit B. The Belgians also have probably the world's best beers. The Luxemburgois have a wide selection of low-quality pils to choose from. It is nearly impossible to find a Belgian white ale or unfiltered wheat in a country sandwiched between the home of each.

We saw all the sites that the city had to offer. Well, we did miss the American Cemetery where Gen Patton is buried. It closes at 5 and we didn't get out of the city until 8. We even saw the bagpipers competition. The city was replete with pipers, and I must report I never saw a piper down, though we were ready to call it out. (Ref: So I married an Axe Murderer.)

Heim und Wandern

It was a lazy last couple of weeks with a lot of lounging and walking around the countryside. Staying at home (heim) has been nice and relaxing. Hiking (wandern) around the hills by our village is a great day outing. Check out all of our photo proof here.

Of course, for Finn hiking involves mostly sleeping while being carried around. The castle we hiked to was mostly ruins. Still, the view was impressive.

It has been great being back on a regular schedule and not doing shift work. We're really enjoying our time here, but are also happy to be getting back to what we're used to.

Major dad

Since everyone was a fan of the show Major Dad, I'm sure you know that military parents are required to be in uniform at all times. I thought that I'd provide proof of that with the photo at right.

You can also see that Finn is giant now. We're not sure how much he weighs, but our guess is 13 pounds. He likes to grab at things and drool.

He also likes to play with his toys now. He'll lie on his back and touch objects hanging down from his play mat while watching the star blink and play music.

He has gotten old enough to be carried in the Baby Bjorn facing outward too. A Bjorn is a front-pack for babies so you can carry them hands-free. He loves grocery shopping in it. He either likes the colorful packaging or the attention that he gets from other customers.

He's quite a growing and changing boy.

Rowan Brown, you're the next contestant!

Jeff and Angela had a little boy, Rowan, on the 25th. The whole family is back at home and doing well. You can visit their blog for some info (or as they say here in Germany "infos"). There are pictures posted by Angela's brother also available.

Congrats on the new boy!