Friday, February 26, 2010

Prague

Informed sources have reminded me that 5fordhams visited the city of Prague 2 weeks ago and still haven't posted photos. While I won't say who those sources are (sorry mom), I'll acknowledge that the 2 week delay is nearly glacial.

Allow me to redeem myself now while Piper is driving the kids off to a sleepover.

Missing from the slideshow below are photos of our hotel. Piper scored a coup by booking us into a hotel with its own indoor water park. She reminded the kids before each days trek down thousand year old streets that anybody who whined or complained wouldn't visit the water slides that evening.

There was no whining or complaining.

Click on Micah's mud puddle to see the slideshow...

Friday, February 12, 2010

Snow Day

Schools and work are both closed due to snow.

I won't say exactly how much snow we got because it might cause my friends on the East Coast to snicker in derision.

On the plus side, it looks like pancakes for breakfast.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Quote of the Day

from Micah:
"Mommy, I cleaned my room! My bed is made. My toys are put away. My dirty laundry is scattered on the floor."

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Januzzi Haiku

In bleakest winter
Late Christmas gifts from Tucson
Do not disappoint

Monday, February 8, 2010

Missed the super bowl but saw the commercials

This has to be one of the most elegant commercials that I have ever seen.

Funny for people over 30

Today the kids are walking around the house singing the Buddy Holly song...

Ooo wee ooo, I look just like Buddy Holly,
Oh oh, and you're Mary Tyler Moore.
I don't care what they say about us anyway.
I don't care about that.

It has not yet occurred to any of them to wonder who Buddy Holly and Mary Tyler Moore are...

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Teach a Boy to Fish

I pulled Micah out of school Friday to take him fishing. This lack of regard for the importance of education is frowned upon in Germany. Fortunately, Micah is in kindergarten in the international school. These twin distinctions must have moved his truancy to a different category. Teachers lined up in the hall to congratulate me and tell us to have a good time.

Fishing in Germany is not a simple thing. Getting an actual fishing license is a huge investment in time and money. The 6 week class reportedly costs 1,000 Eu ($1,300).

Fortunately, there are fully stocked fishing farms that don't require a license. On a sporting level, they are probably on par with the quail farm that Dick Cheney hunted at. The fish don't have much of a chance. Since I was using a vacation day to pull my son out of school, this was exactly what I wanted.

We bought some bait and went straight to the salmon pond. The clear shallow pond was full of beautiful salmon. We had a great view of watching them look at our bait. After an hour and a half and another bait purchase, it turns out that the salmon stood a chance after all. We moved on to the trout pond where we quickly caught several trout.

Today, it developed that I'm quite good at gutting and cleaning trout but not so good at deboning them. Probably there is a youtube video out there that will explain what I did wrong.