the califf family

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Blake

This kid pays attention when he wants to. He loves when Danny works out so a few times a week he says, Mom, I'm going to go downstairs and exercise. Today was exercise day at our house. This is a balance board he is on and he's actually quite good. He's been saying some funny stuff lately that I'll try and post this week.

Jude

Hi Mommy. I love my broccoli but I'm messy!!

He finally did "more" in sign language and is starting to do SO BIG.

Paige is trying to tell him to move and he's just looking at her, like ha ha I'm not moving.
This boy is into everything, he hates baby toys, climbs into the dishwasher, and follows me around everywhere. He is so cute, has the best smile, but he is a handful some times.

Paige says THANK YOU

Thanks Nana, Papa and Auntie for my Birthday gifts. I love my Hanna Montana Shirt and tights.

I love my Troy doll and Hanna Montana Wall Stickers. I love you.

Thank you GiGi and Gpa Stan for my books. I like the Dog Book and Blake likes the Toy Story Book. I can't wait to go to the cube with you. I love you.

Berlin

Our hotel room was so small that the kids were on the floor in the smallest space. I can't wait to show this to them everytime they are mad at eachother.

A piece of the wall.

So, these bears are decorated all over the city. They are left over from the Olympics in 1936 (that's the rumor anyways). Well, Paige was sitting so cute on it and my friend Tara got the idea that i should get on it with her. Well, that bear is slippery. I jumped up and on and fell off the other side in about 1 second. I took Paige with me too but luckily I caught her so she didn't hit the ground. Tara is such a good photographer she got it all on film. :)

This is the one thing Danny really wanted to see. Checkpoint Charlie. (check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkpoint_Charlie for a photo of it in 1977)

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
“I don’t want people to walk away with a clear conscience.” – Peter Eisenman

In 1989, the Association for the Promotion of the Establishment of a Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe put forth the idea of establishing a monument to commemorate the Holocaust. After receiving government support and funding, more than 500 proposals were evaluated before Peter Eisenman’s design was selected. The original idea was to have a concrete slab engraved with all the names of the murdered Jews, but was quickly rejected for being “too German” and too reminiscent of “Nazi death rosters.” Eventually, the final design, which featured 2,711 concrete slabs over 4.7 acres, was approved.

Berlin #2

We did so much in Berlin. We went to the top of this TV Tower and got to see a 360 view of the city. It was really cool but a little claustrophobic for me.

At the Brandenburg Gate where Raegan made his famous speech and the words "Tear Down This Wall" will forever be remembered.

This bike was so cool! 6 people could ride this at one time.

We went inside this dome thingy. You kept circling until you got to the top. The kids loved running in this thing.

And of course we had to go on the underground. I really wish they had this in Denmark. What are we going to do when we come back to the states???

Berlin #3

After walking for 5 miles (no exaggeration) we finally found it. OCTOBERFEST in Germany! The boys enjoyed the beer and the kids enjoyed the rides. Tara and I went on a few rides which made us sick. We are officially too old for carnival rides.

So excited that Blake wanted to try this. He and Paige went SO high.

My Dare Devil.

When we first arrived a band was playing and everyone was dancing on the tables. Blake remembered this before we were leaving and wanted to do it too. He has an amazing memory.

The next day 8monday) Danny had to leave to head back to Denmark. The kids and I went to the Berlin Zoo where the famous Polar Bear is. The animals were really happy and moving around. We saw hippos fighting, lions running, elephants walking around, and brown bears eating. We drove almost 6 hours to Prague that afternoon. The kids were amazing. I was so proud of them.

Prague

So, the first thing I immediately noticed were the streets. I loved the cobblestone but they were tough with a stroller. Poor Jude was bounced around a lot in Prague. He was a trooper!

It was sooooo cold! Paige and Blake are such good travelers. I love traveling with them but it was a little hard with 3 little kids. I missed Danny a lot this trip.

Yes, his beanie is on the outside of his hood. It was cold. And, don't get mad if I tell you it was cold 10 more times. I want you to really understand how cold it was.

So, Day 1 consisted of us leaving the hotel early and walking or taking the trolley all day to the famous Prague castle. (Prague Castle is the largest medieval castle complex in Europe and the ancient seat of Czech kings throughout the ages.)

We made it to the top!! We had to go up some really steep hills. I kept saying, this is so not a vacation... We ate at a Mexican restaurant (not so great) for lunch and were back in the hotel by 6pm eating stuff from a local store and getting in bed. It was a long day.

Prague #2

This castle was huge. It was like it had it's own land - there were so many buildings.

We're in the picture.. down at the bottom... really really small.

Day 2 consisted of going into town, getting a Starbucks (yeah!!) and taking the tube to a play land for the kids. This umbrella amused the kids on our very long walks. They would yell, *P*A*R*T*Y* , *P*A*R*T*Y*!

Me and my Blake-e man on the subway. He loved this part! (Of course I'm talking about me hugging him :)

Because of the weather, we had to do something inside for the kids. After taking the subway for a long, long, long time (we won't go into the details :) ) we finally made it. It was awesome and the kids had a great time. (fyi - I did not let my baby boy ride this ride without me)
Day 3 - it was too cold and we had been gone and living in a hotel for almost 7 days so I decided to stay in. Surprisingly the kids wanted to too! We played cards, watched DVD's, and even took a nap. Day 3 was good just hanging out.

Prague #3

I took these pics while driving (don't lecture me. We made it.) Our plan was to leave Friday morning at 9:30am. We were all packed, the kids were ready, etc.. All we needed to do was go get our cars out of the teeny tiny parking area. Paul and I went and when I tried to start the car it wouldn't start. My battery was dead. The lights were left on. Great. Fabulous. Are you kidding me right now? Jude needed a nap, what were we going to do?? Thankfully Martin, the owner of the hotel was amazing and he took Paul to get jumper cables. Fast forward 2 hours - finally on the road. Things are going well... and then there is snow. Snow, in the middle of October. I just had to take pics or no one would believe me.

Our plan was to drive to Hamburg (5 hours from Prague) to meet our friends for dinner and spend the night because there was no physical way I could drive any longer with the kids. Goal was 5:30pm but we didn't get there until almost 8:30pm. 3 kids, 1 screaming, 1 begging for water (I was a bad mom for 3 hours. I couldn't afford to stop anymore), and 1 asking "Are we there yet?" made this drive seem worse than flying for 24 hours. We finally made it to our friends where a home cooked meal awaited us. It was heaven. Thank you Young Family.

The babies enjoying the long, roomy hallways to crawl and run in. This hotel was heaven and such a nice way to end a long day. Paying more money for a nice hotel is sooooo worth it.

The worst thing about vacation. Coming home and having a ridiculous amount of laundry to do.

Final Thoughts on Prague: Very pretty, great architecture, a city Danny would love, not a city for kids, fun time traveling with another family. Probably would not go back but a couple traveling Europe, it is a must!

Friday, October 23, 2009

What is happening??

Most of you know, and now that FCM has shared the news (see below), we will be leaving Denmark come December 10th.

Where will we be going? We have no idea but have a few places we are looking at. There is a new MLS team coming to Philadelphia that we are considering. We'd also like Australia or even the possibility to stay in Europe.

Why? Danny's team did some re-organizing and basically told Danny that he would no longer be needed. We were in shock. He went from being a starter and co-captain to sitting the bench within 1 week.

Has Danny been playing since? No. It has been really hard having someone sit the bench, especially when he deserves to be playing. Things are hard because since he is not playing on the 1st team, A.) He is not getting his playing time bonuses B.) He is not being called into the US teams (chance at World Cup team is very low) and C.) Potential teams cannot come look at him to see if they are something they want. Needless to say, this has been a very frustrating past couple of months.

How is Danny doing? Yeah, pretty crappy. Things are not going his way. The US team is coming to Denmark on November 18th and a few days ago he hurt his leg. He's hoping he'll be ready but, it doesn't look good. We need your prayers and healing powers, FAST!

Miscellaneous: Right now I am trying to sort through our things and find out what we definitely want to keep, need, etc.. It's hard because since I don't know if we'll be in Europe or the US is making it much harder.

Are we sad, happy, excited? I'm actually a little of everything. Sad because I finally feel like I have real friends here. We get together often, I just traveled with 1 family for 10 days, our kids are friends, etc.. Happy because I am ready for a change. Danny doesn't believe me but I am ready. Excited to meet new people/friends (I actually think I have more friends outside of Orange that I do in Orange. Weird but living abroad and meeting families that move like you, you have an instant connection).

**http://gramtrans.com/gt/url/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sporten.dk%2Ffodbold%2Fsas-ligaen-2009-2010%2Fher-er-kuhns-dodsliste&pair=dan2eng&domain=&x-form-id=translate_url

http://gramtrans.com/gt/url/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tipsbladet.dk%2Fnyhed%2Fsas-liga%2Favis-allan-kuhn-svinger-oeksen-over-otte-spillere&pair=dan2eng&domain=&x-form-id=translate_url

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..and an older one: http://gramtrans.com/gt/url/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tipsbladet.dk%2Fnyhed%2Fgenerelle%2Fkuhn-slut-med-pressekritik&pair=dan2eng&domain=&x-form-id=translate_url