New Teeth

Hey hey hey!
Michael has 2 baby teeth on the bottom now. They came in on the weekend. One in the morning and one in the evening.
Sooo exciting. What a big boy he is :)

Michelstadt

Practising blog pictures seems to work - Hurrah!
Sorry not the best pics and one or two were accidental - I'll do better next time! Nick and family come this weekend so I'll try then.
Happy Birthday to Kali - Lots of love to you all, Mum, Grandma

What fantastic photos!

Chand - you really made my day !  I was sad that I hadn't heard from anyone but know how busy everyone is and I'm not expert at finding things.
I went to the Apple store in Frankfurt yesterday - the first person I saw didn't seem too knowledgable about blogs but this one did and here I am - It's so frustrating to be so dense!
So I opened my Blog and there was the marvellous Michael Joseph - it was hilarious and suddenly the world seemed fun again.
My good news is that Alexis and Youri and their parents are coming next Friday for 4 days. Youri is studying German so it's a trip for him as Alexis is getting lots of gigs. The English National theatre is here for one of the days they're here so we'll see a Shakespearean comedy - at their request.
We'll probably go to Heidleberg too so I'll send pics!
I sent MJ a Valentine with Krysten and Syd's maybe they didn't arrive in time.
Can't wait to see you all
Love you and miss you lots, Grandma

Best Friends

Hi Grandma,

Thank you for the link for the Valentine's Day card and the link for Citadines. 

This morning I got up and left the baby on the big bed. I went to the bathroom and started to get ready. Thats when I heard the loudest squealing sounds. I came back around the corner to see this...

In this photo Michael is rolling back and forth against Lilac's rear end. He thinks it is hilarious! 

 When Lilac realized I was there she sat up. She isn't supposed to be on the bed! Then Michael started to hug her, so she thought he wanted to play.

So she bounced around and sniffed at him and Michael just kept laughing. Until I picked her up and put her back on the floor. Then he got fussy and cried. So I put him on the floor too! Then everyone was happy.

I tried to give Lilac a little pat, and she ducked and ran away. Indy tried to cuddle her near the fireplace, she snarled and moved over. Apparently the only one she likes today is Michael.

Anyways I need to get us read to go to the pool.
Love you lots and miss you
Chandra

La Bombonera

La Bombonera, a photo by Adrian Zissos on Flickr.

Adrian and I just got home yesterday. Had a very cool 3 days on a ship in south Patagonia. Saw penguins, whales, sea lions, dolphins, glaciers and beautiful mountains and was at Cape Horn. It was pretty cold and amazingly windy and we had a night with very rough seas, but a great experience to be that far south.
Then we spend a few days in Buenos Aires - what a fabulous city. It’s crazy how European it is and looks. Tons of rich Europeans moved there in the 1800s and built a mini-Europe. Adrian’s highlight for sure was going to a Boca Juniors soccer game. The energy in the stadium was palpable. (Guardian paper says the ultimate sports experience is to watch a Boca / River Plate game at this stadium).

Great sushi dinner last night with Chandra, AJ, Kali, and MJ.

AZ at the Horn

AZ at the Horn, a photo by Adrian Zissos on Flickr.

We made it to the bottom of the world - and back! Amazingly cool to pass Cape Horn, even though the wind was blowing at 85 knots so we couldn't take the zodiak boats into the shore - so sorry, no "end of the world" souvenirs from the Cape Horn gift shop ;-)

We are now in Buenos Airies. In the first two hours there we moved about 200m as we waited almost an hour for our bags (the crowd broke out in rhythmic clapping even!) then another hour waiting for the car we'd ordered. But then things picked up. It was about 11pm and we walked to the neighborhood restaurant for a quick bite. But the couple in the next table offered to make some food suggestions. Turned out she was a PhD student at McGill (from Brazil) and she was with her friend, a tango dancer who also studied in McGill, and before we knew it it was about 1am. This city so far is really fun - of course we have only seen one block so far and we haven't yet been mugged. We hope to see Boca Juniors play on Friday - what a treat that would be!



(PS: Sorry - something funny happened to all my previous photos that I posted here. I think it was when I gave them all titles and added notes to them in Flickr)

Love, AYZ & CharM

Wow has it been busy here.  We had Michael''s  baptism 2 weeks ago at St.Patrick's. Then we had a very busy time with classes and visiting people. We have a friend who had a c-section right before Christmas and had been stuck at home for the last 6 weeks. She was finally allowed to drive herself on Friday. So we have been over to visit and bring food and coffee and entertainment a few times. Michael and I also have fitness class, yoga class and swimming during the week. Michael loves the pool, and the little boat that he sits in while mommy works out during the aquafit class. Its so funny!


Kali's baby shower was super. We had just over 20 people. It was a pretty full house. I even baked the cake myself :) We gave Kali a scrapbook and had a scrapbook page out for people to write their wishes. I made a huge diaper cake with a stuffed puppy on it too. It was fun to have a party to celebrate Michael's cousin.

We hope you are having a good time and that you have found a good wifi service somewhere.
Lots of love, hugs and kisses

Chandy, AJ and Mikey

Cycling trip is over - next to the ship!

IMG_2147.jpg, a photo by Adrian Zissos on Flickr.

We finished our cycling trip yesterday. It was an epic day. We cycled about 60km around the 3rd largest lake in South America - right from the hotel to these waterfalls, which are between two cool volcanoes.

Then as the final trip option Charlotte, me, Gord, and two of the guides cycled from the bottom of this picture to the top of it - to the bottom of the ski hill that is on the volcano. It was a 25km ride. The first 15km were downhill, then we climbed 1,000m in 10km. Killer climb but wicked views back to the lake and the Pacific Ocean.

The bike trip was really good. Today we get on a plane and fly even further south. Tomorrow our four day cruise begins - we'll see loads of penguins, the souther tip of the world, and a whole pile of glaciers. We'll be out of internet contact while on the ship - perhaps the most incredible aspect of this entire trip ;-0

Huilo Huilo hotel

IMG_1524.jpg, a photo by Adrian Zissos on Flickr.

We've reached the final day of our cycle trip. It has been really good fun.

We left Pucon a while ago and move to this hotel. It is unbelievable - like a tree house in a private forest reserve. Some mining tycoon has protected a massive amount of land and built the wierdest hotels and other buildings I've ever seen outside of Disneyland. We stayed here for a couple of nights - the day between was the rainiest ever, but we had a (perfectly scheduled) rest day so didn't have to face the weather.

Today we ride from Puerto Varras to the Ossorno volcano. The only thing that hasn't been perfect so far is the low clouds are hiding many of the great views.

Looking forward tot he next leg of the journey - when we get on the ship and travel to the southern tip of South America

Love from AYZ & Charlotte