At the ice rink

While papa wnt on a business trip Mia headed to the training iceplex of the Washington hockey team in Ballston
First she wazch some training

Met the players

Had some lunch

Did some skating

A cookie for desert

Papa's birthday

 A handwritten card on papa's birthday

Snowy Saturday

After a few very cold days with -18 C at night a few snowflakes started to fall Saturday morning at 10:30 am during Mia's class at the German School. 45 minutes later classes had ended early and we tried to make it back home over streets that were really slick and slippery.
A 20 minute trip turned into almost two hours.
On the belt way with its four to five lanes cars were spinning at a slight uphill part right after the Potomac bridge

 The George Washington Parkway, a major route into Washington, had turned into a winter wonder land.

When we finally mad it home we warmed up with some hot cocoa for Mia and some coffee for us and headed out again to enjoy the snow before it turned to sleet and rain later that evening

 Bundled up and with snow boots and snow pants it was fun

 Like earlier this week we headed to Rocky Run park for some ledding

 Mama and papa gave it a try as well

Snow Day

About 7 cm (3 inches) of powdery fine snow was enough to shut down the federal government and to close all the schools on the city. But an early morning  text message from Suzette meant that Mia could have some fun in the snow with Kennedy and Xena

The Rocky run playground was good for sliding and sledding

Magna Tiles

After Mia had discovered Magna Tiles at a get-together with Anette to build St Martin's lanterns in November she added them o her wishlist. And after waiting a bit she got her own set as a delayed Christmas present in January. She really enjoys them - and so do other kids who are visiting

Good Bye Lorene

After being our neighbor for almost 10 years it was time to say "Good Bye" to Lorene when she moved to North Carolina this weekend. Here mother and friends and family were there to help.
Lorene and her mother also had time to come up to our place for dinner one evening before the move

We hope to see Lorene in her new place in North Carolina in April - just a few weeks before her baby is due

Skiing with Larissah

After a long break we went skiing again after German school with Christoph and Larissah. It was kind of busy and no classes available at 2 pm so we just got tickets for the the fathers and free companion lift ticket for the "five year" old daughters ( kids that are six years old are no longer free). For one father it was the first time on skies but it went ok and was fun.