An Afternoon with the Monkeys

Today we decided to head over to a monkey sanctuary that is just 1 hour away.  This is a great reserve where abused or pre-owned monkeys are rescued and brought up in a wild-life type setting.  We got to walk all throughout a forest along high rise paths and bridges while a guide pointed out several different types of monkey breeds.  Those monkeys that had once been someone's pets even came up to us to interact.  On monkey jumped up on to the hand rail of the walkway and started playing with my hair.  Our favorite, though, was a spider monkey named Sarah who insisted that we pet her.  She would grab my hand, tucked it under her arm, and pulled me close so that I would hug her.  After she freed my hand, she would wait a minute and then do it all over again.

The girls also loved seeing the monkeys.  They liked petting the ones that had once been pets, and Kaelia even built up the courage to hold one of their hands.  By the end of the visit, when a monkey would pass us by on the walkway, Kaelia would reach down to pet it on her own.  She was really excited about that.  Taelyn liked to just stand close to the monkeys, but was hesitant to really interact.

After our visit, we went to a local microbrewery next door and enjoyed a couple of brews and dinner.  The girls played on the playground and the trees surrounding the restaurant and pretended to be monkeys!

Oktoberfest in Munich

This past weekend was a long weekend away from school, so we took a little trip.  When we first saw the scheduled weekend last school year, we noticed that it aligned with opening weekend of Oktoberfest in Germany.  It seemed like a crazy idea to go, but we didn't know if our holidays would match up again, nor do we know where we will be after our time in South Africa and whether Oktoberfest will ever be an option again.  So we decided to leave the kids at home with their nanny and go for it.

Yes, it was a crazy weekend, between sleeping overnight on the plane Friday to get to Munich and on Sunday to get back home.  But it was worth it!  We arrived in Munich Saturday morning, quickly dropped our bags off at our hotel, and took the subway to the tents.  While on the subway, almost everyone was dressed in traditional German clothing: lederhosen for the men, and dirndl for the women.  We felt a little out of place for not wearing the same, but we carried on anyway.

Once we got to the tents, tons of people were lined up to watch the opening day parade.  We, however, did not have a reservation for a table in any tent, so we went straight to the Winzerer Faehnd'l tent to try to get in.  After the help of a very nice waitress, we found a seat with a Germany party that had a couple of seats empty at their table.  Here we learned about the traditions behind Oktoberfest as our new German friends taught us about the various things that we saw all around us.  And of course, we ate the infamous half chickens (hendl) drank the 1-liter sized beers.  Justin was definitely faster than I was, but it took me two hours to finish my first beer!  Oddly enough, it was actually still cold on the last sip.

A view from inside the Winzerer Faehnd'l tent

After leaving our first tent, we discovered that the other tents are drastically different from one another.  The biergardens are loaded with younger tourists who could not get reservations in to the tents.  Many of the ones we sat with were from Canada and were staying in tents that night as they celebrated Oktoberfest in the backpackers way.  The Hippodrom was set up to look like a circus, and it was absolutely crazy.  People were dancing on tables along to a rock band, and no one new could get a seat.  Augustiner was a little more similar to the first tent that we went to, with traditional music and a low-key atmosphere.  We went here at 9am on Sunday, though, and I wasn't quite ready to drink another 1-liter beer.  This time it took me over three hours to finish it!  But we did enjoy another chicken here too!  While we were in Augustiner, we actually met a guy from Michigan and sat with him for a while along with some Austrians and Italians (one of which was a professional soccer player for Italy).

The crazy Hippodrom

The opening ceremony at the Augustiner tent

The Hofbrau tent was slightly milder than the Hippodrom in that people were only standing on the table instead of dancing, but this was mostly because they had spilled too much beer on the benches to sit.  We sat in this test for a little while before heading out on Sunday and met some Australians (which this tent seemed to consist mostly of Australians).  What a contrast from our first tent where the waitress eagerly helped us find a table to here where the waitresses were mean, yelled at the obnoxious people around us, and even kicked some people out of the tent.  The behavior of people in this tent certainly warranted this type of treatment, but it was all the more reason why the tent was different than the other.

The trip was certainly a whirlwind, but it was incredible to be a part of Oktoberfest 2013.  I particularly liked the culture of the lower-key tents and the vastly different experiences that we found in all of the other tents.  And in the end, with 1-liter beers, we didn't need more than two days at Oktoberfest; two were plenty to get the experience and check another item off our bucket list.  Prost!

Kaelia Endorsements

Kaelia loves everything these days, and that is exactly what she tells us.  "Mom, I love green beans" or "I love that show" or "I love Daddy's haircut" are just a few endorsements she made just yesterday.  Our favorite is when she does not like something at first, has a complete meltdown, and then comes out of time-out happy as a clam and immediately loves whatever she threw the tantrum about in the first place.  This happens at dinner sometimes when she doesn't want to eat what we made.  The other night, I made a chicken dish that Kaelia normally really likes.  But she sat down at the dinner table, did a slow motion cry, and said "I don't like chicken!"  Twenty minutes later of crying and taking a time-out in her room, she came out fully of smiles, sat down at the table on her own, said hello to everyone with her sweet, little charm and said "Ooh, chicken.  I love this dinner!"  Another winning endorsement from Kaelia!

Taelyn has a Boyfriend

Today Taelyn was telling me about playing at school with a little boy in her class named Dale.  I noticed that she talks about Dale quite a bit, so I just asked her if Dale was one of her good friends at school.  Then she said, "Mom, there is something I have to tell you," and she told me about a conversation that she and Dale had.  Here is what they said:

Dale: Taelyn, will you be my girlfriend?
Taelyn: Of course I will.  Dale, will you be my boyfriend?
Dale: Of course I will.

So I guess Taelyn now has a boyfriend.  How cute!

The Big Slide

Every day when driving to work, we drive by a huge slide that kids to go to ride down in an inner-tube.  And every day Taelyn asks when we can go on that slide.  Well, today was the day.  The girls had an awesome time on slide.  Taelyn insisted on going down all by herself every time, and then she started racing us at the end.  Kaelia attempted to go down on her own at first but got a little scared, so Justin and I took turns going down with her.  Then she was thrilled to slide down.

Searching for Treasure

Last week the girls and I went on a little walk in a nature reserve behind our house while Justin was off running a marathon.  As we packed up and got ready for the hike, though, Taelyn told me that she had to first make a map so we could find the hidden treasure.  (She has been really in to pirates lately.)  So she took a marker and some paper and drew a map of the nature reserve; it contained a body of water, a bridge, a forest, mountains and an X for the treasure.  Taelyn didn't actually know whether these items were at the reserve, but she drew what she thought should be on a treasure map.

As the girls and I hiked around the reserve, Taelyn stopped periodically to check her map and make sure we were on the right track.  Along the way, we saw tortoises, blesbok, and large rodents called capybaras until we suddenly came across a little pond and a bridge.  The girls were very excited to find the bridge on the map and navigate where we had to go next to get to the treasure.  After several more looks at the map, we eventually ended up outside a friend's house that backs up to the nature reserve; this is where Taelyn announced the treasure was.  We called and called for her friend, Rowan, to come out, and when he did, we apparently found the treasure!  The girls were excited and fulfilled, so we headed home afterwards.

Taelyn looks at the map to find out where to go.

The girls spot a tortoise.

Kaelia sees which way to go next.

We found the bridge!  Now Taelyn looks for the way to the treasure.

Rowan's house is the treasure!

Then just yesterday, Taelyn spotted another buried treasure that is worth sharing.  While walking out of a restaurant, Taelyn immediately ran to an X in the parking lot that indicated no parking.  So she stood over the X and used her best pirate voice to yell "Treasure!" over and over again.  She was pretending that a buried treasure was under the X, and it was pretty cute.  Here is the video.