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Another year just flew by us and it is getting time to post out
annual year letter. Same as every year I first thought that this
will be a short letter - there wasn't THAT much going on - but
when I looked though our photographs and calendar to jog my
memory I had to rephrase that quickly...

January ans February, in fact, were rather quiet - something of a
winter rest. The winter was very long this time - from the first
snow in October of '08, and around Easter mid-April it still wasn't
quite over yet. Ralf and I did our annual wellness program with
keeping a diet and not drinking alcohol starting Jan. 7.

March brought a little more action, Tim competed in the first
gymnastics meet of the year - he cam up 4th. Straight from the
medal ceremony we drove to Munich to celebrate Uwe and
Christa's birthdays. Shortly after we got back home, Mona
packed her stuff up yet again to fly to Altamura in southern Italy
with the school choir. The choir was performing at the festivities
for the 50th anniversary of the local school there, which is the
partner for student exchanges with our school. The girls lived in
families and they were warm and gracious hosts. When Mona
got back she was convinced she would never eat again! At the
end of the Month we drove to Regensburg in Bavaria to see our
friends Imke and Helmut, their son Moritz had wished for a
weekend with Tim for his birthday.

Easter was here before we knew it and we were packing
suitcases yet again. This time we went for a hiking vacation in
the Alps at Oberstdorf. There was still a lot of snow for this time
of the year, and some paths were closed due to high snow or
avalanches but we had wonderful sunshine and so it wasn't hard
to find other fun things to do - such as a hike with Lamas or a
huge ice cream in the market square right outside our hotel.

On first of May we went for the traditional hike in the forest with
the Boeblingen gymnasts. The weather started to improve and it
got warmer - so we were happy when the new glass roof over
our balcony finally got installed, just in time for Tim's big birthday
party. It was a big party with 16 kids this time, so everyone could
see our birthday present for Tim: A surprise private show by
world champion magician Timo Marc. He is Tim's great magician
icon, and once participated in the same magician's class at
school that Tim is in. We all were mesmerized by the show and
even up close as this was we could not detect how he did it!

At the end of the month the kids got out of school for 2 weeks
for pentecoste vacaion and we used it for a long weekend in
Paris. We took the TGV early in the morning and were there for
breakfast - fascinating. Our first stop was the "Tour
Montparnasse" with its gorgeous view, which gave us the
opportunity to show the kids the lay of the land. We were just in
time, too since they are planning to tear it down. We also got to
see our friends Christine and Laurent with their kids (whom we
first met in Austin), and they went all out to make our trip to Paris
a memorable one.

After 3 1/2 days we went back home and after a short breather
we all used the second week for our individual endeavors: Ralf
went to the German Gymnastics Convention in Frankfurt with his
pals, Mona went to horseback riding camp, Tim hung out at the
Fischer grandparent's house and I got to go to Austin (thank you
Andrea for your hospitality!) It was awesome to see the friends
and this wonderful city again! Mona got back wanting a horse -
she fell in love with Consul, but that may well stay a dream. Tim
had a fun time at his grandparent's, he got to play with his
cousin Yannick every day, who lives next door. And Ralf got
back tired but relaxed, I am not sure I have heard all the stories
yet...

After we all returned home there was "the big election"
(European parliament, regional and local parliaments) and I was
summoned to help for 2 days - unfortunately on Ralf's birthday.
Thus we didn't celebrate his birthday until July, but then we had
a whisky tasting evening at our home. There were some real
MEN at the table that night! But the gals didn't delay much - we
toughed it out at the movies - open air, late at night, in pouring
rain.

Tim continued to compete in gymnastics with his Boeblingen
team and Mona starred in the school musical - playing a little
boy's stern mom very convincingly.... wonder where she got that
from? All in all, Mona has grown up to be a young woman much
more than a girl, especially when she is all dressed up for
grandpa's 70th birthday

July brought more new features for the house, the limestone
floors on the terrace outside the kids' rooms as well as our very
own palm tree. All that is missing now is an armchair and a
"Corona"! With a laughing and a crying eye we decided to sell
our WV Touran, the big family car, since the mileage was quite
high and the transmission was sure to become a problem
sooner or later. Since the prices on very young used cars were
exceptionally low, we were able to find a very pretty VW Touareg
which is just a gorgeous car. The last day of school was here
already and the kids went to school in costume - Tim's class had
decided to dress up as the dwarfs out of a recent German
comedy-remake of the old Disney's Snow White. The kid's report
cards were a pleasure to read and I had 5 weeks off at work to
reduce my overtime, great conditions to start into summer break.

Both kids spent the first week of summer break at the forest
camp where they had been in the past 2 years as well - they got
home each night dirty and tired but happy and relaxed. During
the second week, Mona drove to the Lake of Constance with a
youth group and Tim an I welcomed Imke and Moritz to our
home. The boys even got to spend a day at the golf course. After
some lazier days around the house to catch our breath we
packed up our stuff and took the drive across the Alps to
Tuscany. We had rented an appartment at a gorgeous property
in Greve, in the Chianti valley between Florence and Siena. Our
friends Monica and Cesare came from Rome to stay with us for a
weekend, and we enjoyed food, wine, laughter and culture
together. One of the highlights was the "bistecca fiorentina", a
huge slice of cow shortly cooked on a very hot grill - a delicacy
even for a BBQ veteran from Texas.

A week after our return home school started, and for Tim it
meant new classmates and teachers since his old class had
been split up. They are now only 24 kids in the class, which is
great, but Tim also lost some friends that are not in his class
anymore. He is now taking Latin as his 2nd foreign language,
wich is unknown territory to all of us. Mona added her 3rd
foreign language, Italian, which is much more common around
our home. Tim exchanged the magician's class to participate in
the school's first aid team (which is at the same day and time)
and Mona stopped all extracurricular activities at school - maybe
a wise decision with vocabulary for 3 languages and gymnastics,
volleyball and horseback riding in her free time.. Tim's class
went for a weeklong trip to the Lake of Constance in the 3rd
week of school, which gave them a nice opportunity to get to
know each other.

October brought a very visible change to our family: Ralf got rid
of his glasses. The Lasik surgery went well and the healing
process was by the book. He bought new sunglasses - lenses
without prescription please! - right away, for the fall was nice
and sunny. Even during the last week of October, on our annual
hiking trip to a milk farm in the Black Forest, we had sunshine
every day.

During November the kids had to take many tests at school, but
there were also some highlights such as world class gymnastics
at the DTB-Pokal in Stuttgart, or music by PINK, which Ralf and
Mona enjoyed at her concert in Stuttgart. Ralf finally made it to
India (if only for 48 hours...) and came back fascinated. My
endeavours had a more domestic character, we had 2
card-making events and 3 opportunities to bake Christmas
cookies with friends. We got the back yard (and the palm tree)
ready for winter and - despite warm temperatures and sunshine
- put up the Christmas lights around the house.

By now Christmas preparations are picking up, there are many
rehearsals for the various Christmas parties at the kids' sports
clubs. The house needs more decorating, not to forget a tree,
and since it is dark at 5 PM the days are rather short. It comes in
handy that Ralf rediscovered his old hobby HiFi and bought
some new, great-sounding, speakers. We often sit at night
listening to music. Mid December we will take another trip to
Munich, since Tim needs a new US passport. We will get to meet
his brother Uwe and his wife again, and we will also meet Andrea
with her family who will be in town at the same time.

We hope, that all our friends around the world will get to spend
blessed holidays and that 2010 may end up having been a good
year.