We encounter the stars

. . . and I haven't washed my hand since!

We had a wonderful visit from our friends Kevin, Peggy, and Taylor Ladd and Peggy's mom Suzy for several warm days in June, taking in the sights and sounds and smells of Berlin. (Kevin, when I investigated my camera I found no photos to confirm your visit. I know you have some--can you share?)

As we were exploring the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz, we noticed a long red carpet snaking into a temporary pavilion advertising the film "Kung Fu Panda," along with television moderators announcing to passersby that Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman would be appearing that evening for the German premier. Jack Black? Dustin Hoffman? The kids' blood pressure went through the roof! Did she really say they'd be here? In two hours?

We went on to visit the Brandenburg Gate, but, well, yes, the kids were a wee bit preoccupied. Jack Black--pant--pant. Dustin Hoffman--pant--pant. Must return to red carpet--pant--pant.


We were back in position at 7:00, the four kids with our camera in front of the microphones and we adults indulgently and modestly back at the railing where the cars would be pulling up. We watched as the black chauffeured cars pulled in and the German celebrities piled out. They posed as the photographers descended, and we looked at each other shrugging, mouthing, Who's that?


Finally the car with Dustin Hoffman drove in and stopped, and dear little Dustin stepped out, put on his suit jacket, and strolled right over to where Peggy and I were standing to shake our hands. What a coupla middle-aged groupies! he was thinking. And, yes, we were thinking, Dustin Hoffman just shook my hand! Dustin Hoffman just shook my hand! Two grown women! How embarrassing!


Meanwhile Jack Black had already popped out of another car with gyrations and contortions and panda roars and was working the crowd on the other side. Together they must have spent a full hour patiently signing autographs and taking pictures with kids leaning out over the railings.

Near the end, Anna managed to lean far enough out on Jost's shoulders to get an autograph from Jack, Hannes shamelessly flattered him into signing a "Kung Fu Panda" fan, and Anna wriggled through to reach Dustin for a signature.


But Taylor scored the highest coup with the photo on Suzy's camera that Jack Black took of Taylor and himself, a photo that I would love to post here when those world travelers get through unpacking!

And what are we left with? A fan and some scraps of paper with illegible scrawls, some cockeyed crowd photos, one precious photo of Taylor with a movie star--and some humility, hopefully, that we too succumbed, for a few moments, to the fleeting pull of the celebrity.

Germany and Euro 2008

We're Nummer Zwei!

We're Nummer Zwei!

We wrote a bit about Deutschland Fußball Fever in a previous post, but we're sure you'll need an update, given the dearth of television coverage in America for international soccer competitions.

No one can say we fans didn't give it our all. We wore the wigs and the leis. We waved the flags. We screamed ourselves hoarse. We drove honking through the streets of Berlin until the wee morning hours to celebrate our victories (well, we didn't, but many did!). We staggered drunkenly from beer gardens when our team stumbled (again, we didn't, but many did!).


And the team . . . the team played brilliantly, the team played dismally: we just never knew which team would show up. Against Portugal and Poland they were a well-oiled, explosive machine. Against Croatia and Turkey we wondered where they'd gone. And then finally, against Spain, the new European champion, they were simply outplayed.


The disappointment was great, but somewhere we almost lost sight of this important fact: Germany got second place. That's a great achievement! Go Germany!

Anna turns nine

Zum Geburtstag viel Glück!

Here's Anna's early morning bouquet after her wake-up birthday song

Our "little" Anna celebrated her ninth birthday on June 26th with cousin Hannah and our family here at home, and then again on the 28th with all of us and her two best friends, Jessica and Sarah, at an amazing invention known as a "climbing forest." This was her day:

Sarah, Anna, and Jessica before the big adventure

We rode the elevated train for about an hour to the outskirts of East Berlin to a protected part of the forest called "Climb-Up!" We paid an entrance fee for our six climbers and then they received hard hats, gloves, and climbing harnesses with carabiners and rolly-thingies (I'm sure that's the technical name!) for sliding down zip lines.

The climbers then received a careful introduction into their equipment and how they would safely navigate the courses that had been built high above us among the trees. And then they were off!

Anna and Hannah show their ready stances

What fun! The courses all begin with a ladder that guides the climbers up to a series of platforms, connected by a variety of obstacles that they have to cross to go from tree to tree: hanging logs, nets, suspended stumps, moving ropes, rotating poles, skateboards, and zip lines—all suspended up to 30 feet in the air!

The climbers are connected with their carabiners to guide ropes at all times so there’s no danger of falling, but even so their concentration and focus was extremely high. Each of the courses has a different difficulty level—the perfect place for our group of six ranging in age from eight to eighteen.

Here you can see Lara's altitude on this mid-level-difficulty course . . .

. . . and here in the close-up you can see the concentration!

After two and half hours of climbing the kids were tired but ecstatic—Anna said this was the most fun birthday party she’d ever had!

Happy birthday, big girl!

We love you!