Fall Break 2025

Psychiatrist: “How often do you fly back to the USA with your family?”

Me: “Every two years.”

Psychiatrist: “Maybe you could make it every three.”

We split the difference, with 2.5 years between our last visit, because Halloween fell during fall break this year. A few things happened since our last Halloween stateside,

namely Crosby is out of his Batman phase.

Also, we have two sets of grandparents in Arizona. Our first stop was Papa and Coco in Mesa, outside of Phoenix. The sun coupled with a backyard pool and Coco's cooking is great for getting over the nine-hour time difference between Central European Timezone and Mountain Standard Time.

As is carving pumpkins while wearing an Elsa wig that mostly looks like a silver mullet.

While maybe not a specific jet lag cure, Hugo's watermelon helmet deserves an honorable mention. 

As does his new love of Slurpees. 

From Mesa, our paths diverged. Paul took the kids to his parents' house outside of Tucson, AZ while I went to hang with two of my favorite people. I took no pictures of my time with Kiki nor Karissa, but here they are looking fabulous a little over 13 years ago. 

I did, however, take a picture of this at the newly renovated PDX airport. 

Did I miss something? Did people visiting Portland not know that you shouldn't drink water out of the toilet?

Anywho, from PDX I flew directly to Palm Springs while Paul did an epic six-hour road trip through the desert with lots of this:

But our welcome at Mimi's and delicious dinner of steak and salmon with a guest appearance from KK made the drive worth it. 

Right Paul?

After a short and sweet visit we were off to San Diego to visit the Mathewson crew. The original plan was to go to Legoland California but we found that Crosby just recently aged out of legomania. He did, however, show a sliver of interest in surfing. 

These shakas don't lie.

We all got up, but style points again awarded to...

Surfing was just the start of a most amazing San Diego visit including but not limited to...

Avocado toast with our beloved emotional support toddler who according to Hugo "looks like she could be part of our family."
\

Boogie boarding followed by

Beach burritos

Robin getting suckered into some crafting project by Hugo (just like last year in Berlin)

A brief intro to animal husbandry

And the pièce de résistance...Halloween! The Mathewson's threw a party for 20ish of their dearest with games

The kids then divided and conquered trick-or-treating. The littles went with Laurel and Paul.

Our chicken went off with Gem's middle school buddies.

I, as Rosie the Riveter, stayed back and chatted with Colin's parents while trick-or-treaters came by.

The haul was considerable:

18 pounds/8 Kilos to be exact

At this point in the trip, the boys head back to Berlin for school but the girls' took advantage of Carmen's last year of freedom to head to Hawaii for Carmen to meet her cousin Constance. When I checked in to the hotel the reception asked if we were celebrating anything. I said, "Well my anniversary is tomorrow. But, I don't think it really counts when my husband is at work and I'm in paradise." Am I a horrible wife? Maybe. Am I an awesome mom?

Ask Carmen.

There was beach, pool, kayaking, paddle boarding, snorkeling with turtles, boogie boarding, and delicious food with people we love. I don't want to make anyone too jealous because Carmen's and my tans speak for themselves. But, this photo pretty much sums it up.

After Paul's harrowing 40th birthday return from Hawaii with two red eyes in a row, we opted to layover in San Francisco for a night. We planned for a hang with tio David starting with breakfast burritos on the water. 

Our "hang" developed into a "errand hang" because my suitcase broke beyond repair and then the new one we found needed to be filled with Trader Joes goodies. #lemonsintolemonaid

We got on the plane the day before travel chaos ensued in the US. It's the kind of trip that makes you think, "I should do this more often." And then, I introduce to you what we shall henceforth call "rainbow sleep". 

My apple watch shows me the breakdown of REM, core, and deep sleep. When Carmen gets in my bed in the middle of the night neither my watch, nor I, know what to call it. It's all the things, and none of them. It's just a block.

Jokes aside, it was an amazing trip. I'm so grateful to all of our friends and family who welcomed us and made it all possible. Specifically, a big thank you to Paul's parents who did all the things while I got my face sand blasted with Kiki for her (early) birthday and confirmed that Cycling Frogs is not my cup of tea with Karissa. Also, a special shout out to Paul and Colin who did things like take all the kids to Sea World so Laurel and I could drink matcha lattes and then be vigorously scrubbed down by hard working Korean ladies. #healthyglow

We miss you all already. We'll see you all again in two years.