December 31, 2014 - New Year's Eve

After finishing our work, we went out and had a hearty meal at the Highland Park Pharmacy, a regular staple. We then proceeded to discuss meditation, how to listen to our inner self and what it feels like to be a stone.

December 29, 2014 - Legoland

Margo and Arno stayed home today and it fell to me to entertain the two. We first went to SeaWorld, which is an aquarium of sorts, and then to Legoland for a couple of hours. It should not have come as a surprise that the one here in Dallas is exactly like the one in Berlin, however, this one was just way too busy.

December 28, 2014 - Christmas Lights - Part 2

We finally had an opportunity to go out and take a few more shots of Christmas decorations. Given that it was rather cold we pretty much stayed in the car though, which was far from ideal in terms of the composition.

Aside from hunting down garden decorations, Margo and I also had a very nice lunch earlier in one of her favorite spots and went to the DMA for an art workshop, which are always very engaging and fun. Today the objective was to create a Japanese painting using ink and rice paper.

December 25, 2014 - Christmas

And now for the main attraction ... well, Arno came around at 4:45am this morning to tell me that we really needed to get up and open presents. I spent a good two hours convincing him that it'd be another couple of hours before we get started, but to little avail. Austin came in around 9am and thus started our Christmas morning. It was a great day with lots of good food, very nice presents and lots of laughter, especially when Austin saw the Polo pants that were a bit too long for any human being. Everyone crashed pretty much around 8pm and we called it  a night.

December 24, 2014 - Weihnachten

It's finally here. This morning we went to Justice so that Margo could pick out a few things for the money Oma had given to her while Arno, wisely so, opted to wait for more money and thus bigger toys at the store. We then proceeded to make the best French onion soup we have ever had. I am afraid I put enough Vintage Port into it that the kids have been a bit buzzed throughout the afternoon. Anyway, after lunch it was time to open the presents from my Mom and then call to wish her well.

December 23, 2014 - Not Another Day

This was no ordinary day, it is almost Christmas after all. Well, or at least it will be Weihnachten, the German Christmas Eve, tomorrow. And thus begins our gift giving marathon. As every year, Margo and Arno get their German gifts tomorrow and their American ones on Christmas Day. Meredith and I still worked today, but we had our hands full with two kids who are going over the moon with anticipation.

December 21, 2014 - Christmas Lights - Part 1

Dallas is one of those places where you see tons of unique Christmas decorations at this time of the year. People spare no expense and effort to put them up. In the better parts of town, parents organize limos to drive their kids around to see the most extravagant decorations. This year Margo and I decided that it is time to document some of this dazzle and thus we set out to take a few pictures. We haven't even gotten to the best ones, yet, and thus shall continue soon ...

December 19, 2014 - Christmas Concert

Margo and Arno both sang at the Highland's Christmas concert today. It was great fun to watch both of them on the stage as well as interacting with their friends at school.

December 14, 2014 - A Couple of Shots

This really was our last busy weekend for the season. We met Connie and Royd for an incredibly funny evening along with beers and Max Frisch's The Arsonists, visited Christ Lutheran for our annual Advent service, celebrated two Christmas parties and went out to get a bunch of kitchen tools that we'll desperately need over the holidays.

December 6, 2014 - Weihnachtsfest

The German International School of Dallas had their Christmas party today. We obviously visited to meet friends and for Margo and Arno to play with their former classmates.

November 30, 2014 - OkiDoki

Margo and Arno really wanted to go to OkiDoki today since they had not been for a full year. We spent about an hour in the place, but quickly discovered that a Sunday with multiple concurrent birthday parties is not the right time for this place.

November 29, 2014 - Thanksgiving

Charlotte and Malte invited us for a Thanksgiving celebration in their new home in Bonn. The Fishers' were there as well so that we had a truly nice reunion with Texan friends in Germany. The dinner was absolutely fantastic and we lost count of how much wine we consumed throughout the evening. Margo and especially Arno enjoyed seeing Huck and the other kids as well. Still living in Texas, we truly miss everyone.

November 28, 2014 - Metz

Despite our enormous wine consumption and contrary to all expectations, we had an early start this morning. Given that Metz has a Centre Pompidou designed by Shigeru Ban, we went into the city for a closer look. The building is certainly less famous and far smaller than it's counterpart in Paris, yet it was breathtaking to see the architecture none-the-less.

November 27, 2014 - Nancy and Upward

As we drove a crooked "O" of sorts across Germany and then France, it was time to turn back North today for a visit to Nancy and finally Metz. We had an excellent lunch in an otherwise rainy town of Nancy and decided not to stay much longer. Thus, we made it to Metz in the early evening and found that our hotel had an exceptional restaurant, which we used lavishly.

November 26, 2014 - Alsace

After spending the night in Wiesbaden, we went South to Strasbourg for lunch and a walk around the town. From there, we continued on to Obernai and then Mittelbergheim for two wine tastings respectively that turned out to be excellent. Obviously, we brought back more stuff than we can carry to the States, but it certainly does not hurt to have a small supply in Krefeld as well.

November 25, 2014 - Visiting the Leica Factory

Meeting friends in Wetzlar, we started a few days on the road with a visit to the Leica factory. To anyone interested in the art, this is the cradle of modern-day photography. The company invented the 35mm camera in 1914 and has dominated the industry for much of its existence, still supplying the best optics and equipment in the world.

We also took time to walk through the historic town of Wetzlar and grabbed a lunch in a nice Italian restaurant. It is a very quaint and quite beautiful little town.

November 24, 2014 - Ferris Wheel

Another easy day with lots of time to explore, we went to the Christmas market and onto a Ferris wheel, which was a lot of fun. Naturally Margo and Arno took on every ride they could possibly find.

November 23, 2014 - Krefeld

Today we met several good friends at a café and went for a very nice lunch with my Mom. Everyone is finally adjusting to the new time zone and is looking forward to a good nights' sleep.

November 22, 2014 - Düsseldorf

We stumbled into a big sales type thing going on all over town and Meredith took swift advantage of it. Arno and Margo had gotten some money for their respective birthdays from my Mom and both picked up a toy. One thing that is always nice to come back to is the local food in the Rhineland, which is very tasty and heavily influenced by local grown stuff. We had lunch in an old train station that has been converted into a restaurant, which was very exciting for Margo and Arno.

November 21, 2014 - Traveling to Germany

It's been a very long day for everyone as we took off from Dallas and flew to Madrid and then on to Germany. The airline system had messed up Arno's last name and we underwent quite a long process before we could even check in. Afterwards it was smooth sailing though and everyone slept a little on the plane. It was great to finally greet Michael and, obviously, my Mom.

November 16, 2014 - A Couple of Shots

We have been very lazy once again and basically stuck to cooking and playing tricks on one another today. Here are a couple of shots from the afternoon as well as showcasing the great enthusiasm that my pear-arugula salad met over lunch.

November 9, 2014 - Arno Runs for President

Actually, he did it quite literally by getting dressed up in his fines clothes and then running around while Margo played the national anthem. She also introduced him as President Arno to us.

November 8, 2014 - JHG Texas Education

We has a very engaging lecture on heraldry and coats of arms tonight as part of the JHG Texas educational series. It was a smaller, yet much more intimate group and thus as much fun as education.

November 2, 2014 - There's a Chef in My Soup

Today, Margo and Arno cooked for all of us. We used a kids cookbook by Emeril Lagasse, which was really fun. Arno served lunch with a My-Oh-My Spaghetti Pie, which he really did well. Margo catered our dinner with a pasta salad and Pita Pizza, which both turned out great. The recipes were fairly  complex, yet the book described them in simple terms and made it easy to follow everything.

October 31, 2014 - Halloween

We did not have a lot of time for trick-or-treating since Margo had a ballet rehearsal which we could not miss. In any case, we went to a few houses up the street. Arno and Margo were both dressed as superheroes. 

October 24, 2014 - Arboretum

It was a perfect day once again - a blue sky and 80 degrees. Arno and I went to the Arboretum in the afternoon to catch the last rays of sun and loose a bit of energy. We had lots of fun with different experiments and scientific toys.

October 19, 2014 - Posing Lines

Arno and I went to the museum where he got a bag with materials and tasks. Our first activity was to act out different types of lines and shapes along with emotions such as excitement, sadness or fear. We also saw an astonishing Isa Genzken retrospective.

October 12, 2014 - The Birthday Party

As is customary by now, we had a party at our house for Arno's sixth birthday. This time we had "spidy man" (presumably due to copyright issues) come over for a very entertaining and very loud hour of fun and games. The performer was truly awesome though and he kept the kids in check very well. Arousing everyone on one hand and ensuring that nobody gets overly excited is a very fine line to walk and this guy did it better than any of the previous ones. Well, I guess the images tell the story best ...

October 10, 2014 - Arno's Birthday

It was, for obvious reasons, a day that had been met with lots of anticipation. Arno had been talking about his birthday and everything he wanted to do for the entire week. So when the day finally came, he was excited as can be. As always, he got his present from my Mom in the morning so that he could call and thank her. We all met after school and unwrapped his American presents. After dinner, he and I went to the Lego store where he could pick a couple of things he really liked.

October 3, 2014 - Swiss Avenue

The street is one of my favorite places in Dallas and a great spot for a long walk. Arno and I set out to snap a few images but we also wanted to take in great architecture now that Arno has decided he wants to be an architect and a spy, which, he assures me, is quite compatible as a parallel career path. The turn of the (last) century homes are just magnificent and I tend to develop a strong case of home-envy every time we visit.

September 28, 2014 - Painting at the DMA

Margo and I went over to the DMA for an art class where she drew a beautiful charcoal figure and then colored it with water colors. Later, we took a stroll through the park in downtown where we found a Mexican festival of sorts. Maybe most striking, we managed to eat three ice creams throughout the afternoon.

September 27, 2014 - Lego Architects

It really paid off to build a couple of houses with Margo and Arno. By now both of them are pretty much self-sufficient and can assemble the models that are recommended for kids twice their age. Today we made a big push to build the last two models that I had secured. We have probably run out of stuff to build for now and shall have to wait for Lego to bring new products to the market.

September 21, 2014 - Goofing Around

We played games, build the Seattle Space Needle for Arno's room and chased each other around ...

September 14, 2014 - The Weekend

Not much to report here. We had a quiet weekend with a nice dinner on Saturday when Meher and Michael came over with their kids.

September 6, 2014 - Meredith's Birthday Celebration

Her birthday actually is in two days. Since I will be traveling for work, we decided to have the celebration and present out gifts today. This way we can at least all enjoy the moment together and have a nice dinner as well. She was very excited about the book we created and really enjoyed its story as well as images.

Margo and Arno are now both enrolled in two dance classes for the Fall. It is nice to see both of them engaged and Arno really enjoyed his first ballet and tap dance lesson. Naturally, I got a first hand view when they both decided to put on an impromptu show for me in the afternoon.

September 1, 2014 - How Our Parents Met

Meredith doesn't know it, yet, but we have created a picture story about how she and I initially met. We have taken 19 images in total and glued them into a little red book that she will get for her birthday next week. Margo and Arno reenacted the story as princess and prince (hence the costumes). It was a lot of fun and I probably need to add the full story to these pages at some point. Anyway, here are the images published to the web after her birthday.

August 31, 2014 - Jumps

Another day of swimming. I shot these with film and was surprised that the results were so decent.

August 30, 2014 - Kimbell Museum

Margo, Arno and I went to the Kimbell today and saw the Samurai exhibition once more. It was an interesting experience as always and the Barbier-Mueller collection on loan is truly one of the best outside of Japan.

August 24, 2014 - Half Priced Books

Margo, Arno and I went to the Highland Park Pharmacy, then a playground an finally made a quick stop at our favorite bookstore. I came across an aisle where the had a whole shelf of books about guns right next to a shelf with books about God. Only in Texas!

August 23, 2014 - Kentucky's Birthday

Arno was invited to join his friend Kentucky at Pump-It-Up for his birthday. The place has tons of inflatable slides and obstacle courses, which is great for kids. Obviously, they all went for it and were pretty worn out at the end.

Naturally, we took advantage of the heat and went for a swim in the pool as well. I just love the waterproof camera and finally figured out how the different modes work. The images are much better now.

August 22, 2014 - Ice Cream Social

As the school opens its gates for the next grade, we have had the annual get-together, an ice cream social, where parents and kids can mingle and everyone gets a first glimpse of the new football team as well. Meredith worked behind the counter this year, which meant that Margo and Arno were pretty much running around with their friends all afternoon while I continuously lost track of them. All good fun!

August 16, 2014 - Brandenburg Gate

This is our fifth architectural Lego model and was thus pretty easy to build. Malte started our addiction when he gave me von der Rohe's Farnsworth House for my birthday earlier this year and we have continued to build new models ever since. By now Margo is skilled enough to pretty much do the entire model by herself. It's quite obvious that she great enjoys it.

August 15, 2014 - Home

Just playing around at home after school! There were a few nice images captured on film.

August 12, 2014 - San Fran

I had a meeting in Palo Alto and stayed with Georg and Shaunte in San Fran. While we did not have nearly enough time to catch up, it was great to see them for a few hours anyway. I took a stroll around the house as well for a few shots of the neighborhood.

August 11, 2014 - Two Dandies and A Rocking Chair

More modeling material. We have just taken delivery of a new rocking chair for our kitchen, which is the center of most of our social activities anyway. Margo already loves it and uses it veraciously to read.

August 10, 2014 - A Dandy and Two Jesters

Arno loves to dress spiffy and certainly his new red bow tie plays right into his passion. He sat on my reading chair and looked through flash cards when I grabbed the camera and took almost an entire roll of film. The last images were shot downstairs in the dining room where Margo and Arno played with a Gaucho Marx setup.

August 9, 2014 - The Saturday

We had a great start into the weekend with lots of fun and friends. On Friday Jerrold and Rita came over, bearing a ton of gifts for Margo and Arno, and then Saturday, our new neighbors visited for a nice dinner and glass of wine as well. After cooking a fair bit, we basically went swimming on Sunday and that was that.

August 3, 2014 - Love Field Flight Museum

Arno and I took off after lunch to "do something". We weren't quite sure what that would be when we started, but ran, by virtue of a small miracle, into Jerrold and Rita from DC at our favorite bookstore. Anyway, Jerrold suggested the flight museum over coffee and the idea stuck. We had a great time while Arno, who knows this place like the palm of his hand, gave me an extended tour.

August 2, 2014 - A Fancy Lunch

Margo and I used the morning to hang out while Arno visited with friends from school to celebrate a birthday. We went to R&D where the special attraction is that you can feed fish that they have in a small pond in front of their terrace.

August 1, 2014 - Volcano

Margo learned how to make a volcano out of water, vinegar and flour at school and we certainly wanted to give it a try at home. Unfortunately things did not quite work out as planned, but we had a lot of fun anyway and proceeded to invent a new way to play with Pokémon cards afterwards.

July 27, 2014 - Playing Around

We just played around at home and, to the utter delight of some, had very bad food from a very fast vendor. These were shot with film again.

July 26, 2014 - JHG Movie Night

We had a very fascinating and truly engaging evening event today that included two talks and a screening of the movie "Monuments Men". Afterwards the group met for a good glass of wine and a cup of soup.

July 20, 2014 - Summer Camp at Greenhill

Arno and Margo both had a show for parents in their art classes at summer camp today. Arno performed in two theater plays while Margo danced in her contemporary and ballet class.

July 20, 2014 - The Bookstore

Another busy weekend! We were at the Fort Worth Modern over lunch on Saturday and then spend Sunday cooking and book-shopping, which is a favorite for Margo and Arno. Margo purchased two origami books and has since made countless swans, penguins and fortune-tellers while Arno acquired new and crucial information on super heroes. We concluded the outing with a classic American-bohemian milkshake.

July 15, 2014 - New Beds

We inherited a high-bed from Hacky for Arno and thus had to procure another one for Margo. Both asked me to take pictures of their new beds so that they could show them off to their summer camp teachers. As always with Ikea wares, we had tons of excitement to put them together as well.

July 12, 2014 - Riding the Trolley

Arno and I rode on the downtown trolley this afternoon and visited the DMA after a hearty lunch at Houston's with the girls. We both took lots of pictures in the process.

July 6, 2014 - Couple More Shots

Having rediscovered my love for film, I am taking the camera pretty much everywhere for now. These are a couple of shots at dinner.

July 5, 2014 - Couple of Shots

Well, we finally had the opportunity to put Arno's new bed together, which he inherited from Huck. Obtaining a few spares necessitated a trip to Ikea, which turned into several major purchases ... until we all needed an ice cream. : )

July 4, 2014 - Soccer Watching Party

We were invited to watch the German World Cup soccer game at a friends' house and went swimming afterwards. Lots of sun and lots of jumps ...

June 27, 2014 - Gordon Gecko and a Bookstore

Arno has been talking about today for a week now. We went to the church with friends and he got to dress in his blue blazer and tie, which was a really big deal. Plus he styled his hair as I do and thus took on the persona of Douglas' famous Wall Street trader. Later Margo and I went to Half Prize Books to buy a couple of new reads for Arno and her.

June 26, 2014 - Arno's Book

Arno and I worked on a book tonight in which he tells the story of how the two of us went to the zoo not too long ago. He drew several pages with the animals he had seen and then we clipped it all together. He is going to give it to someone special as a present, but I am not allowed to say who or when. It was fun to watch him draw and write his words while his face was as expressive as the lines he put on paper.

June 22, 2014 - Artsy Endeavors

We went to the DMA today and took part in a kids program where they got a bag full of stuff and had to walk through the museum to complete tasks. It was really well done and we had challenges such as picking color cards and finding an artwork that had the same colors in them. Aside from a few museum guards who weren't onboard with the idea of kids having a playful encounter with art, it was great fun for us.

June 21, 2014 - Ansel Adams

With everyone still on South Padre Island for most of the day, I was able to visit the Arlington Museum for an excellent exhibition of Ansel Adams prints in the morning. The show was extremely good and contained some of his finest work. As part of the fun, I had asked a couple of guys whether they would stand in as models to cheer for one of the prints as they would for a goal in soccer or score in football. It turned into a neat idea with a very bad execution since I had no control of the light and could not get the guys to let loose either. Getting the right angle was pretty much impossible as well. Anyway, I continued on to the Contemporary in Dallas for a few more images.

June 15, 2014 - Lazy Sunday

Well, it's still on! We went for a swim in the morning and had much fun along the way. I inadvertently  gave my chocolate shake to Arno not knowing that it had three shots of espresso in it. He handled it very well though and has always liked coffee when he could get his hands on a zip or two anyway.

June 13, 2014 - It's on ...!

Summer is finally here. The temperatures have been steady enough that we can now use the pool every day, which, of course, we can't due to work and such. But now we're ready for the weekends at least. I purchased a small underwater camera this week in New York and thus we'll be able to document it all. Here are the first few shots from this evening.

June 10, 2014 - Passaic River Bridge

Looking out of the office, I see the skyline of New York City and an old, rusty bridge that is raised every few days to let ships pass. Today I had a bit of time and walked along the river to get a few shots of this very peculiar leftover from the early days of industrialization. I did not bring my camera, but the results aren't too shabby anyway.

June 8, 2014 - BBQ

We had a very nice and relaxing weekend with lots of time to play and do fun stuff. Ever since Margo discovered her thoroughly capitalist nature in Monopoly, we have been playing it. Arno was truly delighted to get a new blazer, which made him perfectly suited to be the banker. On Sunday afternoon we were invited for a BBQ with friends.

June 7, 2014 - The Blue Blazer

We ventured to Grapevine Mills today in search for a couple of nice clothes for Margo and Arno. Incidentally, we stumbled upon a very exquisite blue blazer at Neiman's that was part of the decoration. Arno insisted on trying it on and, sure enough, he completely refused to take it off. It does look stunning on him, I admit. To make a long story short, he now owns one fine Polo RL blazer.

June 1, 2014 - Ballet and a Swim

Margo had her annual ballet show today and danced in two performances, one for classical ballet and one for contemporary dance. As always, she was stunning and very graceful. We are incredibly proud of her. It is amazing to see her as she progresses as a dancer and young lady.

After lunch Arno had a play date with his close friend Hucky, who will unfortunately move back to Germany very soon. Margo and I took the opportunity to jump in the pool and splash around for two hours.

May 30, 2014 - Sausages and Jokes

Given how much I have been traveling lately, we stayed in and grilled a few Polish for dinner. Needless to say, everyone had new jokes and we spend the majority of our time just goofing around.

May 25, 2014 - In the Pool

Arno and Margo finally had their first swim in the backyard today. It was far too cold for us to go in, but they seemed to greatly enjoy it none-the-less.

May 24, 2014 - Margo's Birthday Party

Margo had her birthday party very late this year due to my travels and other weekend activities. We brought in her dance instructor, which is always a great way to keep everybody engaged and enthused. Margo really enjoyed it along with many of her close friends.

May 17, 2014 - Summer Begins

We started our day at the German International School for their summer fest. It was a lot of fun to see the clown again that Charlotte and Malte had brought in for Huck's birthday a month ago.

For the afternoon and evening. we were all invited to a farewell party for Charlotte, Malte and their children at a friend's house. It was our first swim of the year and we had a very hard time to get our kids out of the pool even after several hours.

May 16, 2014 - Bulgogi

Meredith, Arno and I met at Seoul Garden, one of our favorite Korean spots in Dallas, for lunch today while Margo had to stay in school for the one of last few days before summer break.

May 13, 2014 - Oldenburg

Visiting Nils is always a highlight when I go back to Germany and things weren't any different this time around. We had lots of good conversations and went for a walk across the Oldenburg cemetery to find the grave of Horst Janssen, which was a challenging endeavor in itself. There are always lots of interesting images to catch in his backyard as well where he and his Dad keep several old cars.

May 10, 2014 - Melaten Cemetery

The Melatenfriedhof in Cologne is a truly fascinating place with lots of history and art, if that term applies to tombstones. Grabbing an opportunity in-between rain showers today, I packed my camera for a long walk across the cemetery. It was well worth the trip.

May 9, 2014 - Krefeld

I went to Germany to see my Mom a few days ago, but could not get out much due to heavy rains throughout. For me, it was a welcome change to the hot weather here in Texas none-the-less.

May 2, 2014 - Margo's Birthday

It is hard to believe that our little girl turned eight today. She is growing up so fast that I sometime wish I could freeze her in whatever state she is in at that point in time. We are incredibly proud of how she has developed and how she tackles the natural challenges in her life. We celebrated by opening presents after school, then paying a visit to Margo's favorite store, Justice, and finally having dinner at Margo's favorite BBQ spot.

April 30, 2014 - Dallas Zoo

Arno and I took the day off and have a full program. We started with a hearty breakfast at Crossroads Diner, then bought birthday presents for Margo, extensively visited the zoo, then procured a Darth Vader costume for Arno and picked up Margo from school so that all of us could take in a delicious ice cream to round it all out.

April 28, 2014 - Clowning

We had a bit of fun tonight with leftover wigs from Arno's second birthday. Margo and Arno put on a clown show and we all looked at an amazing folder that Jule had created for our "Flat Margo" project in school i.e. a postcard of Margo that she sent to Jule in Germany so that Jule could take it with her to various activities such as horseback riding and school.

April 27, 2014 - Oklahoma

Day Two. We stayed in OKC and then crossed through the southern part of the state towards Texas. While we did not have as many stops as yesterday, it was truly interesting. In Shawnee, we met a guy who had just bought an downtown house from 1905 that he was remodeling into a bar and private business club. It was pretty fascinating to see his 110-year-old elevator.

April 26, 2014 - Kansas

Michael and I started driving last night and went all the way up to the Kansas border. After a brief stay in a highway hotel, we went into Kansas and through a couple of small towns. Maybe the most fascinating aspect was just meeting people, who were extremely friendly without exception. At some point we realized that you just need to greet everybody and they'll wave right back.

Our first stop was a chance-encounter with a tiny town called South Haven made up of a few houses of the Midwestern type and a several deserted ones.

The first planned location then was Caldwell, which was one of the main stops for the Chisholm trail to herd cattle from Texas to Kansas City. It has obviously long lost its significance, but was interesting none the less.

A small town called Anthony was next and turned out to be quite surprising as well. We met a few folks in a local café and got a tour of the town museum, which had an eclectic collection of stuff ranging from fire engines to dental equipment.

Several folks we talked to all said that there was a big classic car show a few miles down the road, which obviously sounded very interesting. It turned out to be less big, but also very unique. There were maybe 20 cars in the competition and few of them were really classic, needless to say classy. But it was still very captivating in the sense that everyone enjoyed the place and event.

The rest of the day. As you can see in the images above, we had been up and running for a good while by the time we left the car show and our afternoon thus kind of fizzled along. We went to wild life refuge only to find that there weren't many animals and then checked out some very interesting salt flats. All in all a hugely productive day ...

April 25, 2014 - The Wedding of Q and U

Arno's class had a staged wedding between the letters Q and U since the former never appears without the latter. It was very cute to watch all of the children perform in the wedding ceremony for the two letters. Everyone was invited for breakfast and a dance afterwards.

April 21, 2014 - Hockey

Arno had his last hockey practice of the season today. He enjoys the game and is very ambitious.

April 20, 2014 - Easter

Today we hunted for eggs in the living room and then took the bikes for a spin at a local park. It is nice to be outside given that we have likely left the cold days behind us for a while.

April 19, 2014 - Huck's Birthday

Arno and Margo's  friend Huck invited them for a birthday party in the afternoon, which was a lot of fun for everyone. Malte and Charlotte had hired a clown, which was great for the kids and gave us an opportunity to grab plenty of beers.

April 16, 2014 - Mostly Arno

Just a few portraits ...

April 13, 2014 - Sorolla Exhibit

Today we took a tour of the Meadows Museum with Joaquin Sorolla's exhibition. Obviously, the paintings were as impressive as during my first visit and everyone greatly enjoyed it.

April 12, 2014 - Portraits

We had a nice afternoon and really just cooked a lot for the evening when friends came over for dinner and lots of conversation. I used the time in-between to take a few portraits of Margo and Arno.

March 30, 2014 - Playing Ball

Today we indulged in America's premier pastime, baseball. We took our gloves to the park and had lots of fun just playing. Margo and Arno also went for a splash under water springs, where Arno emerged dripping went after a couple of minutes. He had to tip-toe back to the garage with his shoes in hand.

March 28, 2014 - Meatballs

Arno loves to cook and has long become a great helper in the kitchen. Today we made one of his favorites, which are noodles with meatballs. Obviously, he is also a very animated chef who, like many others in this profession, does not hold his emotions back at all.

March 23, 2014 - Meadows Museum

It's not very often that you discover something you did not know existed in an area that you think you know fairly well. For example discovering Wayne Gretzky after watching hockey for a decade or two. This is precisely what happened to me this weekend at the Meadows Art Museum. They had an exhibition by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, who was one of the foremost impressionists around the last turn of the century and who had been largely forgotten until 2007. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to capture images in the exhibition, but it was a breathtaking experience none-the-less.

March 21, 2014 - Lego Architecture

Ever since Malte gave me a really cool Lego model of the Farnsworth House (Mies van der Rohe) for my birthday, we have been hooked. Margo and I are on our third model house by now and just completed the New York Guggenheim (Frank Lloyd Wright). It was not as challenging as the first one, but still a lot of fun.

March 16, 2014 - Half-Price Books

We went to Half-Price Books today, which is always a great hangout for us. Margo and Arno both took their savings along and decided to trade their future financial stability in for a couple of new books and a Pokémon DVD.

March 9, 2014 - The Lot

This place was absolutely phenomenal! It is a bar and restaurant surrounded by a number of really cool playgrounds. Thus, when you go, you just need to tell your offspring to check in every few hours and you can have an adult conversation and even a beer without having to worry about a thing. Malte and Charlotte found it and we'll definitely all be back soon!

March 3, 2014 - Margo Dances

Margo showed me some of her favorite moves today, which I duly captured with my camera.

March 2, 2014 - Fun and Games

This weekend, we took a timeout, not doing much of anything for the first time in a while. We cherished not having to prepare for anything and played a lot of games. Given that the weather turned from over 20C to -5C between Saturday and Sunday, we were also house-bound for the most part. Thus, we cooked a lot and played a lot. Most interesting, Arno made a bet to run from one end of the house to the other 100 times, which he actually did.

February 23, 2014 - Daytrip

We needed to give Meredith a day off and thus packed in the car early on Sunday. Our first stop was an excellent exhibition of Samurai armor at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Unfortunately, they did not allow photography. Next, we ventured on to the Stockyards where we rode on a train and heard a C&W concert. Back in Dallas, we had ice cream and went to the playground before shopping for dinner and returning home.

February 22, 2014 - Playing at Home

Here are just a couple of shots from the day ... We used a magnifying glass to see whether we can create a funny face for the camera (partially) and then went to Flying Fish for dinner.

February 21, 2014 - Vegetarian Dinner

Tonight friends came over with their parents and I made what I believe was the first full vegetarian meal in my progression as a cook. It was great fun and we shall do it again very soon.

February 15, 2014 - JHG Wine Tasting

Tonight we had our annual wine tasting for JHG Texas, which was themed around a 13th century tasting at the French court. It was truly fun to be there and everyone seemed to have a great time.

February 14, 2014 - Annie

Malte and Charlotte have asked me to be the godfather for their newborn daughter Annie, which I have most gladly accepted. Today we went over to meet her for the first time, which brought back lots of nice memories. Annie is as cute as she can be.

February 9, 2014 - Bishop Arts District

Arno and I went on a Photo safari today and had lots of fun taking pictures of the artsy crowd and their surroundings.

February 2, 2014 - The Weekend

 Here are a couple of shots from the weekend, which was pretty uneventful on the whole.

February 1, 2014 - Street

I went out today with the goal of taking just 50 frames and thus thinking carefully about each shot. My second objective was to have people in each image since it was intended to be street photography.

January 20, 2014 - Lower Manhattan

I am not sure how far I walked today, but it was beyond eight miles. Taking off in Midtown after a tasty Grand Central breakfast at 7:30 in the morning, I walked East and then South zigzagging through the Fashion District, Meatpacking District, West Village, SOHO  and East Village to finally continue all the way into the Financial District and Manhattan harbor. On the return trip, I went through Little Italy and Chinatown up to Washington Square, Union Square and then the Flatiron District back to 45th. It was a very, very long day ... I have split the images in two groups: window reflections and street photography, which is unfortunately the best I could come up with.

First, here are some window and reflection images, which turned out to be more interesting than I had thought. My clear favorite is the second to last with a mirror image of the Brooklyn skyline.

Second, here are my results for street photography. Not all images are of equal quality, of course, and some are more interesting architecturally. Yet, it was a very productive day on the whole.

January 19, 2014 - Times Square

Traveling to our New York office this week, I took advantage of MLK Day and flew in early to walk through Manhattan for a full day of street photography. It is always immensely interesting to look at the people in the city and, needless to say, their surroundings. Tonight, I stated with Midtown and went to the one place that is always in daylight: Times Square.

January 12, 2014 - Astrophysics

Arno explained the complex relationships in even more complex systems to us today using chalk and his blackboard. It was quite fascinating to say the least.

January 6, 2014 - Playing Hockey

Now that Arno has a complete set of hockey gear, we naturally want to use it as much as possible. He went out for a hockey lesson followed by a skating lesson while Meredith, Margo and watched with delight. He really enjoys the sport and will hopefully keep that motivation as he progresses.

January 1, 2014 - Downtown Park

It is a family tradition to spend New Years Day in downtown. We went to the park to enjoy the warm weather and clear skies. Obviously, we weren't the only ones who had come up with that idea!