Summer of 2009 forced me to write this blog post. There never was or will be a job busier than being a full-time mum of three boys under four years. Yes,  it is crazy to think that someone with a physics degree like me would ever embark on such an experiment, when even a Monte Carlo simulation could not predict the behaviour of my boys from day to day.

So how does one cope with the demands of such a job ?

Well firstly don’t stay home too often. Kids tend to misbehave more when they are not in the public eye. Outings to the beach to dig in the sand and building sand castles are great in summer. If this proves to be too boring after a while, go find some baby crabs under rocks, make the boys stick their fingers into some sea anemones, and if all fails catch some baby fish and perform a small sacrifice. I am sure a few baby crabs and fish sacrifices will be forgiven for the sanity of a mother.  If local wilderness activities were not a challenge enough why not take the kids to the Big Apple and tackle the subway challenge. I can assure you that the club for mothers of three under four of NYC has it a lot tougher then me.

If you intend to stay at home make sure there is plenty of entertainment indoors and outdoors. And with entertainment I don’t mean the TV or computer!!! Summer is too short in BC, Canada so should not be wasted. Join your local toy library, why waste hard earned money to buy toys, that will only be played with for a week or two then sit around the house collecting dust and taking up valuable real estate. Not to mention they are a real bed-hopping traffic hazard.

As for sleep it is non-existant at this point,  so don’t ponder on how many hours of sleep you can get, but try to for the world record of bed-hopping from one kid to the next in one night. If this proves to be to easy draw a book of all the breastfeeding positions that you can think of. Whether it is feeding while you are pushing the swing, walking, collecting sea water to make the sand wet for castle building, train surfing or cooking – you got to feed, when you gotta feed. There is no such thing as boob privacy.

In all the craziness and adventures, one last parameter was never added into my simulation. Manfred, who has had long hair for nearly two decades, went to visit the barber one morning and came home to declare that his hair had vanished as is our summer.

I am now running my next simulation to find out how I am going to cope with the upcoming indoor season. But I have a feeling that all simulation will lead to dial-a-nanny 911. In anticipation I have hired a nanny to help out for the next two years. I just like to pay my respect to all mums from the three under four club who are/were taking up the challenge all on their own.

Enjoy viewing our summer 2009 photos.

Unser letzter Urlaubstrip führte uns mal wieder an unsere geliebte Soca. Schon die Hinfahrt war Dank dem spannendem (und gratis) Hörspiel Lomoco ein Genuß und dann gabs das volle Soca Programm:

• Paddeln auf Soca und Koritnica
• relaxtes Campen am Camp Toni in Bovec mit Riki, Maxl & Bernhard und vielen neuen Freunden
• herausforderndes Biken mit meinen neuen 5.10 Bikeschuhen im Bikepark Kanin und auf dem Kluze Trail (Dank nochmal an den m&m bikeshop – Salzburgs besten Bikeshop)
• super Essen – ich sag nur CampingWok für Curries und Co und die slowenischen Restaurants für Steinpilzpizza und mehr …
• coole Einradtour vom Camp Toni nach Cezsoca und retour über die 2 Hängebrücken
• wunderschöne Natur am Slap Boka Wasserfall und der Soca Quelle

… und natürlich super viel Zeit für Nino, Babsi und mich

Leider waren die 9 Tage viel zu schnell vorbei aber … “Wir kommen wieder – keine Frage!”

Perfect weather – a knee kaputt-I-cus and our annual pass for the Zoo resulted in a photosafari on saturday and a family trip on sunday to the animals of Hellbrunn

Btw, if you are living near Salzburg – think about the annual pass. After 3 visits you are already even (I’m already in the plus state – saturday/sunday were my 3rd and 4th visit in 2009)

2007 proved to be the most challenging year for Manfred and myself so far. Having two kids under two has given us a new found respect for each other. In the toughest of times we always found ways to deal with the kids and not to mention each other ;-) There is much love and happiness in our family amongst the chaos and sleep deprivation as you can see from the photos.

As challenging as it has been, we never lost sight of our adventerous nature. This November our
adventure led us and the boys to Playa Guiones near
Nosara in “Pura vida” Costa Rica. It is famous among surfers as the beach with the most
consistent surf in the area. We chose Nosara for its reputation
having a more laid back and slow paced ambient.

We spent our month mainly going to the beach at least once a day to collect shells, make sand
pools for the boys to sit and swim in, boogie board and taking the boys out for a play/dip/swim
in the shore break.

Costa Rica, known for its ecofriendliness, greeted us with an abundance of wild life just outside
our rental home. There was no shortage of iguanas (Lukas calls them “dinosaur in jungle”),
coatis, other lizards of all shapes and sizes, howler monkeys, turkey vultures, humming birds,
toucans and not to mention all the blood suckers and creepy crawlies. Especially the hundreds of
centipedes that visited our holiday crashers nightly – our dear friend Dorothy, who joined us
for 12 days, and then my sister Huong for 5 days. “Thanks, girls, for keeping them downstairs.”

The highlight of our wild life experience was undoubtedly the arrivada of the Olive Ridley
turtles. The baby turtles were sooo adorable flip-flopping clumsily towards the water. The
arrival of thousands of female turtles to this small stretch of beach, Playa Ostional, for
nesting was a very touching scene. We felt that our visit there was an amazing experience, but
at the same time unnatural and had an impact on the nesting turtles.

Now that have been to Nosara we can really understand why this small paradise has not been
invaded more by tourists. The roads to get there as well as to get around in the area are
potholes galore. These vary in size to the width of the road and can be deep enough to flood a
car during the rainy season. We are sooo thankful for our Chariot CX double stroller –
the ultra terrain child carrier. The boys definitely travelled in comfort and style.

Costa Rican cuisine left us a bit disappointed. Considering the climate being comparable to
Vietnam and other sout east asian countries, the available variety of fruits and vegetables was
very limited. If your tastebuds love beans and rice, they will be in paradise in Costa Rica.
They are integral part of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Good thing I cooked at home regularly –
otherwise the ozone layer hole would be even bigger with our methane contribution ;-) One saving
grace for Costa Rica is their amazing coffee. You can not find bad coffee anywhere there.

Costa Rica was another great adventure and we look forward to having many more with our boys.

After a long time Babsi and I visited the Zoo of Hellbrunn again. I really like the zoo and the beautiful animals there. Especially the Firefox and the Alpakas were amazing. Just take a look on your own …