Seattle to Berlin to Freiburg: Boynton Allen Year in Review 2017

2017: Ongoing Life in Europe.

Split, Croatia during Fall Break

So, we are still here.

Berlin continues to challenge and enthrall our little family. Cody made the successful jump from Kita (Kindergarten) to the elementary school to join Jasper. We moved from our beloved Schöneberg neighborhood flat to a potentially more-beloved flat that is two blocks from the school in nearby Wilmersdorf. Stepping outside our door every morning to join in the foot traffic of children and parents heading to school has become a rewarding ritual. Cassandra took a role as Parent Representative to foster class cohesion and help define the direction of the school. She also occasionally takes on the monolithic and labyrinthine Berlin School Administration Ministry when they get out of line.

We had originally planned on just staying here two years then rotating back to Seattle. But when June 2017 (the two-year marker) arrived, we felt like we were just getting on our feet. And things were going well: the kids were integrating like champs and completely bi-lingual, the friend group was surprisingly strong, and we had barely scratched the surface of possibilities here. So we got new visas and extended.

In between our working life, German lessons, flat moving and kid birthday parties runs a constant theme of regional explorations, which provided some incredible educational and family-bonding experiences this year. With that in mind, here are some of the top things:

Notable Berlin Stuff:

- Thursday wine & goodies picnics with school friends in the Volkspark down the street while the kids played soccer on the heath.

- Housewarming party in the courtyard of our new flat brought together Cody's Kindergarten friends, Jasper's school friends, Cassandra's yoga friends and Jay's work buddies. Breaking in the new grill.

- Celebrating Cody’s first day of school at a special Einschulung (school entry) ceremony with Nana & Poppops and then dinner at the top of the Berlin Funkturm (Radio Tower).

- Berlin Philharmonic (kid’s edition) for the international fall concert with three school friends; we’re hooked!

- Kids no longer reticent to make fun of mom and dad's German abilities (which we think are coming along quite well, thank you very much)

- Thanksgiving with our dear now-Berliner friends from Cape Town and Sydney featured a 9-kg turkey and 10 sides (good ole American style)

Notable Europe Stuff:

-Touring through Poland with Nanny & Poppy. Learning how to procure strep antibiotics through the Polish medical system while on holiday. Twice.

-The Paris weekend while Nonna and Nana watched the kids back in Berlin. Living out a cliche of taking wine and baguettes in the park with all the other crazy French people.

-Girls weekends for Cassandra in London, Brugge, Vienna. Boy's weekends for Jay in Oslo, Munich's Oktoberfest and on a three day cross-Germany bike ride.

-Hiking with Seattle friends Kath & Georg outside Ascona, Switzerland. Little wrapped Swiss Chocolates kept the four kids going (where Cody and Claire sung German Kita songs together along the way).

- Summer hiking outside Salzburg with Aussie friends from Berlin to see fossils, waterfalls and rehash it over pretzels and Stiegl beer on mountain ridge-top biergartens.

-Street falafel in Tel Aviv, scrunching prayer notes between the stones of the Western Wall, witnessing a beautiful wedding on a Kibbutz not 25 miles from the Gaza Strip.

-Watching the olive harvest on the island of Brač, off the Croatian coast from the former Roman colony of Split.

-Kids sticking their fingers in bullet holes in apartment buildings in Bihač, Bosnia, a Muslim town that fell under a Serbian siege for three years during the Bosnian War in the early 1990's.

Here's what we saw:

Winter comes to Schöneberg! View from our little balcony.

Inauguration Day parties: After Europe got over being depressed about the election, they started toasting America's greatest self-inflicted joke.

Wintry visit to a Saxon castle outside the Elbe River town of Bad Schandau.

Lil' Saxons, plottin' away

Cody makes an organic kale shake using bike power: Grüne Woche Agricultural Expo, Berlin

Back to school! Jay spent all mornings from Jan through March in intensive German language classes.

Hiking the castles of Ascona on the Swiss-Italian border during a visit to meet up with Kath & Georg and the girls.

Paris.

Rented bikes on the Champs.

Nonna and Nana visit: Potsdam Palaces of Sans Souci.

There will be Easter bunny ears. Always.

Cassandra and Cody went with school buds to the Spreewald, a canoeing-mecca south of Berlin.

Jay's Urban explorations continued across ex-Soviet airbases, abandoned train stations and old bunkers. He finally completed the final section of the 90-mile Berlin Wall trail that encircled old West Berlin.

Staying in a treehouse on a river island on the Polish border.

Wroclaw, Poland with Nanny and Poppy

Hiking in the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland while Nanny & Poppy took the kids up to Krakow for a couple days.

We went to Israel for a former co-worker's wedding. Here is Jerusalem's mind-blowing Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Kids at the Western Wall, Jerusalem. The historical gravity of such places doesn't leave light impressions on you.

Hiking with Elena and the kids near Pal Piccolo, Italy. This was the first week of the summer break trip that would take us back to the US.

Salzburg's Mirabell Gardens, where some of the key scenes in the Sound of Music were filmed.

They love the shuffle and bustle of travel. Really.

Wurst and Weissbier at Munich's largest biergarten.

Cody gets artistic with a selfie in Munich's Englischer Garten

Back in the States: Golf Cart life at Atwood Lake! John B at the wheel for a family reunion.

Cousins come together for a week in the woods at Eagle Crag Lake, Adirondacks.

Jay and bike friend Jani rode three days and 300+ kilometers around Germany.

Ashley visits from Seattle! We explore the old CIA spy station at Teufelsberg.

Cody's Grundschule-entrance ceremony. Only 5 and 1/2 at induction, he's young to start elementary education here. Were he a typical German he'd be in Kindergarten another year. Luckily, Cody managed this challenge easily and by Christmas was working through his spelling books at the breakfast table without anyone even asking. These kids continue to amaze us.

Munich's Oktoberfest with the Thunderbird Alumni group.

Fall break trip down to Croatia/Bosnia. Here is Plitvicka Lakes National Park, where boardwalks lead you up a valley full of karst limestone dams with waterfalls spilling out everywhere.