Marco got a Kindle, because he has worked so hard throughout the year. The Kindle is a new electronic reading device made by Amazon. One can gets books almost everywhere on American soil directly downloaded to the device. There are currently 145,000 titles to choose from - almost all books cost about $ 9 and it is very nice to read on it. 

I just read Barbara Walters 'Audition' on it and loved it. The only drawbacks are still the somewhat high price ($ 349), you can not see the page numbers, only navigate with a bar in the book and we have only one of them. It's Marcos and he wants to use it by himself for a bit, so I won't be able to use it much - unless he is not at home.

Kindheitserinnerungen fuer alle um Jahrgang 1975
AmDamDes, Petzi und Helmi auf ORF1 
Fahrrad-Wimpel vom Verkehrsunterricht 
Raider (jetzt Twix) für 59.- Pfennig 
Erdnüsse aus dem "Kaugummi"-Automaten 
Kinder-Ferienprogramm im ZDF 
ZDF Weihnachtsserien (Timm Thaler, Silas, Anna,...)http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weihnachtsserie 
Bilderjackenhacken im Kindergarten (meins war ein Marienkäfer) 
Fingerfarben 
Pausenbrot 
Gummihuepfen auf dem Pausenhof 
Huepfspiel mit Stein und Feldern 
Bussi Baer und Stafette lesen 
Geruch in der Schule/Umkleide 
Kastanienmaennchen 
U-Häkerl schiessen 
E zerstoeren 
Wandertag 
Käsekästchen 
Flutschfinger 
Walkman und Mix-Tapes 
Vanille-Pudding aus dem Automaten 
Duftestifte (Erdbeer, Zitrone, Himbeere - alles was die Chemie hergibt) 
Zettelchen schreiben 
Tintenkiller 
Radiergummi-Futzel sammeln 
Sammelbestellung für Romantic-Poster und Platten von DiscCenter 
Brenn-Nessel-Kampf 
Schallplatten aus rotem oder rosa Vinyl (Erstauflagen etc.) 
Big-Mac in Styropor-Verpackung 
das Gefuehl als Teenager, das alle einem beobachten 
Bonanza-Fahrrad (mit Dreigangschaltung und Rückenlehne) 
Voelkerball 
Disketten lochen und umdrehen 
Roller-Skaten im Rollpalast 
Eis-Disko 
Fanta-Jojos 
Styropor-Flieger 
Hausaufgaben abschreiben 
Flaschendrehen 
Tat oder Wahrheit 
Popstars in den Cola-Deckeln 
Schieberparties mit Kuschelrock-CDs 
Criss (unser Alkopop) 
Ronnys Popshow 
Schule schwaenzen

...hatte ich mal auf meiner alten Webseite gesammelt und jetzt etwas geupdatet. Hier im Ausland und mit kleinen Kindern faellt mir wieder einiges ein. Ich hoffe ihr habt Spass mit der Liste und koennt sie noch ergaenzen.

We just got back from our Camping Trip to Lake Kachess and i wanted to share how it went. 
First, I did some research on hikes for families with small kids in WA with campsites nearby and lakes for swimming with a max. 2 hour drive from Seattle and… tatatata… result: Lake Kachess.

Weather forecast predicted:

Fri-Sat 70/50 F, no mosquitos

Sat-Sun 75/50 F, mosquitos active

Campsite has a 2 night minimum on weekends and a 3 night minimum on holiday weekends, but has spots on first-come-first-serve basis, so we would try it without a reservation next time.

Carride was fast, 1 hrs 20 min., easy to find, I-90, Exit 62, beautiful scenery with mountains, forest, lake – all we ever wanted. Great campsite, bathrooms close by, but no showers (we knew that before).

As we stepped out of our car we were attacked by a large number of mosquitos, so I immediately got back in the car. First I thought we should drive home immediately. My mother instinct worried about my kids safety (poor soft baby skin). We didn’t bring mosquito spray as our friends, scheduled to arrive a little later, had it on their pack list, so we did not bring one. Big mistake.

We kept kids in car, put up tent (very quick), moved stuff in tent, got kids, stayed and relaxed a little. Tim loved our tent. After some while we got bored and decided to look for the beach. Mistake. I got bitten a couple of times as soon as I stepped out the tent while I tried to protect Sarah as much as possible. We
walked to the lake, but I was still stressed out about mosquitos and wanted to get back in the tent asap.

Our friends arrived, brought spray, no more new bites, but I already had 3 on my left ring finger, 2 on my ankle and 3 on my forehead including a nasty one on my eyelid (unfortunately my left eye – my right, almost
blind eye wouldn’t have bothered me as much). Over the next hour my eye lid swell almost completely. I felt and looked beaten up like Rocky, but Marco insisted that I look more like “The hunchback of Notre Dame” 
(if not familiar see google images and find me on our camping trip). Thanks, husband. ;-)

After some BBQ I went to bed (tent) with Sarah. Under our multiple sleeping bags it was warm and cozy and best of all “mosquito-free”. The rest of the pack sat on our campfire. I slept with a couple of interruptions, got ca. 5 hours (fine with me as I am used to it). But Marco had not as much luck, got about 4 hrs, as he switched mattresses with Tim around midnight (Tim was asleep but whining for about an hour), 
to find out that the air mattress had a whole, so he blew it and tried to fix it in the middle of the night without waking us up, but it did not work, he basically slept on the ground and froze (at 45 F) in a too small 
sleepsack. Tim slept on top of 2 more sleeping backs, but Marco didn’t want to move him again.

They next morning we all used some OFF! to fight the mosquitos, except for Sarah, as she is too little for most of the sprays, then we had a great breakfast and went hiking. The hike was great and I would highly 
recommend it for a day trip. The first 0,5 miles can be made with a stroller/wheelchair. Tim walked all the way by him self – about 2 miles in total. We had great weather – a perfect moment (and my eye was a little less swollen. Finally I could see and enjoy most of it.

After our hike we had a nice BBQ lunch, played cards, ball, horseshoe,badminton. We planned on swimming but around 2 pm it got cloudy and a little too chilly for swimming in a mountain lake. Around 4 pm
Marco decided that he don’t want to be awake for another night and we packed and went home. Whimp. ;-) I totally agreed and we were happy to be home for dinner, a warm shower and our great king bed.

So, if you are up for it – don’t forget your mosquito spray, check your air mattress before you go and maybe a warmer weekend – but overall a great family trip. Tim loved it and won’t stop talking about it. We would
love to do it again and if Sarah gets a little older we can put mosquito spray on her and we don’t have to keep her in a tent.

Pictures