Photo dump: summer!

It's been a while. Life, what a lovely excuse.

We haven't gotten much use out of summer clothing so far for two reasons: 1) is that the Bavarian weather fairy refuses to acknowledge we're a few hours away from July, presumably a summer month, and 2) forest kindergarten appropriate clothing is always long sleeved and practical and often waterproof.

This has been our summer so far:

We're getting there!

It's what we call "mid season" in Finland

Spring!

I can see (and hear) snow melting from where I sit. Spring comes swiftly here; the weather app on my phone claims we'll have temperatures in the double digits Celsius next week, and that fits my experience from previous years.

I spent the morning going over Her Majesty's outdoors gear and wondering whether she'd benefit from another pair of water/dirt/wind resistant shell trousers. She has enough clothes now -- enough being two sets plus rain gear, which is enough for a child who goes out daily in all types of weather -- but I don't know how Germans feel about one piece suits. These are very popular in Northern Europe: children wear snowsuits in the winter, and what we Finns call "mid season" suits in spring and autumn. These tend to similar to the outmost layer of hiking gear: the fabrics are breathable and often dirt resistant, water resistant or water proof, and an excellent choice for keeping children warm and comfortable and the inner layer of clothing clean. Germans seem to prefer two part options however, or even forgoing technical clothing altogether.

We'll see what the Forest Kindergarten prefers: next week we have what Germans call an Elternabend for children starting kindergarten this April, and I'm sure they'll have more to say about practical clothing. Worst case scenario, I'll just have to buy another pair of shell trousers from Finland when we fly over in late March.

Anyway, clothes!

Softshell jacket, shell trousers, fleece jacket, rain set, four hats (not that I have a weakness for accessories or anything), two pairs of stretchy gloves, water resistant gloves, wellies and a pair of gore-tex sneakers by Superfit. The sneakers and softshell jacket are water resistant -- not water proof -- which makes them more ideal for outings to the woods when there's little to no rain.

Waterproof overall, lined wellies, leather sneakers, two sets of fleece (the turquoise and green jacket + trousers set also goes nicely with the red/turquoise set from the previous photo), mittens, waterproof gloves, three hats.

Rain gear for colder weather! The jacket is actually fleece lined, so it's excellent for temperatures slightly above 0C. I suspect this one won't see so much use in the spring however... it was indispensable in the autumn and during the warmer winter days, but I expect the daily temperature changes in spring will make us reach for clothes in two separate layers for maximum comfort and practicality. Still, it's a lovely jacket and I hope we'll get some more use out of it before my daughter outgrows it.

Not featured because I ran out of patience: wool underthings. We've plenty!

And now we have to go out to enjoy the sun!

Honey, lay off my shoes

I love these boots with spluttering enthusiasm. They're from the 2012 Autumn/Winter Kavat collection and I'm excited to have found them in the right size in this colour. It's a little late in the year to buy new warm shoes, but children's growing feet do not appear to listen to my sensibilities. I can't believe my daughter, age 3 years and a few spare months, is in Euro size 27 by now. Well, 28 for winter shoes, space for woolen sock et all accounted for. I don't think these will fit in the autumn anymore, but I expect we'll get a good few months of use out of these.

Another recent purchase, a Skip Hop lunch bag from the -30% bin. It fits a regular sized child's lunch, is insulated, and clips onto another bag or a stroller.

Friday mornings are for forest playgroup. We both enjoy traipsing about in the woods, and it certainly helps to prepare the spawn for starting forest kindergarten in April. Being Finnish, I cannot write a sentence without the inevitable "fine, but..."; here's the downside: like many activities for children, it's at the ungodly hour of 9 am. No, don't tell me kindergarten will start even earlier, I've ignored this up until now and can do so for a few months still.

But, come on, this is not winter. Look!

Behold: loot!

And then my sister-in-law and I took advantage of my spawn and made her model hats and clothes for our webshop.

A look into my navel, which produces some fluff

Let's talk meta.

Where do I begin? Starting a blog, I thought, would be a wonderfully edifying experience another way to waste time online without feeling like I'm actually wasting it.

I then thought "a blog about what?" I already have a more private journal, and I tend to think of that as a confessional. A confessional with bad poop jokes. Perhaps I want a different theme here? Undoubtedly.

I then thought "what do I do that could be blogged about?" and came up with at least a few family friendly options. 

Here's one: I greatly enjoy cooking, and I'm a feeder. Not in a scary way. You were warned, don't google that! But what about a food blog? An excellent idea, only I notice somebody already uses Just Add Butter. Possibly I could've changed that to Just Add A Pound Of Butter, a more realistic depiction of much of my cooking... hmm, maybe not.

Another thought I had: what about clothes? Fashion is not an interest to me, but design is, and clothing provides a chance to combine colourful, fun things and -- this is the best part -- walk around perplexing conservative Germans, who do not understand why anyone would desire to stand out and not wear dull earth tones. Children's clothing in particular is, or can be, a world of whimsical fun. Why not write about that? I could, but it's not a topic that works by its lonesome, perhaps.

From there I came to think about life as an expatriate Finn in conservative, Catholic Bavaria. I'm over the initial misery of culture shock and mostly in a place from which I find it equally easy to laugh at the quirks of Finns, Germans and Bavarians, this last one being a distinct breed of homo officious. I could talk about how I'm adjusting to life here and how an important part of that for me has been getting out and looking for things to climb, scale, conquer, visit, gape at, eat and/or photograph.

Finally, I have a three-year-old daughter not yet in kindergarten; she's a sturdy little trooper and my constant companion on these trips.

All powers combined... why, this is a blog about our adventures in Munich -- in all weathers and seasons! -- with complementary "look at where we dined today!" bits.

This established, I leave you with a photo of my six month old daughter eating sushi. Baby led weaning worked very well for us.