Events of 2007

Most of the events in 2007 will be focused on bringing our second baby, Sebastian, into this world. But even so, we are hoping to be able to a few fun and exciting things in this year. Follow the links to see what we have been up to.

Skiing Heavenly

In January, Marc and Jim had a "guys weekend" planned in South Lake Tahoe to go skiing in Heavenly. Snow had been slim in the mountains of California, but two days before arriving, a storm dumped a lot of snow and made the weekend great for skiing.

Photo Gallery from Heavenly

Disneyland

In April, we visited Disneyland. It was Stefan's first visit, and the excitement was appropriate. We stayed for two days and explored primarily Fantasyland and Toontown. Stefan's favorite rides were: the Mad Tea Party (or Teacups as he called them), King Arthur's Carousel, Dumbo, Casey Jr. Train, the Disneyland Railroad, and the Monorail.

Photo Gallery from Disneyland

The Happiest Place on Earth...although we did see many tears from young kids			Main Street USA
Shall we go on King Arthur's Carousel or ride Dumbo?				Waiting in line for Dumbo
	Stefan's favorite: the teacups			Conversation with Daddy while riding the boat in Storybook Land
			The Monorail
Astro Orbiter (or airplane as Stefan calls it)		Mickey's House in Toontown	Stefan meets Mickey for the first time
Fountain in Toontown		Minnie's House		Stefan loved the dishwasher
Meeting Minnie		Goofy's House
	Let's meet Pluto

BJ and Shirley Visit

In May, Jana's Grandpa, BJ, and his wife, Shirley, visited the family at cousin Denise's in Victorville. We were happy we could spend the afternoon together (but it is always too short).

Photo Gallery from BJ and Shirley Visit

BJ	Jana, Stefan and BJ	Jana and BJ	BJ and Shirley	Harlee, Jennifer and Jana
BJ, Shirley and Stefan	Stefan and aunt Dee Anne	Aunt Nancy and Stefan	Denise, Stefan and Jennifer

Sebastian Birth

On June 1st, Sebastian Hoffmann was born. You can find out everything about Sebastian on his home page.

Announcing Sebastian's Birth

The McKenzie Visit

In July we welcomed the McKenzie family to California: Craig, Angela, Madison and Rylee. We were able to join them on a couple of outings to Scandia amusement park and Legoland.

Photo Gallery from the McKenzie's Visit

Riding the trucks		And the fire engine	And the airplane
Angela, Madison and Jana on the roller coaster	Rylee and Craig stayed back	...with Stefan, Sebastian and Marc	Legoland, here we come	Let's get comfy
The McKenzies	Rylee	Stefan playing with Lego's	Legoland Safari
		Rylee, Madison, Craig, Shianne, Stephanie, Stefan and Angela	Shianne and Stephanie	Enjoying the Legoland fairy tale boat ride with Daddy
			Flying a police helicopter
			Hanging out with Mommy	Riding the train with Shianne
			Rylee and Jana

The Sanders Visit

In September our friends, the Sanders, came to visit. We were able to meet their newborn, Julia, and Stefan and Jana went to hang out at Disneyland with them.

Photo Gallery from the Sanders' Visit

Anniversary Weekend in Solvang

For our fourth anniversary we went to the lovely little Danish town of Solvang, just north of Santa Barbara. We enjoyed sight seeing, shopping, wine tasting and Jana went up in the sky in a glider plane.

Photo Gallery from the Solvang Anniversary Weekend

Welcome to Solvang	Entrance road to Solvang	The Little Mermaid		Various Danish houses
	A nice touch from the Marriott - we got to spend the weekend in the bridal suite			Wineries in the Santa Ynez vallye
				Downtown Los Olivos (that is all there is)
		Jana is getting ready for her glider ride
Here we go	...about to take off...	...and safely back to earth

Sea World

In September we made a day trip to Sea World in San Diego. Stefan loves to see animals, but he hadn't spent really a lot of time with fishes and other sea creatures.

Photo Gallery from Sea World

Stefan is excited to see fishes			Wow, a dolphin	...Stefan got to touch a dolphin
			Shamu show
		The first step to rock climbing	Let's see how many star fish Stefan can find and touch
	And there is even a fire engine

Upland Fire Station Tour

The main fire station in Upland (next city over from Rancho Cucamonga) had an open house in October, where they showcased an emergency helicopter, an ambulance, fire engines, and a police car. Needless to say that Stefan was just in heaven.

Photo Gallery from the Upland Fire Station Tour

Marc in Germany

In October Marc had to visit the IBM lab in Germany. But he was also able to visit with his family and friends - especially friends that he had not seen in over 20 years at his 20-year high school reunion.

Photo Gallery from Marc's Trip to Germany

Leoni

Anke and Markus

Sylvia

Frank

Pumpkins and Halloween

This was the first year that Stefan really got into the Halloween spirit. He loved going to the pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin for himself and Sebastian. Sebastian just chilled in a field of pumpkins while Stefan just ran everywhere. Then the boys watched Daddy carve the pumpkins. The highlight was when Stefan was all dressed up as Thomas the Tank Engine on Halloween.

Photo Gallery from our Pumpkins and Halloween Time of the Year

	So many pumpkins...so little time
Where shall we go...	...let's go there.		This one, this one
Hmm, let's see	It's too heavy for the Stefan	I can't, I can't...		Sebastian is just hanging out
				Let's carve some pumpkins
				Sebastian is having fun, too.
All dressed up for Halloween	All ready to go for some trick or treating	At the MOMS Club Halloween Party with Hayden and Cody

Seattle Visit

In November we decided to visit our friends in Seattle. It was Sebastian's first trip on an airplane, and he decided that the best way to spend it is to sleep and eat - he has traveling already all figured out. We arrived in time for dinner with our friends Chris, Kathy and Kimberly. The next day we had lunch with our friends Kathy, Bonnie, Tom, Tiffany and her boy Brogan. Then we visited Tiffany, Brad and Brogan on their houseboat for a play date.

Photo Gallery from our Seattle Trip

Sebastian is overwhelmed from his first airplane trip		Dinner with Chris, Kimberly and Kathy	Stefan, our future business executive
Lunch with Kathy, Tiffany, Brogan, Bonnie and Tom	Sebastian and Brogan			The Houseboat
Seattle Skyline	The Hoffmann's in Seattle	With Tiffany and Brogan	Sebastian and the McNamaras	Sebastian had fun
	A little personal grooming never hurt anyone	Relaxing from the hectic life of a world traveler

MOMS Club at Parade

For the third year, Jana participated in the MOMS Club parade. This year she was joined by both boys as she and other moms represented one of the four chapters in Rancho Cucamonga.

Photo Gallery from MOMS Club at Founder's Day Parade

Day Out With Thomas

This year has been marked by Stefan's fascination with trains, and in particular those from the "Thomas and Friends" collection. It was therefore a particularly special day when Stefan got to meet Thomas in person at the Orange Empire Railway Museum. In addition to riding a train pulled by Thomas, Stefan was able to soak in all of the other engine that were on exhibit at the museum. Needless to say that the time just rushed by for Stefan and he was extremely exhausted on the drive home.

Photo Gallery from Day Out with Thomas

	Plan in hand, Stefan is ready to meet...	...Thomas
	Old Los Angeles street car			Let's go ride with Thomas
			Stefan is taking it all in
Sebastian was enjoying the ride as well		In the top of a caboose car
		Bob the Builder was there, too
And here comes Sir Topham Hatt

Amys Farm and Family Pictures

One of the MOMS Club events in November was visiting Amy's farm where the kids could feed pigs, pet goats and give milk to the baby cows. Stefan was not afraid of any of the animals and was busy feeding and petting. We also tried to take a few family pictures with the timer option on our camera, but that didn't work so well.

Photo Gallery from Amy's Farm and Family Pictures

Christmas Season

Christmas season is always and exciting time, but just like with Halloween, Stefan is really getting into the spirit of the season this year. He is singing Christmas carols...anyone know the words for "Jingle Bells"? And most importantly he is asking Santa for presents...could you have guessed that it was for another train from the "Thomas and Friends" collection. We had the opportunity to tour a Candy Cane factory and see how candy canes are made. Then we visited one of the boys favorite restaurants, The Rainforest Cafe, and enjoyed breakfast with Santa. Together with our friends we spent a leisurely Christmas season celebration dinner followed by visiting the decorated houses in Upland.

Photo Gallery from Christmas Season

	Breakfast with Santa at the Rainforest Cafe	Even the (fake) gorillas were ready for Christmas
Early Christmas dinner with family and friends	Stefan, Andy and Cody	The Hernandez and Totten families	Adrian, Jacqueline and Liz	The kids are having fun unpacking gifts
		Sebastian is enjoying a quick snooze...	...before having to be cute again

Omi and Opi Visit

Omi and Opi (Stefan and Sebastian's grandparents) came to visit from Germany. Several activities were part of the program, such as a visit to the Orange Empire Railroad Museum and frequent trips to the nearby parks.

Photo Gallery from Omi and Opi Visit

Christmas

Christmas this year started with Stefan baking his first Christmas cookies together with Omi. Sebastian hung out with Opi or attempted to bite his toes (since the cookies weren't ready yet). Christmas Eve we had a nice family dinner and the started unwrapping presents. Since the kids were quickly overwhelmed, we spread the joy of tearing the gifts open to the next morning. In the afternoon we drove out to Victorville to meet with Jana's Grandpa, his wife, and aunts and cousins.

Photo Gallery from Christmas

	Sebastian, Grandpa and Shirley		Stefan, Aunt Nancy, Jennifer, Harlee and Denise
		Sebastian and Aunt Nancy		Eron visits, too
Sebastian and Aunt Dee Anne

Temecula

With Omi and Opi in town to play with the kids, Jana and Marc had the opportunity for a short getaway. We chose the wine country around Temecula and enjoyed a great wine tour with several tastings and some interesting background information on wine production.

Photo Gallery from Temecula

The Kulbas' Visit

During the holidays we also had a visit from our friends Vicky and Jim with their son Ethan. As always, it was a fun play day for the kids and a great time for the adults.

Photo Gallery from the Kulbas' Visit

The Nicks' Wedding

We closed out 2007 with a huge bang. Our good friends Nicky and Nick (the Nicks) got married on New Years Eve 2007 in Sacramento. Jana was honored to be a bridesmaid. We enjoyed the rehearsal and the casual get-together with friends. But the wedding was spectacular. Not only was the gallery superbly decorated, but the bride and groom's happiness exceeded the sparklers that went off at midnight when we also celebrated the start of 2008.

We sincerely wish our friends all the best for their marriage and a lifetime of happiness, love and joy.

Photo Gallery from the Nicks' Wedding

Rehearsal at the church	The bridesmaids	The bride and groom	Groom and parents	Nicky's brother and mom
Nicky's dad and the bride herself			Beautiful bride, ready to get married.	The happy couple
			The bridesmaids
		Jana is congratulating the Nicks	It's New Years