What a trip!

We're back from Germany. It wasn't exactly the trip we'd expected. My grandmother's birthday party (the reason we went) never happened because she broke her arm, needed surgery, and was in the hospital the day her party was to take place. However, despite not seeing the extended family or eating the delicious pastries, we tried to make the best of our trip anyway. I think Benjamin still managed to have a good taste of German life and especially of German food. As do I, he loves bratwurst.


My favorite place in my grandma's village is up the hill behind her house. From there you can see over the fields all around. There are often horses and cows nearby and it's probably the most peaceful spot I know.


My second favorite place is anywhere in the surrounding forests. Benjamin had a lot of fun here too.



I love the old German villages with their old homes and cobblestone streets. Benjamin loved the fountain in a town we went to for lunch. It depicts a wolf and a lamb. Benjamin found them both perfect for riding.


That wasn't all he found to ride, though. In one of the department stores we went into there was a carousel just perfect for him. We couldn't pass up the photo op.



Benjamin found these cars fascinating - especially the little decals people often put on their front grills.


Other ways Benjamin found to entertain himself was by following Grandma around while she mowed the lawn. Of course, great-Grandma had to come along too. :)


And by jumping in the puddles after the rain.


But his favorite diversion of all was carrying around the basket that holds the empty water bottles for recycling. All other toys were forgotten when the basket was around.


So, in summary, despite it not being what we'd planned, it was a fun trip. We got be with friends and enjoy the outdoors and Benjamin got to hear nothing but German for 3 weeks, which was great. I can really tell he understands, even if he doesn't speak back yet. It's really exciting to start communicating.

Off We Go!

We're leaving for Germany tomorrow, so there won't be any posts until the end of September. We're really excited and I think Benjamin will have a lot of fun over there meeting all the family. In the meantime, enjoy a few photos we've taken in the last few days.

Benjamin loves to climb in our cupboard. It used to the cereal cupboard but that only lasted a few days until way too much cereal ended up on the floor. The child lock also proved worthless as he learned how to open it after watching me a few times. So now it's empty except for the phone he put in there for his entertainment. It turns out it's good for my entertainment too.




We decided to take advantage of the remaining beautiful days of Summer and rent a rowboat in Kensington Park. Benjamin didn't seem scared at all and had a great time playing around and helping to row. It was so distracting for him that he even forgot about his hat and I finally succeeded in keeping it on him the entire time.