Around Town

Living in Germany doesn't necessarily feel like living anywhere else, unless someone tries to talk to me. Aside from the whole language thing- some of the things that I've noticed are:
- Cigarette vending machines. They're everywhere! In grocery stores, restaurants, on street corners, in neighborhoods. It's very crazy! Apparently though, starting yesterday you can't smoke in public places (not sure if that just means indoor places though). Yay!
- At the grocery store it is required that you bring your own means of carrying your groceries home, or you pay for a plastic bag there. This has advantages and disadvantages. I haven't seen any of those plastic sacs torn up stuck on trees anywhere. But the other side is that I wouldn't exactly want to do any bulk shopping anywhere when I have to carry it all in my little canvas bag. Euros dont' tend to shop in bulk anyway though, so I guess it works for them.
- Bikes. Everyone has them, and I love it.
-Think gas is pricy back home? Here it is like the same price PER LITER. Filling up our rental car with disel gas would have cost us the US ecquivalant of $100.
- Out for a run- I only got one "cat call."


Last week William and I went to the Palm Gardens. It is 50 acres of gardens, green houses, etc. It was pretty amazing. Here are a few of my faborite pictures of the day:

This is the enterance to the train stop!

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Now that William is into solid foods- we needed some dishes, etc. We headed out to toys r us, and ran into an old friend:

March 27, 2007

Today, sweet William is 6 months old! It is amazing how time flies. When he was brand newl i tseemed like he would always be that little. But now- Everyday he is learning something new. He never ceases to amaze me! We are so happy and feel so blessed to have such a special boy in ourfamily.

I always feel like such a nerd when I hear myself on the little videos- but oh well. Here is some fun footage of my little buddy. Happy 1/2 birthday big boy!

3 days old vs. 6 months old

Hello World

And the little one said, "roll over"

chit chat and reaching for mommy's camera!

The Heidelberg Schloss

On Saturday we did the essential errands, and then hit the road headed for the hills! I've been anxious to see a castle since we got here. There are so many so close! We've heard great things about Heidelberg and it's a pretty short drive (especially thanks to the autobahn- no speed limit!) so we set out. We were very impressed and of course, William was a hit. At one point I realized that we were that family. The family with a kid missing a sock. I've always wondered when I see a sock somewhere how someone loses a sock! It just fell off while Nathaniel was packing William around in the bjorn. I scanned all of the ground that we had covered, but in vain. I then forgot about it until I paused to take a picture and Nathaniel kept walking. When I left to go catch up I heard a woman say to her husband, "Did you see that baby back there? He was missing a sock!" Haha! I laughed, ran up to William and took off his sock. There, now he's the kid with NO socks. All in all it was a brilliant day. Great scenery, fabulous weather, and a happy baby (until we got home, naturally).

Ready to go out and see the world! (This child looks nothing like his mother!)
Our first view of the schloss. The castle was first damaged during the 30 years war and then rebuilt, but then destroyed beyond inhabitable repair when France invaded Germany. For many years thereafter the town used it as a quarry! Free building materials- I can't believe it! Finally someone stepped in to stop that and fixed up/added an event hall of sorts and restored what they could of it. It's really amazing. I can't help but imagine what it must have been like in its glory days.
William is obviously very excited to be there.

Um... pride and prejudice anyone?! The grounds made me feel near and dear to Pemberley (wrong country, but still).
Ooh...This was an interesting one. Very masculine...right? They were doing some renovation work, but can you see the awesome sun clock?!


This is a view from the terrace of Heidelberg. Below is a little video of the view but I took it mostly to capture the sound of all of the church bells ringing.

Frankfurt & Fun

On Tuesday night we got out to Frankfurt with a church group. There was a tour guide, but there were really too many people to hear very well. We had fun just seeing the sights anyway!

Nathaniel and I in the downtown square.
Such a happy traveler!

Inside the churches there were some amazing pieces of art. This picture turned out best of all that I took. Of course none of them do the real thing any justice though.

In our downtime, we find ways to have lots of fun and laughs:

Playing with William's toys.
Sucking toes...Really, William is the only one in the house who participates in this activity. Can you see that I didn't even get to finish putting on his diaper?

Oh this blessed toy lion- W loves it! The poor thing's tail is looking pretty mangy these days though.
Playin' with daddy. CHECK OUT THOSE KNEES. My sweet little chunk-a-monk.

and play some more with Daddy: the flight
and landing! (Even though he's smiling, this activity always make me so nervous!)

Bath Time

We're trying to get William on a schedule here. So far- niche so gut. Oh well. We found this fabulous little baby tub. I love it. No frills, no toys attached. It's great. I'm already trying to figure out how I can get it home. William can sit up fairly well when not in the tub, but when he's in the tub, he becomes a soggy noodle. Hmm... Here are some 'artistic' shots taken by Nathaniel:

Love at first bite

Today, we ventured into the world of solid food for William (just 12 days shy of his 6 month birthday)! I'd been thinking that he was ready for a while now and he did not disappoint. The first bite he took just fine. The look on his face I think is mainly because we wouldn't let him have the spoon! I ended up having to hold his arms down while Nathaniel did the feeding. He was happy to eat all the food that we would give him, but I kept the quantity down to try to not freak out his digestive system. Let the fun begin!

First bite! (notice hand on spoon)

Home Sweet Home

We've been getting out a bit more this past week. On Wednesday evening we took the trolley that runs in front of our HO TEL to a nearby downtown area. It was bigger than we expected it to be and people were everywhere. We were also surprised that everything seems to close by 8pm!

Nathaniel was resistant to the bunny beanie, but too bad. Honestly, how cute does William look in it?!

Sweet boy fell asleep while we were walking around.

So now- our home here has some pros and cons. Pros: I don't have to vacuum, change sheets, mop the floor, or clean windows (not to mention toilets) for 6 months. It's central to many awesome locations. And we can shop at the commissary (Yay American food!). Cons: See below pictures.

Our "Dryer".
Our "Kitchen". Please note: no microwave or oven. That means that any left over food has to be able to be eaten cold or heated up on the stove. I bought a 'no-bake' cheesecake- only to realize when we got home that I still didn't have something I needed to make it, a beater. Darn.
Our trash system. We remain a little bewildered by this whole thing. Apparently one is for paper, one is for food, etc. that one would dump into a compost heap, one is for "packaging" and the other is for trash...

Another thing is the milk. Is this just a Europe thing? BOXED MILK. This, in an of it's self has some pros and cons. Con: it's in a box, it just doesn't seem right. And, it tastes just a little more sour than our milk at home (but nothing a little Hershey's chocolate syrup doesn't help). Pro: it stores in the cupboard until you want to open it. No more milk going bad before you've powered through it all. Very handy for a backup supply.

Yesterday we went to the thrift store on base and shelled out four buckaroos for an exersaucer for William. He was so cute when we put him in it. It is fish themed, and he went around in a circle testing out each toy, stopping on the only one that makes noise and has lights. A little starfish that plays twinkle twinkle little star. Last night alone I think that Nathaniel and I heard that song about 20 times in a row. The toy is a winner. I'm trying to not focus on how obnoxious the stupid thing sounds, but rather to focus on how William is learning cause and effect....right?

livin' la vida loca

Ha- I feel dumb. Nathaniel and I couldn't figure out why we didn't have any comments. I found them all though! Thanks! Somehow the comment moderator was turned on. Strange.
Things here are good! We're adjusting. Hours after we arrived on Thursday at our HO TEL Nathaniel fell over onto the bed sick. He stayed there until he had to get up (about 24 hours later) to go to work. Meanwhile, we had no food. On our drive to the HO TEL the lady who met us at the airport pointed out the street where a grocery store (Toom) was. So- Nathaniel sick in bed, William taking a nap- I trekked out. It is the strangest thing to walk into a grocery store and not know what a single word says. It is so bizarre to think that people live in a different language. Country, sure, I can mentally sort that out. But somehow language. It just is so crazy! I've learned about 4 German phrases, but every time a German person talks to me I freeze up and borderline want to laugh at the funny things coming out of their mouth or just run away. Yesterday I acted like an idiot and just said "no" when this woman asked me something. haha. Oh well- It's been less than 5 days- I'll give myself some time to adjust. Nathaniel is much braver than I am. He took German 101 probably 5 years ago, but he'll walk right up to someone and try to communicate. He's amazing.
On Saturday we just did the essential things- grocery shopping and errands. Sunday was Stake Conference. This coming weekend is a local festival of sorts. I'm excited! There are lots of adventures to be had. Fortunately, new friends in the ward just lent us a Jeep stroller, so now we're all set to go!

Nathaniel and William sleeping in on Saturday. On weekend mornings when William fusses/wakes up Nathaniel picks him up and usually plays with him. This time, he brought him into our bed and they both passed out. The time change was brutal, but I think for the most part we've adjusted.
William getting comfy in his new digs.

William and I take walks during the day. Today was a nice change having the stroller. He's really getting to heavy for me to carry around in the bjorn. Yesterday on our walk we came upon this cool park! I probably had more fun in this swing than William, but that's okay. We take walks every day partly because I haven't figured out which day they clean our room (yay, housekeeping services for 6 months!). So every day when I see the cleaning person I take off so that I won't be here when she comes. So far I know that she doesn't come to our room on Monday or Tuesday...maybe Wednesday....

Germay

Well, we're here safe and sound! I'll expound later- but it's really getting late here and I just wanted to get these pictures up! Love, us!

We are LOVING the weather! Nice and cool!
William and I had the whole row on the 45 minute flight to Philly. William enjoyed the space! Home Sweet Home. The HO-TEL.
North Carolina Picture: "Pa" Ike kept trying to convince William that he'd rather stay there then move to Germany for 6 months. ;)
Another NC photo: We were fortunate enough to stay with Nathaniel's 1st or 2nd cousin once or twice removed (I can never keep it straight), Joella. Thanks for letting us bring our chaos into your home! This is her backyard that goes right out to a channel that leads to the sound. A little paradise of it's own.

North Carolina

Before departing on our grand adventure, our little family took a trip to Harker's Island, North Carolina to visit a much bigger portion of the Hancock family. We had a wonderful time introducing William to his extended family, and though I say it myself, I think he was a hit on the island. Here are some of the highlights of the trip:

William testing out a career option as a hermit crab.

William really loved watching the fish at the aquarium!

Nathaniel, William and Grandma Jacque.
Nathaniel has a lot of family history on Harker's Island. This sign is near where the old family stead used to be. We took a ferry over to Cape Lookout to play in the waves and see the lighthouse! It was so much fun to be in a warm ocean! William was the only one who made it through the day without a sunburn.
Apparently he can't decide how he feels about his first boat ride.

Daddy's Tricks

Nathaniel and William have been working on some new tricks. Being the ever diligent and attentive parents that we are (right?), we're trying to help William get a head start in life; 4 1/2 months old and already standing solo!

Okay... So really it was about 1/2 a second that he was standing solo during which I managed to catch the perfectly timed picture.
We love our boy. And we're so happy that he loves his crazy parents!

Toes

Our sweet boy has found his toes. Some days he even manages to get them into his mouth :). What fun it must be to be 4 1/2 months old!