We’re just back from our 2-day trip to Berlin. Many thanks to Julia and her family for having us in their amazing house and garden. Mika and Henriette had a blast despite the language barrier and our ambitious cultural plans got condensed to a half day at the Jewish Museum. Too much fun strolling (and munching!) through the neighborhood and playing in the garden.

And all is well :)
We’re off to Berlin for a few days, then back to Hamburg.

We had a family outing to ‘Hagenbeck’s Tierpark‘ - Hamburg’s zoo. The kids were still a bit too intimidated to feed the elephants themselves, but Mika courageously faced some rather pushy goats. The highlight however was the playground, which featured a miniature ‘bagger’ (excavator).

Today we had a family play date with six grandkids total. ‘Omi Ulla’ invited two of her three daughters: Susanne with Lasse (7), Hanna (6), and Katharina (9 mos) and Angela with Ole (2). ‘Omi Hiltraud’ came with the three of us. All six kids got along great, especially Tobin and little Katharina who had only eyes for each other.

The Bobby Car age seems to be here … or maybe it is just a German fad?  Tobin took over big boy Lukas’ Bobby Car on Monday. Not even the offering of a favorite stuffed animal could get him out of the seat.

Tobin is still working hard on his teeth. The second one broke through on the day of the flight to Germany (fun times!). Judging by the steady stream of drool, he seems to have a few more coming up shortly. He has been wearing Opa Addi’s fine hankerchiefs around his neck for the past days, but this scarf is a special treat: a 1950’s original from Omi Hilde’s fashion collection.

Here are a few pictures from our 5-day stay at Omi Hilde’s house. Highlights included the river Weser beach, the historic ‘Licht Luft Bad‘ park which my late grandfather Rolf already grew up in, playing Rolf’s piano, sorting through 70 years worth of Omi Hilde’s buttons, and listening to ‘Little Bear’ in an old German edition from the 70’s.

We’re back in Hamburg after a 5-day visit to Omi Hilde’s house in Bremen. There are lots of great pictures of the kids with their great grandmother, but i haven’t been able to download, edit … let alone post a representative selection. Hopefully soon. Here are some other highlights:

Tobin started to pull himself to a full stand today (!) and added the sounds “S” and “K” to his babbling repertoire. He is also using a distinct “amm-ma-ma-ma” whenever he wants my attention or food (which is technically the same).

Mika informed me that, when she turns 8 years old, she will be so tall that we are going to need a bigger apartment.

Mika broke in her kid-sized gardening gloves while helping Opa to mow our lawn.
Tobin helped with quality control (although this picture is a ‘before’ shot).

Still getting used to the North-German summer weather: we had a day and a half of surprise summer heat and quickly busted out kiddie pool and water toys. The weather can change from 68° and rain to 85° and sun in one day.

We survived the flight, adjusted half way to the time zone and comfortably settled in house and garden. Unfortunately, today’s forecast for a ‘Summer day’ is a bit far fetched (70°F and showers), but Mika is playing outside anyway.