Learn to Ride a Bicycle - ✔

After a summer of hard practice, Sophie finally got the hang of riding her bicycle, including the starting and stopping parts. Suddenly she is not our little girl anymore. But she is so proud - as are we of course.

Later that day she also managed to climb up (and down) the bigger rock at the playground with just a bit of guidance by me. 

Play Day

Today was already Nanny and Pops' last day of their stay with us. ☹

They decided to spend all day with Sophie. 

 They went for a trip to the forest playground and continued with their role play even though it started raining. 

Sophie rode her bicycle there and back. Once she got on, there was no stopping her. 

Afterwards at home, Sophie still needed to take Nanny and Pops on a (pretend) flight to Hawaii. Everyone had first class seats. 

It has been a fun two weeks with our visitors. We hope they will be back soon. In the meantime we are looking forward to returning the visit in February.

Big Help

The kids were collecting conkers by the playground today. They were very grateful for some big people help by Pops who was throwing sticks into the tree to help.

Nanny and Pops Are Here!

Sophie has been looking forward to this day for about a week now. Today, we traveled to the airport to pick up Nanny and Pops who are visiting from California for the next two weeks.

After the forty minute bus ride all across town and a tour through our home, we all strolled over to the bakery, then had a leisurely early afternoon breakfast. 

While Pops stayed at the house testing our couch, Sophie insisted on showing Nanny how well she was riding the bicycle without training wheels. It turned into a trip to the playground.

Needless to say, everyone was in bed early at night.

Everyone Had the Same Ideas

The hottest weekend of the year. 

We decided to cycle through the forest for a cool down at the Unterbacher See together with our neighbors Mark, Andrés, and Adrian.

 However, this was the line to enter the beach park. These must all be people who had circled in their car for ages to find parking only to be standing in this line now. 

 There was no way I was going to stand in that line, so we headed to the nearby playground in the forest to stay somewhat cool.

 Andrés and Sophie playing frog.

 After a couple of hours in the woods, we gave the lake another try as we were desperately longing for a dip in the water. The line was much shorter, it was still very busy inside, but manageable and above all the kids had a blast and wore themselves out. 

See if you can spot Sophie in this picture above.

There's a good way to handle the heat. 

Captain Hook's Pirate Ship

As this might be our only week of summer and warm temperatures, I have decided to let all house chores be and spend as much time as possible outside with Sophie soaking in the sunshine and warmth. 

Today we were going to meet our new friends Jonathan and Lia and their mum Tali at the water playground in Volksgarten. They had just moved to the Duesseldorf area via Munich from Israel last month. 

 Jonathan seemed a little bit overwhelmed by the crowds - poor guy. He was concerned for Sophie who was just running wild in the park.

 Jonathan found Sophie as they are walking by the pirate ship. 

Towards the end, Sophie found yet another playmate.

Hamburg

Our biggest trip during Sophie's break from preschool was up to see my brother and his family in Hamburg. Weatherwise it still feels more like September than July. Brr!

 Sophie is becoming a pro at taking train journeys.

On Friday morning Sophie and I met with my childhood friend, Britta, for brunch. Britta also has a daughter, Hannah, but unfortunately she was visiting her grandmother. 

In the afternoon we picked up Thore and Talea from preschool/daycare, went home and played princess and knights.

 The weather was improving on Saturday: time to head outside. First to the local playground.

 Then we went to the Landungsbruecken (shipping piers) in St. Pauli, where we sat on the steps and ate   herring fish rolls and watched the athletes cycle past on their triathlon.

 From the piers, we took the ferry (sorry too crowded for a good picture) to the Elbe beach, where it was time for dessert.

 We watched some impressive ships sail by 

 Even a Mississippi riverboat.

 Sophie grabbed my camera and took a picture of Talea.

On Sunday, I wanted Sophie to be able to run around outside as much as possible before we were going to jump back on the train home. We explored yet another playground (this one was big) in a park called Planten un Blomen.

Big slides, tunnels, ladders, mountains...

 The three crazy kids.

 A derelict building right next to the playground made for an interesting backdrop.

 As did the TV tower.

Thore, Alexandra, Stefan and Talea.

Thank you for having us and see you again soon.

Looking for Neverland in London

On the itinerary today: 

Sightseeing (above all show Sophie where Kate and Wills got married), find a pirate ship in the middle of London for Sophie, then a night off for Mama and Daddy.

 First stop: Westminster

 Somebody is pulling faces and it's not Big Ben.

 Open Sesame!

(at Palace of Westminster)

 The Horse Guards in Whitehall

We checked out the Mall being prepared for tonight's concert, Trafalgar Square and had lunch in the Crypt Café under St Martin in-the-Fields.

Then we had to go find that pirate ship playground.

 And here it is: at the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens (near Kate's future home). It was the most impressive playground I have ever seen. All fenced in and only people with children were allowed in. It was built based on the Peter Pan story with the ship being the absolute highlight of the park. 

 Sophie went wild!

 She found the music court

 Here she is brewing a magic potion in the fairy tale section

 Then it was back to the pirate ship and up the crow's nest. Can you spot her near the top?

 "I am Peter Pan and you are Captain Hook!"

Then she jumped off the ship so many times trying to fly until she banged her chin on her knee and came crying.

 As I mentioned before, tonight was a night off for Andrew and I. - Thank you Sandra! - While Sophie and Auntie Sandra were painting their nails and watching the big concert for the Queen at the hotel, we went back to Saint Martin-in-the-Fields for this concert.

 Andrew found another person's blog on the internet about this concert with some very good pictures:

http://blog.londonconnection.com/2012/06/04/st-martin-in-the-fields-for-mozarts-coronation-mass/

Can you see me on picture 8? That is how good our seats were - we looked the sopranos in the eyes.

 This is us enjoying an intermission drink back in the Crypt.

Our concert was fantastic; the most enjoyable one I have been to.

After singing out loud to Rule Britannia, Andrew felt ready to conquer the world as we stepped out onto Trafalgar Square. Instead we "invaded" the Mall to see the last hour of the big concert there. 

It was a breathtaking atmosphere - so many people and everyone was just enjoying themselves. 

We "saw" Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney, watched the Queen light the beacon and were amazed by the fireworks display. Truly a once in a lifetime event.

Summertime Play

The gorgeous weather is holding up, so after Sophie's ballet lesson today we scouted out a water playground that was said to be in the park near the gym. My last stupid words to Sophie were: "Try not to get too wet," as I had not brought a towel, but how was that going to be possible. 

 Off she went, and for a full hour she was running around like a maniac having a blast. 

 I caught her with that "Oh my god, I'm having so much fun, I can hardly control myself" - face. 

At the mega-waterpistols

The nice thing was that they had lounge chairs for the big people. 

A Sunny Sunday or Big Sister for an Afternoon

Dare I say it? Could it be that summer is sneaking this way? I am no longer pulling up my shoulders when I go outside either because I am cold or to keep the rain from going down my neck. How I have missed this weather! And I think I am the person who is the most excited about this in Germany because I have already heard so many complaints about the humidity. What humidity? If you want humid and muggy, go to the Eastern half of the U.S. This here is just right.

Finally a sunny (and warm) Sunday!

 Already in the morning, Sophie was busy playing with neighbor boy Andrés in the paddling pool. A big hit! Look at that blue sky over there! And note how we have taken down the wire on the fences (not sure if I had mentioned this before) so that they actually have three gardens to run around in.

 When Andrés had swimming lessons in the afternoon, Sophie got to play big sister for a few hours with little Adrian. She was being very good with him. She did not leave his side.

 She even helped getting him dressed so that we could take a walk over to the playground.

 This is where we ran into Sophie's other new friend, Talisa, who lives right above the ice cream parlor. After they rode their bikes for a while, a long while, we were all ready for some ice cream. A very nice couple let the girls cut ahead of them in line and then treated them to their ice creams. How nice!

And that was the last time we saw Sophie's bicycle in working order. The next day the inner tube had blown. Maybe it's time to upgrade to a seriously roadworthy bicycle. We will have to ask Dad because he is making the money (I quote Sophie).

Wildpark Grafenberg

Sunshine again, so we packed a picnic and headed to a nearby park with wild animals local to the area. As I took us down the wrong track initially (thus not helping Elly's bad back - sorry), we decided to stop for a snack halfway up the hill (yes, there are indeed hills here) by a very well designed playground.

 Sophie and Ciaran let their imaginations go wild, sailing on pirate ships and sitting in a bird house, while Elly and I soaked up the sun.

 I was waiting for them to discover this reindeer in the woods bordering the playground for some good pictures.

 Is it any surprise she is looking so battered?

 Moving on to the animal park. The kids collected their own walking sticks, copying the numerous Nordic walkers, such as the one ahead of them on the picture.

There were little mice all along the sides of the trail much to our entertainment.

 The long march was well worth it: the young boar were so cute. Munching away on our apples we brought. (You were allowed to feed them with certain foods.)

 There was a steep downhill trail past the boar enclosure, where Sophie's knees kissed the asphalt. She is on the best way to have her knees look like her mother's. Fortunately, a very nice elderly lady had some bandaids for us. By the time we reached the deer enclosure, she was much better.

 The deer walked right up to us.

 Especially if we offered them food (again only certain foods which they normally eat).

After a long walk back to the bus and fueling up on a scoop of ice cream, it was time for a bath!

Sophie has been through the wars. That little bruise under her eye also happened on the playground yesterday. Mummy needs to keep her skills up after all. ;-) 

Again, Elly's link:

http://babyblogging.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/woodland-fun/