Spring is Here!

We had a wonderful time in Hamburg last weekend. I was a little worried about how David would handle sleeping in a new location, but he did just fine. (Not great, as he's teething, but that didn't seem to be location-related.) Timo and Michael assembled a crib that they borrowed from a friend, and when I laid David down for bed--wondering if he'd sleep in a new crib--he gave me this huge grin, as if to say "oh this is so exciting! do I really get to sleep here???" He went right to sleep without making a peep! The novelty wore off, but it is so funny to me how much he likes new things.

Here are a few pictures from our time in Hamburg. There are more on Facebook, which you can see here (even if you're not on Facebook.) : (Photos Link)

David on the beach!
Michael and Timo, waiting for the ferry from the beach back to the city.

The ferry ride back.

Back in Jena, Michael and I finally have bikes! We also bought a bike seat for David, and it is awesome. Britax (or Roemer, as it's called here) makes an excellent bike seat that's safe for 9 months and up. (For some reason, it's not available in the States.) It's really well-designed, and David seems to love it! He likes it best when we all go out together, because then he can still get some face-to-face attention with whoever's not driving his bike. He likes his attention, as you have probably heard.

Yesterday was just amazing. The sun was out, the weather was SO warm, and we spent most of the day outside. Our church had a Good Friday service, and afterwards we had lunch with a family from church. Their youngest daughter was born a day or so after David, and we saw here in the Frauenklinik moments after she was born. (She is also the baby that David tried to kiss at playgroup. He loves her!) We all ate outside and had a wonderful time together.

Then we went home, Michael worked for a few hours, and we all set-out for our first family bike-ride. There is a path along the Saale River that goes for hundreds of miles in both directions. We picked a direction and headed off! After about a 45 minute ride, we found a beer-garden and stopped there.

As we walked past a couple, they looked at David and said "hi!" I was confused. Germans don't say "hi." Then they said "Hello little guy!" I said "You're Americans!!!" The thing is, Jena is not like Munich or Frankfurt...we simply do not ever meet other Americans. We ended up spending about an hour with them, where I had the wonderful experience of speaking English, in person, with someone other than Michael :) They were great, and I think we all had a nice time.

Then back to Jena we went, enjoying how long the evenings are here in Jena. It's only April, and it stays light out until about 8. I love it!

When we got back home, I made Michael run in to get the camera (which I forgot!) to get a shot of David in his little seat. Here are a few, but he was pretty tired at this point! We'll have to try again sometime when it's not past his bedtime...