Barbeque at Christoph's

Since the line at the Oktoberfest of the German school was pretty long we had the idea to all meet a Christoph's and Shika's place for some barbeque with Oktoberfest beer, German sausages and other German goodies. That seemed more fun than waiting more than one hour in line - and it was.
Mia and Larissah had a good time playing together and Mia also liked her little sister

After dinner it was time for some marshmallows from the open fire
First all had to wait for the fire to get ready

 Mia had to goof around a bit

 Then it was time for Mia to roast her first marshmallows

 Then we headed out for a little hike to the woods at dark

Oktoberfest at the German School

This Saturday the German school in Washington DC had organized a small Oktoberfest. This was the perfect opportunity for Mia to wear her new Dirndl.

Mia also met Larrisah and some other children she knows from her German classes

While the adults enjoyed the beer and the food there was also some music and dancing to watch

Frau Kuperberg was there as well and offered some face painting

Another trip to "Frying Pan Farm"

After a rainy Saturday afternoon and night it was sunny again on Sunday but a bit cooler. The perfect day to play the day with  a nice breakfast and play a bit at home. One of Mia's idea was to play airplane with her baby and her teddy. She was the pilot

The she suggested another trip to Frying Pan farm to check out the animals there.

Sp,e pigs were getting glamor shots for the state fair but didn't cooperate and one almost escaped.
Quite some excitng to watch

A good day on the farm

The Dirndl

Frau Shin had sent Mia a wonderful Dirndel that fits perfectly

Maybe she can wear it at one of the Oktobersfest here in the area

Rückersbach

Cousin Michael and his family had invited us to stay with them at their home in Rückersbach - a small village in the mountains outside of Aschaffenburg. So after a breakfast in the train station in Heidelberg we took the train to Aschaffenburg.
Mia was delighted to find two cats at their place. Max and Moritz

She also liked the lounging chairs in the garden

We enjoyed the great lunch on a long table in the yard which Maria had cooked. Everything but the meat was from the vegetable yard

Fransiska had some toys for Mia

After lunch we walked to the playground. The 15 minute walk was really beautiful

The playground was next to the former elementary school

After Mia's nap we did one more walk before it turned dark

The day finished with some nice Abendbrot

The next morning Michael dropped us at the airport and after wonderful two weeks in Germany it was back to Washington DC

Back to Heidelberg

After Cologne we stopped for a few days in Heidelberg where we stayed right in the center. We saw some old friends and enjoyed the city
Our four day pass for public transport also included a ticket to the Schloss sand o we showed Mia the old castle and the view

Of course Ma wanted to pull and old bell inside the wine cellar

Form the Schloss we took the cable car all the way up to the Königsstuhl mountain to have lunch at the beer garden there

Other things we enjoyed were Ji's favorite ice cream store in Neuenheim

a breakfast at he top floor of the Kaufhof with its beautiful view

 some Mohnkuchen on the Haupstrasse

or a visit with Ulli and Claudia at the Thanner - a bar where we used to meet

What used to be an parking lot and old bath next to our old place had turned into a market hall with restaurants and outdoor seating

Visiting Claudia in Düsseldorf

Claudia had invited us to meet her in Düsseldorf so we took the 30 minute ride in the RE1 train from the main station in Köin to the one Düsseldorf.
Our first stop was the Reibekuchen stand in from of the station since the one in Cologne has disappeared

Then Claudia showed us her new place and Mia also checked out the new playground at the Schillerplatz around teh corner.
After that Claudia took us to the Wildpark Grafenberg where Mia could see the animals that live in the forest during a walk through the woods. Of course there was also a nice playground

Also,  Mia and Claudia had a discussion about ballet class - Claudia took one for many years and Mia took one in the summer. So Mia had to show some dance moves

We saw wild boars, wild cats and of course deers

On the was back we to took the much slower S6 so that Mia could take a nap. The last evening in Cologne we spend on Gabi's rooftop terrace putting some REWE collectors pictures into the newly purchased album

While we were sitting outside Ji cooked some great dinner and later we all enjoyed some great food