Making Our Way to the Land of the Lederhosen, the Pretzel and the Weisswurst!

Gruess Gott!

For the past week, I keep saying "Hallo" to people I walk by and am continually reminded that the common greeting here in Bavaria is "Gruess Gott", to which I am just completely unaccustomed. The literal translation is "Greet God". This is just one of the many reminders that Bavaria or in German, Bayern, is predominately Catholic. I cannot even begin to count the many ways in how different Niedersachsen, Lower Saxony, is different from Bayern. (Hannover is the capital of Niedersachsen).

Every time I come to visit my parents in Fuessen, Bavaria, I am in culture shock! ;) But I am getting ahead of myself. Here is a bit of how we got down to the southern part of Germany:

A week ago Monday, Mom, Dad, Caleb and I drove from Hannover down to Fuessen. But before we left, Caleb was in Oma and Opa daycare while Dani and I went downtown to do a little shopping.

Kind of like Macy's, Kaufhof always has really impressive display windows, especially around Christmas time. When I saw the huge Lego statues, I just had to take some pictures for Andrew. Pretty impressive. I wonder how long it took to put those together?!

We headed upstairs to the toy department and I made a new friend...

... I wonder if I could somehow stuff him into my suitcase. I would love to see the look on the faces of the airport attendants if I brought him with me.

Of course, we had to make a stop at one of the many bakeries. This by the way is one of my favorite things about Germany. I love love love German bread and breakfasts. Looking at this picture, can you see why? As my sister Ellen said, though, before coming to Germany, it is my first time back while being on a gluten free diet, which quite literally "stinks"!

Every once in a while, I've had to cheat and allow myself a delicious goody, but thankfully, we have also found some really good GF bread, which isn't exactly the same but still pretty great, for my regular indulgence. I wish I could bring a whole suitcase of it back with me!!!

Around noon, Mom, Dad and Caleb picked me up at Dani's and we said "good-bye", hoping to see one another next year in the Wheaton. We started our 7 hour road trip south to my parents' German residence, which is just 20 minutes from the Austrian border. Just for a little background information, we lived in Hannover from 1987 - 2007 when my parents moved to Bavaria during my freshman year in college so that my younger brother could live at home (he was at a winter sport boarding school for ice hockey) as well as for ministry purposes.

Caleb did an excellent job in the car. He slept for several hours, watched Baby Einstein, read books, chewed on a figurine head, and just looked out the window. We made one stop at a Burger King so that Caleb could get out and stretch his little legs as well as eat some french fries. Yes, I'm afraid to say that my little guy definitely takes after his mommy in his love for the delicious salty, greasy snack. Yummm! Lecker, lecker!

So, Caleb has become a little Bavarian boy in the past week and a half. More on what we have been up to here in this beautifully picturesque countryside in the next post.

Sunday Morning in Langenhagen

It's hard to believe that Caleb and I have been in Germany for two weeks and in less than a week we will be back home. We can't wait to see Daddy/Andrew!!!

This is the last post of our time in Hannover. I'm afraid that I am a bit behind... but that is due to the full days of playing, yummy food, running errands, work, playgrounds, walks, family time and such.

A week ago Sunday, I got to take Caleb to a place where I spent thousands of hours growing up: The Elia Gemeinde (www.elia-kirchengemeinde.de). While living in Langenhagen, this was our home church. It was pretty crazy taking Caleb back into the playroom during the service since it is the same place I used to play during the Sunday morning service.

He did reach a major mile stone here by coloring his first picture, or course, not without putting all of the crayons in his mouth.

Caleb also played with Duplo, which makes Andrew very happy as it means that we have an up and coming Lego-maker and that makes me very happy because that means that I'll have another guy in my life who is good at putting furniture together for me. :)

Dani was so kind as to chase after Caleb after the service as I got to say "hi" to so many familiar faces. Of course, he discovered the musical instrument bin under the altar and set right to work in creating some beautiful music.

And here is an all too familiar picture...

It's a good thing that we only lived a 7 minute walk or 3 minute bike ride from the church. That way we could leave church whenever we wanted to go and Mom could talk to whomever or however many people she wanted to after church without five kids pulling and tugging on her asking if we could go home!

I'm guessing that Andrew wished that was the case for us now!!! ;) Yup, I think it's a female thing.

Caleb's Report of the Hannover Zoo

Hi!

It's Caleb here. Mommy asked me to fill in for her and tell you about our exciting adventure at the Hannover zoo. Apparently, she used to go there with Grandpa and Grandma and all of my aunts and uncles a lot. I can see why... It was really fun!

Auntie Dani and Auntie Kristin took Mommy and me to the zoo. Mommy grew up with both of them. She met Auntie Kristin when she was just a little older than me and they did pretty much everything together: school, church, sports... She met Auntie Dani through church in 7th grade and they actually were on the same synchronized swim team together for a while. Mom's lucky to have such nice friends.

Here are some of the animals we got to see. Of course, I was already pretty familiar with a lot of them since I've seen them on Baby Einstein.

Aunt Kristin wanted to pick me up to show me the rhino, but I thought that the sticks on the ground were much more interesting.

Mommy couldn't believe that we were allowed in the pen with the pelicans and were even allowed to touch them. They were very soft.

Later on, I stuck my fingers through the fence and a pelican came over to say "hi" and give my fingers a kiss. Mommy swooped me up, though, and said something about not wanting my fingers to become the pelican's fish sticks.

Unfortunately, I've had a few run-ins with glass walls and doors. I just wanted to go up and pet the hippo, but instead I got a big bump on my forehead from the glass wall it was hiding behind. Mommy said something about her being glad that that wall is there...

The meercats were super fun. They had their own little playground. I kept trying to dive into their pit, but Mommy wouldn't let me.

Here are a few other animals we saw. Do you know what they are and what sounds they make? I've been learning my animal sounds in both English and German!

Do you see Mommy? She and Aunt Dani and Aunt Kristin are playing peek-a-boo. The things that make them happy are so funny.

Mom said that this is where Harry's owl, Hedwig, lives now. Pretty cool, huh? It's amazing all of the stuff that she knows!;)

And now comes the best part!!! The Playground!!!

There was this really fun red jumping balloon and I got to sit on top with my Aunt Dani while Mommy and Aunt Kristin jumped against it until their heads hurt. It was so funny to see them bounce and make me bounce!

Look how fun my Aunt Kristin is!

The kids that are going to be in Aunt Dani's daycare are so lucky!

Can you say "mooooo"?!

The petting zoo or as you say in German "die Streichelwiese"...

My favorite part in the petting zoo, though, was...

... this really awesome stick and of course this really awesome post...

I didn't want to leave. It was so fun to touch and examine!

I also got to play in something called "sand" for the first time. It doesn't taste too good, though, so don't eat it.

It was such a fun day. If you are in Hannover you should definitely go to the zoo. I can see why my mommy liked going there so much as a kid.

Thanks, Aunt Dani and Aunt Kristin for taking us!