Goodbye Legos

This is how we were spending our time until about three days ago, when it became Spring here in Jena. We have retired our long johns, taken off our coats and gone outside. We developed a little sweat mustache walking up from the market yesterday. And the Germans are seriously working in their gardens, weeding and pruning and drinking beer, or sitting on a bench in the sun somewhere.

The view from our parking lot on a long sunny evening last week. The parking lot is the meeting place in the afternoons for moms and kids around our little Max Planck community. Germany just "sprang forward" last Sunday, so we're still savoring the long evenings.

As of yesterday, Claire is on spring break for 2 weeks. We are going to Mallorca, an island of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea with our friends Kim and Jonathan, our four combined kids, and lots of other Germans and Brits. The Germans are very serious about their holidays and made all of their arrangements many, many months ago, but not us. We waited until the last minute and were rewarded with a great package that includes airfare, a family hotel on the beach, and all our food and drinks for 7 days. We're leaving on Tuesday and Ben is so excited because they have AN INDOOR POOL!! Claire is excited to be with her new best friend for so long and they're already planning which and how much playmobil will be accompanying them to the island. I have no doubts that if it doesn't involve me having to make dinner and it does involve me with a daquiri and a book on the beach, this vacation will be just fine.

We took a walk downtown today and I remembered to bring my camera with me for a change. The kids have been bugging me to get a picture of them with what they call the "tippy stone." It's a paver that isn't sitting flush with the others on the sidewalk and each time we walk by (almost everyday) they must find it and jump on it. I wonder if this is the stuff they'll remember from our months in Europe....

When we got to the Galerie, T-mobile was taking pictures of people inside this snowglobe. No, I don't know why. There was a nice scenic print at the back of this plastic bubble and when you stepped inside and they shut the door a fan would begin blowing all these flower petals around you and you could act like a movie star. Of course the kids needed to go in and I couldn't resist taking some shots.

And today was some sort of annual wood festival downtown. There were hundreds of booths with crafts, yummy stands selling roasted bratwurst, logging competitions and heavy forestry equipment demonstrations. Musicians were playing in the streets and for once the Germans seemed almost merry. But this guy took the cake.

His bicycle, except the chain, was made entirely of wood. Love how the little girl is looking on while he takes a big proud swig of that beer. It's true what they say about Germans, the stuff is like water to them.

I've been making art. And so has my hubby. He's got a blog all of his very own.
Half Full
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