Farm Girl Hits Germany

Recently one of my closest buddies - the farm girl - and her fabulous hubby came over to visit us and Germany. We've known each other since freshman year of college, lived together for two years, and despite a 10 year separation with an ocean between us, have managed to remain close. We have one of those friendships: we might not exchange emails or talk on the phone for four (sometimes even six) months and then, when we do, its like we just hung out yesterday.

Her trip over here was like that too, except for my lovely waddle, the rambunctious toddler, and everything in German.

Considering the toddler, the waddle, and the jet lag, we actually saw quite a lot. We ate and drank a hecka lot; one of the advantages of traveling to see a pregnant lady I guess.

 

The day they arrived in our town's brewery with beer.

Our first visit into Heidelberg with apple struedel and wine.

There was a LOT of ice cream and sweets; one of the
advantages of travelling with a toddler.

Of course, PJ ensured he had at least one bite of each scope of ice cream.

We even did a brewery tour. The tour itself was interesting and at the end we all got what appeared to be unlimited top-ups of the local beer. PJ got a soda sort of drink, which we innocently let him enjoy...noticing only hours later that it was PACKED with caffeine. That was good fun, at least for PJ.

PJ assumed his role as tour guide.

There was also a lot of adorable picture taking. For truly adorable pictures, you must check out those made by my very talented friends (also known as Oolaa Designs). Seriously, you must check these out.

In the Heidelberg castle, doing the tourist pose above the city.

In the boat of Strasbourg, checking it all out.

And, of course, there was A LOT of toddler entertainment. For example, 15,000 turns on the carousel in Strasbourg.

And visits to the playground; turns out the kid can already do the zip line at a nearby one.

 

May I remind us all that this kid is just two-years-old? Oh, man, I see skydiving in the future.

 

But most importantly, I got to selfishly spend quality time with farm girl: a friend that shares so many experiences and memories; who has somehow always believed in me; and who (like a fabulous red wine) only gets better and better as our lives stretch through the years. I love you girl.

But, seriously, you must check out their photographs.


xo
 

Freddie 2.0

While we were in the US, PJ built a friendship with my friends' little puppy dog Freddie Fourpaws. Everyone was pretty sad when we the relationship went on hold because we flew back to Germany, especially since hardly anyone we know here has a puppy.

But no fear: solutions will always be found!

At the American baby shower way back when, we were gifted a toy from Sweetheart's dad's own childhood. (Yeah, how freaking cool is that!?!) It is a dog that makes a really loud 'barking' noise when pulled along the floor. I'm pretty sure that most of us had one when we were young. It also has a bunch of metal and floppy ears and other pieces that most likely led it to being pulled off the market but, hey, we are all still alive and kicking.*

As little man has grown in confidence walking - no more crawling in these parts - he has started to befriend this dog toy, even starting to pull it behind him. For some reason I started calling it Freddie, even petting it and pulling it along too. PJ gleefully picked up on that and there we go: certainly not an upgrade, but the continuation of a lovely friendship.

Just don't tell Freddie Fourpaws.



PJ and Freddie 2.0



PJ making Freddie 'bark'.





xo
*I'm not sure yet how, but I'm positive that statement will come back to haunt me.

Puppies!

We don't have a dog. We probably won't ever have a dog. Another cat? Sure. A dog? I can already see the Mr. shaking his head. There is the whole need to walk the dog; train the dog; find a good babysitter for the dog when we go on three week vacations to the US; etc.

But I like dogs and it appears that all of my family and friends do too because in the past few years almost everyone has gotten a dog. My sister got a massive one and then gave it the massive name 'Coco'.

Riiiiight.

PJ had a sort of complicated relationship with Coco. Coco really liked PJ and was protective of her smallest charge but she's huge and, although she was well-behaved, PJ (and his parents) couldn't quite relax when Coco was around. However, he could ride her like the half-puppy she is, which made everyone involved happy:

Everyone happy with a good puppy ride.

A few years ago my nana got a shy, middle-sized puppy with the very appropriate name Lulu. This relationship was equally as complicated but for the opposite reason: PJ really liked Lulu and Lulu wasn't having it.

"Ooooh, I really like this one!", says PJ.

"How much longer will this kid be here?", says Lulu

There was also middle-sized Booker who wasn't too excited about PJ and PJ wasn't too excited about him - but I think both were tired when they met each other. We'll give that another shot when we visit the US next time. Sorry, no pictures.

Then we got to Pittsburgh. My friend and her husband also have a dog, Freddie Fourpaws. Neither PJ nor Freddie were too excited at the start but that changed quickly when Freddie realized the amazing source of table food PJ was going to be. Then PJ realized how much fun a playmate his size could be. And they were buds all week long.

Freddie would wait for PJ to come down in the morning, come back from wherever we were, and get back in his high chair and start dropping food again already. PJ called out for his puppy, followed him around, tried to share his toys, learned how to "pet" his little friend (relatively) gently, and just generally loved on his friend.

PJ and Freddie playing together.

Little man even started to call out "Freddie" (soft F, non-existent R, strong "eddie!") when he saw his puppy-friend. We tried so hard to catch it and did ... but not quite. What them enjoy each other in this little clip.

xo