We're back! (Oh, and we survived our first 'real' trip!)

We are finally back home after our two week jaunt through Germany. Literally, we circled the entire country! We got kind of a late start because we were holding out for Mason's passport to come in so that we could salvage some of our trip to Italy that David worked so hard planning, but since it was nowhere to be found, we decided to head up to Northern Germany instead. (Legally, we are not permitted to leave Germany without each of us having a valid passport in hand.) We had a great time even though it was a bit stressful at times deciding where to head to next and booking rooms at the last minute, but we pulled it out! We were able to see parts of Germany that we had really wanted to see but never had the chance to. Our "Mason's eat, poop, and sleep tour of Germany" went from Stuttgart all the way up to the island of Rügen then back down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Here is a list of the cities we got to visit. Oh, and I have to mention that in the commotion of coming home, the movers coming the next day, moving into the base hotel, and trying to close out everything here, we have somehow misplaced the battery charger for our camera. :) (I will get to how David just discovered he packed ALL of his pants and shorts out with the movers except for the pair he is currently wearing later!) Of course, the camera battery is deader than a doornail and the memory card is full, so I don't have any pics of our trip downloaded yet. Hopefully, we will find where in the world the battery charger ended up soon, and we can show everyone Mason's first big trip!

Here is a list of cities we visited.

Frankfurt (the Manhattan of Germany), Cologne (with its massive Gothic cathedral), Hannover (great palace and huge Rathaus), Hamburg (the Beatles and harbor tour), Kiel (port city, but a big bust as far as charm goes), Lübeck (super cute Hanseatic city), Binz on the island of Rügen (where we were rock stars because we were the only native English speakers there!), Potsdam (the palace grounds are huge!), Dresden (I wish every former East Germany city looked like this), Munich (got to finally tour the Residenz Museum), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (I bought a Dirndl! Happy Halloween to me!), and finally back home to good 'ol Stuttgart. Boy, I am tired just thinking about all we did!

Now, we are trying to finish up at the house so that we can head out on another adventure down to Italy before we fly out of here. Wish us luck!

Mason's super cool step stool

I wanted to post a pic of Mason's super cool step stool that our good friend Ken made. It is sooo beautiful!! Thank you so much to Ken for working so hard to make this beautiful keepsake. Mason will definitely use it for years to come!

After Ken gave Mason his stool, we went on a hike through the Schoenbuch down to Herrenberg for some lunch and gelato! I am so excited it is gelato season again. In Germany, Biergartens and gelato have a "season." I guess they figure that if it is cold outside, eating gelato is a bad thing. In my mind, no time is a bad time for gelato!!

Mason is famous!

This past Saturday, we had a photo shoot with a fantastic photographer here in Stuttgart. Micah was so super patient with us because Mason was in rare form! I think we spent almost 3 and a half hours trying to get him to calm down enough to snap a few good shots. He hadn't slept all day, and it was half-way raining, so he was one unhappy camper! We did manage to get some beautiful shots thanks to Micah's super photo skills. Thanks, Micah!

http://micahcummings.com/blog/?p=299

That elusive smile

Mason had his first smile last Sunday, so I have been chasing him around with the camera ever since trying to capture that elusive smile. As you can tell, he is thrilled with this! Hopefully, in the next couple of days, I can finally get that smile. I might just have to break out the camera in the middle of the night tonight, because, apparently, 3 AM is a super funny time and smiles abound. Of course, Mom didn't think it was as funny as Mason did. :)

Our first trip with our Kleiner Mann

We took our first mini trip last weekend to Baden-Baden to test our our traveling legs. It was a good starter trip, and taught us some lessons about how to travel with the little guy. Baden-Baden is famous for its 250 year old casino (http://www.casino-baden-baden.de/) and "curative" thermal mineral baths whose foundations date back to Roman times. The baths were definitely an experience. We took turns going to the oldest and most famous Friedrichsbad (http://www.carasana.de/home/en/roemisch.html). Like any good German mineral bath, the dress code was nude, so we definitely get credit for trying new things! In the end, we had a great time and made it home in one piece feeling cured of all our ailments!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed

We are off to the pediatrician for our two month check up. Think heavy!

Lovin' the bouncy seat

I just put the activity bar on the bouncy seat the other day, and Mason was so funny because he would just stare at the flashing lights and animals then whine when the music turned off. I think I spent about an hour on the floor with him just hitting the jungle animals so the music and lights would start again. So much for putting him in the bouncy to get something done! :)