Three and a half months in Germany.  In my defense, it's been a little busy.  Along the way I've thought of lots of things to write, but haven't gotten them online.  Now, some photos and just a few notes (it's still busy, but getting better).  The photos aren't in any particular order, however.

This is from when we were still living in the hotel (through mid-August).  I've talked Laurie into waiting to get his haircut, and succeeded through his second birthday (this last Wednesday).  But she can't stand it anymore.  He'll have a more conventional doo soon.

A couple shots from Neuschwansteinschloss (schloss = castle)

At Echterdingen's Krautfest last weekend.  I think Jake
took a spin in every vehicle on this ride (except the
motorcycles - verbotten bei mutter).

We'd been wanting to see the bells in the church tower, and they were giving tours during the fest.  We listen to this particular bell a lot!  And it's a beauty!

In the public area below the church.  We know it best for the Saturday morning farmer's market. Where His Little Beggerness scores much free fruit and bread sticks.  But we make good on it with our purchases.

The view to the south from the church tower.  Our house is directly to the right a couple hundred meters.  Straight ahead up the hill side is the town of Stetton (pronounced "shtetton";  our's, by the way, is "eshterdeengen").

This was several weeks ago at Pumpkinfest, at Ludwigsberg Castle to the north of here.  Laurie and Jake have been to this fest a couple of times.

 Meet Krauterina.  There was a kraut (cabbage, auf Englisch) decorating booth next to Jake's favorite clock in town.  He didn't get to make his own kraut friend, though.

You can click on any of these for the bigger photo, but this one deserves special mention, I think.

This one, too.  Getting Jake into liederhosen was a bit of a trial, but he seemed to like running around in them.

 

Sometimes, moving photos to where I want them in the blog isn't worth the trouble.  This is from another castle in view of Neuschwanstein (King Ludwig II spent time growing up here, then had Neuschwanstein built).  Our visit to this one was on a very rainy day.

"Singin' . . . In The Rain.  What a Glorious Feeling . . ."

A brief photographic interlude.

 One of the ways home Jake and I take by bike.  Though usually we ride in in the mornings, and his Mom brings him home.

 And panning just to the left is this view.  These fields of flowers smell really great right now.

Drills are cool.  And his really works.

Jake had a babysitter this night.  Us at the Volksfest in Cannstadt (Stuttgart).





I should never do the hang-ten signal with my right hand.  My pinky and ring finger can't bend - or straighten - independently.  Strange.  But maybe not as strange as not getting cold head-aches.


A final note:  he's working really hard on talking now, and saying all kinds of new words constantly.  Also, he's been using the pot regularly at daycare, and tomorrow we start potty training in earnest.  Wish us luck!

So.  Here we are, just south of Stuttgart, Germany.  The scenery's beautiful, the weather's almost always nice, and the cars are fast (not so much ours, though).  But finding a home has been particularly stressful.  Lots to talk about being here, however please let me play catch up, first.  A few photos are posted here, but you can find quite a few more on Picasa (let me know if you need the link).

Travel Ready

Upon the end of school, Jake and I started off with a trip to Iowa to visit family.  In particular to give Grandpa and Grandma T a fix before the big trip.  In contrast to Christmas, when Grandpa was king, Jake really enjoyed his time with Grandma this trip, too. I guess the regular skype sessions paid off, since he was happy to be with her from the time we got off the plane until we left for Colorado.  She even taught him his first two-syllable word:  hotshot.  He loves it!

We also got several visits in to Great Grandpa Tibboel.  This relationship took a little warming up, but Jake eventually decided that Grandpa's lap was just fine; and that his wheelchair made for good climbing.  Several strolls around the pond across from the nursing home made for good QT, but Jake far preferred eating the stale bread over throwing it to the ducks.










There was only one brief visit with Aunt Catherine, and Jake wasn't much in the mood for sitting still.  So he helped sweep the hallway and otherwise ran amock.  Tanta was, of course, understanding.  But saying goodbye was more difficult than usual, and as I write this Greg and my Dad's brother, Keith, are back in Iowa paying visits.  Likely the last for each of us.  Tanta will be dearly missed when the time comes.  The other day our future landlord was commenting on how nice it is that so much of her family is close together (in the same town we'll be moving to) - there is no doubt that we miss out on that as we move all over.

 Fortunately, we do still find ways to connect.  Our next stop was in Colorado to enjoy the outdoors and visit with Greg and Twyla - their second chance to meet Jake.  We had a nice time, as always, in Frasier, and Greg, Twyla and I did a short backpacking trip just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park - absolutely beautiful.  Meanwhile, Jake wore Laurie out back in Frasier and was generally irritable (good thing Greg hiked out early with a big red toe).  So we stopped by Montgomery for a couple "comfort nights" in the crib before heading to the Cape.


While there was some on-going irritability on the Cape, he loved his cousins (and their toys), his Nana and Papa Lyle, and especially the beach.  Especially the beach.  He maintains a total disregard for personal well being when it comes to rushing into crashing waves, but the freedom of a big expanse of sand is great.  Even his Mom will let him run free.  He did not, however, take to seafood.  Few kids do, as I understand.

A big first on the Cape:  Jake's first night without us.  Nana took care of JT while we had a nice dinner with friends and watched Boston fireworks, and Laurie sent me packing for Germany.  Laurie barely survived, but Jake and Nana had a fine time.  She even took on the prized moniker of "Baba" for awhile.  Laurie quickly reclaimed her title, but betrayed the trust a few days later:  we finally broke down and medicated Jake for a flight.  Absolutely the best decision.  He slept from Newark to Stuttgart (close to 8 hours), and got off to a great start here.  Getting over jet lag still took him the better part of a week, but the big sleep was  a big bonus.

The Butts cousins took good care of Jake.

So now about Germany.  But I think I've written enough here, so that will be a separate blog.  Soon, I promise!  One closer, though:  a huge thank you to the grandparents and everyone else for not spoiling Jake with too much stuff during our travels.  Spoiling him with love seems to have been sufficient - he's a really great (if ornery at times) little kid!

Movin' On Out

Jovonna and Jake at the zoo.
Those earings are in pieces now, sadly.

Time here is growing short, so I'd best get another entry in before we hit the road!  That, and Jovonna sent me some great pictures of Jake that I can't resist posting.  Jovonna, by the way, is taking care of Jake during these final weeks before we leave town, as Lindsay has already left to start nursing school.  Jovonna is also in school - but studying in Montgomery.  She's taken care of Jake quite a bit previously, and he is highly fond of her - as are we.

Hawkeyes and farm animals.
Happy, Greg??

Jovonna and Jake went to the
Montgomery Moooseum. . .

. . . where Jake decided on his life's calling.

I am essentially done with school - all papers/ tests/etc are complete, and this last week is low stress wrap-up.  Or perhaps I should say even lower stress wrap-up.  As noted previously, we now head on to Germany!  So, of course, I hope to keep the blog updated periodically (even if that period is bi-monthly) - lest Jake grow too much between sightings.  Or lest I forget too much.

Omens of Attitude

I'm not sure I have a lot to report about the last two months, other than the changing of the guard mentioned above - which is okay since the pictures are more interesting anyway.  There have been no trips - just local fun, he's still at 12 teeth, still holding out on talking for the most part, and still running around like mad.  But there are myriad changes I take for granted on most days:  his running around isn't nearly as out of control; his toy interests have broadened beyond balls (puzzles are big now); he's very much into picture books and identifying all the things in them (he certainly knows a lot of words, even if he won't say them); Mom and I now get authentic kisses on the cheek at bedtime (sweetest thing in the entire world, truly); he's added elephant, sheep, and alligator to his animal impersonations; and he's certainly feeling out his independence.  He's also working hard on 'big boy' games, like helping to put his own clothes and shoes on, and cleaning up after himself.  If anything, we probably hold him back by not letting him do enough on his own.  But we're trying.

Oh, and he keeps getting bigger - funny thing, that.  Jake has even outgrown his bucket helmet.  He's also now in a front facing car-seat, which he likes much better since he sits more upright and can look out the windows.  When no one's in the passenger seat, we take off the headrest so he can see forward - he seems to like it.

This photo, by the way, was our attempt at a passport photo.  We thought we'd have better success at home than in a studio or at the post office.  Nada.  Took a whole lot of shots to get this one off.  At the studio, he looked like an angel for shot #1, and smiled huge for shot #2.  Go figure.  His new passport is crazy cute, but I still like this shot - taken 10 April, for the record.


And now, if you're ready, this entry's super-cute closer shot:

Jake being cheeky with the neighbor girl, Abby.  Little does he know that she won't be interested in younger boys
for at least 30 more years, if ever.

That's it for tonight, but if at least a couple of you remind me I'll get a video addendum posted.  Auf Wiedersehen!

Spring, spring, spring said the frog!

I'm overdue, so want to at least post some photos for the Fans of Jake club.  He's doing well, as are we.  Since the last post, my parents came to visit, Jake and I did a road trip to Tennessee to see old friends, and we took a very short jaunt down to Destin, FL to see the beach.  Oh, and we found out we're moving to Stuttgart, Germany!  (sorry, I've been slow to get the word out).  We think it's great news, but more on that later!  With that, on to the photos:

The arrival of molars was heralded by very rosy cheeks!

We've placed these all over the house
and neighborhood.   Keep a few in the
car, too.

Sir Buckethead,
ready for the day's battles

A foolish duck taunted this tiger.  As did Jacob,
but he had the advantage of tiger-proof glass.

The air is rare up there.  Luckily, Jake
gets happy when he's hypoxic.

 The photo of the tiger is courtesy of Lindsay, Jake's nanny.  She and Jake got to watch the tigers chase the ducks in the pond along the fence, and snack on this one.  Jake thought it was great fun!  I'm not sure in this picture if the tiger is eyeing Jake as dessert, or just making sure no one gets near his duck.

Good times were had during his Grandparents' visit, too.  They watched him for a couple days, and saw much of Montgomery, to include the zoo.  No life lessons from the carnivores this time, though.

Enraptured while riding the zoo train with Grandma.

Jake also took advantage of his Grandpa's height to practice some basketball.  He favors the dunk these days.  This is probably his favorite spot in the neighborhood lately.  It's a little harder for me to get him to the hoop, but he waits patiently under the net for one of us to get him up there.

He's also fond of waiting for elevators, as my parents found out.  It doesn't matter much if it's out of order, or even if the maintenance man stops by to tell Grandpa that it's broken.  Some things are just worth the wait.

Road tripping to Tennessee

Keeping up with Mark on the
Shortsprings trail.

Mark slowed him up momentarily to teach
him about smelling the flowers.

In Tennessee we stopped by Arnold to see some of my old co-workers and friends.  We also got a first rate tour of a farm, a great hike just outside of Tullahoma, and a couple fun nights with Bart and Leslie and fam.  Their daughters introduced Jake to gymnastics, trampolines, ATMs, and I don't know what all else.  Despite it being a short trip, we both had a great time!  Thanks to everyone in beautiful TN!

Then, one day to rest back at home, and off to the coast with Mom. Nice beach, weather, and water!

Don't leave without checking out the tiger video!  You can skip to about 30 seconds in, but turn up the volume.