Date Night

So, remember my excitement about those dance lessons that we were beginning back here? Things have certainly not worked out the way that we had planned. Due to some really infrequent dance studio hours it was hard to match up a night the class was happening to a night that we had free (and so did a babysitter!). After a couple weeks of working to get the stars aligned we finally did it! We were running a little late for the dance lesson, but we were going to make it. It would have been great except that when we arrived we discovered that the dance studio we thought was open and running that day was in fact closed.

We scanned the files tucked away in our brain of things to do in downtown Bremen in the evening. Having already eaten, the only thing we could think of was a movie; which neither of us were in the mood for (we very clearly need a better reserve of date-night OUT ideas). After some thought we decided we would take advantage of the beautiful weather, grab some dessert and then just explore. The goal was to find any and every street that we had never walked down, go in new stores, find new restaurants to try, new buildings with interesting architecture and anything else that was new. 

For dessert we opted for something to take on the road - gelato, which we have had many times before but this time we got it from a new gelato place.  

First up, we were reminded how much we love walking around so many historical buildings. To be walking down the street and see this beautiful church firmly ahead. It's a magnificent feeling to be able to look around and see history. 

Then it was under the archways of the town hall (which is a UNESCO world heritage site).

Sometimes the mix of the old and new here is quite stunning. Like these two buildings joined by a walking bridge.

A short while into our walk we found ourselves in the Bible Garden. It is a pretty little nook tucked away behind the church. It is filled with plants that are part of stories in the Bible. It is also a nice little escape from the bustling tramline just outside the entrance gates.

Then we walked on to der Schnoor - a place that we had yet to explore in the entire year that we have lived here!

Before we got into the really touristy part of der Schnoor we admired the art school...

The unique homes...

and the eery looking santa standing inside the shop door at the year-round Christmas store.

And then it was on to the quaint, narrow, house-lined cobble stone streets of the touristic Schnoor. Being there mid-week allowed for nicely cleared streets for us to meander around. 

The homes in this area are centuries old and are said to have belonged primarily to fishermen as a tributary of the Weser River used to run to here.

A lot of the area has been gorgeously restored with intricate detailing...

with statues, restaurants and plenty of different shops.

Of course the Bremen Town Musicians made a few appearances.

We had a good laugh about this particular post card that was pasted to a restaurant window.

After exploring Der Schnoor it was down to the river side. With the sun setting in front of us, it made for a beautiful walk under the archways. And we were able to watch a nice variety of boats glide past us as we strolled along.

After the riverside we stumbled on one very funky looking playground. We're little kids at heart - seriously. Within seconds Jason was giddily running up to go down the slide and I started climbing the things around.

All that walking sure made us a tad hungry so we went and enjoyed some appetizers at Vapianos which we learned was started in Germany - never would have guessed!

Though, our walk would not have been complete without admiring some traditional German wear, just in time for the festivals.

It was a fun night and a reminder of how much there is that we love about this city. Not only are there incredible people here, but it is just a nice, clean, historical city that is fun to take an evening stroll in.

Calgary Temple Open House

To all those who live in or around Calgary Alberta, Canada.

You have the opportunity to go inside one of the most beautiful and sacred buildings from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the temple. Before the temple is dedicated they open it to the public for tours of the interior. This truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity as after the temple is dedicated it will no longer be open to the general public. The tickets are free and reservations can be made by going to this website. The tours begin this weekend (that's September 29th) and run until October 20th. Here is the video invitation:

If you would like to know a bit more about why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka: Mormons) build temples then please watch this short video for a little bit of information.

We hope that you are able to make it to the open house and learn a little more about temples and why they are such a vital part of our religion. Enjoy!

Working together

These two sure keep me laughing. They both wanted to play with the Duplo and wanted to sit together but did not want the other one taking their Duplo pieces. I figured it was a pretty benign item for them to squabble over that I could put it in Atticus' hands to figure out a solution. And, boy, did he figure out a solution! It was decided that they could sit back-to-back. That way they still got to sit beside each other but they couldn't reach the other person's Duplo blocks. Smart thinking. Atticus was pretty proud about it; as he should be :).

Painting

We've had a few projects going on around the apartment. I think we've kind of become addicted to painting. A little while back we took a crack at painting picture frames, the kids' play table (turned it into a chalkboard)

And finally said goodbye to the terribly dark Bedroom Blue that was in the hallway.

The kids love the table (still need to paint out the legs white) and the hallway looks so much better!

It's impressive what a little paint can do. One of these days I really need to get around to posting some before/after shots of the transformations that our apartment has undergone; it's been quite fun looking back on the before shots!

Let Good Things Happen

While we were out for a bike ride this hotel motto caught our eyes. 

I love the idea of letting good things happen. It suggests that good things are just waiting to happen to us and all we have to do is be ready to let them happen. How strange it seems to think that we would actually be preventing ourselves from receiving good things, but I think it's easy to catch ourselves in this trap all the time.  How often do we make things harder, more complicated, more stressful than they need to be?  The world is full of good things - great things - that are waiting for us to let them into our lives. Accept them. Enjoy them. And pay them forward.

Happy Family Birthday

Our 4th Family Birthday (aka, our anniversary) came up just over a month ago. We attempt to make a tradition to go on a little family trip/outing as a family to celebrate the Family Birthday side of things, then to go out for a nice dinner as a couple to celebrate the Anniversary side of it. Of course, it rarely works out quite the way we hope or plan for (eg., last year, despite planning well in advance, moving week wiped out a good majority of our plans). Perhaps it means that we need to do better at making our anniversary a priority and not letting other things crowd in and take over. We'll be experts come our 25th Wedding Anniversary for sure.

This year was no exception to the rule. Plans were made. The day before came. Plans (and babysitters) fell through and we were left trying to reschedule or come up with something new. In the end we did a combination of both (new plans and rescheduling).

First up, Jason was able to take the day off from work so that we could go on a family bike trip. We headed across the city and out to a pick-your-own-blueberries-farm and a corn maze. 

I asked Atticus what that face was, he replied "My monkey smile." ...nice.

That's better!

The ride there was beautiful. We had gorgeous weather, happy kids and plenty of sunscreen.

Perhaps it's a sign that it's been far too long since we were back in Calgary, but there were certain parts of the ride that felt very Calgary-esque. Like this nature reserve that we biked through. With big, blue skies, hay fields and plenty of cattle it certainly felt a little bit like our Canadian home. It was beautiful. (Still missing the mountains in the distance)

When we arrived we headed straight for the corn maze.

There were a number of markers that needed to be found throughout the maze and answer trivia questions. We managed to find all but one. The kids had a really good eye for finding the markers - we were impressed.

After the maze it was time for a quick lunch before heading out to the blueberry fields.

We were so pleasantly surprised how much both kids enjoyed picking blueberries. While there were a few distractions, like the occasional gust of wind...

or those special yellow flowers that Atticus enjoys picking so much...

for the most part it was just a whole lot of blueberry picking. The fruits of our labours were a few blueberry stained fingers and shirts and a nice big box of delicious blueberries!

We had to get a little creative about how to make sure that the blueberries didn't spill over on the bike ride home (we probably should have brought containers for that...) but they made it in tact and relatively unspilt in time to have some individual watermelon cakes!

Some of you may recall the first time that we made watermelon cake for Milayla's Birthday, well it's become a much-loved (and often requested) tradition around here. We decided to give it a little bit of a twist this go around. Instead of making a whole cake, everyone got to choose a cookie cutter shape to make their own little cake.

Then we piled on the "icing" (yogurt) and "sprinkles" (blueberries).

It was so good! We gobbled up a couple each.

We did have a nice dinner at home as a couple, but the nice dinner out had to wait for the weekend. We went to a wonderful local restaurant that focuses on in-season, local, whole foods. Their menu is constantly changing based on what is available locally and it is always creative. 

Well, it wasn't what we had planned, but we sure enjoyed celebrating. How blessed we are to have this little family of ours along with the knowledge that we can be together forever.

Errands

A few weeks ago, Atticus ran some errands with Mommy and wanted some pictures taken. Of course, I obliged. 

First up, we were on the hunt for new shoes for both Little Man and Little Lady and Atticus was absolutely in love with the engine they had set up in the kids section.

Then it was off to the post office to mail a card and buy a new one for a friend.

Atticus loves helping and handing our items to the post worker. It tends to make things easier for me, as well!

La Strada (the street circus)

A few weeks ago a street circus came to Bremen and so we thought we would head on over and check it out.

There were numerous acts going on at one time spread across a few different locations. After catching a few minutes of a rather strange puppet show we meandered over to a small stage that was playing enticing preshow music. Probably not the best way to judge the quality of the act to follow but we didn't have anything else to go on but we were hopeful that it would be something that the kids (and us) would be a little more interested in. (and with that said, I would like to add the thought that other kids and parents seemed to be enjoying the puppet show just fine so maybe all those German jokes that they kept laughing at were flying right over our heads.)

Our method of decision making seemed, at least, to work somewhat in our favor. The show we ended up watching was a modern dance/acrobatic duet consisting of a man and a woman. They made huge facial expressions, grunted a lot, danced with exaggerated movements, climbed poles and flipped around them time and again. 

The act was a little strange but oddly enjoyable. The kids sure enjoyed it. Atticus was completely glued once the guy started climbing the pole. He just couldn't believe that someone could climb so high. He was pretty impressed.

Milayla was a little more critical of the act and did sit to watch a good majority of it before she snacked on some food and made friends with some of the people sitting nearby. 

During the show they pulled up a number of people from the audience. What surprised us was how eager the people they pulled up were to 'ham it up' for the audience. One little girl of about 10 years old danced, chased, played musical chairs and even made very witty fun of the male performer. I was impressed as if I were pulled up at 10-years-old I would have looked like a scared little dear without preplanned choreography.

At the end of the show they pulled people up from the audience to dance with strangers. Yes, I know, it was odd. Jason and Milayla headed up. Thankfully, they didn't try to have Milayla dance with a stranger; that would have not been cool. Unfortunately, I didn't get a very good picture of them up there, but that's them in the picture below - Jason in a white top and jeans and Milayla in her little sun hat dancing away.

After the act was done, we took a walk around to see what else there was. We snacked on a delicious falafel and checked out some original art that was quite creative and diverse.

We walked over the hill that looks over the Weser River before heading back to the bikes to head home.

While we may not make it a point to head to this particular street circus next year, we certainly did enjoy our time out together.