Europe Day 5 - Maren's day off ... shopping

Thursday June 1

William and I had a good nights sleep. Actually I woke up way before him and he slept till about 8 am. When I came back from taking a shower he sat in bed and smiled at me.

Good timing. We got ready and went to (Tante) Ute where we were supposed to be at 9 am for breakfast. Thursday is Maren's day off and she spend pretty much the day with us. 

Weather wise it was a perfect day too so we sat outside. William even got goat cheese on the Brötchen.

 

We put William's car seat into Maren's car and she took us shopping in Recklinghausen first. 

We wanted to buy a sun hat for William (check) and he wanted to get something with his spending money from his Daddy (check). Tante Ute had given him spending money too so he selected three dinosaurs. 

And then she took us to the Tiergarten. It's a thing between a park and a very little zoo. 

William was interested in the large aviary. Cute little birds were dashing around. We mentioned that it was good to have a hat on. 

 

 

 

Big part of it was a playground. He had a lot of fun there. Maren took over. They pretended that there was an obstacle course and she gave him points. He loved it. The slide was too hot for him so they went together and no bare skin touched the metall. 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at Tante Ute's we had Internet and sent his Daddy a thank you photo for the spending money gift. 

 

We ate a very late lunch of some very delicious salad Ute had made. Of course William also wanted another Brötchen with goat cheese. 

The three of us then went outside to play soccer. He was very into it. We had to make up the game on the go. It was really great fun until I fell backwards, most likely got a bruise on my tailbone and hit my head. It was thick grass though and the head is fine. Changing position when I sit is another matter. Hopefully it will be forgotten tomorrow. 

 

 

 

Maren had another engagement for the evening but Ute, William and I met Carsten in a lovely Bauer cafe. Not far from Ute are a number of farmers who all have added little shops of their products and/or cafes/restaurants. Most of the time homebaked etc. I have been here before and really liked it. 

Carsten is Ute's oldest and my godson. We talked a lot. We had not seen each other in a long time. Until William got a bit bored and spotted a swing. Carsten went with him and they also talked to another child and the father. 

 

 

We had to leave when the place wanted to close for the day. But we will see Carsten again before we leave. 

 

Back to Ute. Nobody was hungry but William found space for a popsicle. Ute had also found some of Carsten's old Legos. 

 

Back at the apartment he got ready for bed at 8 pm. We read a book and then he was happy for the lights to be turned off. 

At 9 pm James called with FaceTime. William had already talked about it and I was sure he would dash in right away but he must have been already asleep. Good thing because the connection was very poor and we didn't talk long. 

It's getting late so I better say night-night now too. I need my energy for my 7-year-old tomorrow again.