A lovely morning. Party-William slept to the last minute when I had to wake him. But when I told him we are meeting EVERYBODY includung the boys for breakfast he was wide awake. Actually, we picked Gero and Adrian up at their house because they knew the way.
The restaurant is the farm again (where we had met Carsten). They have a Sunday breakfast everybody enjoys. And so we did. We all arrived punctually at10 am and were waved onto the grass and found ourselves parked next to each other.
They have a little shop where they sell bio things but mainly white asparagus and strawberries from their own fields. Today they had stands outside too.
White asparagus field at almost end of season.
Wie were pretty much the first but also the last. Wie saw them clean things away. We had so much fun. Hope we didn't laugh too loud.
So we just relocated into the garden where there was even life music (thank goodness not too loud).
Then it was time for Eva, Walter, Alex and Dolores to say their good-byes because they had quite a drive home to Jena.
Maren and Manuela debated what to do next so all three boys could have fun. They decided on the Nordsternpark in Gelsenkirchen.
We had too many cars so Maren would drive in front of me back to the apartment. The boys needed swimming trunks anyway.
We drove past where my mother (Maren's grandmother) had her final resting place. She stopped and asked me whether I wanted a visit. Perfect since I didn't know where it was and Ute and I had not have had the opportunity. Maren took some photos.
I think often of my parents (and grandparents). How lucky I was!
Maren loaded William and me into her car and set the GPS. Manuela followed. Neither had been their before.
Manu's husband had to work today. By chance our ways crossed and we followed the light-flashing police around to the parking.
William was impressed with the tall police officer in his special uniform.
The Nordsternpark bridge is quite a piece of art.
Over the canal. As children we would sometimes swim in it. I remember looking for crabs between the stones at the edge.
There is the Kinderland with a very shallow pool. No entry fee.
I asked William whether he wanted to change into his swimming trunks so he could get in and he didn't. But the next minute he was in it with his shorts and underwear. Sigh.
Gero and Adrian were wonderful, playing with him and watching out for him. So patient.
William couldn't get enough but then we changed him into the DRY swimwear with the promise of an ice cream.
We wandered a little around. When we found the Klettergarten we watched for a while. Adults were rock climbing on high man-made rocks in front of us. Quite impressive. But no thank-you.
It was discussed what to do about dinner and agreed on take-out. Maren and Gero went to get their favorite and Manu drove William and me to their house.
Manu's writing on their diningroom wall:
Where love lays the table, the meal tastes the best.
Tobias was back from work too and we all had fun.
We talked about Taekwondo and William showed everybody basic one moves.
Time to go home. Bye bye. Maren had to bring us home.
BUT ... we had a crisis. William had taken his baby dino around all day. I could not persuade him to leave it in the car. He got lost around the pool. Oh we had tears. Dino had come with the magazine. We searched all our bags. On the way to the apartment Maren even stopped at a gas station with magazines and I hopped out. No luck but he said anyway that he didn't need a second magazine.
So, William and I talked about the poor children around the pool and one of them now happily will take care of baby dino. He was just about to except the situation when I got a text that baby dino on his little legs was in front of the door having caught up with us but wasn't happy that William had not taken better care of him.
And then another million questions came ... about the poor children ... about whether somebody knew Maren's telephone number (he had seen that the first text had come from Maren) ... I am not good at this (lying). But he said that he was happy and said he would take better care.
Bettime was late again. The wheels kept turning.
1 comment:
Poor William - and poor YOU! I've been through the lost favorite toy a couple of times and it is heartbreaking to watch their pain. SO glad it found its way back!
"Where love lays the table, the meal tastes the best." I like that. Do you suppose it would look good above the TV in the family room since that's where we usually eat? Ha!
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