Goodbye to Omi

Sadly, my mother has left to go back home to the US. It was time, she had been here many weeks, and my poor dad was ready for her to come home!

But before she left us behind on a train platform, we managed to have a lot of fun that last week.

Most afternoons/evenings, we just hung out at home after getting Alex from school. Here my mom and Alex are studying an important book about pirates from the public library:

Alex spent a lot of time each night goofing around in the bath. This time - after washing and combing his hair, he started laughing and said he had Playmobil hair.

We made worlds out of home-made play dough (thanks to Mrs. Hamm for the recipe!).

And we even made our own masks to play superhero - or whatever.

But we really made the most out of our last weekend together! On Saturday was the first really nice and sunny day in a long time, so we ventured up the castle. 

First we took the funicular up the mountain.

Then we showed off "our castle" to my mom.

We hit all the sights there. Here they are making funny faces while looking out of a watchtower.

Here Alex is reenacting a story about someone who jumped from a high up castle window, leaving his footprint in the stone.

We took a break at a cafe.

And posed in the courtyard for pictures in the sun.

These last two were taken by Alex. Not bad for a 4-yr old, I think.

On Sunday, the weather got even better (note the lack of jackets) and we packed even more into the day.

In the morning, we headed to the grand opening of a new foodcourt that had promised to have all sorts of kids activities. But first, Alex had to sample a Belgian waffle outside in the sun:

Then, he jumped in the bouncy house,

got a balloon animal and his hand immortalized in a plaster cast,

tried his first cotton candy (which he didn't really like, apparently),

and got his face painted with a scary pirate design!

Later, the same afternoon, we had visitors from Wiesbaden. Friends of my mom's (actually the pastor who baptized Alex in Washington in 2009 and his family who have since moved back to Germany) and we all took a little trip to another castle/cafe in the small town of Schriesheim for coffee, cake ice cream etc. It was a wonderful visit and a great afternoon.

Alex once again took my camera and here is some of what he came up with:

(This was the view from the terrace where we were sitting.)

It was a great full weekend and a fitting and fun end to my mom's visit. We miss her very much, but we know that she had to go home eventually. Alex cried bitterly when she left and I was very sad as well, but we skype almost every day and we've managed fine without her.