Fasching Dienstag in Bamberg

Fasching Dienstag (Tuesday) in Bamberg brought the parade right down our street. So Gus and I had front row seats to all the action from the comfort of our apartment windows. There were quite a lot of people crowding the streets (all businesses closed early yesterday so everyone could celebrate) and most were dressed up in costumes. We had a good time watching. Below are some pictures from the parade.

Fasching

Fasching is the German equivalent of Mardi Gras/Carnival/Carnivale. They have been celebrating for awhile now, but with Lent beginning on Wednesday the celebrations have reached their peak. We traveled to Heppenheim, Germany, on Sunday to attend a Fasching party at our friends, Donna and Dave's house. Their little town of Heppenheim has a huge parade every year for Fasching so they wanted to have a party in conjunction with the big parade. It was pretty crazy--it was in the afternoon and the weather was pretty soggy, but there were tons of people in the crowd. For Fasching all Germans dress up in costumes, ranging from silly to crazy. At the parades the floats throw anything from candy and ice cream bars (wrapped, of course) to pretzels and popcorn. We even ended up with a little packet of foot wash...don't even know.

It was our first real long distance trip in the beloved BAV (seriously it is awesome!). Heppenheim is about 3 1/2 hours away, over on the western side of Germany. It is not too far from where we lived near Heidelberg a few years ago. As I said before, the weather left a lot to be desired but the parade was fun and it was a pretty raucous atmosphere. Gus didn't take to the parade at first. The crowd was loud and as with all German parties there was lots of loud techno music. He warmed up eventually, especially when he saw kids in costumes. Due to the weather, Max had to sit this one out in the BAV, but he came out later for the party.

There were a few other babies/toddlers at the party at Donna and Dave's house so Gus had a good time "playing". Donna and Dave have a 5, almost 6-month-old son, Colt. Gus was really interested in Colt and liked to rock Colt's carseat while Colt sat in it. Also present were a 13-month-old boy and 15-month-old boy and Gus towered over them both. But he seemed to enjoy the company.

I included a few pictures from our trip in this slideshow--enjoy!

Welcome to Geekdom

The transition is now complete--we sold the BMW and the Honda Odyssey arrived Wednesday. Pat and I were both sad to see the car go and know that we are definately losing style points, but the minivan is AWESOME! Since we generally take Gus, Max, giant Euro-sized stroller and all the other "necessary" stuff, it is perfect. The minivan offers more space than even we know what to do with now. Pat has already named it--the BAV or Bryan Assault Vehicle. We took the BAV out for it's maiden voyage on Wednesday after we picked it up. Pat had a client testifying at a court-martial in Vilseck (about an hour and a half away) so we all loaded up to test out the new vehicle. I can honestly say it was fabulous, so I am now officially a dork. However, our trips will now be so much more comfortable for us all.

Here are a few pictures from the first trip. Gus sits up quite a bit higher in these seats than before so he was enjoying more of the view.

Max loves the minivan--so much space and he doesn't have to be crammed in next to Gus--has his own bench in the back.

Gus and I both like the DVD player. Here is Gus enjoying Ratatouille on the way to Vilseck.

Sneaky

Gus loves to sneak into cabinets, drawers, wardrobes, and anything else he can find when I am not looking. I found him in this drawer last week. This is where we keep his books so he can easily pull them out, but he decided it was more fun to sit in the drawer on top of the books. The first time I found him he was eating his shoe.

The second time he was actually reading.

He also managed to squeeze himself into this upturned plastic stool in the bathroom.

With all of the cold and snowy weather Gus has been cruising around in the wagon indoors.

How much longer until spring?

It has been snowing on and off for weeks. I think Pat and I are definately ready for warmer weather. It will usually snow a couple of inches and then melt away, but last week it hung around for a day or two. I took some pictures of the park when Gus and I took Max on a walk.

Max loves the snow so he had a fabulous time.

Climbing, eating and other adventures

Gus has been busy learning how to climb on every piece of furniture the past few weeks. He has also been busy getting into everything--now that he is big enough to get the heavy dresser drawers open he likes to pull all the clothes out and then put them back into different drawers. Here are a few pictures from the past week.

Playing with his police car.

Gus is always entertaining at mealtimes. Here is some fun at breakfast. The dramatic flair comes from his mom.

The rocking chair in his room was a challenge to learn to climb into because of the movement, but once he mastered that he is up there any chance he gets.

I was doing the dishes one day and turned around to find Gus in one of the kitchen chairs, just hanging out.

Erased

Gus has already surpassed me in the technology department. I had lots of pictures on the camera from the past week or so. I was waiting for a free moment to put them on the computer and add to the blog, but alas, my child found the camera and somehow deleted them all. I am not sure how since I don't even know how to delete all the pictures at once. Too bad since I had a couple of good ones in the wagon and playing. Now I just have to put the camera up on the high shelf!