Back to Germany

We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany a day late on January 12. We started our journey on January 10 out of the Grand Rapids airport. Our flight was delayed seven hours, and five of those hours were spent sitting on the plane on the runway with no food and very little to drink. There was a huge snow storm and a lot of flights were cancelled or delayed. When we finally made it to Chicago O’Hare airport, we had missed all the flights to Frankfurt for that day, so we were stuck in Chicago until 6:40 p.m. the following night. It was a hassle, especially since we didn’t have any of our luggage, but Samuel was extremely well behaved and we got to spend some time with our old Chicago landlords and friends, the Krietz family. We had a great time catching up with Len and Angie Krietz (they are fantastic), and it was nice to be in our old neighborhood, see our old apartment and eat our favorite Chicago pizza (D’Agostino’s). We arrived in Frankfurt on Monday, and I started work back up again that same day. Needless to say, I was very tired and so were Randy and Samuel. We are getting back into the swing of things here, and I am getting used to working again and working from our apartment with a four month old around.

Samuel is now totally adjusted. It took him a little while because of the six hour time difference and he caught his first cold on the plane or at the airport. We are glad to be back, even though there are some challenges with being in a one bedroom apartment and not having a car and the conveniences of home, but we are having fun. The best part about being back is seeing all the friends we made here during our last trip. On Saturday we had our good friends Simon and Steffi Merget over for dinner. We had a great time! Here are some pictures from our first week back in Germany and Samuel’s first trip to Europe!




Samuel getting ready for his big International trip



Another picture of Samuel, taken by my brother's
girlfriend, Chesley.


Sam is helping Randy pack

Samuel saying "I am ready to go to Germany!"

Here we are at the Grand Rapids airport - the start

of our journey.

Samuel asleep in the airport during our delay

The snowstorm at Grand Rapids airport and all over
the Mid-West

Another airport picture

Here we are in Frankfurt!!!

This was suppose to be a family picture, but the Swiss

tourist taking the picture cut Samuel out of the shot - oh well :-)

Samuel taking his first "German" bath

Very cute! He loves bathtime

Samuel hanging out on our sofa in our apartment

Our future ladies man

Samuel getting ready to go outside for a walk

(we bought him a new had and gloves in Germany)

Our friend Simon and Samuel hanging out

in our apartment.

Here Samuel is playing with Steffi

Randy, Samuel, Simon in Steffi in our kitchen after dinner

Sam playing with his rattle.

Randy trying to get Samuel to smile for the camera

(it seems that when he sees the camera he just wants

to study it so he puts on a serious face)

Samuel sleeping peacefully

Samuel watching the historic inauguration speech of President Obama