A Quiet Day

Today we had a very slow start.  We slept in until almost 9AM and then the girls watched cartoons and played until we finally ate breakfast around 11AM.  Martje and Lina loved playing with the iphones and ipad since it is something they don't get to do.  Sabine played with her Little Ponies and with the Playmobil animals.  This morning she was building a zoo.

In the afternoon, we went to Bremen to walk around.  We walked along the Weser river until we found a place to stop for coffee and cake.  We ended up on a pirate ship turned restaurant.  Their speciality is pfannkuchen (pancakes).  They are like large, thick crepes.  It had rained overnight but the clouds cleared a bit so we were able to sit on the deck outside in the sun.  Most everyone had ice cream but Anna had a pancake with nutella and her favorite beverage, Fanta.  She loved it.  Patrick and I also tried the pancakes.  They were excellent.

After our pause, we walked further up the river toward downtown.  As we got closer, Sabine saw a post card with a picture of the Bremen Stadtmusikanten (the Bremen town musicians).  She got very excited and wanted to figure out what the animals were, if they were boys or girls and what their names were.  She was thrilled when we finally found them.  She wanted to touch them and also named them.  The donkey was a horse named Patty, the dog was Josie, the cat was Halle and the rooster was chicken.

We then made our way to the playground.  It is small but plenty of stuff to do for the girls.  The playground even had a carousel with the four musicians on it.  Sabine was very excited to ride the dog.  They also had a large slide and some bouncy animals.  Sabine played on the chicken and didn't like it when Patrick told her she was sitting in his mouth.  Anna had a great time on the carousel and on the slide.  She even found a German boy to play with. 

After a bit it started to rain so we made our way back home.  Anna wrote in her journal and the other girls colored for a bit.  By the time we got home, the rain was finished which was good because Meike grilled for dinner.  Anna was happy because she got to eat more würstchen.  After dinner, Martje and Lina had to go to bed.  Anna and Sabine weren't tired since they go to bed later.  So they took a break and watched a Barbie movie on the computer while Patrick and I went for a walk in the countryside.  Meike's house is on the edge of town so it didn't take us long to find ourselves on tiny roads surrounded by farm fields.  We heard tons of birds singing, saw cows and horses and enjoyed the green scenery.

Tomorrow Anna is going to school with Martje and Sabine will go for a bit with Lina.  After that, we are off to Langen...