Birthday boy and other August adventures

We have been too busy to update, but here's a try. Stefan had his birthday and we had the requisite 'birthday table' in the morning, complete with a few cards that had arrived in the mail prior to the big day.

Apfelwein kuchen was enjoyed again this year at his mother's house.
She had also made a 'birthday table' for him and made a lovely dinner for the three of us.

The next day Stefan drove down to the Taunus area to spend 9 hours at the annual Flugtag event. I actually wanted to post pictures but his camera thing isn't working. Poop. Click here for the club's website and to see their pictures. You can see pictures of some the crazy huge models from two years ago here. He also saw these guys swoop by in real planes (T6s); a father-son stunt duo. The father is 72 year old!! Their website is only in German, but if you click 'start' twice you can get into it and see pictures and videos. Pretty impressive. Below is a mid-size model with it's team of owners. (from the club website)
The next day we drove back down to the region to attend his godson's 13th family birthday party. At various points I was cornered by the grandparents who talked non-stop and I was very much in German overload mode!

The week followed with his mom visiting our new apartment and joining us for dinner out in the Oberstadt. We're also in charge of watering our downstairs neighbor's potted plants while they're away, so we enjoy going down there and relaxing in the garden. Later in the week we dragged our grill out and had a little cookout - grilled bratwurst, pork chops, and veggies.
The week was capped off with the Prices coming for a visit. Here's little Madeline with Stefan. This truck is from Afghanistan, circa the mid-70's, when Stefan's family lived there and he was learning to walk. He used to stand up and push this truck around.

We also rented a paddle boat and us girls sat in the back while the guys powered us up and down the Lahn.
Somehow we ended up with the volunteer fire department's paddle boat.

Sadly the blue light and telephone were not in working order!

Walking around Marburg in nice weather is really a lovely thing to do, and is especially nice with friends!

This is Stefan's last week of vacation before starting school next week.
Even this week has 3 different school-related meetings, though!