Surprise trip to Deutschland!

November 26th - December 1st
Jorg needed to make a trip over to Germany for work. His boss said he could take me and we used miles to get Rebecca there too. We had just a few days notice. Jorg arrived on Thanksgiving and we arrived the next day. Michael knew that Jorg would come but Kristin was surprised and was so happy, she cried :)   No one knew Rebecca and I were going to show up.  Jorg went to the city with a cover story and picked us up at the airport. Then walked into Kristin and Michael's (new) house without us - we were waiting outside. We happened to arrive on Kristin's birthday! We called on the phone to say happy birthday. Then rang the doorbell. These two girls were so happy to see each other!!!! We were all happy to see each other since it had been 2 whole years since Rebecca and I had seen the Wolferts. That was just way too long! 

I didn't even see Aaron laying there until the end of the movie. I was surprised at how big he was! For some reason I expected a tiny baby.  I was so happy to meet that sweet and handsome boy.

They had prepared a turkey dinner for the birthday girl and we were just in time for the delicious feast.

Here's a little sample of the way our girls interacted. There was really no language barrier with these two!

Michi and Aaron:

Annalie and Rebecca:  cousins in the tub!

Kristin playing with Aaron:

Here are the girls playing around:

Jorg and Kristin and baby Aaron.  (heheehe about Jorg's look here)

Jorg took us around Hannover to go site seeing.  He was really excited to show Rebecca the places he used to live and go to school. This was her 5th time in Hannover, but she was too young to remember, so it was like she was seeing everything for the first time.

Hannover Neues Rathaus (city hall):

Here we are groovin' around town:

First time I've ever seen this particular park.  Jorg used to roller blade here!  If it's this pretty now, I need to see it with leaves on those trees.  WOW.

"Hey, we have that in America too!"

Lunch:

Giovanni L!

Kaufland to look at toys and Rebecca picked a little lion to take home.

Shopping trip for goodies!

We said goodbye to Jorg for a few days while he went to do his business in Frankfurt.  Here's Rebecca resting on the stairs:

Kristin and I took the kids to the park one afternoon. Their village is like something out of a movie.  Well, to them it's normal.  But to me it's completely charming. 

The Wolfert's house is the yellow and red one:

The girls spent hours playing in Annalie's room.  Here they made a train with chairs to play with.

We went on a shopping trip to the mall.

and Giovanni L's again :D

The Christmas window at Kaufland:

Playing at the book store:

And riding Annalie's favorite rocking horse at DM:

Out of order, but here are some photo's from church:

And a few more pictures from Jorg's phone he wanted to share.  The bottom photo is from the Crown Room, as Jorg has proudly reached Gold medallion status with Delta.  Lucky!

We were unlucky that Berit was in Spain and we didn't get to meet her this trip.  :(
But we were lucky that the trip happened. Lucky the timing worked out with primary and preschool and that we happened to get there on Kristin's birthday. Lucky that they didn't turn us away since we came without prior notice! But instead treated us to warm beds, showers, food, great conversations, and entertainment. Lucky to have such fun relatives. We miss them already and cannot wait until we'll meet again!

Two years is a long time!