Grace finally has her independence. She's developed her own mode of locomotion, and now she's all over the apartment (and the rest of us are smiling because she's so entertaining to watch.
Sam and Katie run from one end of the room to the other, cheering on Gracie to scoot to them.
Dave is home!
We didn't decide to brave the bus for a trip to the animal park, but I did find out from a neighbor that we can actually walk there, as long as we don't mind doing some hiking through the forest in the steep hills behind our apartment. She said it is only about a half an hour walk. When we go, we'll certainly use that mode of travel.
Instead, we hung around the neighborhood, finding a good climbing tree, visiting the market, and playing with newfound friends. There are many mathematicians staying in our apartment building. So far I know of mathematical neighbors from Poland, Norway, Pakistan, China, and the US. All are visiting the university here.
Dave got an interesting wakeup call this morning - his hotel in Paderborn was evacuated. There was excavating being done at the train station for remodeling, and an unexploded WWII bomb was unearthed. Apparently this is a pretty common occurence there. 
Same dress, same smile, same blog entry. We are on four days and three nights of wear. Still looks clean. 
Slip sliding away.
The climbing tree. 
The climbing wall. Sam and Katie can't resist walking the retaining wall every time we go up or down this path. Today was the first time Katie conquered both stretches of the wall in both directions. In other Katie conquests, Sam taught her how to use the mouse on the computer, so he now has competition for computer time. Katie is all over pbskids.org.
Sam's teacher, Ms. Hilton, sent him a movie made by his kindergarten class. It is pretty slick. In it, each of his classmates asks him a question about his trip (e.g. how was the flight? what did you bring? do you have any friends there?) You should have seen Sam's smile while he was watching it. (You could have seen it if I would have had enough sense to take a picture, but I was too misty-eyed at the time.) It was such a wonderful gift to Sam. We are so grateful for his school family at Butler, and especially Ms. Hilton and Mrs. Jackson.
Grace, the sandbox queen.
Same dress, same smile, neither gets old!
Ah, to sleep that well. On the mattress front, we aren't exactly sleeping on high tech ultra comfort mattresses - they make our futon mattresses back home look positively plush and lofty. Doesn't matter to this guy. He can sleep anywhere. As can Grace, who napped on the tile floor today, face down. 
This is the path we usually travel on our way back to our apartment. On both sides there are open fields that would surely be mowed and highly manicured at any university in the states.
Here is what the open field looks like at the university in Bielefeld. Makes it a delight to walk up the hill... 
pushing a stroller loaded with two kids and the groceries while wearing a third kid. Sam took this picture. 
The boys relaxing after the day's visit to the playground and market.
Ready for some ice cream. 
After the ice cream. (We don't actually have ice cream every day. It just looks like it. Today, everyone was cranky at the playground, and we all needed an attitude adjustment. Ice cream did the trick. I tell you, the stuff is magical.) 
Supper time.
Isaac post-bath. You can almost start to see some hair on his head.
The requisite bathing kids pictures. I couldn't resist, but I insisted on some modesty. 
We are pondering a trip to the city animal park tomorrow (featuring all animals that are native to Germany), but it requires a trip on the city bus. Since I have not scouted out the bus system, I'm a bit leery to try it the first time with all the kids and stroller in tow. We'll see if I am brave enough. Dave gets back on Saturday night. Thank goodness!
There were some definite communication issues, given that the mutual language overlap consisted of mostly "polizei" and "Legos." (Sam had brought the directions to his police motorcyle Lego kit.) They were playing lots of "chase," and Sam at one point thought Jagorda and Yuma were being mean to him because they were laughing. Meanwhile, Jagorda and Yuma thought Sam was sad and didn't want to play with them (as reported by Jagorda's mom, Hana, who thankfully speaks English.)
All the while, Katie felt left out because nobody was chasing her and when they were on the see-saw, the big kids were playing too rough.
Sam decided to handle the perceived affront (i.e. the laughing) by giving Jagorda and Yuma each a simultaneous chest push. Apologies were made, and as we walked back home, Sam felt very sad about what he did.
All was forgiven, though, as after we got home, Jagorda knocked on the door and asked Sam and Katie to play. They started to play chase, but Sam recognized the melee would lead to no good again and said, "Let's just play hide-and-seek." Apparently that's an international game, because once he covered his eyes and started counting, we had kids hiding in all the closets and under all the beds in the apartment. Isaac didn't appreciate the commotion, as he was hungry and tired, but it was nice for Sam and Katie to have some playmates other than each other.
And Sam counted in German when they were playing hide-and-seek! 
This is Katie moping because she feels left out.
I had a scare with Gracie. While I was making supper, she started choking on a piece of strawberry she was snacking on. Thankfully, the infant Heimlich worked and the strawberry came out, but it took some pounding. There were lots of hugs shared after that unpleasant experience (and I cut her strawberry pieces smaller.)
In answer to a question from a German in Minnesota, the ice cream flavors Sam and Katie have eaten have only been vanilla and schokolade (chocolate). Grace and I are more adventurous, and we've had zitrone (lemon), nuss (hazelnut), and some liquour flavored stuff suggested by the ice cream scooping girl. A novelty that seems popular at the ice cream shop is spaghetti eis - ice cream that looks like spaghetti noodles with ice cream meatballs on top. 
Note Katie still has her dress on from yesterday. She slept in it, and has made the proclamation that she will only take it off when it gets messy, for cleaning.
Grace in front of the Linen Weaver statue.
Isaac watching his siblings have a snack. At Sam and Katie's choosing, we ate at McDonald's. Happy Meals all around, and a place to use the bathroom. 
At the department store, I couldn't resist buying matching outfits for Grace and Katie. The pictures that follow are mostly for Dave to enjoy. You have some beautiful girls! 
Katie testing out the dress' twirlability.
Grace playing her new puzzle. 
Sam displaying his police motorcycle.
Katie wanted to be in every picture. 
Here's the duck pond we walk by most days on our way to the market and playground.
On the island in the middle of the pond, you can see a cute little duck house. The building in the background is a restaurant which was built in 1802. It has a patio/deck overlooking the pond. On Sunday when we walked by, the patio was packed with families enjoying their meals al fresco.
Grace is posing after having her hair done by Katie. Katie's idea of making one's hair look beautiful involves wetting the hair copiously and combing it off the forehead. Hair on one's forehead is a major no-no, according to Katie. She tried to "do" my hair too, and then concluded my hair was too much to make beautiful. Oh well!
Katie, very happy because her hair is slicked back. 
Sam napping in the sunshine.
Dave packing to leave for Paderborn. He got there around 6:30 tonight and called on the computer, so we got to see him in his hotel room. 
One of my favorite things about our apartment is the way the windows work. With the handle down, the window is closed and locked.
With the handle to the side, the window opens full to the side. (And its mate will open too.)
With the handle up, the window opens tipping out. The transom windows on top work the same way. And the windowsill is more like a windowseat, so you can step up on it to reach the top window. No screens on any of the windows, and nothing to prevent curious kids from falling out the window (or frustrated parents from jumping), but even so, they are great windows.