Weekend with family

(A little concert right outside the Brandenburg gates)

We spent a short weekend with our fellow Germany traveling relations.

Saturday

Berlin revisited but this time we spent our time visiting with each in the park while the kids played.

And this is how we paraded the streets of Berlin, with children galloping around pretending to be horses.

This was a very bitter/sweet moment for Rick and myself. One, Chrissie noticed this day that she had a loose tooth. Two, she had her first real sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa at a hotel in a completely different city. Two signs that our little girl was growing up. I was very much depressed at the thought of her losing a tooth. But we were so excited for her to have a special time with her grandparents and cousin Thomasin.

Sunday

Lovely day in Brandenburg. Interesting points about Brandenburg: one, nude beaches are still in full swing. I did not get to witness this but Cindy's description was enough. Brandenburg was once East Germany and during that time to express what little freedom they had, they took off their clothes at the beaches. Two, being that it was East Germany, and not a major city, it was more run down and far more industrial than the cities we've visited in West Germany. Despite its time as East Germany, it was still a lovely city with rivers running through it.

Primary (there was no nursery). The branch was so small in Brandenburg that church was only two hours. Primary was held outside because the classroom was too small for the extra visitors. The members were so cute and well prepared for our visit. They had wonderful activities,lessons and crafts for all the kids and their various ages.

And this is where the kids and I spent sacrament meeting.

This was Cindy and Joshua's last Sunday. The branch thoroughly enjoyed having the Schrohowsky family with them and were so sad to see them go. In result, the branch wanted to take a picture with them and for some reason wanted the rest of us in it as well.

Our Sunday feast: we had a wonderful Sunday with family.

The trip home was less enjoyable. It took us five hours by train what would have taken us 1 1/2 hours by car. The reason: during one of our connections, we attempted to get on a train but it was too full. So, we had to wait two and a half hours for the next one. Kids handled it beautifully. I, on the other hand, didn't.