We have liftoff

Shortly after returning home from her big adventure in the US, Victoria decided it was time to STAND. She has been crawling now for a good couple of months and I think she just said to herself - Enough of this. I want to try something new. So here she is trying something new. And hanging out with her birthday present from Uncle Ken - classic Winnie the Pooh.

She's gotten quite good at standing and gently sitting back down. She very much enjoys walking around the edge of her playpen as she holds onto the railing. Walking around the home is just around the corner.

Victoria's first trip to the US

Yup! Victoria has already started filling up her passport.

Sadly, Simone could not make this flight, but Victoria and I took off for what proved to be quite an adventure. Although Victoria was incredibly good on the flights there and back (and I quote from a fellow passenger, 'I have never in my life seen a baby so good on such a long flight before!'), let me tell you: going solo with a young'un on a nine hour flight isn't exactly the easiest of things in this world to do. But Victoria made quite a few friends along the way. No kidding, she had over ten people stop by our seat on the way to Chicago just to see her. One woman came by three times. One man said, 'She's quite the flirt. You'd better keep an eye on her when she gets older.'

Anyone out there ever try changing diapers in an airplane bathroom? I'm not a small man. It's not a large space. Anywho, moving along.

We took a couple of weeks in June and made our way to Chicago and Springfield to meet the family - some for the first time. Like her cousins Evan and Lauren:

Victoria had a really fun time meeting her cousins. We even went to the zoo with Uncle Bob and E and L . Victoria met some pretty big animals up close and personal.
Grandma and Grandpa and all the rest of the family threw Victoria her first birthday party. It was a couple weeks early, but I don't think Victoria minded. Here is a pic of everyone enjoying some birthday cake.

Victoria discovered a keyboard while we were there. She also likes to help me play guitar. The girl's got rhythm.
She had a great time playing with all her uncles and aunts. Here is a picture with Aunt Amy as we were getting ready to leave. Aunt Amy was very sad. So was daddy.

I also took her to our old neighborhood in Chicago, Lincoln Square. Grandma came with us. We had a good time checking out this and that. She really enjoyed strolling around and people watching.

The flight back was not the greatest of times. It was not a direct. After a long delay at O'hare, we JUST missed our connecting flight in D.C. (literally they were closing the door as we ran up to the gate). We sat in D.C. for an extra five hours and the airline had lost our stroller - so I had to carry her the ENTIRE time. You'd think after this trip I'd have biceps like the Governator. My back is still recovering. Not fun.

We made it home ok. Simone was the happiest person in the whole of Frankfurt airport.

Mittelalterliches Burgfest

So last Sunday, Simone, Victoria and I took a road trip to a Medieval Fest. Above is a picture of the setting, Stettenfels Castle. It was pretty interesting certainly. They had a knight, fully clad in his armor, guarding the bridged entrance to the main courtyard. There was a stage down below for jesters, musicians and actors in a courtyard area between one of the enormous walls and some buildings. There were also some tents showing the typical knight's quarters when out on the road. Of course just walking round the grounds of the entire castle was fascinating. Checking out the structures and walking in and out of the place, ducking for many of the entrances and trying to imagine it as it was in 1400 or so.

Simone and I kept saying, 'Oh, you know who would love this? Evan! You know who else would love it? Lauren!' Yup, my nephew Evvy and niece Lauren would dig it indeed.

Next time I hope to remember the video camera to get a little film footage of it all.

Toots and the Maytals

After she was born, Victoria had a tough time with the colic. So for her first three months we tried many different things to calm her down in the evenings.
One of her favorite things was dancing with Mommy in the living room to Toots and the Maytals. In this picture she is not quite two months old, but she is already digging the reggae. On occassion Daddy would make up his own reggae songs and play them so they could keep on dancing.

Aunt Patty!

Patty came for a visit over Easter and let me tell you - I'm not sure who had more fun, Aunt Patty or Victoria! They really hit it off.

It was a great visit and I'm very happy she could make it.

This first picture is no small feat. Victoria does not let ANYONE hold her except myself or Simone. She is quite vocal about that. This picture tells you just how much Victoria likes Aunt Patty and enjoyed the visit.

Ready, Set, and...

Crawl. Yup, baby Victoria is now crawling all over the place. She's actually been crawling now for a few weeks. Backwards. She was stuck in reverse but she just found first gear. So we're keeping busy keeping up with lil' Peppa as she scoots around the place.
Oh, and when she lays on her stomach she likes to roar like a lion every so often. Very ,very sweet.

Bad Wimpfen

Bad Wimpfen is a small town about 2 minutes from our home. It was far away from Heilbronn that it didn't get bombed out during either of the World Wars, so all of the medieval town is still (mostly) there.
Simone took me here as one of the first places for me to see. It remains one of my favorite towns to go to and we drive through at least once a week.
The town's medieval structures date back to 1200 or just before. There is a map drawn up so you can see how the walls around the towers and fortress and church/courtyards looked during that time, with an explanation of all of the remaining structures. This first picture is of the 'Blaues Turm', or 'Blue Tower/Castle'.

This is a picture taken outside the grounds the current church. Whenever I walk by this place it weirds me out something nasty. All of the faces on the statues are either missing or worn away in a very disfigured way. Just creeps me out, that's all.

This next photo Pops took while they were here visiting. I think he liked the houses in the background with the Smart car in front of them. And yes, Smarts are very common here. SUV's not so much. If you saw some of the roads in Bad Wimpfen you'd understand.

In the back here was part of the original wall around the Altstadt (Old Town).

The picture below was taken from the other end of where the Altstadt's grounds began. The Blue Tower is in the background showing where the protective wall would have extended to. The grass here shows part of what would have been part of the courtyard. The stone on the right is the tower overlooking the valley and Neckar River it was built above.

The picture below shows modern houses that would have fallen outside the Altstadt wall.

Above is a jewelry shop Mom and I ate our ice cream in front of. It is in the modern part of town.

At Christmas Bad Wimpfen holds one of the more famous Weihnachtsmarkts (Christmas Markets) in Germany. The entire town is turned into a Medieval Christmas Festival. This town is the perfect setting for such events. I will post pictures after this Christmas.