Sutff and Things... A Rambling...

We have been immensely enjoying the German spring and all it has to offer. Being from Wyoming, the green wows me everyday. I can't see myself living anywhere that isn't as lush and squishy.  One of our favorite places to walk is behind our house by our little river. Both the boys LOVE wading and swimming in the clear cool water. It is one of the best parts of my day taking the dogs here, watching them enjoying themselves, and playing lots and lots of fetch with Nox. In the winter this area is much to wet and muddy to visit often, but now, it seems to be perfect.

Zach made chocolate chip cookies last weekend, this was a special treat for us. We haven't had a good homemade cookie sine we've been here. After repeatedly spoon-whacking me for stealing morsels of dough and banning me from the kitchen, he finally got some baked. He also had the great idea of giving some away to our neighbors (cookies aren't a thing here). Upon delivery I would get a  "thanks for the cakes!" I guess I didn't explain well enough that this is a COOKIE. Everyone loved them and we have requests for "more cakes please".

Europe has been in an interesting place politically of late. With the wave of refugees, political support has been leaning more and more to the right. The main right-wing German party here is called the AFD, or Alternative for Germany. They are an anti-refugee organization which is rapidly picking up steam in the country, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months.

Haven't been yelled at lately, to my great satisfaction, this either means that I am doing things right, or I have just become more sneaky about hiding my bad American habits. Regardless, it feels good to get through a day without fear of a "NEIN"

I finally found a dog basket big enough for Newton. This is quite an accomplishment because, if you know Newton, he is roughly the size of a Smart Car. Nox celebrated Newton's new present by sleeping in it all day.

Z is starting a new project with Bayer Pharma. I am so happy that he is having an opportunity to work in a variety of different departments and people. He is loving the diversity of projects(he gets bored easily) and is my main German teacher. He is so patient and very sweet when correcting my grammar.

 Our German is steadily improving. It is always helpful when I am FORCED to use it, it is amazing what the brain can do when you HAVE to figure it out.