All week long I've been meaning write this post and put up these pictures, but I've been majorly procrastinating everything. My parents were here all last week (Sept. 10-19) and when they left on Monday, Bryan left also. Sadly his grandpa passed away and he went back to Michigan for the week to be with his family. Dylan and I went from having a very full house of people to a very quiet house. Better late than never, I suppose.
On the day that my parents arrived, Dylan and I went to his buddy's birthday party in the morning while Bryan went to the airport to fetch my parents. By the time we came home from the party, I knew my parents would be at our place, so I kept saying to Dylan that Oma and Papa would be at our house when we got home, but he didn't really believe me. As we climbed the stairs to our apartment Dylan began chanting "Oma, Papa, Oma, Papa, Oma, Papa" with every step. As we opened the door, my dad was standing there and Dylan froze in complete shock that he was actually here. Then he started pointing and shouting "Papa! Papa! Mommy, Papa's here! Papa's here!" He then set out to find my Mom who was upstairs resting from the long trip, and we all climbed up the stairs and Dylan in pure elation of having both his Oma and Papa here literally jumped up and down for joy.
Dylan was quick to show Papa his basketball skills, which he still calls "shots." It's pretty funny to have your two-year-old constantly telling you that he wants to go do shots, but we understand he means basketball and not vodka.
This is the only family photo that we got, which was taken just a few hours after Mom and Dad got off the plane. I had told them over and over again to plan for fall weather and the day they arrived it was in the 80s. Good thing they each brought one pair of shorts.
Our friends loaned us some bikes for my parents so we could all take bike rides together. Our first day we headed out to Hoxfeld / Probsting area to the playground.
Dylan got really revved up going down the big slide with my dad. Both of them had dirty pants from going down the slide so many times.
We also enjoyed a picnic. Check out Mom and I both making sure Dylan doesn't spill his cup of juice.
Bryan had a basketball scrimmage that we all went to and Mom and Dad got to see how attending one of Bryan's games doesn't actually mean that you get to watch the game. I estimate that in the 40 minutes of game time, I get to really watch about 10 minutes of it and the rest of the time is spent keeping Dylan from running out onto the court.
Oma and Papa brought Dylan some new books to read. He loves his "Little Golden" books, especially when Papa reads them.
Against our advice, Dad tried to teach Dylan how to use the iPad. Mom and I would snicker each time we could hear him in the kitchen with Dylan saying "No, Dylan. Gently." and then we'd see Dylan stab his finger into the screen like he was trying to break through to the other side. Good idea, Dad.
We took a nice bike ride to the Schloss Gemen and Dylan had a monster temper tantrum. He wanted me to carry him the entire lap around the castle and when I wouldn't he laid like this in the middle of the path and screamed for about 15-20 minutes. It was hard not to laugh at him, so we took this picture.
We were able to get a babysitter for an entire afternoon and evening so the four of us went into Dusseldorf and left Dylan at home. We did a semi pub crawl and tried 4 different kinds of Alt Bier (special to Dusseldorf) and had a delicious schnitzel dinner and enjoyed wandering around the city.
Dusseldorf's riverwalk along the Rhein is really nice, especially when you don't have to chase a very fast toddler through the crowds.
While Bryan was busy at work, the four of us rode our bikes on a super windy day to Raesfeld to check out the castle.
One .. . two ... three ... swing! This never gets old to Dylan.
Wherever Papa was, Dylan wanted to be also. If he sat down, Dylan sat down. If he went upstairs, Dylan followed. If he went into the bathroom and didn't lock the door, Dylan was coming in ready to say "What are you doing, Papa?"
Sometimes the only way to get Dylan to look in the direction of the camera is to hold out something in front of him (like keys, candy, etc.).
A familiar pose in photos with Dylan is holding him back so he won't run away when the photo is snapped.
Dylan and Oma flying the plane.
At any given moment throughout the day, Dylan would drop everything and shout "Papa! PRACTICE!" And he would drag my Dad into his room and close the door and make him practice basketball and golf with him. My poor Dad was not allowed to leave the room, and although Oma and Bryan were allowed in, Mommy (me!) was definitely not invited in the room. Dylan created a special little club in there, but whenever I tried to come in and see what they were doing he would shout "No, Mommy! Close the door!" and shove me out and slam the door in my face. Now that no one is here anymore, I'm invited to "practice" but it was kind of nice to be Dylan's least favorite playmate that week.
Roughhousing with Papa - the highlight of Dylan's week.
We had a fantastic week, and thankfully fantastic weather the whole time. It was so sad on Monday morning when Dylan woke up and immediately asked for Oma and Papa and I had to tell him that they had to go home. He took it really well and seemed to understand, but every day this entire week the first thing he says when he gets up in the morning is "Papa here? Oma here?" We're already looking forward to Christmas when we'll get 3 whole weeks at Oma and Papa's house.
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