Pizza + Anne Frank's Home

We set out with some of our friends to look for a new {local} place to eat dinner.

One that John had seen on the way to work one day and heard great things about.

It's called Dick & Doof and it had some amazing pizza!

And the people that worked there were so nice and friendly - especially to the children.

Not that the other places we've gone to haven't been also good to us (becaue the German food is sooo good too!), but we've been finding {and hearing from others} that the Italian restaurants are a bit more friendly towards larger families.

We had a great night out and LOVE our new friends! :)

Kids had cheese pizza and Fanta drinks.

Landon had a cookie after his veggie. 

I had prosciutto pizza and John had a calzone.

So yummy!

 After getting to the restaurant, it came to our attention that Anne Frank's childhood home was RIGHT across the street from where we were eating! I knew the home was somewhere in Frankfurt but still had yet to find it. Mission accomplished! :)

On our way back home, we stopped and took pictures of the house and read the historical sign out front. Rather, I should probably say that I was able to read a few words as it was written in German. Having read The Diary of a Young Girl back in high school, I think it's fitting that I will be putting that book on my shelf to read next! I never knew how much I'd love history again until moving to Virginia and Germany. So much to see and learn!

Frankfurt Zoo

Our first time at the local zoo! We ventured out with our friends - who also happen to be our neighbors - and hopped on the train to see some animals. It turned out being a beautiful day too - 80 degrees and well worth 20 euros, no crowds and some fun family time! This zoo actually sits in the heart of the city and has an older feel to it, much like the DC zoo does. After seeing most of the animals, we took a lunch break and saw a few more before taking the train back home. We all had a great time! Instead of naming all that we saw, I'll just give you some pictures to look at that I took from our trip. It was hard seeing some of the animals - hence limited to no pictures. Some reasoning behind that is because a certain curious baby liked to pull and suck on my camera strap while I was clicking away. Hahaha. Silly boy! :) I think I still managed to take a few good ones. Okay.

Ready.

Set.

GO! :)

We Have a Middle Schooler!

I can not BELIEVE my baby is almost 12 years old and starting middle school today. 6th grade already!! So not only is Aubrey starting a new school in another country but she's going from elementary to middle school. HUGE step! She's so smart and talented...I know she'll do GREAT! I'm so excited for her as she branches out and tries new things....one of them being band this year instead of choir. It doesn't seem that long ago that she was in preschool playing on the playground, learning to read and write, having snack and nap time, going on field trips and taking dance class from Miss Debbie! The years have flown by so fast!

 

{Left: 1st day of 6th grade (2011); Right: Preschool Graduation day (2005)}

We went out to the bus stop to greet her home. She was beaming from ear to ear! Was a hard day transitioning to 6 different classes versus the one class she had last year and in the years past as well trying to meet new people and having to sit by herself for lunch (heartbreaking)! But I know with time, she's going to have a blast and succeed! We just love her so much and are so proud of the girl she is and the one she's becoming!

Her dad joked with her before she left for school...saying that it's now HER time to have the long commute. :) She has to ride the bus for 30-45 minutes one way and it only takes him 5 or so minutes to get to work. They've pretty much changed places. In Virginia, John's commute every day to and from work was at least 4 hours and Aubrey's school bus ride was 5 or so minutes. She doesn't see it as a problem though...a little more reading (or snoozing) time could never hurt. :)