Steiff and Ulm

A few weeks ago we made a visit to the Steiff Teddy Bear Museum, which is not far from where we live.  We visited the Steiff Museum with Valerie when we were here in 2012.  Steiff is known as the "birthplace" of the modern day teddy bear.  There is a fun little tour you can take that tells about the history of Steiff and then there is a large play area complete with life-size stuffed animals.  The kids had a blast playing!  Valerie already has already collected few Steiff stuffed animals, but Ian got to pick his own on this trip since it was his first time there.

 Loved watching all the little stuffed animals move on the display

 Getting ready for the tour


  Valerie in 2012                    Valerie in 2016  


Ian with "Froggy" his new Steiff he picked out


We also recently visited Ulm, one of the larger cities that is close to us.  The weather wasn't great that day, but we walked along the Danube river and had dinner at a restaurant that offered some gluten free options for Valerie.  It was the first time we let her have food at a restaurant since we've been in Germany.  There are less "safe" gluten free options here when dining out.  I'm sure there are more in the bigger cities, but we've been nervous due to the language barrier as well.  

 Jesse and the kiddos 

 Ian and Valerie posing near part of the old city wall     The "Ulmer Münster"

Me and the kids along the Danube

The kids here play outside in pretty much any weather.  So we had to get them "rain trousers" for school.  This was new for us and the kids :-)  Here is Ian in his rain trousers in case you are curious (think lightweight snow pants).  Valerie was not as thrilled to have her picture taken in them :-)



Back in May we went to a festival in our friend's village.  It was a beautiful day for the kids to play outside.  There was plenty of traditional "Bavarian" food and music as well!

 Held on a farm in the village, there were tents for eating and a stage for music off to the side.  You can see the village church steeple in the background.


The kids and some dads playing down by a creek. 

The preferred mode of transportation.  If you're from Lancaster county, you may mistake this picture for an Amish or Mennonite event :-) 


Ian cruising in the grass

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