Sam is walking

The day after his birthday Sam started walking. I think he got inspired by Hauke, Jesse and Rieke and later also by all kids at my grandma's birthday party in Dresden. The greatest is to see his face light up when he walks. It makes him so happy that he even giggles during his walk. No more crawling at ground level, now he can see the world at an height of 80 centimeters!
He also loves to dance. At my grandma's party he gazed at the Italian musician and swang back and forth from one foot to the other. When he dances I think of Vale, his zia (godmother), who lives in Italy. She taught him weeks ago how to swing back and forth. Balla, balla!
PS: This is not the best image of Sam walking, because it is hard to capture in a picture and we are a bit disorganized with the pictures lately. Doug has half of them on his laptop in Hamburg. We really need to take a little video anyway.

Sam's First Birthday

Sam had a wonderful day! We celebrated his birthday in Hamburg. There was a nice surprise prepared by Susi when we got up this morning - the table was covered with presents, a delicious cake and a big "Happy Birthday" banner. We enjoyed a long breakfast while Sam unwrapped or, better said, tore the papers of the presents. For lunch, just the three of us went to an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. The food was great and we dwelled in memories. Sam almost missed his little party taking a two hour nap. Our friend Annmarie came for a visit with her three children (Rieke 3, Jesse 5, Hauke 7). They were constantly asking if he is still asleep and went to open the door just wide enough to peak. The kids sang a beautiful birthday song for him. Later we all took a ferry on the Elbe just down river to the beach. The ferry ride was the most exciting for the kids (it was a very bumpy and wet ride) and at the beach they played with Lina and Lotte (Susi's 6 month old doggy).
We want to thank everybody near and far for the lovely birthday wishes! Miss you all on this special day!

Happy Birthday Dario!

We want to wish Dario a happy birthday today. He was born in the same hospital as Sam, just one day before. That would make him Sam's first best friend.

Beautiful memories

I really miss our old home and our great friends in Italy. I always forget how hard it is to move away and to start new again. This will be a good opportunity to post some pictures of our little trip through Umbria and Toscana. On moving day (May 8) we also rented a camper from Bologna and started our little trip from Ravenna. The first day we drove to Urbino and stayed the night in Urbania. In Urbino we were caught by a rain storm, but after the storm there was this beautiful light over the town. It made the visit phenomenal. The second day we stopped in Gubbio and Assisi. Both towns set in the sides of hills. We stayed the night just outside Assisi facing the beautiful town illuminated by the setting sun. The third day we went to Todi and Orvieto, where we saw a cathedral like we have never seen before. In Todi we walked through the hilly streets and had the best icecream in the whole world (that is their claim and it really was yummy). For the night we rested at Lago di Bolsena. We camped only a few meters from the waters edge and thanks to Sam we saw the fog rise from the lake in the early morning hours. The fourth day we already had to start our way back to Bologna. We had lunch in another town built into a hill, Montepulciano, before we got onto the A1 heading north. That last night we stayed just minutes outside of Bologna too close to the Highway, but we had to return the camper early next day all cleaned and packed and then head for the airport.

Sunny Amsterdam

We spent the sunny afternoon in our new Garden and the big Vondelpark next door. It is not so warm here, at least not to our new Italian standards, just 18 degrees Celsius in the sun. We have also had nightly rain storms come through. Our progress with unpacking and sorting has slowed a lot. I think we both got a bit tired of it and have given up for the moment. Well, we enjoyed some time outside!

Here we are again!

This is our first blog from our new home in Amsterdam. We moved in two days ago and are starting to see some light between the many boxes and items that don't have a new place yet. Sam seems to love the chaos. He made some new developments while we were not looking. He gets up on his own two feet without any help and he has made a couple of wobbly steps to the next box. You can't really call it walking yet.

Ciao Italy!

This will be my last blog from Italy, but after a weeks break I will be back again with more pictures from Amsterdam. We are all packed up in boxes and tomorrow morning everything will be loaded into a truck. Then we will take a few days vacation and travel through Umbria with a camper. On the 15th we will be reunited with our many boxes and will need to unpack.
See you all soon in Amsterdam! Ciao, ciao bell' Italia!

Cruising

Sam loves cruising. In fact, like his dad, he cannot sit still. We always have to be on the move. If the bike or the buggy is not moving he doesn't want to be in it. The other day we went to the museum because it was a rainy day in Italy. He didn't want to be in his buggy anymore and so I stood him next to it. He then went on cruising with the buggy. He did the sidesteps and I guided the buggy so we won't hit a painting of Cezanne or Turner. It was quiet a funny sight. Sam also showed endurance. We did this one whole gallery including in and out of an elevator.
At home he likes to be outside and cruises around the garden furniture or along the wall. He has been cruising for a couple of months now and is starting to stand (and fall) without any support. He also does Downward-facing-dog-pose to trying stand up without finding furniture first to pull himself up with.

Mesula

Today we went with Davide and Vale to Mesula near the coast half way between Ravenna and Venice. Mesula used to be at the coast and was supposed to become a big city like Venice. But what we saw today was a small and forgotten town in the Po River Delta. It has a beautiful landscape though. We walked a bit in Mesula and saw the castle and then we took a little hike in the S. Giustina Bosco.