HHamburg

At the end of July, I spent a week in Hamburg for work.  Hamburg is Germany's second largest city and Europe's third largest port.  Hamburg's official name (Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg) reflects the city's  history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League and as a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire.  Hamburg is also one of three German city-states (Berlin and Bremen are the others).

The largest German cities generally use only one letter as the city code on their license plates.  For example, B=Berlin, M=Munich (München), K=Cologne (Köln), F=Frankfurt, L=Leipzig, and S=Stuttgart.  Although Hamburg is Germany's second largest city, H is used by Hanover and Hamburg instead uses HH as a reference to its earlier membership in the Hanseatic League (German: Hansestadt Hamburg).

My coworker Jamie also came on this trip and he brought his family.  In the evenings, we visited a fair at the Hamburger Dom and I got a chance to go to the harbor and take some photos.

Raingutter regatta and a water gun fight

The cub scouts held the annual Raingutter regatta (a regatta is a series of boat races) at the end of June.  The boys made boats out of plastic water bottles and raced them against each other.

Cub Adventure Weekend

In June the Transatlantic Council sponsored a cub scout adventure weekend at a scouting facility near Ansbach.  It took about two hours to drive there.

Circus Project

Oscar's instructional time at school is finished at either 12:30 PM or 1:15 PM (depending on the day of the week).  When school is over, Oscar goes to the on-site SchülerClub (after-school care) for lunch, homework time, and playing with friends.  Each year, SchülerClub offers students a chance to participate in special projects one day per week. Last year, Oscar signed up to be in the Circus Project -- participates would learn some circus tricks.  At the end of the year in June, parents were invited to see what the children had been learning.

Strawberry picking 2012

I took the boys strawberry picking in June.

Sara at the food court

Sara does not like french fries.  Have you ever met a child that would not eat french fries?  She will, however, eat onion rings.  I took these photos at Calvin's end-of-season soccer party in June.

Spring Soccer 2012

The boys both played soccer in April and May.  Oscar turned eight in February so he played on a team with children who were eight and nine.  His coaches were the same from last fall.

Stitches for Oscar

In March, Oscar dropped a jar of applesauce and cut his hand on the broken glass.  The wound required five stitches.  I took him to the pediatrician about ten days later to have the stitches taken out.

Father / Son Camping Activity 2012

This year's Father / Son camping activity was at the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg (same place as last year).  If you remember my post from two years ago, you might recall that I do not particularly enjoy camping.  It rained hard as we were driving there so I was expecting a sloppy mess upon arrival.  I was not disappointed -- there was mud everywhere...

The Netherlands 2012

My father and step-mother came to visit during Oscar's spring break in April.  We scheduled a three-day trip to the Netherlands.  Of course we went to the Keukenhof (3rd year in a row).  The weather forecast called for rain each day we were there but it never rained once.  On the day we went to the Keukenhof, the sunlight helped me get some great photos.  My dad brought his fancy Canon 7D camera so I got to use that for the photos.