Weinachsmarkt

Sorry for the long delay in posting, but Eliot decided to get sick, and Andy decided to make him feel better by getting sick as well! Everyone is feeling better, but now we're in the mad dash for Christmas, and preparing also for all of our visitors. This, however, did not stop us from enjoying some time at a Weinachsmarkt (Christmas market) in Otterberg this past weekend - a small town just 15 min away, that has a lot of historical old buildings including a church from the 16th century. Eliot liked the horses best (there was a horse and carraige ride for the kids), I liked the brats, and Andy liked the gluwine best (spiced yummy hot wine that is served everywhere during this season!)
We went with our neighbors who have a little boy, Michael, just a few months older than Eliot. He has taught Eliot a lot of things, most recently how to say "mine". I can see this is going to be a fun game in the future with Kaya -- he already drives that poor dog crazy!
They were nice enough to take a picture of the 3 of us... with Andy as the photo guru, we don't often get pictures together so this was a treat.

Thorpe or Ray Charles, you decide.

Who said potty training couldn't be fun for the whole family?

Do I even need to comment on Kaya's contribution?

Shadows

OK, the picture is a bit blurry, but I think you can all see the problem here. Eliot has recently discovered his shadow, and he is not at all a fan of this creature that follows him wherever he goes. This is a photo that captures him frozen, for fear of the shadow getting closer. Like a sheet of toilet paper stuck to your shoe, he just couldn't shake that shadow. Never fear, mom was there to save the day!

Meet our sheep

From our 3rd floor bedroom

So the story goes like this.....Once upon a time, our landlord (Peter) says to our neighbors, "By the way, you have to mow the grass in the back" Keeping in mind that it's like 5 acres of tall grass back there, they say, "I don't think so. Why don't you hire someone and I'll give you some money". We'll next thing you know these alleged sheep show up, 5 of them in our backyard. Our neighbor, Ed, looks at them, observes the prominate horns, and tells Peter that he bought goats not sheep. After some debate and consulatation of Mr. Google, we think that they may actually be some exotic form of sheep. Confirmation would be appreciated. I'll try and get some better close ups in the near future.