A Sunny Winter Day

After so many gloomy, rainy and snowy days, 

it was nice to see the sun again today!

A Sleepover with Rihana!

Rihana and her parents came to visit this weekend.

We're so happy that we now have more space to host friends

and we all savored the good food and good conversation!

The girls had a great time together and

 are already planning their next sleepover!

Marburg's Christmas Market

We had wonderful time in Marburg today!

The Christmas Market was just lovely,

especially the mini Ferris Wheel.

We especially enjoyed meeting up with old friends

 and visiting some of our old stomping grounds.

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree!

Frankfurt's Christmas Market is one of the best in Germany.

We wandered through it this afternoon and evening, 

stopping to admire the festive decorations and lights,

buy a few gifts, have a few treats,

and, of course, ride the train and carousel!

Mattis and Tooske came to play!

We were thrilled to have Mattis and Tooske over with their parents today! The kids played really well together despite not having seen each other for a quite some time and we all had a great time catching up. We're so happy they made the drive over from Marburg to spend the day with us and we hope to see them again soon!

Rana is 4 & 1/2!

Königstein's Christmas Market was festive, but smaller 

than what we were accustomed to in Marburg - 

and it was only open for one weekend!

Rana enjoyed it while it lasted, especially the carousel, 

and is looking forward to going to other near-by 

Christmas Markets in the coming weeks.  

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas showered Rana with lots of treats today!

The local supermarket very festively asked kids to drop off a 

boot earlier in the week so that they could  fill them with goodies 

today on behalf of St. Nick. Rana proudly presented her boot's mate 

today to claim her treat - and now she thinks that St. Nick actually 

stopped by the supermarket on his way through town!

She had Nicholas treats waiting for her in her shoes 

outside her bedroom door when she got up this morning 

and chocolate in her slippers at Kindergarten. 

We've had quite a bit of snow already this winter, 

apparently a perk of living at a higher elevation than before.

Rana loves the snow and is very much enjoying all of the 

Christmas decorations and activities around town.

A Visit from Baby Noor

We were so happy to see Baby Noor 

and her parents again last weekend.

Rana was eager to help take care of her 

and the two of them cuddled together quite a bit!

What wonderful girls!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Zoo

There is a big zoo on the edge of town

and I am sure we will visit it frequently, 

especially since it is open all year round!

We went today with Nadine and her Mama.

The girls went on a safari...

...and raced motorcycles

that seemed quite like the real thing

and they all had MICHIGAN plates! 

Of course, we saw quite a few animals, too, including giraffes, 

elephants, monkeys, goats, ponies, a leopard, deer, elk, 

lots of birds and ducks, a hippo, and more. 

Rana particularly enjoyed feeding the elephants carrots, 

which they grabbed with their trunks as we held 

them out in the air (from a safe distance!)!

A Day at the Frankfurt Film Museum

During our visit to the Film Museum 

with a group of Najeeb's colleagues, 

we learned about how movies are made, 

created our own animated film, and

chummed around with a few of 

our favorite movie stars.

Lantern Festival (Rana is 4 Years & 5 Months Old)

We celebrated St. Martin's Day with Rana's new Kindergarten.

Rana is very proud of her goose lantern, 

which she crafted by herself at school!

We enjoyed getting to know some of the kids and 

their parents better as we marched through town, 

particularly this little girl named Nadine.

Winter arrived early this year!

While most of us are dreading the long winter ahead, 

Rana was very excited to see the first snowflakes 

falling when she woke up on Saturday morning. 

She already had a snowball fight with Baba 

and she loves the warm winter coat 

that Nana and Grandpa gave her!

Happy Eid!

Autumn Colors

We took a walk through our neighborhood to 

check out the changing colors of the leaves this afternoon.

The park across the street has a little creek

that runs into a little pond, complete with a 

fountain and two decorative bridges

 Rana had fun gathering some leaves and
we both enjoyed the sunny autumn afternoon.

Swinging and Pumping!

Great commentary as Rana reflects on learning how to pump!

Middle School Reunion - In Germany!

Since two of Annie's friends from Middle School 

are living in Germany these days, and another came to visit, 

we decided to have a little reunion!  

Sita has been living in California for the last five years or so.

Emily is living near Nürnberg with her husband Mike
and beautiful daughter Ava, who graciously opened
their home to us and hosted us for the weekend.

And Amber moved to Konstanz two years ago
after spending some time in Marburg.

Rana had a wonderful time playing with little Ava! 

Many of us had not seen each other for years and years, 

so it was great to catch up. I hope we can meet up again soon!

Rana is 4 Years & 4 Months Old!

Here are four lovely pictures to mark the occasion!

First day at her new Kindergarten, 

which she quite likes so far!

Braving the rain in her rain gear

Yet another fountain to admire around town

A playground in the corner of the town gardens 

about halfway up to the castle ruins

Our New Apartment

We love our spacious, renovated apartment!

It will be a while before we actually have enough 

furniture to fill the place, but we are getting there...

Rana loves that we now have two floors 

instead of the two little rooms in our last apartment,

and that she has her own room!

The fact that it is the only bedroom upstairs that is finished 

doesn't phase her, and she even sleeps up there by herself

(although Grandpa was up there for a few nights)!

And another exciting feature is the garage - with a swing! 

Our new place already feels like home!

Königstein im Taunus

Life is moving quickly for us these days, but we are 

very much enjoying getting to know our new town. 

This is the view of our new neighborhood from 170 

steps up at the top of the castle tower. 

Königstein is only 20 minutes outside of Frankfurt, 

which you can see off in the distance in the picture below.

We wandered through town with Grandpa this weekend.

We're so glad he could stop by for a quick visit!

Rana was thrilled to spend more time with him!

And we all enjoyed exploring the castle ruins,

which are some of the most extensive 

ruins still standing in Germany.

There are some great doorways and windows!

We're so grateful that so many details are falling into 

place as we begin this next phase of life and we're

very much looking forward to all that is yet to come!