Jory's goodbye party in Germany

While we were in Heidelberg, Jory went to the Kinderhaus at EMBL where I was working. They had a goodbye party for him that was incredibly touching: they made a T-shirt with all their names, a rocket with pictures of all of the kids, and a book of photos. But perhaps the most special was a tradition in which they had a bag made of a thin fabric that they passed around, and each kid whispered some wish for Jory into the bag. They then lit the bag on fire, and it disintegrated into little pieces, which Jory caught out of the air and put in his pocket (to hold onto the wishes).

Then, he chose two of his friends to do sparklers with him, while they sang a song:

We were very lucky to have Jory at such a great place!

Space!

Jory has recently gotten really into space. This extends to both nonfiction, where he now knows the Apollo 11 story by heart ("one small step for man..."), and fiction, in which Darth Vader features prominently.

I took Jory to the Visitor's Center at NASA Ames, where he got to stand in front of a picture of Neil Armstrong:

a model of a Saturn V rocket:

even mimic Neil himself:

Mommy got him some Neapolitan astronaut ice cream (it looks better than it tastes):

He's also well equipped for battles with the Emperor:

(or other enemies closer to home):

Im Pfalz

We went to the Pfalz region last week to celebrate Uncle Nassos's birthday, and it was quite an adventure!

There were rowboats to explore the lake next to the hotel, and Daddy and Jory gleefully jumped in...

Jory loved the swing in the playground:

We also found a narrow-gauge railroad going through the forest:

And of course, Jory found the ice cream store!

I scream!

Jory loves the eis place around the corner, as you can see...

Im Speyer!

We went to a cool town called Speyer today. It was a beautiful day:

Jory was very excited about the Teknik Museum, which was not at all what I expected. This is Jory in a helicopter:

This is Jory and Iasonas outside the museum:

Jory in Heidelberg

On the philosopher's walk near our house after some ice cream!

God of Thunder!

Jory as Thor, with his hammer Mjolnir! (With all of our packing for sabbatical in the background :)