Paul and Betty Ann arrive in Jena

This post's title suggests that it's only about when Jérémi's parents were here, but we had a few pictures from beforehand to add in as well. A few days before they arrived it started to cool off a bit, which meant that Béla got to try out a few new warmer outfits, which was great fun. Here he is, wearing one of the few hats that fits on his giant noggin, which was a present from our friend Grit. How cute is he?

And a picture of him in the adorable giraffe sleeper that was passed on from our friends Tristan and Marie, who had twins in March. There was even a little tail on the back. (I'm writing in the past tense because he has since outgrown it, which seems to happen all the time lately.)
This outfit isn't so notable, but it was very cute watching Jérémi train him to be a little jockey, while bouncing the pillow. We figured he'd be wildly successful as long as he kept his weight under 5 kg, but it looks like he may have to consider other career options at the rate he's going.
And here his is on my lap, modelling one of the sweaters I knit him. (For those who are interested, it's based on the baby sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Almanac, on which the February Lady sweater is based, but I substituted cables for the lace pattern. The cables bunched a bit more than I anticipated however - I should have increased a bit more beforehand - so the shoulders seem a bit baggy in comparison. It fits well though, and just makes him look like he's wearing shoulder pads. The cables are also nice and stretchy, so it should fit for a while. It's knit in Debbie Bliss's Baby Cashmerino. Okay, enough knitting talk for now.)
So finally, Paul and Betty Ann arrived. Jer went to meet them in Weimar, while Béla and I had to stay home for a visit from the midwife, where he weighed in at an impressive 4750 g. That night we enjoyed some Zwiebelkuchen and Federweißer at home (onion cake and new wine, traditional for this time of year), while opening gifts from New Brunswick and letting them get to know their first grandchild. Betty Ann impressed us both with the amount of German she'd managed to glean from her phrasebook while on the train.

The next day we had planned a Thanksgiving dinner, a little late on the Tuesday after the holiday weekend in Canada, but it was when we were all together. We invited a few friends over, and Jer had already ordered a turkey, so we just had to go out in the morning to buy the rest of the groceries. Luckily it was a market day, so they got to check out all the booths in the market square.
Then we headed back home to cook, cook, cook. The turkey was larger than expected - he'd asked for one about 5 kg (11 lb), but they were only able to get one that was about 7 kg (or so they said). Upon getting the monster home, it weighed in at an impressive 9 kg (19.8 lb). Needless to say, more meat than we needed. Unfortunately, we neglected to take a single picture of it, before, during or after cooking.

Here Béla was helping me out in the kitchen.
We'd forgotten to pick up wine, so Paul and Betty Ann ran out to a grocery store nearby that afternoon, and he took advantage of the fact that you're allowed to drink in public in Germany, even getting photographic evidence to that effect.
Alas, we also didn't manage to get a single picture of the incredible feast, with the delicious bird. I'm pretty sure it was brined (though Jeremi had requested otherwise), as the meat was much juicier and saltier than I've ever had before. To be honest, it was the best turkey I think I've ever cooked or eaten. Not very humble, I know, but I think it was on account of the butcher, and not anything I did. Our friends Calin and Susanne came over for supper, as well as our downstairs neighbours, Klaus and Sina, and their little boy Yannick. We all ate far too much.

The next day we had a quiet morning, still digesting our dinners from the night before...
...and just enjoying each other's company.
In the afternoon we went to buy reservations for the train for our trip, which was to begin the next day, and went for a nice walk along a stream (the Leutra) to a brew pub just west of town (the Papiermühle, or paper mill). There we returned some big empty beer jugs we've had around the apartment for a while, which had enough deposit on them that we were able to try out all their beers and still come home with extra cash. Here they are at the beautiful bar.

And here are Jeremi and Béla at the table (Béla is tucked away in the carrier, of course). In the background you can see a man, who was part of a couple that I got talking to while the rest of them were in the bathroom. The man was German, and the woman was British, and they'd been listening to us and trying to figure out where we were from. She guessed American (a natural enough assumption), and then apologized when I said Canadian. The way they had figured it though, was that Paul was a local (they could hear his accent, but thought it was German), and the rest of us were visiting him. They said that he didn't only sound like a native, but looked like one too. We all had a good laugh about this on the way home.

On the way home we were still thirsty, so we stopped at another pub, complete with baskets of peanuts. Béla was going on his first pub crawl! We weren't allowed to eat the peanuts though, as we had too many delicious leftovers at home that we had to try to get through before leaving the next morning.