Riding Public Transportation

We here in the Maass family encourage each other to ride public transportation whenever possible since it's so inexpensive and convenient. No need to pay for gas or find parking and the bit of extra walking to and from the tram/bus stops promotes a healthy, active lifestyle. Well a couple of days ago we reluctantly conceded to Caitlin's pleas to ride the tram by herself. "It's never to early to start," she pointed out, so yesterday she traveled downtown and back on what she called her "sightseeing maiden voyage." When she got back she mentioned that yes, she did get some strange stares from others, but being three months and amazingly adaptable just stared right back and didn't let it bother her. In the picture she's double checking for her ticket to make sure it's easily found if the ticket checkers come by, smart girl! She did mention that next time she'd like to ask for a sort of booster chair so that she could have a better view out of the windows though...

Friends and Storms

We are so blessed to live in the apartment that we do now, our neighbors are super friendly and we've enjoyed so many fun times with them in the past year. Most recently we had a kind of grill out, which consisted of Grady hanging out in the back courtyard of our building monitoring the one-time-use mini gril we had bought while cooking a pile of pork steaks, baked potatoes and yummy veggies. It took a while but was wonderfully delicious to eat! Here are two of our neighbors--one from Germany and one from Argentina--and our dear friend Marion. We've also been having an unusual amount of thunderstorms this summer (it's actually uncommon to have them here in general), and Grady snapped this awesome pic from the other night out of our skylight. He's got mad skills!

Funny How It Is...

Trusted Confidant

Recently Caitlin's started practicing her German vowel enunciation practically every time we put her up on the changing table. I think she gives it all she's got cause the red face is always looking at her encouragingly and attentively. Proof for how any female loves to be listened to! (even the three month old ones!) I must say, I think she's already better at umlauts than I am...

Sitting Pretty

I just had to post this adorable picture from when we traveled by train with my parents. They have these cute kid seats near some of the normal seats and Grady had to try Caitlin out on one for a few minutes! Such a big girl!

Vacation Recap, Volume 1

The pictures are finally all together in one place! So I'd like to post a few more from our trip.


One of the days we were in Tenerife we hopped in the car and drove up the west coast of the island and came upon a black sand beach. We spent about an hour in the nice sun (Grady even went for a swim in the ocean) before deciding we didn't want to burn to a crisp on our first beach day! (note: the dark clouds in the background hovered in the distance practically every day we were in Tenerife, but they never make it to the coast and it never rains!(well apparently only in February or something))


Then another day we headed a bit more inland, driving over a mountain pass and down into an incredible Columbian-looking valley where the small village of Masca lies. We enjoyed an authentic Spanish meal and met a lady who at one time lived in Dresden only a block away from where we live now! Such a small world.
We celebrated my parents' anniversary by going out to an ocean-side restaurant one evening for dinner. The sunset was just breathtaking.
Our last day in Tenerife was spent once again relaxing on a beach, this time on the east coast of the island. It was super windy but the golden sand beach was still a nice place to soak in the scenery and fresh ocean air. Caitlin even had her own "beach hut"!
And lastly, here's one of my favorite pictures from the week. See me and the whole beach in the reflection?

Consider Taking the Bus!

Our motto: "We keep you moving."

(Remember, a rolling stone gathers no "Maass.")

The American dollar has been suffering so severly against the Euro in the past months that we had to come up with some way to suppliment our current income. After lots of paperwork and the initial downpayment for the bus, we're proud to announce our new business venture, Maass Bus Company! Please call us anytime you have a group of at least 43 and need to get somewhere (inner Germany only, preferrably only to cool places where we haven't traveled yet so we can check them out). Our prices are somewhat reasonable but remember, we're trying to make up for the considerable chunk of American dollars that are vanishing into oblivion thanks to the current rate of exchange, so please don't mind if we seem to be charging a bit (or a lot) more than our competition. We appreciate your business and that you'll choose us without even considering other companies! We are thrilled you are helping our daughter to play with cool toys and get to take mom-and-baby swimming classes.

(An alternate version of the story to go along with this picture (brilliantly thought up on-the-spot by our friend Dima who happened to glance at the screen as I was typing...): Since adding one more to our family we decided our current mode of transportation just wouldn't cut it anymore, so we upgraded to the bus. Now we finally have enough room to take our three month old AND all the gear required for an afternoon away from the apartment!) :)

Little Alligator

Not too long after Grady and I started dating we realized that our nicknames came together as the word "Alli-gator" so we've had fun collecting a few alligator things here and there since then. Most recently I found this adorable outfit for Caitlin and also a handmade finger puppet that even has a baby alligator on top! We love our little alligator baby!

Merry Muscles

Thanks Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma for this awesome gift! Caitlin loves her new Merry Muscles jumper!

Daddy's Little Girl

We went to an outdoor symphony concert on Saturday night with my parents who are still visiting and the last piece they played was from Star Wars. This guy in a storm trooper getup came out and we snapped a shot with him afterwards. It's just like Disneyland, German Star Wars style! (I wonder if they smile underneath the mask when the picture's being taken?)

The Best Job Ever

Yet Another Great Vacation

We arrived safe and sound back to Dresden on Saturday after our week in Poland, and wow, what another great vacation it was! We met my dad's cousins in the northern region of Poland, staying in a bed-and-breakfast for the week about 2 km from the Baltic Sea. And we apparently had one of the calmest days at the sea EVER (according to Bozena, the wife of Wiesiu, one of the cousins--by the second day of the trip we had nicknamed her "Bozena-pedia" (as in "Wikipedia") because she was such a valuable wealth of information!). It was cool to be at another beach so soon after being at the beaches in Tenerife and being able to really notice the differences. The sand at the Baltic was super fine and soft, although the water was much cooler. A highlight of the week was a trip into the formerly German town of Kohlberg (now in Poland and called Kolobrzeg) where Grady's great-grandfather was supposedly born and lived before immigrating to America. The Maass family has come full circle after five generations with Caitlin being strolled down the same streets her great-great-grandfather likely was!