I took this photo yesterday morning. Our neighbours have a small pond without any fish in it and as a result they have lots of dragonfly nymphs in it. There is a small fountain int he pond which creates a dome effect of water. Yesterday morning they discovered that one of the Nymphs had climbed up the water fountain tube and had emerged into a dragonfly. As it was covered in water, it was unable to fly for a while and needed to dry out. They called me over to have a look and I came armed with my gear to take some photos. They switched off the fountain and I was able to take some nice photos. Here is my favourite as it is so sharp and the water droplets on the wings look like jewels. What amazes me is how much larger the emerging dragonfly is in comparison to previous Nymph body. Its at least twice the size! If you click on the photo you will be taken to my flickr gallery and can see some other pictures I took there.

Oma had been battling against poor health for a few years now with one thing after another gradually making her more and more weary. Oma fell very ill several weeks ago and was operated on to try and improve her blood circulation. Sadly the operation failed and despite Oma making it through the operation, she later died in Hospital.

Last week we all gathered together at her funeral in Nieuwleusen to give her our last goodbyes. It was wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. I loved Oma, just like I love all of our Grandmas. They have a very special place in our lives, possibly because they have time and patience to listen and be interested in what we are doing. They are also so kind and caring and always happy to hear from us. I am going to miss Oma a lot and here is my short testimony of her:

I have many memories of Oma. One of the memories which sticks in my mind is of playing cards with her. Oma was very good at one particular game called the “Queen of Spades” (better known by the less politically correct name of “Black Lady”). I remember first learning to play the game at her house in Nieuwleusen and I never did win many games against her. She was able to collect and lay out all of the good cards and be out before most other people. She was nearly always the first to 1,000 points when I played against her! Another personal memory I have is about Oma’s faith. Oma was very spiritual and held a strong personal Christian faith. I believe she lived through many difficult times and I am sure her faith was severely tested more than once. Those experiences strengthened her faith and in turn she was always able to encourage me in my faith, especially when I was a new Christian. She used to tell me that God is good and that he is always there for you. That you can always trust him and ask for his help. She was right and I will always remember Oma for that.

A few weeks ago Becs, Hannah and I decided to head out to Lake Garda for a nice long weekend in the sun. It was a very wet 5 hour drive through along the Brenner pass through Austria and down into Italy but by the time we actually got close to our campsite it was warm and dry. We stayed at Cisano Campsite in a Eurocamp tent. We were greeted at the reception by a lovely English man named Andrew who took us to our tent and showed us around. It is the first time we have used a Eurocamp fixed tent and it was amazing 5 star camping. We had everything needed in the tent already. All we had to bring with us was our clothes and food. It had a gas hob, electric lighting and a working fridge freezer, metal beds and patio furniture, cutlery and crockery, a BBQ….. and out of season they can be an absolute bargain. We paid only 75 pounds for three nights. Go in high season and expect to pay nearly 3 or 4 times. The campsite was nice, not quite what I am used to (more rustic camping) but then things do have to be different when you have kids. We swam in the campsite pool which was unfortunately still a bit too cold. We visited Cisano and Bardolino which are beautiful lakeside towns which appear to have been recently renovated. Really nice. We also went into Verona for the day and saw some of the main sites before it absolutely chucked it down. When it rains in Italy it seems to pour.

Well, it was a great little weekend holiday and I have uploaded some snaps onto flickr. Here are a few:

Hi there peeps. Hope all is well where you are in the world. To be frank, Munich is soggy and cold at the moment but hoping it will dry up and warm up soon!

For those who need a top up of Hannah, here you go!

Mandy and Dave have been with us this week and we have been doing all sorts of fun things. With the sun finally out to play we decided to go for a little boat ride from Starnberg to Tutzing. It was lovely and the boat reminded us a little bit of the QE2 - just a bit smaller!! (We didn’t get any photos to prove it but will do next time!). It was a fun journey that allowed us to see so much more of the lakeside sights than we would normally be able to see. At Tutzing we stopped off and had a nice walk around and a spot of lunch. The photo above is of the play and picnic area close by to where the boat stop and reminds me a little bit of a caribbean beach.

Later on in the day we came home and played in the garden. Hannah has a paddling pool and with such gorgeous weather we set it up Hannah loved it. We also got the bubble machine up which is as always highly amusing!

It has finally happened!

Hannah is walking! At 20 months she has got there! Its been a bit of a suprise to us as she has a problem with her ankles and we are currently awaiting several appointments to see what needed to be done. She has been walking well holding onto a finger for a couple of months, but a potential problem with her tendons appeared to be stopping her from managing her own weight and balance.

As you know, Dan and I are Christians and have been praying for her. Two weeks ago, while we were at Church, I was praying for her and unbeknown to me, Hananh started walking downstairs in the creche! This continued at the end of the service when she just took off - and we don’t mean just a few steps - but circuits of the hall we were in! Over the last 2 weeks she has just got stronger and stronger and this morning she was kicking a ball around and virtually running!

Some people may say its a coincidence, but we truly believe in a God who heals, and we very much believe that this is what has happened here!

Enjoy this video of her walking and playing in the park yesterday afternoon!

Another month has passed and we’ve been very slack in updating itscoffeetime - I’m pleased to say that its because life is busy and good rather than because we have nothing to say and haven’t been doing much!

The last month has been another whirlwind - we had a great time back in the UK over Easter catching up with friends and family - lots of good food, good wine and talking! We’re sorry that we didn’t get to see many of you - the week just flew by and we had already split our time between Oxford ad Wales. The weather was kind to us and we even managed some time down on the beach. We miss you all but felt very peaceful and excited about returning to Munich which has become home.

I’m pleased to say that the weather has improved considerably - Spring doesn’t really exist here, it seems to skip from Winter to Summer which has been lovely. The garden is being well used and we have just bought Hannah a playgrounds worth of outdoor toys as she is very much an ‘outdoors’ girl and asks to be out there from first thing until bedtime!

Our cycle trailer is being well used and Becs & Dan are getting fit! Hannah loves travelling in there and we are discovering beer gardens in the local forest - perfect! In fact we are enjoying beer and pretzels (the massive freshly baked ones - yummy) as much as we did coffee and cake in the UK - maybe the website should be renamed….!!

We’ve been along to the Fruehlingsfest (Spring Festival) and Hannah (and Daddy) enjoyed the rides - and we all enjoyed dinner in the beer hall as you can see from the photos! We’ve also been along to the traditional raising of the May Pole and Becs has enjoyed her first night out at an Afghanisani restaurant with a few other mums! Becs is also enjoying learning German and has had two lessons to date!

Dan is well - finding work a positive challenge and is enjoying getting very involved with the music at Church. There are a few bank holidays coming up now so no doubt more eating, drinking and exploring will be done over the coming weeks!

We hope that this brings you up to date. We look forward to hearing your news too! Love to all x

As you can see we’re all doing very well still! As Spring is well and truly here now we decided to hit the road on Saturday in search of somewhere new to explore. That isn’t hard when you’re in a new country and I think it will be at least a year until we’ve seen the top spots in and around southern Munich, leave alone all the other stunning Bavarian sites. Bad Toelz lies at the foot of the Alps, just 45 mins south of Munich (depending on how fast you drive on the Autobahn of course!). We parked up and had a good stomp along the river and around the town. Of course, as it is Easter there was a lovely market selling eggs and the like. After a couple of hours pottering around Hannah decided it was time for lunch. We found a bizarre cafe where there owners appear to be blending the Far East (wall drapes, persian rugs, tapesty sofas) with Italy (smart coffee machines, posh modern bar and bar stools). Very odd but a lovely atmosphere nonetheless with fab food at good prices (and the best hot chocolate Becs has had for years). Hannah approved too! I’m just sorry I don’t have any photographic evidence to feast your eyes! Maybe next time!

We are loving the fact that the snow has now gone and that Spring has finally arrived! Hannah is walking now but not quite on her own. She can manage to walk about 150 metres when she holds onto a finger or two but can only manage about 3 or 4 steps on her own before she realises and decides it’s safer to tumble to the ground. We’re convinced she can actually walk now completely on her own but it may be Easter before she actually proves this!

We are lucky enough to have a room large and vacant enough to set up permanent photography studio and we tried it out today with Hannah. Above is one of the photos and we have a few more on our Flickr site.

IMG_7327, originally uploaded by danlayphotos.

We bought Hannah a little table and two chairs today. She has spent much of the the afternoon drawing and sticking with Mummy as more snow fell outside! At the moment, Hannah is into a little manic journalist frog called Jelly and Hannah and Becs are busy making a lookalike in this photo! We shall post the results soon!