Stolen

I forgot to mention that we had a couple bouts of theft.  On Halloween the kids and I rode to the sbahn and locked up our bikes.  As usual, we threw our helmets into my bike basket and didn't think twice about it.  We have left our helmets unlocked for over a year and no one has touched them.  I thought it was strange at first, not locking them.  Everyone here was so adamant that you MUST lock your bike.  Bike theft is very VERY common here.  So we had always locked our bikes but I figured since hardly anyone here wears a helmet they must not be that precious.  Well, I was wrong.  Or maybe right.  I still think that someone stole them on Halloween night as a last minute Halloween costume and not truly to use as a bike riding helmet.  Nevertheless, we were down two helmets.  Unfortunately, Josie hates her helmet (it is pink and purple with flowers from when she was 7 years old) and hers was NOT stolen.
Then just a few days later, we rode our bikes to a nearby bus stop so we could catch a ride to a friends house for dinner.  We all locked up.  Marty and Benjamin locked to a street sign and Josie and I locked to a wooden (sunk into the ground) bench.  Well, when we got back to get on our bikes, Josie's was gone.  Then we looked closer and saw that the thieves pulled the wooden bench out of the ground and slide the lock off.  Stinkers!!

Micha, Maya and Josie

Our bikes are our main form of transportation so we immediately started looking for a used bike for her.  We found one the next day.  Her friend Maya was coming over so

the two girls and Marty went to check it out.  They ended up running into Micha, Julie's boyfriend, at the train station.  Josie said she liked the bike and it was a done deal.  Not more than a day without a bike.  Phew!!  Bummer is after a day or two she deemed it an "old lady bike" which is kind of is and guess who is now riding that bike and who has my bike (which I quite liked myself, thank you very much!)