Halloween 2012

Grandma was here to do the pumpkin cleaning and carving.  Lizzy didn't like getting her hands dirty cleaning out the pumpkin, but Katherine did!

Then we had some costume practice.  Lizzy liked Mommy's old ballet costume as a martian but in the end we decided it was too cold and she went as a doctor. Lizzy also helped make pumpkin muffins for a Halloween party at school.  We added Haribo gummy bats.  After all, we do live in the land of the best gummies!

Grandma comes to visit and we go to the mountains

This is quite late to be posted, but my computer died and I couldn't access the photos.  Grandma came to visit for two weeks in October and we went to the Harz Mountains in the middle of Germany.  They are famous for Hexen, or witches in English, so of course we found a cackling witch to bring home.  We visited the medieval town of Quendlinburg, which had a great castle and tiny streets with picturesque buildings.  Then we carried on to Braulage, where we stayed in a Ferienwohnung, or holiday home, which had three bedrooms, a living room, two bathrooms, and a kitchen for only 65 euros per night.  What a deal!  Braulage is a cute town, but was rather quiet.  We took the gondola to the top of Wurmberg and walked all the way down.  The girls walked the whole way and we all stopped for some beer and sausages at a little hut halfway down.  We pretended we were riding our brooms and Grandma stopped to take pictures of mushrooms.  We even found a pacifier tree in the forest, but Katherine wasn't interested in leaving her's behind!

 An autobahn rest stop picnic

 Good thing Grandma is so small!

 Headed into a small shop with tiny glass jars-Great idea, Mommy!

 On the gondola to the top of Wurmber

 Grandma's idea to take a picture here ;)

 A sunny rest

 Riding our witch brooms

 "But I don't want to put my paci on the tree."

Waiting for the glockenspiel

1/2 Birthdays

Mommy really wanted to eat cake today, so luckily it was Katherine's half birthday and we had 1/2 of the Hello Kitty left to eat.  Defrosted, 4 candles for Lizzy and 2 for Katherine.  Yum!

Klingendes Museum Berlin

Today I decided to take advantage of living in a big international city.  It is easy to get into your routine and forget to be a tourist in your own town. So,  I found an open day at the Klingendes Museum Berlin, where they had about 60 different instruments available for children to try.  We arrived to a cacophony of string, brass and percussion instruments.  The girls were overwhelmed at first, but after waiting for ages for a turn on the drums, they came into their own.  Lizzy particularly liked the trumpet made out of a tube and funnel.  Katherine liked the giant recorder (which I am sure has a proper name).

Kita Pick-nick

Mommy was still away on Saturday morning when the girls took Daddy to a Pick-nick organised by Katherine's teachers. The sun came out for a few fleeting appearances but was a bit sheepish. Like the woolly characters in the field next door.

Lizzy explored some high grass and found a very bold fieldmouse (not photographed) with a classmate.

Katherine managed to ride a cow.

After nap time the girls reviewed their photos and transcribed the blog post.

Mommy has Urlaub

"Mommy has Urlaub" Lizzy told Katherine. Explaining that she had gone on Holiday to visit friends in Prague and buy shoes(?).

Daddy decided to see how tough it really is. First he had the girls put their dishes away.

That went well. So he directed the girls to do the washing up and map the floor.

Of course, they soon got tired of that but Daddy explained that a change is as good as a rest. So they swapped jobs.

Then it was time for Lizzy to wash the paint out of Katherine's hair. Not because daddy had them do a spot of painting, that would be ridiculous. The paint was from hugs at Kita during art time.

Very tired, Lizzy tucked Katherine into bed. She hardly needed a story after all that housework. A kiss and a hug seal the deal for a trouble free night dreaming of marching mops and Cinderella stories. 

Lizzy put herself to bed and started prepping for a early career as a children's story writer. Daddy should be able to retire in no time.

Goodnight.

Usedom Island - The Baltic

We zipped up to the German beach when the weather looked good for a weekend at the end of August. Usedom is 3 hours drive north of Berlin, and claims to be the sunniest place in Germany. It was gloriously sunny for the whole weekend. The moment the girls saw the beach they charged straight down and loved nothing better than building sandcastles and splashing in the sea. Maybe Katherine enjoyed destroying sandcastles a little bit more.
The youth hostel was a 3 minute walk from the beach. Daddy and Mummy took turns jogging along the strand to cross the Polish border. The sea was a little cool but Daddy got to have a nice long swim along the coastline in his wetsuit. Mummy didn't enjoy that as much due to the jelly fish and general scariness of the ocean.

Camping in Germany

A busy tent day

Tiny naked girls

We busted out of Berlin for a little nature and camping for the first time with both girls.  The tent was great and the girls had fun.  Unfortunately, we decided to camp right by a lake, so we were gobbled up by mosquitos, despite 100% DEET application.  We camped on a Friday night because the prediction was for rain on Saturday night.  Our friends borrowed my old tent from high school and our tiny Japanese two-man (read: one tiny person) tent.  Around 2 am, the thunder clapped and the rain came pouring down.  Lizzy woke up and starting talking like she hadn't been sleeping, in her tent inside our tent.  Mommy was worried about the friends in the potentially leaky tent.  Katherine happily snored on.  And Daddy pretended he couldn't hear anything through his earplugs.  Happy Days.  The next day was sunny and we spent a few hours with the girls naked swimming in the lake.  A standard German Saturday.

The title has changed

First day of new preschool for Lizzy (day 6 for Katherine)

I changed the title of the blog to "The Year of the Octopus and Zebra" because Lizzy and Katherine started at a new kindergarten last week and this week.  Katherine's symbol is the Octopus, which is on her cubby, her out-box for artwork, and her toothbrush cup.  Lizzy is the Zebra and ditto for the locations. They will be attending a bilingual, German-English Kita, which we hope will help them continue to learn German, as well as make communicating with the school a little easier for us!  So far, so good.  In Germany, they have a "settling-in" phase, where the child attends with a parent for one to four weeks, depending on the clinginess of the child and parent.  I spent breakfast with Katherine two days, and by the fourth day, she was staying from 8:45-3.  Lizzy has spent the last two days getting acquainted and really didn't understand why I picked her up so early.  I told her that I had to pick her up at 2 today and she said, "Well, tomorrow it will be 3, then 4, then 5." So I guess she feels comfortable, which is what is important.

Memorial Day Spontaneous Party

 10 am

 11 am

 Noon.

9 PM. The playdate continues...

Dresden and Berlin with Grandma and Grandpa

 In Dresden.  Lizzy with ice cream, Katherine, "I want to carry you."

 The first day at Krumme Lanke.  Katherine does not like cold water.

 Grandma relaxing with a pretzel, or two...

Grandpa chilling out with his Kindle.

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and we went to Dresden with them. It is a gorgeous city, where you can  tour the factory where the Phaeton is produced, as well as see the Deutches Hygiene Museum.  The museum was my idea, but the girls liked the children's part, where there is an exploration of the five senses.  Lizzy also liked the video of the woman giving birth and explained it to Katherine. The Phaeton tour was a little long-winded for them, but they were good with the promise of ice cream. Which, is a European institution in the Summer.

A Week in Torquay

 At the farm with Granny and Grandad

 with Auntie Rosie

 The family outside the apartment with a gorgeous view of the sea.

 There's the ladybug rock I painted.

 There's Katherine throwing it in the sea.

See her joy?  That pretty much sums up Katherine as a two-year old. 

We went to England for a week to celebrate Granny's 60th birthday.  We stayed in a gorgeous seaside apartment with access to an indoor and outdoor pool daily.  Unfortunately, it was quite chilly, so only Jim swam in the sea. But we did lots of hanging out with Granny and Grandad, Auntie Rosie and Dan.  For Granny's birthday, we went to a local farm where the girls wandered around and said it was "stinky." We had lots of nice dinners and fish and chips together. Mostly, we went swimming everyday and the girls really improved their swimming. And of course, we returned to Germany with many English treasures, like digestive biscuits and English children's books.