It has been a busy month or so since we last posted. The boys all got great reports from school -- through report cards and through parent-teacher conferences. A spot in the EL3 class at BIS (Bonn International School) opened up, so Mallory was able to start on January 26th, the beginning of the 2nd semester.
(First day of school for Mallory)
She absolutely loves it, of course. Mallory especially likes the fact that for PE, her class does dance and she also participates in dance once a week after school. She got a new dance get-up (still not sure what the right words are -- slippers, body suit, tights?) and loves showing us at home the new moves she is learning.
Mallory also learned about farms and animals last week, so since then she has been drawing multiple-legged cows with spots and with a “milker.”
She just threw a snowball at me -- luckily she missed.
Luke’s & Grant’s birthdays
Since my Dad was coming to England for business, he was kind enough to fill up his luggage with several things from the US we needed. At the end of January, Luke and I flew over early Saturday morning to London, and spent the day sight seeing -- London Eye, Tower of London, etc.
Since my Dad was coming to England for business, he was kind enough to fill up his luggage with several things from the US we needed. At the end of January, Luke and I flew over early Saturday morning to London, and spent the day sight seeing -- London Eye, Tower of London, etc.
Our first stop was the Portabello Road market in Notting Hill. We got some breakfast, bought some fruit (Luke loves cherries), and a couple of other things.
Luke on the London Eye (above) and his photo of the compartment next to us (below) when we were just about at the peak.
We caught the last Yeoman Warder tour of the day at the Tower of London.
And the biggest potato chip Luke had ever seen.
And then the next morning met my Dad at the hotel to make the switch (we picked up the stuff he brought for us, and we sent him back with a very late Christmas gift). We spent a few hours with him going to church and then for a quick stroll through the Science Museum before saying goodbye he had to go meet up with the people from work and we had to head back to the hotel to pick up the luggage and then the airport. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guard.
Luke and my Dad at the Science Museum.
Luke and the crowd in front of Buckingham Palace, waiting for the guard / band / parade to arrive.
Our flight back to Cologne/Bonn airport got us home by 6:30 or 7:00, just in time for Luke’s birthday dinner (BLTs, of course), cake, presents, etc.
Grant turned 11 this year - on Wednesday, February 11th. He didn’t get to go on a trip to London, but he did get to go to school that day.
On the Saturday in between the boys’ birthdays each of them invited 3 friends from school and I took them to an indoor swimming pool/almost waterpark near our house. They spent a few hours bouncing around between the water slides, wave pool, warm pool (not quite a hot tub), and the outdoor swimming pool. They then all came back to the house for pizza, cake, and presents. It was pretty low-key, but I think they all had a good time.
Grant and Luke both wanted new bikes for their birthdays, so one Saturday in January we went to Liege, Belgium (about 90 minutes from here) to do some shopping. First we went to Carrefour to see what kind of groceries they have in Belgium in comparison to what we can get here at Edeka in Germany. Grant and I were happy to see they sell Golden Grahams (we bought 3 boxes), plus we found several other things that we can’t get in Germany. We next went to Decathlon and were able to find bikes for the boys, plus we loaded up on other sports, camping, and hiking equipment. It was a tight fit to get the bikes, groceries, and other stuff in the car, but we made it, and got back home in time for Nash’s & Grant’s violin lessons. It has been a little cold for them to get much use out of the bikes yet, so they are both looking forward to the spring and the weather getting milder.
Animals
We continue to have frequent animal sightings here, several times per week. A few weeks ago when we had snow, there were a couple of nights when there was a full moon and it was so bright we could look out our windows and easily see rabbits and the occasional fox in the fields. And these aren’t your regular garden rabbits we’re talking about -- these are really large wild forest rabbits. Whenever we arrive at home in the dark, and drive up the hill toward our house, we always look around to see what we can find. Last night while driving home with the boys from the store, we spotted 3 deer running across a field and into the forest, as well as a rabbit.
The other day just after dusk there was a blue heron standing on the side of the road that flew off when I started driving up the road.
And on Sunday afternoon, while the kids were downstairs doing something quietly and while Heidi was asleep, I had just sat down to read a book when the doorbell rang. The doorbell hardly ever rings, especially on Sunday. I answered the door, and there was an older couple -- the woman was standing at the door and the man was a few feet away by the gate, holding what she said was an injured hawk (Heidi claims it is an osprey -- she sees them all the time out in the field -- but I am no bird expert). She said they noticed the bird off the side of the road as they were walking up the hill. This woman was quite distressed about what to do with the bird. I told her she could borrow the phone, but she suggested that I call our landlord, the countess (she apparently knows that this land is owned by the count and the countess). I called both of the phone numbers I had for her, but couldn’t reach her. This woman was trying to make it my problem -- as if the fact that the injured bird was near my house made me responsible to find a veterinarian for it. In the US, I would know to call Animal Control or some other organization like that, but here, I have absolutely no idea. I suggested she and her husband take the bird back down the hill to the house nearer the castle, and ask if they knew what to do with an injured hawk / osprey / falcon.
And just to finish off the animal subject, Heidi swears she saw a civet cat lurking across the field one night. We are pretty sure we had one living in the roof and/or between the floors of our house in Jakarta -- maybe it followed us here to Germany.
Grant and I took a walk one afternoon in the forests near our house.
Here's a sign by the bridge near our house. We haven't figured out what it means. If you look closely, it has a picture of a truck in the top circle, and a picture of a tank in the bottom circle. We're curious why it specifies how many tanks or the maximum weight in tanks that is allowed on the little bridge so near our house.
Through the trees, a picture of the moat and castle where our landlords, the count & countess live.
