First day of school for the big kids

Summer flew by and we now have a third grader and a first grader!  Gus and Cormac were both pretty excited about starting school (we are talking 4 a.m. excited).  Last Friday we went to the "Meet Your Teacher" at the school.  Cormac's teacher is the former Math Lab teacher and he is very excited.  Gus' teacher wasn't there because she was settling her daughter in at college stateside, but we have heard good things about her.  They both have some friends from last year in their classes too.

These pictures don't even do justice to how much these two have grown.

 Maggie and Cadel start next week.  Here's to a great new school year!

Bamberg

We spent last weekend in Bamberg.  Our dear friends, Thomas and Ulli, invited us to use their daughter's apartment for the weekend (she was away on vacation).  Her apartment is right next to the one we used to live in.  It was so nice to be in the city center with all of the hustle and bustle.  We ate pizza at Thomas and Ulli's pizzeria.  We had breakfast at a favorite cafe.  The kids played for hours at the playground in the Hain.  We walked up to one of the beer kellers that has a big playground and the kids played for hours again.  It was a great trip.

Cormac, Cadel and Maggie picked out rubber ducks at one of the gift shops.  Cormac and Cadel wanted to take pictures with theirs in different places.  Cormac put his on the map of Bamberg.

Cadel wanted his next to flowers.

Cadel also picked out a postcard of one of the cranes by the river.

He decided it was so awesome that we had to go back a couple of times just so he could climb on the real thing.

On the walk back from the keller we took the boat across the river.  It's on a pulley system, but the kids didn't know this. The man driving the boat let the boys "steer" us across the river.  They thought it was awesome.

This is how she goes to sleep

When I went to check on all the kids last night this is how I found Maggie, lights on and all.

Wiesbaden

We went to Wiesbaden last weekend.  It is just west of Frankfurt (it's where Pat was born).  Pat signed up for the Wiesbaden Ironman 70.3.  It was a quick trip; we left late Friday and came home early Monday.

We were lucky to have some nice sunny weather for the weekend.

The finish line, expo and athlete garden were all located at the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden.  The pre-race meeting was inside and here is a glimpse of how pretty it is.

 

While Pat was racing on Sunday the kids and I were hanging out in the city.  We stopped for ice cream before lunch because why not?

We saw Pat leave transition 2 (finish bike and start run).

There was a park right by T2 so the kids played there for a long time.

Then when we went over to cheer Pat on during the run and watch him finish.

Here comes Pat on one of his third loop on the run.

Finish!

We stopped at the Rheingau Wine fest after Pat finished for a glass of wine and some poffertjes (small Dutch pancakes) for the kids.

Maggie's new 'do

The kids and I made homemade goo/slime/flubber this week (that comes with plenty of it's own tales).  We put it in Ziplocs so they could play with it whenever they wanted.  Maggie and the boys got their goo out to play with one day and I walked in to this.  She told me she wanted pink hair so she put her goo in it.  It's only made of Elmer's glue, Borax and water so it wasn't stuck forever, but it was definitely stuck until we washed it.  She was very proud of herself.

Speaking of new 'dos--Cormac decided one day this week to "style" his and Cadel's hair with real hair goo (Pat's leftover pomade).  They thought they were pretty cool.

Toothless

Cormac is now without his two front teeth.  He lost the first one while we were in Bibione.  He lost the other one this week.  That brings his total of lost teeth to four.  I think he looks really cute without his two front teeth.

In their words

Cormac (while rolling down the car window):    Eat wind Gus.

Maggie:  When do they turn on the waves? (This was at the beach in Bibione, not at the wave pool at our local pool.)

Maggie:  You can't open the door, Mom.  Only princesses can open the door and you are not a princess.

Maggie:  I'm a girl so that means I'm a fingernail. (She meant female but I liked that one)

Cormac:  Too bad you guys aren't Cormacs because I have lots of plans.

Maggie:  There are too many Germans at my German school.

Wildpark Hoellohe

Our summer weather has been pretty non-existent this year (I know many of you are sweating it out, and boy, we wish we were) so we can't just be pool bums.  Last week I took the kids to Wildpark Hoellohe in Teublitz, about 30 minutes east.  It is a little nature park with some of the local wildlife to view and a very big playground.  We spent some time wandering around looking at the animals and then the kids played on the park.

Cormac's favorite animal this week is the turtle so he was excited that there were some turtles.

Maggie brought her camera along to take some pictures Cormac also brought his camera but didn't check the battery until we got there and it was dead, poor guy.

Annafest

A week ago we took the train to Forchheim for Annafest.  Forchheim is about 15 minutes north of Nuernberg.  Annafest is fest that takes place on the kellerberg (cellar mountain) in Forchheim.  There are 20 breweries that have beer cellars there and every summer they have a fest right there at the cellars.

The area is called the Kellerwald or cellar forest.

The kids thought it was cool that it was right there on a "mountain" with hiking and walking trails.

And, of course, they had to do fest games.

Then we all took a ride on the Ferris wheel.