Saturday, June 16, 2018

Another one bites the dust!

Whew!!! It was kind of a roller coaster ride to the end of the school year this year, but we made it! Here's a little peek at the last month.

We finished up after school sports- t-ball and golf- despite the fact that a tie rod end broke on my van and I was without a vehicle for two and a half weeks while we waited on parts from the States.  Rob would drive Amelie and I to base at 8 am so she could go to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We would then make use of the shuttle and walking to do all of our errands and pick the kids up from school, etc.  Then Rob would come back after work at 6 pm to run us all around to the evening activities like Cub Scouts.  It was not one of my favorite things, but we got through it.

On the other days of the week, Amelie and I stayed home, which meant I finally buckled down and finished this denim quilt I started about a year ago.

Toby had a piece of artwork featured in a district wide art show which was very nicely done.  He looks sad here, but wasn't really- he had just come from golf, and was on his way to his brother's t-ball game, so he was just tired. It was a super busy night.

On the same super busy night, Jake's nose decided to explode in his first (and very traumatic) nose bleed in Rob's truck. He was okay by the time we got home, and had a relaxing bath before bed.

We also did a little local exploring on a walk around this lake Rob found on a bike ride.  Sadly, no swimming is allowed.

But we did go swimming at our town's outdoor pool complex which opened for the season!  For a few weeks we were having highs in the upper 80s, which is unseasonably warm for May here.  The pool provided a little relief.

Amelie also worked on perfecting her winking skills.  She thinks she is doing it. It made me smile a lot on those long days hanging around playgrounds on base.

The last weekend in May we went to the Schlossgrabenfest in Darmstadt. I really love this one.  We listened to some live music, and ate some yummy food.

Darmstadt isn't a real touristy town.  It's most known for some cool art nouveau architecture and as the Wissenschaftsstadt "City of Science."  And the periodic element 110 is named Darmstadtium. It is old though! The name dates from the 11th century, and I love the random ruins that run under the modern buildings.

We took a picture of Toby in front of the Technische Universitat Darmstadt.  He talks about maybe going to college here, so I want to be prepared with this photo in case he does someday. TU Darmstadt is one of the important technical institutes in Germany and is well known for its research and teaching in the Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering disciplines which is the stuff Toby is most interested in.  So we shall see.

Back to the food at the Schlossgrabenfest though.

Sitting in the park, eating pretzels, and watching frat boys play some strange drinking game.  Truly, this is Germany.

These hats were being given out by one of the sponsors and they helped keep the sun off our faces, so they were much appreciated.  And cute.

Rob got this baked potato with a million toppings.  He loved it, I didn't so much.

I got a plate of vindaloo chicken that was pretty spicy and very tasty.

We listened to about 6 performers before heading back to our car and some were better than others but none really wowed us this year. Until we saw this street busking string quartet in town. They were just playing fun stuff- like the Beatles- but they did it really well and we sat and listened to them for a while.  Our favorite performers of the day and they weren't even part of the fest!

One night I made a fruit pizza for dessert and the kids loved it so much they told me to take a picture of it.  So there ya go.

Jakey's t-ball coach this season was an MP, so for their "end of the season party" he set up a tour of the fire station on the airfield.  The firefighters seemed to enjoy it as much as the kiddos.  They took them for a ride and shot the water cannons.  Then they set up cones and let the kids knock them down with the fire hose.

Amelie enjoyed this very much!

I did get the last day of pre-k photo of Amelie!  Though she will be back again next year thanks to her September birthday.  And I didn't get a photo on the last day of the other kids because they were so emotional. They really have a hard time with having to say goodbye to friends at the end of the school year since so many of them are moving away.  It really doesn't ever get easier. 
They did recover enough though to attend an end of the year party some friends of ours from church threw. We walked down the hill from the school and the kids played with friends, ate hot dogs, chips, and cupcakes, and had water fights.  I also enjoyed sitting and chatting with some friends.
And finally, that same day, Toby's Cub Scout Pack went to visit the same firefighters on the airfield. Jake went with them because he was just loving this firetruck business.  They also went for rides in the truck, but then the firefighters had something different in mind for these bigger kids.

They took out the ladder truck and took them up!

Like really, really high up! Several stories into the air. I'm glad Rob took them and not me, because I would not have liked that very much.  So, as you can see, the end of this school year has been BUSY.  I am ready to stay home and relax a bit this Summer.  Sometimes anyway.  There are a few places I want to go.  ;)

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