June in the garden

There were a few things that made us fall in love with this house when we came to see it last year, but at the top of that list was the yard and established garden space.I spent the Winter actually dreaming of digging in the dirt, measuring flower beds, and drawing diagrams.  Rob thought I was a bit crazy, but I loved every minute of it. As soon as seeds went on sale locally I stocked up for the year and began my seedlings indoors.  Now, in June, there are finally some pretty pictures to share and we are enjoying harvesting the fruits (and veggies) of our labors.

 

Apples on the apple tree are about the size of ping pong balls right now and just beginning to turn rosy.

 

Keeping up with the weeding in the flower beds takes hours each week, but I love having fresh bouquets in the house all of the time.

 

This veggie bed has onions, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and in the way back (beyond the rose trellis) kohlrabi, a second round of carrots, green and yellow beans, and snap peas.  Everything is doing well but the beans.  I planted 60 bean plants and only 5 came up!  I think the birds ate the rest.

 

A peek at the greens- chard, kale, and leaf lettuce.  

The spinach is already gone.  We only enjoyed a little bit of spinach this Spring before it bolted in the heat.  I'll plant it again in the Fall. We also just finished off the lettuce, before it goes to seed as well.

 

Zucchini plants are just beginning to flower, and the raspberry bushes are all along the fence in this corner of the yard.

 

The blackberries are here (in front of our backyard neighbor's ENORMOUS shrubbery,) but have not turned black yet.

 

Growing potatoes and composting are among the new things I am trying for the first time. Along with currants, rhubarb, pumpkins, and a few of the other plants pictured.  Also, not pictured, we have peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalepenos, eggplant, celery, and a few herbs currently growing.

 

This day's harvest: lettuce, rhubarb (made rhubarb walnut muffins,) raspberries and peas.

 

We are also growing kids in this garden!

In addition to bouncing on the trampoline and digging in the sandbox, they help to pull weeds, water the plants, and learn about nature and food in the process.  I love having a garden!

Ich liebe Legoland

The day after school was out, we loaded up ye olde minivan and drove to Legoland in Germany for a weekend getaway!

 

 I think the boys could have spent a day just looking at the huge Lego displays of cities all around Europe.

 

Charlotte and Rob liked seeing the funny things all of the little Lego people were doing in this huge soccer stadium. 

 

 

But there were a lot of rides to go on, so we had to hurry along to ride them!  On Friday, we didn't wait in line for more than 5 minutes for any ride in the park. The lines were a bit longer on Saturday, but still I think the most we waited for anything was 20 minutes.

 

From the top of the one ride, Rob snapped this photo of the Legoland Resort.  We stayed in a castle themed cottage here for the night.

 

Jake was big enough to go on many rides with an adult. Even the smallest roller coaster.

 

Amelie's choices were a bit more limited, but she had a lot of fun and rode the rides that she could several times with Mom or Dad.  She liked driving Daddy around the Jungle Safari.

 

Four happy kids in front of the world's largest Lego brick.  

(Made of over a million Legos.)

 

This ride was semi-people powered. Toby and Charlotte had to pull the rope to make it ascend, then at the top you could let it gently fall back to the ground.

 

Rob took Jake up, and we discovered that Jake really does not like heights.  He insisted on doing every ride he was big enough for though, so he toughed it out. 

 

Ami and her Lego piggy friend.

 

While the big kids went on the log flume, and every roller coaster in the park (twice, once with me and once with Rob,) Amelie enjoyed the canoe expedition... like 4 times.

 

Jake earned his Junior Driver's License, and we had a long chat about how that was only valid for Legoland cars.

 

And Rob, Charlotte, and Toby rode the Ninjago ride.  

This was one of the favorite rides all weekend.

 

Charlotte and Toby have turned out to be fearless amusement park ride riders.  I am shocked! And I love it.  I hadn't been on a roller coaster in years (too busy being pregnant and having babies,) so it was awesome to realize that all of a sudden there are rides that we can enjoy together.  

We had a super fun and tiring weekend! The kids want to know when we are going back, but that will have to wait for another year. Everything is awesome at Legoland, but there are other places on our list to see yet.

end of school round-up

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of end of the year activities.

 

Toby's Kindergarten concert was called "Oh My Deer!" It was a mini-musical production and was really, really cute. Toby had a narrator part as well as singing in the chorus.  He wanted to wear his Sunday best, and he looked SO cute.

 

Charlotte's second grade Spring concert was on the theme of "Every Day is Earth Day." I hate to say it, but it was kinda lame.  Charlotte was pretty disappointed after watching Toby's play and told me that his was way better. At both concerts I was pretty appalled by parental behavior. The audiences were noisy and glued to screens. I was seriously surprised.

 

Our awesome Music teacher went above and beyond to produce musical performances for all grades K-5. We are glad to call her our friend.

 

I posted it on facebook, but we also bought a trampoline from some friends who were moving away and the kids have enjoyed bouncing on it nearly every day since it has been put together. So fun to see them playing outside in the yard all the time.

 

Sadly, even though we aren't moving this Summer, sometimes new best friends are. The end of school year has always been a bittersweet time for Charlotte.

 

At the end of May we picked Rob up at the airport after 45 days away!  He had the cutest welcome crew at the gate. We are so glad to have him home again.

 

I looked out the kitchen window one afternoon to see this.  Jake has picked up a new hobby, and I have one less chore on my list.

 

Pigtails!!!

 

The weekend after Rob came home we spent a day at the Vivarium. This little zoo in Darmstadt was one of our favorite spots last time we lived in Germany.  It is not as convenient now, but I still love it.  In fact, they have improved it since we were there 3-4 years ago. There is now a butterfly building! My favorite spot.  Amelie's favorite was getting VERY close to this giant tortoise.  She would have ridden him if we'd let her.

 

The last few days of school were taken up with field days.  The tug of war is a classic.

 

Toby liked the PT style relay with jumping jacks, lunges, sit-ups, push-ups, and a sprint.

 

Jake, Amelie, and I went along to watch and cheer him on.

 

Charlotte's field day was the next day, and we went back to watch some more.  This chicken relay was hilarious. She is holding a ball between her legs while jumping and flapping her arms holding feathers. Charlotte was surprisingly good at this and didn't drop the ball, but most kids looked like they were laying eggs every other bounce.

 

Amelie wants to do push-ups too.

 

We snuck Jakey in with the second graders to play with the parachute. 

All in all, this Spring was BUSY and fun. I am glad that school is out and that we have no activities planned this Summer... but that doesn't mean we don't have any adventures planned.  Stay tuned.

Spring sports

 

This Spring Jakey is playing in the Bambino soccer league.  They only have six once a week practices and no games.  They have been learning basic skills and he gets to score lots of goals so he thinks it is great.

 

Toby couldn't wait to play t-ball again.  This year he is one of the older, more experienced kids on his team of five and six year olds. They are the Detroit Tigers.

 

His coach has been wonderful and a few weeks ago told Toby that he needed him to be an assistant coach and help the littler ones with their swings.  I love seeing him feel so proud and accomplished.

 

Jakey has shown up to every practice with his glove and warmed up with the team.  A week before their first game, the coach gave Jake a uniform and told him that he made the team!  I thought he was going to fly away, he was so excited! So, despite being only three years old, Jake is also a Detroit Tiger this Spring.  The coach told him, "if anyone asks, say you are five." He is doing really well and is not even the smallest guy on the team.  The main issue so far is reminding the person helping the batters that he is a leftie, so that he gets set up on the left side of the tee.

 

I didn't think we would be here so soon! 

But I love it.

Sandy's visit

For the past two weeks, my high school friend Sandy has been staying with us. Whenever anyone would ask, I would introduce her as the friend I most often skipped school with.  I'm pretty sure this is accurate, as I have fond memories of days spent driving to Philly, going to the mall, maybe bowling, etc when we were supposed to be in class.  We also had art class together our senior year, and produced very little art, but had a wonderful time anyway.

So while Sandy was here, the obvious choice of activity was a road trip!  Most days we toured around within two hours of my house so that we could be back in time to meet the school bus and take kids to soccer, piano, or t-ball.  Luckily, there is a lot to see within two hours of my house. But one weekend we took the four kiddos and drove down to the Bavarian alps and visited Neuschwanstein, Dachau concentration camp, and the medieval cuteness capitol of Rothenburg. Thanks for coming Sandy! It was great to reconnect with you a bit after all these years.  (19?!?!?!)

Here are some photos I swiped from Sandy, in no particular order.  (She took waaaaay more pictures than I did.)

 

Bavarian alps.  I could sit and look at them all day.

 

Yes, we stayed at the Edelweiss Lodge again.  Toby and Charlotte thought switching roles in this photo head shot thing was hilarious.

 

Jake flexes his muscles at Burg Rheinfels.

 

This picture cracks me up in front of the beautiful Neuschwanstein Castle.

 

Spring decorations were still up in Rothenberg. Those are REAL Easter eggs y'all, individually painted and strung up on the fountain.

 

Day trip to France.

 

Raspberry glace was one of many, many yummy treats.

 

Love my babies.