Barfusspfad

This morning the Activity Days boys and girls took a trip to a barefoot park for their end of Summer celebration.These are the 8-11 year olds in our Church and they usually meet twice a month to do some fun stuff, fellowship, and also to develop faith. This sounded like a good time, so Toby and I tagged along, er, helped chaperone the group. Altogether there were about 30 kiddos and 10 adults in our group.

 

So... what is a barefoot park? This is actually a pretty popular concept in Germany. When Charlotte was in German Kindergarten they even had some old tires on the playground filled with various textures of things for the kids to walk on barefoot. That was our first exposure to this concept.  This place however, in Bad Sobernheim, is on a much larger scale. The 3.5 km walk takes you through several pools, across various rocks, mulches, gravel, clay, sand, balance beams, swinging platforms, see-saws, and even fording a river.  Their website proclaims, "Es ist Gesund!" Yup, it is healthy for your feet to "experience the earth" and this "spa-like experience" even promises to improve posture, misalignment, balance, and overall well-being.

 

Healthy feet?  This was after the very first mud pit. The Germans have funny ideas about what "spa-like" means sometimes.

 

There are so many things to walk across and balance on, I didn't even try to take pictures of them all.  And yeah, occasionally you have to stop to remove pebbles, mulch, and even a splinter or two from your feet.

 

The second pit.  One of the other adults told me this one would be warm, but she was a liar! It was so cold.  Like not normal cold, but like they must fill it with ice every morning cold.

 

Fording the river was my favorite part. At it's deepest the water was up to the top of my legs and moving pretty swiftly, so it was pretty deep for some of the littlest ones. It was chilly, but I don't think it was as cold as that other pit. We didn't lose any kids in the river.

 

We also learned that none of these kids (or adults) is going to run away to join the circus and be a tightrope walker. But it was fun to try.

 

Sometimes you need to put your feet up and relax.

 

And other times you try to shake all of the other kids off the little swinging platforms.

 

I love this picture of Charlotte crossing the suspended rope footbridge.

 

To cross the river back to the starting point, you use this human powered ferry. At this point we almost did lose a little boy in the river, but he survived without a dunking and his mom was there to manage the mischief, so no worries. The area that this place is set in is beautiful. I should have taken a few more pictures of the scenery.

 

"Da ist man vom den Socken." 

As far as I can tell, this means "Here is one from the socks."  Rob and I have debated what the heck is going on here. Does it mean here is a person with no socks? Does it mean here, in this place, one is set free from their socks? It must be idiomatic, but I don't quite get it.

 

But here is another one from the socks.

We had a really fun time at the barefoot park, and while some of the surfaces were a little rough on my tender toes, afterwards I actually felt like I'd had a really great foot massage.  We may be back again next Summer with the whole family.

The Bear is FOUR!

 

It's true. Jakey is growing up. He requested the "whole family" go bowling for his birthday and have dinner at the bowling alley.  The 6 weeks that we spent living in the Lodge on base were apparently some of the happiest of Jake's short life.  He often wants to eat at the bowling alley and hang out at the Lodge's playground, and invents excuses to go inside to get ice from the ice machine. He asks when we will get to live there again.  So off to the bowling alley we went and enjoyed a pizza and nachos and awesome bowling fun.

 

Amelie and I were a team, but she likes to sit with Dad.

 

Jake's got skillz!

Sometimes he used a ramp and sometimes he preferred to throw the ball down there as hard as he could! Either way, it was very serious business.

 

After the bowling alley we went home for cake and ice cream.  Jake requested a minion cake this year, and this was my creation. I love this picture of the boys looking like they are best buddies, even though most of the time they fight like crazy. It reminds me that they do actually love each other.

 

We just love this kid so much.  At four years old, Jake is still the most likely in our house to crack a joke (and then laugh at it,) make friends with strangers, and cuddle up with his Mommy. He counts among his best friends; all of the kids in his church Sunday school class, our 80 year old widow neighbor (who speaks no English, but always has time to visit with Jake when he calls out to her "Hey girl!"- we're working on that,) our landlord, and his Uncle Mark. 

He loves to play Legos and video games and gets frustrated when people try to exclude him for being "too little."  He usually exhibits his frustration by hitting them as hard as he can. We're working on that too. This Fall he will begin German Kindergarten and I am excited and anxious to see how he copes with the transition... and how they cope with him.  But I know wherever he goes in life, he is sure to make friends and have a fun time- because he brings the fun with him.  

We love you Jakey Bear.

 

Jake's birthday interview:

(20 questions style)

1. What is your favorite color? green

2. What is your favorite toy? Legos

3. What is your favorite fruit? watermelon

4. What is your favorite tv show? The Incredibles, maybe Super Hero Squad too

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? cheese tortillas

6. What is your favorite outfit? train underwear, light blue pants, and a soccer shirt

7. What is your favorite game? Yahtzee (he also likes Blokus and Uno)

8. What is your favorite snack? Cereal

9. What is your favorite animal? Cheetah

10. What is your favorite song? Hello, Guten Tag (we sing this to visitors and new kids at church in Primary- it is just the "Hello song" with a little Germany twist)

11. What is your favorite book? All about boats (current library book)

12. Who is your best friend? J.J.

13. What do you want to be when you grow up? Drive a digger

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? jumping on the trampoline

15. What are you really good at? riding bikes

16. What is a food that you hate? black food (burnt toast, or things blackened on the grill)

17. What do you like to do with Mom? play outside with you

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? oatmeal

19. What is your favorite dinner?  meat and noodles (Pad Thai)

20. What makes you happy? clapping your hands, petting a dog, flowers and cuddles, pulling weeds with Herr Nold, and riding in Dad's truck

mia bella caccolina

In early August, we got to host some Italian friends for a week. Mari and I were roommates at BYU about 17 years ago, and hadn't seen each other since. But thanks to the miracle of Facebook, we have been in touch the past several years, and when she expressed an interest in visiting the Frankfurt area, I invited her to come stay with us.  I am so glad they took us up on the offer, because we had so much fun visiting. And eating.

 

See, Mari and her friend Monica are Italian chefs. One night they made 10 different pizzas for all of us.  Soooooo much yummy pizza. Between our three families, we had 5 adults and 8 children in the house but it was still way too much pizza.

 

Buffalo mozzarella, fresh garden tomatoes, Mug root beer.

Another evening they made two pans of lasagne- with homemade sauce and beschamel.  And homemade tiramisu for dessert.  (They even made me a third lasagne to put in the freezer for another day!) I was exceedingly spoiled.

 

In exchange, I taught their kids how to roast a perfect s'more on a 100 degree day. I also provided plenty of Dr. Pepper, Mari's favorite drink back in the day.

 

 Only Mari spoke English from her crowd.  And only Rob spoke Italian from our crowd.  Although I really impressed Monica by sharing the Italian Mari taught me so many years ago... this blog post is titled "my beautiful little boogers." She only taught me really important things like that.

 

But the kids got along really well and had fun jumping on the trampoline, going to the playground, and playing Legos and Barbies.  Rob and Fabrizio took all of the boys to the park a couple of evenings to play baseball and they enjoyed that as well. I love this photo of Giulia "reading" a book to Amelie by describing the pictures in Italian.

We loved seeing you Mari and getting to meet your bellisima famiglia and cari amici. I hope we will get to see you again... maybe next time in Italia! 

Ireland: Belfast to Bru na Boinne and Home

Our last couple of days in Ireland, we really slowed down our pace. I think we were all pretty road weary and worn out.

 

We drove through the city of Belfast to see some of the murals there. Since the 1970s, people in Northern Ireland have taken to painting political murals to express their points of view. They are arguably some of the most famous murals in Europe.

  

Although Protestants and Catholics co-exist peacefully in Belfast these days. That has most certainly not always been the case.  And, we did not love the vibe of city.  Things felt tense and we did not spend much time there at all.

 

The Red Hand of Ulster is a symbol used by both ends of the spectrum. The pro-British prefer the proud hand on a Union Jack background, while the IRA faction prefer the defiant fist on a yellow background. This symbol has roots in another Irish legend...

The kingdom of Ulster had at one time no rightful heir. Because of this, it was agreed that a boat race should take place and that "whosoever's hand is the first to touch the shore of Ireland, so shall he be made the king". One potential king so desired the kingship that, upon seeing that he was losing the race, he cut off his hand and threw it to the shore—thus winning the kingship. The hand is most likely red to represent the fact that it would have been covered in blood. The moral of the story?  The Irish will do whatever it takes.

  

We spent the rest of the morning at the Ulster Folk Museum. This is very similar to Colonial Williamsburg, in that you walk around a town and explore homes and businesses from the early 20th century.  These are actual buildings from around Ireland that were taken apart and reassembled here for visitors to explore. There are also people in period costume working, baking, and strolling around that will tell you the stories of the homes and the people that lived in them and even share some of the bread they are baking over the smoky peat fire. 

We also enjoyed a silent Charlie Chaplin film in the theater, scones at the tea shop, and picking out some penny candy for the road in the sweets shop.  In other words, it was a great place for the kids.

  

We spent our last night in Ireland at a guesthouse on a farm in Nobber. The Corballys welcomed us at tea time with punch, more scones, muffins, and chocolate.  We enjoyed their company, and the kids really enjoyed playing ball with their dog, Lucky.

 

Mr. Corbally walked us up through the pasture to see the sheep, alpacas, and llamas there. 

 

At the top of the field is an ancient ring fort (before year 1000.)  Over 40,000 of these sites have been identified in Ireland and just look like perfectly round flat circles on hilltops. It is illegal to disturb the ground there, but Mr. Corbally explained to the kids that this is also to protect people from disturbing the fairies who live in these circles. This is the view from the ring fort.

 

The next morning we drove over to Bru na Boinne on our way to the airport.  This area (a UNESCO world heritage site, of course) is home to several chamber tombs, henges, and other prehistoric enclosures. Some from as early as the 35th century BC.  That is not a typo.  We chose to visit this Neolithic passage tomb at Newgrange, from 3200 BC. 

 

The structure is built on a base of hundreds of these massive stones quarried 20 km away and decorated with megalithic artwork.

 

It was fun to come up with different theories of what the symbols might represent... the sun, wind, waves? A map? Religious ideas of rebirth?

 

The entrance was a little tight, and the passage actually became more narrow farther in, but we all went in and observed a reenactment of the sun shining through the roof box on the winter solstice.  At this time each year, a beam of light reaches all the way back into the burial chamber where the ashes of the deceased were laid and who knows what rituals were performed.

 

 

We left Newgrange, enjoyed one more pub style lunch, and headed to the airport.  We returned our rental car and trekked to our gate.  Where our 5 pm flight was delayed. We finally arrived in Frankfurt just before 9 pm. After passport control, luggage claim, and trekking to the train station, then 9:45 pm train was delayed. When it arrived we rode it one stop, and got off to transfer to our final train only to learn that we had missed it by 3 minutes. We had to wait until 11 pm for the next train. This photo is of the kids, waiting at the train station in the dark, waaaaay past bed time. When we reached our town we still had about a mile walk home, but thankfully, Rob ran it and came back for us and the luggage with the van. We won't be taking the train to the airport again anytime soon.

Despite the challenging end to our trip, we really liked Ireland.  I am super glad that we went and that we got to see as much as we did.  We consciously chose to unplug from technology for this trip and had a great time reading, hiking, singing (Irish radio turned out to be utterly disappointing,) and playing games. We tried to balance grown-up fun with family fun, and grown-up restaurants with kid friendly ones. It was a huge undertaking, but left me feeling confident that we can actually travel overseas with four children and come out the other side feeling like doing it again.  We are looking forward to our next adventure! 

Ireland: Glenveagh Castle and the Giant's Causeway

Having explored the west coast of Ireland, we next headed to the north.

 

We made a quick stop to visit the grave of W. B. Yeats.

 

The kids were just happy to stretch their legs and get some wiggles out, but I loved reading this poem to them: 

The Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light;
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

We arrived in Donegal county at Glenveagh Castle.  Built in  the 1870s, it isn't really that old, and it is more of a mansion than a castle.  The location is super remote, and then you arrive at this beautiful lake.

 

We took a shuttle to the castle, and were given a time for a tour.

 

In the meantime, we explored the grounds and gardens.

 

Ohhhh, I just love these gardens!

 

The flowers and vegetables planted together and it was all just beautiful. The interior of the castle was very richly appointed as well and we were glad we made the trip to see it. After a good night's sleep, our next place to see was the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The entry to Northern Ireland was uneventful, with the main differences being that the roads were suddenly much, much nicer, and the currency changed from Euros to British Pounds.

 

The Giant's Causeway is another UNESCO World Heritage Site.  (We like those a lot, can you tell?) The unique hexagonal rocks were formed when the lava from a volcanic eruption cooled.  Then over time, sections of the rock were pushed up or eroded down creating this awesome place to climb around.

 

We bought two storybooks early in our trip- one with short stories about leprechauns and the other with Irish legends.  I read them to the kiddos a bit each day on our drives. The legend of the Giant's Causeway goes like this: 

The Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the 'baby', he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this. (This version is from Wikipedia.)

 

"The Pipe Organ"

 

We spent a lot of time enjoying the causeway down by the ocean and then hiked up the nearby hill to take in the view from above.

 

It was a long walk, but the kids enjoyed this place a lot.

 

SO cool!

 

I took a lot of pictures of rocks, y'all.

 

Just a few more... I promise.

 

The kids really loved hopping from stone to stone.

 

And so did the Daddy-o.

 

We really like taking family photos on the edge of cliffs.

 

After some lunch and shopping at the visitor's center (Irish stew, scones, yumminess,) we drove to the Glens of Antrim.

 

 We got out and walked around a bit, but it was buggy and we were tired, so we decided to call it a day and head back to our lodgings.

 

This is where we stayed in Northern Ireland.  It is a hostel called the Slemish Barn in Ballymena. We had a private family room with bathroom and the shared spaces were very comfy. The second evening we were here, the local fiddlers association was being recorded in the living room by the BBC for a program about Irish music and stories.  We weren't able to be in where they were recording, but it was a neat opportunity to sit in the lobby with the kids, in their jammies, and listen to some great music.