Back to the Grind

 So, we've been back from vacation for about a week now . . . tomorrow is Lilia's first day of fourth grade and Johanna starts first grade on Wednesday.  Thorsten's away at a conference so I haven't had much time to do anything other than keep the family boat afloat.  But while the kids are watching a little bit of "Harry Potter Part 1" (in English, to improve their vocabulary :) I can hopefully upload a few pics from our trip.

The first day we drove from Biberach to the Mosel River where we took a cruise.  I spent about a third of it in the bathroom with Julian (his diaper leaked twice).

We spent the night in the region of Gremany known as the Eifel, which is a "resting" volcanic area.  The next morning we visited a silty lake known as Maria Laach.  Surprise, surprise, the Benedictines had a monestary there.

Lilia and Johanna wasted no time getting in the water even though we hadn't brought bathing suits.

We also visited a volcano museum.  Here's Johanna inside a model.

Towards evening we visited Burg Eltz.  I can never understand why Neuschwanstein is so popular when there are other castles (such as this one) that were real fortresses actually in use since the middle ages.

We spent most of the following day getting up to Ostfriesland where Thorsten's family is. The next day we visited Dangast, a former artists' colony on the coast, and then we visited Thorsten's sister Julia and brother in law Jens.  They have a gorgeously renovated house on the canal in Oldenburg that could have come right out of an architectural digest.  The kids went kayaking on the canal and then jumped through the fountain in Jens and Julia's yard.

We finished the visit with an ice cream (a recurrent theme in our travels).

Next stop:  The friesian island of Wangerooge.  This picture has nothing to do with that--I just though it was cute.

Me with the kiddos

We had fantastic weather on the island, and we enjoyed more ice cream . . .

 . . . spectacular sunsets . . .

Dear Johanna has had a very hard time giving up her place as the baby of the family, and sometimes tries to squeeze her way back into the role . . .

Thorsten took the kids on a bike tour to the west end of the island

Johanna on the west end concrete reinforcements

Dinner

In the Strandkorb (beach basket)

Another gorgeous sunset

I took a bike tour with the girls to the east end of the island.  Here we are on the dike

Johanna in the shade

Thorsten bought a kite (two-hand model) for the girls (and himself).  Lilia mastered it in no time

Johanna had a little trouble with it but she tried hard

The girls made up lots of games on the beach

Johanna balancing on the Strandpromenade

Julian with his toys

Johanna in the trampoline in the island playhouse

Killing time before the ferry back to the mainland

Lilia on the climbing wall

Johanna eating one last ice cream

We didn't drive all the way home in one day . . . we spent the night in the Pfalz, where we had an excellent dinner and a charming hotel.  Unfortunately, there was also a wedding going on, and a wedding singer who sang from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. without a break, every song in the same key and at the same tempo.  He opened his set with "Runaway train" ("runaway train never going back, one way on a one-way track")--interesting choice for a wedding, huh?--and I thought to myself, at some point he'll sing "Take me home country roads", which he did at 1 a.m.  Anyway, the same evening Julian figured out how to do the inchworm (scoot the butt up, slide down on the arms), so between that and the rolling, he definitely has to be contained these days . . . 

And now I have to get the kids to bed!  Hope the school year starts off well!