Recent pictures of the kids

Unfortunately we have only mobile broadband and it takes ages until pictures are uploaded. Here are two just to give an update of what the kids look like these days.

Fire

It´s I.´s birthday today and the two of us have just returned from Sweden, where we spent 3 lovely days.

However, my thoughts are somewhere else. When I went to the supermarket today I saw lots of flowers on the stairs to the hairdresser close to my house. For some reason I did not reflect much on it until I saw the headline in the regional newspaper: 4 kids killed in a blaze.

I bought the paper and found out that all 4 children belonged to the same family and that I "knew" them. Their mom owns the barbers shop that I mentioned above. I pass it nearly every day and the kids were often with her at work after school.

I just cannot grasp the whole tragedy and feel so much pain for the mom. It must be hell on earth for her! Everything she loved and treasured is gone.

Splash landings

Despite the fact that I am not at all ready for beach 2011 we decided to put our swimming costumes on and go to cariba creek, a fairly big waterpark nearby. It is themed around a fictious Carribbean village and offers quite a variety of things to do. There are different slides, a lazy river, bubble pool, a nice childrens area and a big tower that is stuffed with different water guns, buckets and other tools that allow unlimited splashing.

What I love most about the place is its price because you pay merely a 5 pounds entrance fee during the toddler and parent sessions (btw. 11 am and 4 pm) on weekdays. The offer excludes usage of some of the attractions but if you are with your toddler you wouldn´t be able to use things like the big slides anyway.

We had been in the kids pool for about an hour or so when grandpa aka "mormor" decided he had enough splashing and that it was time to test the slides. Of course, S., nowadays his little shadow, wanted to come along. I was a bit worried that it would be to scary for her but that proofed to be totally unsubstantiated. She just couldn´t get enough. I got to do two rides with her as well and it really was fun. A bit like bob sledging (you get to sit in an inflatable ring that takes you through a very curvy tunnel) but warmer.

After about 2.5 hours we decided to grab a bite. That was when grandpa realized that he had lost his wristband for the locker. Bugger. We went to the reception and they called a guy that helped us to open it so that we could move all his belongings to a new one. Once that problem was solved we went off to the little "beach bar". S. was so excited that she started running to the place. BIIIG MISTAKE. She slipped right before the entrance and started crying like crazy. I tried to calm her down, telling her that she was ok but when I looked down her leg it was all bloody and looked like someone had worked it with sand paper.
We went to one of the life guards and asked for plasters but she sent us to the emergency room and said that one of her collegues would help us. It was a bit embarrassing when I realized it was the same guy that had already helped us open the locker... ;)

S. got 5 plasters of various sizes that she is now carrying like a trophy.
Once they were in place we started a second (this time successful) attempt to go to the bar to buy some food. We sat down under a big parasol and it almost felt a bit like being at a real beach. S. ate a big hot dog and everything was fine again.

I had ordered a cheese sandwich and started laughing when it arrived. It was one of those plain white breads cut into triangles but had, tatarrraattaaaa, GRATED cheese on it. Wow! Wasn´t that special?! Someone must have been really creative. Let´s see how we can make those boring, boring, boring cheese sandwiches more exciting. Mhhh, put a cucumber on it? Mhh, no, think harder... Mhhh, put some chutney on it? No, doesn´t feel right either. Mint sauce??? Maybe; but nope. Ohhh, yeah, now I got it. We grate the cheese instead of using slices. That is innovative AND the sandwich will look very pretty in its plastic cover.

Nice idea but I recommend: don´t try it at home! Even though it may in fact look a bit fancier than sliced cheese, it is not very "user friendly". At least I was not capable of eating it in a civilized manner but rather spread the pieces all over the place. One piece for me, one on the floor, one on my leg, one piece for me, one on my foot... - oh well you get it. My place looked like I was the baby in our midst and I was still hungry once it was gone.

The funny thing is that this was not the first time I stumbled upon the desire in this country, to make traditional food posher by making it smaller. The other time was in York and we had found a dish on the breakfast menu which we didn´t recognize. I think it was something with "knights". We asked what it was and the lady told us that it was toast that was prepared in "a special way". We got curious and ordered it. When the plate arrived M. and I couldn´t stop laughing. It was a slice of plain toast cut in four rectangles. No more no less. Seems like there is a trend to minimalism in the English kitchen. ;)

All right, that is it from me for today as I need to continue reading my book. I am finally catching up with the rest of the world reading Eat, pray, love. Thus far, I am not sure what everybody is going on about but maybe I need to read a bit more to understand the hysteria.

Mormor = grandma = grandpa

S. got to stay at a friends house after "school" and I. and me drove to Manchester to pick up grandpa. It´s been a really nice drive, especially since we had beautiful weather. Sunny and 6°C. The large fields and meadows in the peak district have already started to change from a boring brown to a colorful and fresh green and it was the first day that one could definitely feel that spring is just around the corner.
Grandpa couldn´t believe his eyes after coming here from Sweden, which is still covered with piles of snow.

On the way home our sat nav suggested a right turn at a spot where neither one of us could see a street. It´s been a bit like in Harry Potter, where he is asked to go to platform 9 3/4. However, I didn´t even give it a try to find a hidden street but kept going and after a couple minutes we were recommended a new route which led us to the middle of nowhere. I love this about the peak district. You are on a big road, you make a turn and suddenly you end up in really narrow streets that are hardly wide enough for two cars to pass each other and it feels like you left civilization because there are only fields and meadows. We drove through nowhere for about 15 min until we got back to the main road and finally also back to Ashbourne.

I picked up S. who already awaited me in a princess costume and with a ward. I was pleased to hear that she had a marvelous time with her friend, which they spent mostly naked and with no fights at all. Well done! My friend also told me that they had sausages for lunch and it is actually quite funny to know why. Get this: My friend had asked S. what she wanted to eat and S. said something that sounded like "porkus". Since my friend doesn´t speak either German or Swedish she decided that the word she heard had pork in it so she bought sausages!!! It really made me laugh especially since I think S. was not at all talking about food but trying to turn my friend into a frog by saying HOKUSPOKUS.

Horror mom

OMG, I just scared the shit out of my 3 year old and realized it only when she started crying. She had just taken a bath I was trying to get her dry using her rabbit towel. She, however, kept running away from me. I therefore started to pretend that I was the giant knight Igor and that I. was Zwigor the dwarf and that we both lived far, far away behind the woods. My sole intention was to make the whole drying and putting lotion on procedure more fun. I continued the story saying that we had only come to town to help poor S. mommy because she couldn´t catch her little rabbit to get it ready for bed. I did nothing but speak with a deep voice using some foreign accent and at first S. was laughing so I just kept telling my story but all of the sudden she started crying and said she wanted her mommy back. Once I had "returned" she told me that I had to promise that Igor would not come back. The poor kid. Hopefully she is not going to have nightmares about me tonight. IIIGGGooooorrrrr.

All right, that is it from me for today. I am off. Need to make some phone calls with Hollywood... ;)

Uttoxeter Fun centre

After S. got home from "school" we went to Utoxetters fun centre which is really worth its name. We had a blast.

The lady at the reception was a bit grumpy but everything else was brilliant. They have a little play area for under 3s and a three storey climbing area for bigger kids. Both my girls loved it. I. got all excited about a little ladder that she could climb up (similar to the ones leading to chicken houses) leading to two tiny slides on the other side. She went up and down all by herself and giggled every time she went down the slide. It was so cute.

S. had loads of fun in the big kids area which she tested together with her friend C.. She already asked me this morning if we can go back today. C.´s mom and I took turns in watching I. and got to test the big kids area as well. I am sure we had just as much fun as the girls. It´s good to re-discover the child in you every here and then.

We stayed for nearly 3 hours and time just flew by. I am sure we will be back soon.

I also finished my book "Veronica decides to die" by Paulo Coehlo. It was wonderful and I highly recommend it. Definitely one of the better books I read and real food for thought.

The story is about a girl that is fed up with her life which is based on routines. She attempts suicide but fails and instead wakes up in Villette, a lunatic asylum. Here she is told that, having damaged her heart irreparably, she has just a few days to live.
Living each day that is left to her to the full and talking to her inmates (all very interesting characters), Veronica realizes that she no longer wants to die. She discovers there are a lot of good things worth living for but which she had forgotten about as she´d been concentrating on the bad. The book beautifully describes the way she leaves her comfort zone of love, sex and social propriety and makes you re-think your own values and ideas about life.

Give it a go if you haven´t read it yet.

Christmas in Michelstadt

I am back!!!

Have been neglecting this blog a bit but now I am back after some people told me they are actually reading it. :)

We are back in England after spending the Christmas holidays in snowy Germany. It´s been nice to meet up with friends and family and also to have babysitters which made it possible for M. and me to go out without the kids and party a bit. It´s been the first time since I. was born which most of you know was quite a while ago by now. Luckily, partying is like biking, you don´t forget how to do it. ;)

While in Germany, we had some more first time moments such as S. trying to ski (she did very well), I. going downhill on a sledge and touching snow, S. going to the movies (which she loved. We watched Rapunzel!) and of course I. first Christmas (unfortunately she slept of exhaustion before we opened presents). All in all, it´s been a really lovely holiday.

Now, back in England, we are realizing that our time is limited and we are trying to make the most of it. We made a list with our top things to do and hopefully we get through with it before it is time to go back. Unfortunately, we all came down with a stomach bug last weekend so we didn´t really do much.

Yesterday, however, we took a trip into the Peak district and went to the Chestnut Centre , which is a wildlife park specializing on Otters and owls. It´s in a quite scenic location and makes a nice walk during which one passes different types otters and owls, a fox, a wildcat and some other small animals and deers. The kids really liked it and so did we even though we found it a bit pricey for what you actually get.

On the way home we stopped by a little village called Eyam, which became famous because their inhabitants went into voluntary quarantine when the plague was imported from London in 1665. I think it is one of the cutest little English villages I have been to so far. It is comprised of many fine old houses and parts of the village looked like they haven´t changed much for centuries. I definitely want to go back and walk a around a bit. Yesterday we didn´t have time for it since S. started to have stomach pains again and we needed to rush home.
She is still sick today, resulting in us staying home again and just relaxing.