Croatian Coast

Phil had business meetings and a congress at Opitija, on the Adriatic coast of Croatia. As it was 'half term break' for the boys, we decided to join him. 

After an uneventful hour flight to Munich, and an hour flight to Zagreb, we were collected by one of Phil's work colleagues for the 2 hour drive to the coast. She had been shopping at had bought us some bottles of water, lemonade and snacks for the trip.

It was a long trip, and Alexander got a bit car sick.  This is not something new, however the work colleagues driving was a bit jerky and this doesn't help.  Luckily with Alexander, you get a bit of notice that he is about to throw up.  He tells us that he doesn't feel well,  lets out a full bodied yell, gives you about 10 seconds, then delivers.  Having no chance to stop on the freeway, I upended the plastic bag of food and drinks and he vomitted in that. Thank goodness there were no holes in that bag. However, I was also left holding the bag of sick for about 45 minutes, until we could pull off the freeway! I didn't want to tie a knot in it, in case he needed to use it again. So, I just had to hold it tightly, so the smell would stay in the bag. The things you do for your children! The hotel was lovely, and we had 2 rooms with adjoining doors. Great coastline, we had a lot of overcast days, but it was still very warm, but no chance to get sunburnt. Our hotel is the pink one on the coastline with the grey concrete arched pillars, which was the terrace area.

We did a lot of walking around the coast line of Opatija. The paths were really great, and found some great playgrounds, cafes and rock pools.

Berlin storms

The past 2 days have been great, warm days and very pleasant. Around 5pm, the dark grey clouds loomed over and bang, thunder, lightening and hail for 1/2 hour, then it vanished. 

In an hour, all the paths had dried up, and you wouldn't even known it had happened. 

The rhododendrons copped a beating though, and there isn't much left of them!

Mahjong

Today some of the Mum's from school met at Chantal's for a "learn Mahjong" morning!

Until today, I had no idea what Mahjong was.

Chantal was terrific at explaining the tiles, the rules and how to play, and after 2 games, 4 of us were able to play a basic game by ourselves!

I really enjoyed myself, and I would like to do this regularly.  

photo borrowed from http://www.dajamahjong.nl (because I forgot my camera!)

Birthdays, bikes & sunny spring days

Today I took the boys out on our bikes.- Whilst the weather is so fantastic, we are sure going to make the most of it! 

Cameron was invited to a birthday party in Dahlemdorf,  a small farm in the old American quarter of Berlin. So Alexander, Cameron and I set off this morning and rode down there, through the forests and along the bike paths. I slightly underestimated how far it actually was, and Cameron got to his party a little late! 

I locked Cameron's bike up at the farm, and Alexander and I rode back to Alan and Sonia's. Alexander played some Playstation (without having to compete with Cameron for a turn!) whilst Alan and I sat on his terrace in the sunshine and had a chat and a few cups of coffee. Alexander and I then headed down the road to MacDonalds for his lunch, then we rode back to collect Cameron. 

From there we rode back through the forests towards home. Berliners love the forests, the sunshine and their dogs. However, they take their dogs into the forests to enjoy the sunshine but don't control their dogs! Today Alexander had 2 crashes because people did not have their dogs under control. In the biggest crash, a lady stirred up her two dogs so they were wrestling, and then decided that she didn't want them wrestling right on top of her - so she pushed them out onto the path that we were riding on - right in front of Alexander on his bike! He had no chance of avoiding them, and crashed into the very big dogs and fell off.  

The owner 'sensed' my displeasure (probably would not need to be a psychic) and grabbed her dogs and raced off. She didn't even check if Alexander was OK! We had many 'close shaves' as well. Few dogs were on leashes. There were literally hundreds of dogs racing about, sniff each other's butts and crapping everywhere.  It was going to be difficult, even on the wide forest roads made for bikes and walking! Alexander was OK, just a few scrapes. He picked himself up and we continued our journey home. 

The boys are great on their bikes, and covering 15-20 kms is really no problem for them now. Whilst the weather is so nice, we will take every opportunity that we can!

Year 2 Zoo trip

Helping out with class excursions can be fun. I had a great group, and I didn't lose one child! 

We saw Knut again, and he has really grown in 2 weeks. He loves playing in the dirt with his keepers, and boy he was really dirty today, and in need of a bath! 

We had good viewing points of Knut as we were able to go in the special kids area! (and the crowds were not as large as the previous time) 

After lunch and to burn off some energy in the playground, it was off to the petting area. There were lots of baby goats, and they are so cute! Cameron has a really soft spot for kids!