Summerfest 2007

While Phil lay on the couch with ice packs and Panadol, the kids and I rode our bikes to school for our big fundraiser for the year. 

"Summerfest" should have been called "Rainyfest" this year, Alexander tells me. 

It wasn't Summer weather at all. We had a few brief bursts of rain, but they dried up really quickly. The kids had lots of tickets to "spend", and I caught up with lots of mums and dads. 

Hopefully we raised lots of money for the school. The committee did a great job of organising the event, and there were lots of new things for the kids to do this year. We didn't win any prizes for the raffle or Summer baskets this year. No photos, I forgot the camera!

Peter Pan Production

Alexander was involved in the Pater Pan production performed by& 6. The main parts were played by Years 5 & 6 students. The Year 4's were pirates, and the Year 3's were Lost Boys. Some of the Year 3's (Alexander included) were put out because there were no speaking parts for them this year (last year they were brilliant in Hansel and Gretel see March 2006). Alexander and Verena being Lost Boys. The Lost Boys Dancing Captain Hook and his Crew, The scary crocodile. The Lost Boys did a great dance to Scissor Sister's "I feel like Dancing". They all looked so happy to be up there dancing ,and really enjoyed themselves! Peter Pan, Hook, Wendy did a brilliant job with so many lines! Our New Zealand friend Laura was Wendy, and she was terrific. All photos taken by Olga and Steve (a big thanks for some great photos)

A Belated Birthday Party

Alexander's birthday in March. He wanted to take his friends to the movies. Unfortunately at the time there was nothing at the cinema that was appropriate. Easter Holidays arrived and a couple of movies came out, but we were in Scotland. 

 

I had read somewhere that Shrek 3 was coming out and Alexander really wanted to take his friends to see it, and he was happy to wait. So 3 months later, Shrek 3 came out at the cinema, and we took 9 kids on Saturday afternoon. 

I am sure all would have run smoothly if we had have read the newspapers, listen to German radio, watched German TV, and we didn't know that the Gay and Lesbian Love Parade was happening at the same time, and the parade went along the main road next to the cinema. 

Traffic was diverted, and parents in cars struggled to get to the cinema in time. Nicola and Emily got stuck in a diversion, and then had a car accident, where the ambulance staff put Nicola in a neck brace and sent them off to the hospital to be certain she was Ok. Thankfully they were both fine, just very shaken! If I had have known the traffic was going to be chaotic, I would have suggested that the kids get dropped off at our place and we take all the kids on the U Bahn. 

The kids enjoyed the movie, lots of laughing and then we took them for ice cream afterwards.  Note to self: take group photos of children before eating ice cream, which seems to make them go a bit silly! 

While they were eating their ice cream, the kids got to see lots of interesting people in interesting clothing, or lack of clothing!  Kids do not know how to be discreet, and spent lots of time pointing at different people and asking questions "Why is that man wearing a dress?" "I know that is a man in that dress, he has an Adam's apple" "Look, those men are only in their underpants" 

I had to explain the day to the parents for the possible questions they might have to answer later on that evening! We took Isaiah home with us, Gemma collected him later. On the U Bahn we shared a carriage with some men dressed in robes, with faces painted in a Star Wars way. Isaiah and Alexander were staring at them and talking.  

One of the guys noticed the kids staring and talking to each other and asked "Do you want to talk to us?". Isaiah replies "No, you look freaky"  Thankfully,  the guy had a good sense of humour and had a good laugh! 

 Alexander had a great time, and that's the main thing. We came home, and I had a nap!

Phil - London, Moscow, Gent

A solid week of travel.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I was in London for an industry conference where I was giving a presentation on projects and results from last year. The best part about this was catching up with a friend from a recent course that I went on, and having a great chat over pizzas and wine. 

Wednesday afternoon I flew to Moscow, where I had organised a conference for 450 specialists. This was hard yakka.  I think I have learned my lesson, and won't organise anything in Russia for a while! Visa problems, customs problems, safety & security, and Moscow traffic. We managed it, and everyone seemed happy! 

Home on Sunday night, then out on Monday morning to Gent, in Belgium, to lecture at the Business school. This was my first visit to the city, and they have kept all the historic facades and it is a very beautiful place! The town centre is not very big and can be walked in less than a couple of hours. 

Finally back home and no travel for the next few weeks (as Alexander says, "Yippee!")

Solar System Assembly

Alexander's class did the assembly performance this week. Miss Lauritzen did a great job with the script, the kids found out lots of good information about the different planets. There were aliens following the kids as they floated from planet to planet, and Yoda and Darth Vadar made an appearance! This class has some really great performers in it. Those who are doing the Peter Pan Play next week, are miffed that they are Lost Boys, and none of them have any lines. The Year 5 and 6 kids have the main parts.

Museum für Kommunikation.

A great interactive museum for kids to find out different ways of communication.

It shows all sorts of different ways people have communicated with each other, from smoke signals, to mail post, to the internet, and everything in between. There are lots of interactive activities for the kids to press buttons, and touch all sorts of equipment. 

Cameron spent the afternoon at Bradley's house, so we took Alexander here. We had to show Alexander how to use this telephone, he had no idea how you would use it. Am I getting old? Alexander using the controls for a crane. This robot was programmed to find the ball and roll towards the ball. Alexander spent ages rolling the ball around and watching the robot search for it and chase it. When the robot found the ball, it would let out "baby" like squeals of delight. It was very cute to watch! There was a great installation of a postal stage coach, that had been totally taken apart, and hung from the ceiling to show how it all comes together, far too hard to explain, and the photo I took doesn't do it justice.

Phil - Croatia to New York

With Nicole and the kids dispatched back to Berlin after a fantastic week in Croatia, I set off on my journey to New York. 

It ended up being an awful experience. The plane from Zagreb was 1.5hrs late (no problem, happens all the time and is part of travelling) We made Frankfurt, and the ground crew for Lufthansa rang the gate, confirmed my name, and said "yes, you can just make it but you will need to run." 

I made it to the gate and was met by the Lufthansa check-in guy who told me that they had just given my seat to a wait list passenger (!!!??!!) Why tell me to run, when you know I am coming, to then give my seat away! The plane was still at the skybridge, so I hadn't even missed the flight. I was sent to the ticketing counter. 

It was so much trouble for them that I wouldn't accept an overnight stay in Frankfurt and fly the next day (I would miss a key meeting) and need a rerouting. Well, it seemed that way. Eventually I was booked to London, and to NY from there. 

To make the London flight, I was told I would again have to run to the gate (only to get there and wait 20 minutes for flight to board). When I got onto the Lufthansa flight to London, there was a feedback form, which I enjoyed filling out! 

I got to London and had to run again to Terminal 3, where I was told I was too late for the flight. After appropriately expressing my feelings, the guy rang the gate and found out that there was enough time, but I would have to run!! 

With the extra security checks, I finally made it onto the plane. Business travel, there is nothing like it!

After some days of meetings, I had a chance to look around New York by myself.  Part of the social program of the meeting included a guided "Sex in the City" tourOn top of the Empire State Building.

After not knowing what to expect, I really like a lot of stuff about NY. Central park is great. The city is enormous but walkable. Taxis are everywhere. The subway is great. Times Square is completely OTT (especially at night)! What a waste of advertising space - how can you compete with the other billion watts of lighting and advertising there?? The Statten Island Ferry at dawn is super, and you get a good view of the Statue of Liberty. There are some really pretty districts and very modern and interesting corners of the city.I stayed down at Battery Park, which is 'downtown', near Wall St. It is not far from 'ground zero' (the World Trade Centre site). This has to be the most photographed construction site I have ever seen. People sticking their cameras through the fence to take photos of a crane, a digger and a big hole in the ground. A bit sad, really. 

I also found a quilt shop for Nicole and purchased an excessive amount of fabric to add to her stash.

Around Opatija

One of the small fishing boats in one of the many harbours. Walking down a side street, shops at street level and apartments above. Along the walks, we found this little "house", but no indication what it was used for.

I am not sure about whether the kids were supposed to be jumping on these, but they couldn't resist!

Phil thinks we should buy one of these small boats! Dusk, you can see the moon to the left of the light post.

Cameron was pretty good at guessing whether the answer was A,B,C or D, even though we had no idea what the question was in Croatian , Who wants to be a millionaire.
The show is exactly the same format with drawn out lengths of silence whilst answering questions. But Cameron enjoyed himself, and the people in the restaurant were highly amused when Cameron got an answer right and cheered!

Pool Fun

Most of our afternoons were spent at the hotel swimming pool. The glass walls opened to the terrace, and the kids spent up to 3 hours at a time in the pool and the spa. Goggles on, dive balls being thrown all over the pool, and being thrown into the water jet that came on for 5 minutes every 1/2 hour. A lot of the time we had the pool to ourselves, and we were waterlogged!

A Paddle in the Adriatic Sea

We travel to the Adriatic and someone continues to knit.  "Where is the sand? All we can find are these rocks and we have thrown 200, 165 (Cameron's estimate) of them into the sea!"

We were about a month ahead of the high tourist season. It was easy to get a table in restaurants, and the beaches were quiet and the sea was warm.  Phil ad the boys had a great swim, although it took ahile to get used to the pebbles under your feet.

There were many small fish swimming about in the shallows, and Phil really jumped when a slightly larger one decided to have a nibble at his toe! This beach is at Medveja, several km's around the coast from Opatija, Requiring a ride on a local bus to Lovran and then a 2 km walk. It was really beautiful, and worth the effort!

The kids enjoy climbing on the rocks, and looking in the rock pools. 

They found lots of crabs, but Phil wouldn't pick one up for them to look at closely....they did have big nippers!

Grandpa, here we are practicing our throwing technique when we visit your fish pond next month!

More stony beaches on our daily walks meant more chances to throw lots of stones into the ocean! The boys could keep doing this for hours....(and did!)