Kürbis, Sterne und Planeten Fest

This post comes with a medical warning....
If you have a problem with pumpkin allergies, it is best to look away now!

The last good weekend for the year dawned (see the Spreewald post), and we decided to head down to Klaistow, south of Potsdam, for the annual pumpkin festival at Buschmann Winkelmann Spargelhof . It is the same place where the boys recently went climbing the high rope course, and where we went last year.

The weather was fantastic, and we met our neighbours at the festival after a slow start to the morning. It was a fantastic afternoon - again incredibly relaxed. A few beers, watching the kids play, chatting in German with our friends, lunch and coffee, seeing the animals and displays, and for Alexander and Cameron, a go on the quad-bikes.

This year's theme was Stars and Planets.
Cameron with Leo. Crab made of pumpkins
Astronaut in a moon buggy
One small step for man......
Watch out for pumpkin aliens
The boys about to be taken away by a spaceship
maybe the sun? I am not sure about this one???
Off in a rocket!

On the way out, we bought enough pumpkins to ensure that the menu for the week would be pumpkin based. There were so many to chose from, it was a difficult task! The kids had an icecream, but stuck to chocolate and vanilla, instead of the pumpkin flavoured icecream! Another relaxed Sunday.

and if you don't like to eat a pumpkin, you can carve it out and use it as a vase!

My new red shoes...I love them!







For the pumpkin freaks you can learn all the names of the pumpkns....I like this litle white one called "Baby Boo"
The kids had a great time on the "Luftkissen"

Hamster children!

A street market is always good fun, lots of different things to see, food to taste, beer to drink.

The "Autumn in Pruessenallee" street festival was on for the weekend, and we had a few hours spare on Saturday evening. Alexander had Isiaih over for the night, so we all went to see what it was like.

The kids enjoyed having a dance to the funky music, and then we found these Hamster Balls...

Step 1:

Shoes off, and stick dusting gloves on your hands.

Step 2:

Climb into large plastic ball, and cover your ears while the man attaches the leaf blower to a hole and blows up the ball.

Step 3:

Run, Run, Run

The kids were supposed to have 5 minutes in the ball for 5 euros. It was quite expensive really, but the novelty was too good to pass up. It was late in the evening, and most of the kids had already left, so the kids got to stay in there for over 15 minutes, because there was no line. The owner thought it was better advertising to have kids in the balls having fun, than having the balls deflated on the ground. So in the end they got good value for their money.

By the time they got out of the balls, they were all hot and sweaty, ready for a delicious crepe!

Spreewald

We planned with our new neighbours, Antje, Thorsten and 2 year old Jasmin (3 month old Josafine stayed at Oma and Opa's house.) to visit Luebenau, in the Spreewald. We chose a day deep into September, when Autumn should be starting. We had heard for the last 4 or so weeks from our German friends "This is surely the last good day before Autumn starts" - every day it was nice. We looked at the weather - and it looked like the 'last good day before Autumn' (for the record...it was not the last great day of weather!).

Cameron was having a sleep-over at his friends Felix's. So I had to use the public transportation system to go and collect him, because it was also the start of the Berlin marathon, and Felix lives right on the course.

Felix, Max (another friend from school) and Cameron had a great time at the sleep-over, and Felix's dad, Ulli, took the boys down to watch the marathon. Their house is right near the first drinks station, and they watched the leading runners collect their drink bottles, slurp down the drinks, and throw the bottles away (the boys collected them!). After this, the 'hoardes' came through, and they had cups of water filled from large buckets fed from fire hydrants. Cups were strewn everywhere, and the boys thought it was hilarious that everyone was running over so many plastic cups.

After retrieving Cameron, we packed the last of our picnic things and headed out. We followed our neighbors down the highway and soon turned off in a picturesque little town - Luebenau.



The Spreewald is a Unesco protected region about 80 km from Berlin. It is beautiful countryside, with over 1000km of canals. We started by having lunch and a few beers, and then had a one hour punt ride on the canals.

The region is renowned for its gherkins and pickles. Of course, I had to try one, Nicole and the boys totally refused!! Unfortunately we bought it at a 'canalside' stop, so I couldn't get a beer to wash it down with!









After the lovely hour cruising the canals, we found a lovely grassy area for our picnic. The kids ran around collecting grass-hoppers, we ate a bit more from the picnic baskets, had a few cups of coffee, and relaxed in the afternoon sun.


Finally we packed up our things and drove back to Berlin - a great way to spend a Sunday.

Climbing trees

Alan called to let me know he was taking BJ to a climbing centre, located about 35 minutes drive out of Berlin at a small place called Kleistow, and wanting to know if we wanted to come along. Alexander and Cameron were both excited by the idea, so we joined them and headed down past Potsdam to the centre.

When we arrived I realised it was the same place we had visited last year for the Pumpkin Festival, and the climbing centre was about 1km walk from the main centre through the forest.


It was brilliant value - 9 Euro for each child, including harness and gloves for 3 hours! It was a high ropes course, and the kids were fitted for their harnesses, each which had two carabinas and a block of pulleys (essential for the great zip lines!).
They had a safety instruction, and then set off on the practice course, which was only about 2 metres off the ground. After they got the all clear (showing how they could use all of the equipment, making sure they always had at least one carabina connected when moving between sections (around trees) and two at all other times, and how to use the block to ride the zip lines) they were off. They started on the kids courses, and progressively worked their way up to 'black' level adult courses.







They had a great time. They needed excellent concentration and focus to do the unclip/reclip routine at every tree, and tackled some seriously high and complex sections. The boys all did a fantastic job, and Alan and I basically followed them around at ground level (with the occasional take away coffee) whilst they got on with climbing, chosing courses and having loads of fun.

The weather looked quite hostile on our way down, with lots of driving rain. However it cleared up, and by the end the boys were even climbing in some sunshine.

Based on how much fun the boys had and the value for money, I'm sure we will be going back!

Womb Trailer

Here is the trailer for the movie the kids were involved with earlier this year by Benedek Fliegauf.
At the end of the trailer you can see the back of the kids in the grey choir gowns, and hear them singing...



We are very proud parents!!!

Back to Berlin

Back to Berlin, on a 747-400 this journey.

After going through customs, we went to the Qantas lounge. The staff offered us a "suite", so the kids could spread out a bit ,and gave them some games and things to do. Cameron wanted to play games on the computer.

Our flight was delayed 1 and a 1/2 hours (much better than last years 24 hour delay). The crew loaded on an extra 4,000 litres of fuel, so we could speed up a bit to get to Singapore on time.
During the flight, Alexander was studying the flight plan map on the TV screen, and studying the Qantas magazine about the 747-400. He noticed that the highest speed in the magazine was 920 kph...but when looked on the TV screen we were going 948 kph. When one of the flight attendants came past he asked her how we were going that fast if the magazine said it only went 920 kph. She told him that she had no idea, but she would ask the captain when she went upstairs to ask the captain to fill out their log books.

1/2 hour later, the captain came downstairs, returned the log books and sat with Alexander explain why we were going so fast. The captain explained how the wind was helping us and the extra fuel that was loaded on, and the speed in the magazine was only the average speed they fly. Alexander was happy!

We thanked the captain for explaining it to our aeroplane fanatic, and he said that once we landed in Singapore to send the kids up and they could come into the cockpit for a look, and don't forget the camera!

So, pilot hat, headphones on, hand on the throttle...what more could a plane obsessed kid dream of (except actually flying the plane)

This is one of the reasons I love flying with Qantas...the staff are always so terrific with our children!

Walking Rosie

We took Rosie for lots of walks when we were in Melbourne.

Alexander and Cameron love holding the lead and taking her for a run in the park.
When we got to a playground the boys would give the lead to Nicole, and she would continue walking around the playground with Rosie while the boys played.


We made up the rule, that if you are holding the lead when she does a poo....you have to pick it up in the doggy poo bag.

Somehow, the rule never worked and it was left up to Nicole to pick it up and carry it to the doggy bin.