A soggy wet festival

Every year in the local park they hold a small, free music festival — the Stolze Openair. The music is actually quite good, and even though the rain hadn't stopped all day I took the children, plus friend, out for some evening mud stomping fun!

A wet Waldmorgen

I joined this month's Kindergarten trip to the woods, and couldn't have picked a worse day. In what is usually a real highlight for the kids was instead total punishment as one by one they got gradually wetter, colder, then frozen. I completely surprised myself by managing to light a fire in the hissing rain with soggy newspaper but we still came back after an hour (which felt like three!). Ili was with us, and when back at Kingergarten she made herself at home!

. . . and it rained, and it rained, and it rained

Ili with friend and neighbour outside Spielgruppe — another day of RAIN!

Sleepover that went wrong

Bea had a friend over who wanted to sleep here on Monday night. All was good, until it was time to go to bed, and shortly after lights out his friend started to cry for his mama. Nothing we could do to calm him or stop him from frantically repacking his overnight bad, so I piggy-backed him home. Nothing interesting or unusual about that. But, what really interested me was Bea's response the next day. He came home sad from Kindergarten after his friend said he didn't want to play with him. We spoke about it, and he decided himself he would go to his friends house to speak with his mother, and insisted he went alone — and he did. Very brave, and very mature I thought for a six-year-old. I believe the issue was he couldn't understand what the problem was for his friend, but knew his mama would tell him. He seemed to feel better afterwards.

Four christenings and a wedding

After ten years of marriage, the parents of Bea's best friend Vincent got wed in church with their four children all simultaneously christened in the church behind Bea's school. Very brave (of them!), and totally relaxed event with lots for the children (over 60 of them!) to do. The sports hall was reserved for the kids stuff (hockey, football, etc) after the service, and what would have been the first kiddies disco for Bea, but he was stuck to the wall and wouldn't join in. After the disco, a movie, so they were fully entertained while we sunk the fizz.

Seeds and sport

Ili's Spielgruppe has a new project (supported by the city of Zürich), to make a little garden where the children can grow flowers and vegetables. Today they planted flower seeds on a very cold and wet day—summer has left us! Bea had a sports "fun day" which is a little like a sports day — although not as competitive and they all came home with edible "cookie" medals for doing well!

Back to Zurich

We had the morning by the beach in Sete, before taking the train back to Zurich. The journey was longer on the way back (more changes to make), and never as much fun as the getting there, but we survived! Here's Bea and Ili outside the station in Montpellier.

Swimming in the sea

More playing on the beach today, and all of us — except Ili — went in swimming! It was just warm enough. Lovely.

On the beach

True to most of my camping experiences, it didn't fail to piss with rain all night. Forgetting to peg down the guide ropes in strong sea winds didn't help the sleeping experience, although it didn't seem to stop the little ones snoozing soundly (using me as a pillow), and they were ready to hit the beach again this morning. The sun didn't show until after lunch, and in the morning it was only Bea on the beach freezing his butt in swimwear, but the afternoon was glorious.

Camping on the coast of France

Took the opportunity of the last holiday Monday this term to head to the sea in the South of France to meet mum and dad near Sete. So we packed the tent and jumped on the train. It was a real treat to get to the sea, and Bea and Ili behaved as if they'd never seen water before — on Friday evening when we arrived, Bea was more or less in with his clothes on.

Frith at the Colosseum

Frith sent these pics tonight from Rome, where he's based for a couple of days (for meetings).

Wasn't all work . . .

Kiddie corner

We levelled one of the small terraces, where we hope to build a tree house in the summer. Even if we don't get around to it, it will be a good little area for the little ones to play (being a very rare flat piece of ground). Before we left, Bea and Ili planted flower and grass seed, so hopefully it will look a little greener next time we visit.

Strimming in France

Guess who's got a new toy (and it's not Bea). . . . and we surely need it to keep the garden in shape.

The new wall — #3 filling with rocks

No shortage of rocks. . .

but boy, they were heavy!

Half way through the second week, we were finished! What a holiday (we were knackered!)

The new wall — #2 the gabions

Days later we could start building . . .

. . . by adding wire cages

that would later get filled with children (and then stones)!

The new wall — #1 the digging

This was the slope we wanted level, so

we dug . . .

. . . and we dug.

. . . and we dug some more.