Bike Ride

The important thing is to know how to relax

Liam's Scary Seventh Birthday

Liam went with a vampire/witch/ghost theme for his seventh birthday party last Saturday. I made a quick slideshow with the pictures and posted below.
Enjoy.

Christmas Baking

Macartan's 42nd Birthday

with birthday candles and kids singing "Wie schön, dass Du geboren bist"

Odenwälder Herbstlauf

I did the half marathon of the Odenwälder Herbstlauf today. I had been aiming for a time of less than 2 hours, but given that it was so warm (26°C), and some inconsiderate planner had put quite a few hills in the way, and my training partners won’t run a whole kilometre without piddling and sniffing (three whiney excuses) I was quite pleased in the end that I finished my first half marathon at all. The time of 2:03:02 gives me something to improve on for next year.

Yes, of course

This puts my mind at rest. Any reservations about the Kurpfalzschule's ability to tutor my child in the language of Shakespeare are now banished :-)

Liam's first day at School

My old mountaineering boots didn't make it back from Chamonix

If you look closely, you can see the word "Made in Italy" on the sole.

Liam and Rosalie at the Naturkunde Museum in Berlin

There appears to be a conversation going on in this photo.

Ice Cream in Marlay Park

Kieran and his siblings tried out the playground in Marlay Park, Dublin. All went well until his grandfather decided that children need ice cream once the sun shines.
As the picture shows, Kieran's enjoyment of said ice cream is way ahead of his proficiency in directing it to the correct area of his face.

Liam plays Hirte Simon (Simon the Shepherd)

As Liam told me he was to play a shepherd in the kindergarten church play, I automatically assumed that it would be a nativity play. However when he also told me that his friends were playing a thief and a wolf respectively, I began to suspect that there was more to it than this.

From 2010-12-05 - Liam plays Shepherd Simon

In “Die vier Lichter des Hirten Simon”, the protagonist searches for his lost lamb, and along the way dispenses light to society’s outcasts (thief, wolf and beggar). Liam shared the title role with another kindergarten child, which is an insurance against stage fright amongst five-year-olds. In this instance it was unnecessary, both shepherds withstood the pressure. Liam even ad-libbed a little – on picking up his lantern with four candles he claimed it was too hot, and took one with just one candle instead.

Feldbahn- und Industriemuseum Wiesloch

From 2010-10-02 - Feldbahn- und Industriemuseum Wiesloch

The Feldbahn- und Industriemuseum in Wiesloch had an open day today, with their little narrow gauge railway trundling to and fro along a 200 metre line. Rosalie and Liam found this train very entertaining, as well as the guided tour of the little museum.

The full title for the event was "FUNZEL- UND LATERNENABEND", or Museumslichterfahrt mit Laternenprämierung, see http://www.feldbahnmuseum-wiesloch.de/ for details. The idea was that each child would bring a lantern, so that the train rides after dark would have more atmosphere.

Contrary to expectations, there were no prizes for “best lantern”, so the hectic hour of hedgehog and ladybird-themed lantern creation last night was somewhat in vain. Nonetheless the kids had a great time, as the pictures below show.

Assembling a new Swing and Slide

Yesterday was a very busy day here, as Project New Swing and Slide moved from the planning phase to the Realisation phase. Fortunately Heike’s brother Hans-Günther was on hand with the appropriate power tools to get the job done.

There were one or two moments of incredulity as we realised that the instructions were not written in the traditional linear style. The essence of page 6 was that in order to get to page 7, you really need to re-do page 5.

Such problems notwithstanding, we did manage to get a functional swing for the kids before the barbecue started, and I added the slide today.

Below is a slideshow of the Saturday photos, and the finished product from today.

From 2010-08-08 - New Swing and Slide

Kindergarten Sommerfest

On Saturday Liam and Rosalie’s kindergarten celebrated their summer fest, this year with a medieval knights & damsels theme.

Fortunately there was some help from the freie kurpfälzischen Ritterschaft, a local group of medieval fans who kept the children enthralled with stories, games and bouts of jousting.

Some pictures below:

Felsenmeer

We visited the Felsenmeer (literally sea of rocks) near Darmstadt last Sunday. The boulder field gave the kids plenty of opportunity to climb around and have fun.

A few impressions are in the slideshow below:

Weather comparison between Dublin and Heidelberg

The problem with easy access to information is that it’s just too easy to get jealous of other people’s weather.

Like when I looked at these two pictures this morning:

Not fair.

Tired Children

We went for a walk today near Burg Frankenstein, and yes, it was Mary Shelley's inspiration. The effort was all a bit much for Liam and Rosalie though, for the last third of the walk they chose to get some sleep in the buggy.
It was a tight squeeze, but they didn't seem to mind!

Studio pictures of Kieran plus family

We made the effort last week to get some photos made professionally of Kieran, and the results are in my opinion worth it.

Judge for yourselves…

Painting Easter Eggs

Liam and Rosalie took some time out today from revering the new little brother, and did some creative artwork instead.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

Starting with some basic white eggs and food dye, and continuing with special edible paint concoction, they produced what a proud father can only term works of art. The Tate Modern displays stuff that looks worse.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

Here are the two creative geniuses hard at work. 

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

It has to be said that not all of the artistic materials were used for a higher purpose, some were used to prove a point to any parents who might dare to question the artistic direction.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

At the end of the day though the balance was positive: 24 brightly coloured eggs, many of whom had not been thrown on the floor in frustration.

From 2010-04-03 - Painting Easter Eggs

Imperial measures of Kieran

3720 grams = 8.20119615 pounds

53 centimeters = 20.8661417 inches

Sources:

• http://www.google.com/search?q=3720+grams+in+pounds
• http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=53+cm+in+inches