Deutschland

Madeleine and Emily (in red) with their new friend in Fulda, Germany!

Emily (pink) and Madeleine (purple) "cooking" at the castle.

Our international travels behind us, we are approaching this entry in chapter format (much like traveling with small children - one step at a time)!

Are We There Yet?

Madeleine and Emily go to "music school" every Tuesday morning. So, the brilliant plan was to have Till take them to music school (Oct. 6) while I finished throwing the last minute things in suitcases, Till would come home, we'd load the car, pick-up the girls and hit the road. We flew out of Dulles so we had a direct flight - very nice while flying, but it meant we had a three hour drive just to get to the airport!!

In reality - we were all ready to go before music school (high five) so we loaded the car and headed to music school with the intention we'd let the girls play on the playground a few minutes, go to class, and then head out. However....Miss Madeleine did not follow the "Do NOT go down the slide!" directions and ended up with soaking pants and underwear because of the dew on the slide. Granted, we had a car full of clothing in the parking lot, but these were comfy stretchy pants, intentionally selected for the plane ride - and God only knew which suitcase held what at that point.

So, Madeleine and I went to the postage stamp-sized bathroom where I squeezed water out of her pants and underwear (Yes, I literally stripped her down and had her sit her naked little bottom on a paper towel on the floor.) with paper towels and lectured to the extent two other mothers volunteered to lend us the change of clothing they carry for their children. Good parenting on my part....but come on, NOT today!

The girls wrapped up class (Madeleine's pants were now dry thanks to body heat) and we headed out.

We are not even 15 miles up I-64 and Till and I are being inundated with "Are we there yet?" Oh God. We tried answering. We tried explaining. We tried distraction. I tried sarcasm and said "Yes! There is the airplane waiting for us right there!" while pointing at trees as we zoomed by - this only resulted in the backseat asking "Where?" with great enthusiasm.

Finally, I remembered on Valentine's Day I stashed a bunch of suckers the girls had gotten at school in the car's glovebox for "emergencies". I whipped out two suckers, passed them back and Till and I enjoyed 3 solid minutes of peace and quiet.

Taking Flight

We arrive at Dulles, unload the car, check-in the luggage, both of us contemplate divorcing and child abandonment, and then we head through security. It was a breeze!! They could not have been more polite or easier to work with if they had tried (Completely reinforces my opinion that Spokane has the most moronic TSA agents in the country as there is always an "issue" there and NEVER anywhere else - even big airports when flying internationally.).

We get on the plane and the girls and I have 3 of the 5 center seats at the bulkhead with Till across the aisle. This was fantastic! Granted, we couldn't shove carry-on under the seat in front of us, but I am constantly in and out of carry-on when traveling with the girls and it was great to just have it on the floor and not be trying to work around the passenger in front of me having their head in my lap! We also had room to stretch legs and change the girls into jammies.

The girls, being the Southwest Airlines veterans that they are, were shocked to find out some airplanes have TVs and don't have pleather seats! They also thought the bathrooms were "much nicer". Tip - when on a big plane (in our case Boeing 777 - 4 bathrooms next to each other at the bulkhead) look for the one that has a different "door knob" (a lever that literally pushes down). It is the handicap stall and HUGE, which is greatly appreciated when one is hanging out in airplane restrooms with four-year-olds for 15 minutes at a time.

We had hoped they girls would sleep on this flight as it was a red-eye, but we knew hoping wouldn't cut it. These kids don't sleep on planes. I can't complain as they fuss minimally, don't cry, don't fight, etc....but we knew we needed help in the sleep department. A friend graciously suggested melatonin and I ran it by the pediatrician who gave the green light under these circumstances. Emily and Madeleine slept for three hours!!! Not all night, but better than nothing. I didn't really sleep at all because I couldn't believe the girls were actually sleeping and kept checking to see if they were awake (not too bright!).
Emily.
Madeleine, between her pillow and Emily's - which had flopped over, her neck pillow around her neck and United Airline's pillow on her stomach!

Arrival

We arrived Wednesday (10/7) morning and all of our luggage arrived with us, for which we were thankful. Oma and Opa were waiting for us at the airport, which was nice as they watched the girls while we picked-up the rental car (A 20 minute process that would not have been improved by dealing with two small children!). We picked up the car and headed off. Unfortunately, we were separated from Oma and Opa on the autobahn, so we just went to our hotel.

The people at the hotel were very nice. Even though we were hours earlier than we thought we'd be, they let us eat breakfast there and got our room ready as fast as possible. We unloaded the car, hung out in our room, and then Oma and Opa caught up.


Madeleine (L) and Emily (R) on the hotel's front entrance balcony.

Two geese and a duck (who seemed to think he was a goose) who lived on the farm next door to the hotel. They were very territorial about the hotel's driveway and would voice their opinion to any car that drove by.

Madeleine and the cat in the basement. The cat has a label that says "Made in West Germany" just to give you an indication of its age. We got it to work ONE time and it went on and on and on....we finally gave up and put Emily on in the middle of the one turn (It played Home On The Range six-and-a-half times), which is good as the cat never turned on again. Sadly, Madeleine got to ride the cat through 5 songs and Emily only got to ride it for 1.5 times...we didn't know when/if it would turn off, so we stuck her on and were glad we did as she at least got part of a turn.

Emily

At Oma and Opa's house Emily and Madeleine got to play with bubbles, color pictures, use safety scissors and put together puzzles. Melissa and Till were more than happy to turn the girls' entertainment over to non-jet-lagged adults.

Opa and Emily fly a kite.

Opa, Madeleine, Emily, Oma in the yard getting some jet-lag fighting fresh air.

Oma and Madeleine with another kite.

Opa, Madeleine, Emily.

Emily, Oma, Madeleine.

Later, we went from the grandparents' house to the train station (checked the schedule for the next day) and then to Globus (a huge grocery store) to pick up a few things and have a snack in the cafeteria. The girls who had been wide awake for the entire day, crashed in the car on the 3 minute drive from the train station to Globus.

Three minute drive from train station to Globus and the jet-lag gets you! Emily (L) and Madeleine.

Potatoes in the "normal" store. Till was offended I took the photo, but it just amazed me...
Emily (L) and Madeleine - both clutching candy they had picked out.

Madeleine (pink) and Emily are taller than the grocery store counters in Germany!!

Riding the Globus conveyor belt to get down from the second floor...when you take a cart on - it locks the wheels (at least in theory) so you don't even really have to hold on. Madeleine in pink and Emily in blue.

We were all sound asleep by 5:30 PM, awake about 9, asleep again about midnight and then up around 7 or so.

Fulda

Emily and Madeleine had a German agenda consisting of two highlights: 1. go on a train ride and 2. eat a pretzel as big as their faces. We had planned on riding the train to Frankfurt, but with terror threats and the State Department warning, we decided to go the other direction.

Our first full day in Germany we hopped on the 9:10 train and went from Wachtersbach to Fulda, which took a little less than an hour. There are now new "fancy trains" for the regional routes in Germany. We even got to sit upstairs to watch the beautiful scenery go by.


Emily waiting at the Wachtersbach train station.

Madeleine waiting in Wachtersbach.

Emily (L) and Madeleine on the train to Fulda.

It was a little drizzly in Wachtersbach and we rode the train through some rain, but it appeared the rain and the train were going in opposite directions. So, when we arrived in Fulda, it was wet, but not currently raining.

Madeleine and Emily had also wanted to go shopping for clothing and hair accessories. So that is what we did in Fulda. We scoped out three different department stores before deciding what we would purchase where. This not only gave us a complete view of our options - it also made little legs walk around quite a bit in the fresh air as a remedy for jet-lag.

We also quickly popped into a very pretty Catholic church (I am not going to let them think department stores are the only things in Germany) where we sat in a pew, looked at the art and attempted to light two candles (Two of us were not inclined to hold the match, so I did it.)

German department stores are nice and remind me of what we had when I was a child; "real" department stores. The German stores also often have a restaurant on the top floor. The girls had boycotted approximately 13 possible breakfast options that morning and were by now starving; especially Emily, Madeleine had surrendered at breakfast and managed to nibble a cocoa crispy or two. So, we decided we would eat lunch in one of the stores, use the restroom and hit the road.

Then disaster struck.

Till and I purposely ordered schnitzel because it comes with fries and we thought if we could entice the girls to eat something...perhaps they'd be willing to move on to options of more sustenance. Nope! The fries were crinkle-cut which not only strengthened the resolve of those on a hunger strike, it reduced them to tears!! Seriously, give me a break. So Till and I ate our lunch at record speed and then I took the girls to the restroom before heading to the train station.

The "nicer" restrooms in Germany have attendants. I came in with the girls and the woman attendant asked if they were twins. I said yes and was told "how nice/beautiful" I whipped out "danke" (thank you) one of the 10 German words I know. We went to a stall while the attendant said something about princesses (the German word sounds very similar to English). Madeleine finishes up and I have her standing right at the stall door while Emily is using the facilities. We are the only ones left in the restroom and the attendant comes over and starts speaking to Madeleine. We are way beyond my grasp of German so I asked if she spoke English and she said no, patted my cheek, stroked my hair and said Madeleine was beautiful and had pretty blue eyes. Then sang a little song for Madeleine. Emily finishes and then we go to wash hands.

The attendant is now sitting on her chair and has lured Madeleine over while I lift and hold Emily so she can wash her hands. First the woman hugged and kissed Madeleine and then put her in her lap and kissed her back all over. Keep in mind there is a HUGE language barrier here and I have no idea what I would do even if there isn't and I'm busy with Emily's hands. Madeleine looks rather caught off guard, has huge eyes and is looking to me. I just told her "you're okay, you're okay" while finishing Emily. Then the girls traded places. However, Emily was blinking back tears at the point some strange old lady (who was honestly very genuine and meant no harm) kissed her back and I was glad we were on our way out the door - where Emily promptly started crying - again!

In a last effort to raise blood sugar levels we went to the basement of the department store where there is a grocery section and bought sunflower and pumpkin seeds, bananas, apples, grapes and milk for our picky eaters and headed for the train. Emily ate her banana as if she hadn't seen food in a week (in fairness she hadn't really eaten much since Tue. AM at home - which is in part her own fault) dramatically improving her mood.

Emily (L) and Madeleine at a fountain in Fulda

Emily and Madeleine with pretzels as big as their faces!!

The morning after arrival, you can see a bit of jet-lag around the eyes of our pretzel girls.


Uncle Bodo

Uncle Bodo is very interested in music and has been for years. He has a veritable recording studio in part of his apartment. The first few days we were there he had to work, but then he had a day off and let us use his equipment!!

Emily and Madeleine had a great time playing keyboard, singing into microphones, playing with a synthesizer (I think - I'm not up on all of the equipment and wasn't in the room the whole time). There was even a gizmo that made lights light up when you sang!

Bodo was very generous and let the girls use all kinds of expensive things (Had it been my stuff, each child would have been handed two drumsticks and told to drum on the floor.) and even burned a CD of our "record". He aptly titled it "Pure Noise". It is 20 minutes long and you may all expect a copy for Christmas!

Madeleine, Bodo, Emily

Emily in red and Madeleine in pink begin their music careers under Uncle Bodo's supervision.

Bodo and Madeleine

Emily and Bodo

Goats, a Playground, and a Castle

One day we went with Opa and Oma to a wildlife park. We were able to buy food pellets out of a vending machine and feed the animals there...most of them. The donkeys, deer and goats were all interested in a snack. However, there were signs discouraging the feeding of the buffalo - go figure.

The goats and deer (some very small variety) were particularly interested. But, they had the sense to be interested in adults. I was alone at a vending machine buying some pellets, turned around and had nine new best friends. The critters and I are happily chatting as they snacked and then the girls spotted my entourage. The abrupt arrival of two preschoolers immediately scattered the animals!

Finally, the goats realized that the girls not only had boxes of pellets, they are short and could be bullied! One goat in particular was after both children and a bit aggressive. Shockingly, he did not respond as desired to the "Go away goat!!" command he was given. Till lured said goat away while the girls had a chance to feed (which involved dumping the entire box of food in one pile on the ground) the rest of them.Deer in the background...Madeleine on the left and Emily on the right

We also went to a playground pretty close to Opa and Oma's. It is in the shadow of castle ruins and had a "carousel" which we deemed "lots of fun".

Emily (left) and Madeleine ride the "carousel" at the park.

The Eis Cafe where we had fancy ice cream (looked like Mickey Mouse) very close to the playground.

We also got to go to a castle! Sadly, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella were not spotted (we kept looking), but we had fun walking in their footsteps none-the-less.

We got to see the VERY deep well and pour a bucket of water down it. You count to see how long it takes the water to hit the bottom - 15! We also saw dining halls, a chapel, the apothecary's room, and some toys. We purposely climbed every twisting narrow staircase we could find (always prepping for nap time) and even spotted Oma waiting for us in the courtyard below.
Oma, Emily, Madeleine and Opa at the castle.

Queen Emily

Queen MadeleineDid we lose someone? Emily (L) and Madeleine

Jo, Ramin and Oli

Saturday night Emily and Madeleine met some of Till's friends. Turns out parents had lives prior to the arrival of children - shocking! Madeleine and Emily were getting rather hyper at this point (we wind "up", not "down" when tired around here) and it was getting a little late, so the girls did not display their best behavior. Particularly when they were escorted by their mother to the car (we left Till to hang out while we went to the hotel to go to bed) and howled all the way out of the house and down the sidewalk.

However, Jo's mother sent bouncy balls as a gift - which the girls greatly appreciate. And we found out we have a previously unknown dedicated blog reader in Jo (Hi Jo!), who generously showed us pictures of his pet mice!


Departure

All good things must come to an end. Tuesday (10/13) morning we loaded the car and hit the road. Thankfully, we were on the autobahn the whole way - the rental car's heater only worked when driving at least 80 km/hour and it was a bit chilly at 6AM.

Our flight home was thankfully as uneventful as our flight over. However, this time we flew all day and had to be entertained. On the way over the girls discovered headphones, music and the TVs. On the way back they found out the TVs can show more than the plane's progress on a map (the only thing I let them see so we would have a prayer of them sleeping on the way over - and even then they only saw it after waking up) - you can watch movies! We made it through Ice Age III about two and a half times. Then we found The Simpsons. Of course a family of yellow cartoon characters was very visually appealing. However, I was fit to be tied over the content of The Simpsons in general, and this episode in particular, being viewed by four-year-olds. The plane episode featured Lisa as a ballerina who smokes. She not only demonstrates great health choices, but goes on and on about ballet being sexist and limiting. Look Lisa, I have two sets of ballet clothing waiting upstairs at home and if there is an issue with going to class next Monday - you and I will be chatting.

We finally got the TVs turned off and went back to our standby plane activities of stickers and making necklaces and bracelets.

Back in the car on the way home Miss Emily announced "I think I'm going to take a little nap." Um, okay, great idea!! I think Madeleine would have agreed but she was too busy sucking her thumb and trying to keep her eyes open. We had the joy of driving in evening rush hour, so when the express lanes ended and we had to go back into the crawling traffic, we decided to wait it out by pulling over and eating dinner.

Driving home.

After waking the girls from their "naps" (more like comas) we staggered into IHOP where two of us cried over most options presented to us and ate very little. I changed the girls into jammies in the car in the IHOP parking lot and back on the road. We got home about 9 and it was the best "Go to Bed After Traveling" night to date. The girls complained a little about having to go to bed (after sleeping soundly in the car for three hours) and then went right to sleep.

We were all awake about 3AM the next morning. We waited for daylight (seemed to take forever to come) and then headed to the park's playground for fresh air and physical activity. We came home, ate "lunch", and were all napping at 10:30 in the morning.

That afternoon we went to the "downtown" area (a total joke - consists of the library, post office and fire station). We walked over to the Colonial area and as we were walking we noticed both girls were literally skipping along. Till asked if they were happy to be home and they said yes and listed many reasons, culminating in "I'm glad to be back where people speak English!"

Ah, yes, the birth of a yet another ugly American tourist.

The Kitty and the Doggy

Emily (L) Dog and Madeleine (R) Tiger

Emily
Madeleine

No! We do not have new pets as the title might indicate. We went to the church picnic last Sunday and they had face painting. Woo hoo! Madeleine wanted to be a kitty and handled it well when she became more of a tiger. Emily wanted to be a puppy and handled it well when she thought Madeleine's face looked better than her own.

In other news - I was recently informed I am not "cool" (jr. high flashback). I was fixing dinner and singing a song that had been on the radio in the car. When asked what I was doing I explained...and added that I was super-cool. Emily kindly informed me "Mom, you're not cool! Aunt Liz is cool!" Madeleine offered her support with "Yeah, Mom." - I think the "duh" was implied. I informed them that is fine. I also mentioned, on a pre-emptive note, that I am their mom, so don't expect me to be their friend....saw enough of that as a teacher - not always a good thing.

Madeleine came home from school yesterday with an "Incident Report". Needless to say I was not happy when I saw this in her folder. Then I read it - "Another child cut Madeleine's hair during writing center." Oh thank God - I'm the "victim's" mom! Much less embarrassing. The report continued "The other child apologized and we discussed using scissors only for paper." I can not even see where the trim occurred, so it isn't as if we are walking around with one pig-tail!

Today we met with our new pediatrician. At the old doctor every appointment involved long waits and inane forms. They had Till listed as only Madeleine's father for the first two years we went there - Emily did not have a father according to them, they sent a bill to a non-existent address and when we didn't get it Emily ended up in collections before we knew what was going on, they no longer visit their patients at the hospital (even newborns after delivery) and the straw to break the camel's back...at the girls' four year check-up they charged us for asking questions! I gave myself six months to cool down and was still irate, so we switched. Our new doctor is a young woman, very patient and let us ask as many questions as we wanted. (It is almost as if she sees us as concerned parents who have the responsibility to find out about our children's health and advocate for them!) She had been on call at the hospital last night and had quite a night as lots of babies arrived. When the office realized she'd be late getting in this morning they called and asked us to come 30 minutes later. Thank you....I thought it was great to get the appointment pushed back instead of being stuck in the waiting room an additional 30 minutes.

We are leaving for Germany soon and I am less than thrilled as the U.S. State Department has issued a "travel alert" about Al Qaeda threats in Germany. I sent a car key to a close friend from college who lives near DC and could get our car out of the airport garage if something happened. When I emailed my request - she said she would of course do whatever I wanted her to do, but is going to insist our college begin requiring English majors take a probability class. Hey lady, you don't talk about probability to the mother of naturally-conceived identical twins!! We don't have a whole lot of faith in statistics.

Anyhow, we are off. We are registered with the State Department and we changed our plans to avoid Frankfurt (except for flights) and its subway system. I'll go for a week without my white tennis shoes (dead give-away for an American) and we will do our best to stick to small towns!

Prima Ballerinas?

Ankles with rather baggy tights...and we bought the smallest pairs available.


Emily

Madeleine

Last Monday Madeleine and Emily started their ballet careers. I was informed before their class "I'm going to show the teacher my moves!" by Miss Emily. It was suggested, perhaps, we let the teacher show us moves.

Anyhow, being a cheapskate I refused to enroll four-year-olds in the private studio, so we are doing thirty minutes a week through the park and rec dept. When it looks like this activity has scholarship potential, we'll look into more expensive lessons. In the mean time, we basically wanted to wear the clothing and "twirl". The girls had a great time at their first lesson and have asked every day since "Do we have ballet today?"



MadeleineEmily

Saturday we went to the local Farmers' Market and finally caved into the heckling to buy small pumpkins. Each girl picked out one little pumpkin and then we all picked out a "family pumpkin" to reach the 3 for $1 limit.

Emily and Madeleine wanted to paint their pumpkins which are now "creative"?

We had tried to grow pumpkins of our own (we carved our names in them and everything)....However. The vines were everywhere and I went out to trim them and try and regain some of the lawn and managed to cut the "supply vine" to the "Madeleine" and "Emily" pumpkins right before we left for Spokane. We came back and the "Schreiber" pumpkin was going strong...thank goodness. Then, a few days later I went to check on it, and noticed a smaller pumpkin near it. It was just in the process of turning from green to orange....I went to pick it up and it was a turtle. Who, sadly, had been snacking on the base of the "Schreiber" pumpkin...so it rotted from the bottom up. We will try again next year!

Today, Madeleine had "alone time" with me while Emily went to school. Emily's turn is Monday. We went to the store so Madeleine could pick out our lunch (Scooby Doo mac and cheese and canned mixed veggies - blech!), went to a cafe for a snack, came home and vacuumed the family room, folded laundry and put baby clothing on hangers for an upcoming consignment sale. We had a really nice time together and it completely reaffirmed that I hate having twins and am not good at it. I don't hate the girls, or parenthood, I just wish I could have had some time with each of them without the other one around - it doesn't matter if it is a few months with the first before the second comes, or the ability to send older kids to school and drive the younger one alone to school...such is life.

He Might Need A Cab

Courtesy The Library of Congress

Today we had to put our cat Lincoln to sleep. He was diagnosed with diabetes about six weeks ago and there has been no progress....despite switching vets and about $1,400 in vet bills.

The vet (the second one is much better than the first and not ordering tests we don't need, etc.) was optimistic about prognosis...but we have two small children and enough is enough. Also, Lincoln HATED going to the vet - it took a sedative and 20 minutes this afternoon before he would so much as let me touch his ear. He had spent the day there having his glucose tested (which would have to happen about every two weeks had we continued) and was beside himself.

So...I brought his body home and, following advice on the internet, let the girls pet him -they wanted to, say good-bye, witness his burial, etc.

Needless to say, we have not used the term "put to sleep" with the girls...could lead to some serious sleep-related issues. So, we just told them "The vet gave Lincoln a very special shot that killed him". We told them people do not get this kind of shot.

Last week I mentioned Lincoln was sick and we were giving him medicine to make him better, but it might not work. I was informed "That is okay, I can play with him in Heaven."

Okay.

Tonight, there was what can only be described as devastation.

Following the "ceremony" the questions began. The point of most concern being Lincoln going to Heaven. We told the girls the angels would come and get him tonight.

"How?"

"They use magic."

"How?"

"Okay, you know how Santa gets down the chimney?"

" Yes."

" Well, the angels use magic like that to come get Lincoln."

"Will they use his sleigh and reindeer?"

It seems if Santa is going to make his rounds this year, he might want to have a cab reserved. Just in case the angels are using his sleigh to pick up a deceased pet.

"Sleep"over

Madeleine, Emily and Emerson with various sleeping "accessories"

Wednesday was not only the first day of preschool for the year, (Thank God!! Don't get me wrong, I love the girls and generally we had a lot of fun this summer. However, Labor Day was late and around here it is apparently some sort of catastrophic sin to start school before Labor Day....all three of us were ready to go to school.) it was also our first sleepover.

Emily and Madeleine's friend Emerson came over to our house after school on Wednesday. After playing while their gourmet lunch of grilled cheese sandwich and apple slices was prepared, the girls ate and then went upstairs for a nap. Not that I had any real hope of sleep actually occurring.

Everyone used the facilities and got into jammies without issue. It was then into bed with security blankets, etc. I knew if there was the slimmest chance of sleep actually happening, I'd have to be in the room too. So I did a little work while the girls went to "sleep". The results are as follows:

Madeleine - She clearly inherited her mother's lack of ability to stay awake during a sleepover. She tossed and turned a bit and then pulled her comforter over her head and crashed.

Emerson - She gave going to sleep the most valiant effort I have ever witnessed. She was very quiet and kept her eyes closed....at one point I thought she had dozed off, but am not sure.

Emily - She nearly found herself listed on Craigslist. She decided she was not tired and tossed, turned, got out of bed, tossed, got out of bed again and loudly announced she wasn't tired - repeatedly. She was immune to the glares, hissing and threatening hand motions from her mother.

The young ladies of our household deemed the "sleep"over a roaring success and I am now being pestered for a "night time one".

Hallelujah!!

Emily (L) and Madeleine (R)

Preschool started today - enough said.

Editors' Notes

Cindy, Madeleine (in front) and Emily

It seems my account of our trip to Spokane was not sufficient in the eyes of my editors/the blog's subjects. It was pointed out I did not include EVERYTHING we did. True. The main bones of contention appear to be that I did not mention playing with Cindy and the garden hose, going to the park and going to Cat Tales. So let me begin.

Cindy is my parents' dog. She is part Muppet and part unknown. She was rather hyper as a youngster, but appears to be settling into middle age nicely. She adores chasing water as it comes out of a hose and the girls had fun playing with her. The biggest issue was Emily and Madeleine tended to sort of chase Cindy with the hose, which confused issues a bit.

Last spring and early this summer we were getting some rather heavy campaigning for a dog. We pointed out that isn't really feasible because we travel for the holidays and in the summer. The girls were told the cats are okay for a couple of days before a petsitter comes, but a dog has to go out several times a day. Later, the dog issue came up again and Emily, from the backseat of the car, in her best Eeyore voice said "Yeah, we can't get a dog because we travel." Madeleine sighed heavily in agreement. The girls were told Cindy is their dog, she just happens to live in Spokane.
Emily (L) and Madeleine running from the fountain to the hill we like to roll down.

The formal gardens.

The last night we were in Spokane I took the girls to Manito Park. Sadly, I tend to take this park for granted as it has always just "been there". My daughters did not take it for granted. They loved the formal gardens around the fountain and wore their noses out in the Rose Garden - Madeleine literally told me "My nose is tired from all of this sniffing." Of course, we see the park when we go sledding in the winter, but strangely it is covered in snow then. Next summer, we will have to make more trips to the park.

And finally Cat Tales! For at least two years my dad has suggested going to Cat Tales, a wild cat sanctuary, every time we have visited. For some reason it never worked out. But this time we pulled it off. My parents and I enjoyed it, but my illustrious offspring were slightly put off by the smell (go figure, animals smell) and were more interested in the playground equipment at the front of the facility, than the animals in the facility. The only time they asked to have their pictures taken was when they were next to large fake (plastic?) roosters. I personally left rather fed up with humanity. The cats there are rescue cats from a variety of sources, not just from circuses, etc. One of the lions is there because some idiot "wanted their own Detroit Lion" and tried to keep this wild animal as a pet! Really? I have an idea about who should be put in a cage, preferably with the lion.

Recently, it has been VERY hot and humid in Williamsburg. Madeleine and Emily have handled this much better than their mother who whines and complains about the heat and dragging two kids around in it. Two weeks ago we went to Busch Gardens and were all literally dripping sweat by the time we left - and we were there when it opened...it wasn't afternoon heat - just God-awful humidity. This week is cooler and less humid (thank God!) so we have been able to go back outside. And...it appears the bugs that like to feast on my children have tapered off some too.

Yesterday was "Meet the Teacher Day" and there was a "vacuum for kids that really sucks stuff up!" in the classroom. We are thrilled!

Haste Makes Waste For My Minis

We told the girls they can each pick out an outfit when we go to Germany this fall. Last night I was looking at the website for the department store we will probably visit and they had the children's sizes split into "baby", "minis", "kids". Madeleine and Emily's sizes are in the "mini" range - the term just struck me as funny (and pretty accurate, not babies, but not quite big kids). The girls saw the site and want the Ariel t-shirt...great we drag them to Germany and they want to buy a Disney product.

Yesterday I bought each of the girls a pair of jeans at a store where I had not shopped before (the girls were home with their dad). I guessed on the size and, of course, the jeans were too long. I knew the store had three pairs in the next size down, but it was a Saturday and there were a lot of people there - we needed fast action. I called the store and they very nicely put two pairs behind the counter and the girls and I headed out. I threw the dresses they had worn to church over their heads, slapped on four sandals and headed out the door. I buckled Emily in and was just starting on Madeleine when she got a rather distressed look on her face. I asked her what was the matter and she wailed "I don't have on underwear!!" (I know I handed her her pair in their room.) So, I ran back upstairs, grabbed underwear, put them on her in the garage and we exchanged the jeans without further incident.

Five Raccoons, A Truck and Other Adventures

Madeleine in green and Emily in yellow.

Everyone knows when kids are quiet it is time to investigate what is going on. This is very true in our house. Whispering also warrants concern. However, earlier this summer I overheard a question that sent red flags flying up the pole faster than anything to date. Emily and Madeleine share a room and the window is fairly close to Emily's bed. In fact, one of the curtains can stretch over to the head of Emily's bed.

Recently, Madeleine and Emily were supposed to be napping. Our room has a common wall with their room and I was in our room doing something when I heard "You think I need I helmet?" (we have pronoun issues)...hitting the floor running I rounded their doorway to find Emily sitting on the edge of the curtain, which was in fact stretched across her mattress - she was facing the wall and her back was facing the room. Both girls had contributed their pillows to the large pile on the floor, strategically placed for Emily to land on I might add. Madeleine had her hands on the curtain and her feet braced, ready to pull. As I came around the corner, she got as far as "Ready, set" before I chimed in with a few questions. As near as I can surmise, the plan was to yank the curtain and pull Emily backward off the bed, where she would of course land on the pillows, but might also require her helmet. I give up.

Having had the curtain adventure snatched away from them, the girls embarked on a trip to the Pacific Northwest. Our flight got in early enough we went straight to the lake where we spent about 11 days of our two weeks.

We quickly fell into our routine of a morning boat ride in search of M&Ms. Usually, our destination was Harrison, where we could play on the playground in the park.

Emily and Grandpa. She put on her own sunglasses and shunned any assistance in "correcting" the position of them. So be it.

Captain Madeleine and Grandpa.

Madeleine, our bear friend and Emily on the Harrison playground.

We decided to make homemade ice cream this year and opted for strawberry. I can't remember if we had seen this on Curious George or read about it, but we knew salt was involved and we got to crank the handle.

Uncle Kyle cranking while Madeleine sits on the freezer.

Emily showing Uncle Paul and Uncle Kyle how to crank the ice cream.

Continuing on the sugar-based food theme, we also made s'mores. This was better in theory than practice. The girls did not want "any brown on the marshmallows", but wanted them "cooked", and thought their chocolate was utterly ruined when covered in marshmallow and put between graham crackers.

There was also some sincere concern regarding the fire component. When asked to get closer to Uncle Paul to watch the marshmallow cook, Emily responded "No! This is as close as I get." Apparently, the monthly fire drills at preschool have made an impression. (Recently one of the smoke detectors at home beeped because of a low battery. Both of the girls came unglued, insisted Till take them outside and would not come back in until I "searched" the house.)

Madeleine
Emily in pink - that was as close as she got, even then she has a rather sober expression - and Madeleine in green.

Not at all related to dessert, Madeleine and Emily got to ride in Grandpa's truck. The truck is something that has been a topic of interest for quite some time. They got to leave our driveway, drive down the private gravel road about three houses and come back to the house!

The girls also got to ride with Aunt Liz - but not in the truck. This brave soul voluntarily took the girls shopping and to lunch. They went to the mall and bought sticker earrings and princess necklaces and bracelets. The understanding was they would probably go to lunch at a fine dining establishment like McDonald's, but the peanut gallery suckered their aunt into IHOP instead. I was not permitted on this trip, so do not have pictures of the actual events - however, I truly appreciate the peace and quiet!

Liz leaves for Paraguay in a few days and will be there for a year. Upon realizing we will not see her at Christmas I was informed "that sucks" and the situation is "a bummer".

Madeleine and Aunt Liz
Emily and Aunt Liz (Em looks a bit downcast because she had suffered some sort of emotional trauma at the time of the picture - I think it involved taking turns in the hammock....)

One afternoon we were sitting on the deck when the dog got upset and tried to take off. Thankfully, she was tied to the railing, so she did not experience her desired interaction with a mother raccoon who was out and about with her five babies. The babies went up a tree and stayed put for some time, while mom stayed out of sight, but probably not too far away. As soon as we left them alone (as in not taking pictures), they went on their merry way.

There are two on the left side of the trunk and three on the right.

When we ventured back to Spokane, we went to a family picnic. My cousin Diane was there with her children, including 8 month old Tayler. Emily and Madeleine were smitten with this young lady and got to hold her (with heavy assistance) and played with her.


Madeleine in blue and Emily in pink offering toys to Tayler.

Yesterday we went to the last movie of the summer and it was a bust. However, the rest of the movies have been great and the girls did a good job making it through several in their entirety. The overwhelming favorite was Horton Hears A Who. We now own this particular bit of cinematic magic. Unfortunately, one character calls another a "boob" as an insult and the girls, especially, Madeleine think this is hysterically funny to repeat. I am not looking forward to this conversation with our preschool teachers and may try and pre-empt it by warning them in advance. This is a word we don't use and while there are others for which I should take responsibility, but will blame on Till as he won't be there to defend himself should it come up at preschool, this isn't one of them.

Big Girls and Summer

Madeleine, Sarah, Samantha, Emily, Kaitlin and Drea on the Elmo ride

The "big girls" reference is not to ourselves, but rather some 9th graders who came to visit. One of my good friends, Sarah, teaches junior high. This summer she bravely embarked on an east coast trip with three of her students. Their final stop was the "Historic Triangle" of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown before they flew out of Richmond. We got to spend time with them and Madeleine and Emily are in awe of the "big girls". My Little Ponies received braided manes and tails, the big girls came to our house for dinner and they even rode with Emily and Madeleine on some of the Busch Garden rides!!

In non-big girl news. It was with more than a bit of trepidation I was looking ahead to this summer. I have been completely spoiled by preschool and the luxury of being able to predictably and reliably run to the grocery store alone! However, it has been a great summer so far.

Madeleine and Emily participated in "Tuesday Turtles" through the county park and rec department. Each Tuesday, for four weeks, the girls would join other children at a park, make crafts, go on a nature hike and eat a snack. It seemed the program was a success as we would like to do it again next year.

Emily and Madeleine also did a week of "day camp" (Mo-Th 8:30-11:30) and will do another later in the summer. Again crafts seemed to be key, which is great as we love them.

The early part of the summer was spent with our friend Emerson at Busch Gardens, Water Country and her neighborhood pool. One day she and her mom Amy came to our house and taught us how to make strawberry mice!

Emily in pink and Madeleine in green making strawberry mice.

Madeleine, Emily, Emerson.

Madeleine, Emerson and Emily with Lincoln who decided to camp out in the bathroom sink - I have no idea why, but it amused the girls.

And...we managed to catch a movie. Regal is once again doing free kids movies and we managed to sit through an entire feature-length film. Our debut was with Horton Hears A Who. Honestly, it looked pretty touch-and-go at the beginning as the movie starts with a close-up, as in a bug's perspective, of water drops on a leaf and a rolling seed pod. This was enough to make Emily burst into tears and Madeleine whimper. I put Emily in my lap and tried to calm her down, when that did not work I began hissing loving maternal things like "Emily you are fine!", "Emily suck it up", "Emily it can't get you", "For crying out loud Emily it is a kids' movie!!"...we were not through the opening credits. However, we found the movie was about a friendly elephant and his "speck", so we survived. Madeleine burst into tears and shook at the point a character has to go the dentist and they show a close up of the numbing shot - granted it is Dr. Seuss and a bit dramatic, but the needle was not pointed at her! Anyhow, we went back and saw it again 24 hours later and managed to power through the "scary parts" - there was still whimpering.

On the Fourth we went to Busch Gardens in the morning and assumed it would be crowded. It wasn't at first! We got the characters all to ourselves!!

"Promoted"

Madeleine

Emily

Emily on the left and Madeleine on the right checking the twirling ability of their dresses (from Opa and Oma).

The three-year-olds at the girls' preschool are referred to as "Little Monkeys". As of last Friday the girls are no longer monkeys. They have been promoted to "Frogs". I took pictures of Emily and Madeleine on their first day of preschool and wanted to do the same on their last. On the first we took the pictures in front of the house, but it was too sunny to do so on their last, so we went to the parking lot Till uses at work and took pictures there (Must share this locale with local photographers!).

The "Promotion Ceremony" was nice, but the adults in our party were a bit thrown by the "Pledge of Allegiance to the Bible" (not kidding!).....We are doing some work on opening little minds to the concept that different people worship different gods and that is not only okay, but actually a good thing.

The Wednesday before "Promotion Day" was an end of the year party in the girls' classroom. The kids had fun and there was even a limbo contest - watching preschoolers "limbo" is rather amusing as no one had the proper form and eventually contestants resort to belly crawling.

Madeleine listening to directions before the beginning of the "limbo".

Emily getting under the bar in her own fashion.

Emily in orange and Madeleine in stripes

Leading up to the end of the year, we have been trying to partake in some spring time activities. I recently took the girls to College Run Farms to pick strawberries. This destination was very popular last fall, pumpkin picking, as it involves a 10 minute ferry ride to Surrey. We had a good time and, after much effort, found a row with lots of nice berries. The farm also sells homemade strawberry ice cream which was a hit. I asked if they sold green beans in the summer and on the way home Madeleine suggested they might have green bean ice cream (ugh) in the summer since they have strawberry ice cream in the spring.

Till survived another commencement weekend in which he attends three ceremonies, of some sort, over the course of two days. This year Madeleine and Emily decided they needed to partake on some level and tried on his "hat". We didn't let them near his robes, or in our house "big purple coat", as it would most certainly guarantee a trip the dry cleaners.

Emily, Ph.D.

Madeleine, Ph.D. - This particular professor was not too interested in holding still for a picture...

The day following commencement, Oma and Opa flew in for a two week visit. We went strawberry picking again, played on the playground, went to the folk art museum and played in the water at Yorktown.

Emily, Madeleine behind her, Till on sand and Oma and Opa in chairs.

Madeleine on the left (a little startled by the depth and temperature of the water) and Emily "swimming".

Emily
Madeleine

The day Oma and Opa left, Till took them to the airport and the girls and I headed to Emerson's house. Emerson is a friend of Emily and Madeleine's from school. Her family was taking care of the ducklings from Emerson's brother's kindergarten class and her mom graciously invited us over to see the ducklings.

I have to admit my favorite part was when the ducklings were put in the bathtub and literally zoomed around the water "chasing" each other. Apparently, they wear themselves out and then take a long nap - much like a couple of young ladies I know after they swim for a bit.

Madeleine

Emily

Today was the start of "Tuesday Turtles" through the park and rec department. It is a four week program wear kids learn about nature, go on a hike and make a craft each Tuesday morning. We will only attend three weeks as we have a conflict on the last Tuesday. The park where the program is located is 30 minutes from the house, so I didn't go home, but the girls had fun and I went to a nearby library branch and read in peace and quiet!