So many muches!

At Festung Königsstein. Here they're still happy... ;)

Emotions are surging high in our family these days, what with trying to enjoy the last (for some, very last) days of Kita, going to bed later and later in sync with the sun (all four of us), managing many work projects including fund-raising (Chris), dealing with the joys and absurdities of teaching (Tanja), being both big and small, often at the same time (Oscar), and finally, being simultaneously intimidated and excited by the prospect of going to school soon (Clara). But really, the last point applies to all of us as we're trying to imagine our family and our life (and the logistics) come August.

So, it is nice to remind each other often of the important things, like Oscar did the other night when he explained why he needed yet another snuggle to help him fall asleep (see "staying up late", above): "I love you so many muches!"

... locked in one of the watchtowers!

Summer is upon us in Berlin with mostly nice and quite warm weather, and our summer vacation also keeps getting closer. The kids have only four days left at Kita, then their summer break starts. Since neither Chris nor I can take time off (I'm still teaching into the middle of July), we're hoping to ship them off to Oma for a couple of weeks. Hopefully we will be able to visit on the weekends and go to the beach a little, as well.

After that, we have only one (frantic) week before we're leaving for Canada on July 12. And when we get back, the adventure of school will begin, probably before we've even had a chance to entirely conquer the jetlag.

Invitations to Clara's Einschulungsfeier, the start-of-school party!

The first two pictures were from our trip with Opa to the Czech Republic - we stayed for a couple of days in the forest next to the Elbe river. We had a lot of fun with some walking (even Oscar!), climbing some impressive rock walls, eating, and a final visit to the famous Festung Königsstein near Dresden. Clara had so much fun climbing that we had to take her to the opening of the new climbing gym near our house. In the picture below she is sporting the t-shirt she got to decorate there herself. Even though Clara does have some fear of heights, she also has a really good natural feel for how to move up the wall. The gym was really, really nice, and it's only 10 bike-minutes from our house. Hopefully we can go back soon!

Finally, Clara's Kindergarten group took part in a neighborhood Sports Day last week, and they managed to win first place (together with another group from a different Kita) out of six! The kids were very proud (and hot), as you can see:

PS: Clara has a wiggling tooth!! Actually, a second one is wiggly already, too. And today I even saw the new adult tooth break out behind the little one that's still holding on. Very exciting times, as I may have mentioned before.