Can't wait to get on the road again...

So, we're back home from the 4 week vacation! I don't think it was long enough ;)

We started off in the early morning of June 27th. Claudia and Marit, who had been with us for the skiing vacation in winter, came this time as well, but only for the first week. Claudia's husband, Roy, had to stay in Northeim for work, so it was just a bunch of girls and Marten! We signed all the kids up for this Island Circus, where they would learn circusy things like tight-rope walking, riding a unicycle, juggling, and so on, in the mornings. Claudia and I took rode our bikes with the kids there, dropped them off, did some shopping or sight-seeing, and then picked them up again at 1pm when the lessons were over. We'd then make something small for lunch (usually preparing some sandwiches and wrapping them in aluminum foil), get all our beach stuff together, and spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach. Normally, our "big meals" are at lunchtime, but we switched things up a bit and made dinner our warm meal, because we were always very hungry after coming back from the beach. Maren stayed home most of the time with Miriam, but when she decided to come out with us, we would rotate baby duty, kid duty, and sunbathing duty. I preferred sunbathing duty over the other two :P

Their vacation home, with Marten out front

Marten and Merit at the beach during low tide

Marit and Marten playing in the water

Michael came up for the weekend after Claudia and Marit left, but then he went back to Northeim again to work. He and Philipp (his oldest son) drove up together on July 16th, and then stayed for the rest of the vacation. Merit continued to partake in the Circus for the entire 4 weeks, but Marten had had enough of it by the 3rd week. So our last week there, he stayed home with us in the mornings. He and Merit both got to pick out a new sport that they wanted to try, and then we alternated between going to the beach and going to the sport lessons in the afternoons. Marten did "mini motocross"... He looked really adorable on those little motorcycles. Merit, who had been asking forever to do this, finally got to try out horseback riding. She loved it a lot, and now wants to continue doing it here in Northeim, as well.

Marten on the motorbike

Merit prepping for horseback riding

The weekend after Philipp and Michael's arrival, I took a train down to visit one of "our Germans", Kristian. Since the last time I had seen him, he got married and had a son named Tizian. Tizi had just turned two in June, but since his parents are both giants, he's already the size of a four year old. It was a really great, relaxing weekend. I really enjoyed getting to know Tizi, who is just as goofy as his father. Kris and Meike got matching tattoos to celebrate the birth of their son; a cursive "T" that Kris has on the back of his upper arm, and on Meike it takes up her inner wrist.

Kris with Tizian on his shoulders

Sharing a piece of banana bread, because friends share! :)

One day, right in the middle of our vacation, it rained so horribly that we were basically under house-arrest from the moment we woke up to the time we went to sleep. It was just me and Maren at the time, and of course it was a weekend, so the kids didn't have the relief of getting out of the house for circus training in the morning. Around 4 in the afternoon, the clouds lightened up and the sun slowly began to peak out from its hiding spot. Overcome with the idea of breaking out of our prison, Maren and I threw shoes and jackets on the kids to go for a little walk down the boardwalk for some ice cream. As soon as we turned the corner off of our street, we looked up at the sky and gave each other looks of dismay. The calm that we were experiencing was only the "eye of the storm", and we both knew it. The color of the sky was exactly that which I had seen growing up on the East Coast; a threatening green. The clouds were still a slight distance away, and we had promised the kids ice cream, so we picked up the pace and trotted to the cafe. They, too, recognized the looming storm and a hectic feeling filled the ice cream stand as the workers simultaneously filled our orders and closed up shop. Maren, waiting outside with Miri in the stroller, had a look of panic on her face when I came back out. The winds had picked up drastically, and the clouds were now storming down on us, pun intended :P "We have to hurry!", she shouted, as I handed out the ice cream and put on my coat. We walked as fast as we could, but it wasn't fast enough. As soon as we got to the main road, the skies opened up. It poured down harder than it had before, and with a startled scream, Maren started jogging ahead with the unprotected stroller. I opened up the umbrella, bundled Merit and Marten underneath, and walked outside the umbrella's protection. Because of how panicked Maren looked, the kids started worrying about what was going on, so I slowed down my pace to help calm them. Maren turned around once she was about 20 meters ahead of us to see how we were doing. She and I made eye contact, and we both just lost it. She threw her hands in the air as if to say "I give up" and waited for us to catch up with her. We then all walked at a leisurely pace, and after they finished their ice cream, Merit and Marten ran around in the thundering storm instead staying huddled under the umbrella. We jumped into puddles, danced, and sang the rest of the way home. We then stripped down into our underwear as soon as we reached the front door, wrapped the kids in their bathrobes, and then went to change our clothes. I came into the living room in my PJs, to find Maren already in hers and attempting to hang out wet clothes up to dry. I noticed her shirt was already wet, mentioned it to her, and she said "Yeah, I know. Its because of my bra... I washed my other one yesterday and hung the laundry outside on the clothesline, to dry." We both started laughing all over again at the irony.

A beautiful sunset; the result of the terrible storm