Catching Up on News

The weeks are just flying by and we are right near the end of March already. Now to catch up on the last two weeks of my life.
On Monday 12th Gerard flew to France to a Euro council meeting. He only spent one evening away and was back at 9.00pm on Tuesday night.
He then had a meeting with Russian people in Eisenach and had a management meeting the following day in Eisenach so he decided to spend the night up there.
I went to Heidi on that day to do gym and the only exercise we did was exercise our tongues and drink Heidi’s milk coffee. It was just nice to catch up as I haven’t seen much of Heidi due to her teaching programme.
On Thursday, Lara went to Zina’s and when I went to fetch her, they had arranged to do the light athletics outside. I got there just in time to see Lara running around the track. I was absolutely amazed to see her keep going, while all the others would stop and walk for a bit.
Gerard had three days leave due to him and if he did not take them by the end of March, we would lose them. So on Friday it was great to wake up and have him with me for the day. He took Lara off to Kindergarten and came back and took me off to Romrod for breakfast. Unfortunately, the café there was closed, so we ended up coming back to Alsfeld and having breakfast in Café Rahn.
A bit later in the day, he had promised to do some DIY around the house and he dutifully got onto the roof and cleaned moss off the tiles and cleaned out gutters. What a job!!!
We had had wonderful weather this whole week – really felt like Spring.
We had a nice sleep in on Saturday morning. After a late breakfast, we went off to the boys old Kindergarten where they had a flea market. I managed to get a couple of things there. We went onto AEZ to do grocery shopping and landed up ordering a sweeping machine for me. Something I have always wanted.!!!!
Gerard and I promised to take the kids to the pool on Sunday. We went to the wave pool in Lauterbach as the kids love it so much. We only left home at about 1.30pm. It was the fullest we had ever seen it – every other parent must have had the same idea . The children however had stacks of fun and spent the whole afternoon in the pool and on the supertube.
On Monday, we headed of for Giesen. We had an appointment at the Kinderklinik for Steven. This was for his blood pressure to be checked out. I had packed his bag in case of him having to stay overnight. Lara came with us as we had no idea how long this would all take, and Robert had a key for the front door for after school.
On arriving at the hospital, we were told to go to the Poliklinik and to find this we had to follow the green strip on the floor. We seemed to walk for ages and then arrived a queue that stretched out the doors of the Poliklinik. We waited for ever, only for the receptionist to tell us that she had no record of Steven’s appointment. She sent us upstairs to another ward, where they in turn, did the same thing. Eventually, we got to see a doctor who asked the necessary questions and proceeds to take Steven’s blood. Three puncture wounds on both arms later, and one very tearful little boy, we were sent off to the X-ray department. There, they do a sonar on his kidneys which lasted about ¾ of an hour. To our horror, they have found that Steven has one kidney that is much smaller than the normal kidney. But the more serious problem is the artery entering the kidney – this apparently is too narrow. They feel that this could very well be the underlying cause of his high blood pressure. They are now going to do an Angiogram on 30th March and assess what needs to be done.
On Gerard’s last day of leave, he took me to the Chinese restaurant for lunch where we had a really nice meal. Lara went to Halligalli in the afternoon as it was Jana’s (a little girl from Kindergarten) birthday.
On Wednesday morning, we woke up and it started to snow. It wasn’t long before everything was covered white and everything looked so pretty. It didn’t last long though and it was all melted.
The next day, we woke up to even more snow than the previous day. I went into town and bought Lisa’s birthday present of a book and pony. Found Lara a nice Ballet bag which she can use for light athletics as well. Managed to find myself a nice handbag at the same time.
That afternoon, I took Lara and Zina off to Light athletics which was held indoors. For the first time, I had to contend with someone else’s child who did not want to participate. Did not know quite how to handle the situation. Eventually Lara started to cry because her friend wasn’t with her and Zina relented.
On Friday I collected the necessary referral form from Dr Becker’s rooms for the hospital. I called in at Bell to see Gerard but he was in a meeting. Posted the one referral form to the Poliklinik. We watched American Idols and were stunned to see who was voted off.
On Saturday, Lara’s kindergarten had an open day. We went at about 3.00pm which was an hour before it finished. Gerard and I sat and drank coffee and ate cake while she played with her friends. That really made her day so I was pleased that we had made the effort. We then did a bit of grocery shopping and got some McDonalds take aways for supper. Robert was staying over at Alex. I went a fetched Heidi and brought her over for the evening. She seemed to quite enjoy the Dancing on Ice Gala show.
Gerard flew off to England on Sunday morning. I then had the joys of taking Steven to a soccer tournament and then Robert had his tournament in the afternoon. My whole day was consumed by football once again!!!! Even though both boy’s team’s lost all their games, all the children were awarded with trophies. That just made their day!!!!

Keeping Fit and Sightseeing

Well the last couple of weeks just seem to have flown past. I can't believe that we are now in the middle of March already. Marcelle's countdown to South Africa means her trip is getting closer and closer - only a month to go.
Think she will be so fit that it will put me horribly to shame.
I had arranged, the week before, to meet up with Azam and Beata for coffee. This was our second attempt as I had tried for this meeting to happen on the 13th Feb and unfortunately, due to misunderstanding, it never happened. So, on Tuesday 6 March I picked Azam up and went to meet Beata at the Cafe near Herkules. She was there waiting for us and it was great to see them both again and catch up.

Lara went to dancing in the afternoon and this time it took place. On Wednesday I went to Heidi and did another round of Pilates excercises. The boys went to light athletics in the afternoon. When I went to pick them up, I could see that Robert was upset. They had received certificates and Steven had received a gold medal and Robert a silver. Robert felt that this was grossly unfair. Here we go again!!!!!!
Took them both to soccer practice.
On Thursday, Gerard brought Zina home and I took both girls to light athletics in the afternoon. They always have such fun there. That evening, I joined Marcelle at her Ball class. Well, she certainly put us through our paces.
On Friday, Gerard came home at lunch time as usual. Whilst he was here, our doorbell rang and Steven ran to see who it was. When I went to see, there was Pamela standing at our gate. As I walked towards her, I asked her how she was and where her children were. She dissolved into tears and told me she had left them.
She was distraught, so I showed her in and made her a cup of tea. Gerard decided it was his time to disappear and left in a hurry. Spent the whole afternoon chatting to her and listening to her tales of woe. I offered to put her up until she was ready to go back. I changed Robert's linen on his bed and put her in there, because Robert had already invited Alex to spend the night. The boys all piled into the sleeper couch.
On Saturday morning, we all got up late and had a late breakfast. Robert and Alex had been to soccer in the morning and their team came 5th out of 6 teams. They seemed a little happier. In the afternoon, Steven was playing a tournament in Ruhlkirchen, so Pam and I joined the boys in watching the game. Stevie's team played well and came 4th out of 8 teams.
WE watched Dancing on Ice on Saturday night and Pam made a call to Klaus. She arranged with him to come and fetch her on Sunday morning at 11.00pm.
I had told her that we were going to Kassel (which is more than half way back to Einbeck, where they live) and that he could meet us there. But she preferred it that he came to our house. We all got up quite late and had another late breakfast. Klaus arrived at 12.00pm and then we all had tea together. By the time we left for Kassel it was 1.15pm.
AFter phoning Heinz Halter (for directions), we drove into Kassel and up to Wilhelmshohe where we walked to the Oktigon. It was all under renovation, so the statue was all covered up and there was scaffolding everywhere. The water features that usually run, were also switched off which was quite a pity. It was an amazing place to visit and see the views of Kassel city and see the palace in the distance.
We walked down a few levels but decided we would never be able to walk the whole way down, only to have to walk the whole way back up again. Thought of Marcelle with all the steps she is doing. We drove down and found our way to the Wilhelmshohe Gardens and palace. Beautiful to walk through and see everyone enjoying the outdoors and sunny weather. The boys were kicking their soccer ball while we walked around the gardens. A lovely end to our week.

Photos of The Herkules Monument in Kassel

Need to get Fit

To recap on the past couple of weeks, I have been listening to my friend Marcelle, who is on a get fit kick at the moment. She is wanting to be fit and toned by the time she goes to S.A. on holiday in a months time.
Heidi and I chatted and Heidi is also feeling the same way, so we decided to meet at her house and do Pilates and then come to mine and do toning, using the few gym gadgets we have here. So on the 27 Feb I went to Heidi and did Pilates. The next day, I was o.k. but boy oh boy, did I start to feel muscles etc. the following day. Could really feel the effects of our gym excercise which I felt was a good thing. When I got Lara to dancing classes that afternoon, her teacher called it off, due to only Lara and another little girl being there. Rather disappointing.
On Thursday, Heidi and I had planned to meet here for some gym but I got a call from Gerard saying that Lara had missed her Kindergarten outing to the bakery. He had decided to go and have his blood tested, arrived at the Kindergarten late, and all the kids had left for the station already. What a disappointment for Lara. I picked her up from the office and went on to fetch Heidi. We did our gym thing together and I took her back home. Later on, Claudia arrived to fetch Lara and take her home to play with Zina. After they had done athletics, she brought Lara back home for me.
On Saturday, Gerard, Lara and I headed off for Frankfurt. It was the first trip out that we had made since getting back from S.A. Robert was with Alex and Steven had gone to play football. We had a lovely day in Frankfurt, shopping at the British shop, going to Kaufhaus Galleria, finding the Australian shop and then finding it closed, having KFC for lunch and then coming back home.
On the Sunday, the boys had a full day of soccer. Steven played in the morning and their team won their tournament. Robert was playing at Nieder Gemunden in the afternoon and we all went off to watch. Their team lost and Robert was very upset.
Can someone please tell me how to tell a child to lose gracefully????

Faschings Photos