More on August

The week starting on the 6th August was Steven's week of ferien spiele. He was so lucky to join a group of kids that he knew. So many of Robert's classmates where there and a lot of other children from Steven's school etc. The Monday was so hot, that I took Robert and Lara off to the pool for the day. We had a really good time and when we left, to pick Steven up and take him to Andreas' birthday party, his group were right there at the pool. So I just took him from there and went straight to the party in Liederbach.
Us S.A. girls decided to do Roxie's babyshower, as we were not sure just how much longer she would be walking. So on Wednesday I picked Heidi up and off we went to Roxie's house. Marcelle was already waiting for us. Roxy was surprised to see us all. I dressed her up in a nappy and bib and she had to drink out of a bottle. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy her shower and liked all the gifts we gave her. While she was showing Heidi and I all the baby goodies she has collected, Marcelle was photographing Lara. She took some lovely photos of my little girl.

I saw Heidi the next morning for a cup of coffee and chat and later that afternoon took Robert and Lara into town to see the Simpson's movie. This is when we realised that the movie house was closed. We then walked into town and I managed to buy Robert's new school bag.
On Saturday, we went off to Deichmann's to buy the very necessary shoes for school. Managed to walk out the shop with 5 pairs of shoes and a packet full of socks. When we got home a bit later, we found Bodo Paris working on the trimming of our trees, on the roadside. He had a huge truck which had a whole bin section which could be removed, along with an excavator which he was using to pick up all the cut branches etc. We were amazed that he had come to do this job on his own as we thought he would have a team of guys to help him. He used a chainsaw which was on an extension pole, which meant he could really reach the tall branches etc.
While he was busy doing all of this, Gerard got stuck into the huge pile of garden refuse that has been collecting within our garden and pitched it over the fence. This Bodo took away for us with all the other cuttings etc.
Gerard could only do this for a short while as we had been invited to Christina's for a braai. Christina is a girl that works with Gerard on a half day basis. She is married to a farmer and lives just outside Alsfeld on a dairy farm.
We went off to the braai and found that their house is directly over the road from a soccer field, much to the delight of the boys. The children were in their element, as Christina's dog Cindy (a border collie) had had 9 puppies 8 weeks earlier. Lara spent her whole afternoon in the puppy enclosure playing with all the pups. She just loved them so.
When the boys took a break from playing soccer, they joined Lara with all the pups. After eating the braai, we took a walk up to the cow sheds where Han Jurgen, Christina's husband, was busy milking the cows. It was quite an eye opener to see what hard work these two have on their hands. We had a wonderful time at Christina's and left quite late that night.

On Sunday, we took the kids off to the pool. It was a lovely hot day and the kids had great fun. After the pool we went to the Eudorf tennis courts. I had promised to take Robert and play with him during the week, but because of ongoing rain, we weren't able to. So we all got to play and have great fun. After tennis, we picked Lara up from Zina's and drove out to Burg Herzberg where Robert had spent one of his Ferien Spiele days. What a beautiful forest you drive through to get to the castle. The castle is also amazing and so worthwhile seeing. We did not realise that we had a castle like this in our area and so close to home. Had we known about this earlier, this would have been a place to show all our visitors that have been to see us. It has taken us 6 years to find it!!!