JFKS - First Day of 6th and 3rd

And another "oh what a difference a year makes" feeling.  The first day of school at JFKS and the kids were not one bit anxious and were every bit comfortable and ready.  They went to sleep last night with no hesitation - maybe this had something to do with staying up way too late on Saturday for our Back to School party and running around the zoo all day, but no matter, they went to sleep extra early with no butterflies or anxious thoughts.  They also both woke up raring to go and excited for their new school year.

Josie's 6th grade class is really just a continuation of her 5th grade class.  They do a looping system here where their classmates and their teacher stay together for two years.  So Josie will not only be in her same classroom but with her awesome teacher and all of her friends.  It was kind of like a long Spring break in that way and not a summer break.  She had her clothes all laid out and her FOUR bags (library books to return, backpack, school supplies and sports bag) ready.

Benjamin will be at the bottom of the looping schedule and thus will get a new teacher and all the 3rd graders will be mixed up

between the 5 sections of 3rd grade.  He really wanted to be in class with some of his best buddies, which he wasn't and thankfully didn't seem one bit phased by it.  In the end we reminded him that last year he didn't know a soul and made great friends, most of which were not in his Homeroom class, so even though his best

friends aren't in his class he will still have plenty of time to see them at recess and lunch.

Now Marty and I are back home, I'm still cleaning up from our party and Marty is doing some work. The house is so SO strangely quiet and I'm not sure if I like it or not.  New routines are hard at first for everyone.  Normally the first day of school I'm so ready for the kids to be back and for me to have a bit of quiet to my days but this year I could have used a few more weeks of this glorious summer.  Granted, the summer break here is

only 7 weeks long compared to the normal 10+ in Seattle but the kids are getting older and are just a lot more fun to have around.  Hoping for a great day for both kids.  I cannot wait to hear all about their days in a few hours.

 And HERE is a flashback to Josie's first day at JFK

And HERE is the link to Benjamin's first day.
They both look so young!  Crazy how much they grow, in every way, over one year.
Here's to the best school year yet!!!

Back to the Zoo

Last year around this same time we bought our family a yearly zoo membership as we were anxiously waiting to find out if he would be accepted into JFK school or if he would attend another local school.  It was a stressful time but also a really nice time.  It was just him and I for nearly two weeks as we waited for him to be accepted and then be able to start school.  We have so many fun memories there together.   We lost count but we probably went there no less than 7 times over the course of two weeks.

  I've said it many times before that I am not a Zoo person or a Zoo fan.  After having spent quite a bit of time in Kenya and Uganda I have never really enjoyed going to zoos and have always felt sorry for the animals being cooped up in these relatively small cages.  I guess one could argue that a life in a zoo is pretty sweet for wild animals as living out in nature is much more challenging and dangerous but you could also argue that it is much more fulfilling, exciting and satisfying.   However, I have come to really love the Berlin Zoo.  Partly due to the fact that the

way it is set up allows you to feel much more in touch with the animals.  Their enclosures border on being maybe a bit too little or too unobstructive.  But the other really important reason that I love this zoo is because of all the time Benjamin and I spent there together last year.
Because our yearly membership was expiring soon we decided a trip to the zoo should be our last day of summer activity.  This time we invited our friends and old neighbors, Nils and Aurora to join.  What a difference a year makes.  Last year at this time we hadn't even met them yet even though they lived right behind us.

Back to School Bash

Before we left for Seattle, Marty suggested we throw a back to school party to utilize our enormous deck which we just have not used nearly enough.  We finally got some furniture out there and so we took a family poll on who really wanted a back to school party and unanimously voted to go ahead with it. 

We originally had a list of 75 people but I vetoed that idea and declared that was MUCH too large (foodwise) for me.  We narrowed it down to about 50 of our favorite people and around 40 were able to come.

We borrowed some party supplies from friends and got most of our supplies via bike/bike basket and backpacks.  Yes, it was a pain in the rear but I'm constantly amazed at how much I can haul, just me and my bike.    We borrowed our friend Fionnaula's car for the drinks though, because that would have been nearly impossible.  Throwing a party in Berlin is MUCH cheaper than in the states even if it is more work to actually get the supplies.  For

44 (.51 liter) bottles of beer and 8 bottles of wine it was only 57 Euro!  The alcohol is crazy cheap here!!  On the other hand, three teeny tiny bags of ice were 12 Euro, so maybe it all evens out in the end.  Good thing we had the foresight to save the ice from their ice excavating a few days before.

One of my requirements for food was for something that I could make ahead of time and something that would freeze if not eaten.  I came upon a veggie chili that I make frequently and found a great, new to me, meat chili recipe. Marty says the meat chili was one of the best things I've ever made.  I used this recipe but improvised quite a bit (couldn't find Anaheim chilis or fire roasted tomatoes or chipotle pepper sauce. Plus a little more of this and a little less of that but pretty much followed the recipe.)
Both chilis were made during the week so that the day of the party all I had to make was an ENORMOUS vat of gaucamole.  What is a party without Gauc?!   I also made a huge thing of

Caprese salad and a tomato, cucumber, red onion salad.

Maybe Josie's work on Overcooked is transferring to the actual kitchen as she was quite a help with making the guacamole and setting up the cookie platter.
Marty and Benjamin

set up Cornhole in the back yard. The cornhole game was hand made by our wonderful former downstairs neighbors who sadly moved back to New Mexico but left us their game.
Our friends showed up and we ate and talked and laughed and

drank and caught up after the summer and the kids played games. It was the perfect weather to be out on the deck.  What a lovely night with friends.  It is so strange to think that only a year ago none of these new friends existed in our lives.  So SO thankful for all of our new friends here in Berlin!!

Summer Ice

The kids have been trying to come up with fun craft ideas to work on these last few days of summer.  One of their ideas was a cardboard "clothes folder"  Benjamin was very excited to demonstrate its functionality.  Haha!!
They also really wanted to freeze a bunch of small lego pieces and toys in big tubs of water in the freezer and then excavate them.  We have done this many times in Seattle when the temps drop below freezing we would put toys in large plastic

containers and leave them outside overnight.  The next day they would take small tools and chisel their toys out of the ice.  It took more energy to freeze them in the freezer but it was much more enjoyable to excavate on the sunny deck, that is for sure.
And then after they got their toys out Marty and I decided to keep the ice intact and reuse the hunks of ice in our beverage coolers for our upcoming party.
The other nightly or morningly (is that a word?) activity is this new video game called Overcooked.  Marty even plays it.  I'm not really a video game player.  But I have to half laugh half cry when I overhear them playing this.  It is a cooperative game where they work as a team to get a certain number of meals out (they have to gather the ingredients, chop, cook, avoid rats, etc.) to the hungry customers.  Their conversation goes something like this: Hurry, get the tomatoes. No, not the mushrooms, the tomatoes.  Chop them,

hurry.  Come on, chop the tomatoes.  Uh-oh.  The soup is burning.  The SOUP IS BURNING.  Grab the soup.  Someone do the dishes, Hurry, Someone, do the dishes.  Oh, no... the rats, watch out, here come the rats.  It is funny, until they yell at each other so much that someone's feelings get hurt. But I really like that no one is shooting anyone and they are working together as a team.  It would be nice if they wanted to transfer their cooking skills over to real life and help me in the real kitchen 😄

Abenteuerspielplatz Day 3

We headed back to the Abenteuerspielplatz in Prenzlauer Berg for our final visit before school starts.  This time Benjamin's best buddy, Clayton, and his little brother, Gavin, also joined us.  Benjamin was thrilled to have some friends joining and was equally as excited for the cooler temps because that meant they would likely open the shed for building materials. Josie is excited because her friend, Ella, and a couple of other girls she had met previously there are also at the park. 

We met up at the Sbahn and rode into the city together.  Once there they were off and running and barely said goodbye.  I headed to the nearby park and read my book in peace for a few hours.  I finished Handmaid's Tale and am now reading The Power.... talk about whiplash of the mind.  Both books are good and mostly I'm just happy that I'm finding time and energy to read again.
Our friend, Hollis, brought her three boys to the

Abenteuerspielplatz and she and I shared food and a beer at the Indian restaurant next door. Sadly, Hollis and her family are moving back to the States on Thursday so this will be our final Berlin

outing before they take off.
Again, the entire 5+ hours I don't hear a word from the kids.  When I go to pick them up at 5:30 they seem to be having a ball and don't want to leave.  We eventually make our way out and onto the train to head home.  Abenteuerspielplatz success for a third time. 

Happy, tired, sweaty kids at the end of the day

Loving Life at the Lake

Often times our life here feels like a very long vacation.  Mostly this is due to Marty's work schedule and demands being so completely opposite of what they were while in Seattle.  Not only does he work later in the afternoon rather than the very first thing after (sometimes before) the sun rises but he has somehow managed to squeeze his usual 5-6 hours of "outside of radio work" into about 1-2 hours.  Partly this is due to the fact that he has delegated to his amazing assistant who has managed to not only hold down the fort while we are away but take on so much more of what Marty used to do.  Another big factor is that he can work completely uninterrupted since everyone in the Seattle area is asleep during our day he doesn't get new things piled onto his plate.

Because even our weekdays feel much like weekends or vacation especially during the kids' school holidays, the weekends don't hold as much allure.  Although on Sunday it really did feel like we were on vacation.  We woke up late and decided to ride our bikes to the lake via Mexikoplatz which is where we normally stop for pasta and ice cream.  However the ice cream place doubles as a breakfast buffet in the mornings.  When we used to travel to Berlin on vacation in the summer we all relished in the fact that every morning we would be treated to the most awesome breakfast buffet.  So living here we have missed that and this little ice cream shop/breakfast buffet in Mexikoplatz was just the thing to make us feel even more on vacation.
After we've stuffed ourselves we continue another 8ish minutes on our bikes back to Schlachtensee.  Since returning to Berlin this summer we have spent more time at this lake than probably anywhere else.  We have so enjoyed swimming in the cool water and taking the edge off the hot, stagnant air.
We swim around for a few hours and then decide to ride back, shower, chill for a bit and then bike to a great Greek restaurant for dinner.  We eat out a LOT more here because it is just so cheap to do so.  Eating out here is EASILY half what it would cost in Seattle.  We end the wonderfully relaxing Sunday with a stop by the local Eis (ice cream) cafe before coming home and sitting on our deck reading our books.  Awwww.  Summer.  I. LOVE. SUMMER.  Always have and always will.  One more week before the kids start school.

Readers - Two of Them!

 The kids have been the MOST amazing readers over this summer vacation.  We had 7 weeks total.  Four weeks we spent in Seattle and then we have had two weeks back here in Berlin with ONE more week left before summer starts.  Each of them were allowed to check out 10 books for the summer break.  This is the coolest idea and I don't really know many schools that would do that.  Normally we just would head to the Seattle Public Library over the summer which is great but there was something about having a bunch of books on hand at your disposal that really prompted them to read and read and read. 
With 6 weeks of vacation under our belt Josie has read (some of them were a reread) all 10 of her checked out books.  She is now

reading a book she downloaded onto her Kindle from the Seattle Library and thinks she will probably finish it before school starts.
Benjamin has read 5 Percy Jackson  novels along with a bunch of other Greek Mythology books.  I actually limited his Percy Jackson books to 5 when we left school because I figured that there was NO way he would be able to finish 5 whole books in 7 weeks.  Well, he has proven me wrong.  He is really the kind of kid that really REALLY gets into something and then it is hard to pull him away.  He can read around any kind of

noise or on the bus or the train or really anyway.  It is quite remarkable.
So SO thankful for my readers.
I have mentioned that last year I read a measly two books which was such a disappointment.  I loved to read but last year my brain was so full with the move here and then taking German language classes that I just didn't have much bandwidth left at night to read.  Well, in the two weeks we have been back I'm nearly done with two books.  Just trying to keep up with the kids.  😉