2008.05.17-18. - In & Out / Guests & Hosts

This is how I always pictured the life and house of our family with 3 kids - with a lot of moving in and out, along and around - just like our last weekend turned out to be.

Julia headed for a camp out with the girl scouts under the theme of Harry Potter!
Among other things she made her own magic wand, got sorted into the House of the Slytherins, played Quidits (without broomsticks!), went on a Treasure Hunt, roasted marshmallows over the campfire, played the Leader in her Troop's Skit on stage, got all wet in the tent under a rainy night sky and almost won the House Cup at the end of the Camp.
To cut things short - had a great time.

Daniel had another den meeting with the boy scouts.

He left as a "bobcat" and came back as a "wolf" - the next step to become a real boy scout with ever challenging requirements to meet. He still has to be a little patient though because the official bridging ceremony will take place at his camp out in 3 weeks. But he had fun finishing the "Wolf Trail" anyway - revising for example how to stay healthy and safe, discuss why making choices is so important or what tools to use for fixing and building.

Sister and brother being gone, Annie was put in charge of our guests, Judit, Robert and their baby boy.

And she took this very seriously.
---- Well, most of the time (:).









Finally we got to see Alexander (the Tiny)
who set out to discover Central Europe. And who knows where he is going to stop this time? (Probably his parents.)

[P.S. - Alexander the Great was an ancient Greek king of Macedon (336–323 BC). He was one of the most successful military commanders in history, and was undefeated in battle. By the time of his death, he had conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks.]

Well, just in case Daniel gave a quick introduction to an innovative combat ship which you can easily turn into a submarine!





After we said our good-byes, we geared up for our next excursion to the Rhine (Rhein - Rajna).

The road stretching between wine hills and the river was blocked from cars, trucks and motorbikes on this day 25 kms long, inviting bikers, skaters, joggers to explore.
And so we did with Bettina & Ingo's family who again were very kind to introduce us to the local specialties.




I found it inspiring to see so many people taking this chance to "roll along" without normal traffic, stopping occasionally at beer gardens, inns and local farms which invited the "trespassers" to sit down and "refill their batteries" at their long tables.

The road was packed but rarely disturbingly full.


We covered about 15 kms - hat off for our 5 year olds, Annie and Katharina - before we returned to our "base".

The older kids could hardly wait - not because they had enough of the wheels - no, they wanted to play hockey on inline-skates in front of the house all along and finally now they got their chance .



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