Back to School

Quick update before the weekend.  The past weekend and week were pretty uneventful.  Did a little school shopping over the weekend for the kids at a German shopping mall in Bayreuth, which is a town north of here.  Elise is growing at an alarming rate.  Typically Carissa buys all her clothes for the fall the during the Spring sales, and has been pretty accurate with predicting what size she'd be by the time school starts.  This time it didn't work out so well and Elise had pretty much grown out of all her clothes.  For example, she was wearing size 4 shoes last winter (and up until a few weeks ago) and now measures at a size 7.  I'm surprised she doesn't have permanent foot damage.  Anyway, we got her some new clothes and Lydia has a huge pile of hand-me-downs that she was very excited about.  Haaken got one new outfit at the PX.

School started on Monday and both girls are in a mixed grade class.  Lydia has Ms. Fife, who teaches a 1st/2nd grade class and Elise has Mrs. Friedrichs who teaches a 4th/5th grade class.  We were excited about this because Elise's school in Stillwater does the same thing and it seems to allow kids to go at their own pace a little more.  Both girls were very excited to be at school and like their teachers so far.  Lydia told me that she was really happy about school starting because she was sick of playing Legos at home everyday.  The kids are taking the bus now, although the bus stop is a good 10 minute walk away, through the neighborhood, down a big hill, and then across a very busy and dangerous street, which means I've still got drop off duties.  Our first day we were happily surprised to find out that there is a new American family in the neighborhood with a 4th grade girl who is in Elise's class.  Elise and Daniella have become fast friends which is nice.  Lydia is basically a rock star around the base - seems like everywhere we go her classmates are yelling out "LYDIA!" so she's doing well in the social department too.  Soccer started for Elise last week so we have that on Tuesdays and Thursdays now and then Haaken and Lydia start up in a couple weeks which will be Mondays and Wednesdays.  Once that starts it's going to be a little nuts running around M-Th, but the kids are excited about it and it gets us out of the house.

First Day of School

Waiting at the Bus Stop

We're off!

We found out some really good news this week regarding Haaken.  We had been wanting to get him into a German Kindergarten (ages 3-6) so he can get something out of this whole experience, but had been told at the only Kindergarten that was open in August (the other 2 were on holiday) that a new law had been passed regarding children that have 2 non German parents could not attend.  Apparently they are running out of room here in Grafenwoehr.  On Wednesday the other two opened up so I went to inquire with them just to see if I'd get the same answer.  The first one was here in town and they said they couldn't take him, but recommended that I go to a neighboring village and ask there because they weren't affected by the law.  As luck would have it, a family had just informed this other school that they were moving and so they do have room for Haaken.  We are very excited about this opportunity for him - the teacher told me that most American kids that go there are pretty much speaking German by Christmas.  The only downside is that I lose my little buddy all week (he'll be going 5 days a week from 8 until 12:30).  The upside is that he'll learn German, and I may be able to do some volunteering in Elise and Lydia's classes and have some contact with some adults other than Carissa.  We have to figure out a way to keep his language skills up when we get home too so it doesn't all go to waste.

We are headed on another short trip this Sunday - Wednesday to Rome.  The dates are a little weird and the time a little short due to getting an incredible deal on plane tickets, but we will have 2 full days there and one morning so it still should be great.  I'll be sure to provide a more timely update after that trip.