Cute dog

I took Davina to the park while Ronnie had his English lesson. As soon as I saw this dog, I knew that Davina would go nuts. His name is "Dude" and the owner spoke excellent English. 

It was really hard to get these photos because he's a wiggly little guy. He's only 6 months old. 

An old post from last fall

I think these are photos from Matzenheim where we went to lunch with Daniel's cousin. Somehow, I hit draft and didn't realize it. Well, here they are! 

Talia gone this week!

It feels very strange and quiet without Talia here. There is way less laundry and dishes too. I got to sleep in this morning since there was no Talia to take to dance. 

She's on an excursion to the Vosges mountains this week; Monday through Friday. As soon as I left her, I came home to find... her toiletry bag. Oh no! No toothbrush or shower gel... I panicked, made a few phone calls. Is anyone going down there? Can I meet them en route? No, they were driving straight through (about an hour and a half). 

Finally, Daniel said he'd take it down. I had to drive it down to Benfeld and then he took off with the address and various phone numbers. He had no problems finding it and Talia grabbed it and ran off with her friends. Okay, she's dealing with the separation...

Daniel used it as an excuse to visit a cousin in the hospital in Colmar on the way home. 

She has gone on one of these trips before. They did a ski trip two years ago, also to the Vosges. It wasn't the best experience but I wanted her to do it. She got sick in the middle of the night, throwing up in her bed. No one called to let me know. I wasn't happy about it all. 

Ronnie went to Rostock last spring on the exchange. He really liked it although there were some tears the first night. He was just tired. Talia will be back Friday and the same student he stayed with  will be arriving on Sunday. So I'm going to go from two children to four next week!

Just not to cause confusion, we did host another Rostock student last year. Alex lives in Germany but he's originally from Ukraine. We got him because the next older class didn't have enough host families so we volunteered. It was a big success and it was helpful that Ronnie knew someone when he went up there. 

http://alsatianbychoice.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

Our Alpine Adventure no Volcano could mess up!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Reporting from Evian

Yes, the debate was between staying in Evian or Annecy. I voted for the later but it came down to the hotel. Daniel got a better deal in Evian so Evian it was.

Photos will have to follow because I'm on Daniel's small computer and I didn't bring the wire to download photos here. I also forgot the battery recharger so I'm going to have to be careful with photo-taking in general. I also forgot dental floss and paid 7 euros for one little container of floss. I buy that kind of stuff in Germany so it was especially painful.

It's also cold and I didn't pack enough warm clothes and I was up most of the night with food poisoning.

So far, this is not going well!

Tonight we'll go to the birthday party of the friends we met in Badenweiler. The mom, Claudia, was born the same day (she's nine hours older than I am). We also have quite a few odd details in common, including losing our fathers early and having our sons the same year (1999). We stopped at their place on the way over. They have a lovely house near Gex, near Geneva. The son is turning 11, a reality I wont have to face until August!

Easter

Obviously, we don't celebrate Easter as a religious festival but I can't object to the pre-Christian eggs and bunnies, especially in this part of the world. 

I actually brought a Passover cake made with potato starch. It wasn't a big hit and I brought most of it home. I kind of encouraged some fellow Yids to taste it, who admitted, it wasn't bad for a Passover cake. They tasted it more out of curiosity than observance.

The kids participated in the Americans In Alsace Easter Egg hunt. Luckily, the rain stayed away until just after it all finished. 

The kids were limited to 6 eggs each so here they are when they finished.

Daniel woke up in the middle of the night and basically covered the house in chocolate eggs. "Hunt" would be the wrong word. It was more of a collection but it's the thought that counts. Then, of course, he spends the rest of the day scolding the kids for eating too many :/

I like Talia's white back in this photo

Posing with the loot. I, of course, had previously bought large eggs, "Cars" for Ronnie, "Hello Kitty" for Davina and "Pet Shop" for Talia. Inside with a toy. 

Davina in her Hello Kitty PJ's, holding up her Hello Kitty egg. Inside was a stamp, which she proceeded to stamp her whole bedroom. 

That afternoon, I took the kids ice skating. I froze while they ran around. I tried not to fall while they did leaps and turns. It was great as there were hardly any people, a few die-hard skating buffs and a lot of Moslem children. 

It took me hours to warm back up...