Sunday 18 March 2012

Biking and Beer Gardens :-)

We have had some lovely spring weather and today we celebrated the end of the ski season and the beginning of the biking and beer garden season by cycling to the Jazz beer garden at Grosshesselohe which was also our first beer garden last year too.  We like it because as well as being a nice beer garden, it is also a nice 10km bike ride and we meet Magda and Nigel on the way.  

Katie has suddenly become a keen and  pretty good cyclist and she was determined to pedal a lot of the way.

Speeding along. . . .    








I was interested in her reasoning for wearing her sunhat underneath her helmet - so she didn't burn her head.  Fortunately a little later she realised that this was not a good look!  She was also keen to wearing baggy too big shorts over leggings.  Funny thing.  She pedaled really well and did 6km before falling asleep in the Chariot.



Alex kissing worn out Katie through the window.

beer garden dude

Give me beer!


Dude

Still sleeping

Prost!

Waking up for beer
Alex wanted a cuddle with Nigel
It was a nice bike ride and Katie was keen to zoom really fast once we met Nigel and Magda.  It was lovely at the beer garden too and I love Beer Garden Culture! 

Katie rode a further 2km home but her lil legs just got too tired even though she wanted to go further.  We didn't complain though as we wanted to spin home fast due to approaching rain.  It's spring rain though now and feels like winter is over. 

A good day had by all.

Friday 16 March 2012

Spring has Sprung!

The last few days have seen some lovely warm sunny weather, this afternoon feeling like a hot summers day!  Of course I have taken no photos as my camera is still poorly and I forgot the big one today!

On Wednesday I was so proud of Katie.  She announced on the way home from kindergarten that it was a lovely day for a bike ride so we cycled 6km to our music group!  She cycled all the way without a whinge or whine, no falling off or crashing anything and she was just great!  We stopped to play on the playground near there for a while too.   On the way back she did a couple more km before declaring her legs were just too tired!  She fell fast asleep in the Chariot and I tied the bike on the back.  She was fab.  Good training for beer garden biking.

This afternoon we went to the Bergtierpark with a new English lady who's son goes to Katie's kindergarten.  We had a lovely afternoon and I realise the thing I like about not having to work is being able to be outside a lot and enjoying the fresh air with my small people.  Life is good.

Saturday 10 March 2012

Lovely Family Day Out!

Look at me!  Two posts in two days!  Must be the fact I have "followers"!

Anyhow, we had a great family day today.  This morning at 8:15 we set off for Lenggries to go skiing.  Well, when I say skiing, there was no skiing to be done by me or Alex, but Matt skiied with Katie who finally GOT IT!  She's been ok for a while but today something clicked and she got a surge of confidence and just zoomed!  It was a beautiful sunny day and warm too so the snow was just ok this morning for kinder skiing.  She did 3 times up the long T-bar with Matt and several times on the smaller carpet lift and drag lift.  I just wandered about with Alex on my back on tottering about avoiding skiiers.  It was such a nice morning and I was so pleased not have a whiney girl who says "I can't do it" when clearly she can.

It really isn't flat . . .

pizza! 

dude!

yeah!!!

mastering the lift







We had such a lovely morning and we were home by 1:30pm.  It felt much later. But after some cBeebies and playing outside Katie wanted to go for a ride on her bike. Well she has been able to ride a pedal bike since November but hasn't been very confident on her purple bike until more recently when her feet have been able to touch the ground a bit more.  It's also quite tricky as we have hills everywhere to get to flat, but yesterday she did quite well coming back from kindergarten on a roundabout route and today she wheeled her bike down the hill and then disappeared along the flat bit while I walked with Alex pushing the dolls buggy.  When I eventually caught up with her she was so keen and so fast I was glad Matt came and met us on a bike so he could go with her.  Like her skiing she did really well and even started using the brakes more.  She must have been exhausted tonight!



zoom
    







and I can make silly faces too








So a lovely day was had by all. Forecast is rubbish for tomorrow and Matt is skiing with Magda. 

Friday 9 March 2012

Bits and Bobs

Not much to report really.   I would have more photos but I dropped my camera in the duckpond and it's still sitting in rice hoping to work some miracles. I thought I had it round my wrist but while rescuing Alex from the edge it just slipped in.  Maybe I should have let Alex get wet instead. . . .

So, the weather has been so so. Some days nice and warm others cold and wet.   I went skiing last Sunday and it was definitely spring skiing. It got really soft.  But we had fun. Magda and I this was.  The sun came out which was a nice surprise not forecast, and it stayed foggy and dull at home so was worth the soft snow. 

Magda and I skiing




Katerina is coming along well with her German and she comes up with all sorts of mixed garble. Today she was singing nursery rhymes in German - so something like "Baa Baa Schwarz Scharf . . ."   She's quite funny.   She is learning to control her pedal bike.  On Tuesday we went to see some friends on the other side of the town where we live. It is much more bike friendly than where we are as it is all dead flat and smooth tarmac so she was happy zooming along with Jemma and Tim.  It's a bit harder here where she really needs to be able to brake in order to ride safely.  We had a practise today and she's quite tough as she falls off a lot when she panics but hops right back on.  Still not good on the brakes though except when on the flat. Not so useful. Of course I have no photos as my camera is recovering and actually it is quite hard as I am always running behind her!  But she's pretty good on the flat!

A candle holder I made!

blowing bubbles


And then there's the gorgeous Alex.  He really is a charmer and he knows it!  For the first time this week he ran into playgroup and gave Louise a big cuddle. Louise was Katie's favourite playgroup person too!   But last week they made buns and he had such a tantrum because when he had eaten his he wanted more!  Both days.  He has such a sweet tooth I have to hide cake from him as he would live on it.  Tinker.  He often wake up dead early in the morning and is hungry  Breakfast at 5:30am is not encouraged but he scoffs down two bowls of muesli and is then happy. 
Here is a bun I made
and another

Matt is fine too. Not much to say really.

And the cats . . . who knew cats were such a pain in the arse?   We didn't know how lucky we were with our lovely Kopek.  These two have some ways to go to get to his high standard but they are making progress.  Tapas is pretty much a normal cat.  She is really quite cute and cuddled up next to me now. She has a very loud purr and is becoming confident with other people too.  Jess is making progress at a snails pace, but I can stroke her a bit now and she comes up to see us more.  I think she will be quite ok in time.  They aren't best of friends since being spayed so they have to be shut up at night in separate places which is a pain as I hate cat litter trays but I think they will be ok in time.  Jess just thinks she owns the downstairs room so Tapas has to sleep in the front lobby at night.  They like going outside now too and Tapas is a great climber - far better than Kopek was. 


Jess watching from the stairs
Tapas exploring the garden


So that's all really. Off for a small family ski tomorrow at Lenggries.