Hail and sunshine

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A couple days ago we had the craziest hail storm I've ever seen. It was all over in 10 minutes, but it did a lot of damage. The pellets were marble sized, with some being almost an inch in diameter. I ran out to drive the car under the car port and it felt like being shot at from above.

Now our bushes look like plucked chickens, so many branches broken and the leaves all have holes. More berries on the ground than on the bushes, too. And Finn was heartbroken to find the roof of his playhouse damaged. Neil took it off and maybe we can think of a way to somehow put a new one on. Otherwise Veronica the cow, Piggy and Sheepy will be homeless from now on.

Then yesterday, the most beautiful weather for swim class. Lily had so much fun splashing around too! She went absolutely crazy on that fast slide, people were commenting on how fearless she is. Finn is enjoying swim class, half way through the course he knows in theory what he is supposed to do to stay afloat ("arrow hands and frog legs"), but he can't really do it yet. Yesterday he put his face under water though and picked a ring up off the floor of the pool; he was so proud. We'll have to keep practicing this summer so he will be a little swimmer soon!

Sibling love

They are not always like this, though. What can drive us nutty is when they start arguing about who gets to be first. Finn started it by always wanting to be first: the first to open the door, get his shoes on, be buckled in the car, get unbuckled, have a drink, go on the toilet - you name it. Now of course Lily wants to be first all the time too. The other day we were all in the car and Neil told Finn that it is more important to be nice than to be first. Finn's instant reply:

"Lily, you be nice and let me be first, okay?" (Lily: "Okay.")

Sometimes I think he is way too smart for a 4-year-old. :)

Long weekend fun

We had a long weekend here, and it was awesome! It was sunny and warm, and we did a ton of things. Finn had his first (of 10) swim classes on Saturday, and really enjoyed it. Neil and Lily were in the pool too, splashing around. In the afternoon I went for a nice long run while Neil did a core strengthening class at the gym and the kids played at the gym daycare. I ran 18k (11.25 miles), the weather was perfect, but I sure wished I had brought some water.
On Sunday we watched our neighbours' daughter compete at a horse show, and while Finn was a bit bored (he fell in love with the letter "F" sign from the dressage ring and wanted to steal it), Lily kept on asking when it was finally her turn to ride.
Both kids have wanted to ride a pony for about half a year, so Monday morning we all went to a barn where they have gentle, well-trained ponies you can rent. We took "Felix" for a walk in the forest, and Finn and Lily took turns riding him. They had a great time!
Then it was on to a BBQ, a birthday party where our whole church was invited. We stayed for about 6 hours. :) Lots of fun, friends and food!

And - it was finally warm enough to play with the Playmobil pool and pond that Lily got for her birthday. Due to them requiring water I decided those are outside toys.

Meeting pony Felix

You'd almost think I was riding the pony myself, with that big grin on my face. :)

At the BBQ

Lily needed a snooze

"Remember, Finn, we can't eat the green!"

So, a great weekend for all and a short work week for Neil! Finn has swim class every morning at 9, and since it is at an outdoor pool we're hoping this nice weather will hold. On Saturday we might all go to Munich for an outing. I need to pick up my race package and attend a race prep meeting at 6:30pm, so if the weather is nice we might all go and hang out in a beer garden for a bit. And then, on Sunday, my first triathlon!!! I'm trying to squeeze in a short workout here and there, but nothing major this week.

Testing the waters

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So. I had been looking forward to the scheduled test swim in the "lake" (the Ingolstadt "Baggersee" is more of a dug-out) for weeks. Finally, a chance to swim in open water and try out my wetsuit. Alas, because it's been so cold here and the lake is not warm enough yet the test swim was moved to the local outdoor pool. This means my first real open water swim will most likely be the Ingolstadt triathlon in 3 weeks, which of course is far from ideal. The swim at the Munich triathlon next week will be in a pool. Oh well.
Two companies selling wetsuits and other triathlon equipment were at the pool today and you could "test swim" the different suits.
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I brought my wetsuit along (and the whole family :), but instead of getting it wet I borrowed the same model and size from the Sailfish folks. I squeezed into it and hopped in the pool. I learned a few things:

- Getting it on takes forever and involves plenty of pulling, pushing, shoving and adjusting
- Covering your hands and feet with an ordinary freezer bag helps immensely with putting it on
- I can NOT for the life of me zip it up myself, I need someone to hold the back together
- Once it's on you get pretty hot in it pretty quickly
- Luckily, I don't need help taking it off
- In the water it keeps me afloat nicely, but does restrict arm movement. My plan to switch from crawl to breaststroke if I get tired just fell through. I might have to flip on my back instead.
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I think if I can get into a good rhyhtm in the lake I will be able to do the 1.5k - provided I don't panic and head straight back to shore first. Facing the deep black cold vastness underneath is something I am NOT looking forward to. Didn't help that I happened to see pictures of humonguous fish called "Waller" that people have been pulling out of the Baggersee. Hopefully the masses of people in the water will keep those creatures away. :)
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Here are some pictures from today. It was actually nice out for a change!

The tale of the butterfly wings

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This totally deserves a post, so here goes!

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The Friday before Lily's birthday party Neil had a day off and asked me what he could do to help to get things ready for the party. Since Neil is the artist in the family I said, "How about some butterfly decorations?" I was thinking of, you know, paper butterflies hanging from the ceiling, window stickers, and the like.

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But later that day Neil took Finn to the park and they came back with a load of green willow twigs. Neil asked me for a kid's backpack he could borrow (it wouldn't get ruined), and went and got one of our old curtains from the rag bag in the basement. Then brought the willow twigs into the (just cleaned) house, and started cutting, shaping, bending, tying, and generally making quite a mess. Meanwhile I went grocery shopping, prepared dinner, made Lily's cake and cupcakes, and watched in fascination. Hours later, Finn was in bed already and Lily was going to join him soon, Neil was still working with his twigs. I could tell the "butterfly decorations" were going to be quite a bit different than I had imagined, but you gotta let a man do what he's gotta do, right!?

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I went to the pool for a late night swim, and laughed in the car half the way there (didn't want to laugh where Neil would hear it). Those wings were going to be huge!

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When I came back they were finished, and Neil showed me how well they worked. I don't think I had laughed so hard in months. Neil jumped up and down and they actually flapped quite nicely. He did say they "might be a tad big for Lily."

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So, at the party all the kids got to try them out, and they loved them! The smaller ones (Lily and Hannah) will have to grow into them though. :)

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And - Neil and Finn did make some paper butterflies for the party on Saturday morning.

Lily's birthday party

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We invited the usual birthday crowd and everybody had a lot of fun! Compared to last year it was SO much cooler outside though. Still, the games and bonfire were a hit with the kids.
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I will let you guess the party theme. :)