Just an ordinary day

So, we've been a little quiet lately. Nothing much going on, is all.
Except for another WWII bomb finding which closed the main street near our house for a bit.
And there was that time when Marc had a business trip to Paris for the day, and I locked myself (and the kids) out of the house...at least I didn't lock a child in the house! We took refuge at the neighbours'.
Normally, things aren't that exciting. Marc goes to work, I go shopping (easy come, easy go?) I go to the gym (I'm really getting into the Step class - which is called Step Intro, but I feel like I've jumped into the deep end - I'm mixing metaphors, but you know what I mean !), I learn German, I play with Kaia, and I pick Lia up from Kindergarten. And feeding the kids seems to be a full-time occupation these days. Picky!! However, they both enjoy my meatloaf, and I can sneak lots of vegetables into it, so Kaia's eating pretty much nothing but. She also LOVES cashews and Cornflakes. And Bologna (I found some nitrate-free lunch meat, so I'm not feeling so guilty anymore! Yay!). Lia likes waffles, bread with cream cheese, peanut butter and Nutella, Tzaziki and peppers. And Special K - but not Canadian Special K, German Special K. There is a huge difference. Seriously. And I have to agree with her.

Here's Kaia enjoying her indoor sandbox (featuring Love Rice imported from Canada - it's a long story - thanks Dad!)















I'm also taking steps toward starting an English language conversation class which is very exciting! I can't wait to start teaching again.

Oh, and I had my first massage since leaving Canada. It was awesome.

A headache recently has been the lice outbreak at the kindergarten. That's been an ongoing situation for a month now. We do 2 hairchecks a day - and this on a child who doesn't stand for any amount of hairbrushing by the gentlest person with the gentlest brush on the gentlest day of year. We've washed everything we own at 60 degrees several times (some things are smaller, and white things are darker) and are living with no cushions, throws or rugs anywhere. We haven't really "gotten" lice, but there have been a few visitors from other kids at the kindergarten. So we are making it as inhospitable as possible. Lice, begone!

We have a card which gives discounts at various attractions in the area, so it's encouraging us to get out on the weekends, even in these frigid temperatures. -3 is REALLY cold! We went to Sealife and parked in the designated parking lot which is so incredibly far from Sealife itself, it's hilarious, and there was a fairly brutal wind. Add to that the ridulously long ramp (I guess it was a pretty steep incline, and there must be some very conservative German rules about the slope of a ramp for wheelchairs, because while Lia and Marc managed the stairs in about 30 seconds, Kaia and I zigged and zagged down that ramp for nearly 30 minutes, it seemed. Back and forth, back and forth...) and then being unable to find Sealife for quite a while (we were thinking that had we been on the Amazing Race, they would have shown us looking really foolish and lost, and then a closeup of the sign clearly indicating our destination which we just passed several times) we were REALLY glad to get there. The kids loved it, and we got some funny photos:




















Another Saturday we took the kids to a local pool/sauna complex, and then returned by ourselves for Valentine's Day - very relaxing and fun. They have a wave pool, a smaller pool with slides for the kids (which Kaia loved, and I was so relieved since she HATED it the first time I took her swimming), a work-out room, a warm indoor pool, a cool outdoor pool and two warm outdoor pools that have a very high salt content. And they have a huge sauna area which is pretty spectacular with many flavours and styles of saunas, as well as a steam room. Great fun for the whole family.

Lia and Kaia celebrated their half-birthdays with peach pie and a Mary Poppins DVD. They are growing by leaps and bounds, becoming more and more independent and funny. And cute. And sweet. I love them dearly, and they make even the most ordinary day something spectacular.