It has been a busy summer of course. Sidney spent the first two weeks of summer with her grandparents in Georgia. They spent a week at the beach and then some time at home mixed with some local travel. Last year grandma sent Sidney home with green hair after lots of swimming and not using swim shampoo. This year Kimber sent Sidney to grandma with blue hair. Kimber dyed Sidney's hair with some non permanent dye the night before Sidney was supposed to go to grandma. Sidney was to fly Southwest to Florida the day after school let out. However, Tropical Storm Andrea had other plans. She hit Florida the day Sidney was traveling and so Southwest would not let any unaccompanied minors travel to Florida that day. So Sidney had to come to work with Kimber that day along with her blue hair. To say the least Kimber and Sidney received some comments on the hair. The best comment though was that Sidney's hair was appropriately colored with Marathon colors which is now blue. Sidney did make it onto the flight the next day and grandma took good care of her hair.
Sidney has continued to make little creations out of things she either recycles or repurposes. Here you see her "cat fishing device, which had several of Shandy's mice clothes-pinned to it, as well as a little container for cat treats. There has also been her "Apollo 13" (spelled Apallo) capsule, made from a recycled cooler, and several boxes that become homes for her various animals. We have to sneak things out every now and then, or else her room would look like a warehouse!
Sidney was then home for several weeks including 4th of July. As she is getting older and more practice staying up later, and loves fireworks, Kirk took her down to Elanor Tinsley park to see the orchestra and large fireworks display. It ended up being a long day for her because it was very hot and we drug her around the zoo first. She was toasted when she got home.
Shortly after 4th of July, Kimber and Sidney departed for Germany to go visit Kimber's family. It was an uneventful over night direct flight into Frankfurt. With only carry on bags, immigration and customs were very quick. Sidney slept pretty well on the plane but Kimber didn't and she felt pretty ragged arriving in Germany. Mark and Jas met Kimber and Sidney at the airport and drove them the hour to the house. Jas is Kimber's sister, Dorina's, daughter. Mark is Jas's husband and is British. Kimber likes to stay at their house because they are fun, relaxed, and everyone speaks English. They also have 14 year old Mathew and 16 year old Katharina who are fun kids. Mark and Jas also have the biggest dog ever, Bella who is a Irish Wolfhound. She has to be 150 or more pounds. She is beautiful and looks like a hornless yak. She is of course sweet as can be. Mark and Jas also have 5 cats and a rabbit. Each animal has its own personality. Kimber loved Peach the cat who always tried to escape through the front door. She would dart out the door and down the steps, then wait at the bottom step to be carried back in. She is named Peach for her peach colored nose. Sidney loved Mumpf who would basically do nothing all day and let Sidney love all over him.
Saturday was spent going to the shop, eating and resting. Sidney found the playground and hammock. Sunday was a day of recovery. We ate and rested. I think that was the first trip Sidney made to the stream where she would strip down to her underwear and get wet. This bit of stream has seen Mathew, Katharina, and now Sidney in their underwear taking a splash. It was also our first encounter with the unpleasant stinging nettle. It puts little tiny barbs in your skin with some sort of irritant. And it does sting. If you get it on a soft bit of skin like the inside of the wrist, it can sting for hours. It easy to spot and can be avoided.
Monday was the first great adventure. The household went to a new park, the Wald-Michelbach Odenwaldbob. The two main attractions at the park were an alpine sled of sorts and a climbing forest. The alpine sled had small wheel bobs which would hold two people or one. They even had fancy stream-lined covers in case of rain or snow. You could get some super speed up to 40 km/hr on a 1000 meter course, too much for Kimber's taste or Sidney's. Sidney only went once. Kimber went twice. Once under her own power which was conservative speed and once with Mark at no brakes speed. That actually hurt because Kimber was so tense. Here is a picture of Jas passing by on the sled.
The ropes course was awesome. There were at least eight course options ranging from the very easy kids courses to the ultimate in height and speed. All of the courses were built into and around the trees in the forest. Sidney did the kids course several times and then took a break. Kimber did maybe a third of the courses while watching out for Sidney. Sidney then tried a more difficult course but had to back out. She took a little break and then was willing to do the most difficult course which really wasn't difficult from a balance or coordination perspective but was high and fast. You started by swinging maybe 20 feet on a bar across the first bit. Then you fast lined maybe 300 feet about 25 feet in the air to a platform. After that you climbed a fixed ladder while weaving between ropes, then fast lined the return. Sidney was so light that she didn't quite make it to the last platform before she started to slide back. But she did an awesome job not panicking and used the pull rope to tow herself in. Kimber was so proud of her, and Sidney came off the course on a complete high. Sidney was the only person who came off the course without a bruise, blood or rope burn. The rest of us inevitably crashed into something. After that Kimber and Sidney visited a castle.
Tuesday took us to a favorite kids and immature adults climbing spot called Felsenmeer. Kimber has been there every time she has been to Germany. Felsenmeer in English means "sea of rocks". The Romans quarried granite at Felsenmeer trying to make large stone columns. All of the reject stones, which are large refrigerator to car size boulders were left and piled along the hillside making a great rocky playground. Many are half finished or abandoned columns and other architectural bits. It is a good mile or more up over these large stones and kids and adults love the challenge of climbing your way to the top. Mark followed closely behind Sidney helping her choose a path and occasionally rescuing her. Kimber just followed behind, enjoying the interaction between Mark and Sidney. After reaching the top, we all enjoyed a cool drink before walking back down the easy way. Here is a picture Mark managed to catch of Kimber, Dorina, and Jas. No one has any idea what the conversation was about but the picture is funny.
After Felsenmeer we went to Schloss Auerbach. It is a lovely little triangular shaped castle with a large pine tree growing on one of the walls. You can climb over 100 steps to the tops of two towers. By the end of that after Felsenmeer we were all wiped out and ready to hang out at home.
Mark and Kimber started Wednesday with a 30 kilometer mountain bike ride over to Weinheim. The ride was some streets, some dirt paths and cycle paths. Maybe two thirds dirt roads, none too difficult. Kimber was riding Mathew's mountain bike which was a bit big but much heavier than any of her bikes. So Kimber was pretty ready for an iced coffee before the return trip. On the way back, Kimber tried to get up on the curb to get off the road and onto the bike path. But she didn't hit the curb straight enough and came off the bike onto the asphalt path. Kimber ended up with road rash, a black eye and a broken hand. She did ride home very carefully, one handed, after getting a lot of attention from concerned motorists, and group of kindergartners, and their teachers, who fortunately had lots of band aids. Mark took Kimber home a more gentle route as her left hand, the broken one, wasn't all that useful. They made it home otherwise unscathed. And there was no more bike riding on this trip. Here is Sidney with Katharina, the apple of Sidney's eye.
After resting and recovering Wednesday after the crash, we made a trip to the animal park. The park is a cross between a petting zoo and regular zoo. All of the enclosures are quite open and frequently have mixed groups of animals. But the best part is you can feed all of them. There are monkeys, deer, yaks, llamas, emus, etc. Maybe 100 different animals. Mathew has had a bit of skin removed by a donkey before. Katharina loves the emus. Jas loves the yaks because they resemble Bella and are huge docile black creatures. After all of this the family went to a nice country restaurant for Jeagerschnitzel. Kimber doesn't care to eat heavy foods often but loves Jaegerschnitzel with speatzel. And a picture of Mathew who would do almost anything Sidney asked. Bless his heart, even if he was not interested.
Mark and Jas took Kimber and Sidney on a tour of the Odenwald on Thursday. The tour started with a beautiful castle. Then went on to the highest mountain in the Odenwald, the cat's back, Katzenbuckel. This is an extinct volcano. The nice afternoon was spent walking, looking at some landmarks, like the volcanic quarry and an unused ski jump that is very remote, and looking for fossils. Kimber and Sidney came home with two fossils to keep and two fossils for Sidney to trade at the Houston Zoo Swap Shop. The kids can bring various things like rocks, fossils, bugs, etc. to swap for other things. Sidney loves it. We also visited a castle and took in many lovely views. And a picture of Kimber just to prove she went.
Thursday evening was spent at home grilling and relaxing as Friday meant Kimber had to leave. Kimber and Sidney got to see Dorina and her husband Ralf again as well as Carsten briefly.
Friday came all too soon for Kimber. Mark took Kimber to the airport a little before noon for her early afternoon flight. The flight started uneventfully until just crossing into the US. The pilot came on the speaker and calmly asked the cabin to prepare to land in ten minutes in Newark. They had to make an emergency landing because there was smoke in the cockpit. The plane was on the ground a few minutes later met by fire trucks. It was a fast drop to the landing. The problem ended up being a printer causing the smoke. It took nearly four hours to find and fix the problem, file a new flight plan, restock the plane, and refuel. Because it was an international flight, the passengers could not disembark. Fortunately the plane was cool and the bathrooms were in good shape. So Kimber eventually got home at close to 10 pm, about 4 hours later than she should have.
Kimber left for Reno the next Monday. Sidney stayed over in Germany for another week. Sidney went to another animal park, more like a zoo, The German Dragon Museum, and to see some giant ant hills with equally giant ants. She also swam on several occasions and I think had a really nice time with her German family by herself. Her trip home was un-eventful.
Kirk's parents came to visit for a week in early August and the next great event was Sidney's Birthday. She had her party at the Main Event in Katy which involved eating pizza and cake, a small ropes course and bowling. 9 and 10 year old girls bowling is pretty funny but they had a great time. Kimber made goody bags for all the girls which had all sorts of owl things in them. She also made owl cake pops and a large owl cake. Sidney loved it all but it was a lot of work in a short weekend. So glad we are off the hook until next year.
Now Sidney is back in school, in fourth grade. The first week was a little tough as Kimber was in Reno again. But it will steady out and we will get into the routine again. For now we are enjoying the three day weekend. We have also included a picture from when Kimber went sky diving that we had forgotten.
Kirk continues to work at his new position as a clinical research nurse on the Stroke Team at UT Health. It is a great learning opportunity, and he is involved in several really interesting projects that will hopefully lead to new and better treatments for stroke. Unfortunately, UT has a really long probationary period before vacation is allowed, so other than regular holidays here and there, he hasn't had much time off.
Kimber has also been very creative of late. After her "Button Bunny" creation, a friend introduced her to Pinterest, where she found all sorts of ideas for button creations. She found multiple pounds of buttons on Ebay, and after much sorting and cleaning, created her first new button creation - the Owl. Unlike the button bunny which was sewn onto cloth, this one is glued onto canvas. All the different types of buttons really add a lot of interest and character.As school starts back, along with Girl Scouts, Kimber traveling and working, Kirk working, etc., we will be very busy this fall. Kimber travels overseas with the church in October, and we have a trip planned to Peru for Christmas.
