Look Who Lost Her First Tooth!

 Look who lost her first tooth! Unfortunately she lost it unknowingly while eating an apple, and we are pretty sure that she swallowed it.  She was pretty worried about not having a tooth under pillow so she wrote the tooth fairy this sweet note. I love my little Boo.

Brooklyn got some fairy jewels, a note, and some Euros.  

Into The Zoo

We decided to head into the zoo one weekend. It is only a 20 minute bus ride and you are there.  It was one of the most beautiful zoos I have ever seen. The greenery was incredible, and every detail was seen to.  Plus they must not have the lawsuits here that they have in the US because we were able to get incredibly close to the animals. It was great! The zoo is in the middle of the city, in a place called the Tiergarten. The Tiergarten in a lot like central park.  It is 550 acres of forest in the center of Berlin.  It  was preserved to be used as  hunting grounds for the King of Prussia.  Now it is full of parks, and the zoo. 

The Chicken and Rooster House

It took me a few minutes to realize that they goat on top of the hill was real.  He was holding so still.

There was also a petting zoo, and a really cool playground

The Giraffe House

First Day of School, Einschulung, and the Tute

So . . . getting the kids signed up for school was traumatic enough. It is forever far away.  It takes 2 buses plus a 20 minute walk just to get there.  And the week before school we dragged our jet lagged bodies there 3 days in a row, for school tours, back to school nights, and new student orientation.  It was the afternoon before school started and I thought I was good to go. The school bus could transport the kids to the school and I could sit and relax.  WRONG!!  I was informed by my neighbor that there was a Einschulung ceremony for Brooklyn in the morning.  Which is a HUGE deal.  1st grade is like Kindergarten in Germany.  So to mark the

entrance into 12 years of school there is a Einshulung ceremony, and at this ceremony the parents must present the children with a tute. A tute is a massive cone filled with toys, candy, and school supplies.

I was freaking out.  I had no way of getting to the school, the stores in Germany close at 5:30, and the stores around here are just small shops.  There is no such thing as one stop shopping. So with only a  few hours to buy and fill a tute I took the bus to a place called Mcpaper and the Eurostore (dollar store) and. . . . $80 later we have a tute!  Plus my sweet neighbor arranged a ride for me.  It was with a single dad that I had never met before but desperate times call for desperate measures!

My 4th Grader.  AAaaaah she is so old!! And so darn cute! Her teacher is from England.  Hallie is determined to have a British accent by the time we leave Germany.  She wasn't kidding either it is driving us all nuts :)

My Cutie Pie's at the bus stop.  Hallie was allowed to take the bus on the first day, but Brooklyn wasn't able to take the bus until the second day. Apparently Einshulung isn't considered a regular school day.

Boo was extremely excited about getting her own locker.

Brooklyn in her class waiting for the ceremony.

All the Tute's before the big event

So the kids had to be at school at 8 am. Then there was a coffee for the parents while the kids went to class.  The ceremony wasn't until 11 am. So I had to hang out with my ride for several hours.  He was extremely fun and nice, it was just a LONG time to be hanging out.  So I was so glad when it was finally time to start.

Boo and her Tute. Just yesterday she had never heard of it, now suddenly she is walking off with a massive cone full of toys and candy.  Lets just say she was pretty happy.

Brooklyn felt pretty cool after her ceremony. It was very cute! See that Tute was huge! It took a lot to fill it. 

Brooklyn with some of her Tute loot.

Even  though it was really stressful I am so glad that we were able to take part in the Einschulung Ceremony.  Cultural experiences like this was the reason why we wanted to move overseas.  It was fun to be able to participate so soon after getting here.

The Kids Schule (School)

Getting the kids signed up for school was a little crazy.  School started 5 days after we got here and we still hadn't signed them up, or decided which one.  It came down to the exclusive german public school that was german immersion (1/2 day English, 1/2 day German) that wasn't too far away. Or the affluent english speaking private international school that was about a 35 minute drive away. In the end we decided to go with the private school, and I think we made the right decision.

It is called the Berlin Brandenburg International School.  It is in a town called Kleinmachnow which is between Berlin and Potsdam.  It is set back into the trees and has a lot of history.  It used to be Hitler's Secret Weapon Testing Headquarters (kind of creepy, but kind of cool).  It is protected as a landmark and so it still has the original marble floors, stone walls, etc. but it has been transformed into a beautiful school. There are 4 houses (buildings), and grades preK-12 are all spread out between the 4.  Each building is connected with semi underground gothic tunnels.  The kids think that it looks like Hogwart's so they love it.  Apparently there are also a bunch of secret tunnels that run well below the school.  They give tours occasionally, I really want to go on one.

The gymnasium is a new building across campus.  It is stunning, and it where Berlin's pro basketball team practices in the evenings and weekends.

BBIS is an IB / PYP program.  Which is awesome.  They do not believe in timed testing, teach to the test, or homework.  Homework is optional and only given to teach the kids how to work independently at home (Which outside of reading at home they have several studies that show that homework is not productive) YAY!!!!!!!  All of the things that I hated about the school in Leesburg. Their program is similar to montessori in that they believe in playing while learning, hands on learning, and ensuring that learning is fun. (and somehow they still manage to have successful graduates :) Okay enough of my snarky comments:)  The girls get german instruction for an hour everyday, which they love!

Here is the campus.  The school owns the lake (also where Hitler tested weapons, shudder) as well as the surrounding forest.  The 3 buildings that are to the far right are the "houses" they are where all students have their classes.  The other 3 buildings are the boarding school and offices.

This is part of the playground.  They have several playground teachers that are there to play with the kids. It is great! One of the teachers sat and ate Brooklyn's sand pie's throughout the entire recess.  Also there are real toys like bikes, wagons, scooters, you name it.  The only thing I don't like is the sand which is why the kids have  "house shoes" shoes that are only worn inside.  They change their shoes before and after recess.

This is the cafeteria where they have catered meals that are fresh and amazing!  The only downside is that the German diet is very potato heavy and so Brooklyn has to take a lunch from home.

The only other difference in schools here is that there are no crazy rules.  If it is your birthday you can bring in cake, ice cream you name it.  They encourage parents to come in classroom as often as they want. They also encourage parents to come in and teach about different religious holidays, and cultures, including food. Which I really like. They allow friends to come to school with you for  few days, if you would like (so come visit and bring your kids)  And they have snack time 2 times a day, and they aren't just crackers.  Kids bring in sandwiches,  cinnamon rolls, etc. As you can imagine Brooklyn and Hallie loved this idea:)

It's Off To Germany We Go!

So flying to Germany was pretty horrible.  It all started with the dog.  Miley is small enough  to fit underneath the seat of the airplane.  Which every airline on earth charges only 150 per flight for this service.  Every airline that is except for British Airways.  Which starting this year is the only airline that State Dept. will let you fly with.  They were completely unwilling to work with us.  It didn't matter that I found flights cheaper with another carrier that has contract with state they didn't care.  If you are flying to berlin you must go take the British Airways flight.  GRRRRrrr Bureaucracy! So . . . we bought Chris a ticket with Lufthanza, and I flew on my first international flight, which was also a red eye with the 2 girls on British Airways. This sounded like a good idea to me until I realized that I had the 2 girls as well as 9 suitcases, plus 3 carry ons!  We were packed into that rental car like sardines.  Plus Chris flew out 5 hours before us so I had to figure out how to drop off the rental car, and check us in with all of our luggage. Thank heavens for sky cap!!

Once I got the luggage figured out we made our way on the plane. The kids were being really good, and we hunkered down for the night.  H-May slept for the first 3 hours, Boo slept for the last 3 hours, I did not sleep for any of it, and to make matters worse I started getting sick halfway through the night.  Sick, sick, I mean nauseated, running to the bathroom every 30 minutes sick (Jenn and Raelynn, I totally jinxed myself) 

We made it to London and were all exhausted.  I had packed some clothes for us to change into. At the time I was in sweats and the girls were in PJ's but what I thought was a gate check of our carryons turned out to be a regular check so we would not be seeing our clothes until we landed in Germany. I was still really sick, but luckily the girls we extremely good and played until our next flight. I really did not want to get back on that plane, I kept trying to think of a way that I could get a hold of Chris and make him take a train and come pick me up.  But Chris was somewhere in Europe with out a cell phone so I forced myself on the plane.  The next 2 hours consisted of fanning myself with the emergency procedures card with 2 open barf bags on my lap. I made quite the spectacle.  But I managed to make it to the bathroom every time so I still had some dignity left.

Once we landed in Germany I found another obstacle.  That darn luggage.  Chris had assured me that I did not need to change my money until I got to the embassy, and that he would be waiting for me to help me with my bags.  BIG FAT LIE :)  I got off the plane and to my horror discovered that the smartcart machine only took Euros, there was no place to exchange my money and I had to get through customs with my luggage before I could meet up with Chris.  Again we had 9 very large suitcases, 3 carryons. It was physically impossible, and there were no workers to be found, anywhere. And to make matters worse the bathrooms were on the other side of customs and I was still feeling really sick.  I wanted to cry. Thankfully after about 20 minutes, and who knows how many prayers I saw a small window and Chris was standing on the other side. I got his attention and he found a way to get me some money so that I could get 3 smartcarts and get through customs. So after traveling for who knows how many hours we made it to Germany in our sweats and dirty nightgowns at 3 pm. Phew!

 Back Seat

 Front Passenger Seat

Back Seat

The First Few Days

 We live right next to the Grunewald,  in Dahlem (has the red A).  It is literally a 1 minute walk and we are in a huge forest. It is pretty amazing.

Since we were all really, really, jet lagged we decided to eat out. This little gem is right next to our house.  The food was AMAZING, but really expensive.  It is nice because the outdoor seating area was in the back of the restaurant and went straight into the grunewald forest.  There were a bunch of families eating there and so while the adults ate and visited the kids played soccer/ran around in the forest.  It made for a really relaxing dinner. 

 Chris speaks German really well but  it was an upscale restaurant and even he couldn't decipher the menu.  So I just picked something and hoped for the best . . . I was completely shocked when they brought out my meal and it was an ENTIRE LARGE PIZZA.  It was a little embarrassing, I felt like a total pig.  But even more embarassing was that we were all starving and managed to polish it all off, plus 2 large servings of Schnitzle (breaded and fried pork), a loaf of french bread, and a large bowl of spaghetti.

 View of the restaurant from the forest

 H-May running around while we waited for our food.