Odd and Ends

I don't think I mentioned in my post about shopping that almost all of the stores close at 8:00 pm.  About the only things open after 8:00 are the gas stations, restaurants and the shops at the main train station.  It was frustrating to me during the first few weeks because there was so much to do but by the time we got to the store we only usually had an hour to shop.  The kids would get home from school at 5:00 and we'd have dinner and then head out and we'd just get started and the stores would close.  Toys R Us, Staples, grocery stores, everthing closes at 8:00.  It did force us to be home together, but frequently we'd need certain school supplies and we wouldn't have time to get them all before the store closed.

I took these pictures out our dining room window when the kids came home from school one day.  They're getting to be pretty accomplished and confident riding the buses and trains wherever they need to go.

Lizzie loves to shovel snow.  When she's ready for school and the bus hasn't come yet she goes out to shovel.  If she hasn't finished before the bus comes she commands me not to shovel while she's gone.

SWIM TEAM

Jason, Hayley and Camilla are on the school swim team.  They're team is pretty small since the school has 800 students from preschool through 12th grade.  Jason and another boy are the only ones on the High School Boys team, Hayley is the only girl on the High School Girls team, there are several girls including Camilla on the Middle School Girls team and just a few Middle School Boys.  (The coach told me the Middle School boys are all beginners so they don't go to meets this year.) This past weekend they had an invitational meet hosted by the other international school in Munich that included international schools from Zurich and Vienna.  Next weekend they'll go to Frankfurt and compete against some other German schools.  They'll take a bus or train there and stay with families from the host school overnight.  The next weekend they'll have a meet in Vienna and do the same thing.  At some point we'll have to host visiting athletes in our home but not necessarily for swimming.  I don't think our school hosts any swim meets.  We don't have a pool at our school and the kids have to be bussed to a community pool to practice.

Our school is called Bavarian International School or BIS.  You can see the BIS sign where our team congregated between events.

ENDING TO THE CAR STORY

Here's the final chapter but one to the car and polizei incident.  (The final chapter won't probably happen for few months when I get the fine in the mail.)  I couldn't pick up my car on Monday like they promised.  So on Tuesday I had two important commitments.  Miles and I left home at 8:30 to take the bus and trains to the church to help provide lunch for a missionary conference.  I had to bring a rolling suitcase so I could bring along the chocolate chip cookies I made (with chocolate chips from the base in Stuttgart).  We made it there okay and I remembered to pack lots of snacks for Miles to keep him happy.  (What I didn't remember to pack was any extra pull-ups so twice I had to empty them out and put them back on him :)

We didn't leave the church until 1:30 to get to a party in Lizzie's class at school at 2:30.  Well that wasn't enough time!  Miles was done cooperating by then and didn't want any more snacks.  We had to wait at the bus station for 15 minutes for the bus and it was very cold.  Then at one of the train transfer stations we missed our train because Miles wouldn't be hurried and we had to wait another 20 minutes in the cold for the next train.  We had to walk the last leg of the trip to the school because the city bus doesn't go right up to the school and by then Miles wanted to be carried.  I could only carry him for a few minutes and wheel the suitcase before I just couldn't hold him any more.  (The suitcase had two bottles of fizzy water in it for the party.)  So I had to hold his hand and drag him along as he screamed and all the lined up school bus drivers stared at us.  We were so late that the party was over and all the other parents had gone.  Lizzie was very upset and we didn't even use the stupid fizzy water.  Then, we couldn't let Lizzie go home on her bus because she would get home before us so the three of us had to make the 2 hour trek back home on buses and trains.  I thought Lizzie could pull the wheeled suitcase (she always wants to do it when we're traveling) but that didn't last long.  So I endured the screaming and the aching back and the glares from the other train passengers and we were finally on our last bus at our stop by our house.  I guess we weren't standing by the door early enough because it didn't open and I didn't know how to open it and the bus drove on!  So we had to get off at the next stop and walk twice the distance home.  I had to make a deal with Lizzie that she could drag the suitcase in the snow for one block and then I would drag it and Miles for one block.  We finally made it home and I put them both to bed and then put myself to bed.  The other kids were yoyo for dinner (your on your own).  I couldn't actually get the car until Thursday.  But I have it back now and I'm mostly over the trauma.  I had to take Miles on the bus and train to a doctor appointment recently but I had two different varieties of candy to use to keep him walking on his own for each block.

Here's some pictures Miles took of our trip with my phone.