Sunday, August 25, 2019

All About Ennio Collage

Just like Lily in 3rd Grade, Ennio had to make an All About Me Collage during his first week of school. Task: You will make an art collage all about you to let the class know about you, your family, and your favorite things. In the collage include photos, magazine clippings and/or advertisements (e.g. pictures of you and your family, favorite foods, pictures of places you like to go/shop/eat, etc.) This is a collage, so make sure all the pictures touch or overlap so the white paper is not visible. In the middle of the collage, draw or decorate you first name and place the pictures around it.
To get a 4 - Collage is colorful, name is neat and colorful (may use beads, stickers, etc. to spell name). Pictures are colorful and touch or overlap. Several types of media are used, like photos, magazines, and advertisements. No white of the paper is showing and collage shows clear understanding of the task.
To get a 3 - Collage has name in the middle and is neat and colorful. Most pictures touch and/or overlap. Some types of media are used. Some of the white may be showing.
To get a 2 - Collage has name in the middle and has some pictures or photos. White background is showing OR the collage is late.
To get a 1 - Did not follow directions/collage is incomplete/late.

Ennio and I worked on this over the weekend. I asked him questions and showed him photos and found out that: he really loves rollercoasters and if he could have, he would have filled up the whole page with photos of him and Robbe on the rides they did in Plopsaland over the summer (see top left corner). His favorite people are his cousins, he loves to travel (see pictures of Norway) and his favorite building is the Eiffel Tower. His favorite transportation is by plane or train (see sea plane photo and bullet train clipping from a Japanese brochure we still had). Favorite foods include pizza (we used a magnet from Little Caesars) and strawberries and raspberries (Sprouts supermarket flyer in the bottom right corner). Favorite animal: little chickens! (Last year in 2nd Grade, his teacher had eggs hatch in the classroom. He also loved holding Obama, one of uncle Wouter's chickens). Ennio's quote: "I love chicks" (he does not know yet the other meaning of "chick" 😂). Other cool activities: swimming in the pool and watching fire works. And that's All About Ennio!

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

First day of school!

Fifth Grade for Lily and Third Grade for Ennio! Our annual photo on the balcony didn't work out because of the bright sunlight (but I'm posting anyway, because Ennio's "happy" face is hilarious), so I took some more photos in our patio.
Lily was excited to see her friends again, but also a bit anxious about 5th grade, possibly her last year at Elementary School!
Ennio kept on saying he wished this was not the first day, but the last day of school! Oh boy!
Lily has Dr. Guanlao as a teacher, the same teacher she had in 2nd grade (but who now teaches 5th grade, obviously) and Ennio has Ms. Mittermiller. They're both known to be really good teachers, so we (as parents) are happy.
Let's hope the kids will have a happy year too!!!




Lily with her friends Mia and Pearl
Teachers line-up!

Saturday, August 17, 2019

New washer and dryer!

Compact, easy and eco-friendly: the best!
This may sound silly, but after all we've been through with our LG washer and dryer from Sears (never will I buy there again!!!), I am so so happy with our Miele machines. Tip: Absolute Appliances is the absolute best!!!

Friday, August 16, 2019

Mia in L.A.!

Cousin Mia came to visit us from Germany from August 2-16. It was wonderful to have her here! I had to work most days, but we did do fun stuff over the weekends and on my one day off during the week (I work 4/5). We went to Malibu Beach, and a Cat Café and Kitten Lounge in the Melrose District. Also, uncle Marcus spent a lot of time with the kids and took them out to Magic Mountain, Santa Monica and Venice. I think she likes it here :-) Pictures to follow!

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Friday, August 09, 2019

Belgium - the highlights!

Wednesday, July 10: Getting to Knokke! 

Thursday, July 11: Knokke!

Friday, July 12: Knokke!

Saturday, July 13: Stekene!

Sunday, July 14: Roeselare! Visit Opa Gerhard!

B&B Zonnehuys

Monday, July 15: Plopsaland!

Tuesday, July 16

Wednesday, July 17: BBQ Isabel

Thursday, July 18: Train to Paris - seeing the Eiffel Tower!

Friday, July 19: Flying back to Los Angeles 

Wednesday, August 07, 2019

Salzburg, Austria!

 Sunday - Monday - Tuesday, July 7-8-9

Germany

Friday, July 5: Arrival in Munich!

We arrive in Munich in the afternoon and take the Lufthansa Express Bus to the city center (München Hauptbahnhof). From there we walk to Hotel Cocoon Stachus, which we chose because we had been so impressed with the other Cocoon hotel we stayed at last January, Cocoon Hauptbahnhof. This hotel is just as fun! We rest a bit and then it is waiting until Oma Eva and Mia will arrive at the hotel! At night, we take the S-bahn to Marius and Jenny Ruhland. It is great to see them again and see the kids play together!

Saturday, July 6: A day spent in Munich with friends!

Sunday, July 7: Off to Salzburg!

Monday, July 8: Salzburg

See next post 

Tuesday, July 9: Back to Stuttgart!

Wednesday, July 10: On to Brussels!

Sunday, August 04, 2019

Norway Day 10: Goodbye and off to Munich!

Friday, July 5: Our plane leaves at 11:50 AM. We walk to the central station and take the Flytoget Airport Express Train to Gardermoen airport, a fast 20-minute ride. We arrive in Munich at 2 PM, take the Lufthansa Express Bus to the city center (München Hauptbahnhof) (also very easy, we had not booked this in advance, the bus was outside the airport and we just purchased tickets from the driver). What a great time we had in Norway, but we are also looking forward to the rest of our trip, and finally seeing our family and friends again!





Goodbye!

Norway Day 9: Oslo!

Thursday, July 4: Oslo, Norway's capital has an idyllic setting, a multitude of galleries and museums and a magnificent Opera House (Operahuset) overlooking the Oslofjord. We only have today really to discover the city, so we have to choose. We decide to walk the main shopping street, Karl Johans gate, (which was widened in the 19th century to resemble the Champs Elysées) to the Royal Palace (det Kongelige Slott), passing by Parliament (Stortinget) and the National Theater. It's a sunny day, but we are getting short rain showers every once in a while! We see plenty of water fountains, statues and green, wide open spaces, what a nice stroll!

Ennio got a balloon-sword from a street artist!
Trolls everywhere - here inside a souvenir shop!



The royal palace
We also want to visit the Vigeland Sculpture Park which has more than 200 sculptures by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) in bronze, granite and cast iron. We get Ruter tickets in a 7-Eleven and then hop on a tram to Frogner Park. Ennio and Lily first play a bit in the playground and then we walk to the bridge. I am so impressed! The main theme in the park is the circle of life. The bridge has over 50 bronze sculptures, which showcase mainly children, parents and the relationship between men and women. Norway's most famous boy, the angry boy, is in the middle of the bridge.
This is Ennio's favorite pose going down the slide!













The Angry Boy (Sinnataggen) - reminds me a bit of a PISSED Manneken Pis 😂
Rubbing for good luck!
The fountain
The fountain is surrounded by 20 trees with sculptures that show the four stages of life: childhood, adulthood, parenthood and old people. The last tree contains a skeleton as a symbol of death, and also to show that man becomes nature after he dies. The pièce de résistance is this impressive monolith:

The Monolith (Monolitten) is 18 m high and carved from one single granite block. It displays 121 figures and took over 14 years to complete!




The Wheel of Life (Livshjulet)
Vigeland was responsible for the design and architectural outline of the park. It is amazing, definitely worth a visit!



After the park - it's getting cloudy again - we take a bus back to our hotel. We take the route that drives by the Oslofjord, City Hall (Rådshuset) and the Nobel Peace Center. Marcus and the kids want to take a rest, but I see my chance to do some last-minute shopping in the trendy streets nearby (Prinsens gate and Karl Johans gate). When I'm back, Marcus has found a restaurant he would like to go to for our last Norwegian dinner. Of course, it has to be a fish restaurant 😋. It's Fiskeriet on Youngstorget. We walk and pass by Oslo Cathedral (Oslo is small and everything is within walking distance). The food is delicious and I have the best Bloody Mary of my life! (It has an oyster on top!!!) To finish, we walk to the Oslo Street Food Market, at Torggata, where Lily and Ennio have the biggest ice cream ever. It is called a bubble waffle ice cream - I had never heard of it, but it is big in Asia and now blowing over to Norway! Happy I didn't have to eat it! And so ends our last night in Norway. Tomorrow, we are heading to Munich. So many adventures still ahead!!!













Oslo Cathedral on our walk back. It's 10 PM. Good night!