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Christmas 2010

we hope of course that you are well and will enjoy some peace and quiet amongst the merriment. Another Christmas without Woolies, how will we survive long-term! We are hoping for a more organized Christmas this time, but first off here’s a round-up of our news this year.

Sabrina is growing up fast- having long since overtaken her mother in height. The teenage years are drawing nearer for her and we are hoping for a problem-free ride. She is contemplating joining a swimming club to avoid two extra sport lessons at school. Phil is delighted of course and most encouraging. She loves dancing (modern sort) and is heavily into radio and youtube just now. She continues to take piano lessons and sometimes enjoys them.

Eve has an important year in school as all her marks for assessments are taken into consideration in determining which school she attends for secondary education from September 2011. She seems to be taking a fairly laid back approach. She has taken up violin lessons this being her instrument of choice and is doing well. She shows Phil’s aptitude for the computer, although hasn’t yet managed to persuade him to buy her a new one. She has taken to whistling tunelessly wherever she goes and can be annoyingly sweet: “oh you’re so cute”, the current catchphrase. We succumbed to hourly demands and got a cat in the end, called Lizzie.

We visited Berlin at the end of May this year, particular attractions were the zoo (Knut, the now big polar bear) and the German Parliament in the Reichstag building, designed by a Brit. We also went into a freezing open air pool, since they close all the indoor pools for the “summer”. The girls spent 15 minutes in the water and then most of the time shivering and drinking hot chocoloate in the café.

For the real summer break, we all enjoyed our first real ‘hot’ holiday for at least 4 years travelling to Senigallia on the Italian Adriatic coast in August. We took the train there and back, which was relaxing but rather long. Eve has not yet grown out of the ‘Are we nearly there?’ stage, so the 10 hour journey was a bit daunting. During the first week we enjoyed the town’s yearly rock-n-roll Jamboree – the kids loved the dances, the fashions and display of 50’s cars, plus we got to see concerts including Wanda Jackson and Chuck Berry. Apart from that it was a tale of two weeks, if it wasn’t the rain, thunder and noise from the trains near the campsite, all night long, then it was the crab bites and jelly fish stings during the first week. We were actually prepared to come home on the middle weekend. Fortunately, we had a great second week having found a better beach with some Brits and clear water, in the end going snorkelling and actually seeking out the crabs, which we began to really treasure. A short review of this holiday would read something like “bloomin’ expensive but great pictures”, so do check out the web site for said pictures and other news (www.skinternet.co.uk)

Katie has been getting more involved in piano playing, after finding an enthusiastic piano teacher who is getting her to play more jazz styles and popular stuff like George Gershwin and Bruce Hornsby. The knees have recovered but not enough for a women’s run she wanted to do.

Phil has spent more time at home, is tootling on at work and has got more involved in sports. The main sporting events this year have been the 10km city run (in 57:57 so finally under the hour), the Karlsfeld triathlon (where we used to live) which involved a 600m swim (in the lake but fortunately it was July), a 26km cycle and a 5km run. It was great fun although he went out a bit too fast on the swim and was next to last on the cycle. The third event was the Munich half-marathon: fantastic atmosphere and his performance is still improving since it starts from such a poor level, so it would be good to break 2 hours next time! It was great fun preparing for the triathlon, doing a swim, cycle or run on alternate days through the summer and at one point it felt like the swimming stamina was all coming back, burning off 50 lengths in the late session with ease. However getting real and putting some times to it unfortunately said it all: the strength and speed was simply not there anymore! Still, it’s a start and a work in progress.

For a winter “break” we are learning to ski at last, having booked for a course at the end of December.

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