Third Grade!

 

Here is Owen's passport picture taken right before we came to Germany. Pascal and I laughed saying it looks like we are leaving with totally different kids!

 

Age 5 Kindergarten 

 

 

 Age 8 First day of Third Grade

 

 

While we were in Scotland we discovered they had thrift stores!  We were thrilled!  I found an Owen book.  I have loved this book way before Owen was born.  I put it in his room on a shelf when he was a baby.  The funny part is that it is named Owen but totally describes Meg.  Meg has a blanket just like the little mouse named Owen in this book she calls her blanket "Beebee" and just the other day she said to me, "Mom, Beebee is comfort!"  I currently have 4 copies of this book but I often give them as gifts to Owen's teachers at the end of the school year.  I thought it was so cool we found one in Scotland to add to our collection.

Kevin Henkes is one of our FAVORITE authors.  Here is our collection. 

 I went into several Scottish bookstores.  I would find their most popular titles and then check thrift stores to see if I could find any of those same titles.  I scored when I found a whole collection of Hairy Maclary books.  Only 1 pound for all five!

Katie Morag books are very popular there, we found one and I thought it was great that it was the one about dancing. Perfect for Meg.

 

 We also found several outfits for Meg!  I'll post pictures of them. 

Searching out thrift stores was a great way to bring back some unusual souvenirs from our journey!

 

 

Our Week!

We set off last week to take what will probably be our last big trip in Europe.  We have just weeks left here in Germany and then we will be heading back to the States.  Owen and Meg start school next week and we will soon find ourselves back into the swing of  "routine."  We went to so many special places on this trip; places that I have read about, watched on TV, and places that, as a piper, you dream of going to.  Clan Reber had a most memorable time and we created memories that will last a lifetime.  I may have shed a few tears in leaving Scotland but with my pipes nearby I will always have a little piece of her with me wherever I go!

Roadtrip

What we've been reading

We've tried to keep reading during these busy summer months. We started by reading My Father's Dragon.  I had seen this book recommended on lots of different list.  It was a quick read.  We enjoyed it and give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

Our next book:

This book first grabbed my attention because it had won a bunch of different awards.  I also began to see it everywhere, blogs, book list, and bookstores.  I have to say the kids were not into this book until about over 1/2 way through (which was a little lesson for us on sticking with it) and then we wanted to know what would happen. 

 I was not a huge fan of this book but Mr. Owen was.  It is written from the point of view of Ivan a Silverback Gorilla. What captured my heart was the story it is based on.  Ivan really did come to the states and really did reside in a zoo themed mall for over 20 years.  The mall eventually went bankrupt and their was a public outcry for Ivan to live in a more acceptable environment for animals.  He was moved to the Atlanta Zoo where for the first time in over 27 years he got to be outside and live with other Gorillas!  We were sad to learn that he died recently.  We watched lots of videos on YouTube about Silverback Gorillas and we learned that they love their family!

 

Sometimes we just need some Junie B. Jones.  Meg and I have collected all but three of the 20+ Junie B. Jones books.  We are HUGE fans even Owen is!  I fell in love with Junie when I was a teacher and started a small collection then.  After arriving in Germany we started collecting them from the thrift store and Recycling Center.  These just make us laugh out loud and are such a joy to read.  Junie B. will always get a 5+ out of 5 stars from us! We read these two this week.

 

This is our second American Girl book.  This one is in a series called History Mysteries. I have to say I was very skeptical in reading these but boy was I surprised.  They are very well written and this one was about how kids played a part in the war effort of WWII.  Owen and Meg loved the idea of the kids having a metal drive and we will never walk past a metal bottle cap and not think of this book!

A great read and we all couldn't figure out the mystery until the ending came!

Our Week!

We were in desperate need of a change of routine.  So the kids and I grabbed the GPS and decided to try a new park and pool. Here we are discovering this super cool climbing park.  We heard that this playground had been featured in Popular Science Magazine as one of five especially awesome playgrounds in the world. 

It has been super hot here so we ventured to this pool about 30 min. away.

The slide was super cool. 

                                                             They had a lazy river!

Mimi sent these socks to Meg.  They are so her!  I love the name of them, they are called Ms. Mismatched you can wear them as a match or like Meg likes them mismatched.  After putting on these socks she wanted to know if she could wear mismatched shoes....I said, "let's just stick with the socks for now."

This is one of Meg's outfits this week!

 

I blew this one up so you can truly take it in!  The comments are things she said about the items.

 

Owen not to be outdone found this super cool WWII action figure at the thrift store.  The figure came with authentic clothes and weapons.  Owen is a HUGE WWII fan, the expression on his face in this picture is pretty much how it has stayed for the past few days.

 

Can you tell we caught an episode of America's Got Talent.