The Cronins' Tannenbaum

Today, Jay and Ben were home sick from kindergarten.  So Karen got out the scissors and the glue and the boxes from Jay's Lego sets from his birthday and she and the kids made ornaments together. 

There are no photos of the children making the ornaments because Karen was playing full-table, man-to-man defense against the child holding the glue.  Looking back, she wishes she had a security camera installed so she could watch the replays and share them.  Thankfully, she did think ahead and put out backpapier so no glue got on the table.

 Then they hung them on the tree.   

"Owww!  Mom, I don't want to hang anymore!" said Jay, after hanging one.

"This is too pokey!" said Ben, after hanging one of his.  "Should we put on some gloves?" Karen asked.  "No.  I'm all done hanging ornaments." said Jay.  "At least hang the other one that you made, please."  "Oww!"

Zan looped his ornaments onto the candles with great precision.  He never said "Ow".  

They also watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Zan laughed and laughed at Abominable.  "I like the movie where he gets really strong.  And stronger." said Ben, about How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  "Why does he get stronger, mom?"  "Because his heart grew 3 sizes so he really wanted to save all the presents and food and decorations and give them all back."  "But how does he get stronger?"  "I just told you, buddy."  A blank stare is all Karen got.

Celebrating Jay's Birthday at Kindergarten

Today, Karen and Zan brought a cookie cake to kindergarten during Jay's lunch.  "I left a few pieces at home, and one of them says 'Ben' on it," said Karen to Ben when he saw her at the kindergarten.

Karen got to see how lunchtime works at kindergarten.  All the children wait until it's their table's turn to fill their plates.  The teacher gives the first serving.  After they've eaten, they can go to the serving table on their own to serve themselves again. Many of the children go up for seconds.  Jay went up for thirds, fourths and fifths.  His serving scoops were pretty small but he did go back for more 5 times.  "It was lentil lasagna - I guess I should make that at home!" said Karen.

After the children are finished eating, they each take their own plates to the sink, where there is a step stool set up.  Each child rinses and wipes off his own plate and takes it to the dining cart and stacks it neatly.

Since it was Jay's birthday celebration, after dishes was dessert!  Jay sat at the serving table with his sliced cookie cake.  Everyone sang Happy Birthday in English and then Jay served each child a piece of cake, calling each one up by name (with the help of his teacher).  Zan helped.  It was a happy birthday, indeed!!

Jay and Ben Start German Kindergarten

Today, Jay and Ben started kindergarten!  "In Germany, kindergarten is preschool.  The elementary schools start in first grade and go through fourth.  Kindergarten is not academic in terms of learning to read or write.  Jay will be going to German first grade in the fall of 2015 so kindergarten is essential for him to learn German before he starts school.  Ben will attend first grade when he is 6 as well and in the meantime, he'll be learning German at kindergarten, too! Because Jay is going to the Grundschule next year, he has a practice day once per week on Wednesdays (with all of the other 5-6 year olds) in order to prepare him."  

"We can ride our bikes to school if we want to.  Today it's rainy so we're gonna walk," reported Ben.  

"We ate breakfast at kindergarten!" said Ben.  In the mornings between 7 and 8:45, the children have brotzeit, or bread time.  Jay and Ben both wanted to eat at school with the other children instead of eating at home.  

"Here [in Germany], the mother is usually asked to stay with the children at kindergarten for a week or maybe two, depending on how old the child is.  At the krippe, where the children are very young, it is sometimes 4 weeks of staying there with the child.  I think the teachers at the kindergarten will be okay with you only staying for 3 or 4 days since your boys are older.  You can talk with them about your goals and they will work with you.  Jay and Ben will do fine, I'm sure," said Ms. Mia*, the Cronins' German tutor.  Karen was at the kindergarten with all 3 boys for about two and a half hours today.  Tomorrow, she plans to arrive earlier so that they will have more time to play with other children before Kreiszeit, circle time.  

Jay struggled because he really wanted to be with Ben and he wanted to play legos but didn't have time before Kreiszeit.  Jay and Ben can play in any room together or apart for the first part of the day, but the children split up by age for Kreiszeit.  "I'm just glad he was upset about something that's easy to fix - we'll arrive earlier than we did today (and we'll know what we're doing) and they'll have much more time to play together and apart," said Karen.  "Ms. Lisa* sat by him and helped him calm down while I was with Ben.  The teachers here are really caring, of course, and I felt very encouraged to see her taking care of Jay," said Karen with a tear in her eye.  It was obviously not the easiest day for her, either!  

Thanksgiving Festivities at Osterwaldgarten

Thanksgiving dinner at Osterwaldgarten in Munich was a special treat for the BMW expats living in Germany. "One of the families organized it and we had quite the turnout! I think there were around 50 people there," said Karen.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a lunchlady serving up the mashed potatoes.  There was a cake decorator doing that.  

"This was the shortest drive we've ever made for Thanksgiving dinner and the kids still fell asleep in the car on the way there," said Karen. It was a fifteen minute drive and around 5 minutes into the ride, Karen captured this moment:

 "I didn't like the green things," reported Jay, referring to the steamed brussel sprouts. "I ate all my turkey," said Ben. "Mom, mom, mah-ahhmm! Gagu!" were Zan's words.

Karen got to know one of Shamus's coworkers who has been living in Germany for over 2 years now. Shamus got to play outside with the kids after they ate. They all enjoyed their German version of Thanksgiving dinner. "It wasn't really Thanksgiving though, was it?" asked Karen. "No, of course it wasn't," replied Shamus, thinking the same thing as Karen: "We ate turkey with other people and talked with some of them. It was loud, there was too much food, and it was fun. But it wasn't with our loved ones. It turns out they are the most important part of the celebration."

Illegal Levels of Cuteness Found at the Cronin House

 Zan reportedly exceeded the legal level of cuteness allowed in the country of Germany.

 "We said 'awww' so many times that our lips got sore," claims his mother, Karen. "It was really the outfit that put him over the limit. Once he begins to look like a character out of Dr.Seuss, he goes past the limit," she added.

 "Look how cute he is with his little hood!" said Jay,  2,578 times.

"Zan, you're so cute," said Ben, 1,759 times.
It's a good thing that outfit is in the hamper right now, or this family would really be in trouble. Dirty clothes save the day, possibly for the first time in history.

Adventures In LegoLand!

The Cronin family's first trip: LegoLand, Germany!

"We left our house at nap time and had a peaceful hour-and-a-half drive there, as planned," said Shamus.

 When they arrived at LegoLand, Jay and Ben were really excited about pointing out everything in the Lego city of Ninjago.

 The older boys were big enough to get their driver's license after a quick driving test.

 "I can drive cars!" said Ben, after somehow still receiving a permit after  purposefully causing an accident with his brother that turned into a 3-car pile up.  "Ba-ha-ha-ha!" said the other kid, as he managed to maneuver his Lego car out of the wreckage.  He received a hard-earned driver's license that day, thanks to Ben.

 Although Zan was a bit too small to get a license, he still got a pretend joyride on the lego cars permanently parked nearby.

 Next, they ventured into the galaxy to find... General Grievous!  "This is my Grievous face, mom."

 Then it was time to take a break from all this fun and play on a playground!

 "Up! Up! MAAAHHH-AAAHHHMMM!! UP!" said Zan to his mom, about the helicopter that went up and down every time someone pushed the button.

 That night, they went to a nice hotel in Ulm and swam in the indoor pool.  "Ow!" said Shamus, as he wrestled the boys to the wall.  "Can you swim the whole length of the pool, Jay?" said Karen as her son made it to the wall from over halfway across.  "Yeah!  Sure!" and off he went, all the way to the other side.  "Hey mom, I can swim the short way across!  Watch!" said Ben, and he did.

 Shamus discovered the magic button on the wall in the pool!

 The next morning, they went back to LegoLand.  In Miniland, there is a wonderful collection of Star Wars scenes.

 Zan was just as excited about Star Wars as his big brothers were.

 Jay and Ben drove through the jungle and saw many animals - including lions, elephants, and flamingos to name a few!  Zan rode with Shamus while Karen led the way with her camera.

 Ben and Jay paddled through a prehistoric canal and saw several dinosaurs!  "Look, mom, it's the one that has plates on it!" said Ben about the Lego stegosaurus.

 The boys had fun climbing after going on a spooky ride through a tomb where they were given special guns to defend themselves from mummies and skeletons.

 "Looks like I can't ride this one!" said Karen, about the pullied drop swing ride.

 "Go dad!  All the way to the top!" said Ben

 "Aaaaagghhh!"

 "Hi little wife!"

 "Let's learn about pulleys here.  Try pulling that one." said Shamus, whose engineering mind couldn't resist a teaching moment.  "I really don't like teaching." says Shamus.  And yet, he couldn't resist here.  "Too heavy, dad."  "Count the loops of rope on that one.  Now try this one."

 "Ugh ugh ugh!!" said Zan.  "Sure, Zan, I'll help you pull this one.  Arrgghhh!"

 The next ride was a bird's eye view of LegoLand.  "It's a good thing that Zan grew in the last month.  He was definitely too short to go on any of the rides a month ago!" said Karen, after Zan got measured again before being allowed to board the ride.

 Shamus, Jay and Ben all went for a tour on rails of LegoLand.

 Zan ate a cookie by a dragon.

 There is a great play area near the "test" ride where kids were making vehicles and racing them.  Zan and Karen played with the gears.

 After a nice Bavarian lunch of pork sausage, Zan got to sit on a pig.

 Karen was so impressed with the design of the bathroom doors that she took a photo.  "My kids can't peek through the cracks here!  It's great!"  The door was wider than the opening.  "Leave it to Lego to design the best bathroom doors ever.  Unfortunately, this is the only place I've ever seen such a great design in use.  I guess I still have to teach our kids to look for feet under the door, not faces through the cracks next to the door, for all those times we use a public bathroom and we're not at LegoLand."

 Back in MiniLand, Ben and Karen fought off Darth Vader.

 "Aaaaaaagh!!!!"said Ben.  "Wooooohoooooo!!" said Karen.

While Jay and Ben went to take another driver's test, Zan and Karen went back to Zan's favorite place: Miniland!  They saw Berlin and Frankfurt and Zan's most favorite things were the boats driving along the water and the amusement park rides in Hamburg.

 The signage for the restrooms was very helpful!

 There was a show in the afternoon that was pretty fun for everyone.  There was magical-super-fast-clothing-changing, juggling while riding a unicycle, juggling fire, spinning plates, and fun music.

 After grabbing dinner at McDonald's and playing on the playground there, it was time to get cozy for the ride home.  Parking the car, opening and closing the door, and turning on the lights had no effect on these sleepy boys.  Who wouldn't be exhausted after that adventure?

Here are all of the photos from the adventure: LegoLand Oct 2014