The past week turned out to be a little yuckier than we had hoped. Susannah had a 24 hour stomach virus that she generously shared with me. (and of course, for this older and weaker mama, it has lasted longer than 24 hours.) We had been so looking forward to our first Lantern Night with Susannah's kindergarten, but unfortunately, it was a little higher maintenance than we had anticipated. The tradition itself is really neat though. Lanternelaufen is the German terms which translates to "walking with lanterns." And that is exactly what all the young children here do. Usually it is organized by kindergartens, but neighborhoods and villages sometimes have their own special event as well. The night is a celebration of Saint Martin, a soldier who gave his coat to a beggar on a cold night. He then became a bishop and spent his life helping the poor. So each year in early November, German children decorate paper lanterns and participate in a special walk, complete with songs. While our first night wasn't as perfect as we had hoped, we were still grateful to participate and are looking forward to next year when we will hopefully have less tears and drama.
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| The s-bahn (our metro system) was experiencing a labor strike on lantern night, so Peter and I opted to walk to the meeting point to avoid the crowds on the tram. While the walk was under a mile, it was literally straight up. And Susannah was still weak from her stomach virus, so she wanted to ride in the stroller the whole way. Peter was such a good sport. |
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| Really. A great sport. The climb wasn't just full of hills, it also included 2 or 3 huge staircases. |
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| We made it right on time though. We were, once again, the weird Americans as we were sweating from our walk while everyone else was bundled in their hats and mittens. We headed into the forest right as the sun was setting. |
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| Susannah was so tired, poor thing, and wanted us to carry her lantern for her most of the way. |
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| She tried to be a trooper, but her energy stores were definitely zapped after her first day back to school post-stomach bug. |
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| She tried to push through though. And she enjoyed singing all the songs that they had been practicing all week at school. |
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| But she was just so tired. |
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| By the time we made it to the campfire, Sarah Avery was screaming and Susannah was super whiny. So after the last song, we opted to skip the hot chocolate and cookies and headed back down the trail towards home. The trail was dark and Susannah's lantern was our only light. The leaves in the forest were all blazing orange and yellow and if I concentrated really hard to ignore Sarah Avery's screams, I enjoyed how cool the whole thing was. |
A few more pics from the week.......
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| Susannah is still an amazing big sister. She loves playing with Sarah Avery. |
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| Saturday was beautiful so we tried to soak up the sunshine while it lasted. |
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| Susannah loves wearing my shoes. She definitely wears my high heels more than I do. |
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| Lately this is the only way that Sarah Avery will nap.......in somebody's arms. And it was starting to make me crazy because we had tried everything. |
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| Except a swing. Which we changed yesterday when we saw a used one for sale and scooped it up. And, praise the Lord, she is napping in it beautifully! |
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| This notice was on the kindergarten door today. When I translated it, I was dismayed to read that the stomach bug that is going around actually may require an antibiotic to be fully eradicated. Which means we are off to the doctor tomorrow. |
Hope all is well with all of you. We love you and miss you!
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