End of the school year summary

Rachel always beats me to covering the interesting things, so if you haven't been following her blog, send me your email address and I'll get you on her permitted list so you can read her take on things, written a little closer to when they actually happened.
The end of the school year was, naturally, pretty busy, which is one of the reasons I haven't posted. Here are some of the things that have happened since the end of April:
I chaperoned a school trip to Spain (Granada, Cordoba, and Madrid). We had two groups going, offset from each other by a day and visiting the cities in opposite order to minimize interaction. One group was the older students in grades 10-12 and the other was the younger students in grades 8-9. All the students who went were boys (except one whose mom came along). We hope next year we'll have more parents decide to come along. I didn't volunteer to go, mainly because I didn't relish the idea of my first visit to Spain being spent corralling a bunch of hellions unruly teenagers. But I also organized the trips, and I thought it would be a conflict of interest if I somehow ended up chaperoning them. But when it came down to it, our principal needed me to go, so I went. I also maintained the trip blog for our group. The students weren't as bad as I expected (though if you ask me in person, I'll tell you some stories...), and Spain was wonderful.
This was our first hotel. It was one star but quite comfortable, and right near the heart of Cordoba. I loved the old look of it. The students complained like we were staying in a Motel 6. I don't believe any of them had stayed in less than a four-star hotel before.

 Me exploring the night we got to Granada:

Our group. The tour guide, Jorge Roman, is toward the right. He's one of Rick Steve's guides for Spain. I highly recommend him.

We visited Alcazar first, which had beautiful gardens inside.

Here's me with some of the boys exploring the gardens.

This classic alleyway leads to a dead-end little plaza with a great view of the Mezquita's bell tower.

This is inside the Mezquita.

It's crazy to see: the Christians took the city-block sized mosque, punched a hole in the roof, and built this three-story tall church right in the middle of it. They still worship in it daily (the Christians, I mean).

The fields were full of poppies in bloom. We saw hundreds of miles of vineyards and olive orchards.

Here's a coastal town we drove past.

We visited the caves at Nerja.

Then we explored the town and its beaches.

Next to Granada to see, what else?

After the Alhambra, we went to this cafe cut into the hillside for some flamenco performances.

And a nice shot of Alhambra across the valley.

I spent a lot of energy waking the boys up each morning.

Once in a while the boys all chose to go with the other chaperones, which left me free to go explore. Here I am in Madrid.

We also toured Real Madrid stadium.

And the Prado.

Rachel, patient as ever, was home alone all week with the kids. She made me promise to take her to Spain some time. I'd certainly prefer that to chaperoning again!

When I got back, Miss A decided that if she let me out of her sight, I might disappear again, so she has been a complete daddy's girl ever since, hardly even letting Rachel take her. It's adorable, yes, but everybody needs a break sometimes!

Fortunately, Amelia has also formed an attachment to Elliott's stuffed Woody doll from Toy Story, and he can stand in for me in a pinch. She likes to carry him around and give him kisses.

During May, Rachel also continued working with Big E on his writing. We were really blessed to finally get him admitted to a school for the fall, too. There literally are not enough seats for all the students in the country, and many schools won't admit a student who hasn't been to preschool. So Big E will be attending a school meant for the children of the employees of a new hospital being built nearby. Since it's also run by Qatar Foundation, my school director was able to convince their director to let Big E onto the waiting list. When I took in the necessary forms and a picture, the director decided he was cute enough to admit directly instead of just sitting on the list. I couldn't agree more!

In June we went to the beach. While there, we met the wife of one of the British pilot who flies several of the Emir's planes. The sorts of difficulties he has to deal with: finding a way to tell the Emir that there's too much marble on the plane for it to take off. The Emir's response: "Make it work."

I had fun building this town with Big E.

Miss A had fun demolishing it.

We were invaded by a swarm of termites.

We got free tickets to Disney on Ice.

We survived a dust storm. Our bathroom took the brunt of it.

Miss A helped make cookies.

Big E read her some books.

Rachel orchestrated a Thomas the Tank Engine-themed birthday party for Big E. Here he's helping get ready for it.

Rachel gave Miss A her first haircut to prevent a mullet.

I ate this gold dust covered raspberry dessert as part of my end-of-the-year luncheon at school. Needless to say, you'd be hard pressed to find a school district in the U.S. serving gold-plated fruit at their end-of-the-year luncheons.

Here are some pictures of the aforementioned birthday party. Elliott loved it, and all his friends were very generous with their gifts.

The party even included swimming! Miss A is fearless in the water.

Big E inherited about 30 ft of train track from a friend who moved away. We'll miss the Sallays.

Rachel made ice/cornmeal/food coloring sidewalk chalk for the kids she watches.

Then we flew to Germany to visit my parents who are there serving a humanitarian mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 Our first activity was to go walk through a beautiful cemetery in Frankfurt.

Miss A enjoyed this mud puddle.

And this one.

And basically all of them.

The kids really warmed up to my parents fast. I think Skype has really helped them stay connected!

We went to a historical recreation village. Big E explored a natural rock formation there.

Miss A gave me THE LOOK when I wouldn't share the camera.

Dad was Dad.

Amelia wore out.

We visited the limes, which is the northern border of the Roman empire. This ditch, hill, and palisade used to extend across all of Germany.

We toured a Roman fort.

The kids helped Mom with her gardening.

Rachel and I got to go on a date!

The kids wore out again.

We visited the Heidelberg castle again.

Mom and Dad were great to us and very kind to take so much time out of their work to spend time with us. Then they went in to their office at night to catch up.

Big E turned four while we were there. He loved making cupcakes with Grandma.

He also loved getting more books and a Kinder Joy egg each day (chocolate egg with a toy inside a plastic capsule inside).

 Miss A liked this head band that Mary Beth and Jill sent to my mom for her birthday.

For Big E's birthday, we also went to the zoo to see the baby tiger.

Then we came home again in the evening for cake and ice cream.

The next day we drove to Wartburg to see where Martin Luther translated the bible, to visit a house where he stayed, and to see the Bach House. Big E puked all over himself from car sickness the instant we arrived at our destination, so that's why he's wearing pajamas in all the rest of these photos.

 This is in front of the church where Bach was baptized.

Here's a house Martin Luther stayed in.

Dad carried Big E most of the way up to the Wartburg castle. Elliott is big, and Dad is 67. I don't know how many more hikes like this we should subject him to!

 I loved this cutlery with handles carved from antlers.

Here's the room where Martin Luther did his translating. You can just barely see the one remaining original artifact in the room peeking out on the right on the floor. It's a whale vertebra he used as a foot stool!

After visiting the castle, we went to a restaurant that offered a dining experience meant to be similar to what Martin Luther would have had. Note the pointy cups that rested in holes in the table.

I tried lard on my bread. It tasted like hamburger pan scrapings.

Miss A decided to forego the bread and just eat her runny cheese and leek dip with a fork.

Big E got hotdogs that looked like caltrops.

I had some sort of stew with beets.

Dad got a full meter of ribs.

Afterward we stayed at a bed and breakfast outside of town and had popsicles for dessert.

They served us a lovely and HUGE breakfast the next morning.

Then we visited the Drachenschlucht, where St. George reportedly slew the dragon.

It felt like hiking the Laurel Highlands trail near the Yougheogheny River in Pennsylvania. No wonder so many Germans settled in that area: it was just like home!

Then off to the Bach House.

The kids weren't heavy enough to trigger the weight-sensitive listening chairs, but they liked wearing the headphones anyway.

That night, after we returned to Frankfurt, Mom took Big E out to ride the trolleys and trains, because they're really what he came to Germany for.

 She also taught him to count in German. Guess which number is his favorite...

Now we're in Oklahoma. I had a lovely visit with our family friends back in Ohio because I traveled there to attend my friend's wedding. I haven't uploaded those photos yet, though. Thanks to everyone who has been so hospitable and generous to us during our travels! We love seeing all of you.