08 September
first beach and OP shop visit
Ok, this is my first ever blog entry. I just thought today, that it would be nice if I just post a bit every day (or most days...), on what we have been doing, what the children are up to etc., so you can all be part of our lifes a bit more, despite us living so far apart. Time for telephone calls is also not so much there at the moment, as Matti likes to get louder as soon as I'm on the phone, and Lucille likes to chew on the cord or play with the buttons :-).

We went to the beach yesterday, for the first time, since we have lived here. Yes, I'm finally ready to leave the village :-).
Both children had a cold for over a week and the lack of sleep has been quite exhausting...we are coming out of it though. So, the beach was great. Matti played straight away with a tiny toddler and her dad, which was lovely to see, as he was not shy at all, and also that he played so gentle with her....they both just ran around, built sandcastles, Matti talking the whole time and both the dad and the little girl didn't say hardly a word :-). It was very funny.
Lucille slept in the Ergo and I walked up and down with her, listening to the recording of Bruce Lipton, that Justin did when he went to the talk last week.
We got wet a few times, as the showers were quite heavy, but beautiful. Some great little storms down here....
On the way back we stopped at an OP shop and walking in, saw a steering wheel for Matti straight away. He had wanted one for a while, so he can be a co pilot when Justin drives :-).
Back at home we were all quite tired, had an early night and enjoyed a nice thunderstorm.
We love it especially when it rains now, as our tanks fill up a bit.
To go to sleep, I have Lucille in the Ergo, walk through the dark bedroom, she has a drink and then sleeps, while I make up stories for Matti. Then when I tranfer Lucille, Matti 'has' to be quiet and in that time he mostly falls asleep. This has been working quite well for a while now.....

The night was much better and Lucille woke up so much brighter. She had been soo unwell the past two weeks, that it was a relief to see her wake up with her eyes not totally glued together and her nose a bit freer. I also had a bit more than just an hour or two of uninterrupted sleep and actually dreamed again. So, all feeling a bit refreshed, except Matti didn't seem to, as he woke up at around 5....he was grumpy until we went outside, as he wanted me to find him a certain book, which has been hiding since the move and I didn't find it. Anyway, he saw that our neighbour Les was gardening, planting new trees, so he got his shovel and helped him dig :-). That's one of the beautiful things about the children just learning by living and being free all day long - they move from one activity to the next, from one mood to another, without being told what to do all the time or what to be interested in etc. When he came back in he was a very happy boy and seemed to be very satisfied about the helping hand he gave to Les. Living here in the village has been great, as we meet so many different people all the time...what a so much richer life, especially for children, to not just see Mum and Dad, but also other people they will grow close to and are able to observe and work with- that was a long sentence :-) - we like long sentences in German :-).

In the afternoon we had Annette and her 3 children come for a visit. They are also 'natural learners', not attending school, and living by similar philosophies as us. Her husband is American and he is actually in the States at the moment, and they have just returned from there - so she is a kind of single Mum (like me during the week, and at the moment, as Justin is on a course) as well. Her daughter, Summer, is 12, her boys, AJ is 7, and Nicholas 4. Matti loves to play with them and they always have a fun time. After running through the house like wild dogs ;-), I suggested going down to the community centre. We stopped first at the natural playground, they had a climb, a swing in tyres, play with wooden sticks (swords), played pistol and shooting each other, Lucille just explored the leaves and watched what the older ones were doing....Then on to the pool, they all jumped in in their clothes, as we didn't bring swimgear. The water is still quite cold. After a dip they decided to go over and play in the sandpit. Lucille was exploring the grass and did some dancing, holding on to the fence. She went right to the edge of the pool and looked in.
At around 5 we walked back up here...not a too short walk, to get the last bit of energy out....and Matti fell asleep on the beanbag, waiting for Spaghetti, at 6 pm and has been out cold since then :-)....so, don't have to invent stories tonight :-).
Lucille also conked out (spelling of this lovely Australian word ? :-) ) not long after.

So, that was our day. Full with fun and play, it was beautifully sunny, with a nice breeze.
I found this and thought to try out the blogging. Hope you enjoy it :-).

Tomorrow will be a bit more quiet and we are looking forward to seeing Trevor, who will come by to pick up his new car.