Golf - Scotland

As Sandra mentioned...I spent last weekend in Scotland golfing. As most of you know - Sandra, Eli, and Mary stayed in Montana for an additional three weeks after I returned to Germany. Somewhat by coincidence, the other Deere expat family in Zweibruecken (John, Sarah, and their 4 kids) are in the same situation for most of July - John in Germany and the family in the States. It soon became obvious that John and I had to go golfing somewhere for a weekend while our wife's and kids were away. What a better place then St. Andrews!
Little did we know what it takes to actually play the Old Course....a Handicap Index, entering the Ballot, and of course having decent weather. We learned at 5Pm on Friday (just prior to our departure for the airport) that we were on the Ballot for 11:10 Saturday morning. Having a tee time on the Old Course was our main objective for the weekend. The course is closed on Sunday, so the only other day would have been Monday as we flew home on Tuesday morning. In route to the airport, I called Carnoustie and was given a tee time for Monday. The weekend was falling together better then could be expected. We played the Castle Course (the 7th course at St. Andrews which opened just this summer) on Sunday. Photos from the weekend:

We experienced all the weather that Scotland could throw at us. We teed off on the Old Course in a pouring rain - that rain suite in my bag finally paid off. It rained and blew steadily through the first 4 or 5 holes. As should have been expected, the course layout played directly into the wind going out. I am looking forward to 2010 when the Open returns to the Old Course, it will be a new experience seeing the Pros play it now. Sunday brought another experience, clear blue sky's....with a 30+ mph wind. The Castle course is built on a bluff over the North See just outside of St. Andrews - spectacular views - a true Links experience. Monday brought us to Carnoustie with perfect weather which was needed. From my perspective, the most difficult test of the weekend. Long par 4's and numerous deep bunkers, as well as the Barry Burn which has an amazing ability to attract golf balls.
My play was less then great - I really had no expectations having not played since last summer. I would love to go back and give it another try someday....let me know if you are interested!

Where in the World...

I'm thankful Eli is so adaptable as he hasn't been sure of the state (or country) we're in for several weeks now. On August 1st we will return to Germany after 9 days in Arizona and 4+ weeks here in Montana.

For Kevin and I it has been largely a fun, sleep-deprived, crazy vacation. I've had a few mini-breakdowns (see Eli's update) and Kevin is now golfing in Scotland (yes, I'm serious). These last few weeks 'should' be more relaxed and, hopefully, doctor free.

Mary has started hitting, trying to run and swim (read: head injuries and chlorine swallowing), and forming words. She's also been teething and therefore not sleeping. All animals are still 'doggies' that say 'moo' but there are signs she is differentiating now. And she is wise enough to maintain her charming cuteness in order to avoid serious consequences after she empties cupboards or dumps her food bowl or hits me in the face.

Eli made it through Arizona only to get an infection (that's SIX since March) on our travel day to Montana.... it was not pretty as I had little pain relief medicine. Thus started the saga: Urgent Care the next morning, ENT the day after that, heavily-drugged reunion weekend, lots of phone calls to other ENT's and finally a 2.5 hour trip to Billings with an ENT that had an opening. He listened to our whole sordid story and did surgery this past Monday, in front of his other patients already scheduled, to accommodate necessary recovery time before travelling. The doctor said the tonsils he removed were big and ugly. Eli is 5 days out as of today and doing really quite well with some pain but no bleeding. He's been active, having fun with cousins and new friends, getting spoiled and farming with Grandpa.

Other than that we've been shopping, gaining weight (unfortunately), and enjoying the beautiful summer weather with trips to Yellowstone and the County Fair. Althea (Kevin's mom) has been doing fabulously and taking care of me while I attempt to take care of the kids. I drag her out of the house once or twice a day for kid-friendly activities and then we all come back for afternoon naps. It works out pretty well.

I'm glad we're staying so long in Montana. It is definitely (as always) by God's design.

Share and Share Alike

WARNING: Complaining Ahead! Ahh, sharing. That most important life lesson that toddlers struggle with each and every day. Our children don't want to share their toys, their snacks, or their mommy's lap. One thing they seem to have no problem sharing is germs. As Eli was finishing up his 3rd round of antibiotic for strep this week, Mary finally succombed. I brought her in on Tuesday with general crankiness and they found strep and an ear infection. Eli finished his medicine on Thursday morning. Today (Friday) he woke up screaming with a slight fever. Against all odds and most of my doctor's experience (even she is surprised now), he has strep - ONE DAY after his last sickness. And possibly stomach flu since he's trying to throw up and complaining about his tummy. So this is #4 in four months, not including the whole Mono incident. We now have more bottles of medicine in the refridgerator than food items. The doctor wonders if he may have a condition where strep lives permanently in his mouth. May need to test for that after returning from the States with an ENT Specialist. The fun continues.

So we have things to discuss regarding our trip coming up... do we find a pediatrician in Arizona or Montana to get another doctor's thoughts on the situation (we may have to, anyway, for more medicine)? Do we keep Eli away from everyone in fear that he is potentially contagious unless on an antibiotic? Can we even stay at Mom & Dad's in Montana with Mom's immune system knocked low by her chemotherapy? Please say a prayer for us this week and for Eli. I'm begging God for a healthy boy for 6 weeks in the USA and a little wisdom and rest as well.

Mary Contrary / German Philosophy on Children

First, our most important news... "Stubborn Girl Walks!!" Click on the links below to see the videos (couldn't get them into the blog, don't know why). Mary has joined the toddler club.

#1 Stubborn Girl Walking
#2 Mary Gets Bribed

We are exceedingly grateful. Mary is a determined "I'll do it!" kid and sometimes bully about almost everything. Finally she has added walking to her repertoire. Today she walked the main floor circuit twice, grinning, just to show me she could do it now. While my biceps may start to weaken (currently I can carry two children across a foreign city for miles) I am just glad we can put her down on the ground without worrying about her looking for disturbing things to eat... I caught her licking an ant off the floor last week.

Speaking of eating. Look who's feeding herself now. Last week we gave Mary a spoon and bowl at mealtimes. Just what she had been waiting for, apparently. Now we receive high-pitched lectures, withering glares, and hand slaps (our hands, that is) if we attempt to help her get food on the spoon or, heaven forbid, touch her bowl. I am going to try to get her 'death stare' on camera soon. We laugh and wonder if she will go to Hollywood instead of college someday.

But she LOVES her big brother. She has started giving Eli hugs when we pick him up from school and will pet his hair or put her arm around him when he reads her a story (but won't let him cuddle on her). And she copies, exactly, everything he does. She watches him closely and then mimics. This is good and bad. She has learned how to drink from a straw, fill and pour with cups, and "read" a book earlier than Eli did. But she has also learned how to climb on tables, beg for treats, and be naughty faster too.

There are a few oddities that I'll categorize as being part of the German Philosophy on Children. I'm only in the introductory course so keep an eye out for followup articles.

• Your children WILL be healthy. Several months back I got a long, unreadable (for me) letter from the Minister of Health, Justice, and Social Welfare of the State we live in (Saarland). It had to do with Mary and appeared medical in nature. I brought it to my doctor and they said they would take care of it. Just after Eli's 4th birthday I got a similar looking letter for him, forgot about it, got a second letter, and neglected to take it to my doctor on one of our many sick visits. Then on Thursday I got a third letter from this office with a handwritten form saying they would be at my house (gah!!) on Monday for a home visit from 10am - 12pm!!! Calling in a panic I found an English speaker who said if they don't hear from your doctor around your child's birthday that they have had an annual checkup, they will show up at your door to do the physical themselves. I called my doctor and think we have it all cleared up. Eli had a lengthy 4-year physical and developmental review (completely in German) which he passed just fine. Sheesh.
• Children are welcome in stores. Or... at least their parents' Euros are welcome. My kids get an average of 2 gummy bear packets, 1 balloon, 1 piece of sausage, 1 slice of cheese and 1 sucker each every time we do an errand run. And the grocery store, furniture store, and Ikea have free, supervised playrooms (with ball pits, slides, toys) where you can leave your potty-trained child while you shop. Eli loves these places. Mary is frustrated that she can't go too.
• Children are not welcome elsewhere. Restaurants (the kind with napkins and silverware), many video stores (strange but true) and even churches are included in this category. The local church offers a service for kids... once a month on Wednesday afternoons (when they take naps).... nothing is offered on Sunday mornings other than a regular service (no nursery, childrens worship). Our church is different, thankfully.
• Kid-Centered Businesses are Rare. A few toy stores, the pools, and some playplaces can be found but there are too few Pediatricians, no pediatric dentists, no kids hair cut places, no kids' restaurants (equals nowhere to have a birthday party) and no mid-range clothing stores. And good luck finding a babysitter. Everyone lives near parents or other relatives so this is not a common pursuit of teenagers in order to make money. I'm making a little headway on this lately, however.
• Supervision is optional. Kids as young as five are often running all over the neighborhood completely without parental supervision. My friends in other towns have seen very young kids out after dark, regularly, with no parent in sight. Yikes.

Oh dear. This is awfully long. I'm sure there will be more later so you can go to bed now.

Wildlife

Lately my children have switched roles. Eli is the wild one - see picture of legs below. Each day Eli comes home from school (where he spends 3 of 4 hours outdoors) with brand new colorful and bleeding injuries on his arms, legs or face. He doesn't seem to notice or care very much so I guess he's a regular boy. Mary has been risk averse but she is starting to walk a little each day, however reluctantly. Wildlife in Germany consists mostly of animals small enough to step on, though there are deer crossing signs on the autobahn.

The wildlife of interest at my house includes huge, black, furry bee-like creatures that can be as big as the bouncy balls you get from those 25 cent supermarket machines. I have no idea if they sting but I don't like them and tend to swat erratically at them while panicking when they try to fly through my open front door.

But most commonly sighted are what I affectionately refer to as crunchy spiders. They come in 3 sizes: squishably-small, scary, and terrifying. And yes, they have a lot of exoskeleton which makes audible crunching sounds during the process of elimination. I have kleenexed many small ones, vacuumed up many scary ones (about an inch across), and faced down only one (prayer of thanks) terrifyingly massive arachnid. I took a picture - sorry, my hands were shaking - before getting out the dustbuster and i'm telling you, this thing was so strong, it would not go into that suction tube for several long seconds. It measured at least 2.5 inches across. Kevin was on a trip to the states when this happened last fall. I had flashbacks for days.
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As my primary weapon, the Black-&-Decker handyvac the company gave us is one of my most prized posessions. It is also old. I have looked in store after store for a filter replacement with no luck. But my desperation knows no bounds so I hand-clean the filter and carefully dry it every few months so I will not lose this valuable tool. Maybe i'll bring a suspicious looking filter along to the states... Oh and don't be afraid to visit, now. I am skilled and will defend you.

And, finally, it appears we have some wilder teenagers somewhere on our hill. A few weeks back we woke up to an entire TP-ed neighborhood. All the garden walls and bushes and utility poles. It was a mess since it had also rained. A few days later someone shot fireworks directly over our house.... found the launchers in the front yard and the paper remains in the back. Ooooookaaay. And our friend Gabe - lives next door - has an 8-year old Audi that someone apparently wants for their own since they tried to break into two different windows on two nights in a row, unsuccessfully (though the windows are trashed). Such is life in the wild town of Einod.