Rub a dub

Our friend, Misao, had his Eagle project this month.   Downtown is a garden where are located large dinosaur sculptures.  They've been there since 2002 and have never had a bath, so we took brushes, buckets and enthusiastic preschoolers to give the dinos a bath.  

The gartenschau had a fall exhibit with the theme of "Noah's Ark"
There were cute squash animal sculptures all over

some of us had more fun than others

This guy only got washed up to his knees

One of the favorite tasks was to get water
out of the creek.  We didn't have a lot of
buckets, so water bottles were pressed into service

Summer

Our summer has been lots of fun.  Now that it is nearly officially over I figured I should sum up:

The boy is my more-or-less constant companion.  He wants to be right in the middle of everything, especially if it involves the use of machines.  

and finished a quilt top on her own

Deanna learned to sew

No embraced his 'tough guy' side

We visited the castle at Bad Durkheim and the kids played in the 'goblet of fire'  Not any fire, just an abundance of kids.  

Krazy King Ludwig's Kastles

Our last big trip of the summer was to Bavaria and the last of King Ludwig's castles.  We saw Neuschwanstein, which Ludwig built, never finished, and lived in for only a few days before he was deposed and died under mysterious circumstances.  It is famously the basis for Disney's sleeping beauty castle.  It was huge.  Also, Ludwig was a great friend of Wagner and wrote the composer lengthy letters about the throne room and banqueting hall based on Wagner's operas.  He and Wagner also shared a disdain for Ludwig's parents, one letter tells how glad Ludwig will be to live in Neuschwanstein, where he will no longer share the 'polluted air' where his mother lives in the valley bottom.  Issues, eh?  

My favorite was the Linderhof, where the gardens were marvelous and the little 'huts' all over the grounds are fascinating.  My kids' favorite part of the trip, however, was the swimming pool at our hotel in Garmisch.  So much for getting them a little historical edumacation.  

The Alps

Linderhof fountain

The Linderhof--only castle Ludwig completed and lived in
It was his retreat from 'real life' in Munich.
Modeled after Versailles

Hohenschwangau  (swan castle) where Ludwig grew up

out of the mouths

Emma, this morning, as she prepared for school:   "Mommy, do you just sleep all day while we're at school?"