halloween 2014

the kids were really into greek mythology this year and so it was very fun to make these pretty easy costumes! mahala wanted to be artemis, goddess of the hunt, and noble wanted to be poseidon, god of the sea. i am not really sure why they came up with these particular characters, but they were pretty recognizable with artemis having the bow and arrow and poseidon having his trident. douglas and i did 5 minute costume on halloween day to be medusa and zeus. fortunately we were not rained out and took part in the usual school parade and thriller dance, downtown parade and dominga trick or treating.

age of sail

one of the big field trips in 5th grade is the age of sail which is an overnight on a ship from the early 1900's. it is a re-creation of life of a sailor back then. the kids are the crew and they do all of the work following the rules of the strict captain. mahala was in the rope tying group. they ate food cooked by the galley group. they slept on hard wood floors and received letters from "back home" (us). they woke up early to do chores and finally hoisted their teacher up in the air with ropes (he was not following the rules!)

putu with mischa and sascha

the she's joined us for putu with ammamma and appappan. our kids taught their kids the fine art of banana squishing!

ammamma and appappan's visit

ammamma and appappan stayed for a week while the girls were in europe and then stayed to help out when we got back. here they are the day before they left, along with jackelope, who visited with noble this week from school (it's a school project where they get to take jackelope on adventures and document them).

final stop: madrid

we visited the hoglunds in madrid. natalie and mahala had lots of fun together and we toured the city while she was at school. jennie cooked some wonderful food that was a welcome switch from plain european food!

city of gaudi

barcelona is filled with work by architect antonio gaudi, who is known for his wild organic forms and colorful mosaics. we saw sagrada familia cathedral (my highlight) which has been under construction for years and will be for years more. also visited park guell, filled with whimsical forms and colorful mosaics.

with the bortolatos

our good friends, the bortolato family, live in chavanod, france, near annecy close to the border of switzerland. they have two older boys and twin girls that are mahala's age. mahala was able to join in the girls school for a couple of hours where she was treated like a rock star! they took us through the old town of annecy, up into the mountains to view annecy lake, and then higher up into the mountains to view mont blanc, the highest peak in europe, then to switzerland to see a museum and to go swim in the warm water of natural springs. we also toured the old city of lyon before heading off to barcelona by train.