Archive for the ‘A day in France’ Category

A day at the beach

Sonntag, August 30th, 2009

My vacation has started. Of course this is also the slowly approaching end of a 2 year stay in france. Pretty soon Dagmar and the kids will return to germany. So we enjoy the sunny weather here in the south of france. Some friends already returned to germany, USA…and soon Scotland. So we had a small party for us from my great colleagues here and a party for Phil & Jane and their kids yesterday. BBQ, beer, wine.. won’t get boring here 🙂
Today Josefine had her second bath in the mediterranean sea. Wow, she really likes it. No problem at all with the salty water 🙂 Fabi, Jona and Daggie love that of course as well.
      

Temperatures around 30C and water temperatures around 23C are making the bath very refreshing. Not cold at all. We love it.
     

A bientot

The 5 Engelkahles

Familypicture

Sonntag, August 23rd, 2009

Was time for a new Familypicture…See it here:

     

Heat, Beach and Sharks

Samstag, August 22nd, 2009

      

In germany they just recently were showing in the news, that the hottest day with 37C (98F) of the actual summer just happened and everybody was celebrating it. Here in the south of france this is normal. Since weeks we have temperatures above 30C (86F), no rain and lots of sun. Maybe we will get some rain and thunderstorms next tuesday, maybe. But til then it is hot and sunny. We just hope no fires in the close forrests will happen here. So far we are lucky.

        

The close distance to the mediterranean sea gives us a lot of possibilities to go to the beach. Of course we also use the pool of our Hotel. Especially when I come back late afternoon from work. During this peak season it takes sometimes too much time to get to the beach, so we just go to the pool. Jonathan is improving his diving and swimming skills. After saying „No I do not go into the water“ he nows asks „Daddy can we go to the pool, I want to swim“. He is not really swimming so far. He is more diving and he loves it.
Fabian is totally relaxed and he more enjoys the silence sometimes, he is not wild for the pool. Dagmar and Josefine also enjoy the warm temperatures. Josefine is very relaxed and quiet. She is totally cool, smiling, eating, spitting 🙂
        
Last saturday Josefine had her first bath in the mediterranean .. The water was warm and she really loved and enjoyed it. Even when she tasted some of the salty water she smiled…No crying, no shouting, just a relaxed girl. Holger took some pictures with his waterproof digital camera, so I will update the BLOG later with pictures.
Two days ago about 100km aways from here in Canet en Roussillion two sharks (2m long ,6.7feet) were seen at the beach and the beach was closed. They are probably not very dangerous, but can attack people. But so far nothing happened. We only go to the shallow water and have no problem with that fact. I guess in general the humans are a more dangerous problem for the sharks.
This weekend I am on duty and I can not do much. We might go all together to the pool for some time.
Pictures will follow. Formula 1 is also taking place in Valencia.. Let’s watch it.

A bientot

The 5 Engelkahles

Clio rolling…

Montag, August 10th, 2009

This morning I saw a Clio parking very strange. Looks like the owner of this blue Clio forgot to use the e-brake. So the car rolled backwards and was stopped by the high border. One wheel jumped over and the Clio stopped 🙂 Glad that it did not happen on a open road.
       

10 + 4 + 2

Sonntag, August 9th, 2009

August is the peak season month for the vacation time in france. Family and friends used that as well and started to visit us. First were Sabine, Chris and their 2 kids. They stay in a friends place for 2 weeks. Followed by Dagmars sister Kerstin, Daniel and the three kids Paul, Leonie and little Juliane. They stay at our place. So we have right now 6 children, 4 adults and another 2 adults and 2 children next to us. Lots of fun. We use the time to go to the beach, pool, Shopping, Aquarium etc.
We also visited one of our favorite Restaurants in Aigues-Mortes with our in laws. Le Galion is the Restaurant. Normally we go there of course in the off season. Much more relaxed. But now in the peak season the same staff has to handle a fully seated Restaurant which causes some delays. We had long long delays to get our drinks and food. That is not very easy with 6 children (where Josefine of course is not counted and also Juliane not). Well, we managed it and the food was still very good. Since we already accepted and like the french way of living we get used to that 🙂
        

We also had a surprise visit of our friends from Italy. Fabrizio and Sabrina decided spontaneus to drive from Trento, Italy to Tarifa in Spain. A trip of more than 2000km. So they also planned a short stop here in Montpellier to visit us. I saw the Email on Saturday noon with the info they want to be there between 10am and noon. So I called them and they were still stuck in traffic. At the end it took them 16 hours to arrive in Montpellier. For a 800km trip very very very long. They were exhausted. So we decided they will stay at our place for one night to recover, have a refreshing bath at the pool and a nice BBQ in the evening.
    
Fab also showed us finally how to drink the Parapampola liquor he sent us last year. Due to the lack of speaking/reading italian we did not understand the instructions and we drunk that coffee liquor cold. Well, it has to be boiled in a pot and then lit with a lighter. So it burns for a while in the cups and then you can drink it. Delicious 🙂
After a quiet night for them they took off again on Sunday.
Was really a pleasure and maybe they stop by again on the way back.
On Sunday evening we visited with Kersting and Family and our family the beautiful city of Montpellier. We took the tram and we had a nice evening there. Kind of sad, it is so far our last summer here in Montpellier, so we enjoy the full house with 6 children at home 🙂
    
Josefine is now 2 months young. Growing and eating, smiling…a little princess. She controls us with her smile.

A bientot

 The 5 Engelkahles

Riding a horse

Mittwoch, Juli 22nd, 2009

Oh we love the summer here in the south of france. It is really nice. Warm, sometimes hot temperatures. Lots of sun, very little rain. Very enjoyable. So after a nice week and a busy weekend ( I was on duty) we drove to Lodève, northwest of Montpellier. A few weeks ago, when I flew from Stuttgart via Lyon to Montpellier, the flight to Montpellier was cancelled and we were sent to Marseille and then with a Taxi to Montpellier. I met a old, german Lady, 78 years young and helped her to get the new ticket etc. For her it was very stressfull even though she flew this route many times already. For the help I provided she invited us to her nice vacation house in Lodève. It was very sweet, she enjoyed the company as much as we did. We had cake, coffee, Champagne… The kids played in the huge garden and Josefine relaxed 🙂

     
On tuesday Dagamr with the kids, Ute + kids and Jane + kids drove to Le Grau du Roi, Petit Camargue for horseback riding. First time for most of the kids. Fabian was on a horse, Jonathan on a pony. Of course there was some fear at the beginning, but it disappeared after a short time. The kids had a lot of fun.
       
Afterwards they all went to the beach. Was a little windy and Josefine did not like it at all. Dagmar and Josefine were in a little tent to protect them from sun and wind, but the wind was pretty nasty. Anyway. The kids had their fun in the water and in the sand. Yeah, the sand was later found in our house everywhere 🙂

That’s it for now…relaxed greetings

        

The 5 Engelkahles

A day off

Dienstag, Juli 14th, 2009

14th of July. National Holiday in france. The revolution began 1789 and the Bastille was stormed. Today only parades, parties, fireworks are taking place. Last night many towns around us made already big fireworks, because today is the huge firework in Montpellier.
So we enjoy the long sleep, watched TV with the big parade in Paris while having breakfast and enjoy the sun and warm temperatures. Probably we will go to the pool again. Pool, because Jonathan want’s to learn swimming now and he feels better in the pool than in the mediterranean.
       
Last weekend we had also a lot of fun at the Tyroliane park. That is a climbing park where you can climb um trees secured with a harness. A lot of fun for the kids and the adults. I also tried it again. Some of the smaller trails are tight for me, but an adult has to be present when the smaller kids are climbing there.
With Fabian I also climbed a little higher.
This was all a big party done by Ute and Holger for their Kids Yan and Nils. A farewell party and birthday party with many of their friends. Really a very good activity, kids will fall asleep soon after such a day. Holger also shot lots of nice pictures: http://www.niyautho.de
On Sunday Christian, a colleague and his sister visited us. We attended a free Golf lesson on that sunny and hot day. You really sweat while trying to hit the little ball. Damn, I guess I will never be a Pro. Not my sport. But it was fun for all of us.
     
The boys are really really good big brothers. They take care of Josefine as much as they can, that is really cute. Dagmar also feels great and she enjoys the relaxing days. School is over and no stress.
   
I just uploaded some new Josefine pictures to http://josefine.bigmek.de . Have fun

So far so good

A bientot

The 5 Engelkahles

And time goes by

Sonntag, Juli 5th, 2009

Time is passing fast. Josefine is already a little more than three weeks young and growing fast. Dagmars parents were visiting us for a week as well. School is over. Wow
          

The weather was almost too hot to do a lot of things outside. Every day above 30C and the rest of the week was also very humid. Thanks to the Air Condition in the Apartment and in the car we are able to survive a bit 🙂
The boys had their last day at school last tuesday. Strange. The time went so fast. From March 2008 to now it was a tough time at the beginning with all the new stuff and languagues at school and now with more friends from all over the world. South-Africe, France, England, Ireland, New Zealand… Eventhough the kids do not show that they are sad, they already miss it. Bruno, Ray, Susan and Virginie, the teachers, got some little presents from us for their patience and help to learn french, english and make the boys more confident.
       

We will try to keep the languages awake with the kids. That is a really good chance for them and us.

Anyway, work continues fine and as usual. Kids have summervacation now. Grandma and Grandpa had a nice week with their grandchildren. Of course they were curious to see little sweet Josefine Emily but also Fabian and Jonathan. We showed them some nice places here in the beautiful area. We had Dinner at one very good Restaurant in Aigues-Mortes, the Le Galion. Beach, Pool, Montpellier, all that was part of our things we saw, did…

If you want to see our beautiful area, you have to watch EuroSport or any other News or Sportschannel that covers the Tour de France. The Tour arrives tomorrow here in La Grande Motte and continues on Tuesday in Montpellier at the Place de la Comedie. See http://www.letour.com
So watch TV and see Montpellier and the area around.
       Place de la Comedie

I have to work and I am not sure if I will be able to see the Tour. Dagmar and the kids will be in germany for a few days with the car. So I am also not that flexible. I have my bike and my colleagues will drive me to and from work. The fridge is full with food and enough water is at home to survive a few days.

I hope the week goes fast so I can see my three kids and Dagmar again soon.
Josefine is growing sooo fast. But it is great to see the little girl exploring the world around her. I will update the Album soon and upload some more pictures. Stay tuned.
   

A bientot

The 5 Engelkahles

More Josefine pictures

Mittwoch, Juni 24th, 2009

Our little cutie Josefine is growing and growing. In two weeks she is making a lot of progress. There are new Pictures available (password protected). Have fun !<

http://fotoalbum.web.de/gast/bigmek/Josefine

              

The 5 Engelkahles

MiWuLa Video online

Mittwoch, Juni 24th, 2009

The Miniture wonderland Modeltrain show was again our target. The third time since (2003,2006) for us to see the worlds largest H0 Scale Modeltrain installation in the world. Now with new additions like Switzerland and the Airport (still under construction). New things to come soon. Our Video from June 16th is now on Youtube. Enjoy it. I am also on Facebook now. Since many of our friends outside germany can not deal with the german Facebook versions like Stayfriends etc.  I decided to finally go online there. You can look for me there now.

Have fun

The 5 Engelkahles