Summer in Berlin

Let me start this post with a humble brag. I totally nailed last week for these three magical animals: 

The full-day summer camp at the Instituto Cervantes for kids ages 4-12 was a bit of a gamble. Hugo loves going to the Spanish library, but hated a theater course I found for him last fall. Crosby was worried about the week feeling too much like school. Nevertheless, I needed some kid-free time to plan some late night escapades with Paul.

Extra dresser pick-up for our #fourkidfall

At this point in the night, Paul mentioned something about how we are "adulting". I think the only adult thing about picking up a previously-owned mattress with a boxed bike is the associated thrown out back the following day.

Meanwhile at the Instituto camp, the teachers were the best. The kids did amazing art and had such a great time. I didn't even need to take them to ice cream everyday after camp to keep them motivated...but I did: 

Hawaiian Shave Ice in Berlin = ice cream under a snow cone 

Bubble Tea Popsicles

All of these interesting locals are within a 2 mile, 3 KM, radius of my house which answers the most common question we get these days. What are you doing this summer? The answer: staying around Berlin. 

We're doubling our restaurant budget, quadrupling the fun budget, and tenfolding our babysitting budget. Our church has a summer break which means a few of our church friends have some time on their hands. As I type, Caja is playing Twister downstairs with the littles. The first couple weeks of break, Andrew loaded up the littles and took them on all sorts of exciting adventures:

Seen here heading to paddle board.

When I'm not pawning the kids off, I also have some goals for the boys. For Hugo, I'm working on teaching him to read in English and going more places around the neighborhood by himself. Here he is ordering dinner for our family (while I spy). 

He made the walk home by himself.

For Crosby, we're working on him finishing the final swimming level according to the German swim standards. Hugo has to complete five reading lessons and Crosby has to do one swimming lesson with me for them to open up their monthly Kiwi and Crunch Labs boxes. 

Val helped with swimming one day before she too realized she needs a full body wetsuit to survive Berlin outdoor pools which are kept at a brisk 24 C / 75 F.

Carmen is too little for goals, but she still got in on some of the fun before Kita started up again today.

My goal this summer is to maintain my sanity. It would be nice to shoot for family harmony but that's too aspirational. Paul has a big work deadline in two weeks and then again a month later. I didn't make as much progress on my ADHD coping strategies as I was hoping before summer started. So, I'm spending a lot of time deep breathing with my early birthday present to myself.

All the Biggs appreciate a good foot massage.

We are sneaking in some family adventures when we find the energy and time between lice combing. Berlin's Jewish Children's Museum is a must see. The theme is Noah's Arc which was fitting as our ride across town looked like this:

Summer has been wetter by Berlin standards, but nothing compared to the rain growing up in Oregon. We miss our friends back home, but an eight week combined school/preschool break is much more manageable than the twelve weeks back stateside. Stay sane my friends.