It’s the last week of summer break, and the heat is not letting up! The mornings are manageable, but we have to hunker down in our air-conditioned rooms for the rest of the day. We are looking forward to things cooling off a little bit this weekend.
On Monday night, we saw the Perseid Meteor Shower! It was expected to peak around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and we had no intention of staying up that late. We watched TV until around 11:30, though, and when we let the dogs out before bed, we saw about five shooting stars within the first three minutes! It was a nice, unexpected surprise.
Wednesday, we got our new car! The car buying process in Germany is so long! We put a deposit on this car back in March and were expecting to take delivery in mid-May. There’s been delay after delay and finally, we were supposed to pick it up last Friday. As irony would have it, a recall was issued on the car that morning, so we couldn’t pick it up then either. FINALLY, we picked it up on Wednesday and are so happy with it! We’ve pretty much only been driving my tiny car since March, when we decided to trade in Matt’s. It’s so nice and much more comfortable to be able to spread out! And, now we will have more room for visitors and friends with a third row in the car.
Thursday was also a big day in our house; Matt started his new job! Last week, he got an offer to work in the school system’s IT department, and he will be working at the kids’ high school! We are so excited. This is really the job Matt has been hoping for, and being able to be close to the kids at school is the icing on the cake!
Friday, I was off, so I took the kids and their friends to Total Jump, just across the border in France. Total Jump is an aqua park on the lakefront of Bassin de Mouettes, an artificial lake. Half of the park is an inflatable obstacle course, and the other half are mega slides that launch you into the lake. These slides are so giant and you are launched so high that you must wear a life jacket and helmet!
The drive only took about an hour and a half, and we arrived on time for our 1 pm timeslot on the slides. We suited up in life vests and helmets, got the safety briefing, and were off! There were varying heights of slides, and you could go down on your own, on tubes, or on boogie boards. These slides really launch you, and the life vests not only helped keep you afloat but protected you against the inevitable back and belly flops. When you launch off the slides, you feel like you are in the air for so long that you start to wonder when you will hit the water.
The kids and I all had a blast. I wasn’t scared at all before going down the first time, but after the first experience, I got a little nervous and only went down a couple more times. Instead, I took lots of pictures and videos of the kids. After our time on the slides was over, we had a short break, and then it was time for the inflatable obstacle course. The kids had a blast while I hung out on the beach and had a quick lunch.
While Total Jump is located on a lakefront, there is also a separate beach and campground at the lake. The beach is sandy, and the water was pretty warm and crystal blue. There was also a large grassy area with lots of trees for shade. Honestly, it was the perfect beach, and at only about an hour away, I could not believe we did not know about this place or had been there before. I know we will definitely be back!
After our time slot at the obstacle course, it was time to head back home all too soon. Brooklyn had softball practice, and we wanted to catch up with Matt and see how his second day on the job went. He is loving his job so far, his co-workers, and his office.
We originally planned more activities on Saturday but ultimately decided to stay close to home and spent the day running around and shopping to get ready for school on Monday. The kids still needed new shoes and had to do more supply shopping, which we were able to finish up during the day. That evening, we had dinner in our neighborhood biergarten with some neighbors who had visitors from the US.
On Sunday, it finally rained! This did so much to cool everything off. Not only that, it meant that we could stay home without me feeling guilty for not finding something to do. We caught up on lots of cleaning around the house, made the final preparations for the first day of school, and hung out in front of the TV.
As it was the end of the summer break, I asked the kids to give their top three favorite activities of the summer. Ryan’s top three were the Nürburgring (I forgot it was even in summer because it was so cold), Camp Avantura in Croatia, and returning to the US . Brooklyn’s top three were Total Jump, Taylor Swift, and Disneyland. This summer was definitely more lowkey than previous summers due to our long trip back to the USA, and that’s ok; we still got a lot of adventuring in, and I am looking forward to continuing it in the fall!
Gilcrests Abroad 