Sun and Rosenmontag

The weather here for the past week has been sunny and freezing. Around -5 degrees celsius overnight but creeping up to a fantastic 5 degrees during the day. It is sunny so you think you can go out and play but when you do it is still really cold so you come back to the nice warm house with cold feet and rosy cheeks. On Sunday after waving goodbye to Frau M with the tubes of vegemite she left us and with Herr Fitz on his way to Munich we met some friends and went to the Botanic Gardens to enjoy the sun and warm up in the tropical greenhouses that remind me of my Nanna and Pop's garden which my Mum works so hard in. A nice way to remember home.

Then came the day we had been waiting all week for...Rosenmontag and more importantly the parade through the city. The Monkey was so excited that the first thing she said was "Heute ist Rosenmontag Mama" at 6 30am. The Bear wanted to paint on his beard first thing but I managed to make him see sense in waiting until after breakfast. With beautiful sunny weather and all our bags and baskets to catch sweets we headed into town on the bikes. It was so sweet to look behind me and see two princesses and a little knight following along on his trusty stead. We collected our princess from the tower in the form of the lovely Frau F and found a great spot right at the beginning of the parade just in time to see the first float. With much 'Helau-ing" (helau is what you have to yell to get the sweets thrown at you) we collected a very large bag of sweets and even a couple of hats and a penguin and my favourite and I think the Mouses' favourite too ICECREAM. As the last float rolled by and the rubbish team jumped into the street sweepers to clean up we headed back to Frau F's castle to sort out our loot and use the facilities Having decided that we needed more sweets (and a beer for the ladies) we braved Principalmarkt to meet Herr M then headed to a slightly quieter quarter just in time to see the floats from the Netherlands which were very impressive (and who knows why they were there for a very catholic festival, I think for the beer). We finished off the whole Rosenmontag experience with pommes (hot chips) with mayonaise.

A slow start was made up for shortly after.

Arriving home for baths to wash off the face paint and sugar which had crystalised on cheeks and chins the Bear entertained the Mouse with his version of Dr Suess' "Oh the places you'll go" while the Monkey curled up on the other sofa totally exhausted only to be roused to skype with Dad about the very exciting day.

Wearing the hats they had caught yesterday and carrying the penguin the big kids went back to kindergarten today to tell all their tales. The Monkey finished the day with her very first solo playdate with a friend...the Mouse, bear and I joined in about an hour later as the Mouse's presence was also requested by the very sweet Fraulein F...they like playing shops together.

The Bear's musical instrument he finally finished at kindergarten.

It got up to a dazzling 8 degrees today (and even though rain is predicted for the next few days the temperature should stay above 5. With spring just around the corner we are looking forward to visits from family. Grandma and Grandad head for Europe today and Papa and A fly in in a month.