Dieter hangs ten!

Today Dieter took his first surf lesson and experienced immediate success! Amazing everyone, he caught his first wave and rode it all the way to the beach. By the end of the hour he had caught at least 10 waves. He's already got plans to be out in the surf again tomorrow. I'm afraid he'll join his brother "out there" and we won't see him for the rest of our beach days.

There have been occassional daytime showers here in Waikiki, but the sun continues to shine so the rain doesn't keep people from heading to the beach.

We've started to settle into the spirit of ALOHA so it's difficult to keep track of what day of the week it is or what time of day it is. We generally know when it's morning and when it's evening and I'm sure we'll know when it's Christmas.

Good-bye Europe and Aloha Hawaii!

The weather was becoming increasingly cold in Europe so we "needed" to leave for warmer climes. Our plan for a year off was based on this need for warm weather. We intend to try to stay warm, avoiding the need for warm clothing.

London was wet and grey the day we left. We weren't sorry to leave, especially knowing we were heading for Hawaii> a place we have grown to love.

It has taken a few days to adjust to the 10 hour time difference. We've slept during the day only to be wide awake in the middle of the night a few times but we seem to have adjusted.

Hawaii will be home for the next two months. Here we will celebrate Christmas and we're even going to get to see friends from Regina during the holidays! Dieter is counting the days until his buddy Alex arrives and we're hoping we can go to the ZOO with the Most family. On December 31 our family, Erwin and Brenda and little Willem will arrive for a two-week vacation. All this will only enhance our days of fun and sun and sand and surf.

We really love this place!

Poisson in Portugal

Chef Girard sliced and diced and dipped and stirred until he produced this amazing mango fish dish. We were pleased to practice our French and Chef Girard seemed to be happy to talk in his mother tongue while preparing this tasty dish.
The bonus was a copy of the recipe to take home - 'er it would have been nice if it had been in English or French but I guess German is okay.



They play hard and of course they "Work" hard....


Then at the end of the day they sleep. That's when we are grateful for some quiet time and that's when we reflect on how bland life was before children.

Gelato

We love the gelato here! As part of our health and nutrition education we've classified this as a necessary food type: DAIRY. And everyone knows we need dairy products to build healthy bones, so we eat a little each day.

Our gelato days will soon be over as we head for Hawaii and Baskin Robbins. We've enjoyed our European experiences over the past couple of months. These past three weeks were supposed to be spent in Israel with our guide (my kindred spirit) Linda Epstein, but we cancelled because we were a little uneasy about the situation in Israel at the time. Linda is now in the Phillipines and we've agreed to experience Israel another time.

PADI certified

It's been a week of fun activites for the whole family. Dieter's enjoying basketball and fitness classes with me while Erik and Georg have kept busy with scuba diving and squash. Today Erik received his PADI certificate so he joins his Dad and Uncle Erwin as a scuba diver. Thursday will be an adventure at sea where they travel by boat for a scuba dive. Needless to say, he's excited.

Day three in Madeira

We're off to another beautiful day here in Madeira. Our morning run was quite nice although Erik is getting too fast to run with his Mother so I "chased" after him for 6 km.

Dieter enjoyed his first yoga class last night and proved that age is the reason for the lack of flexibility. He easily folded himself into a pretzel without grimacing at all. With all the aquatic activity Dieter decided to get a short haircut. I think it will be easier for him and he really likes it.

Georg and Erik signed up for their scuba lessons and will begin on Friday. Georg will recertify and Erik will get his junior C card. I guess it's a three-day class. Dieter and I will snorkel in the area shown in the photos above. We have been told there are no jellyfish here.

We have a cooking class at 3:00 pm today with the chef from France. I guess this will be a cooking lesson and a French lesson at the same time. Should be fun!

Day two of Boot Camp?

We started the day with a trip to the nature reserve area for Nordic Trekking (walking with poles). It was definitely a worthwhile experience and everyone is willing to do it again on Thursday. Three mornings the group runs and two mornings are reserved for the pole walking.

This experience bears some ressemblance to the four-month military training I undertook when I was a student needing a summer job. At the time the idea of getting paid to get into physical condition seemed like a good idea, although I now refer to the whole experience as "boot camp" (maybe because of all the time and effort spent on "spit" polishing those ugly black boots).

We're experiencing a similar pace as boot camp because the kids are so excited to do everything and anything NOW (not later). Yesterday we ran, walked, swam, played squash, pumped weights and took an aquafit class. Today the list includes waterpolo, yoga, and circuit training.

This is, however, a SPA and as such there are opportunities to soak and relax. Personally, I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to the European spa attitude where everyone walks around nude in the saunas, turkish baths and lounge area. So the question is "Where are you supposed to look?" and "Is it more rude to stop and freeze with mouth open or back out of the room?" I'm not sure what to do really, but MY swimsuit is on the body, not over the shoulder.

We've been told that the tourist population is 90% German which would explain why the menus are in German. And since we speak more German than Portuguese, we're now in German immersion. Erik is able to understand most of what is said, but Dieter is having more difficulty. It's been a long time since I studied German at University and I'm not impressing anyone with my French accent, but folks are quite helpful. Of course Georg is in his element and HE knows how to ask for CREAM in his coffee. (I'll never live down the sour cream in the coffee episode in France).

So we expect to keep moving for the next two weeks. Personally, I'm thrilled that football is over, although we're now pursuing hockey highlights online with TSN. (I wonder if this is why I was given that shirt "We interrupt this marriage to bring you the football season" and Diane suggested we use velcro to change the sports with the season.) Everyone is elated with the Roughriders' victory and we'll be talking about this for a long time yet, but at least we don't have to watch it anymore.

We just found out "we" get to play shinny in the gym tomorrow. The guys are getting excited but they miss the old shinny games in the bay.