Double Digits

We’ve recently had two kids reach double digits around here. Exciting stuff. Spirits are soaring. As Royce says best, “I’m as happy as a ten year old!” It was a wild and crazy weekend of celebrations, which we could not have survived without a big assist from the twin’s godmother, coming in from London for the second year in a row. Despite the cold and grey and rainy spring we’ve been having, the rain held off for all of our parties and outside events. A lucky start to the momentous year, I hope.

This year Adam was up first with his campout party on Friday. The boys came over learned how to tie knots, made a drinking cup out of paper and did some leather crafts. We ate plenty of smores and watched a survival video before pitching a tent in our basement. Somehow we survived the ten year old boys but that was mostly due to the distance between them in the basement and us a few floors up and not any particular skill.

The next day we all went to the Bon Jovi concert, thanks to the twins’ godmother, the person who introduced the kids to Bon Jovi.  The concert was outside in Olympic Stadium, downtown Munich, and the weather was beautiful; almost warm and clear skies. We even peeked into the Olympic swimming pool en route to the concert. 1972 Olympics and Mark Spitz glory days! Bon Jovi did not disappoint. He played for three hours with no break, interspersing old songs with new ones. The concert felt oddly personal as Bon Jovi spoke to the audience in English of course. We all came out of the stadium, feeling very American, pumped up by the Olympic vibe and the American lyrics, not to mention the huge Cadillac stage set.

Sunday saw us biking through Munich’s English Garden as part of a tour. Fifteen years ago, Phil and I were in Munich and did Mike’s Bike Tour. We loved it, though we can’t remember much. It did get us started on bike and walking tours in cities we visited…until we had kids who could not walk or bike. Of course, everyone can now, so we are back! The kids knew most of Munich history from school but it was a nice refresher course for the adults. We ate lunch at the Chinese Tower and watched folks surfing in the river that goes through the Garden. The best parts were our tour leader Tony, who the kids adored and the fact that that the torrential rain held off until we turned in our bikes and were on our way home!

Last up this year was Royce’s garden party. The girls had a picnic lunch, decorated flower pots and planted flowers. We also took them down to our community garden and tried to convince them that weeding was a party game. They didn’t go for that but did collect lovely wildflowers along the way. Royce had so much fun at her party (and Adam and Tori were so good at her party) that I almost think we can do it all over again next year. Here’s to another of double trouble, double fun and now double digits!