End of Summer Update

In exactly one more week, Vigo will be heading back to school. He has already been going to the school every day the past three weeks for Hort, which is something like day camp, so he's not got far to go to be back on a regular school hours schedule.

His best friend this year has been an Irish boy named Edward, who unfortunately just moved back to Dublin. Vigo was really sad about Edward moving away, but he seems to believe us when we say we'll go visit Edward's family in Dublin. We saw them off last week with a nice brunch. Here's Vigo with Kiran (in the middle) and Edward just before Edward hopped into the cab to the airport.



Vigo got to spend a lot of time with his other close friend, Leander, especially at the beginning this summer. He went camping with Leander's family for a few days when Erik and I were off helping Iris take the roof off her new house. They reported that unfortunately it "wasn't a frog year" at the lake. It's going to be interesting to see the groups of friends reform when school starts. Here are a couple pictures of an outing to the pool with Leander's parents, Vigo, and Edward.




In the past month, Vigo has become closer to a boy named Kiran. They've both been in Hort together and our families have gone to a couple free outdoor concerts together.



We've had a lot of sleepovers this summer! Up to 5 in a single week, with Kiran, Leander, Edward, and Markus. We've also been to the park a lot, and have had our share of picnics. Here's a nice picture of Vigo and Kiran playing video games together.



Vigo is still reading a lot. This morning before school he was reading in German for the first time I've ever noticed. He was reading Max and Moritz, which I think Dan gave him for Christmas.

We've been reading Harry Potter together as a family, taking turns passing the book around. We read a chapter or two almost every day, and are halfway through the third book. Vigo and I have also been reading another book series just the two of us, called The Chronicles of Mistmantle. Vigo reads out loud really well and it's a lot of fun. We take lots and lots of breaks to talk about the motivations of the different characters and make plot predictions. Anybody can interrupt the reading to make a point at any time.

Vigo and I have also been listening to audiobooks together. We finished the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio plays, which he totally loved and we're now listening to this great newish version of the Odyssey translated and narrated by Stanley Lombardo. I've got the Iliad for when we finish. All this talk in the Odyssey about the heroes of Troy has made Vigo curious. We usually listen the the audiobooks on Sundays, while we clean the house.

It's hard to believe that we have been in Berlin for almost a full year. We're thinking about trying to throw a party to celebrate.