Wed 22 August

I haven´t had a chance to get on the computer lately and can´t load any photos tonight yet.
Monday we had a great day at the zoo. It has animals - what more can I say?! Megan saw her favourite animals (Meerkats) although I think the ones at Belfast pose better. The lions looked drugged but some of the animals like the otters put on a good show.
Tuesday was busy and was the first time things got a bit boring for the kids. We started off at a tea factory. As well as making tea (really!) they make various fruit flavoured teas with odd names such as Hot Love and Pure Lust. Hmmm. Unfortunately the only freebies we got were peppermint, camomile and some ´kindertee´. Ate lots of cake.
Afterwards we went into Düsseldorf for a bit of shopping and then a tour of their regional parliament. Time for more cake. Listening to politics isn´t that interesting in English and even less so in German! We finally got some savoury food during a visit to a brewery which was good. I chickened out of the traditional German food (sausages, meatloaf, liver, sauerkraut etc) and had ... chicken. Not too adventurous.
Today we went to Lembeck. Some interesting bits especially the castle and chatting to the Countess - she speaks French, the count speaks German and all the kids are taught in English at school so are fluent in all 3! The best part for the kids was the playpark.
The evening finished back in der Museschoppe (house of mice) for some grub and traditional folk singing. Nuff said!
Tomorrow we´re off to Soest. Its supposed to be a nice spot and hopefully the weather will be better.
I´ll upload some more photos later if I get the chance.

Sunday 19th - church service

Today we worshipped in the Dorsten Evangelical church. I hope Mr Bell doesn´t pick up too many tips - the service lasted just under 2hrs :) OK so the translation into English added on a bit. I had to read and pray - fortunately not in German!
Afterward Mr Bell, Ray McWilliam and Jim Armstrong were presented with a couple of pictures as shown in photos.
I had meant to say that earlier in week the Dorston folks put on a photo presentation of the history of the church partnership which was excellent. Lucy was surprised to see photos of her grandas cousin Sam Davison who had been on a Dorsten visit many years ago! Small world....
Second photo is from a crane lift the boys and I had this afternoon (too scary for Megan). There was some sort of festival by the river with boat races and niknak stalls - a bit like a small May Fair! Fortunately we didn´t have to paddle (although we did get the offer).
Tomorrow we go to the zoo. After a few warm dry days, the forecast is showery:

Kettler Hof - another couple of pics

The kids really enjoyed the water play area which was quite educational with an Archimedes screw and other similar things.
Its hard to describe the huge bouncy thing except to say great fun.

Kettler Hof adventure Park

On Saturday we had a cracker day with the Reinäcker family at Kettler Hof. Its an enormous adventure park with loads of activities for kids (and their parents) to do such as numerous different types of climbing frames like pirate ships, castles, tree houses, etc. Also lots of slides, tobaoggan runs, bouncy things, water play areas - a whole day couldn´t do it justice. Check out their website and my photos for more details.

Stewart climbing windmill

Here are a few pictures of Stewart climbing the windmill sails. The first shows just how high off the ground he was - with no helmet or harness! The second is just a closer view.

Friday 17 August

Apparently we are hot news in Dorsten! We had our photo taken with the mayor in the Dorsten town hall (appropriately called the Rathaus in German) and it appeared in todays paper with a news story.
Today we visited an old Roman city called Xanten. The kids got a bit bored looking at historical stuff but they enjoyed the rest of the day. Stewarts favourite part was at a working windmill where he had to help the owner get the sails ready. This involved climbing up the sails to undo some ropes and pull the fabric across the frame of the sail. We didn´t even have to sign a parental consent form! After that we milled the grain and used the flour to make our own pizza. The German ladies used some bizzare combination of toppings but salami, olives and apple didn´t taste as bad as it sounds.
Tomorrow we´re off to an adventure park with Jens and Tine and their extended family. With a good weather forecast, it promises to be a great day.

Thursday 16 August

First impressions of Dorsten:-
Weather - at least the rain is warm.
Hosts - very friendly and speak great English. I really must try and improve my German
Accommodation - what can I say? 2 large bedrooms, lounge, 2 toilets, kitchen. Its just great!
Food - tasty and plenty of it. Even Megan is coping.
Pity my brand new camera is kaput - flash died already.