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We've been in the house two weeks now. I've actually had more than one warm shower in a row now and today our landlords came over and showed us how to turn on the heat and turn up the hot water since they leave for a three week vacation soon. I got a peek at our oil tanks, not too much oil was used for the first half a month we were here, so we cranked the water temp up just a bit more. We also found out some important information, the warmer it is outside, the less the furnace/contraption/heating thingamajig will heat up the water. Oooooooh. That explains why the water is sometimes warm and sometimes not. It also goes to show me that I really don't understand the way Germans think. I've got a little over a year left to figure it out, which I'll totally try and do because I adore pointless challenges such as this.

This weekend, it got warm enough that R and I tackled the challenge of taking the kids to the pool that's just down the street. T has been asking to go and the kids were really well behaved this weekend if you don't count the inexplicable urges they have to whack each other for no apparent reason and S's new favorite hobby which is to teeter on the edge of the steps and make it look like she's going to fall. She only does this when you are not in a good position to catch her - for example you are following behind her down the steps (never, never a good idea we've found) or have your hands full of groceries, laundry, or the latest box of junk you are trying to unpack. She also thinks it hilarious. I'm torn between being amused and horrified. All it will take is one miscalculation and chances are we'll end up in the ER having stitches put in some part of her body. Not an appealing thought.

But anyway, we decided to take the kids to the pool on Saturday. We suited them up and walked down, enjoying the heat of the day. We got to the pool, stuck our toe in and realized that 23 degrees Celsius = cold water. We tried the baby pool first but the kids weren't impressed. Off to the big people pool! There was this really cool slide, it's wide enough for several people to go down at once side by side. In all the other pools we've been to in Germany, the slide ends up in fairly shallow water. We figured that T would be able to stand with no problem, but we didn't test it first. Did I mention the water was cold? So T and R go down the slide side by side. They both end up going underwater. R pops up immediately, but T can't touch the bottom of the pool, so I'm standing on the side of the pool, holding a ticked off S (who is wailing that she didn't get to go down the slide with her dad and brother) directing R (who seemed momentarily stunned by the icy water) for him to grab T. We pull him out of the water, he was only under for a second or two, but it scared him. And, it was, ummm, cold. So, in keeping with the theory that you should jump right back on the horse, T and I climb up the ladder to go down the slide. T, no fool, decides that he doesn't care to go down after all. I go, thinking that I can then catch him. T was not so fond of that idea and climbs back down the slide. I don't really blame him, In the few minutes I'd been in the water, my legs were going numb. How any of the people from the Titanic survived in that water is a complete mystery to me, and that water was much colder than the pool water we were in. But my heart, too, will go on.........

So, T jumps to me in the pool and R climbs in carefully with S, who begins to cry, shiver, and chatter all at once. Within five minutes, we are back in the baby pool, where some really nice German kids and their mom share their toys with our kids and a massive water fight breaks out. S is all about that - as long as I'm the one sitting in the water and she can sit on my lap and play in the water as she feels like it. And also that I'm the one taking the majority of the water being hurled our way. I'm just glad to be of service (rolling my eyes). After about an hour or so, both the kids' lips were blue and T was shivering so we had to drag him out of there to head home. Next summer, that will absolutely be the place to spend our days if it actually gets hot here. T, who is apparently a glutton for punishment, keeps asking to go back to the pool. Try as we might, he's not falling for the 'why don't you play in the water in the bathtub' ploy. I think it has something to do with the splashing.