A summer weekend at home

This past weekend, we had some ideas for road trips, but in the end decided just to stay home. On Saturday, it really took us a long time to get going, in part, because Alex decided to build several elaborate constructions on/with our bedding. Here is one of the incarnations he called a bathtub for his stuffed animals in which he - somewhat inexplicably - pretends to be sleeping.

In the end all we managed was a quick trip to get groceries etc. and a long visit to his favorite playground.

On Sunday, things also took a while in the morning. Here Alex is finishing a piece of apple cake left over from our shopping trip the day before.

In the afternoon, we headed to one of the main outdoor pools, the Tiergartenschwimmbad. It boasts several pools, but also has vast lawns where people camp out all day, bring picnics etc. Today was a special family sports day where many local clubs had set up activities. We (well, mostly Alex) managed to complete all 14 activities and he received a rubber duck for his efforts which thrilled him to bits. Here are some shots of him completing several tasks.

At this tent, he had to stand on a tippy board and stack cups.

One of the activities was run by a local fencing club. They had some demonstrations by teenagers (in their white suits) which Alex watched enthusiastically (real fighting with real swords!) and he jumped at the chance to try to fence a little himself.

He did really well at the soccer activity, scoring on 5 out of 5 attempts. Surprisingly, soccer clubs don't start coaching kids until at least 6 or 7 years old and Alex outscored most kids in his age group. Hurray for PCYSA!

He even managed to walk on kid stilts along a slalom track,

stacked cups,

though was not really successful at jumping rope.

He also tried field hockey, which he said was just like soccer with sticks.

But most of the day, we spent in the water, picnicking in the shade, or exploring the terrific playground. Alex is in the white towel on the top of the plane.

All in all not a bad way to spend a Sunday in the summer.