Dear
friends,

once again
it is Christmas and I finally got the time to translate our annual letter for
my English speaking acquaintances. As always we not only describe our life in
words, but show you with the help of pictures the things that have been
important to us during the last 12 months.

At the
beginning of 2011 we went skiing in Obergurgl, Austria. We had a great time
together. The kids are getting better every year. Peter switched to a snowboard
and did really good on it.

SPRING

In January
and February we celebrated the birthdays of Reinhard, Jutta and Annika. Annika
turned 10 this year.

Shortly
after that spring started and we spent a lot of time outside in our garden,
since we had sunny weather for weeks on end.

CLIMBING

We went
climbing for a couple of times this year.

In Spring
and Autumn we drove to the Steinwand (that means rock wall) in the
Rhön-mountains. It is really beautiful up there: A wall of about 30 -50 feet of
height stands in the middle of the forest and from the top of the rocks one has
a great view over the treetops. We spent the whole day out there rock-climbing,
enjoying a picnic and the sunny weather.

Another
climbing attraction is an old water tower in Gelnhausen. In former times the
steam engines used to fill their water tanks here. Nowadays it is possible to
climb the tower.

We also
went to adventure rope courses twice this year and had a lot of fun climbing
and using the big rope slides.

SOAPBOXES

Do you know
soapboxes? They are self constructed vehicles made of old wooden boxes. An
uncle of Reinhard once built a soapbox for his godson and Reinhards brother
Ulrich. For many years it was forgotten until finally Reinhard took it to
Rohrbach and restored with the help of Peter. Peter had a lot of fun cruising
the hills of Rohrbach. One of his best friends was infiltrated by the virus and
with the help of his dad (a carpenter) he built his own soapbox. Now the two
boys drove around town together.

PETERS BIRTHDAY

At Peters
birthday party we had another special event: We went out to a lake and provided
the kids with barrels, wooden beams and planks and a rope and the task to build
a raft. After some discussion and trying they finally succeeded and were able
to steer across the lake.

REINHARD

Once again
I took part in some running events. In spring it was the Weiltal-Marathon,
during summer I jogged through the forest near Gelnhausen or across the fields
around Rohrbach. At the beginning of October I followed the invitation of a
friend and ran a half-marathon in Köln. The last run for the season was the
Frankfurt Marathon at the end of October. I finished it in 4 hours and 13 minutes.

After my
education as mediator I now enjoy to use the skills and methods I have learned.
They helped me to organize a couple of workshops and trainings both at the
hospital in Gelnhausen and at other hospitals in Germany.

I am still
in contact with the group of people who attended the education with me. We meet
regularly for intervision. There we talk about the experiences with mediation
we made in the meantime.

If possible
I visit the concerts of the country band “The Tiny Hunters” in Köln where one
of my colleagues plays the bass.

JUTTA

Meanwhile I
am in the third year of the education to be a kindergarten teacher. For the
first months of this year this still meant going to school. But in between
there were also practical elements. Together with 3 other students we spent the
Thursday afternoons at a kindergarten to work with the children. On Fridays we
explored the possibilities of experiential training methods. Since we were our
own clients we did have a number of experiences and also a lot of fun.

The end of
the theoretical phase of my education was the written exam in May.

After a
long summer holiday I started working in August. I work 4 days the week and go
to school on Fridays. Our teacher visits us a couple of times and we have to do
some written exercises about our practical work during this last year. I am
happy to be able to work back at “my” Waldkindergarten in Büdingen and I enjoy
the time with the children and my colleagues out there. While working I often
find I still act the same way as I did before I started school. But now I do it
with a different theoretic background.

VISITING SWITZERLAND

During the
summer holidays Peter and his friend Erryn, Annika, Hannah and Jutta visited
Jutta’s brother Ralph and his family in Switzerland. All together we continued
the journey to a small campground near Saignelégier (a town near the border to
France). Our tents were put up beneath big old fir trees and for one week we
were cooking on the open fire, the 6 kids built many homes for the dwarfs, we
went swimming in the lake, rode our bikes and looked for the many horses that
live in this part of the country. Even though the weather wasn’t always on our
side we had a grat time together.

Hannah’s
birthday party in September brought a trip to the “Green Ocean”, an adventure
park near Laubach. There are many possibilities to climb and jump and play out
in the woods. From the top of a tower one has a great view all over the
surrounding forests: Like a green ocean.

Our girls
both still enjoy horseback riding. Once a week they take lessons. Annika also
spent a week at a riding camp during the holidays and helped at a western
tournament that was organized by a friend of Reinhard.

CREATIVE

We enjoy
watching our children in creating lots of different things.

Annika
often draws and does a lot of handicraft.

Peter
creates his own toys with the help of the tools in the hobby room.

Hannah
easily gets into role plays and takes all of her surroundings with her. On the
picture she stears a self built airplane and is on her way to a fantastic
country taking Annika and our neighbor Gerlinde with her.