TolsmaFamily

Last day of HIS

The last days at HIS were filled with activities and good-byes.

We were so thankful for great teachers and wonderful friends!

A piece of HIS will go with us always!

A Midsummer's Night Dream

What is a Midsummer's Night Dream? For us, this midsummer, it was watching a performance of this wonderful Shakespeare comedy in the Heidelberg Castle courtyard - then better yet, watching Joseph perform the same play with his middle school classmates later that week.

Although it threatened rain all day, the sun was out when the play in the castle courtyard was about to begin.

What a setting...!

Joseph paid special attention to "Bottom" the character he would play later this week.

Tuesday night was dress rehearsal.

Thursday was the big night! All the hard work - would it pay off?

They performed in the school garden. It threatened rain all night but the rain held off, the weather was beautiful and the kids were brilliant!

They did a great job and had so much fun! They had the audience in stitches! What a great experience!

A big thank you to Mr. C and Mrs. M for all their time!

Ireland

In June Joseph's school class went on their yearly class trip. This year the class went to Dublin, Ireland. Jeff was insistent that his son would not go to Ireland before he did, so he unselfishly volunteered to chaperon :) ! They had a wonderful time! Both Jeff and Joseph especially loved the Irish countryside. Jeff said the kids were very good, Although they weren't too quick to get to sleep at night. Now I will turn the blog over to them to tell you about their trip...

Getting ready to leave for Dublin, Ireland.......

We are in Dublin!!! This is the bus that took us to our hostel.

Oops!! We got off the bus a couple stops too early. Therefore, we had to walk a couple of blocks to the hostel. It was fun though. Note the doubledecker bus (they were everywhere) and the traffic going the "wrong" way!!!

Our home for a week!!

This is O'Connell Street. A very famous street in Dublin. We went up and down this street several times as we walked back and forth to destinations and our hostel. This street has many statues of famous Dubliner's on it. In addition, it holds the statue that became known as "God's toothpick". I will let you see if you can spot it in the various pictures.

A picture for the OC folk. Yes, even Dublin has one!!

Here we are getting ready for a trip down the River Libbey and out into Dublin Bay.

These are views of some of the islands out in Dublin Bay. On these islands you will find goats and rabbits. The goats have been here for as long as the locals can remember. In addition, you will often find seals. Although, this day we saw none.

Throughout these islands you will see what appear to be small flat towers. Napoleon built these as a kind of alarm/alert system. Kind of like in the Lord of the Rings movies. However, he forgot that Dublin gets all kinds of fog. Therefore, they never worked. The best laid plans......

On the corner of this island is the home of "The Edge" - the lead guitarist for U2. U2 calls Dublin home.

This is a replica (working) of a ship that was used to send Irish immigrants to the USA during the Potato famine. Just happened to be passing by. WOW!!

This is the world's largest car transport ferry. It commutes between England and Ireland. Again, just happened to be passing by.

Back on dry land! But not without the captain of the boat providing the kids some high speed spins and turns! They had a blast.

Time for a quick stop and play in the park.

Even I (Dad) got into it!

The sights and sounds along our way back to the hostel were incredible.

Day 2. A trip through the Wicklow Mountains.

Words cannot describe the shade of green that exists in Ireland. And the Wicklow Mountains were a perfect example of this beauty. Bono (yes, U2 fame) has a home over in these mountains according to our tour guide.

Although tough to see due to the fog, Dublin Bay is in the distance.

A brief stop to see a German cemetery. This cemetery contains persons who were killed in World War I and II as they were flying over Ireland.

Dublin claims many famous writers and playwrights. James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, et., etc. And one can see why with the beauty that surrounds them. This is the home of Oscar Wilde. And the sights that provided him most of his inspiration. I can see why!

This is also where they harvest peat. Used for heating and for gardening.

This is a picture of the field where one of the epic battle scenes of the film "Braveheart" was filmed. Our tour guide told us they had to film the scene three times to get the level of violence that Mel Gibson wanted. Apparently they had to cart away quite a few persons to the hospital after the final shooting because it was so violent.

This is a very important stream........it ultimately feeds the Guinness plant! The boys wanted a

taste!! haha

This is the home of one of the founders/owners of Guinness. Not bad!! It also is allegedly where Bono wrote the words to the song "Beautiful Day". And one can easily see where the inspiration would come from again.

A brief stop at a waterfall before lunch. Words just can't describe the beauty of the Wicklow Mountains.

LUNCH!!!! This is where we ate lunch.

The real reason to come to Ireland....Fresh from the tap!! Nothing quite beats fresh Guinness!!!

Glendalough

A village located at the site of a monastary. It was founded in the 6th Century by St. Kevin, a hermit priest educated by St. Patrick. The monastary is located between two lakes. The monastic site includes a 33 meter high tower and St. Kevin's cross, a Celtic high cross. The tower was built during the Viking invasions to protect the writings and chalices used in the monastary. The place was just magical.

St. Kevin's Cross - the Celtic high cross.

The walk between the two lakes was just magnificant!

On our drive back into Dublin we came across a familiar scene. Sheep!! Apparantly they just wander the hills and are identified by their owners by the markings on the sheep.

Day 3 - A trip to the International Children's Festival in Dublin. This day we got to tour the facility and see some of the artwork. We were then later entertained by a real Irish folk band. The music was incredible.

The outside of Dublin castle.

Some of the governmental buildings along our path. Just incredible.

Christ Cathedral and Dublinia:

Christ Cathedral is the elder of the two medieval cathedral's in Dublin. (The other one being St. Patrick's. Which we saw but did not tour.) It was bulit in 1038 by King Silkenbeard, the Viking King of Dublin. The cathedral also porports to contain the remains of Strongbow. (Not true the original remains were destroyed centuries ago.) It does contain, though, the largest cathedral crypt in Ireland or Britian.

Now, I will let the pictures speak........

The Cat and the Rat:

This is a preserved display as to what as found several years ago when they cleaned out the organ pipes. This is how both animals were found!!!!

Dublinia is connected by a passageway to Christ Cathedral. It provides a perspective on the history of Dublin and in particular it's links to it's Nordic roots. The kids had a blast.

Day 4: This day was spent again at the International Children's Festival. (No picutres allowed.) And also at a big indoor swimming pool. And for obvious reasons no picutres were allowed in the pool area.

Day 5: A walk back down O'Connell Street and the Museum of Natural History.