Back to school

This year's summer holidays have passed faster than ever. We've had the builders in our house for several weeks, because our landlord decided that we needed a new bathroom. So not much peace and quiet for us, although the boys went to Germany for two weeks to spend some time with their dad.

Matthias celebrated his 9th birthday in the middle of the holidays, so his new presents helped him survive the rest of the school free time. He is happy to be back at school now. Martin has his big day tomorrow, as he'll start his first year in primary school. He has already met his new teacher, she asked all children in her class to do a little test with her to check what they already know and where they will need some extra support. So tomorrow all the new children will be welcomed by the headmistress and then spend some time with their teachers in their future classrooms. There will be no sorting hat, but every child gets a cone shaped cardboard tube filled with sweets and little toys. I'll take some photos.

At the moment I have 5 rabbits here. Pennyand Snoopy have been bonded with little Luna, who is growing fast and slowly getting accepted by them. Then there is my foster rabbit Pete, who has found a new home, but is waiting to be bonded with two other rabbits by our bonding expert at her house. And last weekend we helped transport 7 baby rabbits from north of London to our local animal shelter, and I decided to keep one of them. Her name is Sunnie, and she's a harlequin lop. She will complete my little bunny family, hopefully she will bond well with the other three.

We also have a tank with triops (tadpole shrimps) on our window sill. It was a birthday present for Matthias, and these little living fossils grow extremely fast. Our pond is doing well. It's always filled with frogs, and our 8 fish are looking quite healthy, too. Our summer has been the wettest and coolest for many years, so there was not much need for watering the plants or refilling the pond.