Thursday night, Sarah got to spend the night in her kindergarten classroom with all the other second-year Kindy kids and their beloved teacher, Frau Kaspar. We had a bit of a panic as she was supposed to be at the school at 5:30, but I was still stuck in traffic coming home from grocery shopping in Germany at that time. It was raining cats and dogs, so Chris didn't want to take her on the bus and walk up from the bus stop to school carrying all her gear. He was content to let her wait until I got home, but the traffic was horrendous and I knew I wouldn't get there until she was over an hour late. So I called around and found an awesome Mom from another girl in her class who came and picked her up, so she only ended up being 20 minutes late.
When I got home at 6.35, Chris and Nick quickly unloaded the car while I fed Alexandra, then I raced off to Pilates class. When it was over, I drove on up to the school to take pictures and wish Sarah a good night. They had a girl corner and a boy corner for sleeping and Frau Kaspar was in the middle of the two. Not really for segregation purposes, but rather so scared kids in the middle of the night could easily find her.
They ate dinner at "Chinsky" (hot dogs, carrots, tomatoes, and apples), then got to play on the playground for a bit. She read them a good night story, they played a few games, and then they went to sleep. In the morning, they got dressed, cleaned up their sleeping area and waited for the first year Kindy kids to arrive. Then they all had breakfast together and it was time to go home. (Frau Kaspar does it this way as she is usually tired from no sleep the night before!) There was hot chocolate,juice, bread, corn flakes, fruit, jam, sausages, and croissants. Both girls thought it was the greatest thing ever and Sophie can't wait for next year when she gets to spend the night.
What a fun, once-in-a-lifetime experience. I would have been over the moon to be allowed to spend the night with Mrs. Henry in the kindergarten room. Alas, I can only live vicariously through my children on this one.