The Heymann Family Journal

Today we took a trip to Hanbury gardens. It is the most beautiful garden on the Riviera. Perhaps the most beautiful garden I have ever seen. But Jessica and the boys didn’t want to get out of the car so poor Juergen waited 2 hours while Sarah, Nicole and I took a short look. It’s actually 45 acres. You could spend days there. My heart is full! It was amazing! Afterwards we drove to the small kingdom of Monaco. We drove around Monte Carlo. Again, amazing! It’s clear this is where the big money is. It is nothing like the area we are staying in. It’s like LaJolla and Tijuana…night and day. On the way home we stopped in a French small town. Juergen bought me pastries…yum! And we also eat at McDonalds. This was the only time I could get Jessica out of the car. I think she enjoyed the ride but she simply doesn’t feel like walking anywhere. I took 200 photo’s but can not post them all. It was a good day! And tomorrow is Juergen’s birthday. We spend our last day on the Rivier...

Today we had a day trip to Genoa. It is a very large an important city. The birth place of Columbus. We went to the aquarium. It's supose to be the 2nd largest aquarium in Europe. It was OK. I think the one in Oregon is better. But the kids liked it & we got Jessica out of the car. Afterwards we drove around and had lunch at a very good Italian Resturant. Philip and Nicole both eat the sea food. And then we eat some very good ice cream. Tomorrow I want to visit a good garden in the morning. Juergen will take the kids to the beach in the afternoon...well that's what is planned.

I'm sorry we have not been online. There was no internet in our house as expected. And most people have cell phones with internet, so there are no internet cafes. We had to buy a internet stick with some time on it. And even setting this up was not easy. I have to be on Juergen's computer outside to get the reception. The trip here was long but good. We left at 4am. There was an amazing amount of traffic along the way. We got stuck at the long tunnel in Switzerland. That added 3 extra hours to the trip. But we made it. The house is an old mill where they pressed olive oil. Olive oil is big business here. The hills are covered with olive trees. I think it would be nice to see the fall harvest. It is all hills here. There is no place to play soccer. The boys are bored. The girls seem to find an easier time entertaining themselves with drawing and reading. The beds are very small. I have to share a bed with Jessica. We don't want her walking around the hou...

God willing, We are leaving around 4am and driving for about 10 hours with 5 kids. The thought of it almost makes me want to call it all off. As always, thank you for your prayers! arrivederci per ora i miei cari amici!

I showed one of the house sitters around. They will try to keep my plants and fish alive for us while we travel. I had a number of last minute things to take care of including a hair cut. Juergen just took Mickey to the dog hotel. We take him to the same wonderful dog trainer every time we travel. He will be fine with them, no worries. The kids have youth group tonight. Then it' straight to bed. We will try to go very early (Like 4am)to avoid the heavy traffic. The weather is not going to be so good in Italy. In fact, it's expected to be much warmer in Germany over the next 2 weeks. Oh well! But the trip is still a change of pace, a new perspective. I needed that. I should have internet there. I'll blog if I can.

This is where we are going in 2 days. I'm so excited!

The sun is shinning and I'm feeling very good. We are getting allot done today. Nicole, Jessica and I went to buy 3 goldfish to live in our small pond. The pond was getting mosquitoes in it. The fish will eat those right up! I didn't want to use any poison. I don't want to kill what is good, just control what's bad. I also bought sawdust to put on the potato beds. I'm hoping that will help block the light. We don't want green potatoes. I watered all the house plants. They should be fine for 2 weeks. I am also cleaning the kitchen, living room and hall today. Tomorrow I'll only need to clean bathrooms. Nearly everything is now packed. I just need to finish my cloths & Jessica's cloths. God willing I can relax a little before we go. It always seems like I need a vacation just from getting ready for a vacation. Packing for 7 is never easy. But the kids are getting better at helping. I am more or less just quality control. My vacatio...

This is from our last trip to Italy. I'm trying to get Juergen to take the guitars again. When I video tape it, you will notice a real growth in Nicole's playing. She now helps lead worship. And Thomas and Philip also play. Philip is just starting (like in the past month) but Thomas can actually play pretty good for a beginner. I’ve made good progress cleaning and packing. Hopefully I’ll finish packing tomorrow. I show the house sitter around on Friday. I also need to bring Mickey to the dog hotel. I’m hoping I can get my hair cut before we go. We all need hair cuts. I'm getting very excited about the trip. They say traffic will be very bad going South. I think we will be leaving very early in the morning...like 4am. That part will not be fun!

I just walked into my garden and picked 5 different types of lettuce to make a giant salad for lunch. Oh how happy I am to be growing some of my own food! God willing, it's just going to get better as time goes by! I'm looking forward to the tomatoes and peppers! There is nothing better then fresh salsa! The photo's are of Uncle Rickey making fresh salsa with the kids in Cyprus. That was a great trip!

I met with an organization that is suppose to help us find an aid for Jessica. They don't have anyone, and don't think they can find anyone so specialized. It's funny, I felt like calling the meeting off. I just knew in my heart it wasn't the right organization to help us. I don't even know anything good or bad about this group, but I just felt a big no in my spirit. So I met them today and they told me no...they have no one who could work with Jessica. So we will keep looking after the vacation. I don't really expect to find someone until the fall. I figure anyone good is already working with someone until the end of the school year. If you know of someone who wants to be a part time private teacher to a 20 year old autistic young lady, (sorry but we need a women) then let me know. It will be part time, in the mornings. It would be a pretty good job for a mom that wants to be home with her kids in the afternoon. We live one minute away from the s ba...

we did this in part of our front yard. I want to finish the whole front yard this way in the late summer or early fall.

This morning I had a dream that the straw I had ordered came. Sure enough it did. So Nicole and I put a fresh layer of straw mulch over the potatoes. We also put mulch on the vegetable beds. It will help preserve the moister in the beds. If it rains allot, the mulch will soak up the extra water. If it's dry, it will release water to the plants. And the soil will not dry out. For the potatoes, it helps keep the ground dark. I'll also add some sawdust or something to help keep the area dark. If potatoes get exposed to the sunlight they turn green. Green potatoes are poisons to eat. Another thing we did is add the compost tea to water, and we watered all the plants. It really stinks. I started making the compost tea about 5 weeks ago. It has soil, weeds, peels from vegetables, fish bones, coffee grounds and egg shells and lots of water. It really smells bad! It's been sitting in the sun cooking for weeks. We added a small amount of this tea to the watering ...