Welcomed with a wagging tail

Before the car was parked, Colby was greeting us with his wagging tail on the driveway as we arrived at Eric's parents house. We were all very happy to pet him as we exited the car and give him many warm greetings along with hugs to John and Ruth. 

After unloading our baggage and settling in, Adeline and Grandpa took Colby for his daily evening stroll. Adeline was thrilled to walk with him. Emmie constantly petted him as she was playing and adjusting to the house throughout the night. 

We spent the evening and Tuesday catching up with family. The girls enjoyed their McDonald's lunch and the afternoon at Nick and Laura's house. In the early evening, I  packed a few bags for our Northern Michigan festivities. 

The girls were super excited that Colby was coming on vacation with us. He did not want to get left behind as he closely followed us around the house and to the car as we got ready. We managed to get all packed in the vehicle and were ready for our northern Michigan summer vacation to begin. Our first destination was Lost Lake Woods Club at my mom and Ray's cabin. 

On our way!

Monday morning came quick as we were up early and off to the airport.  It was a breeze checking in our carry-on suitcases and heading through security.  Once again, Emmie's babydoll was given a check-up and passed. 

Delta finally upgraded the aircraft and as it was a newer aircraft with personal monitors for games and movies. Unfortunately, the monitor was in the headrest of the seat in front of us, so the passenger in front of Emmie may have felt some extra turbulence from her tapping the screen to play the games. We even managed to get in a small nap, so we were all refreshed when we exited the plane.

At first, I told the girls to walk the long corridor to passport control, but then I let them jog to burn some energy off before we stood in the long line. As we were gathering our luggage, an agent  came over to look at our paperwork. He asked me a few questions and then wrote on the paper. I thought we were now clear for the next stage of customs. I was wrong for as soon as the desk agent saw our paperwork, he sent us right over to the Agriculture screening area for our suitcases to be scanned again. Our suitcases were loaded right on and just as they were going through the scanner, the agents found some duct taped plastic bags with various stuff in them which could not be quickly identified by the Asian family they belonged to in front of us. Once this was found, we were told we could go without any more questions; however, we could not leave as our suitcases were not even all the way through the scanner. Finally, we had our suitcases and were on our way out the door to meet my Dad and Denise to begin our hot summer in the USA.

Eröffnungstfest

Summer vacation started with a holiday on Thursday. Even though it was cool and windy, we still enjoyed our indoor BBQ with Thorsten, Melanie, and the girls. 

Friday morning, us girls went to the mall for a few things and came home with a few bags. I took full advantage of the summer sales that had just started for some items the girls need for next school year. 

In the afternoon, Eric took Adeline out for lunch and dessert, while Emmie and I relaxed and watched a movie. Fortunately they made it back in time before the rain started. 

Saturday morning, Adeline and I shopped for her school supplies, while Eric and Emmie went out for a morning treat and then on a bike ride. Unfortunately, it started to rain, so their bike ride was short. They still had a good time together.

Sunday afternoon was our time on stage during the Eröffnungstfest in downtown Hofheim. Eric managed the cameras and Emmie and Uschi sang along to the tunes. Adeline was nervous about being on the big stage, but once we started singing, she did fabulous and even put her song notes down halfway through. The crowd was very responsive to the songs and the kids were smiling after their thirty minute performance. 

We celebrated with a few carnival rides and ice cream. We then walked through town to see more of the festival.

We ended the evening watching Germany beat Canada in the FIFA Women's World Cup match. 

Our suitcases and backpacks are ready for the summer trip to begin tomorrow. Please pray for a safe journey back to Michigan for us. 

School's out for Summer!

Adeline completed her first school year in Germany. The last day was a short day as she was there for less than three hours. They spent the time packing up the classroom and cleaning it. Adeline received a nice letter from her teacher outlining her verbal, written, and mathematical skills and social development throughout the year. The letter also had her teacher's recommendation for Adeline to advance to the second class in the fall. This letter is considered her report card as they do not receive grades in the first couple of school years. 

Adeline then went to Clara's house for lunch and the early afternoon to play one last time before they both depart for their summer vacations.

Emmie's last day of kindergarten was longer than normal. She stayed and had lunch with the other kids for the first time. She liked the bean soup that was served as the main course. 

In the early evening, we rehearsed one last time for the upcoming Choir concert on Sunday during the Summer festival. It will be interesting to see how the actual performance turns out. I cannot translate all of the songs I am singing, but the tunes are good and it is fun to be participating in this with Adeline.

On the walk home, Adeline spotted Uschi sitting at the local restaurant. We stopped to say hello and ended up staying and having a drink with her and her husband as the evening weather and the conversation were very enjoyable.

We are looking forward to a few lazy mornings and relaxing days to kick off our six weeks of summer vacation.

Princess Emmie

This afternoon we celebrated Emmie's fourth birthday with her school friends. 

While the girls were in school, our apartment transformed into a pink princess palace. I put my engineering skills to use as I constructed the fairy cake. I was very thrilled when I had enough cake layers stacked to create a dress form to accomodate Barbie. Emmie was very clear that it was to be a pink dress, so I made bold pink frosting and carefully covered the cake and the doll. 

When Emmie came home from school, she was very happy to see her fairy cake. She put much thought into how she was going to design the dress. She carefully placed the flower and butterfly confetti and then created ruffles with the white sugar balls. 

Six children arrived for an indoor afternoon of fun and games. We started the party with making crowns and wands. They then played for a little while with the princess toys. Henrik was a good sport being the only boy. Melanie and Adeline did a fantastic job helping me organize the kids. The children sang Happy Birthday and  Zum Geburtstag Viel Glück before indulging in their cupcakes. 

Everyone changed into dress-up clothes while I put on Wii's Disney songs. Adeline did her best to sing along with the princess movie songs while the small ones did a little dancing to the tune and lots of watching the movie clips. Clips from the Car movie were also a big hit with the kids. Then everyone wanted their nails painted, so I pampered them with sparkling nail polish. While the nails were drying, I sliced up the fairy dress and another round of cake was consumed. We then played some games and did another craft before the children left. 

Princess Emmie had a great time celebrating her birthday with her friends! 

Let the celebrating begin

It is the last week of school for the girls. Time sure goes quick when children are in school. We have a good, but busy week ahead of us as we finish up the school year and get ready for our summer vacation.

In the morning, I attended a meeting for our church's summer vacation bible school. The week long program is not until August, but since majority of the workers will be away on summer vacation, we have to do the planning now. The theme is Beach Blast, so it should be a good time for everyone having the beach throughout church. I have also volunteered to teach the four to five year old class along with Melanie.

After the meeting, I went shopping for Emmie's birthday cake. Her Princess birthday party with her school friends is tomorrow and she changed from wanting a castle cake to a fairy cake last night. I hope the six round cake tortes in different sizes I picked up will be enough to create a Barbie dress.  

In the afternoon, Adeline kicked off our week of celebration. Monday afternoon, her class performed for the parents. This was her last class of the year and they showed us the different poises and routines they have been learning the second half of the year. Uschi was able to join us in the studio for Adeline's dance and Adeline enjoyed performing for her special visitor. 

Afterwards, we celebrated at the cafe with some ice cream and beverages. It made it even more fun when Babette, another lady who helped us make the transition over here, entered the cafe and joined us at our table. It was a good feeling when we were the "locals" in the cafe. 

In the evening, we made cupcakes for Emmie's birthday party. The girls enjoyed cleaning out the bowl with the leftover batter. After Melanie helped me find the frosting recipe from the original German cake mix box I had thrown away, they liked decorating them with sprinkles. They also helped me do a quick measurement for the fairy cake. The tortes I bought are not exactly the right height to incorporate Barbie's legs and my bundt pan is too big. I texted Briggi and she has an old glass bundt bowl I can borrow for the cake. After another quick dry run at 9pm, her glass bowl appears to work. At 10pm, I put the cake in the oven to bake and when it is finished cooking, I head to bed. 

Happy Father's Day!

The calendar says June, but the temperatures feel like fall. Even though it was a cool and windy weekend, with a few sprinkles, it did not stop us from enjoying a bike tour. We started out on the normal path out of Hofheim, but then we followed the signs to some different paths. 

We first passed a large rose garden. Even though the gate was locked, it was still a pretty sight to bike pass. Emmie also gained more confidence riding this portion of the path. It was slightly sloped which helped her momentum as she got started. 

The next portion of the tour took us down a beautiful path covered by old trees. Emmie continued on her bike along the way. We did have to walk some of the portion due to the path incline, but it was just as enjoyable. It was a priceless picture watching Eric and Emmie ride together down the path. 

We stopped for a snack and then headed back home as it was starting to get late. Adeline did a great job biking almost the entire route we took. It was not until we were close to the Kriftel pool, that she asked to be connected. We made it home just in time as it started to rain heavily when we were cleaning up from our day out on the paths.

We served Eric pancakes to start out his day on Sunday. This was a tasty treat for all of us to share in. 

We hope all of our family and friends who are fathers or are going- to- be had a special day creating special memories with their loved ones.

Winding down

This week started off with a holiday on Monday. Sarah came over and we strolled downtown for lunch. Even though the weather was cool, it was still pleasant to be outside as the sunshine was warm when it peeked from behind a cloud.

Adeline's last nature class was on Wednesday. The kids stayed closer to the school, due to the thunderstorms  and heavy downpours we have been sporadically experiencing. However, a tick did manage to cling to her shirt, which the teacher found and immediately removed. This was a the last straw for Adeline and bugs. Fortuntately, they are ALL gone and the remaining school days can be counted on one hand.

Wednesday afternoon, Emmie and I visited the toy store. She wishes to celebrate her birthday with her school friends since we will be in Michigan on her birthday, so we are having a party next Tuesday afternoon. The tradition here is to create a wishbox with items the birthday child picks out for their guests to purchase. She was very excited to walk around the toy store and fill her box up. There were moments when Emmie started picking things out for her sister and not for herself. I reminded her this was for her birthday and she replied that we needed to remember those toys for Adeline.

Adeline had no homework this week, so she was very excited about this every day. The class has spent about an hour everyday practicing for the program they will perform on the second day of the new school year when the new first class begins. Her teacher and the school have also sent home information regarding the last few days of school next week, plus information for the school year which begins again in early August. I really appreciate their advance planning. 

Early Friday evening, the girls attended a choir practice with me as Eric was working late. I will be singing with Adeline and the school choir in a few weeks during Hofheim's Summer festival. Her teacher is really nice and she made the practice fun for all of us. 

Sore feet

Hessentag 2011 started this weekend in Oberursel. It is a massive ten day festival hosted by a city within the Hesse area. Every year it is a new city that runs the event and this year it was close, so we spent the majority of our weekend at the festival.

Friday evening, Eric took me to You FM Night,  our first German open air concert. We drove to the outskirts of Oberursel and then took the train to the concert location. It was only 7pm and the train was already running behind schedule due to many people attending the event. We entered the stage area and worked our way towards the front as your viewing area was where you choose to stand. While waiting, I realized You FM means young fresh music and from looking around at the crowd, I was not young anymore. Fortunately, Eric was able to get me the last pair of earplugs they were handing out. 

The opening act performed and the crowd became deeper. We grabbed some cheap beer and sausages to pass the time, too. We laughed about the deposit on the plastic beer cup. The local radio station had some interesting music choices to pass the time. The opening act, Madsen, performed and the crowd warmed up with some singing and dancing. By the time Wir Sind Helden came on, my knees were sore from standing, but the German band was fantastic to listen to and enjoyable to watch perform on stage. The crowd was thick and really into the music, so it made for a fun time. It was late, so we ducked out, as the last performer had not even done their sound check yet. Unfortunately, they closed the train stop in our direction on the way home, so we had to walk into town to catch our train back to our car. Even though we missed out on Juli, it probably worked out, as it was pouring by the time we got back home.

Early Saturday afternoon, we returned to the festival. Our first stop was exploring through the German military exhibit. The girls liked climbing up in the tank, sitting in the helicopter, and going in the tents. There were also a couple nice display tents of the various equipment pieces they use for them to see and touch so they can understand how it works and/or what it is used for.  

Our strolling then led us to a children's sports area, where Adeline climbed to the top of the rock wall. She was a like Spiderman going up the wall. We then walked past the various vendors and street performers and ended up in the city park. 

In the city park, they had constructed three different areas: farm life, a children's area with pony rides and games, and an exploration area. The farm life exhibit resembled a 4-H fair with various farm animals and equipment on display. The girls were all smiles while on their pony rides. The woodworking area was a favorite for Eric in the exploration area. Eric and the girls were able to try out many old fashioned tools on the little piece of wood they cut from a log from using a two person hand saw. Emmie and I explored the small amphibian and insect tent. She liked passing all of the little cages and pointing out what was in each one. We also enjoyed the mathematical tent. The challenging puzzles and activities were fun to figure out. The girls had fun making music with the water based instruments that were constructed in the band area. We did not realize how late it was as we had been having a good time in this area, when they started to close the different sections. 

We walked our way back through the vendor area for tasty fair food and to rest our feet. Before we headed home, we took a ride on the ferris wheel. It was another concert night and everyone attending the concert was dressed in white, so as they walked down the street, there were these large sections of white from where the people had been stopped in their procession due to trains. Overall, the view was terrific as we could see the Frankfurt skyline on one side and the Taunus hills on the other. 

Sunday afternoon, we biked to Hattersheim, a city that is about 4.8 km away. Our bike trip was short, so Emmie could get more time on her bike with pedals. With Adeline's enthusiasm and Eric's guidance, she finally did a couple 30 meter spurts riding by herself on the path. Unfortunately, our bike trailer wheel tube popped, so we called it a day. Us gals got some ice cream, while Eric rode his bike home to get the car. He returned with the car and and then we loaded up the bike trailer and Emmie's bike for me to drive home with Emmie. Eric then returned home with my bike and Adeline in tow. He commented after we were home that it was not the distance that was bad, but the last 0.5 km straight up hill at the very end of each trip that was the worst part.

Ready to celebrate by Thursday

Getting back into the swing of things this past week has challenging. Even though I completed my second semester of German class, I still found myself not having enough time to get things accomplished. It did not help that in addition to doing the normal laundry, Adeline contracted more lice from school on Monday when she returned from our vacation so I had to conquer them and our household again, and then I had to throughly scrub our fruits and vegetables due to the E.Coli outbreak.

Emmie's dance class performed some of the routines they have been learning on Monday afternoon. Uschi joined us for the entertainment of a firetruck dance and few other songs. We celebrated afterwards at the cafe. 

Uschi also collected numerous little WWF animal packets from the local grocery store for the girls. They are like trading cards, but are stickers. The teachers at school are into filling up the matching sticker books with them as they trade them with the students during the breaks. Adeline was so excited to receive these from her as she has been just watching the kids these past few days trade them. Emmie likes categorizing the animals. 

Tuesday morning, Adeline's class went strawberry picking. The children were taught field etiquette when picking strawberries and each child picked their own basket. The teacher drove there, so she could drive the strawberries back to school as I do not think the strawberries would have survived the walk back with the children carrying them. Adeline did a great job picking sweet ripe strawberries as we ate them all up in the afternoon. 

On Wednesday, I finally caught up on the normal household duties when it was time to make treats for my birthday party on Thursday. I made a cake with melted chocolate raspberry ice cream in it, since the Germans prefer to eat ice cream and cake at separate times. I figured with this recipe, I covered both culture's birthday traditions.

Our friends came over Thursday afternoon and we had a combined birthday party for Briggi, our neighbor who had a birthday earlier in the week, and myself. Even though the weather felt like it was fall out, it did not dampen our spirits, or maybe it was Strawberry bowl drink Briggi made. Anyways, I enjoyed the day celebrating another year filled with love, laughter, and happiness and am looking forward to what the new year will bring.

One last time

Saturday morning was our last morning of sitting on the outdoor veranda while enjoying the breakfast buffet. By the time we had completed eating, the girls had consumed enough tiny crepes for a small army. After breakfast, we headed down to the beach for a few hours and took one last plunge into the Aegean Sea. 

In the early afternoon we arrived to a packed little airport. Our check-in line was already outside and almost to the parking lot. Luckily our place in line was in the shade. Fortunately, we arrived minutes before the tour bus did. When we finally were in the building, we noticed the flight status board had numerous delays, so we became a little worried. We checked our bags with an hour before the scheduled boarding time. After proceeding through security, we came to a sea of people. We just picked a spot near a wall and waited. Then one flight boarded through one of the three boarding doors which opened up some seats. We managed to get two seats and some floor space to wait as we were supposed to be flying now. This is where I learned about the numerous delays from other passengers and that today was also the busiest day in the airport due to the beginning of the high tourist season, so this is why things were a little crazy.  20 minutes later, they showed our flight as boarding on the screen. We picked up our things and joined the long line to board the bus out to our plane. By the time everyone boarded, we were about 45 minutes late in taking off. The flight home was nice as we got to see the different islands we flew over and then the Alps when we were closer to Germany. 

We gathered our luggage in the Frankfurt airport, which somehow managed to be one of the first pieces and the last pieces to be put on the conveyor belt. We then made our way back to the apartment to cool off as it was warm and muggy and we needed to begin the adjustment back to our normal schedule after a fabulous memorable vacation.

Savor the Moment

Today was our last full day of vacation and the girls choose to spend the day at the wave beach, Mastihari Beach. We picked out our sunbeds and unpacked for the day. In the late morning, the clouds rolled in and a cool breeze started, but it did not stop them from playing in the water and building sandcastles. After about an hour, it cleared up and then it became intensely hot. Playing in the waves was now very refreshing. For our afternoon snack, we had a delicious piece of baklava from a beach restaurant. Eric and the girls constructed their best sandcastle of the week, too. 

In the evening, we dined at the hotel's Thalassa restaurant. The meal was courtesy of the hotel as the fire alarm went off spontaneously a few times throughout the week; however, one time it was on and off for a half hour in the middle of the night. It took a few tries to speak with the hotel management about the situation and when Eric finally did, they apologized for the inconvenience and offered to host a five course meal for us on our last evening. We savored the Greek specialties they prepared for us while taking in the beautiful  beach and pool views.

A "Sun" Day

We began our morning in the Sunken Forest. The forest is home to many wild peacocks and you can walk around with them and feed them. When we first arrived, two males were having a fight, so it was interesting to the see the large feathers move quickly as they squawked at each other. Our attention quickly turned to a family that was strolling by and then watching a few of the peacocks fly up into the nearby trees. When we glanced up, we noticed there were five huge peacocks sitting above us. It was perfect time for leaving as the local elementary school arrived on a tour bus to have a picnic lunch. 

We spent the day at Sunny Beach. It is in the same cove as Paradise Beach, but a little farther north and  less touristy. There was only one row of sunbeds here and very few people. The breeze became a little uncomfortable into the afternoon, so after a few hours of sand activities and a couple walks along the beach, we called it a day at the beach.

 Our evening activities started with a drive up the mountain. The view was gorgeous looking out over the shoreline. The girls found the goat crossing sign funny since we had only seen cow crossing signs all week along. After some tight turns and narrow roads, we arrived in Zia to watch the sunset. Our reserved table was in the perfect spot for watching the sun go down. The meal was delicious and the timing was perfect, because as we finished up our meal, the sun disappeared behind the island. Our waiter instantly became very busy taking everyone's picture as the sun was setting. After dinner, we strolled through the tourist trap shops on the main street and had a laugh as I have seen some of the same items with Florida printed on them. Adeline did find some pretty shells for her souvenir of our trip. We had another fantastic vacation day on the island.

Ancient Ruins

This morning we visited Asklepion. It was very interesting to walk around the large archeological sight and see the different items they have already excavated. By just seeing the detail on the pieces which are displayed, one can only imagine how grand the sight must have been when the four levels were fully constructed. 

We then went into Kos town to see some more places of archeological interest. Unfortunately the smaller excavation sights are not being well maintained and we could not see anything, but we did find the Odeum and Adeline did a little performance on the stage for us.  Hippocrates' tree is being supported by a steel frame due to its age, but it still is a massive tree. The Knights Castle was nothing special, but the view over the harbor and town were very nice.  After a snack break, we did a little shopping at the local market for some Greek spices and treats.

We spent the rest of the day at Mastihari Beach. Even though it was windy, Eric found a wind shield and we enjoyed the sunshine.  The girls had a fun time playing in the waves, especially since the water was warmer on this side of the island. We stayed all afternoon and concluded the day with another dinner on the beach.