First Day of School

Everyone was excited for the First Day of School! Nora moved to the next school and now Jiang Lei gets to ride on the bus with Ji Ji.

Mark's First Day of Work

Here is a photo of Mark before his first day of work, taken by the kids. After 10 years, Mark is back in the workforce.

End of the Summer

Summer fun has come to an end. The kids stayed busy with activities. Ji Ji and Jiang Lei played baseball through July. Nora had gymnastics 3 times per week.

European Reunion ... in St. Louis - Part III

We had to visit Ted Dewes for custard. Its a famous stop on route 66.


















We had a great evening at Romy's house.























Before we left St. Louis, we had to stop at Grant's Farm. The kids fed the goats some milk and got to see some other animals. Here they are visiting with an owl.

European Reunion in St. Louis, the Main Event - Part II

Here we are, at the Gateway Arch! I've been to the top when I was a kid but that was a long time ago. We were all so excited to go to the top, but I have to admit that once I got next to the Arch, I almost chickened out.




















To get to the top, you take a tram in either the North or South Tower. The sign below is actually how they constructed the Arch, from both sides and meeting in the middle. The tram has 8 little cars or "pods" that can each sit 5 people, very cozy. Here we are waiting for our pods and then inside the pods, riding to the top.
























At the top, we looked out the tiny windows to see the Mississippi River and the city of St. Louis.


















Next we started our trip back down by walking down the stairs to line up for the pods. This hallway is quite narrow as the people exiting need to walk past the people waiting to get in the pods.


















Once on safe ground, we had a nice visit to the museum at the bottom of the Arch. Nora had studied the Pioneers and Ji Ji had studied some Indian tribes (that's what they called them) during school last year so we sat and listened to a character dressed up talking about Pioneer life. Ji Ji is practicing churning the butter.






















Is this Marilyn ?

European Reunion ... in St. Louis ? - Part I

Last weekend we drove to St. Louis for a Europe reunion. We met up with 2 other families that we had met while living in Germany, both active in the adoption community and both bloggers; Romy's family lived in the Netherlands and J and B's family also lived in the Netherlands. Its always a good visit when both parents and kids are spending time with friends.

We started our visit at The Magic House which is a kids hands on museum. Our kids played restaurant workers for a long time. Ji Ji took over the cash register right away and was soon busy talking to customers on the phone. Jiang Lei was our waiter and Nora cooked the food. Another favorite at the museum was the Electrostatic Generator which makes your hair stand up. Good photos of Ji Ji and Nora, not so noticeable on Jiang Lei.























Next we went to the St. Louis Zoo. The kids rode the carousel, visited animals and went inside the butterfly house.



















These 2 were both silly and had lots of fun together.