School is in session!

School started last Monday on a cool and rainy day. So it was long pants and long sleeve shirts for the First day of school. Nora in now in the 2nd Grade. Ji Ji is in Primary, which is another name for Kindergarden. Both girls were so excited to start school again:-)









With their backpacks in hand they waited in anticipation of the bus ride to school, and to see which friends would be riding the bus with them.









Both girls were very excited to see a BIG bus pull up to pick them up. Last year they had a small 6 seater van. But now they had plenty of comfortable seats to choose from and more kids to chat with.










Here they are in their seats, complete with lap seat belts that they must wear.










I followed the bus to school to assist them to their classes for the first day. Here they are exiting the bus with excitement and smiles :-)











In front of the entrance doors to their International School.










Ji Ji in her classroom, with her items to bring. Tissue boxes, water bottle, a big shirt to wear to art class, and an extra set of clothes to help in any clothing emergencies.







Ji Ji is already settling in, with a book to look at before class starts! This is Ji Ji's 3rd year at the school, so she knows the morning routine.







Nora's 2nd Grade classroom is located upstairs! I new change for her after 4 years of classes on the first floor of the school. Nora really is a big girl now! She is getting he snack box out and will then put her backpack into her cubby. Nora is with her friend Ella.




Here is Nora and her desk/table mate, Makena. The students in 2nd Grade were able to pick out their own seats and Nora choose to sit with one of her best friends. Now, we hope they listen to the teacher instead of chatting about computer games or makeup:-)

for Dada

For our friend Dada who reads this blog,
You must have made quite an impression during your time in the US as you are famous!



I've lived in the US for more than 30 years and I've never had a street named after me :)~

We're back in Germany

Got back with 6 full suitcases, a car seat and a bicycle in a box. We certainly use our full luggage allocation. Everyone here except me had a bad case of jet lag. They are all waking up in the middle of the night around 2 am and Mark was still up watching soccer in some country. The girls still have one week before school starts and they are very anxious to start back to school.

Not much new here in Germany so here are some more phots from homeleave in the US.


Cousin Emma's birthday we played mini golf. It was Nora and Ji Ji's first time.





Here are some photos from the Wisconsin state fair.
















No, this is not a photo of a 2 headed cat, this is our cat's brother Bailando, and we are cat sitting.

Home Leave in the US

Annual visit to Lambeau Field to visit Bryan who works for the Packers.











Next, visiting Mark's family.














Visiting Natalie and Beckie and playing with their toys. Then going to a Brewer game.



We visited Josie and Brynn who moved back to the US from the Netherlands.








We stayed at the Hett Resort outside of Detroit for a few days and spent time relaxing in the pool. Here is Nora in the pool with her fiance.



We also stayed with the Flott's, our friends from Germany.







We visited my brother Russ and his condo is one of the tall white buildings in the back of the first photo. We took the L into downtown Chicago and we visited Millenium Park. Here are some photos of the bean. We stood underneath and took some photos of our reflection.

4th of July .... in Germany !

I think this is our first 4th of July holiday in Germany as we have gone back to the US for the last several years. I took the day off from work so that we could do something special as a family. We went to Taunus Wunderland which is an amusement park for smaller kids. The girls went on lots of rides and had a great time. The park was pretty empty as the German schools haven't finished yet for the summer.

The weather was great, sunny and 93 degrees today. However in Germany we have no air conditioning in our house and it gets hot! It is not possible to get enough fans going to keep us cool. I try to keep most of the blinds down to keep the sun from coming in but it is kind of like living in a cave.

I did something very Germany - I drank a Radler for the first time. It is half beer and half lemonade and you find it on most restaurant menus. Then later we stopped by our American friends' house to eat s'mores and watch the Germany vs Italy game.

Photos from the day below.





Where's Nora and Ji Ji in this photo?

Summer Vacation ... for 3 out of 4 of us

The girls and Mark are on their summer break. So what do the girls do all day? Well the first week it has been lots of relaxing in front of the TV and going with Dad to different people's houses to watch soccer games. They did get to play at some friends houses while Dad went to some games. Mostly they play pretend a lot, always in Ji Ji's bedroom or in the basement (never in Nora's room, don't want anything to be out of place).

Here you can see their creativity when they wanted to make a bunk bed. They put a small Ikea table on Ji Ji's bed and Nora layed on top with Ji Ji on the bottom.






The girls have the tent set up in Ji Ji's room and they have tried both sleeping there each night. Usually before 11 pm they have both given up and gone into their own beds, but the next night they try again!





We are taking advantage of the warm weather and visiting friends for some BBQs. We visited our friends Dada and Paul who are now DTC and waiting for their LID (they sent in their adoption paperwork to China and now they start the one year wait). Here is Dada playing with the girls.




Here are the girls with Paul, who gave them blue colored drinks.







Here is our cat Buckwheat Zydeco who is enjoying the summer weather. She has been bringing us one dead mole each day and now she started bringing them into the house as a present because she loves us. Monday morning while getting ready for work I stepped on one with my bare feet.



Mark went to watch the Brazil game on the big screen in Frankfurt which they have set up on the Main river and he said it was packed with people.

What's New ??

Not much! We still have World Cup Fever and Mark is currently at the France vs Spain game in Hannover (went and bought tickets outside the stadium, waiting to see the bill).
The girls are done with school for the summer and they are enjoying being lazy and watching lots of TV.
Thought I would catch up on some old photos which haven't been posted yet.

In May, Leigh Ann from Great Wall came to Germany to attend the Adoption Seminar in Kasierslautern and she stayed with us. For those of you who want to know what Leigh Ann looks like, here are some photos of our visit to Heidelberg.


Yes, we are in Starbucks buying the ever popular city mug from Heidelberg - great Souvenir.










Next we took a tour of the Heidelberg Castle and then we have a photo from the bridge looking up at the castle.

World Cup Fever !!!

Yes, we have it. Mark has been driving around Germany to attend games and watching games on TV, trying to get his fill of soccer. I am interested in the USA games and watching small amounts of the others.

Mark and friends have attended these games :
USA vs Czech in Gelsenkirchen
Korea vs Togo in Frankfurt
Italy vs USA in Kaiserslautern
Sweden vs England in Cologne

USA vs Ghana in Nuremberg - will attend tomorrow

As you all know, the USA needs to beat Ghana tomorrow and Italy needs to beat the Czech Republic in order for the USA to advance to the 2nd round (and Mark has a ticket for USA vs Brazil if the USA gets to the 2nd round) so it will be a big day around here.

Gelsenkirchen














Frankfurt




Kaiserslautern
Mark didn't bring his camera but he is in a group photo on the Sports Illustrated web site. He is wearing sunglasses and is located in the upper right side between the man taking a photo and a flag.

Black Sugar visits from Singapore











Cologne