Science Slam

My science slam talk I will give this evening...  We'll see how it goes over.

May and June

I'd really like to remember some more of our Spring.  These photos are a couple of months old.

 Aaron and Timmy got this cool kite from Scott's friend at work.  He brought it back from China!  They had a fun kite flying outing.

 Cora started getting stable enough with her standing to stand unassisted on a stool next to the "Kicker Tisch."  She liked to through the ball into play, start yelling loudly, and then try to turn the goalie stick.

 Hanging out on the porch

 The beautiful garden in Spring

 Young Men's Hike in the Eifel.

You may not think this is very interesting if you are a Mormon, but for my friends who are not of my faith, it may sound really weird to you that....I had my first beer.  (Yes - I am 35 years old)  It was non-alcoholic of course.   Kind of monumental.....I suppose. :)   

It must be a good brand.  It tasted alright.

Allie and any other vegen/vegetarian friends - close your eyes for the next photo!  I'm serious.

Joseph's friend roasted a pig for the ward (congregation).  

 We were invited to meet on a holiday and have a party of it.  Interesting story.  These two were in the hospital for serious heart issues.  The man next to Joseph is a butcher.  He made a deal with Joseph that if he lived, he would roast a pig for the ward. So - he was good for his word!

Our fantastic friends Tobias and Melanie came down to visit.  It's not easy getting a day free to take 4 kids down to visit friends!  We were honored!  What a fun day we had touring around Aachen, and so much fun to catch up with some of our dear Northwood friends from Germany.

We will miss Nobis Bakery sending the kids their very own printen cookie for their birthday with their name on it!  Always such a fun treat!

We took a treat day for Aaron's birthday, and went to Phantasialand.  Timmy had a free birthday ticket for himself and an adult, and Aaron is free on his birthday.  Cora is free always.  Since there was no school that day, it was a great day for a trip to the park.  

And it was not too busy, and not hot, so it was fun!

 The park has various dragons you can meet and greet.  The kids don't really like to talk to them, but they want a stamp in their adventure book.

  JUMP is one of our favorite shows.  BMX bikes, trampolines, and spring shoe stunts.  The boys wanted to ask them where they learned the stunts, but the were all Russian speaking, and could not speak ANY German or English.  We were surprised. :)

Aaron wanted his whole face painted like a Tiger, but compromised for this one.  I hate cleaning the black eyeliner off at the end of the day.  The cheek is easy cleaning. 

 The drums in Africa are cool

So nice that Cora was finally starting to walk a bit.  She is also not as content to stay in the stroller. 

Luckily, she took a nice hour long nap mid-day, and did really well the whole day.  She loved the sights, the rides, and the shows a LOT.

Last 2 weeks in Germany

Only 2 weeks before the big flight across the pond.   Here's an update from us from last week.

 Cute Cora

 Adorable Aaron

 Handsome Timmy

We braved it and went to Hangeweiher Pool yesterday.  One Bucket Lister checked.

Very nice pool.  Aaron went off the snake slide, flying spread eagle into the water, bum first about 100 times.  Once was enough for Timmy.  Cora enjoyed three times with me, but being splashed and dunked, that was enough.

 After 20 Minutes of very productive packing, I realized why Cora was so content.  She was drawing Butterfly shaped circles (2 very large ones!) all over my sofa!  With felt tip pens!   It took hours of treatment, but I got it up.

 Another way I spend more time child sitting than getting packing and organizing for the move ready, is by responding to this girl about 25 times each day.  She climbs up the bunk bed, then squawks for me to put her down on the floor, so that she can climb up again.

 Thank goodness for the Timmers.  They are having the kids play in the garden a lot lately.  The kids love to play in their lovely garden, eating their herbs, berries and other fruits, and making believe.

Today was sidewalk chalk.

Cora even goes down on her own and knocks on their door to be let into the pantry for a capri-sun or into the garden to pick berries.

 We are constantly working on turning this chaos....

 ....into more organized chaos - ready for shipping or give away, or luggage.

 Our amazing neighbors had a farewell party for us.  The Spaniards made us paella.  Real paella, on a real paella grill, with spanish rice, and peppers and artichokes.  It was delicious.  And it was even made with meat instead of seafood....which for this seafood phobic person, is a real treat!

 Then, we got to eat this!  Strawberry layered inside.  Creamy deliciousness.

 Good thing we picked up this pool for 8 bucks at OBI.  It saved the kids.  It was 40 degrees celcius!!  I think that is the record high for the last 3 years we have been here.  It was hot!

 Shirts optional at the dinner table when it's 40 degrees!  And Smurf ice with the cake please,

That is totally baby!

So our boys are learning a lot of schoolyard slang.  My new favorite:

Das ist voll Baby!

It comes from "Das ist Baby leicht" which means "that is baby easy".  I think some kid wanted to say how great he was, that jumping over that ____ is so easy that even a baby can do it.  Then it turned to "baby easy" and eventually morphed into just calling something "totally baby".  It's seems to be kind of an early teenager-attitude.  Not sure if it's super-local slang which only runs rampant in GGS Laurensberg or whether it is a German-wide thing, but it is pretty attitude-awesome!

So when we have Timmy do something, he sometimes says with a teenage-sneer: "Ugh!  Das ist voll Baby!"