Congratulations Heike!

 Congratulations Heike and Alexander!

We were very happy and excited that we could celebrate with you on  your special day!. Heike was beautiful, the service was lovely and the couple looks truly happy!

To our surprise there was another au pair that spent time in Minneapolis. Verena! It was nice to catch up with her and she was amazed how old the boys are. How can that happen when we have not aged at all!.

The service was in Wolfenbuttel. We had to get a picture of the Wolf in Wolfenbuttle.

 And this man carved in a big tree. Mount Horeb needs to take some lessons in carving...maybe we should get trolls this big! I learned later this is the town that distills Jagermeister. No special treats from this town...don't know many that like Jagermeister.

Sunday after the wedding Heike and Alex brought us to a Braunshweig vs Nuremburg Soccer game. We were decked out in our team colors and we found Alex's name on the Fan hall of fame!

 The game was tied 1:1 and was super fun. The boys studied the soccer moves and strategy with hope to use some of their new moves with their team when they get home.

Next day, Volkswagen museum. Now this is a cool indoor playground!

We took a ride up and in the storage towers. Super cool! We also took a tour of the factory where they were making Tiguans and Touraegs. The tour was in german, so we did not understand much, but seeing the factory lines and the parts being assembled was super cool.

We played a lot of "I spy (insert name of cool car)" We even saw two Alpha Romeos and a Lamborghini! very fancy

 Next stop, Falkenstein Castle in the Harz Mountains. Beautiful area...and they had a Falconry presentation that included a bald eagle, Siberian Owl and an African Shrike,

This guy was either fluffy or super big. We think a little both.

The view from the top of the tower! Even Peter made it all the way up to the top.

Our personal tour guides, Lutz and Christine. Thank you so much for showing us around!

 Next stop, Phaeno. The coolest science museum ever (minus the life sciences). We spent an entire day here. Aunt Katie would love the architecture...and us the science. This is Peter testing the strength of his arch bridge.

 And Jamison with some fun glasses. There was even a fire tornado!

Next day the Rammelsberg Mine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mines_of_Rammelsberg

Again, the tour was in german, but it was still neat to climb around in old mines and take an awesome train car ride.

Our resting time included chess time with Lutz, which Peter promised that he will practice more and come back again and win.

And some uni-cycle time. I can tell you Jamison is not going to run off and join the circus...especially as a unicyclist.

 The last day we spent checking out downtown Braunshweig.

 We really liked the old architecture.

 We packed our suitcases with treats for our classmates. Good thing we had a near-empty suitcase.

  We missed Patrick on our trip, so we took photos of the tasty beers we had with our meals.

 We can not say this enough...Thank you to Lutz, Christine, Heike and Alex for opening your home to us and showing us your part of the world. We are very lucky to know a family like you! and again, Congratulations to Alex and Heike!

Now it was time for the long journey home. Accident on the autobahn (gave Lutz permission to drive as fast as he can to get us to the airport on time....170km/hr! boys thought that was awesome) Delayed flights meant android time! This flight was delayed enough to give us the opportunity to RUN through the Amsterdam airport. We made it...but it was too close for my comfort.

The boys could see Iceland! It was a wonderful trip but we are glad to be home.

One fun treat we had to give to some friends....The Smurfs were popular there...and you cant pass these up! die schlumpfes.

First Day of 4th Grade!

Yes, the tree mug shot. Man, they are getting old. 4th grade!!

Great start to what I am hoping to be a great year!

And best yet, home-made circle chocolate chip cookies.

(I am too lazy to wait 8 minutes a batch for cookies, so I usually make pan cookies. One time a year I promise the boys "real" cookies)

Where did Aug go?

The beginning of August started with cousins camp. Carolyn's family cousin camp. There are a whole lot of kids at a whole lot of ages that leads to a whole lot of fun!

Archery was a big hit. There were some very sore fingers.

We will have to put this trip on the calendar next year! Thanks for the invite!

Back home, we hit the farm to get our hands on some cucumbers. We were picking pickling cucumbers, but I think this one is a little too big to be a pickle. Peter wanted to find the largest one, and I think he did. He named him Bob. Bob was tasty!

Banana peppers! or ninja weapons.

Final trip of the summer....Minneapolis. Aunt Katie was going to be in town! First was a stop to MOA, LEGOLAND and some turtle power.

This is how Jamison shares a bed....move over!

The state fair was going on....we had to check out the goodies with Aunt Kt. First we had to have some breakfast, sweet roll!

and for lunch....Alligator!

Not my favorite thing at the fair...but if you make cows fluffy, and put them far over there, they might be ok.

Jamison was glad that KT and Brian agreed to do a couple rides. I was happy to hang out the Peter!

And our afternoon snack, deep fried pickles with chocolate sauce. The pickles were yummy, but the chocolate sauce did not add anything to it.

The next day we hit up another Diner, Drive-in and Dives location, Bryant Lake Bowl. A game of bowling on an "antique" bowling alley and we even had to do the math the old fashion way. We learned that MA is not a bowler..but she had fun anyway!

Back at MAs house, Sharky loved Jamison's new toy. He should really look at marketing it!

Next bunch of fun.....Color Me Rad Run! The boy's first 5K.

We ran it with our friends, we still look nice and clean!

A bunch of their soccer buddies were there also....still look clean!

Not so much anymore! Woohoo! The boys had a blast...and now have some attitude

Final color launch! Peter's hair will look pretty!!

Jamison has some crazy color going on too!

I do not think the boys are excited for summer to end, but they are excited to end our "read for screen time" program. The last day of summer vacation, free screen time was allowed! and the boys were happy to put the tokens aside!

Last weekend before they are 4th grades. Yikes! How did that happen?