Hey It's Good To Be Back Home Again

It's amazing to me that you can wake up in the morning in a hotel in Frankfurt and make it home to your own bed half-way around the world that night. When we left the Palouse it was all snow and darkness; now the wheat is ripening and summer is full-on. I missed a whole season here and although I realize very well that life went on without me, I half-heartedly expected everything to be the same. It's a very surreal experience to walk back into your life and pick up where you left off, like just yesterday you weren't having another life in another country.

All in all we're settling in just fine. The kids have touched every toy they have and are both deeply engrossed in playdates this afternoon with their respective friends. Mark made it back to work today and I've been spending time getting reaquainted with my home. Not only did I have to unpack from Europe, but I also had to unpack everyone's summer clothes that were still in storage because of the aforementioned snow. I'm taking it nice and slow and giving myself until Monday before I have to do anything that requires brain power. And I hope to share some photos and stories of our last road trip in Bavaria and the Rhine Valley real soon.

A big shout out to my brother Zach and his wife Laura, who are at the hospital right now giving birth to their first child. We're waiting to welcome our newest nephew into the world. Good luck guys!

Happy Birthday Ben

Ben turned seven today. Can you believe it? Lest you think this is how long his hair has grown since we've been here, I'll put your mind at ease; this is one of the getups for a birthday party game we had this afternoon. Then we ate Joey's Pizza, had cake and ice cream, opened presents and wound up the evening at the park. He's good and tired now, snuggled in bed and working on new Transformers.

This is our last evening in Jena. Tomorrow we are leaving for a tour of southern Germany and the Rhine Valley before heading to Frankfurt and flying home next Wednesday. We'll be incommunicado until we reach the farm. Leaving is bittersweet of course; we are all looking forward to seeing American soil again, but we'll miss our new friends and the small life we've built here. There are many things I'll miss here, and many I won't, but that's a post for another day. See you all stateside.

Happy 4th of July America

Not a celebration here of course, but we're making our own hosting Mark's lab group for a barbecue in the park tonight. There won't be fireworks, but there's some sort of summer festival going on downtown and the music has been great. Maybe we'll dance a little jig.

I'm changing up the blog for summer... so excited about returning to my scraproom.

Today

Outside my window... thunderclouds are gathering.
I am thinking... I'll go to the bead store this afternoon.
I am thankful for... compassion.
From the kitchen... the smells of simmering chicken for tonight's dinner.
I am wearing... a peasant skirt and a white t-shirt, no shoes.
I am creating... the last pages of my scrapbooks of our trip here.
I am going... to meet Mark and Claire at the train station soon.
I am reading... The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich.
I am hoping... for rain to cool down the air.
I am hearing... the sounds of Transformers battling with Pokemon.
Around the house... little piles of things are gathered to be packed.
One of my favorite things... good German bread.
A few plans for the rest of the week... a 4th of July party on Saturday, American style, and a little boy's 7th birthday party, complete with vanilla cake and blue frosting.

The Week of Ben

Mark and Claire are on a little father-daughter trip to the Austrian Alps with Jonathan and Julia this week, so I've decided to make it a week all about Ben.

Yesterday we visited Galaxsea, Jena's awesome indoor water park. There are two 105m water slides, the one pictured here and another called the Black Hole, and as you might have guessed, it is almost completely pitch dark inside. Ben is an adventurous soul and went on both of them numerous times with me. I also got him to take off his water wings and swim with me in one of the pools for a while. Then we had ice cream.

Today we visited Gaudipark, our local indoor play place. There was hardly anyone there, so he pretty much had the place to himself. He climbed in the whale, jumped on the trampolines, rode the bumper cars, slid down the giant slide, jumped in the ball pit, and generally ran amok. I had an iced coffee and read my book.

Tomorrow we're going to see Transformers 2, in German. I tried to explain to him that we wouldn't be able to understand what they were saying, but he doesn't care. Oh well. I figure we'll get the general gist and then see it again when we get home. I mean, battle scenes are the same in any language, right?

Wednesday we're off to Belantis, a Silverwood-type theme park about an hour from here. He's my rollercoaster kid, so I'm sure we'll have a great time. But we'll make sure to tell Claire that we didn't.

And last, but not least, we'll visit the Zeiss Planetarium here in Jena. It's fairly famous and we have yet to see what it's all about. Again, it's all in German, but I think the stars are the same here too!

There'll be some McDonald's grubbing and ice cream cone licking, and he's getting to sleep in my bed with me while Papa is gone. He's one happy kid.

Paris in Pictures

Beautiful streets


Playing in the rain


Fountains everywhere


Notre Dame


Our first view of the Eiffel Tower


9000 km to Los Angelos from the top of the Eiffel Tower


Monet's Water Garden at Giverny


The Bridge in Monet's Garden


Busy Avenue de Rivoli

Feeding the pigeons at the Louvre

The Venus de Milo


The Mona Lisa


The 8 km view from the Louvre to the Business District

Walking the Champs Elysees

Standing under the Arc de Triumph

An evening cruise on the River Seine

Happy Father's Day

To our Dads: Hope your day is brilliant!