Fall Update

No pictures cuz I'm at work- the big news is the Berlin marathon just completed by Rich and ERIK together, check it out on Rich's running blog Gimsbacher runner. Anne and I were great supporters meeting them at 10, 20, 30 and 40 km to cheer them on, take a few pictures and then get on another train to another part of the city.
Erik is running alot, Anne is figuring out middle school and trying to talk us into letting her quit violin lessons,(kinda sounds like a repeat of Katie trying to get out of piano lessons!) The eternal question--to force them to keep going or to move on to another endeaver that they promise to LOVE and will not whine about?? even on number 5 I don't have the answer!
It's become fall and colder weather- meaning our thick walls that keep us cool in the summer make us COLD now, we are building fires in fireplaces now in the living room and scheune and hoping for a mild winter so our oil will last a long time.
I did get in another trip to Utah to see Daniel in person and got to celebrate Nathan's 3rd birthday with him, that was fun. That hard part was leaving those cute babies! I've been very lucky and made 5 trips to Utah during the past 12 months, I'm not sure I can keep that up but is's been fun. That is why I have a part time job to pay for plane tickets and shopping when I get there.

Brussels floral carpet

We went to Brussels to see the huge floral carpet that they do in the main square every 2 years. It's all done with real flowers, alot of begonias and other stuff too. We went up into the town hall to get a ariel view, it was pretty amazing. We also went to see the famous "Mannekin Pis" It's a fountain of a small boy peeing, don't know why it's so famous but it is, very European, since you see this everywhere (mainly older boys on the side of the road) This was our first trip to Brussels- it's only 3 hours to drive there, you would think we would have gone there sooner, but there is still more of Europe to discover after 15 years! We just spent the afternoon, had a nice dinner and came home. Jack(the dog) and Quack ( our young co-worker) joined us so it was an enjoyable day. Somehow the pictures from Brussels are down further on the blod- so scroll on down for more!

Friends

Saying good-bye to old friends. The Webb family left Germany after 16-17? years here, we were very sad to see them go and will miss them greatly. Terry taught the girls in Young Women and has been a great influence on their lives. We also did many "dish-runs" and floh markts and other adventures over the years. It was nice to have someone we could count on to be here with us as everyone else around us left after 2-3 years. Here's hoping they find much happiness in Colorado and that we see them again somewhere down the road.




There are also some other wonderful people that were here that left us- the Cusick and Hall families both left and went on to Texas. Here are pictures of our last gatherings with them.

Pictures around home-




Family cook out
We finally found a great use for the old pitchfork.

Erik and Joshua made stairs to the stream



Erik has started another building project- a tree house.
We had a lazy week at home instead of going to the beach this year. It was nice to just enjoy the yard and the kids and time together. But we're definately back to the beach in France next year!