Abigail masters wheel toys.

Abigail has really taken to driving the jeep. At first she didn't realize that she had to keep pushing down on the "gas" pedal to make it keep going. She was real good at pushing it down once, making the jeep jump forward, but then it stopped. After she learned to keep the pedal down, she next had to learn how to steer straight, as she seemed to think she had to wiggle the wheel back and forth; so she would go down the street swerving back and forth left, right, left, right, any way but straight. It took a while, but she has it down pretty well now, including how to shift into either the slow or fast forward speeds and into reverse. She has also learned how to keep her balance on the scooter and was really excited this day when she was able to go a long way without losing her balance.

Whew, all that driving makes a girl thirsty - good thing Gramma had a cold drink she could share.

Fun in the Sun

We had a few 90 degree days in July. Amber brought the kids over so they could play in the pool. Isaac invited Brandon Nielson, our neighbor from down the street, to come over to play. The kids had a great morning - all it takes to keep little boys happy is some mud and rocks. Abigail was so excited that she learned how to get in and out of the pool (under adult supervision) all by herself. It was fun to hear her yell so proudly and excitedly either, "I did it" or "I did it myself" every time she got in or out. They finished their play time with lunch in the patio.

4th of July, 2010

Earlier in the day, Abigail showed her patriotism at a park when she went with her family to their church's outdoor celebration.

We had another wonderful 4th of July. The Korenthals and Steven, Christina, Alora, and Elijah Springer came to join us, with all staying over night so the kids could all stay up late. The kids played in the back yard, having a water balloon fight sponsored by Christina so the kids could "get their dads" and in the front, driving the jeep and bicycling all over the street. Elijah had fun learning how to drive the jeep - taking AJ (who may be just a little too big for the jeep) for a drive around the neighborhood. During the day we feasted on DeeDee's pulled pork sandwiches, salads, chips, and dips.

That evening, we were joined by Kevin, Lindsey, AJ and Shelby Mitcham from next door for a two-hour fireworks show. A few neighbors around the area had gone to Vancouver, WA, where other than Safe & Sane Fireworks are legal, to bring home real fireworks. So, as well as our tame stuff in the street, we were treated to real fireworks shot via mortars high up into the air.

We are so lucky to live at the dead end of the street - the kids can play safely in the street and we can take it over at night for fireworks.

Monday morning, we had a "German breakfast", treating the Korens and Springers to the type of breakfast we had when we stayed with the Reisch's in Schopflenberg: assorted rolls, cheeses, deli meats, juice, coffee, tea, etc. A great time was had by all.

The grandkids go fishing

Amber took Isaac and Abigail to a trout fishing pond. Isaac caught two and Abigail caught one. Then they brought them to Papa to gut and fix for cooking. Unfortunately, too many days had gone by between the catching and before they brought then to me. I still went ahead and did the deed, but we didn't cook them. Even so, as you can see, the kids were very proud of the final product.

Vacation #39: 6/1-2/10: We head home

It's Tuesday, June 1st and we will be heading home today, flying out of the Stuttgard Airport at 7:30 PM this evening. We spent the day packing and mentally getting ready for the 30 or so hours of travel that was coming up. Dieter had planned on getting home early so we would not have to rush to get to the airport - RIGHT - he was tied up at work for a little while, so when he got home, we had no time to waste. Off we went. Fortunately, there is no speed limit on the autobahn, and the airport was only about 40 kilometers away. As we were zooming down the autobahn, at one time I happened to notice the speedometer said 168 km/hr (105 MPH), and cars were still passing us. Obviously, we made it to the airport in plenty of time, and since the terminal was fairly empty, we got our four suitcases checked-in (free - no luggage fees) without any issues. We said our very sad good bys to Hanna, Sabine, and Dieter. It was really difficult to say good by, as they had become such good friends to us and gave us a vacation we will always remember.

We flew from Stuttgart to Shiphol Airport in Amsterdam, which took a little less than two hours. Our direct Delta/KLM flight from Amsterdam to Portland was not scheduled to take off until 10:30 the next morning, which meant that we had a 13 hour lay-over. Back on May 12th, when we were at Schiphol on the way over, knowing we would have such a long lay-over when we returned, we made reservations at a hotel in the airport for the night of June 1st. So, no trying to sleep in uncomfortable airport terminal seats for us. In the morning, we awoke after a good night's sleep, had a chance to take nice long hot showers, had breakfast, then went to the gate. We cleared Dutch customs at the gate in less than 3 minutes and about an hour later boarded the plane for our flight to Portland.

The flight to PDX was without incident, but LONG. We took off from Amsterdam at 10:30 AM on June 2nd and landed at Portland at 12 noon on June 2nd - 10 1/2 hours in the air, but with the 9 hour time difference between Central European time and Pacific Daylight time, the clock had only moved ahead one and a half hours for us. We both had aisle seats across the aisle from each other, so we could talk to each other and we could easily get up when ever we wanted without having to climb over anyone.

Now for the worst part of the whole trip - US Customs. After landing at PDX, it took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get through Passport Control since all of the 250+ passengers on the plane each had to go through the controls. Our luggage was waiting for us when we finally cleared Customs and we walked out into the terminalat 1:20 PM, we saw the smiling and happy faces of Amber, Isaac and Abigail waiting for us. A short 40 minute car ride to their house in Hillsboro to get our car and another 40 minute car ride from Hillsboro to Scappoose, and WE WERE HOME.

Dieter, Sabine, Hanna, and David - THANK YOU FOR THE BEST VACATION EVER !!!!!!

Vacation #38: 5/31/10: Germany - Taking the family to dinner

It's Monday, and Dieter and Sabine are on their regular schedules and off to work. Hanna, DeeDee and I walked to the bus stop, the one Hanna uses daily to get to school, and took the local bus into Göppingen. We did a little shopping, then visited Sabine at her place of work. She showed us around the City Hall building, and then took us to lunch at a Turkish fast food place. The sandwiches were great. We did a little more shopping, picking up local things for family at home, then walked to Sabine's car and went back home.

We had asked Dieter and Sabine to let us take them to dinner as a way to try to begin to say thank you for all they had done for us over the past three weeks. They chose a favorite restaurant of theirs, Cafe Restaurant Honey Do, which is about 20 or so kilometers away near Hohenstaufen. After Dieter got home from work, the six of us set out for the restaurant. I mentioned what "honey-do" means in the US and they said it didn't mean the same thing in Germany - they didn't say what it meant, but apparently it is not what we use honey-do for. The Honey Do is situated on the top of a hill, with the most amazing views. DeeDee and I were again able to order from an English language menu, so we didn't need help from our hosts. The food, as always, was wonderful. There was a wooden carving of The Last Supper on the wall of the restaurant, which I just had to take a picture of. After dinner, we drove to a few look out sites, then returned home for our last night in Germany.

Here are the driving directions from Schopflenberg, where we were staying, to Hohenstaufen, where the restaurant is located. Even with a map, I would have been really confused. I AM SOOOOO GLAD Dieter and Sabine were able to take time off to drive us around.

		Schopflenberg Göppingen, Germany
1.	Head east on Schönwälder Str. toward Königsberger Weg		37 m
2.	At the traffic circle, take the 1st exit onto Akkermanstraße		94 m
3.	Turn left at Hattenhofer Str./K1419		1.1 km
4.	Turn left at Badstraße/L1214 Continue to follow L1214 Go through 1 traffic circle		4.9 km
5.	Continue onto Jebenhäuser Str./L1214a Continue to follow L1214a		550 m
6.	Continue onto Lorcher Str./B297		250 m
7.	Turn right at Burgstraße		450 m
8.	Continue onto Friedrich-Ebert-Straße		350 m
9.	Turn right at Theodor-Heuss-Straße		150 m
10.	At the traffic circle, take the 2nd exit onto Hohenstaufenstraße/L1075 Continue to follow Hohenstaufenstraße Go through 1 traffic circle		5.4 km
11.	Continue onto L1075		2.0 km
12.	Turn right at Ottenbacher Str.		240 m
13.	Slight left at Im Eutenbühl Destination will be on the right		87 m

Vacation #37: 5/30/10: Germany - Lunch and Wanderparkplatz Breitenstein

It's Sunday, a day of rest. We decided to stay at home for the majority of the day, resting from our last week of non-stop travel. While Sabine, Hanna, David, DeeDee and I were gone Friday and Saturday on our trip to Munich, Dieter had time to finish building their terrace (deck) outside of the living room. It was about 1/2 complete when we arrived on May 12th, but with us there and all the trips we took, he had no time to work on finishing the terrace. When we returned from Munich and Tegernsee yesterday, we saw that he had indeed finished the terrace and it was ready to be used. So, what better way to break in the new terrace than to have a BBQ lunch on it - ribs, chicken, chops - you name it, they had it.

After lunch and later in the afternoon, Dieter and Sabine took us out for another drive in the countryside. We ended up high in the hills at the Wanderparkplatz Brietenstein, an area that looks out over the Swabian Alb where Göppingen is located. The views were, again as always, breathtaking. While we were walking up the trail, I spotted a large snail. To try to show it's size, I placed a 2-Euro coin next to it - the coin is the size of our Quarter. If one liked to eat snails, and this snail was edible, it wouldn't take too many to make a meal. We left it where it was.