Europe Trip...take 2

In Berlin we took a hop on hop off bus tour.  Not sure what happened to this picture.  We learned about some German history and saw sights like the Berlin wall, checkpoint Charlie, the Fernsehturm, Charlottenburg palace, Brandenburg gate, and the Tiergarten.

You can just make out the balloons in the foreground with the faces of the G8 summit leaders.  President Obama was in Munich just around the time of our visit there.

Europe Trip (Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden, Luxembourg, etc.) Take 1

So I promised you all a glimpse into our trip and then promptly got busy and haven't done any more since then.  My apologies!  Well, now here I sit with my cup of coffee (freshly re-heated from the microwave) and finally some pictures from our trip are making it to your computer (or other device).  Yay!

We began our trip driving to Chicago, where we drove to the outer lot of long-term parking, donned our backpacks, and took a bus and then a train to the terminal.  The flight was uneventful, which is the very best kind.  Arrived in Copenhagen just after lunch local time, although to us it felt like morning after an all-nighter.  We picked up our rental car at the airport and spent a little time figuring out traffic rules and unfamiliar signs.  We couldn't wait to get out into the fresh air and walk around a bit, so that was the first thing we did.

 The waterway behind us separates Denmark from Sweden and is connected to the Baltic Sea.  We could look across and see Malmo, Sweden.

 A castle in downtown Copenhagen.

We really enjoyed Danish architecture and the brightly colored buildings.  Denmark was a true highlight of our trip.  We would love to return someday.

 Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Mermaid" in Copenhagen.  Then we drove north to the little town where Shakespeare visited and was inspired by this castle (Kronborg Slot) in the town of Helsingor (Elsinore) to write Hamlet.  The castle is below with a metal recreation of the castle and surrounding grounds.

One of the funniest things we learned while in Denmark is that parking is called parkering.  We had a lot of laughs looking for "parkering" spots.

 We really enjoyed learning about Vikings at the Viking Museums in both Denmark and northern Germany.  It was interesting to know that Vikings were present in Germany as well and since our family comes from the northern part of what is now Poland and was previously Germany, we may have some Viking blood running through our veins too!

August and Katie exploring their Viking heritage...

We learned words like "Tak" for Thank you and "Mange Tak" for Thank you very much.  "God dag" is good day!

After a couple days in Denmark and one night in an old Viking longhouse which was reconstructed into a Bed and Breakfast, we took a ferry across from Denmark to northern Germany.

We left behind the thatched roofs of Denmark and met with an industrialized city in Germany followed by a long drive through what seemed like endless woodlands.  I never imagined Germany to be such a green place, but even in the big cities like Berlin, trees seemed to line every street...

Ok...I'm back!

It has been a full summer!

We started out with a 2 week trip to Europe with the kids (2 at that time) and visited Denmark, Germany and France (Paris and Strasbourg only) with quick stops across the border at Luxembourg and Austria (we think) and a night in Sweden.  More pictures and stories about the trip will follow soon.

Two weeks after returning home, we had a foster child for a respite weekend and the next weekend we had two girls come for respite.  We were informed that the two girls would need a permanency home (a home willing to adopt them) soon and would we consider this.   We talked and prayed and finally decided yes we would take them.  So in July they came for two more transitional visits and then on August 1st they joined our family.  Their names are Angel (9) and Cailey(8).  Unfortunately you won't be able to see pictures of them on the internet until after the adoption is finalized, and that could be a year or more.

Also this summer, immediately after the July 4th weekend, I started scraping, washing, priming and painting the exterior of our house.  To make this less scary I broke it into sections and did one side or section at a time, leaving the front high part (over the garage) for last.  Then last week I rented a scaffold and began the hardest part.  I am now on the last scaffold section and have to scrape, wash, prime and paint today.  The scaffold goes back tomorrow, so I am trying to hurry!

Also, we bought an old boat this summer which Bret has been working on, and I have been cleaning.  We took our first ride on Sunday afternoon, but there was another discovery of a problem, so Bret will be working more this week on it, in hopes it will work for the weekend.

Also, last night my hubby went to a meeting and came home with a stray kitten which had been left in the building where his meeting was.  So we washed it and treated it for fleas last night and fed it and made a cozy bed for it.  After the kids saw it I realized there is no going back and we may simply have to keep the kitten. It's only about 8 weeks old.

So perhaps you can see why we have been delayed in sending pics from our trip.  Please hang on and I will soon have details of the trip and pics as well as other events in our lives...
...for now I have to go paint!

our crazy life... (and hello again!)

the latest project...and our crazy life

we hadn't gotten a call about fostering for a long time, so we decided to launch into a major project that was desperately needed...replacing our old timber retaining wall

we scheduled a neighbor's excavation company to come remove the old wall and stairs and dig a trench for the new foundation, wall and back fill...we ordered 200 new concrete blocks to replace the old rotten wood...and hubby took a week off work to do the job (with help from me and the kids)

then we got a call about a family of three children that may need a home

yikes!

unfortunately we felt we had to say no to the family, but later found out they did not need to be placed at this point...please pray for the little 7, 4 and 2 year old kids whose names we don't know

so...we launched into our excavation project with full force...

above  you see the old steps and part of the wall that was falling apart

the excavator and dump truck that hauled away the old timbers

the lovely new channel, just waiting to be leveled and tamped down

below:  the delivery of 6 pallets with new concrete block--that was very cool to watch!

After that we got another delivery of about 8 tonnes of CA6 (gravel)...we spent most of Saturday and Sunday afternoon (there was a cow in the well) working with a small scoop tractor to move gravel and a power compactor to compact it.

tomorrow we are expecting a much larger load of 1 1/2 inch rock (for filling the cavity in the block and behind for drainage)

well, that's it for now!

Never come between a girl and her cats

Evidence of a mouse in the house for the first time today.  The cats are coming back in!  I'm a little concerned for the leather furniture, but I'm even more opposed to the mice.  Yikes!

Labor Day Camping Pics

Just a few fun pictures from our camping trip in September.  It's been a tradition for years, and we love it, even when it rains or is unbearably hot or whatever...

We had worship on Sunday in a small amphitheatre and a few people even stopped by to listen.

 Worship in style...

 Relaxing by the campfire...

Piano Recital

Katie played this song for her recital which honored her piano teacher for 30 years of teaching piano student and playing piano in church.  The group are current and former students who came to play in the recital.