Summer Fun

It looks like we have a little bit more catching up to do. We have been pretty busy this month, but first I will share some pictures (courtesy of Anne) from Anne's visit back in May, (sorry so late!) It was great to see one of my college friends again, and I am so excited that Anne will be studying in Paris starting this fall. It will be wonderful to get insider tips from a seasoned Parisian when we go to visit. Here are a couple of pictures from an outdoor lunch at a cafe in Heinsberg, dinner at a local Italian restaurant, and the train station in Aachen.



We spent a very low key Fourth of July this year, although I did get my yearly dose of KFC. Patrick and Brennan were kind enough to pick up a bucket o' chicken from our local KFC in the Netherlands. Unfortunately this KFC does not offer biscuits, mashed potatoes, fake mac n' cheese, potato salad or beans. Nope, just coleslaw, french fries, and corn on the cob. We had a nice picnic in the backyard but were definitely missing the Anacortes town photo and parade.



We were so excited to have more visitors in July when Cristina and Aaron, more college friends, came to visit during their vacation. All of these pictures are courtesy of Aaron, with the unfortunate result that he is not pictured here. We are chronic photo moochers and are really bad about taking them ourselves. Thank you Aaron!

Here are Cristina and Brennan getting reacquainted, a quick tour on the farm roads (our evening constitutional is how Aaron referred to our regular walk) and a photo of Cristina in travel mode at the train station.



The life of Brennan. He really enjoys "clipping" and had a lot of fun "wearing" Cristina's backpack.



Patrick and Aaron had a little adventure with some of our neighbors. They went across the street bearing a gift of zucchini bread for "Oma & Opa", our elderly neighbors who have been very kind to us, and who really enjoy stuffing Brennan with cookies whenever they see him. Armed with bread, 3 beers (Opa likes a cold Bittburger) and a German dictionary they headed over for what all assumed would be a quick drink and bread drop-off. They returned 3 hours later having, among other things, viewed the 50th wedding anniversary party photo album of Oma & Opa, enjoyed 1 beer apeice as well as an untold number of shots of Jaegermeister & Amaretto, and engaged in a lovely and miraculously mutually intelligible conversation with Oma, Opa, Karin & Gerda-Marie. (These are the son and daughter-in-law of Oma & Opa and live right next door to them.) Here are pictures of the impromptu (or perhaps regularly scheduled, who knows?!) party, as well as the view from the patio.



Ready for bed!



Various shots of Brennan helping around the house and yard.



Last night we took a trip to Dueren for their kirmes, which is the biggest fair in this area. It turned out to be quite the carnival. We went with our German friends, the Siemanns, and met up with another family that they know. Brennan rode his first carnival rides all by himself, with only the supervision of Sara, a very mature 3 year old, to keep him in check. I was very nervous about letting him on the rides, but when in Durien, right? Fortunately he did not attempt to escape any of the rides and we ended up having to drag him from each one as he was having such a good time. I think the highlight for Patrick may have been ordering a 1/2 meter bratwurst. He noted that it really put the footlong frank to shame. It's a whole new world, living in metric!



Bean with Sara, Paula & Katja fishing for ducks. My friend, Christiana, is in pink.



Here are Brennan and all 3 of his little German girlfriends. I am not sure what they were all looking at from the boat, but it's pretty cute that they were being synchronized about it.