First Day of School 2013

Dominic, AJ, Rachel, Stefanie

School started today! The kids are much more at ease starting their second year of school here in Germany. They know how things work, they know what to do. And since that is the case, I went back to my sidewalk chalk drawings at the bus stop. They were not thrilled, but it is a tradition! Plus I went easy on them, I didn't draw the giant school bus!

Dominic is a senior, AJ is a junior, Stefanie is a freshman and Rachel is in 7th grade. Three kids in high school and in six more months we will have four teenagers living in our house. I'm not sure we totally thought through the spacing of our kids! It does keep things interesting.

This first day is also a last. Dominic's last first day of school. At least of non-college school. But I'm not sure I'll get pictures of the first day of college...

The Senior

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Before school starts we decided to take a little road trip within Germany. It was a fun little getaway weekend for our family. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a beautiful well preserved medieval city about two hours away from us. It is a walled city with the wall still intact and quite beautiful to explore.

Dominic, AJ, Rachel & Stefanie

We were also excited to find that they were having a wine festival - Weindorf - the weekend we were there.  Extra fun for us.

Cheers!

We started our exploring with a trip to St Jackobs Church. While to the kids it is yet another church we have dragged them to it did have some amazing carvings. One of the most famous is The Altar of the Holy Blood. Judas can actually be removed from it at Easter time during the time he betrayed Christ.

Stefanie & Rachel

St Jakobs from the wall

We also climbed the town hall tower, the kids have just accepted that this is what we do. We climb the towers to see the views, it's my thing and they mostly "get it". We had beautiful weather and the views were absolutely spectacular. Also, the 200 step climb was definitely one of the easier ones we have experienced!

During the afternoon we enjoyed the wine festival and let the kids explore a bit of the city on their own which was fun for them. Then that evening we went on the Night Watchman tour. It was a fun way to hear the history of the city with a bit of showmanship.

The next day we walked the entire town wall. The was something we haven't done before and it was interesting to think that this wall has been there for hundreds of years and was built to protect the city. The town works hard to maintain the wall.

Lastly we did a bit of Christmas shopping. Rothenburg is also the home of the Käthe Wohlfarht stores. These stores sell some of the most amazing German Christmas decorations, smokers, pyramids and oranments. We did our share of preparing for Christmas early!

Oh no! Wisdom Teeth!

AJ & Dominic after surgery

Dominic and AJ both needed to get their wisdom teeth out this year before they impacted (get it?) all the orthodontia work they had done. Neither wanted to spend their valuable time in the US doing this so we needed to find a doctor here. Luckily Rachel's orthodontist could recommend someone. The doctors spoke excellent English and I managed with the receptionist to make appointments. Their surgery was an excellent experience with German ordnung and efficiency. Both boys were scheduled at the same time and we were done 45 minutes later!

Unfortunately for both boys there was quite a bit of swelling and some pain for a few days. Lots of movies and milkshakes! AJ also wound up with an infection which led to him taking a round of antibiotics and a few days off of volleyball. Take a guess as to what AJ was the most upset about - a. the swelling, b. the infection or c. having to miss volleyball practice? If you guessed c. then you do indeed know AJ. Guess what I was the most upset about?

Happily they have both healed well!

Rachel gets braces!

Before

After!

So we thought we were going to dodge braces for one child but it turns out something needs to be corrected with her bite and structure. So we have found a very nice orthodontist who speaks English here in Starnberg.  The only disappointing part is no colored bands!

Ohio Summer Fun

Steve, Missy, Rachel, Mel, Stefanie, Abby & Todd
Dominic, Grandpa Teddy, Nathan, Jack, Granny & AJ

We had a great visit this summer at Granny & Grandpa Teddy's house in Ohio. I'm just going to post the highlight pictures but we had so much fun seeing family and catching up with everyone.

We spent time with my sister Melanie and brother Todd and his family, wife Abby and sons Nathan and Jack - cutest little nephews ever! We had lots of fun playing in the backyard and a fabulous time at Memphis Kiddie Park riding the jerkiest yet tiniest roller coaster ever.

Auntie Mellie & Rachel

Stefanie & AJ

Todd & Nathan

Yea - Jack woke up from his nap in time to ride!
Jack, Abby, Todd & Nathan

We got to visit with all of my aunts - Rose, Elsie, Theresa & Annette. I wish we had remembered to take a picture, but I'm so happy I got to see ALL of them! We did remember to take a picture of all of the kids with my cousin Stacey's kids.  Notice there are pairs of Nathans and Jacks.

Dominic, Rachel, Jack B, AJ, Gwyneth, Stefanie, Nathan M, Jack M & Nathan B

We of course visited Cedar Point, a summer tradition now that the kids are older. The kids are good at making this an all day affair now. In AJ's second year of trying he won a basketball at one of the games on his first attempt. He was psyched and Grandpa Teddy didn't feel like he got suckered for giving him the money this year! Notice AJ picked an Ohio State ball!

Rachel, AJ, Missy, Dominic & Stefanie

Grandpa Teddy & AJ

The girls and I had lunch at Miss Molly's tea room with Granny. One of our favorite places for a girls day in Ohio.

Stefanie, Rachel & Granny

We went to an Indians game which AJ especially loved. He was hesitant after the game when we realized they were letting kids run the bases, it was mostly really little kids. But, he watched the screen for a few minutes and decided he needed to do it.  We were pretty much the last ones out on the field but he got to do it!

Dominic, Stefanie, AJ & Rachel

AJ runs the bases at Progressive Field

Donation Time - Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Missy's Hair - two on the left, Rachel's Hair - four on the right.

Rachel and I had let our hair get quite long and we really wanted shorter haircuts. So we decided to donate our hair through the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program which makes wigs for women fighting cancer. We chose this program because you can donate 8 inches or more. I only had 8 inches to donate but Rachel had plenty more. Plenty!

Rachel's hair - almost a foot!

Missy's hair!