Rachel's (Last) First Day of School!

This is it. It's Rachel's first day of senior year. The youngest child has one year left! Of course I couldn't break with tradition and the bus stop was properly decorated for her last day.

 Pretty sure our neighbors think I'm crazy but so be it!

Senior!! 

Missy, Rachel & Steve - 1st day of senior year

Missy, Rachel & Steve - 1st Day of Kindergarten

AJ and Stefanie were kind enough to get up and send her off to school. They promptly went back to bed.

Stefanie also made our traditional back to school dessert.

Rachel thought so too!!

Heimgarten Hike

We also took AJ and Stefanie hiking on the Kochel am See. It was a good tough day, with pretty views and a nice lunch by the lake afterwards. We may not have gotten as far as we hoped but we still enjoyed the day!

Enjoying Starnberg

Stefanie and AJ are home for a few weeks before they begin school  so we are taking advantage of some of the great things to do here in the summer. Lunch enjoying the view after AJ, Steve and I golfed is always a favorite. 

Also, renting little electric boats on the lake is a super way to spend a few hours on the lake.  Perfect on a hot day. AJ was happy to drive Stefanie and I around, he was a superb chauffer.

SeaLife Aquarium & The Olympic Tower

It was all about our girls today! We headed into Munich to explore the very small aquarium that we didn't even know existed. It's not super exciting but it was fun to walk around and a highlight was a super huge turtle. Fun to see him!

Afterwards we decided to go to the top of the Olympic tower. I can't believe we have never done this, since I love going to the top of towers, steeples and anything that looks out over a city or countryside. We had coffee and cake and enjoyed the view as the restaurant slowly rotated around.

View over Olympia Park

Ex-Pat fun on Fenwick Island!

After several weeks in the US, our time here is ending, but not before we had a quick visit with some of the great friends we made living in Germany. 

Two fun nights out and a day on the beach equalled two great days of non-stop laughter! An outstanding way to end our visit to the US.

Here's to the ones we love...

U of Maryland Engineering Camp

This week Rachel attended Engineering Camp at the University of Maryland. She thought she might like to study engineering in college and decided this would be a good way to investigate. The week long camp gave an overview of the different engineering disciplines as well as a Sea Perch research project and a fun Rube Goldberg challenge.

This also gave her a chance to really feel what a big campus is like. It helped confirm what she thought, she likes the feeling of big and all that it offers.

She had a really great time at camp, made some awesome new friends AND decided yes, engineering is the path she wants to take. A win all the way around!

Rachel's Team's Sea Perch

The kids stayed in a fraternity house. Not this one, but Steve was happy to point out that his frat was represented.