AJ's Club Volleyball Regional Tournament

AJ (#4) gets some serious air!

This is AJ's second year on the Men's Club Volleyball team at BGSU. He absolutely loves it! It keeps him busy and active and he has a ton of fun with the guys on the team.

Steve was able to go watch this tournament.  It was at Northern Illinois University and Steve needed to be in the US around the weekend so lucky for the both of them! Steve really loved watching them play and so enjoyed getting to spend the weekend with AJ!

Traveling Thieles

We had a super quick but fun visit with my high school bff Christy and her daughter Carmella. I spent the one full day I got with them touring our Bavarian trifecta. Oberammergau, Ettal Monastery and Schloß Linderhof.

They spent a day at Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles while I attended to all things prom!

AJ Is 20!

Happy 20th Birthday to AJ! So great to be watching him grow and find his way into the adult world! Insomnia Cookies did a great job helping us help him celebrate - thank goodness for these services!

Dominic is 21!

Today Dominic turns 21! It has been a great journey watching him grow into the young man he is today. From a 21 point of view, he has been "lucky" enough to celebrate being legal three times, at 18 in Europe, 2 days ago because his driver's license has the wrong date and today. I'm glad that's done!

Ohsoooosweet! was happy to help me out with the birthday baking again. So appreciative of their service and the picture they post when they deliver! One way to "see" your kid!

Phil visits from Down Under

Phil, Missy & Steve - Starkbierfest Ready!

We were the lucky winners when our friend Phil had to spend a month in Germany for work. When you come all the way from Australia, you just stay even though you have a week gap in between work assignments.  We haven't seen him in sixteen years but it was just like old times and we had a super time with him.  We of course toured Munich, spent some time at Andechs and enjoyed Starkbierfest. Phil also remembered to bring along a long standing joke between him and Steve. This picture of Bruce has been cleverly hidden in our houses and their offices for the last 22 years. One of them hides it and eventually when the other finds it he returns the favor. I think Steve last hid it in Phil's suitcase when he visited us in Delaware! Steve only found it quickly this time because he was hiding an Easter Egg in the Münchener Kind doll.

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Sports Parent Award

This is NOT a real award, well at least not an official award. Rachel's basketball coach made it up, but we still appreciate it. Rachel has had Cedric for the last two years as her basketball coach and he has been amazing with the girls. This year at the end of the season award ceremony he did something extremely unusual. He called Steve and I down onto the stage. He called us the best sport parents because even though Rachel was injured for a fair amount of the season she still went to all the practices (except when she was at the doctor) and we went to the games. We have always tried to instill in our kids that as a member of the team you always go to practice and to the games, even if you don't get played or for some reason can't play. To our American friends this I'm sure seems normal, however in our international community not all families emphasize sports the same way.

Starkbierfest

Phil enjoying his first Starkbier

In general we try to participate in as many German traditions as we can. Since our friend Phil was here visiting from Australia it was the perfect reason to once again go to Starkbierfest. Starkbier is the heavy, dark, Lenten beer that the monks drink.  It's more of everything, alcohol, calories, color, taste.

We of course had a fun evening, it's always a great time at Löwenbrau Keller.  My friend Charlotte and I also "competed" in the Ms Starkbier Contest just for fun. Charlotte won third place and even though I asked not to stand next to her; seriously, LOOK at her! I still did, so really I didn't stand a chance. But it was funny to participate.