Random

The kids are flocking back to school, they had a six week break for the summer. Their next big one will be sometime in October... we keep track of these things because it is usually a really really bad idea to do any traveling during their vacation time.

During the Olympics quite a few memes popped up about how fitting it was that America won the first shooting medal of the games. These memes, needless to say, were in very poor taste. Zach and I were both happy to see as the games concluded that Germany won it's most medals in yep... shooting...

Newton has contracted some lovely new ear infection. Sometimes I think he needs to be the dog equivalent of bubble boy.

The slugs here are huge, and they are squished all over the sidewalks and trails.... ewwwwww.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Random Thoughts

I seem to have hit a plateau with my German. Before we moved here I heard a thousand times "it only takes two years to become fluent in your new language when you are living in that country". So, I open the windows, relax and let that language float through the window and I will just absorb it right up. Yeah, that doesn't happen.

 I am completely functional on the basic German level, but my everyday interactions don't include in depth conversations in German. It doesn't help that all of our friends here speak better English than me. So, I need to work on that.

We are enjoying watching the Olympics, but it is much different watching through a German perspective, with German announcers, and seeing mostly German events or participants.... GO USA!!!!!!!!

It still cracks me up whenever we meet new people and everyone seems to have the darndest time saying the name Zachary. No one here seems to have ever heard that name, while at home I think it is pretty common.

It has been cold here, the low the other night was 10 degrees C, which is like 50 degrees F, brrrr, it's August right? I feel like next week I will be ready to cook a Turkey and cut down a Christmas tree.

One thing we definitely haven't gotten used to is how late people eat dinner here. We are the people who eat by 7 at the latest, but it isn't uncommon for people to start cooking at 8 or for restaurants' peak hours to happen between 9 and 10.

 

Whew... what an amazing two weeks! We feel so happy to have finally had some visitors, and being able to share a little bit of what our life is like here with people we love so dearly. Getting back into our normal schedule is going to be interesting this week, but it always feels good to get home after a long vacation. We were fortunate enough to take the boys on a section of our trip and I am pretty sure they loved it as much as we did. Germany is beautiful this time of year and we were fortunate to be able to explore some new places and visit some old favorites. We will be laying low until September... can anyone else believe that I am talking about what is happening in September? This summer is ZOOMING by, I really can't believe how quickly time is flying of late. But for the next month all we have planned is sleeping in late on the weekends, getting back to our running, and, of course, enjoying our time together.

Fancy Francy

The List of Favorites:

Crepes

Marie Antoinette

Chandeliers

full moon+Eiffel Tower

Monet Monet Monet

House Boat on the Seine

French market

Red Geraniums

Hidden Castles

Poppies

feet in the sand

Life is GOOD