A trip home!

We made a trip home over Easter break for the first time in July.

The kids were thrilled and surprised to find out we were flying business class - they thought they were in heaven! (It even relieved some anxiety over the fact that we completely forgot Joseph's suitcase!) It really was nice - given our short trip - to be able to sleep better on the plane.

Jeff's family met us at the airport. We were tired but felt much better the minute we saw family!

We were very lucky that our trip home coincided with Grandma's surprise 90th birthday party. What a great chance to see everyone!

Joseph loved having Dad to himself for a while!

Mom cooked a wonderful Easter dinner after worshiping at ARC on Sunday.

We celebrated Daniel's birthday a little early.

We had another wonderful Easter dinner on Monday - (we all came back feeling quite fat :)! )

And Josh and Dana were kind enough to time little Lucus' birth so we could see him before he was a full 24 hours old!

Brian and Sherry timed Anna's birth similarly! Wow! What accommodating family and friends!

It was great to see book group and church friends again!

Thanks to all! See you in July!

Practice camp

In order to prepare for their upcoming field trip, Daniel's class had a practice camping sleepover at school. I got to help in the evening. They roasted marshmallows, told stories around the campfire in the playground and had snacks.

They learned that they don't feel like doing much the next day if they stay up giggling :) ! In the morning they went for a swim, had breakfast together and got ready for portfolio day in the afternoon. Daniel had a great time and can't wait for the "real" field trip!

Groundbreaking

HIS is building a new school! The plans have been in the works for a long time and finally the school got all plans approved, etc. and were able to begin. They celebrated the beginning with a ground breaking ceremony.

The mayor and others spoke.

The children sang for the parents and city representatives.

Lunch was served.

And best of all, each child got to dig - and not with a little hand shovel! Joseph and Daniel thought this was pretty cool!

The plans for the new school are really impressive! It will be a wonderful facility for a great school!

DoDs All- Europe Honor Band

Ellen made first chair in the DoDs All-Europe Honor Band (French horn) this year. She left for Weisbaden on a Sunday afternoon and spent Sunday through Thursday night at a youth hostel. They practiced for a concert and participated in social events that were planned for them. She had a great time!

We drove to Weisbaden on Thurday after school/work for the concert. We had not been in Weisbaden before. It is a beautiful city! The weather was perfect. We stopped at a park in the center of the city for a picnic supper before the concert began.

The concert was in a beautiful, old concert hall.

The inside was even more impressive than the outside! It is hard to see Ellen in these pictures but she is there!

The concert was wonderful! She is supposed to get a DVD and we are looking forward to watching that!

We took Ellen home after the concert so she could take her statistics exam on Friday morning...fun!

More HTV basketball

Joseph really enjoyed playing basketball with HTV this year. Their season of games is over now but they continue to practice. He was not only able to practice his basketball but also his German. He made friends with lots of nice boys his age too. Here are some picture highlights of his last two games.