More Photos from Oma's Camera, Voralberg, Austria

Luenersee, Oesterreich

We took a gondola to see this brilliantly blue mountain-top glacial lake.

The hills are alive...

Onion-top Church Dome, Raggal, Austria

Family Vacation in Austria

We have just returned from a 5 day trip to the Austrian Alps (Vorarlberg) with Oma and Grandpa McCrea. The mountains were so beautiful! Here are lots of pictures of everybody but Sean...he was taking the pictures and I forgot to take one of him (whoops!) ...anyway, I'm sure Ineke has a picture of him somewhere on her camera....

Grandpa and Oma Hike the Austrian Alps!

weeeeee!

Mountain Girl

Mountain Boy

Christmas in July!

Oma and Grandpa are here to visit! They came hauling *A LOT* of presents, including toys and clothes and...

books, and...

even a bicycle!! This is Sean's old bicycle that his grandfather sent him from Holland years ago - now back on this side of the ocean, newly painted and reworked by William's grandpa and at the ready for when William grows his feet just one or two centimeters in the direction of the pedals!

Thank you! , Oma and Grandpa!

A Quiet Dinner

From left to right : Margaret, Timon, William, and Sammy. William enjoys the company of his two "brothers" who live upstairs.

Everyday Kitchen Explosions

Yesterday, a package from Bloomington arrived in the mail! William and I practically fought over who got to open it. I won, because I have access to the scissors! The package contained a mini-volcano and a small jar of grape jelly. I gathered the theme was "explosions", since that's a good description of what happened to my last container of grape jelly :^) !

This is how the volcano works: first you add baking soda, then you add food coloring, and then...
... you draw the vinegar up in the syringe "all by yourself"...

... and put the vinegar in "all by yourself" and watch it explode! YES!

Margaret was interested, too. It's not everyday there's a volcano after lunch! ( Well, I think there actually will be a volcano after lunch everyday at our house for quite some time to come...)

How does it work with different colors of food coloring?

14 Juli 2007: Wasserratten

These are pictures from William's weekly swimming course, taken with the instuctor's waterproof digital camera! William is the one wearing the cool new orange goggles, of which he is quite proud.

Here, William is sitting on a kickboard and steering his "water-car" with the dumbell (steering wheel). I'm making the motor noises and driving him around the pool. I think this exercise was to help with balance and core strength...or maybe it was just for fun?

Now, the children are walking through the water, pushing their kickboards. Way to go, Goggle-boy!

14 Juli 2007: Christopher Street Day Konstanz

I loved it that in 2007, I could attend Christopher Street Day celebrations and "Catholic Parish Day"celebations (see previous post) in the same afternoon!

On the way home from William's swim class, downtown Konstanz was packed! We could barely get through the traffic, and I was only driving a bicycle, with William behind in a trailer! William and I saw the tail-end of the parade - floats with people dancing and very loud Madonna music.

It made me happy that the celebrations were so well attended. It looked like a fun time. It also made me happy that William can't read and was too tired from his swimming class to ask any complicated questions. Of course, the parade was not much different from the Fashnacht parade( see posts in Feb 2007) - drag queens everywhere, just with better weather and no scary monsters. Happy Christopher Street Day, to all my gay friends! We support equal rights for all people.

14 Juli 2007:Pfarrfest

William goes to a Catholic Kindergarten associated with the above church, St. Georg. Yesterday, we participated in a "family nature and experiment walk" with his Kindergarten, which was part of "Pfarrfest", or "Catholic parish day". The walk started at Maria Hilf church ( see below) and ended at St. Georg church. I have included pictures of all the churches in the neighborhood that form a "Pfarrgemeinschaft".

This is the little church in Egg, built in 1703. I run by it several times a week. Right now, there is so much lavender growing there - it smells heavenly!

This is Loretto-Kapelle, one of the most beautiful and peaceful secret little places in the neighborhood. It is up on a hilltop with fields all around. This picture doesn't do it justice! I consider it my special place.

This is Maria-Hilf Church, or as Sean calls it, "Rocket-Launcher Church" Not so great on the outside,

...but it's what's inside that counts. The stained glass is spectacular on a sunny day.

Family Simpsons

Sean Simpson

Ebee at http://www.bloomingtonautica.blogspot.com/ told us about a website where you can create a Simpson's character that looks like yourself (http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/)! Sean and William created these characters. There was no baby option, so Margaret will have to wait. William Simpson

and Drhausfrau Simpson.

Baby Backpack

Margaret starts her playgroup in the fall! Here she is, sporting her first schoolbag. It is orange with purple flowers and cost 4,99 Euro. I think it looks cool.

Marga Stands Alone!

Margaret can stand on her own now...when will she decide to walk? And how will I learn to run in two directions simultaneously?

Katy and Sean Leave the House!

Last Saturday, on the lucky date of 7/7/07, a lot of people, including Sean's colleague Verena got married! We were very happy to attend the festivities. My favorite part was playing "dress-up" and talking to other adults while sipping champagne.

Thanks to Hanna, our Swiss-German babysitter and local Grandmother, Sean and I were able to take the entire afternoon off knowing our children were in good hands.

We ate cake. YUM! Good luck and best wishes to the bride and groom!

Then, we changed out of our fancy dress-up clothes and into our blue jeans and went on a long hike through the countryside. We finished off the evening having dinner at a Biergarten on the Rhein. We waited until the children were likely in bed and asleep and then we went home! This was my idea of a perfect date. Thanks, Sean! Thanks, Verena and Norbert! Thanks, Hanna!

MAKE THEM GO TO SLEEP. NOW.

Afternoon Playtime

Sometimes, William and Margaret need a quiet afternoon at home. Margaret plays with an airplane. You should hear her motor noise, Grandpa!

William learned to shut the blinds and make the living room pitch black in the middle of the day. Then, he learned to turn on the lights. Then, he learned all about conservation of energy.

The two siblings have started to play with one another, sometimes peacefully, sometimes for more than 5 minutes at a time! As you can see in this picture, I spent my "free-time" washing the couch cushion covers. The cushion covers are wet. The stains are still there. ( I should have conserved my energy!)