Mini Mountainbikers

Uncle Matt, are you proud?

GOGGLES

William and Marga were very proud of their new goggles this summer.

Denver Aquarium

For a final hoorah before the school year started, we went to the Denver Aquarium to teach Eric the word "iisshh!"

Eric LOVED it. In our experience, all 17 month olds LOVE fish.

William and Margaret had fun, too. Here they are *in* a fish tank!

They even have a tiger at this aquarium. Don't know how the fish feel about that one.

We were pretty sure how Beebah would feel about it, so we took another picture.

Deep Sea Diver William.

For the Librarians...

For the librarians and teachers in our lives. My men-folk reading together in the morning.

Little Kickers Soccer

Margaret has started playing soccer. We are so lucky that soccer practice meets in the park across the street from our house.

She looks good in her Brasil soccer jersey. So good, in fact, that her team decided to name itself "Brasil". Sean and I feel this team name may be overly optimistic...

She can dribble! She can kick!

I hope she'll be better at remembering which goal is which than I was...

William loves soccer so much he has to play in the park with the other older siblings.

Eric cannot be contained. He kept stealing balls and wandering onto the field to put them in the goal. It was very cute, but we finally had to take him home because he was getting in the way of the bigger Little Kickers! Poor Eric, you have to wait a whole year and a half before you are old enough to make the team!

Taking a Walk

Taking a walk in somebody else's shoes.

Eric

Eric started to walk on June 18, 2010. Now, he's an expert!

First Day of School, 8/24/10

William, First Grader!

His toothless grin.

Margaret, Pre-Kindergartener!

The backpacks. Let's go to school!

Medicine Bow Peak

We always wanted to live inside Backpacker Magazine...and now we actually DO!

This is a picture from the top of Medicine Bow Peak (12,000 feet) in the Snowy Range, Wyoming. There is a seven mile loop which goes up the ridge shown on the right and then back down and along the lake on the left. On top of the world!

Sean and I have each made it to the top this season. We've taken friends along on parts of the trail.

But Sean is the one who remembered to bring the camera! Thanks!

Albany County Fair, Wyoming

I'm still in the process of (getting around to) blogging most of June and July in sequential order...stay tuned for posts such as "Eric Walks" (6/18/10) and "Eric RUNS" (by mid-July)!! But last night we went to the Albany County Fair - and I just had to share. Sadly, we did not bring our camera. Happily, I found on-line pictures of the things that may have actually taken me the full one thousand words to describe...


William and Margaret participated in the pedal-tractor pull and each earned a (participation) medal! The tractors they pedaled were slightly different from the one above, in that a young cowboy continuously and manually adjusted the weight they were pulling upward until they couldn't pull it anymore. Pretty good gig! Two dollars for 30 seconds! Still, it was worth it to me.

Pictured above is the thing I had never seen before, and why I really wished we had the camera to document our cultural experiences, especially for our friends back in Germany. William stood in line to ride the mechanical bucking bull! While waiting, a very kind 9 year old cowboy explained to us the proper technique and hand position. William got on and the bull started to buck up and town while twisting around at the same time. Slowly, since he was a first-timer with a hovering mother. Soon enough, William started to drift closer and closer to the underside of the bull's head until he finally peeled off on to the mat. HAHAHA. If only you all had been there. This was, somehow, the highlight of my week. Hilarious! Then, we got free snowcones (flavor: Tiger Blood), and looked at all the different kinds of doggies ( Eric thinks everything is a dog) - the cow doggies, the sheep -doggies, the rabbit-doggies, etc. The rain started to come in earnest, so we went home to our CSA swiss chard. A great evening, until the chard part.

William and Dada in Denver

On their way to Germany, William and Dada spent a day in Denver at the Science Museum. Sean took only three pictures, but they are enough!

Who taught this child to write?

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. And the next morning, William and the weirdo hedles spectr got on a plane and flew to...the Bodensee!

Don't Tickle the Duck!

Marga is really starting to read! She can read every other page of "Don't Tickle the Duck!" - that means she can read words like "HA, HEE, SNORT, QUACK, and STOP! and "STOP TICKLING ME!". She's catching on so quickly. I can't believe it!

Conversations from Yesterday

Yesterday, when I got home from work, Eric patted me on the back and said "na-na"! Close enough to "mama" for me! I am a HERO!

Yesterday, William was asking me all about why space is so far away. "Why is Jupiter so far away from us?" Imagine me, with three children in the bathtub, trying to explain the Big Bang Theory...and the funny hand motions and little sounds that went with it.

...and, just as I thought bath-time was nearly over, Magaret asks, "Mama, what does 'eternal stench' mean? Is it like the mud pots in Yellowstone? Why do they smell of sulfur? Will they last forever?"

Biking on Campus

This summer, one of our favorite outings has been going to the campus to ride bikes. William graduated from his training wheels in early June and has been LOVING going on bike rides ever since! Margaret finally got tall enough to really be able to enjoy the Laufrad (bike without pedals). I'm the one with the camera pushing Eric in the stroller , huffing and puffing behind them and barking out orders, having a special kind of hair day, and hoping not to run into too many colleagues. This outing is often made complete by getting gelato at the Turtle Rock Cafe.

My Kind of Date

Sean and I started going on a new and improved kind of date! The kind of date in which you go on a hike together during the day! There is no nightlife in Laramie, and even if there were I am not sure I would care by the time night rolled around. So we gave the children to our wonderful babysitter and went out a few times to enjoy what Laramie does have: abundant natural beauty (from June 24th through September 5th, weather permitting). No, the natural beauty does not really go away - but to enjoy it at other times of the year requires snow shoes. Which we have. But this post is about enjoying the summer! The summer here is short, very short. But perfect.

Look! Beavers were here!

Check out that rock formation!

Look! Flowers!

Take a picture of that one!

Family Fotos

The summer has been so action-packed that I have a lot of back-blogging to do! Our friend Bill came for a visit and was able to capture the whole family in a photo for us! That is very hard to do! If we sent out Christmas cards, now we would have a picture to include! (Anybody else want this photo for their xmas cards? I'm 7 years behind already.) More blogging to come...but here's proof that we are all still around and having fun!

Spargelzeit in Wyoming

I made Spargel, but it didn't taste as good this year. We thought of you and the Bodensee!

Americana?

It was as if I went from South German Hausfrau to white mini-van-driving soccer mom, married to the soccer coach, in just a matter of months. Yes, I brougt orange slices to the game.

First Dance Performance

Margaret had her first grand dance performance last month. She did well! And the picture of our daughter in a frilly monkey suit is well worth the tuition!

William is SEVEN!

Who knew Star Wars would be so popular with the seven year old crowd...again?
Star Wars legos, figures, AND transformers!
His guests just happened to have their light sabers with them. So the party was quickly transfered to the back yard! A light saber party! They were so excited! And nobody got hurt and nobody cried? I was so excited!!
And Sean and I celebrate 7 years of parenthood...wow!