Here we go again!

On Thursday our sea shipment arrived from Germany. Amazingly, only one item was broke and everything else was in great shape. As I am writing this blog two days later, I am happy to report we only have the office and our bedroom to organize! Needless to say we have worked nonstop since Thursday morning. My Dad, Will, and John's parents came to help and then Henry had a sleep over at Papa and Nana's to give us some extra time to unpack.

John, Will and my Dad did take some time for fun last night and went fishing. John and Will caught 7 or 8 fish each and my Dad caught only 2 - I think he spent most of his time helping the other two!

We also did some kite flying this week. Below is a picture of our new Spider Man kite. I had forgotten how much fun kite flying is!

Bea is doing great, as usual. She is talking all the time, rolling over, and starting to play with small toys - although her favorite past time is watching Henry play.

Below are some pictures from the move.


Our container in Germany.


Arriving in Bettendorf.


Goofy!


Kite Flying.


Tie Dye!

Our Beatrice is Four Months!!

I cannot believe our beautiful little girl is 4 months already - and what a 4 months it has been. We celebrated this week by going to the zoo, spending time with family, playing in the backyard, and going to the beach!

We have been thinking of things to do everyday to escape the noise coming from the basement, so the zoo is always a winner - I think we go there at least once a week. This week, we went with our friends, the Novotnys. It is one of the last times we will see them before their new adventure begins in Dallas next week. Good luck Novotnys, we will miss you!!

We also ventured up to Dubuque one day to see all of my Aunts and Uncles. Little Blake was there too, so Henry had a buddy during lunch. It was the first time I had seen some of them since I returned home from Germany, which means they had their first meeting with Beatrice as well!! After our lunch we stopped by my sister's for a little more play time, needless to say, Henry was asleep before we were on the highway again.

Our arts and crafts project for the week was tie dying tee shirts at Papa and Nana's. My sister and the kids were down, so all of the kids did one; even Bea managed to do a onesie!! Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of the kids modeling them, but they turned out great, especially Carolyn's and Bea's. I will be sure to get a picture for my next blog. Later that day, we headed out to the beach. Henry had not been to a beach in quite some time, so it was like another first for him! After swimming, making sand castles, and having beach races, the kids buried John in the sand (lucky John). After long showers, everyone was exhausted and slept very soundly, despite the horrible storm we got that night!

Below are a few snap shots from the week, enjoy.

This week our basement will be completed to the point where we can move some belongings down there, so our sea shipment is scheduled for delivery on Thursday! We cannot wait to have everything in one place again. Beds, dressers, clothes, toys, pictures - yippee!!

Henry also has a class at the museum this week, Beary Big Fun Camp! He is really looking forward to it.

Until next time - cheers!!

Weekly Update

On Saturday, we traveled to Colfax, WI to celebrate my Great Aunt Ruth's 80th birthday! The weather was wonderful and my Aunt Ruth looked amazingly young (see pictures below). We look forward to celebrating with her again next year!

Earlier in the week we visited our friends in Iowa City, caught up with some good friends who were in town for the John Deere Classic and were able to see another All Star Game. Unfortunately, Will's team did not win this round of "playoffs" (if that it what you call it), so his season is done. The good news is he has the rest of the summer to catch up on his fishing, which he loves to do!! Below is a great picture of him stealing home base. He had an awesome tournament, both defensively and offensively. We are already looking forward to next year.

As for Bea, she is growing up quickly. This Wednesday his her 4 month check up, I am anxious to see how much she has grown.

Below are some pictures from the week, enjoy.

A Visit From Great Friends, the 4th, Fishing and Baseball - Oh My!

Although the weather was a bit chilly for a Midwest summer, we managed to have a great week. You may remember from previous blogs our friends, the Novotny's. They are a great family we met while living in Heidelberg and are originally from IOWA CITY!! I am happy to say they arrived safely back in the U.S. last week and came over for a visit. Henry was so happy to see them, especially his buddy Lucy. We went out for a quick bite to eat and then went to the John Deere Commons to play on the tractors. It was a great afternoon and we look forward to seeing them again next week. We are so lucky they are only an hour away - for now at least, they are relocating to Dallas this fall:(

The 4th was a bit of a bust. The weather was cold and rainy, so we spent the day at the museum. Despite the weather we had a great time. That night we bundled up in blankets (I know - on the 4th!!) and watched fireworks from our deck, which was really cool.

We did get to partake in some 4th of July festivities (a day late) at the pool. Henry loved the bounce house and dunk tank - just like last year. Later that day, there was a fishing derby, so we called in our resident fisherman to help - Papa. John, Henry and Papa fished from a stocked pond and had a ball.

While the boys went fishing, the girls headed over to West Davenport to watch Will play in his first all star game!! He played left field and pitched and did wonderful. We were all so proud of him. Although they lost 12-10 they played their hearts out and head back out on the field tomorrow - GO SOUTH DUBUQUE!

In the meantime, there is still major work going on in the basement. John has been helping out when he has time and Henry is great with a broom!! The other day Henry informed me there should be no girls or babies in construction sites - I guess he is now the foreman of the project.

Next week we have more baseball and swimming lessons for Henry, and then off to Wisconsin to celebrate Aunt Ruth's 80th birthday!!

Below are a few pictures from the week.

Hello Again!!

It seems like forever since my last blog entry, but we have had a lot going on. We finally got our phone and internet working today, so I am again connected.

Since we closed on our house late last month, things have been pretty non-stop. John was still in Germany until last Thursday, so it was me and the kids here trying set up shop. As I just mentioned, John was in Germany until last Thursday wrapping up things at work, packing and seeing a few sights. During his last few weeks there, he was able to take a quick trip to Munich, Normandy, and Obersalzberg. Obersalzberg is located in the German Alps and is home to the "Eagle's Nest", which is a retreat located high in the mountains presented to Hitler for his 50th birthday. He also visited Dachau, one of the few existing concentration camps in Germany. Most were destroyed after the war, but a few were left intact as a memorial to those killed. He visited Normandy with our good friend Nick, but did the rest of the tour himself. Below are a few pictures from his travels.

Here in Iowa, the kids and I have been busy unpacking and trying to establish everything that comes with a new home, i.e. phone, internet, cable. Next week we are on to another project - finishing the basement. Just when we thought we were ready for a little peace and quiet, we decided to finish the basement in our home right away. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, the basement will be complete just as our sea shipment from Germany arrives, again, if everything goes according to plan.

Henry has been taking a few fun classes at the Family Museum this week -"Dirt Diggers" and "Bug Hug". They were only a couple of hours each day and he had a blast. It was really good for him to get into a group setting again, I can tell he really misses his school in Germany. The other day he asked me when he could return to school, I felt terrible for him. He has managed to stay busy here at home though. We spend a lot of time exploring our yard, finding fun things in the empty lot next door, and watching all of the construction taking place around the neighborhood. The other morning, after a hard rain, we found a tiny frog in the driveway. After a few minutes of investigating him, I finally convinced Henry the little guy had to find his mommy. After a long goodbye, Henry finally let the little guy go into the grass. I thought we were going to have a new pet for a minute. The good news is he will be starting preschool in August and has a pretty full schedule until then. Swimming lessons start in July and he has a few more classes at the museum.

Beatrice is doing great. She just celebrated her 3 month birthday on Wednesday!! I cannot believe she is 3 months old already, what a 3 months it has been - she is certainly well traveled. We want to give a big birthday hug to her little friend in Germany, Eliana Keeler, who had her 3 month birthday on Tuesday!

As for me, I am happy to have John home and our family together again. When John arrived home, we were able to tour the jet he flew home on, Henry even got to go into the cockpit - which he thought was pretty cool. Father's Day was great, the kids made John stepping stones, like Henry has every year - our collection is growing rapidly. I am planing to return to work part time in August, hopefully by then we will be completely settled.

Congratulations to our nephew Will, who made the All Star team in Dubuque - he has always been our "All Star"!!!

Below are pictures of John's travels, our new home, and day to day fun stuff.

Enjoy.

Home Sweet Home

We have officially moved into our new house on Westminster Road. Our belongings from storage were delivered on Monday and after a couple of hectic days of unpacking, we have found enough to start living in our home. Our belongings in Germany will be packed up in a couple of weeks and sent home via boat, so we are expecting everything to be in one spot by August (we hope).

Although things are a mess right now, we are happy to be home and are anxious for John to join us. I will post more later - I have no internet or cable service yet, so I am blogging quick from my parents.

Home Again

Bea and I arrived back in the States on Tuesday evening after an uneventful trip. We are so happy to back home with Henry - we missed him terribly!! John will be joining us in a couple of weeks.

We closed on our new house this morning. Our new address is:

3195 Westminster Road
Bettendorf, IA 52722

I will post pictures soon!