Hello Again & Added Smilebox

Agh! I'm so far behind in updating this blog, I think I'm ahead! Well, it's only 1.5 months since I've updated. Been facebooking on a consistent basis...doesn't do much good here though, does it?

Summer is in full swing, though the weather has been less than ideal. Swim lessons are in full throttle, finishing up next week.

Catch up time: Gracie's 5th birthday was mid June. Celebrated with friends n family at the park with an afterparty at the water park. Wheeee! Roomie Runion '09 in late June was an uber fun time!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

In the meantime...catching up on some overdue photos of our memories the past couple of months. Oh...gee, I just remember I still haven't posted pics from Germany. I think on a subconscience level that says something. Hmmm?

Gracie's graduation in May. Kindergarten here we come!! :o)... :o( it's bittersweet.

Gracie riding her bike big girl style - no training wheels!!

I have one class this trimester - intro to audiology. Intro, right - I swear it is material from this guy's graduate course he teaches at Northwestern. The upside? Incredibly interesting, making it the fastest 3 hours in my entire higher ed career. I continue to be amazed at the complexity of God's creation. How one can believe this intricacy randomly evolved is beyond me.

The sun is peeking out though the forecast calls for rain. I'm making potato salad & have ribs ready to grill in hopes of having a beachside picnic this afternoon. Join us!

Princess Play

It's truly delightful & satisfying to watch your child experience dreams come true. I didn't introduce Grace to Disney princesses...never thought I'd be one of those moms or have one of those kids all about the princess business. Alas, the day came when a curious two year shopper spotted a Cinderella movie at a garage sale. That was it...our Disney princess collection had officially ensued. Or maybe it was when good friend, Tina, bought Grace that very frilly Belle dress for her 2nd birthday. But somehow it started & blossomed into this "Mom, we HAVE to go see Cinderella's house; that BIGGGGG castle."

So here we are a couple of years later, making dreams come true with our 1st trip to Disney World. Anticipating we would need a good thaw in the throes of deep Chicago winter, Uncle Bob agreed to accompany us to Florida. Too bad Florida was in a cold snap - dog gone it & we wore jackets & coats for many of our days. Grace said it was cold but no snow! That was plus!

Not that the photo captures it, but my absolute favorite moment was in Ariel's Grotto. You know we waited for nearly an hour to have our face to face time with that mermaid. Wait..Gracie danced around in the spray ground with the other munchkins while the adults waited in line. Finally, our turn & Grace was in awe of her favorite princess - Ariel. They chit chatted about hairstyles (Grace had lovely auburn extensions in like Ariel) & transportation -"How did you get here, little starfish?" Taking it all in, Grace was simply enamored. At one point, she looked down at Ariel's mermaid legs/fins, then back up & down again. Slowly, she slid her little hand onto Ariel's legs...fully exploring that shiny, sequined fabric. Oh no, what's going happen now...talk about violating the personal space rules. Ariel threw her head back, giggled, then tickled Grace right back. It was just the cutest! I asked Grace later why she tickled Ariel. "Mom, her legs were so shiny & sparkle-y with all those sequin-y things, I just had to touch 'em." There you go! That's my fabric feeling, sensory seeking girl. :o)

Favorites include Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique-- oh, so charming! Later, Grace got to ring the bell & wake up tiny Tinker Bell. She flew in for a little hello before heading off to dust the park with pixie cheer. Other highlights included a Wonderland Tea Party with Alice & the Mad Hatter. " That guy has bad manners--he gargled his tea!"

We also were chosen as the family of the day at Chef Mickeys & Grace helped open the restarant with Mickey Mouse. He asked for HER autograph in his special book...nice, we've been working hard on writing our name.

Grace was Lumiere in Belle's storytime in the castle couryard. We earned our pilot's license on the Monorail & celebrated Gracie's half birthday at every turn - met with trinkets, stickers & cupcakes with candles at every sit down meal. The crowd sang Happy Birthday outside of Toon Town & she opened the park with a generous shower of pixie dust & wishes.

There was a bit of swimming on the hottest days - think like low 70's - indeed a far cry from -15 or so when we left Chicago. Thoroughly enjoying fun in the sun, Grace joined in the poolside games at Fort Wilderness & scored some cool prizes winning the hula hoop contest. And all those prizes from arcade play with Uncle Bob.

We did, of course, see all the princesses, Pooh & friends, those wicked step sisters; along with Mary Poppins & Jimminy Cricket. However, Grace was a bit irritated when,after a week of hugs & hellos, those princesses seemed to forget they had already met her. It wasn't until that sweet Alice noticed she already signed Grace's autograph book & declared it was good to see her AGAIN. :o)

All in all, we had a wonderous time & even Uncle Bob survived 8 days of princess play. We tried to work in a fishing excursion at Fort Wilderness, just to break the monotony for the guy among us...but the fish & the attendant revolted due to the "cold" weather. :o) So, UB & Grace fed the ducks while mom enjoyed a hot stone massage. Oh, yeah...sooooo nice.

Here's a little bit of pixie dust & magic from our sleepy heart (yes, it's 2:53 AM) to yours~

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Catching up & confidence

We're home again. Back at work with less than 12 hours to transition from vacation to the real world. We did indeed have a delightful time over the last couple of weeks. I'll share the details over the days to come...just not today. :o) I'm about caught up on laundry - whoo hooo, but today we are preparing to go to the water park/pool with some friends...actually, Gracie has declared she will marry this little friend when she "gets 30". :o)

I'll leave this one picture & thought from a book I've just begun reading, "Parenting Isn't for Cowards" by Dr. James Dobson.

I'm reminded of a photograph in my files of an elegantly dressed woman who is holding a cupo of coffee. Her little finger is cocked ever so daintlily to the side and her face reveals utter self-assurance. Unfortunately, this woman does not yet know that her slip has collapsed around her feet. The caption reads, "Confidence is what you have before you understand the situation." Indeed!

Cumberland Gap Greetings

Hey ya'll from Cumberland Gap, KY...more specifically, B'ville. Having a great time here visiting Jen, Gabe & Gabi - friends we made while living in Germany. The girls have had a blast playing dressup, chasing the kitty & swimming! Water park fun in the day & later on we went to a Front Porch Pickin session on the courthouse steps - loved it!

Later that night, we took a drive up to Corbin, KY to see the Moonbow at Cumberland Falls. This phenomena occurs as the mist rises from the river in the light of a full moon. Very cool!! Thinking I might need to see these wondrous falls in the daylight. My camera isn't equipped to capture the glory of this lunar rainbow, so I've borrowed one along with some info about this rarity from the KY parks department & wikipedia with special thanks.

A moonbow (also known as a lunar rainbow, lunar bow or white rainbow) is a rainbow produced by the moon rather than the sun. Moonbows are relatively faint, due to the smaller amount of light from the Moon. They are always in the opposite part of the sky from the moon. It is difficult to discern colours in a moonbow because the light is usually too faint to excite the cone colour receptors in our eyes. As a result, they often appear to be white. However, the colours in a moonbow do appear in long exposure photographs. Moonbows are most easily viewed when the moon is near to full (when it is brightest). For other than those produced by waterfalls, the moon must be low in the sky (less than 42 degrees and preferably lower) and the sky must be dark. And of course there must be rain falling opposite the moon. This combination of requirements makes moonbows much more rare than rainbows produced by the sun.

Later on today, we're saying "bis spater" to the Andersons & heading west to the 2008 Annual 510 N West End Blvd Roommate Reunion in Madisonville, KY. Can't wait!

At home again in Deutschland

Make a Smilebox postcard

Home again...here again

We're finally home & hit the ground running...well, almost walking since my car STILL isn't finished after 3+ weeks at the auto body shop. But I digress....hit the ground running - right. Back to work & school for both tired girls. I think Grace is about caught up on sleep, but I'm still on Deutsche zeit. Had a wonderful time...here are a few pics until I get a Smilebox put together. We hit most of my favorite spots & found a few new ones; celebrated coming together & put some old hurts to rest - both of which liberated & soothed the soul.

Words are failing in my weariness....so I'll just share some pics & come back another day. Thanks to all who prayed for our safety & good visits; for those who held my heart in the waiting. These were moments to last a lifetime - without a doubt! Love ya'll!

On our way

Here we goooooooooooooooo!

for sure here~


and maybe here~

And nearly every day~

See you in May~

2007 Southern Tour: Part 4 Atlanta Times (cont)

After relaxing with Sarah, Grace & I headed to the other side of Atlanta to visit former CLC-er, Holly. What a treat to see her as well as visit with another old friend, Pat, from CLC Shorewood campus. Moriah was willing swim buddy for Miss Grace.

We certainly enjoyed hanging out by the resort-like pool at Holly's apartment complex. The whole place was awash with vivid colors from all the flowers. Really impressive & a great retreat for a couple of days.

Thanks to Holly, we had abundant choices for delectable dining. We ate at Mimi's...a charming French Bistro. Yeah...there's one in Orland! But the highlight was an evening spent in the Highland neighborhood of downtown Atlanta. Quite the quaint village-esque area with cutsie shops & one of a kind neighborhood eateries. We had a great time at Wired & Fired: A Pottery Playhouse, indeed! Can't wait to get that truly calico-ed kitty that Grace painted. Let's just remember it's not the finished product, but the process that counts.

After we were all wired (Gracie) & fired (me...for gelato) up, we indulged in GELATO at Paolo's. It was scrumptious & quite the authentic Italian gelataria experience. Now I'm not saying it brought me back to Venice but it was certainly the best I've had this side of the Atlantic. YUM!

One of the highlights of this portion of the tour was a very spontaneous trip to Helen, GA. Grace & I passed up mall strolling for bumping over the cobblestones in this little Bavaria right in the USA. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the Chattahoochee River, this Georgia village is a re-creation of an alpine village complete with cobblestone alleys, old-world towers, German folk music & bands, shops, restaurants, mountains, beautiful scenery, family activities, waterfalls, museums, history, art, fishing, tubing, golf, and more.

We had a GREAT time splashing around in the river, dodging tubers as they meandered down the lazy waterway. AND then there was the serenade by some hokie karaoke on the opposite side of the river bank. It was actually hilarious to hear some of the "talent" & things got progressively better as the coolers were emptied. Really....it was quite funny in a painful sort of way.

There was ample opportunity to practice our Deutsche sprachen in the shops & restaurant. Gracie was delighted to drive the horse drawn carriage and even more so when she got to feed the horses a bunch of carrots.

If I haven't mentioned this already, my camera petered out just after Dollywood, so most of these pics are from my mobile phone & a big thanks to Holly for sharing a few of her pics.

Anyway, this was a great way to end the Southern tour...actually, we had another great evening with Jennifer & Gabi on the way back to Chi-town. While waiting for the Anderson's to come back from church, Grace & I played around in the swimming pool. I enjoyed a beautiful sunset behind the mountains & it just felt right. Not saying I'm moving or anything, but it sure reminded me that the city or even the suburbs doesn't suit me much anymore. :o)