Second Edition - Austria/Greece 2007

The first photo is of the Riesenrad which is the world's largest ferris wheel located in Vienna. The cars are very large which hold approximately 20-30 people. It is veeerrrry slow. The park which is called the Prater just celebrated it's 100th anniversary.

The other photos are of us just getting into Greece. Bernie is pointing at a lemon tree alongside a beautiful flowering vine. The two bathing beauties are of Peggy and Mom. Another world's largest is the canyon you see pictured here out of the Zagori area. It is the deepest, narrowest, gorge in the world. It was breathtaking. We drove up and zigzagged around for miles on end until we reached the top. The weather up in the mountains was somewhat cooler which was nice.

Wunderschoen! Ausgesichnet! Tol! Aufwiedersehen Wien und Griechenland!

We're home after a memorable three week vacation to Vienna and Greece. It was Bernie's first time to Vienna, Austria and my first trip to Greece. We visited museums, palaces and gardens, downtown, churches, relatives, and many restaurants the first week in Vienna along with Tom, Peggy and Anthony, and of course, Mom.

The second week was quite an adventure visiting Greece. We flew in to the island of Korfu located on the northwestern coast of Greece bordering Albania. From there, we ferried on to the mainland landing in Ecumenista. The climate is quite warm and is sort of tropical with palm trees and loads of fruit trees. The palm trees sort of surprised me for some reason. We saw orange, lemon, pomagranite, fig, olive, and many other fruit bearing trees. The terrain was mountainous and we got into some very rocky areas. The food was exceptional...souvlaki and gyros, fresh baked goods every morning and delicious desserts. The water is absolutely sparkling turquoise and clean unlike some areas in Mexico and Hawaii. Mom had arranged travel through a travel agency called, Fly, Drive, and Sleep. It consisted of renting a car and travelling to our destination town or village through mountains and coasts, finding the location and spending either the night or two nights in a pre-arranged hotel.
Bernie was quite the driver leading the way in our small Kia and Peggy being the second driver following in her tiny Chevrolet. We saw castles, fortresses, Roman ruins i.e. the ancient Roman stadiums, Acropollis, churches and monastaries from the 14th century. The Romans worshipped many gods but the particular area we were in, they worshipped mother earth and the oak tree. Kind of like many people today.

All in all, I'm so gratefulto God for this opportunity to have visited and experienced this vacation with Mom and family. Without her, it would not have happened. More pictures and stories to follow.

"To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3:1

DEUTSCHE FREUNDE 25TH ANNIVERSARY AND SUMMER PICNIC 2007

With the German music playing in the background and laughing and talking going on, a good time was had by all at the German picnic held on Wednesday July 11 in Frau Traudl Batten's beautiful back yard. She had it set up so nice with tables and chairs and there was plenty of good food. I counted 21 cars and I believe there were 36 people in all who attended. God answered our prayers for sunny weather because earlier in the week, it was so rainy. Tom was manning the BBQ grilling bratwurst right and left, Barbara helped with setup, and Chrissy and I were the take-down cleanup crew along with Tom. It is so much fun to see all the smiling faces and listen to the German language. Laughter is the same in any language. Deutsche Freunde translates to German friends. As you can see from the pictures, some wore their traditional German dirndls. Carsten would not cooperate and keep his lederhosen on for the crowd.

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Bernie is Home Again in Alaska.

After leaving Savannah, Georgia and making one stop up in Washington DC to pick up his buddy Kyle, Bernie has made it driving to AK in 7 days. They were driving about 1,000 miles a day and would have made it on Thursday but they got a flat outside of Tok Junction. So what could have been 6 was 7 days. We are so thankful they were safe. They said they saw bear, moose,wild buffalo, and caribou across Canada and AK. This was Kyle's first trip to AK and he left the next day to get back to work in DC.

Angie arrived on Sunday and we are so happy to have her. She is definitely a cheerful addition to our family. She is Finn's new babysitter during the week and will be starting school in the fall at UAA to finish her degree.

The garden has been coming along nicely. The peas are getting tall although I don't see pods on them yet. The lilacs are just coming in bloom for the past two weeks. It seems we are a little behind in the sunshine department, but beautiful nonetheless.

Time to Catch Up!!!

Well Gretchen and I have been home for about 10 days now and I promised I would catch up. Here are some pictures mostly of the trip but some of beautiful Greta.
We drove to Charlotte to spend the weekend about three hrs. away and went to the new Billy Graham Library which opened up the first part of June. Three of the past presidents were there for the dedication, Sr. George Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. The library was full of the life and events of Billy Graham and the impact he has had on the lives of people here in the United States as well as the rest of the world, preaching the Gospel. Ruth Graham had recently died the week before and her body is laid to rest on the grounds. Billy grew up there in Charlotte, NC.

We also went to Duke University Gardens and spent the day. That was probably the coolest day we were there which was 88 degrees and humid. The gardens and grounds are gorgeous and in full bloom started by Sarah P. Duke who bestowed millions of dollars to the University way back when. We enjoyed ourselves walking Finn around in the stroller. The University itself began in the late 1800's and is beautiful.

Greta looks like her G-Pop in one of my favorite pictures with with tiny arm by her head. She is absolutely beautiful. She looks so tiny in her carseat.

"THE JUST MAN WALKETH IN HIS INTEGRITY: BLESSED ARE HIS CHILDREN WHO WALK AFTER HIM" PROVERBS 20:7

..."THE GLORY OF CHILDREN ARE THEIR FATHERS"

Here are the proud parents of gorgeous little Greta Jean.

Thank the good Lord for Grandma Susan getting to Raleigh in time (2.5 hr. drive) for witnessing the birth and helping Natalie and Adam for the entire week, cooking,cleaning and just smiling the whole time. She is such a sweet blessing and also to Scott who came straight home from Houston as soon as he arrived. Natalie said she came as soon as she heard Natalie was going to the hospital in the middle of the early morning looking fantastic with her hair combed and makeup on, never missing a beat. I think the picture of them both cooking after our plane got in was funny. They say you take after your mate after you have been married some time.

The last picture is also so sweet with Natalie and Adam taking Greta for her first stroller ride on Father's Day. Even a couple of the neighbors stopped to wave and wish Adam a happy father's day.

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Here we are in Royal Raleigh, North Carolina enjoying ourselves totally. Natalie and Adam have a beautiful home which they have worked hard on. Natalie's personality is manifested in her decorating. Adam has worked non-stop on everything from plumbing to electrical. On their back deck you can look out to the swimming pool which is oval shaped. Their back yard has many tall shade trees which border the fence but it makes me think I'm in Hawaii with this heat and humidity. I can drink coffee out of the back deck in the morning and it's just me and the skeets.

The babies have been great. Greta is very serene and peaceful unless she's hungry and Finn enjoys an audience fot his cute antics. There are some pictures of the difference in size. They are 3 1/2 mos. apart. We have taken them on a few outings, namely thrift stores and also other stores for groceries. Mostly, we have been having fun talking, cooking and eating and also the girls have been painting pictures for Finn's room. I am attempting to finish Greta's moose quilt...forgot thread, and went to JoAnn's today. I took the sightseeing route, in other words, I got lost.

We have entertained three times this week with Adam's family twice and Beth and Anthony and their beautiful children. What fun!! We try to take walks at least once a day in the evening when it is cooler. Nat and Adam live close by some pretty ritsy homes. The mansion at the end of their street is worth 19 million, it has beautiful gardens and landscaping. Most of the others are valued at 1 million. They are so high because they border an exclusive golf course. Will write more later.

IT WENT BY SO FAST!!!!!!

They're home now back with their Daddy, but we sure did enjoy every moment from holding, feeding, and just playing with the kids. It was worth every moment, and we had forgotten just how busy a young family can be. We are thankful to our heavenly Father for allowing them to spend a whole 16 days with us. Here are some pictures of mostly Emme and Levi but also one of Emme attempting to hold Baby Finn with some help from G-Pop. G-Pop is always good for a horsey ride too especially now that his shoulder is better. One picture shows Emme having a bad hair day until it was brushed and fixed.

Levi is being given a kiss from Jaeger, Chrissy and Jeff's dog, and Carsten and Emme greeted each other with a hug. They are great friends and had a ball playing doing sommersaults and riding the jumping horse. Aunt Dorothy is also here with Bridgette and Levi and there were more family photos taken to come later on. Oma has them on her camera. Thanks to Chrissy for the outstanding pizza party!!

Camping in Seward, Alaska

Despite the gray weather, we still had a great time with all the kids and grandkids over Memorial Day weekend. We walked, rode bikes, shopped, and played the tourist but most of all we just enjoyed spending time with the kids. Emme kept us busy from sun up til sun down (which just plain wore us out because we have so much daylight this time of year). The times we put her to bed in the back bedroom of the motorhome where it was dark, we would find her looking out of the shades at all the other kids who were playing outside at 10 pm at night. Levi and Finn were good once they figured out who got which bed and which napping schedule suited them best. Their moms were a little frustrated at first but then it all worked out thanks to their scheduling and planning efforts. We ate the typical camping food hotdogs, marshmallows, chips, cookies, etc. and even ate out at a nice restaurant for some fresh seafood. Bernie cooked breakfast for us on the grill and kept the campfire going. The picture of the stuffed bear on Bernie sleeping is because Emme thought it best to get her Uncle Bernie's bear and give it to G-Pop so he could have a nice nap. He never even budged!