Adwoa und Ama

We had a great morning– really better than we could have hoped for, I think.
If you can believe…. 6 kids between the ages of 14 mos. and 3.5 years and not one tear, not one fight over a toy. The kids played well, some of them actually ate (shocking for playful pre-schoolers when other kids are around), and the grown-ups seemed to enjoy the food and drink, too. And… in the midst of our chilly, wet summer…. sunshine and warmth.

(That’s E blowing out her birthday candle near the end of our party)

We decided to have a morning American Breakfast birthday party… seemed like something that we could do that would be fun, do-able, and at a time when kids do well. Michael made banana walnut muffins, homemade bagels, and blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes. All were excellent. I made breakfast sausage links, birthday cupcakes and fruit salad. Our adult guests took multiple helpings, so we are taking that to mean approval.

E really enjoyed her birthday this week. She got a great assortment of gifts… some cuddly stuffed animals, fun games and toys, cute clothes, really great DVDs, and from us, a very tough and simple digital camera designed just for pre-schoolers.

(J has really been teething a lot lately. She was having a rough morning due to that when this was taken).

Here are some of E’s pics. Yup, taken by the 3-year-old photographer. These are some of her favorite subjects….
Her Daddy

And her perspective on driving…

Her sister

Her good friend, J, at the party today

The camera really is great. Perfect for her age.

As I write, Michael is packing for a trip to CA. He arrives in LA late Monday evening, has meetings Tuesday and Wednesday morning and flies back Wednesday night, arriving back here late Thursday…. A VERY long trip for some short meetings. AND, to top it off, although he will be 30 mins. away from Matt’s house, they won’t get to see each other because Matt will be traveling too. … Stars did not align for that one.

In other news, the garden has given us lots of good stuff this weekend.

Yesterday E ate a bunch of carrots and really enjoyed them.

Dear Friends and Family,

Many of you know my good friend, bridesmaid, and housemate from the time I lived in Virginia, Heather. Some of you may know that Heather’s niece, Grace, who is a couple of months older than E, was diagnosed at 19-months with a very rare form of pediatric cancer called Neuroblastoma. Grace was declared in remission in June 2006, but on February 14th, 2007, Grace’s parents, Alec & Crystal, were told that the cancer had returned — so they resumed their fight to save Grace. While on this journey, Alec & Crystal have bonded with many others trying to fight this disease, specifically four other families, all with children who are in Stage IV Neuroblastoma (which has a 20% survival rate). The standard treatment protocols offer little hope; but recently, they found there is an alternative treatment. However, funding to continue research is unavailable. In hope of making a difference, these five families — specifically the five fathers (including Alec), are taking a stand — through “The Loneliest Road Campaign”. On September 10th, 2007, they will cycle across the United States. The fathers will begin in Sacramento, CA and collectively ride 3,700 miles, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to Washington, DC where they will unite with other Neuroblastoma families. Their mission is to raise awareness and money for cutting edge treatments that can be used to fight Neuroblastoma.
Please visit the “Loneliest Road” site to read more about Alec and the other four fathers here.

As parents of children the same age as Grace… J is almost as old as Grace was when she was diagnosed, and Grace is only 2 months older than E…. Michael and I have closely followed Grace’s story through the Journal on her website and often talk to each other about her progress. We are just in awe of Grace… and Alec and Crystal… for their strength. We cannot imagine how difficult this is for them.

Grace, her brother, Landon, and their parents have been staying at the Ronald McDonald House in New York City while Grace receives treatments. I have begun volunteering at the Ronald McDonald Haus in our area of Germany as a way to take some sort of action in support of Grace, her family, and their fight.

I hope that you will consider making a donation to support Alec and the other dads on their bike ride to fight this deadly disease. Any size gift helps Grace and other children with this cancer. And it lets all the families battling this disease know that they are supported in their fight.

Thank you for considering this.

With lots of love, Liz

So, I was mistaken… we actually were not on the Hand-Lever Trolley, but on the Bike Trolley. We are not sure if this was our misunderstanding, of if the company screwed up our reservation. But in any case, it was a lot of fun. We can’t imagine it being more fun another way.

On our trolley, we had our family and Julia, Bernhard’s wife. Julia and I took turns riding one of the bikes, and Michael rode the other the whole way. E likes Julia a lot, so she got comfy toward the end of the trip when she was tired.

We drove to the end spot of the Draisenentour route, hopped on a bus (which we almost missed) to the start, and then rode our Bike Trolley back to where we parked our car. We started riding at 7 and finished at 9, due to a (typical German) stop at a track-side Biergarten mid-trip.

At the end of the trolley trip, we all ate dinner together in the town where we parked our cars. We were shocked, but the girls made it with perfect behavior until 10:30 when we politely excused ourselves (before any meltdowns) and headed out. The girls were both asleep within 5 minutes of sitting in their carseats. It was a lot of fun and was not too physically challenging or anything so it was just a great relaxing ride with friends through some nice scenery. Here is a picture of our whole posse, as we stopped at a “car crossing” (we stop for them, not them for us). Note that while our girls were the only small kids on the trip, there was another in our party who could not pedal!

Saturday we had dinner at “our” Mexican restaurant with a new family of Deere American ex-pats. Turns out that the couple lived in Zweibruecken in 1998-99, so they didn’t need any of our recommendations. But E had fun playing with their two boys, ages 6 and 3 and we enjoyed meeting them.

During naptime on Saturday, I went to Globus for a small shopping run. I couldn’t help stopping at the summer clearance racks and found these outfits for the girls. Couldn’t resist. E decided that they would both wear their new outfits to dinner. E really likes it when the girls dress alike. J doesn’t seem to mind.

Note the “lamby” blanket that J is carrying… she has gotten quite attached to this. It is funny to see, since E was never attached to anything but her Bipsy at this age. J lets us know in no uncertain terms when she wants that lamb. Sometimes she actually full-on hugs it, which is pretty darned cute.

Today we enjoyed some of the fruits of Daddy & E’s labor. Our first 2 ripe tomatoes (delicious) and a couple of “turnips” that turned out to be beets! Who knew? We ate the tomatoes with some fresh mozzarella cheese and steamed the beets and had a little snack. E didn’t really care for the beets and was only mildly interested in eating the tomatoes, but Michael and I enjoyed them! J doesn’t seem to want to eat anything wet or squishy these days, so both were out for her.

We took a walk downtown late this afternoon.

In other news, we can confirm that J can get up and stand with nothing to support her… I mean, how did she get here???

She walks pretty well supported with one hand. She’s just not quite confident enough to take more than one step without holding on. Maybe because she has had a couple of falls when she has been brave and tried. A few bumps and bruises, but she is on her way!