Pet Parade

Finally getting these posted! We had a great time at the Annual LaGrange Pet Parade.


The weather couldn't have been better, as you can see.


Daddy gives Audrey a cuddle.


Nana gives Jackson a cuddle. (Wait - nobody gave me a cuddle!)


Later, we went to the carnival, where Jackson got to experience a helicopter ride - quite a thrill.


Next, he took his very first roller coaster ride!

Iowa highlights

Audrey's First Birthday

On May 18th Audrey had her first birthday party in LaGrange. Here are a few of the pictures I took.


Audrey got lots of fun toys...


...including a cool little scooter-thing.


After some pizza, we had ice cream cake and cupcakes.


I think Audrey liked them.

Grandma Jean + the kids

Grandma Jean and Grandpa Ron came in for Audrey's birthday party. We had a nice visit, and then Audrey and Jackson and I went back to Iowa with them for the week.





Here's one more from Audrey's party - Daddy and Unc watching Audrey open her presents.

Scruba-dub-dub two kids in a tub

Over the hill

Doesn't everyone wear a Curious George hat on their 37th birthday?

National train day

Come sit on the porch

1. FCN Game

Amazingly, in all my trips to Germany I never went to a fußball (soccer) game before. This trip, I asked if the Bundesliga (German League) had any games scheduled so Robert got tickets for the local team, the 1st Fußball-Club Nürnberg or 1. FCN (one of Robert and Traudl's neighbors has a big 1. FCN on his roof, I'll try to get a picture before we leave). We had a lot of fun. Sabine and I are going to try taking in a Chicago Fire game when we get back home.


Robert and I in our seats waiting for the match to start.


The official fan clubs displaying their flags before the match.


Sabine and Robert during the game.


During "half-time" they even had one of those goofy games where fans run around in plastic bubbles.


Robert, Sabine, and I enjoying the game
(and, yes, I decided to give the Joliet Jackhammers some international exposure by wearing my Jackhammers cap to the game).

Oh, and most importantly, 1. FCN won, 2-0, against MSV Duisburg.

Brombachsee Trip

We're starting to wind down our trip, so on May 6th we decided to take in a little day-trip to the Brombachsee, a man-made lake created to help supply southern Germany with water. First we took a little cruise of the Großer Brombachsee, the large lake. Then we had lunch at a nice restaurant, the Cafe Restaurant zum Hochreiter in Enderndorf. Finally, we went for a 6-KM walk around the Igelsbachsee, the smallest of the three lakes. In the map below you can see the dotted line showing the route of the boat and the Igelsbachsee that we walked around.



Here are some pictures from the day, mostly from the boat. We didn't take any pictures during our walk, unfortunately.


Here is the boat we cruised on, the MS Brombachsee.



Sabine and I having a little fun on the boat.



Relaxing on the boat as it toured the Großer Brombachsee.


Hi, Jackson!

Mom's Day pics

Some pictures I had taken of the kids for Mother's Day...

Berwyn Spindle is History

Well, you can only fight for so long. The Spindle, erected in Cermak Plaza in 1989, finally was demolished Friday night.

Playtime

We seem to be spending a lot of time at the playground lately!