Tuesday, September 25, 2012

End of Summer 2012

What just happened to the last 3 months?  For that matter, the past year disappeared right before our very eyes.  It was basically one year ago that we started the transition overseas.  Wow.  Just wow.

There are all sorts and kinds of things I'd love to share with our friends and family, as well as capture for posterity, covering the events of the last few months. I will only try to cover a few highlights though.

First, as I mentioned in my last post, we had a fantastic summer of family visits, including Suzanne's (and my) niece Annelise and my nephew (and Suzanne's) Chase.  I hope they enjoyed being here as much as we enjoyed having them.  Chase and I were able to slip away a few times for some uncle-nephew quality time together including a real nice hike together in Lumignano where I took this photo at arms length.



We had some awesome times in August including a short visit by Suzanne's sisters and family, a very fun weekend with Catherine and Scott Walgren in Oberammergau, and a super-fun extended weekend in Munich with just the four of us.  Josh learned how to ride his bike without training wheels and is now ready to conquer all of the riding trails in Northern Italy. All of that will hopefully be the subject of another posts(s) so they get their due attention.

September ushered in a whole new milestone for us: both kids have started going to school in the local Italian schools.  With the exception of one or two rough mornings for Josh, and one day where Isabel was particularly tired (and cranky), that has all gone very well.  The kids are making friends, Italian kids as well as a couple of other Americans, learning a few more words in Italian, and having a lot of fun.

Our grape vines have thrived through a very, very dry summer even despite being planted much later in the Spring than is customary.  I have done my best to water and care for them, especially given the fact that we spend most of our weekends traveling, but I also think they are resilient and would have done just fine without my attention.  "Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow"....or something like that...here are a couple of photos:





The other big milestone was that Suzanne has started volunteering with the Red Cross.  She does all the same duties that a Primary Care PA would do, except that she does it a few hours a week and doesn't get paid.  She seems to have enjoyed being back in the medical world though, and that is fun to see.

As for me, I attended a week-long course in Eastern Germany in late August, and another in Western Germany a couple of weeks ago.  On my last trip North, I took advantage of a stopover in Fussen, Germany to go for a real nice morning bike ride.  Here are a couple of photos I took of that:






We've got some great recent photos and videos that I'd love to post of the kids.  Lots more to share....for another time.

Lots of love to all you reading this.  We certainly miss all of our friends and family, our home on Stoney Creek, and the good ol' U-S-of-A.

And of course, without a doubt, from all of us....GO ORIOLES!!!!!!!
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