August 2007

Hello One and All!

We hope that you all had a great summer. As you probably already saw the pictures, we traveled to Germany to see Opa and Oma. Before we left though, Uwe had to finish up the school year. That went really smooth. Then there was the starting of the renovations of the school building. We left in mid-June and flew to Frankfurt.

It was great to see Opa and Oma. Megan finally got to meet her Opa.
Some of the fun things we did this summer was to take a trip to the local fair. We got our brats, slushies, and pony rides. Marcus and Megan loved Oma's berry patch. I think they were there twice a day to get a few for their bellies. The kids and Uwe got to enjoy the wading pool a few days this summer as well. It was unfortunately cold this summer in Germany, but we did have some very nice days at the beginning and at the end.Uwe's sister, Dorothea, and her family came from China as well to visit. We all went to the Rhein River and saw a castle and walked around a small town that still had a wall and cobblestones. It was a nice outing with great weather. Marcus liked the knights.
Since we've been back it has really been a sprint ( long one at that). Uwe finished up the renovations in time for school to start. Eight new staff members plus their families arrived. We were the tour guides and host family for many of them. They are all great! We couldn't have had a better crew! We just celebrated Matthea's 4th birthday with shapes. She was able to blow out her own candles this year. She was very pleased with herself. Marcus has started Chinese Kindergarten, and that has been going well. He is still adjusting, but has made friends. They are all numbered and wore tags the first week. He is number 9 and his friends are #11 and #13. We have come to learn one of their names now, but for awhile they were known in our house by their #. =) This is still an adjustment for me....you see I can't read what they give me, so I always go to a friend or two to have them help me. So, I'm getting my Chinese class in one way or another this year. =) Megan is a fireball princess. She is a drama queen and thinks she is 16 already. She's talking more and that helps so much. She likes to play with Matthea, and they usually can find someway of making a mess usually one that can be picked up quickly, but they have been known to get into the crayons. Example...caught them in Marcus's bed drawing a mural on his wall. They wanted to try their hand at being artist? Who knows....but they are a lot of fun, even in their most craftiest ideas. Can't wait until their older...YIKES!Hope all is going well there for you all. We are still going, going, going....but slowing down some I believe. We have a retreat with the staff; a week vacation; and a weekend get-away to look forward to for the next month and a bit. So, that is nice. I'll try to write once we have more to share. Take care and God Bless,The Maurers