18 Nov - Birthday Party!

Ben had a very fun birthday party at the bowling alley down the street. Unfortunately, I didn't charge the camera's batteries before the big event, so no pics - only video. :(
However, Ben got so many presents between our New Orleans trip and his party that he's in hog heaven deciding what to play with. Even Sam is getting in on the action - he sometimes tries to claim a toy for himself by asserting, "It's MINE!" But that never works... and usually leads to one or both of the boys getting a time out. :) When will they learn?
Sarah's doing fairly well. It has been nice for her to be surrounded by loved ones in the wake of her father's death and it's also nice that she, Thomas and Elizabeth have been talking over the phone more often. Sarah's weekly Herceptin and monthly Zometa treatments are proceeding normally and she's feeling well. The next bigger thing will be another CAT scan, which we'll likely have done sometime just before Christmas as planned.

15 Nov

We got back from New Orleans on the 15th. The funeral for Sarah's father was poignant and a nice way to acknowledge his passing. Sarah's brother Thomas built a slide show of pictures showing many great memories of Gene's life and many people attended the visitation and funeral.

9 Nov - Rest In Peace, Grandpa

We got the sad news that Sarah's father suffered a stroke this morning and passed away hours later in a New Orleans hospital surrounded by Thomas, Elizabeth and some of his friends. Although he's been battling metastatic prostate cancer for almost eight years, this was still sudden and unexpected. "Grandpa with a beard," as Ben calls him, will certainly be missed. As we make plans to fly to New Orleans for the funeral, we also pray that Eugene now rests in peace and joy with God.

Germany - Schilksee

We spent our last day in Kiel at the beach town of Schilksee. The boys loved seeing all the ships and boats. They also really liked walking along the water's edge - finding and throwing rocks, seeing jellyfish, writing in the sand, chasing swans.

Germany - Out and About

Pics of Oma and Uncle Guenther.

Germany - Hamburg

Went to Hamburg from Kiel for a day by train with Frank, Anke and Jasmin. We walked around, toured the world's largest model train set and did a harbor cruise.

Germany - The Bus

Ben really loved riding the buses in Germany!

Germany - 3 Nov Oma's 96th Birthday

We went to lunch at a restaurant in a historical 300 year old Northern German farmhouse to celebrate Oma's 96th birthday.

Leaves and Halloween

Our leaf pile this year was huuuuge! I was throwing Ben and Sam in to it and they would completely disappear before crawling back out of it. Halloween last night was also a big hit. Sam was a fireman and Ben was superman. They had a great time trick-or-treating with Kira and Braden from next door and the candy haul was pretty big.
Sarah is doing well as we prepare for the trip to Germany. I'll have some pics of our adventures for the next post!