Anna Rides Her Bike!

We recently bought Anna a bike off ebay and this past Sunday (June 24th) she learned to ride it without training wheels! We were all so proud of big girl! I'm sure that when most parents think about the day that their child rides a bike without training wheels is one of the big days in their kids' lives and certainly this was no different for us. Oma was also with us (some how she seems to be around for most of the big events!) If we hadn't already been excited and proud, it is hard not to be excited about something when Oma is excited about something. Her excitement is catchy.

Anna has had a "Like a Bike" for a while. Like a Bikes are made of wood and don't have any pedals, they're a good tool for kids to learn their balance. I believe that this did help Anna learn faster than if she hadn't used one. She started out with Christine or my hand on her seat for support and then we'd let go. Then she needed only help getting started. Then she was able to get started by herself. Anna had a Winnie the Pooh bike that has been handed over to Sarah and we did get another bike that is currently too big, thus the reason for another bike.

Here are two pictures of Anna with her bike as well as Sarah with her bike. I did some video taping of Anna riding the bike and I plan to edit and post it to YouTube later. Bye for now.
Darryl

Aunt Helen Has Passed Away

My Aunt Helen passed away yesterday. As she hasn't been in the best of Health for several years now, it didn't come as a surprise but is still very sad. Aunt Helen was always lively and fun. Aunt Helen had moved to Florida many years ago, but she has often returned to Michigan. I remember on one of these visits, Uncle George and her came to see us at our home in Ortonville. On these visit we went for a walk and ended up with a stray Afgan dog. Uncle George asked us to keep the dog for him as they couldn't take the dog back to Florida (for some reason!). We had that dog for several years until we found her another home (and not with Aunt Helen and Uncle George!)

This is the only picture that only good digital picture I have of Aunt Helen that I could post. This picture was taken in July 2005 when we were in Michigan. I'll have to look through what I have and see if I can scan some in for posting. I'll be thinking about Aunt Helen, her kids, grandkids, and the others who will be missing her. I plan to post some more about Aunt Helen later, in the mean time please feel free to post any stories, memories, and etc as comments to this post.

Bye for now.

Darryl

Europa Park part 2

Here are some more pictures from Europa park. Anna was really excited about going to the park and for days she kept asking how much longer till we go to the park. Sarah had a hard time saying the name and often referred to the park as "Opa Park". Anna really enjoyed most of the rides and often said "noch mal" (one more time) when she got off one. On the day that we were at the park Sarah was just a hair under one meter tall. This meant that sometimes she got to do the rides that required her to be a meter while at other times she didn't. I rode the Siverstar, my first real roller coaster in more than a decade! We all had a good time and of course the girls are ready to go back...

Darryl

Europa Park

Visit to Europa Park part 1

On June 11th we went to Europa Park. The park is located in Rust, Germany, not to far from Freiburgh. We've taken the girls to a few smaller kiddie parks before, but this was their first visit to a real amusement park, and my first visit to a real amusement park in Europe. The first picture is of Christine and the girls near the front of the park, then the girls with the park masscot, Sarah wearing a Milka hat, and the last picture is of Anna and Christine at the end of a water ride. I"ll be posting more pictures from the park later. Bye for now.

Darryl

Here is a link to the park: Europa Park

Felix's Confirmation

We were recently in Switzerland for the confirmation of family friend Felix. Christine is Felix's godmother and has known his mother, Anette since college. The first picture is of the girls with Felix at the after party. The second picture shows Daniel, Felix's younger brother, in the pirate outfit. Bye for now.

Darryl

Visit from Gretel

Oma Ilona has a good friend named Gretel that lives in Oregon who recently visited us. Gretel is the niece of some longtime friends of Ilona. She is from Germany and has lived in the U.S. for many years now. Here are a couple of pictures of Gretel with Anna. Bye for now.

Darryl

Pistons Lose Eastern Conference Finals

Well I was really hoping that the Pistons would win the NBA Finals this year and was disappointed to see them get beat by the Cleveland Cavailers.

In the news with the Pistons...

It looks like Grant Hill is going to Pheonix

Pistons Homepage

Detroit News

Detroit Free Press

Sports Illustrated

The past, the good, the bad, and the ugly...

Here is a nice page about the history of the Pistons. This link is some more history including the "Bad Boys" days, the link should start with the tittles of that time. CBS sports shows the results of the various seasons including tittles and how they did in the playoffs (or if they played).

Bye for now...

Red Wings lose Western Conference Finals

Well this isn't exactly brand new news but the Detroit Red Wings lost the Western Conference series to the Mighty Ducks 4-2 (the eventual winner of the Stanley Cup this year and the first team from California to do so!). Here is the Red Wings Home Page

In other Red Wing news...

Chris Chelious has signed on for another year.

It seems that Dominik Hasek is leaning to coming back next year.

It seems hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Vladimir Konstantinov's accident.

Here's hoping that the Wings can hoost the Cup again next year. Thanks for another good run.

Darryl