Dear Family, dear friends,
our trip to the USA seems so far away already. It's getting colder and darker on this side of the world and in the supermarkets you can buy Christmas stuff already.
After our arrival back in Munich, Marc started working the next day, me and the kids had one day to adjust before it was back to daily life again. The first few sleepless nights we spent with listening to 'Ritter Kokosnuss' or 'Petersson and Findus' CDs, just like on our long rides in the car back in America.
On October 1st I started a new job - in short, we are just now finding the time to sit down and look back at our trip and reuniting with all the wonderful people we haven't seen in such a long time.
It was a very special trip for all of us: For Noah, because he finally met his whole family in America; for Julian, because he was reaquainted with his family (and this time he is older enough that will remember them:) and he could play with almost all of his cousins; for Marc to get back with his family and friends, of course and to share his pre-squirts-life with his squirts; for me because I also had the feeling to come back home in a way, to be with all of you and to get to know you better was very special to me. To get to know so many people and places that are and were important in Marc's life, made me fall in love with him all over again.
Ok, but actually, I wasn't planning on becoming sentimental, I only wanted to share some pictures with all of you.
I had a hard time to choose from 900 pictures and when I finally was down to 130, Marc came by and erased half of them. There are so many pictures with family and friends and the monkeys that I have to share them in another way with you individually. This is just a small selection of countless cherished memories. Here we go.....
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| This is (almost) where we are, Colorado:) |
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| So nice and warm here... |
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| I am the king of Garden of the Gods! |
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| Climbing with G-Dad |
After our time at Charlie and Lora's house in Colorado Springs, we went on to Marc's sister in Glenwood Springs.
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| Reading books with Shelley.... |
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| We went all the way up a mountain to a nice fun park. Julian, Raeli and Graham could have stayed in front of this mirror all day long, rocking with laughter. |
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| Sleeping with G-Dad is the best! |
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| Well, riding the Ferris wheel isn't bad either:) |
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| Catching up on the years since we last met... |
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| Did I say this already? Sleeping with G-Dad is the best! |
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| Playing Todd's "Tatzy" until late at night... |
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| A round of King of the sofa--very nice! |
Our trip through Marc's past with Meme and G-Dad through Utah, Idaho and Oregon up to Washington - It all began behind this blue door... Marc's first home in Provo, Utah
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| It's a Man's World! |
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| Salt Lake City |
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| Mount Rainier National Park |
We arrived on Camano Island where Marc's aunt Terri lives. We saw almost all
of G-Dad's family. He grew up in this wonderful part of the country.
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| Wow - those are huge crabs! |
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| And they are tasty! |
Happy Birthday, Julian! We camped out in Seattle and celebrated with Meme and G-Dad on the shores of the Pudget Sound. How is the water temperature G-Dad?
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| Loving brothers on the Ferris wheel in Seattle |
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| How much do you love Mama? |
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| In Vancouver we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the AniRevo (Anime Revolution) Convention, surrounded by strange creatures from out of this world. Julian was in his element! |
It's time to say goodbye to Meme and G-Dad and head back through Washington, Idaho and Wyoming to Colorado.
Father and son in Mount Rainier National Park. And - as you can tell - Julian didn't wear anything but his new soccer jersey. And Mama was reaaally happy about it;)
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| Hiking in Mount Rainier National Park |
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| A lawn mower is all you can see in the streets of Ritzville, WA |
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Camping is fun (well at least the first 16 days in a row)!!! Especially with such a big tent!
Thank you so much for lending us the camping gear,
Charlie and Lora! |
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| The bravest Smoke Jumper of Missoula... |
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| Lots of Elk... |
Because we saw so many animals on our way to a campground in Yellowstone National Park, we arrived at our campsite in the dark night. To my delight, we had to put up our tent in the dark in the middle of bear country far from any neighbours.
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| We were so lucky to see big horn sheep right after we entered the park in the evening sun |
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| Julian was veeery impressed by the buffalo that marched by in the opposite lane, right next to our car. Noah.....slept:) |
Julian was the only one brave enough to jump into the icy cold water of Yellow Stone Lake.
Noah was asleep again, when we saw this young Grizzly crossing the street in front of our car and making his way accross the valley meadow towards the river where he played in the water. It was very special to watch (but too far for pictures...)
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| Our boys playing with water bottles next to the geysers |
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| The boys help this friendly ranger show the crowd various furs of Yellow Stone animals. This presentation, is part of Julian's work towards his Junior Ranger Badge. |
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| Hiking just before a very impressive thunder storm |
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| Our proud little Junior Ranger! |
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| The 4 days in Yellowstone come and go and then it was off to Grand Teton National Park, where we were greeted by
these wonderful white Pelicans. |
The boys (and finally also Mama and Papa) brave the cold water of Jackson Lake, with Teton's in the back ground.
And what was Noah doing when we saw this beautiful Moose that was drinking in the river as if someone put him there for the tourists?...
...That's right, he was sleeping!
Back in Colorado, Julian and Noah met their newest cousins and spent some quality time with Connie's family.
One last highlight is awaiting us on our way through Marc's past and present: We met Patti and her family in Aspen and had an amazing time there.
Julian and Noah fell in love with little Amaya immediately and actually also with the rest of the family. It was really nice to get to know you guys and hang out with you!
Bye, bye, America, bye, bye, everyone! We love you and we had such a good time with all of you! Thank you very much for everything! We will think back to this trip a lot and we are looking forward to the next one! The Squirts
On the long trips in the car, the monkeys invented all kinds of games to get over their boredom:)
Noah was asleep again, when we saw this young Grizzly crossing the street in front of our car and making his way accross the valley meadow towards the river where he played in the water. It was very special to watch (but too far for pictures...)
