Sunday, August 31, 2008

Romeo Peach Festival





We took the kids to the Romeo Peach festival. They were able to ride carnival rides and dance to music. Elizabeth went on the ferris wheel again, she loves this. Alex and Ethan found a couple fun rides that they went on over and over again. It was a really hot day so we didn't stay long, but the kids really enjoyed it.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Chesna & Beth Pre-Wedding Get Together

We got together before their wedding with Chesna and Beth in Royal Oak. Nichoel and Justin Wasik, Jeff and Andrea Harris, Cronley, and Beth's sister Lori and husband Carlos came. We had dinner at Bastone and then just walked around a litte. We aren't really that exciting anymore.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Dufon Farm





Here are more pictures from the kids time and our time at the farm. We went back up when Kirk came to the US. We were able to get together with Bumpa's sisters. Aunt Chick (Dolores), Aunt Hotch (Marcellin), Aunt Tootie (Charlotte) and Aunt Honey (Audrianne)were able to stop by after a school reunion that they had. It was great for the kids to be able to meet up with them.

We were also able to meet the Thompson's exchange student from Thailand, Jazz. She is a really nice girl who is living with them right now. The girls just adore her.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Thomas the Tank Engine & Frankenmuth





Thomas the Tank Engine came to Crossroads Village again. We went with Kevin, Chrystal, Ethan, Nolan, Grammy and PopPop. Kirk was still on his golf trip. All the kids loved the train ride as well as the bounce houses and train sets. Elizabeth went on a ferris wheel ride for her first time and she really liked it. After the day at Crossroads, we went to Frankenmuth and you can see the kids loved eating the ice cream.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Kirk's Golf Trip

Every year that we lived in the States my friend Dave Klein arranged a golf trip to northern Michigan. This year we played and stayed at Treeptops in Gaylord. We also played a round at Forest Dunes. We had great weather and seeing everyone made this a good weekend. My golfing was a little impaired since I just started walking due to my ankle injury. It took me 6 shots to get out of a sand trap on the final day! Steve Toelke was the big winner for the weekend so he took home the trophy.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Fun @ Dufon Farm



Aunt Cole update of the kids at the Dufon Farm:

The kids enjoy their daily golf cart rides "over the bridge" to look for berries, swimming in the pool, and playing on the swing set. Today, Alex and Olivia helped break the green beans in half after Ali, GiGi and I picked and snipped the ends of the green beans. Bumpa and I tried to get Alex and Olivia to stand in the tractor wheel so we could get their pictures, but they wouldn't, so Bumpa had to do it himself. Well, I guess I should get back to helping Bumpa...we are going through scrap. Until tomorrow...

Friday, August 08, 2008

Olympics Are Here!



It seems like this has been a long time coming, but they are finally here. When we moved here there were 683 days until the Olympics started. It is hard to believe we have lived here this long!

If you remember back to pictures in Beijing and Xi'an, we were 100 days away. This city is very excited about this. The whole country is. I'm very proud for my Chinese friends as this is a great source of pride for them.

We watched the opening ceremony at the Irishman's Pub and it was a great time with a lot of people there.

We had talked about flying up to Beijing for a day or so just to experience the atmosphere in Beijing. However, that changed with Kirk's ankle. China is not so handicapper friendly.
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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Night & Day View from Our Apartment




The weather here has been pretty nice recently. These pictures were taken at dusk and at dawn over the last couple weeks. Air has been pretty clear early in the morning and the sunsets have been quite spectacular. For those who haven't seen this on our blog before, this is the view out the front window of our apartment.