We loved London...

We really did love London!  Along with going to the Olympics, we did ALL of the normal touristy things!  Here are some of my favorite photos...

Olympic Fever...Part 2

Initially, we only had tickets to track and field events.  And we would have been ok with just going to those events...but some friends of ours who live in London, said that there might be some tickets available for the Women's Final soccer match!  Ok- you don't have to tell us twice :) We went for it, even though at the point at which we got the tickets, America was not yet in the finals- so we were pretty ecstatic that they beat Canada in the final seconds of the semi-finals!

The crowds were incredible!  I had never seen so many people at a sporting event.

These are our friends who helped us get the tickets, Amy and Barry!  (Thanks again!)

Not only did we get to see them win the match, but we also got to see the medals ceremony...which meant that we got to sing our National Anthem! :) It was crazy cool!!!

Back to School...

So the kiddos have been back in school for a few weeks now... and I am still behind on everything :)

This was the first day of school!  Finally all of our kids are in the same school and on the same calendar.  Hooray!  Everyone loves their teachers and are doing great!

Levi is now in 3rd grade and here is his cursive signature...I love it!  And below are a few things that he took to school to help introduce himself to the class.  A picture of his family and dog, a Star Wars and Pokemon figure and a map from the Olympics, that we saved from this summer. Levi continues to have a tender, compassionate heart and keep us in stitches with his sense of humor!

Abby is now in 6th grade- so we have 2 middle schoolers!

She loves organizing, so it is no surprise that all of her school supplies were organized in rainbow colored order and that her folders were decorated to match her love for bright colors :)  Most of Abby's friends are International- coming from Korea, Philippines, India, Nigeria and more. One of her favorite foods is Kimchi!  I love her willingness to try and discover new things.

Luke is now in 8th grade and has had a tremendous growth spurt over the last 7 months. He is now 5'10 and wears the same size shoe as Brad... a 13!  Crazy.  He got braces right before school started and loves all things related to soccer and a game called, Minecraft.  Our Lukey is growing into a fine young man :)

I don't know where the time goes, but this year for some reason all of our kids seemed to really grow and mature in new ways.  I am so proud of how they have handled the stresses of cross cultural living and have grown in their relationship with the Lord.  I have been reading through, "Praying the Scriptures for your Children"  and have been convicted of my need to be praying more for them, but also be praying specifically for them to recognize the gifts that God has given them and how they can use those gifts to Glorify God.  So that is my goal for this school year...to pray more intentionally for my kiddos.   Would love to hear from other moms out there how they pray for their kiddos or any other resources that have equipped them to parent better!

Walking home from the first day of school...

See how they have grown...
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007

Olympic Fever...Part 1

Getting to go to the Olympics is one of those events that falls into the category of "Once in a lifetime."

Brad had started dreaming and planning in February.  When he first asked me what I thought about going to the Olympics, I must admit that it wasn't my first choice.  I wanted a relaxing trip with the family, not crowds and chaos.  But he convinced me with statements like.... "when are we ever going to be this close to a city that is hosting the Summer Games, or this is a once in a lifetime chance and we can see if friends of ours will let us stay in their place while they are in the States for the summer so we don't have to get an expensive hotel." (thanks Matt and Jen;)

So off we went to London...

and guess who was on our flight...the team from Belarus (this is only a few of them)
I cannot tell you how excited the kiddos were to actually meet Olympians!  So cool :)

Memoo and Luke arrived the day after us, and it was good to be reunited with them

AND Krispy Creme doughnuts, which just happened to be in the same terminal that they arrived in!

Our first few days in London, we toured the city! (hopefully more on that to come later)  The third day we had tickets for track and field in the stadium.  Of course the day began with face paint, cause if we were going to do this...we were going to do it all the way-or at least some of us were!

and some of us wore flags...

some fans wore spandex...
and others painted their nails

others wore wigs

but we all had one thing in common...we had been infected with OLYMPIC FEVER!  You could feel the excitement in the air and the rush of rooting for the athletes was exhilarating!

this is a picture of the Olympic torch that was being shown on the big screens

this was inside the stadium

here are some of the athletes walking into the stadium

According to the papers, we witnessed the best night for USA Track and Field in 20 years!  We saw the Women's long jump finals, the Women's 200 meter final, the Men's 110 hurdles final, the Women's 400 hurdles final , the high jump and the 400 meters of the Men's decathlon and the Men's 200 meter semi finals...yes-we saw Usain Bolt!

He is one fast and charismatic dude!

We also saw the javelin qualification rounds, and when the athletes were done throwing, little remote controlled mini-coopers would retrieve the javelins...

How cool is that!

This is Britney Reese, who won the Gold medal for the US!

Go USA!!!!!!

(Olympic Fever... Part 2 will be of the Women's Final soccer match!)

Croatian Vacation...Part 2

It always takes our family a few days to figure out a "vacation rhythm"... a new schedule that is out of the norm, but once we find it, it is beautiful :)

Croatia's rhythm involved sleeping late (which was a miracle since we were all in the same room together!), eating a big yummy breakfast, something involving water and sun, cleaning up for dinner, walking to the town's square for dinner, eating some of the BEST ice cream I have ever had, playing games, reading or watching movies as a family and then falling asleep... then we would wake up and do it all over again! 

Croatia was all of the things we had hoped it would be... beautiful, fun, and definitely relaxing!

The only thing missing was our Lukey!

No worries- he is having a blast with Memoo in America!