Reconnect!

How fun to connect with friends you haven't see for quite a while! After church yesterday I was sitting in our "usual spot" with Liv, saying good morning as the "usual crowd" walked by. Gina came right over and offered to "help" hold Liv for a while (THANKS, Gina!)... and who walk up, but Werner F (can't spell or pronounce his last name) from Norway! He was here for the wedding of his friend, who had been his roommate while he attended an exchange program at the School of Mines. He graduated a year ago -- or was it two years ago?

Werner is here for a very short time, and is flying out of Minneapolis tonight, Monday. Werner is working on his Masters Degree -- a thesis in Mathematics and blood flow through the aortic arch (of the heart). Since I can't "talk math" it was a good thing Leonard H was there too! Actually, we talked more about world politics with Gabe Johnson than anything else. It's always fun to expand your world view a little! I learned that the King of Norway does have legislative power, unlike most other European crowns; but if he ever choose to exert his power, he would almost certainly loose it!

Then this morning I got a phone call from Brenda (Mayou)___ (can't remember her married name). We were great friends all through school. She has a baby girl too, very close to Liv's age -- and lives in the Cities. Now we have each other's email, so hopefully we can keep in touch!

Family Vacation... Wedding... Reunion

I'm not sure we could have packed any more into one week... but it sure was fun!

We started out a little more than a week ago planning a camping trip to Custer State Park (Custard Park as cousin Kelly said) in a camper (lent to us by our dear friends). We spent Sunday - Wednesday enjoying the sunshine, trees, lake and wildlife of the park. For me it was one of the most relaxing camping trips, due to the camper. I might be ruined now for tent camping?? All things considered, it probably was the only reasonable way to try to camp with a two month old -- and Liv did GREAT. It was very nice to have 3-4 days bonding as a family again. The kids LOVE having Dirk around more. Thor thought maybe Dad should have the whole summer off (from work) like he does from school (not a bad idea!!).


Next came a houseful of company - my family, the Moellers - as we prepared for the wedding of my brother Jonathan to fiance' Chary. As you can see, it was a pretty "full" event, even though Chary's family was not able to attend. Chary is from the Dominican Republic, and will be going through the paperwork now to get a permanent visa. This is the 2nd marriage for both Jon and Chary, so it was a simple event, but still a celebration of God's covenant of marriage. Ray Phipps from our church, Dove Christian Center performed the ceremony... later we enjoyed cake, fruit and punch in the fellowship hall. Jon and Chary opened the gifts from the family... and then went on to enjoy a short honeymoon.



The next day the whole family travelled to Kamp Kinship. When we got to our cabin I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a lovely, modern cabin with very new bathrooms, furnished like a mountain retreat -- not a rustic Bible camp building. Tyler said "Aunt Nancy, this is NOT like Bible camp, this is like a motel!" It suited our needs perfectly! Each family could have a room to themselves, if they wanted. There was a great room in the basement with a big screen TV/DVD player, pool and ping pong.. a full kitchen set up on the main level, coffee maker and dishes and everything. We enjoyed most of all the Kamp dining hall. We had arranged for 2 meals a day -- and just had to show up. The food was very good -- and PLENTY of it too! No dishes to do... no shopping, preparing or cooking! It really WAS a vacation!

The camp had so many fun options for the kids -- it let us grown ups have a relaxing time, not having to caravan around to keep the kids busy... the kids were immediately busy on the basketball court and playground... Over the course of the weekend we did so much, I hope I can remember it all:
fishing - paddle boating - taking ATV's up into the hills (Jacob was sure it he was going to die out in the forest when his dad got them "lost"!)
basketball - football (red-heads against the tow-heads) - zip line (WICKED AWESOME according to Abigail or Brianna) This is ANIKA on the Zip Line... can you believe it!! She LOVED it! - climbing wall ( picture of Thor) - roasting marshmallows by the campfire
- singing together late into the night - board games (of course, Acquire!) - even a little bit of resting and being lazy ...

We didn't even get time to do any hiking, swimming, playing on the beach or boating/canoe trips. I guess we'll just have to plan another weekend for that! We ended our weekend together sharing God's word -- Jon shared scripture and some personal thoughts, we sang together, and I had a short kids lesson too.



Even Liv had a great time! She got some good bonding time in with her cousins... seems like Tyler is one of her favorite people!

I think this might become the new Moeller family Father's Day weekend tradition!

Did anyone hear me say that this week was going to be a quiet week at home... nothing going on at all?? so boring... we'd get a lot of quiet time togehter?? I must have been dreaming (or as Dirk says... 'smokin' dope'??... TOTALLY kidding... no illegal substnaces here).

Anyway -- when we got home from Thor's baseball game on Tuesday there was a note in our door from our good friends the Krabbenhofts, who moved to Alaska last summer. Thor and Nicholas were very good friends and missed each other lots, especially over the summer months. The K's were here for a short visit, and had a day or two this week to visit us... so we planned a play date for Wednesday morning (the sooner the better according to Thor!). Of course, during the play time, Thor and Nick plotted together to get the mom's to allow a sleepover that night... how could we refuse? Who knows when they would get a chance to play together again... Needless to say, they had a wonderful 24 hours playing... lots of Star Wars and Narnia play "fighting!"

Today was a little less adventurous, but I did get my first Mommie Field trip out of the house with NO children. Even Liv stayed home with daddy -- who by the way did a perfect job with her feeding and nap time schedule! (must be all the past experience?) Anyway, I enjoy 3 hours in town by myself, visiting the ObGyn (excitment...??) then my favorite consignment shop, my favorite kitchen store and topped the afternoon off with my favorite cold drink, a Heath Mocha Big Train! Dirk asked me if I missed the kids... ?? All of you mommies know the answer to that... OF COURSE... but getting 3 hours alone wasn't TOO much time away!

Tonight Anika experimented with the camera... and I think she did a pretty good job... take a look at her snapshot of Liv and me... then I got a couple of Dirk and Anika... Daddy was bothering us while we were trying to watch "I don't know what to wear" (Anika's version of What Not to Wear).