Mom’s firm closed at the end of 2008 and even a country-wide search for a new full time position didn’t yield any results. So mom accepted the offer T-Systems in Berlin made and we are now planning our move to Germany. The house is on the market, the household pared down for a lighter-weight move and the apartment in Berlin Friedenau rented. The kids will attend John F. Kennedy in Zehlendorf and mom’s job will start mid July. Wish us luck!

We took the weekend around Columbus day as an opportunity for a mini vacation and escaped to the Bluffdale Vacation Farm for two nights. So we went horseback riding and on a boat ride on which we were literally showered with Asian Carp (Silver Carp). We played with herds of dogs and cats, slept in the hay, eat hearty home-made meals and provided wholesome nutrition to swarms of mosquitoes. In the end the stay was of course too short but definitely worth the four hour drive both ways.

After our Roadtrip we certainly didn’t consider the summer as over. We went on a canoe trip down the Fox River and had a picnic in Cantigny park in August and in September we went on a bike trip in Busse Woods, to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and picked Raspberries at Honey Hill Orchard in Waterman, Illinois.

This Summer’s vacation started out with a flight into San Francisco. We then continued on to South Lake Tahoe, took the Tioga Pass to the Yosemite and Sequoia Parks, where we spend a total of 3 days among giant trees and breathtaking woods.  From there the road took us to Los Angeles where we explored Hollywood, Beverly Hills, the USC and Santa Monica. Las Vegas was next with an incredible show at the Wynn (’Le Reve’) and an exploration of the Hoover Dam. The last stop before we headed through Sedona to the Phoenix airport was the Grand Canyon. We let mules take us to Indian Garden in 110 degrees and couldn’t even look forward to a cool hotel room, since there was not going to be any air conditioning.

But even knowing what experiences we would have, we would do it all again, including sitting on a Mule for eight hours, smelling like one too and having the feet dangle over a 300 foot drop.

Andrea and Louis came to visit us shortly before Christmas and then Fred with Family and the six of us headed to Florida with two cars. We had rented a large house with smimming pool and used it as a base to visit all the local haunts. Andrea and I took the kids to Miami for an overnight trip that allowed us to see the beach and the Everglades as well.

Herding three families with a total of eight kids was less of a challenge than we expected and we had a ton of fun. We’d do it all over again.