July flew by for us. We had several small trips planned here & there, & just enjoyed the beauty of the summer. The sunsets in Germany are incredible. Pictures just don't do them justice. We love to sit out on our balcony & watch the sun go down every night. In the summer, that's close to 10 pm, in the winter it's closer to 4. But we love the extra sunshine while it lasts.
Another favorite thing about summer in Germany is our friend Tony! Tony is our gelato man. He drives his gelato truck around all the neighborhoods here & rings his bell & the kids come running. He's learned that if he parks right in front of our house & rings his bell . . . he's got 8 customers fully ready for spaghetti eis at any given time. We've become great friends & we look forward to his visit every evening.
July was another great month of bikerides. I've grown accustomed to 10 miles each time I ride my bike. I never though that would be possible, but I'm really enjoying it. The girls like to ride with us as well. Trek does 30 miles regularly, but I usually join him for 10-15. Germany has the best trails in the world. I'm enjoying it here while I can. I'll miss the forests, trails, lakes, & bridges when we leave here. Luckily, that won't be for a while.
Trek is the crazy biker. He does 30 miles on the weekends & he's always a mess when he gets home. I can't even tell you how much mud I have to wash off his clothes every Saturday. But he loves every second of it.
In July, my girls invited a friend over (she only has brothers at home & doesn't get much "girl" time) for a tea party. We had fun setting up a girly day of barbie movies, nail painting, arts & crafts, face masks, & a fabulous tea party.
They all had so much fun together. She calls my girls her "sisters" & my girls feel the same way about her.
Opa & Oma moved for the first time in 20 + years. They've lived in Canyon Country, CA since before Trek's mission & they finally decided it was time to pack up the big house now that all the kids were off with their own families & move to a smaller area in Northern, CA, just the two of them. We are so happy for them. This has been such an adventure & we can't wait to visit & see their new house & area.
While they were packing up their house, they gave away some of the things they've been holding onto over the years & we managed to get Opa's old drill seargant hat from when he was a drill instructor. Craiger looks a lot like Opa when he was younger, so these pictures of Craiger in the hat make us laugh because they look like Opa.
This month was also a month of board games. We've been playing games every chance we get & have learned a few new ones as well. The girls' favorite is "Spoons" but they are hardcore & like to hide the spoons all over the house so that things get physical & dangerous when someone grabs a spoon. It's pretty fun.
Lorien, who has always been my mini-me, joined me in the "braces club" this month. The dentist realized that she never got her 6 year molars on top so she's missing 2 teeth there. Because of that, her top teeth spread out as much as they could because there was room & now her bite doesn't line up. Poor thing, her teeth are perfectly straight as it is without braces, but she has to wear braces to pull those top teeth forward so her back teeth line up. They are also leaving room for her wisdom teeth to come in & once they're in, they will perfectly line up with her bottom teeth. (She will have to get her bottom wisdom teeth removed though) It's only for 9 months & it will make eating less painful & easier for her.
In our church, Trek was put into a leadership position over our "stake" (a group of 6 congregations) in February. He is the 2nd Counselor & is in the presidency with 2 other wonderful men. All 3 of our families have kids that match up in age & they are all the best of friends. We've been doing a lot together as families because the men have been working hard at getting things done for the church so the wives & kids have been PLAYING & having a blast. We had one of the girls over for a tea party & the older kids managed to escape an escape room together this month too. We're always going swimming together or the the park together. And we have another camping trip planned for the last week before school together. I'm so glad our families get along so well. We've all just become one big family.
It has been such a fun month. July was a really great month even with COVID & the weird things happening in the world. We had friends, we had fun, we were happy.
