Checking out a pier on Kochel See

Reeds and Schlehdorf

The girls and William

Walchensee Power Station

We took a weekend to visit Kerry's family in our old stomping grounds in Ober Bayern. The girls camped in their backyard. We had some rain to endure, but otherwise the weather cooperated. One day we hiked from Schlehdorf around Kochel See to the power station at Alt Joch. Then we took the ferry back. The other day we went into Munich and saw an exhibit on the Blauer Reiter. A stroke of luck. We had a lovely visit.

Alles Anke zum Geburtstag

We made a visit to Niederklingen to wish Anke a happy birthday.

Ralf

Anke likes her present

We went for a walk in a corn maze. Everyone found all 5 stations except Michael.

Old people have lots of stories to tell.

Omi and Opi came along.

The Otzberg above the corn fields.

View from the Kraichgaublick

We went hiking up to the Kraichgau Vista in Lingental. The air was not particularly clear, but we still had a good view.

The Steinsberg in Sinsheim, some 20 km away.

The hill in the center is Schlierkopf, about 50 km distant.

Walldorf Rattoria or Rattopia?

As part of a deal with Ursula, she has acquired two rats...Dot and Gracie. That means Papa had to build a cage to hold them. On the advice of the local Friends of Rats Association, we converted an old closet. Some chicken wire and some shelves, plus the loving attention of a new electric jig saw resulted in the spacious apartment you see below.

The rats are already feeling quite at home!

Ming on European Tour

Ming came by at the end of her European tour with her friends before they all go off to college. We were glad to host them for a meal and an evening of conversation. Good luck, girls!

Nussloch Garden Show

OK, the photos are a few weeks old now, but this is what are garden looks like....

Quinces are ripening on the tree with a little Waldmeister just left of the tree trunk.

The bumblebees are all over our Hibiscus.

Cleo is watching over our blackberries. We harvested the first two this week.

Tomatoes grow along the back of our barn.

Mischa patrols among the corn. Now the corn has flowered and the cobs are developing. Here you see our squash before it took over the yard. Now it is nearly twice as big, though the yield has not been great. The Mangold has been doing quite well, supplying a number of meals for us as well as for the Fosters.

Visit from Stade

Erika, Martin, Justin, and Patrick came to visit at the end of their summer vacation for about half a week. We went with them to Speyer and to the Luisen Park in Mannheim. One day we hung out a BBQ'd with Andrea's parents.

Biosphere House in Dahn

We went on a final road trip in June with the Plumleys before they headed back to America. In Dahn we visited the treetop path, some 20-40 meters above the ground. At the end there was a slide that took us to the bottom. We followed this up with a walk and some lunch. I managed to injure myself trying to see how far I could sprint in 10 seconds. As my Dad said, I am not 19 any more. :-(

Flowers in the Meadow

A big ol' dragonfly

We found mounds of ants!

Stacey and Andrea watch the kids sliding

Wending through the treetops

Stairs down from the viewing platform

The view from the top

A long way down!

Stacey

Pete and Noah