All About Lilli

In August Lilli started another session at The Little Gym. She was especially excited because she had received several gymnastics outfits from a friend.

Here is a glimpse of Lilli's unique sense of style.

Lilli also started taking a ballet class.

The class is taught in Swedish, and she is the only non-Swede in the class, but that doesn't seem to bother her at all.

The instructor, Helene, is absolutely wonderful. She has instructed Lilli to let her know if she does not understand something.

Lilli loves ballet. So much so that when it's over she comes running out to me (we were only allowed to sit in on the class the first day) with her arms thrown up and a huge smile on her face saying "I LOVE BALLET CLASS!"

More of Berlin & Donna's visit - August 2009

Dave's cousin, Donna, came to visit. We had just moved to a new "city" and so we set off in search of new playgrounds. We found a pretty nice one - climbing structures and space enough to play frisbee!

Lilli, Tipton & Donna at the top of the climbing structure.

Donna, Lilli & Tipton coming down the slide.

Action photo of Tipton throwing the frisbee.

Action photo of Lilli throwing the frisbee.

Our trip to Berlin:

Standing under the elusive and questionably named "Cow Bridge" (Or was it Cow Gate? Cow Arch?) on our way to Berlin.

Our first full day in Berlin we walked to the zoo from our hotel. Along the way we saw lots of bears. We thought the Irish Bear was particularly amusing.

Lilli's favorite was the Danish bear, because it has pictures from Hans Christian Andersson's stories, including (and most importantly) The Little Mermaid.

Tipton's favorite was the French bear, because it had lots of GOLD.

I forget the 'nationality' of Donna's favorite bear, but she liked it for the guitars.

City Pissoir. Really, this needs no explanation.

Tipton and Lilli being really cute at the zoo.

Standing at the famous elephant gate at the Berlin Zoo.

The zoo had an excellent playground. Tipton liked climbing into/inside/on top of the giant egg.

Lilli liked running all over the wooden climbing structures. She did not want to leave. Dave had to chase her down.

Donna in front of Knut's exhibit (a very famous polar bear.)

Jenn & Lilli in front of the other polar bear exhibit. (Not as famous as Knut, but still pretty cool.)

Dave & Tipton in front of the other polar bear exhibit.

Near the end of our day everyone was really tired. Lilli did a great job of walking almost the entire way. She ran out of steam towards the end and hitched a ride on Daddy's shoulders.

Berlin - August 2009

We moved into a new house at the end of July. A few days later Dave's cousin, Donna, came to visit us. We took her to Berlin. It was the first time any of us had ever been. But we had friends who had gone earlier in the year, so we knew where to stay and what to see.

Our first full day there we went to the zoo and the aquarium. It was lots of fun and lots of walking. We sat down for a rest in the cafeteria at the aquarium. Dave was playing around with the camera and took a really good picture of me!

Of course, Dave is a Middleton man, so he brought his laptop with him on vacation. Which proved to be useful for finding places to eat.

Our second full day there we took one of those cheesey 'hop on-hop off' bus tours. Tipton liked listening to the running commentary on the headphones.

They had the commentary in several languages, including "Schwedish."

We 'hopped off' at several places, including Checkpoint Charlie. There is a museum there that is both fascinating and horrifying. I had to rush the kids through several of the exhibits because they just aren't old enough to be exposed to that kind of horror and sadness.

The kids had a good time playing around this really neat fountain. The fountain was dedicated to Neptune, god of the sea. It was near the television tower and the Berliner Rathaus.

The Brandenburg gate. Dave took a picture of Donna in front of the gate. He made the comment "It looks like you're holding up the gate!" because she'd spread her arms out...

So then of course Lilli had to do it too. And Dave and Tipton (those pictures not posted.)

The Victory Tower. You go through a tunnel under the street to get to the Victory Tower. Tipton and Lilli at the top of the tunnel.

Dave at the top of the Victory Tower.

Jenn at the top of the Victory Tower. (Another good picture of me! We should go to Berlin more often...)

Tipton at the top of the Victory Tower. (Did not get a picture of Lilli. She climbed all the way to the top but was too tired/cranky for a picture.)

Walking back down. Dave took this picture just as we started back down the steps, and about 10 seconds before Lilli decided she was too tired to walk and so I carried her down on my back.

Donna, who is not a big fan of heights, waited patiently for us down closer to ground level.

It was a bit stressful at times, like say when we missed the first ferry back to Denmark, but all in all it was a great vacation. I'm so glad that Donna could share it with us!

Pigtails, Painted Toes and Mohawks

Lilli's hair is getting long. Long enough that we can put it into pigtails.

Her hair isn't the only thing that's growing... Lilli is getting pretty 'long' too!

Such a sweet face...

Lilli got new pink (of course) sandals this summer. She wanted sandals so that she could show off her pretty toenails. Here they are painted blue with silver sparkles (for the 4th of July.)

Tipton has been wanting to get a mohawk for a long time now. I finally talked Dave into allowing him to get one. It's not very tall... we've called it a 'mohawk in training' or a 'faux-hawk.' Tipton LOVES it!

4th of July

We had several American families over for 4th of July. We cooked burgers and hotdogs and salmon on the grill. There was potato salad, pasta salad and cole slaw. For dessert we had jello and rice krispie treats and star shaped sugar cookies with red, white and blue sprinkles.

My Mom (aka Grandma Suzie) had mailed us red, white & blue flower leis. Aunt Jenni brought us American flags and red, white and blue stars to decorate the yard with. Grama Kay and Papa sent the kids 4th of July t-shirts.

The kids ran around being crazy while the adults relaxed and talked. A good time was had by all!

The Pool

When the summer finnally got warm, we brought out the pool. The kids were very excited...

They like splashing.

Tipton liked to jump up and see how big a splash he could make when he came down.

A good time was had by all.

Totally unrelated... Lilli rediscovered the bow clips she wore when she was a baby. And she decided to wear them all at once.

I think it's a great look for her!

Ven

Went to the island of Ven with the Trively's.

On the boat ride over:

Tipton, Lilli, Clare, Mia, Anna.

Jenn

On top of the island, near the old, white church.

At the Tycho Brahe museum:

Lilli in what we refered to as the 'whirl & hurl.'

There was a game where you had to swing a rope with a ring on the end of it, and get the ring to hook around a peg. Tipton was really good at it. He got the ring on the peg almost every time!

Martin tried out the stilts.

A really cool statue of the sun.

Mommy & Lilli, relaxing before the boat ride back.