Summer Trip - North Carolina

Our family reunion on the Outer Banks in North Carolina

(which ended, thankfully, a few days before Hurricane Irene arrived).

Thank you, Grandmar, for making this reunion possible!

We all enjoyed our stay in this beach house,

and had many hours of fun in the sun at this beach

along the coast of the Atlantic.

The next generation:

Rana, Micah, Elena (all 3 yrs.), Elli (16 months),

and Gabriel (3 months), of course!

Colin and Lerae left before our group photo,

but they spent the week with us at the beach house

before moving to the Boston/Cambridge area.

We wish Lerae all the best as she starts law school

and hope that Colin finds a job that suits him soon!

Nana with her girls

A jaunt to (and in!) the bay

Beach bum!

Cool Dude!

Elena is a great swimmer already!

Micah figured out how get around using his snazzy lifevest.

Rana loved floating around, in the pool and in the ocean!

Elli loved playing in the sand.

Even Gabriel took a swim or two!!

Vacation is definitely less relaxing with so many little ones around,
but it was lots of fun! We're glad that we finally got to meet
Micah, Elli and Gabriel and spend time with the rest of the family.

Summer Trip - Pennsylvania

We spent a couple of days with family in PA.

It was lovely to see Aunt Jill again,

who always seems to make her vacations correspond with ours! ;)

She and Grampa were pleased to meet Gabriel.

Poor Grandmum had surgery a couple of days before we arrived,

so she was still recovering in the hospital while we were there.

The girls enjoyed quick visits with her,

lots of time to play together in the apartment and around town,

including an ice cream cone along the way.

Rana and I soaked up all of the summer fun,

as we haven't had the best summer weather in Marburg this year.

Summer Trip - Grand Rapids

Rana and I just returned from three fun-filled weeks in the States.

Rana and Elena loved picking berries in Nana's garden
and spent nearly every waking hour together.

We were very happy to meet Baby Gabriel

and help tend to Grandpa and his broken hip and knee.

We enjoyed our time with my cousin Molly,

who flew over by herself from CA,

and Uncle Colin, who stopped by for a long weekend,

and our friends Andrea and Benjamin, too!

We were even there to witness Gabriel's baptism.

Our time in GR was too short, but very nice!

Burg Frankenstein with Joane and Hendrik

We spent a lovely weekend with our friends

Joane and Hendrik in Darmstadt.

We wandered around the grounds of Burg Frankenstein,

which dates back to 1252!

A group of Medieval Knights was camped out up by the castle,

offering demonstrations of what it was like to be a knight in the

Middle Ages, so we all tried on some of their gear/weapons.

Of course, Rana had fun exploring the grounds.

Thanks for hosting us, Joane and Hendrik!

We very much enjoyed our time with you!

Clean Bill of Health!

Rana very much enjoyed her routine check-up with her pediatrician this morning. She got to play catch, kick a ball down the hall, play with a baby doll and name her body parts and features, look at and identify pictures, jump up and down, and play balancing games with her doctor. She was even allowed to hold some of the doctor's equiptment as she examined her. And after all that fun, she was rewarded with gummi bears and got to play on the slide in the waiting room! What could be more fun?!

It is so interesting to watch Rana display her language abilities! She has been talking more and more in German, English and Arabic and consciously switching between them. She expresses certain things better in a certain language, but it usually depends on the situation. This morning, she identified lots of the pictures and responded to the doctor in German, but she sometimes hesitated as she tried to come up with the German word instead of the English or Arabic. Sometimes she would look at me and whisper the English or Arabic word, indicating that she recognizes which language is which and in which situations she should speak which language. Upon my prompting, she could often come up with the German equivalent, too. It's facinating to watch her little mind at work!!

Speaking of which, Rana saw her neurologist a few weeks ago, too. Rana was very cooperative during the EEG, which indicated that her meds are effectively keeping seizures at bay. Her neurologist and her pediatrician both recommended that we take Rana back to PT in the fall for another assessment of her (weaker) right foot and/or her need for orthodics, but all in all, they gave her a clean bill of health!

Rana "graduated" from daycare!

Rana's friend Mattis invited the 10 kids in their daycare group and their families over on Thursday afternoon to mark the end of the school year and celebrate summer. Thankfully, the rain held off and the kids had a blast playing in the yard! Rana is pictured below with Lilli and Mattis.


Then, Najeeb and I accompanied Rana to daycare yesterday to celebrate her last day. It was nice to spend a few hours there in the morning and give her the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone. Rana's teachers, Ingrid and Katja, made her a scrapbook documenting her time at daycare and wished her all the best at Kindergarten!

Rana and I are planning to savor our summer vacation. My classes ended this week and while I have some translating to do, I am looking forward to taking life at a slower pace for a while!

Rana is 3 Years & 1 Month Old!

Lots going on this weekend at Marburg's city festival!

Rana stayed up (very!) late last night to watch the fireworks.

Standing on a little foot bridge in our neighborhood,

we had a perfect view of the castle and the fireworks above.

Today we strolled through town, soaking up the festive spirit

and stopping to watch the dragon boat races.

Lots of summer fun!