More Summer Highlights...

This put Yaya under for several hours...

Clark's First Day of School

(Look closely, you can see him)
We got a message on Monday from Clark's teacher - "Is Clark coming to school today?" That was sort of surprising, since we thought that school wasn't until NEXT week. Oh well, chalk it up to too much going on. So Clark's first day was actually Wednesday - he had a great day and loved it. No more famous kids there - but I think we're more disappointed about that than he is.

Due to the ice shortage...

Yaya has used so much ice while here in Prague that Czechs have resorted to playing "Floorball," instead of ice hockey. Well, part of that statement is true - but we did go see a couple of games of floorball yesterday at the nearby stadium. There's a big tournament going on this weekend. And the world championships are coming to Prague in December, including the U.S. team.

The Return of Papa and Yaya

Phil's parents have also been visiting us for several days - it's been great having Papa and Yaya back in Prague. They still have several more days left in their trip, but we already have lots of "material," including:

- Yaya trying out the waterslide at our pool (keep in mind that Yaya has major issues with (a) motion sickness and (b) keeping her hair looking good)

- Papa trying to get the hang of text messages. He sent us one that said "We is OK," and another that said, "We is feed." Huh?

- Papa teaching Lucy how to play Crazy 8's and the fine art of competition, Davis-style

- Yaya max-ing out our ice-making abilities - there is now an ice shortage in Prague

But in all seriousness, we have had lots of fun with them, and we have been very blessed to have them with us. The kids have loved listening to books, showing them the Slip 'n Slide and the pool, and going out for pizza with them. We also had a big team cookout here for everyone to come meet them, which was like an extended family time in Prague - Joanna's sister and cousin are here too.

We're hoping for lots more material before they leave next week.

"Big Girlfriend" and Mike/Mark/Tom

Some of our favorite Charlotte friends, Tom and Lisa, came to visit last week for a few days. (We all used to live in the same area of Charlotte and would frequent Moe's restaurant with all the kids.)

Lucy and Clark got their names straight near the end of their trip - until then they were Big Girlfriend and Mark, or Mike, or "him." Tom and Lisa didn't take it personally.

We had great fun with them, staying up late playing Catan or Xbox, and walking around Prague Castle. And Tom even helped out on Sunday with worship.

(Notice the slight presence of a belly on Shanna in this picture?)

It's a...

Boy! We all went to the doctor yesterday to find out. Lucy said she had wanted a girl baby, but then she was fine and continued to run around the doctor's office. We're excited for this little guy - everything seems to be going well so far! His arrival is set for sometime in late January.
This is one of those ultrasound front views, a la "Alien Baby."

I'd always wondered...

What would we look like in the world of The Simpsons? My friend sent me a website to help me find out - http://www.simpsonizeme.com/. Here's our little family...

It's been a good summer...

Comfort Food

The other highlight from our German vacation was going into Berlin a couple of times. We had no maps, no guidebooks, and no idea where to go, but we found several oases (plural of oasis?) of American goodness - namely, Hard Rock Cafe, Dunkin' Donuts, and Starbucks. Our tastebuds were renewed!

Real Fun at the Fake Beach

First, let me start by saying that we tried EXTREMELY hard to plan a European beach vacation this summer. We put in at least 30 man-hours to try to find some sort of Mediterranean getaway, using our airline miles, last-minute deals, etc. But in typical Phil and Shanna-fashion, we waited too long to find something, and nothing opened up that was going to be relatively close and affordable.

So what do you do when you can't go to the beach? You bring the beach to you! So, the closest we've gotten to the beach this year was at Tropical Islands, which is Germany's largest indoor water park! (get ready for more superlatives) We are probably some of the only people who have ever made this an actual vacation spot, as opposed to a one-day visit. But the kids had a fantastic time.

Located about 30 minutes south of Berlin, you drive up to this massive dome (the world's largest free standing dome, which contains Germany's tallest water slide) - it's really impressive. All that German engineering that you hear about in car commercials? This is really where it's at.

Inside the complex (which also contains Europe's "largest tropical leisure world," whatever that means) you have pools, waterslides, a huge beach area with a Truman Show-like blue sky bordering the water, minigolf, food, entertainment, play areas for kids, and the world's largest indoor tropical rainforest (apparently it doesn't have to actually rain to be classified as a rainforest?).

It really was great fun, after we accepted the fact that we were not on some Greek Island - the kids, of course, could have cared less. Lucy and Clark had so much fun swimming around. All of us non-pregnant people had a blast on the waterslides - somewhere in this picture is Clark...

Shanna and I said that this definitely wasn't a "relaxing" vacation, as far as vacations go, but it was definitely worth seeing how excited Lucy and Clark were and how much better at swimming they got over the course of 2 days.

Clark crashed hard the second day. More pictures below...

This means I'm having fun