Super Cool!

Mike and Connor went out for a ride last Saturday to test out Connor's bike. Cool man!



















Makin' faces and still lookin' cool!

A Special Sunday

Last year, Mike baptized a young man, Cristian, and on Mother's day, Cristian's younger brother, Bryon, and younger sister Edelweiss, were baptized. Mike baptized Bryon and then Cristian baptized Edelweiss. We've had the opportunity to have the Encalada family in our home for family home evenings and for discussions and it's been really neat to see and feel the light of Christ in these children. There was no doubt that they wanted to be baptized and follow the Savior. It was really special to witness their baptisms.

Aaron earns his Tiger badge. Way to go Aaron!

We've had a busy last few weeks with cub scouts but last Saturday was a special day for Aaron. After his last required Go See It, Aaron earned his tiger badge along with the rest of his den. The boys have enjoyed a year of den meetings, family activities, and cub scout field trips. We've enjoyed getting to know some of the families in scouting here in Germany and Aaron has enjoyed making friends in his den. Aaron has also been working on earning a few belt loops. Badminton...believe it or not and also bicycling. Go Aaron! The den is having an overnight camping trip the first weekend in June and Aaron is really excited to go.

How to be a kid again!

We found out about this park called the Wild und Freizeitpark (Animal and Leisure park) that was a 25 minute walk from the top of the sesselbahn or about an 8 minute drive from the base. We opted to take the sesselbahn back down and drive over as I'm not moving so fast these days. There were lots of fun rides for the kids, and plenty of animals to feed. Mike quickly found the kid inside as he enjoyed many of the "kiddie" rides with the boys. Check out these pictures of Mike!

All aboard! Mike was so patient waiting in line for his turn!

Taunting the crowds below! Who's the coolest kid here?

Yeah! Getting some air!
Ha! And this was only the beginning! The boys loved the gunnysack slide especially Connor. He rode with Mike for the first few times and then when Mike and Aaron were on the roller coaster, Connor decided that he wanted to do it all by himself. So he grabbed his mat and climbed up to the top all by himself. I had a blast just watching. He really had a great time!

Notice Connor in the top right corner?

I lost count of how many times Connor went up and down the slide by himself. He loved it! After a long day, the boys were still sad to go but this is something we will have to do again. Aaron is already planning our next trip.

Family day fun!

We enjoyed a family day last weekend in Cochem. Cochem is a quaint little village along the Mosel river about an hour from our house in Bonn. The town reminds me of Gepetto's village with Sleeping Beauty's castle up on the hill. We enjoyed a ride on the Sesselbahn (chairlift) up to the top of the mountain to get a view of the town and river. It was great!

It was quite windy at the base of the sesselbahn. We were a little worried about not having our jackets but as you can see, Aaron's didn't mind the wind at all.

Mike and Connor enjoying their ride up the mountain. Below is a view from the top. You can barely see the castle because it is camouflaged with the hillside. It's just above the vineyards on the hillside.

The idea was to take the sesselbahn and walk over to the Maerchenwald. Many little towns have these fairytale parks with kiddie rides. To our disappointment, they had closed the Maerchenwald so we had to quickly make alternative plans. Fortunately, we found out about a play park close by. Check out the post on "How to be a kid again!"

Pinewood in Germany

It has been 24 years since the fateful incident. My first Pinewood derby race. I was 10 years old and had build a super-fast racer, that won (by a mile) its first race down the track. But as it was back in those days, security around the holding table was not that great, and a small child (a Russian communist spy for sure) knocked my car off the table, breaking the back right wheel...it was over, and since then I have been handed one setback after another, never coming close to the glorious winners circle.

Fast forward to 2007. In Germany, home of Michael Schumacher, I had a chance to show...er...uh, Aaron had a chance to shine forth the racing genes he inherited from me.

Over a month and a half, Aaron and I designed, cut, sanded and painted the car to perfection. I was pretty proud that Aaron helped out as much as he could at 7 years old. He pushed the electric drill to polish the nail-axles, he helped with the spray-painting, and helped to set the wheels. We did have a few cracks/splits in the wood, but nothing a little wood glue couldn't fix. We had a test run on Friday, and I was not too impressed with the speed...but we added weight, reset the wheels (after another split in the wood) and by race-time on Saturday, we were ready to go. A quick squirt of graphite, a McGyver-like tape-job of the front axle (with scotch tape instead of duct tape), and a champion was born.

Aaron got a little upset as he wanted to race EVERY race, but after a little coaxing, he understood, and waited his turn.

The first race for Aaron was a photo-finish tie between three cars...we actually had a dad taking photos of the finish...and you could not tell who won. So they raced again, and Aaron won by a nose. After that he did not loose again in the qualifying rounds. He was the "regular season" champion, and he was excited. He then raced against the top 6 racers, and came in 4th, but they were all close. He got a ribbon and everything.


To say the least we had a good time. After dominating the German circuit this year, we are ready to come back to the states and try our luck on US soil! By the way, "Aaron" Gibbs wants to challenge "Caleb" Hatch to a race some time...the media reports that "Caleb" is too scared!

Here is a video of one of his winning races!



And just to prove he is a good sport, check out Aaron's cub scout spirit after a third place finish in one of the championship race rounds!