Horses!

Dani and Jule went to Pinnacle Mountain again for horse riding!

Boredom

Today Jule had not much to do so she washed my dishes and took Danny for a walk. The weather is beautiful today. Not too hot and not too cold. Hopefully it will remain this way when Anita arrives.

She says that Danny was a good boy during her walk!

Tonight we got a pedicure!  Jule says this is her first one!

We then went shopping for a baby gift for Lisa!

The Little Things...

Pop Tarts. That is all.

Downtown Little Rock playing in the underground tunnels.  I will need to rotate this later.

Clues

I worked today and have a big presentation to our executives in the morning, but I am ready!  :)

Today I will start giving you some hints about what we'll be doing when Anita gets here!


First Clue: Eclectic


Second Clue:  Water

Third Clue:  Protect your eyeballs!

Fourth Clue:  Don't get shot by American rednecks!  :)

Fifth Clue:

Another "First Day of School" in America

This morning was like old times.  Jule was to get up early so I could drop her to Andrea's house to go to University.  And Jule fell back asleep after her alarm.  Oh how it reminds me of years ago!  :)

Andrea and Jordan both attend University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  It is a popular local university. I have a Masters degree from there as well.  I enjoyed it.  Here are a few pictures of the campus for Jule's memories...

They are back in school together... even if only for one day!

Paint Wars

I don't know the purpose of a paint war... but they got very dirty!

Magic Springs

Today the Alexander family surprised Jule with a trip to Magic Springs.  It is a small theme park in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  I stayed home and painted doors, cleaned and started re-grouting my kitchen.

Here are a few photos from Magic Springs...

And then my favorite picture snapped by Marissa on the way home...

Then coming home we had SONIC!

Pinnacle

On Sunday Marissa, Dylan and Jule climbed Pinnacle Mountain.  This is a tiny mountain, but a popular one for people to climb when they have an extra hour!

Arkansas is very pretty.  Some parts remind me of the Black Forest area in Germany!

Yard Sales!

Today Andrea, Dani and Jule went to yard sales!

In America it is okay to sell your unused items in front of your home as long as you do not do this too often.  This is a very popular way to get junk out of your home.  Sometimes people just set up things in their front yards.  Other times we call it "garage sale" because they'll put the things in garage.  Normally this happens on Fridays and Saturdays.  Homeowners will put signs at the streets to direct you to their home.

It is common for the things at a yard sale to be very cheap!  Normally clothing items would be maybe 25 cents or one dollar.  Furniture might be ten dollars.  The point is to just rid your home of things that you might normally throw away.  So to move things out, you simply price it so cheap that it's a great buy.

Today Jule's American grandpa sent the photos below to my cell phone.  He is currently driving on his motorcycle with his friends across the United States.  Although I worry when he goes on these long trips, I'm glad he's loving his life.  He will be back home before we arrive with Anita.

Here they were stuck in traffic.  Stau.  I know this German word!

Above they have arrived at Mount Rushmore.

The kids all ended up here tonight. Somehow I lasted line than they did. 

Check out this video I took of them!  :)

Big Orange & Kilwin's

Marissa began school today, so she did not get to enjoy all the fun.  :(

Dylan and Daani are not yet back in school so they got Jule and decided to do whatever teenagers do... eating and shopping and having fun!

They ate at Big Orange, which is one of our local favorites.  They specialize in traditional hamburgers, but there is nothing normal about their food.  It's great!

And then they went to Kilwin's for ice cream.  I am so jealous!  Even I have not had time to go here!

Now they are off to the University to meet Andrea for a "paint war."  I have no idea what this is, but I'll post pictures when they come in!

Jordan's Move-In Day

Today Jordan moves into the University of Arkansas at Little Rock housing.  It will be his first night officially away from home and in college!  Poor Wimee!!!!

Jule was there all day as he moved in. She got to meet his roommates and see his apartment.  Jordan is very lucky!  Normally Freshmen have only a tiny room to share with a roommate, and the bathroom is a community bathroom.  Probably the same as most in Germany.  But somehow he was placed into an apartment-style room where he has his own bedroom and shares a living room, kitchen and 1.5 bathrooms with three other guys.





Here is the layout of his apartment:


Tonight we watched the Perseid meteor shower.  We saw maybe 30 shooting stars.  It was great!  And somehow, the temperature cooled off so that it was absolutely perfect!

Wild River Country

The kids visited Wild River Country all day Tuesday!

Again, I could not go so I have no photos, but here are some photos from the internet for Jule's memory.


Also ask her about the "toilet bowl" and if she died in there.

It's HOT!

It is the most hot time in Arkansas right now!  Because the humidity is so high in this area, we have two temperature readings:  one is the temperature and the other is "how hot does it feel to the skin?" We call the second one the "heat index."  On Monday the heat index was 46.11 here.  Thankfully it was a pool day at Laura's house.

I didn't write much about Laura in previous blogs.  She is one of my favorite people, as she is so thoughtful and accommodating to people.  If you have met her once, you feel as though she's a great friend already.  She is also one of the most fun people I know.  She loves to entertain people at her house.

Below are our friend Annelie (she's from Germany) and Laura at my Christmas party in 2014.  This group loves to be silly and have fun!

So Monday Jule went with Lili, Dani and Andrea to Laura's house and there met Wimee, Marissa, Jordan, Dylan and our other friend Shierlene and her four kids.  They stayed in the pool until dark!  I was working but it appears that she had a good time!

This is Davin, Daani, Jordan (behind Daani), Dylan #2 (behind Jordan swimming), Jule, Andrea, Dylan #1, Marissa.  Davin and Dylan #2 belong to Shierlene.

The first one is Maddy, Laura's youngest daughter.

If only you could hear Andrea's laugh.  I wasn't there and I can hear it right now!

Jule and I were speaking about how the decision of Anita and Christian to let her come to America has made such an impact on her life.  Anita and Christian... that gift to her was something that I wish all parents could give.  She realizes how lucky she is that you have put her first in so many areas of life.  The fact that you allowed her to get on a plane and come to a foreign country has changed her life forever.  For her whole life she will have friends and a place to stay if she wishes to visit.  These people in these photographs are some of the best people in the world.  And they all love Jule the same as their own families!

Monday night Jule stayed with Marissa.  I hear that they did not sleep very much!  :)