Surprise!!!

Bailey had a surprise Birthday Party at our house on her Birthday. Her good friend Nate organized it all. She hadn't had a "birthday party" with friends since she was 10 years old, so she was super happy and definitely surprised!!! She had cheering practice after school, but luckily the next day was a teacher work day, so the kids all had off. We secretly picked her friends up after school and their various practices and then brought them to directly to our house. Bailey took the bus and walked home from the bus stop and it was super funny, because as we are all waiting for her to arrive, her friend's phone rang - he answered the phone and we could all hear Bailey say, "I am bored" :-) He got her off the phone and a few minutes later, she walked through the door. Definitely a success! The kids all went out to for dinner in the city and then they all spent the night at our house. Such a fun night, such great kids, and so happy that Bailey had such a fun Birthday!!

Such great kids!

It was special too, because the next morning when the kids were all getting up, her official acceptance letter was delivered by mail (it came via e-mail originally). Anyway, I loved the old fashioned wax stamp (reminded me of something you would see in Bamberg). Her school was a University before Canada was a Country, so it probably is a really old tradition - very cool!

Happy 18th Birthday Bailey!!!!

18 years ago today, you arrived in this world! Bailey - You have brought us so much happiness. I truly can't imagine life without you! You make us so happy and it is so much fun watching you grow into a young adult with dreams and ambition. We are so proud of the person that you have become. We adore you and wish you nothing but happiness and fun in the year ahead!!!

We had to celebrate our family party one day early. Mia made Bailey a delicious cake:-)  She said that the "B" is for Bailey, Birthday, and Bishop's :-)

Happy 18th Birthday!!!

18 - The freedom begins!!!!

We adore you Bailey!!!

Can't believe you are 18 years old!!!

And just trying to cherish and enjoy spending this day with you, especially knowing that next year, WE will be the ones that you will be facetiming with from so far away! We LOVE you so much!!!

Fall

The time changed here last weekend, the leaves are in full color, the nights are much darker, and the cold air is quickly coming. I can't believe how fast this year is flying by! The Football Team lost in double over time in the Playoff Game, so football season is officially over for Bailey.  Mia doesn't have school this week, so we spent some time at our apartment in Bamberg. Here are a few photos from the last few weekends.

Mia has the best restaurant and was open for dinner one night (with very good prices, I might add :-))

Her Restaurant is called MXR - and she specializes in international cuisine :-)

Delicious!!!

Mia and I spend way too much time together :-)

We were so excited to find out that Camden was chosen to go to a STEM symposium in Wiesbaden for a week in December. A really cool opportunity!

Learning French via German is not so easy. Mia scored a 1 (which is an A and not so easy to get) on her first pop quiz of the year. Even the accent marks have to be written perfectly or it is marked wrong.  You also have to know when it should be capitalized or not. In our experience, the teachers don't usually  - ok NEVER - give smiley faces, so a "Tres bien" and 2 smiley faces was huge!!! Mia was so excited! Her dialect is so cute too! *I wouldn't usually post this, but it is really interesting to me how different it all is. They haven't had any grades all year and this was the first one (and over 150 vocab words already memorized) - which was a surprise quiz.  No word box, no multiple choice or true false - they just have to come up with the answers all on their own! There are lots of red marks, but it is only to tell you how many points you get for each question. All of the teachers grade the same way, so it is VERY consistent. It is amazing that this is the 3rd language for all of these kids (German of course, English, and now French). In 8th grade they can choose Spanish and then later Chinese if they wish!

We went for a hike looking for fungi (aka mushrooms). We found tons of different ones, but this certainly took the cake as the most unusual. Not sure how quick I would be to test this one out???

The forest is so pretty!!!

The sun peaked through the branches and lit up the colorful trees

My camera doesn't do it justice, but truly beautiful!

As we were walking, a couple of horse back riders came through...

and a biker too...

Fall is definitely here!

Bryan went to see FC Bayern play in Augsburg. I told him to take lots of pictures...

...and of course, this is what he gave me :-). He had fun though and FC Bayern won!  He said it was neat to see them play in such a small stadium (Augsburg is a much smaller team, but is playing in the same league this year as FC Bayern)

And Frank celebrated "Gotcha Day" One year with us, but 3 years in age! We adore you Frank!!!

Mia had a costume for Halloween, but did not go trick or treating. It is getting to be a little bit more common to trick or treat in Germany though, but many people are unprepared (with no candy). Our German friend went, and came back with 7 euro (because the people had to scramble to find something to hand out). So funny!

And I spent the Holiday on Tuesday (The Catholic version of All Saints Day) painting the trim from a natural wood color to silver gray. This almost 100 year old apartment has to try to keep its youth :-)

Officially Canada Bound -Yeah!!!

We just found out that Bailey has officially been accepted to the the school of Business (IT program) at Bishop's University in Quebec, Canada. Yeah!! We are so excited for her!! It is an English Speaking University (in French Speaking Quebec). She did take French this year, in hopes that she would get to put it to use in the city next year. This school has been her first choice since last Spring and not knowing exactly how the Canadian University system worked - we were not quite sure how an American High School transcript would translate. It's offical though and the pressure of applying to schools is now off - she can just enjoy her last year of high school. Being that so much of our future is always unknown, it makes it so nice to know that at least one of our family members knows where they will be for the next 4 years ;-). Bailey, we could not be happier for you and truly can't wait to see all of the opportunities this experience brings you. We love you so much!!!!!!

Random happenings...

  

It has been a busy month here with lots of activities. We just finished up Homecoming Week, Mia's school is in full swing, with her first set of pop quizzes behind her (which is a huge relief - for a few days anyway:-)). Camden has been busy with "Raider Team" which is like an intense military type- fitness training, including lifting weights, rope climbing and running. The first sports Season is almost over and I am trying not to wish this time away too quickly. It is really fun to see your kids grow into young adults. High School provides lots of opportunities and as often as I complain about it, I am seeing how grateful I am that they have this opportunity. I am trying to cherish this time, as I know next year a HUGE piece of my heart will be mising in my daily life!

It was very exciting - even though Bailey doesn't turn 18 until 5 days before the election, she was still able to vote Absentee.

It has been very interesting living over here during this election... to say the least!!!

Nothing like getting a random phone call from my friend from Hong Kong, offering to bring us Spring Rolls at lunchtime, simply because she made too many! So delicious and so grateful!!!!

And of course here is Bamberg (just because you haven't seen enough photos of the city ;-)). Always beautiful and always bustling!

Forever grateful that this remains part of our lives!

In one recent poll, Bamberg was chosen as the second happiest city in all of Germany!!!

The Bier might help with the happiness level :-) We met some friends for the famous Bock Bier at Schlenkerla. 

And while she can drink (if she wants), she STILL can't drive yet. Bailey started taking a few driving classes here. So funny - she gets to practice driving in a BMW. This was funny too. The instructor only speaks German, and the entire time he chatted with her about the American Presidential Election. She kept wondering "do I turn left or right" and he kept on chatting and asking, "What do you think about this or that....?"

And did you read the news headline about the disaster with 22 kids on the train carrying Hammers? No, because even though there WERE 22 kids on the train carrying hammers, there were no problems at all. Once again (like the "bring a 3 inch blade sharp knife" to school for cooking class in 3rd grade), the kids were required to meet at the train station in the morning and told to make sure to bring their own hammer! Watch out for this crazy girl on the loose!

And these are the fossils that Mia found on the above field trip (using the hammer). Pretty cool!

We weren't able to take pictures of the inside because of privacy rules, but a couple of my friends and I went to a Salt Grotto (see the picture in the background). Definitely an interesting experience. Basically, you lay in a reclining chair all wrapped up in a warm blanket for an hour breathing in the air from the salt walls. Not sure if the health and safety inspectors would let that fly in the US! I couldn't tell if it was really good for you or really bad for you - yikes!

And here is a "Killer Clown" that we found in the woods near our house :-)

Our crazy bunch! Camden's expression is like "wait - what the heck are you doing Mom???"

Bailey's last home game/home coming/ and senior recognition day all rolled into one. Such a fun day and Vilseck had a huge win over Wiesbaden to boot!

Fall Sports Senior Recognition Day - One of many lasts this year!

Homecoming - Bailey and her friend Audrey

They clean up quite well :-)

And goofy photo with football friends! :-)