Happy, Happy Birthday Sadie!

Sadie, it's your day! I loved seeing you on Skype this morning and I loved having you tell me about your wonderful day so far! How marvelous for you to be 9! (My goodness, this whole blog seems to be full of exclamation points, but that's how important a birthday is, I think.)

Remember how we visited Windsor Castle just last month? This was a picture I took of you on that day. This week the President of the United States visited Windsor Castle with Queen Elizabeth. I thought it was fun to have been the same place.

I remember the day you were born.

I remember flying to California early in the morning to get there in time. I remember being with your Mommy and Daddy in the hospital room there as we waited for you. I remember your absolute beauty, and how excited and proud your Daddy was, and how glad your Mommy was to have a little girl to join Zachie in your home.I remember how exciting it was that your mommy's cousin had twins on the very same day in the very same hospital. Amazing.

And I remember the night your Mommy and Daddy brought you home to Zachie to have the whole family together in your own family place. The look on Zachie's face should tell you how excited and delighted we ALL are that you are ours.

Thank you for coming then, and thank you for being here now. We love you for always and ever! Happy Birthday!

Ah, Meiringen Memories

So you wonderful Knell family will be off to Switzerland tomorrow. I hope you find it beautiful and peaceful. I want you to see how your Mommy looked before she shows you the real place. These pictures were taken 13 years ago, in the summer of 1995. This one is your Mommy ready to work in the Migros Store. Don't you think she looks terrific!


Here is Meiringen and the Migros Store taken from my balcony at the hotel I stayed in. I sat out here for a long time to get a picture of your mommy walking out of the store after work. But then that picture was blurry. So I'll show you this one.
On the day we went to Church we found this Migros sign near the train station. It was fun to take this picture because your Mommy was responsible for the fruit in her store.

Here is a beautiful waterfall where your mommy took me on a hike. Switzerland is so beautiful, I hope you all like seeing it this week. We can hardly wait to hear what you like best.

To the Theatah

Zach, Sadie, and McKay, last night Olle, Leif, and I went to see Esperanza Rising. We missed you and wrote these notes to tell you hello. Olle's says "Hi, Zach," Mine says, "Hi, McKay," and Leif's says, "Hi, Sadie."

The best parts of the play were the set, the lighting, and the special effects. We liked how they showed the fire with orange flickering lights and real smoke and we liked how the roses grew and bloomed right on stage. But often the language was hard to understand, some accents were hard to make clear, and the adaptation of the book changed some things we didn't like. Like they left the grandmother out entirely and had the mother break her foot and stay behind. Olle and I who had read the book wanted it to stay truer to the real thing.

But, it was fun to go to the theater together and though we missed you, we thought about you and talked about you a lot.

Next year we hope to take Elsa to Goodnight, Moon. And the Shakespeare play is Pericles, about pirates and swords. That should be fun.

Lindon Sports

Olle and Leif invited me to see their last soccer games of the season. It's so fun to see how far they've progressed since last year. Here is Olle practicing before the game began. He's learning so many thing about playing sports, it's fun to watch him.
Here is Leif ready to take a corner kick. He's always in the thick of things when he plays soccer. That makes him very fun to watch.
However, when it's Leif's turn to sit out for a few minutes, he and Olle quickly find some other sport to engage in! They are expert at tree climbing.
Elsa isn't old enough to play soccer yet, but she is very good at playing on the sidelines.
And Liesel, our Baby Soul, just enjoys everything wherever she is! What a charmer.

London Sports

Living close to Wimbledon seems to make people like to play tennis. Gretchen's three oldest children have tennis lessons each week, and I even heard the parents planning a visit to Wimbledon during competition. We'll see if that works out. Here is Zach rallying with his sister. Looks pretty good, doesn't he?
Here is Sadie, also looking good. She's progressing nicely with her tennis.
McKay seems to be good at every sport he tries. He's learning a lot about tennis.
Lucy doesn't take lessons yet, but she sure likes to copy her brothers and sister. She'll probably turn into a real threat when she does begin lessons.

From London to Lindon!

On Memorial Day I hugged my Knell grandchildren goodbye at London Gatwick Airport and flew west all day long to greet my Hanson grandchildren from Lindon.

What a wonderful three weeks in Europe. What a wonderful homecoming. It's all good.

After a week of being sleepy and hungry at all the wrong times I seem to be settling in to living in this time zone again. This global world carries its challenges, but it certainly is a magnificent time to live.

Blessings.