Family Mellmann

Summer is officially over - educationally speaking. Meteorologically, I'm hoping for some more warm sunny days. Katherine is excited to start the new school year, and she's not afraid to show it.  Patrick, on the other hand, isn't so excited.  I think he's excited about getting back with his friends, including his pal Calvin who is coming back to Trinity this year, but the newness of the school year will fade pretty quickly, and the rest of it he's not so excited about. It's interesting to watch how two kids growing up in the same household can have such differing positions on school...and almost everything else, for that matter.  It will be fun to watch how the year develops.

It is the last day of vacation for each of these boys. Tomorrow, Mirko returns home to his parents in Germany. Patrick and Calvin start school on Monday. To celebrate their last day of fun and freedom, Patrick and Mirko decided they wanted to play laser tag, and invite Calvin to join in. Halfway through their first round, Patrick pokes his head out of the game and yells "this is awesome!!".

(I asked for goofy faces. This is what I got.)

Perhaps you've heard the old moniker "kissing cousins"?  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, kissing cousins are "relatives or friends with whom one is on close enough terms to greet with a kiss".  Well, in our case, we have the "kicking cousins"...first cousins who ALMOST get close enough to kick. :) (This video was taken at Tae Kwon Do this evening.  Since part of the video is chopped off because of the format of this blog, you can go to my YouTube channel to see it in full screen.)

We're waiting for archery class to start and the boys found the most awesome climbing tree! Erika Sent from my iPhone

It's our first full day back in the US. Patrick has gone straight to work helping his German cousin settle in...including doing chores (like mowing the lawn).