Family Mellmann

Despite some looming weather on Sunday we had a very nice weekend. Saturday the "boys" had Tae Kwon Do and the rest of the day we worked and played outside getting some much-needed work done around the yard. We captured a few pictures which you can check out. On Sunday we decided to take a shot and visit the Montreal Balloon Festival , yet another attempt to get Patrick on his ride. Three summers ago, when he helped on the ground crew of the Energizer Bunny Hot Air Balloon, we promised Patrick that he could have a balloon ride expecting to be able to get him up on the tethered balloon at the festival in Essex Junction (at the balloon festival there), but the balloon went down (closed for the day) before Patrick had a chance to get his ride. We have spent the last two years trying to get him a ride. We thought for sure this weekend would be the ride, but first we learned that Patrick is too little (they have a height requirement - you have to be able to see over the bask...

After a quiet morning at home we ran some errands to get some propane tanks filled and pick up the camper from the shop. We had a hitch installed just before the 4 th of July so that we could attach the bike rack to the back of the camper (since the hitch on the car would have the trailer hitch). It worked fine for the first camping trip, but when Jörg returned from the International Father and Kid camping weekend the bike rack was hanging on by a little bit of sheet metal. With that fixed (hopefully for good now) we can take the bikes camping when we go to Lyndonville for the Caledonia State Fair (and demolition derby). Meanwhile, after our errands, Patrick wanted to visit Church Street so we had a little lunch at home and then headed for the marketplace. They weren't always angels, but we had a very nice time.

The last few days have been filled with fun and activities perfectly suited to kids. While the guys were gone to Tae Kwon Do camp Katherine did some dress-up. When they returned, we got the trains out and played bubbles. It's hard to believe that the summer is almost over. I hear some of my friends make comments about how glad they are that school is about to start. I, on the other hand, may dread school starting more than Patrick does...and he's not looking forward to it at all. We're really enjoying our summer. We have had play dates with friends, camping trips, train days, bubble days, dress-up days. We have even had movie days when rain drove us indoors. We have made craft projects, painted stuff, worked on play-do creations, cooked, baked, and colored. We have slept in, stayed up late, watched Mythbusters faithfully, and never missed a night of Popsicles. It's been a great summer...and it's not over just yet. Check out our latest pictures at www.mell...

Last weekend I found myself home alone while Jörg took the kids camping on the Father & Kid camping trip with the Internationals. This weekend, Jörg has again gone camping, but this time he took only Patrick. They are going on a Tae Kwon Do camping weekend with other members of the Blue Wave association. They left late this afternoon and will come back Sunday. I'm sorry to say that Jörg didn't take the camera with him so pictures will likely not be forthcoming, but who wants to see a bunch of sweaty martial artists anyway. :) It's probably going to be a warm weekend, and with the rain that we just had it is sure to be humid. I'm sure that they will have a good time anyway. Katherine is in bed and the house is quiet. This is probably a good time to relax and catch up on little projects. Enjoy the new website.

It's ready. The website redesign is complete and ready for use. The old site is now gone (and with it all the out-dated photos) and the new site is loaded. We hope that you will find the new site easier to navigate, and my personal hope is that by simplifying the site like this I will have a better chance of keeping it updated. We'll see how that works out. In the meantime, you can check out the new site at HERE !

Here is a slide show of some of the pictures taken by my dive instructor in Tahiti. I have put this same slide show on the website, but for those who just watch the blog, I thought I should put it here also.

If you have been waiting for some new pictures, the wait is over. If you check out our beta site you should find three sets of pictures located in the drop-down box called "Latest Happenings". I may change the name of that drop-down box, but this is where you can find the latest pictures. I will list the most current items on top; the further down the list, the older the pictures. We're not quite ready to retire our old site yet, but this new site is up and running and is the place where I keep the current stuff. I still like this blog idea because you can "subscribe" to the blog, which will send you an e-mail whenever there is an update. I haven't figured out how to do that with the website yet. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

This weekend was the International Father & Kid camping weekend. It's an old tradition from back when the International Playgroup was running and Infineon dads (a subset of the Playgroup) would get together for a camping weekend with the kids. We have missed a few over the years, but this year it worked out. Jörg took the kids, the canoe, the bikes, and the camper and went to Lake Carmi. They're still not home, so I thought I would take a minute and share an update on the new website. Oh...you didn't know that there was going to be a new website? That's okay. Until this weekend, I wasn't sure there was going to be one either. Jörg and I have been talking about updating the website. Not just with more pictures, but with a new look. He was really hoping that I would work out a new site that would take the effort out of making updates and get into something a little less maintenance-heavy. I thought we were just getting face-lift. I'm not certain yet ...

Photos, taken in July 2005, show Marge (Grandma) with Erika, Patrick, Diane (Mom), and Katherine.