Family Mellmann

More fishing! Patrick met an older gentleman and his wife who had come to the lake for a little fishing and enjoying the outdoors. As grandparents, they were charmed by his curiosity and mature social skills. The gentleman, who is an experienced fisherman, gave Patrick some tips and tricks and helped him fix a few little problems along the way. They were intrigued by Patrick's fishing technique and how he could continue to catch fish on even the most minuscule pieces of worm. I think Patrick caught four or five fish on the same quarter inch of warm. It was a nice afternoon outdoors.

While Joerg is in Germany for his uncle Juergen's funeral, the rest of us are enjoying the last warm days of summer. We're back to Lake Iroquois in Williston for a little water play and fishing.

What a week we have had! About two weeks ago Joerg and I decided that we would take the last few days before school started and make it a fun-fest. I call it the Blitz of Fun. Joerg took three days off work so that we could have five days to play. We started last Friday with a trip to Great Escape in New York. We left pretty quickly in the morning and didn't get home until nearly 23.00. Everyone was exhausted, but we had a great day. That was Day #1. On Saturday we went to Granby Zoo in Granby Quebec Canada. We started a little later and returned home a little earlier, but the drive is also a little shorter. We still had a great day. Patrick's highlight was the Lorikeet House. That was Day #2. On Sunday we went canoeing on the Green River Reservoir. We did a little canoeing and a little fishing. It was a quieter day, but still fun for everyone, which was really the goal. That was Day #3. On Monday afternoon we joined some friends at the County Fair. We spent the

After a week of calm and quiet (NOT) here in Williston, Dad hit the white waters for a little thrill and chill! (He's the one with the yellow helmet and white beard, rear right.)

Patrick survived his dentist appointment. He has two adult teeth but the baby teeth are still in place...what they call ectopic eruption.

Getting ready to roll!

A visit to Echo...Papa is waiting for a ride on the ferry back to the car.

Lunch at the Boathouse while Papa gets the car.

Here we go!

Getting ready to ride the bike path!

At the market with Mama!

These are the three guys who went through two years of Montessori school together. Now they are in Audubon camp together.

Check this out! This post is from my cell phone! Keep your eyes on this blog! Changes may come faster than before!

Going into the second grade, Patrick has developed many new interests. He continues to love all things creepy, crawly, slithery, slimy, and jumpy, and he likes things that fly, buzz, hum, chirp, swoop, swing, and swim. His movie interests have graduated from solely animated (think Disney/Pixar's Nemo) to more life-like movies like Homeward Bound and Dr. Doolittle. Slapstick comedy seems to tickle him more than anything. His infectious giggles and laughs seem to be back...sounds we haven't heard that much since he started first grade. It seems that the summer break has been helpful in bringing the "old" Patrick back. He has also rediscovered his computer. Perhaps this is partly because Katherine has discovered it (you know, they always want what the other one has), but he really seems to enjoy it. Now that he has a better understanding of how to spell words he can go online and look up "bald eegl" and "cobru snake" pictures for his home-made b

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 !