Group photo from the Alaska reunion

It was so wonderful to be with ALL of you in Alaska.  It would be hard to say what was the highlight of that time together.  We are still learning how to use our new smart phones, but Grandpa is attempting to send a message via his.  I am going back to the good old Grandpa Garold Herald.

One way or the other, you should get this.

Happy rest of the summer!
Grandma

Update from Gwen

I am so excited to see you all in a few days, but in the meantime I thought I would put some pictures of my trip to Germany on the good old family blog.  I took off with a group of 28 other German students from my school, my German teacher, and two parent chaperons on May 30th.  We spent two days in Berlin, took a train to Meissen where we lived with host families for two weeks, and then went back to Berlin for three more days before flying back to the U. S. of A.   In the meantime I had a lot of great adventures and met a ton of interesting people!

Our first two days in Berlin were incredibly wet.

A Davis family classic, being honored in a modern art museum in Berlin! In another room of the same museum the 'All You Need is Love' scene was playing on repeat.

Conquering the Subconscious by Pierre Alechinsky. I think.

This is part of the view of Meissen from the top of a hill near my host's house.  

Moritzburg Schloss after climbing around in a ropes course/Kletternpark in a forest. 

Some funny museum of old German lifestyle in the Spreewald

Paddling in the Spreewald

Hiking in the Sächsische Schweiz with my host family

This beverage was my Lebensblut for two weeks.

My host, Marie, and I at the top of some part of the Sächsische Schweiz. Tired but happy.  Also, you could see Czechien from here.  

These are my host parents.  They found my fascination with all the moss there hilarious.

Altstadt Dresden

The Elbe flooded really horribly while I was in Germany.  This picture is of the third day in Sachsen, which I spent mostly in Dresden.  THIS IS NOT NORMAL, and very sad.  

Some more flood wreckage.  This is the street below my host's house, where ground water came up and destroyed a garden center.  Luckily, my host's house was completely fine, with no flooding or damage at all. 

My host and her step dad in Kaufland, the local grocery store.  This is an entire wall of Sauergurken.  

One of my friends in a Doener Kebab store in Meissen.  The wegetarians ate falafel.

More of Dresden.  By this time, the river had gone down a lot, but was still far too high.

A monument to the flood in 2002.

Dresden with my school group

This was part of a street festival in the Neustadt of Dresden.

Neustadt street festival

This was also the street festival in the Neustadt.  It was supposed to be a multicultural celebration.  

Sunset on the Altstadt and flood

My host family wanted to see the temple in Freiberg, so we took a day trip there.  We also met up with the Bartsch family, some friends of Grandma and Grandpa's, there.  Later I went to church with the Bartsch and Menzel families in Dresden.  Denise Bartsch and I also walked around the shopping district of Dresden one day.  

'Wir sind das Volk' mural in Leipzig

Bach statue in Leipzig. 

A happy cat at the Felix Mendelssohn House (also in Leipzig). 

Part of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.  This time we were there, it was on average 95 degrees and very humid.  

This trip was a lot of fun, and my German improved tenfold while I was there.  I'm still thinking just a little bit in Denglisch.

AK, ho!

Since we're all thinking more than usual about Alaska right now, I thought I'd post a link to an op-ed piece that my friend, Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, wrote for the New York Times about the proposed Pebble Mine. Definitely worth reading.

Kia and I are excited to see everyone soon. Love, love, love.

Nora is totally boss

Nora has been working on the campaign for Ed Fitzgerald, who is challenging the current governor of Ohio in 2014.  She is in charge of an office full of interns, which I find pretty impressive for a 21-year-old.  She is certainly getting managerial experience at a much younger age than I did!  (Meanwhile, she is also in school full-time...)  She has had a couple of nice posts out there in the universe of popular networking sites, but I know that some people in our family don't use any of those sites, so I am pasting a couple of them in here.  I'm very proud of this woman!

Updates From Annika (and Mia)

Hello, family! As many of you know, I'm sure, it's an exciting time in my life. I just finished my last college class ever yesterday, I picked up my cap and gown today, and I'm all set to graduate on the 20th! Lucky for me, grandma, grandpa, and Caitlin are coming to visit and will be here for my commencement ceremony. In fact, Caitlin arrives this evening!

I presented my thesis a few weeks ago, and it went very well. I was incredibly nervous to get up and speak about all the work that I'd been doing this year (condensed to just 15 minutes) in front of my professors and peers, but I kept my cool! It was great to finally get to see what all the other Art History majors had been working on, too.

I also performed a concert with the classical guitar ensemble that I've been a part of this year. Here is a short video of one of the (less exciting, sorry) songs that we played:

At the end of this month I will be moving to Boston to start my new, post-college, "grown up" life. I have a job at a small animation studio in Cambridge. It's certainly going to be very new, and very exciting!

In other family news, Mia was elected student body president of her high school! We got to go to a cool inauguration ceremony a few days ago, where she was sworn in and received her official presidential sash.

This isn't a great quality photo, but here she is being sworn in!

She also attended prom, which, because of her position in student council she had to completely plan and set up. She is involved in so many things at her school, and she also works and babysits. She is so busy all the time! I don't know if any of you have seen the movie Rushmore, but I always tease Mia that she is like the main character (he is involved in about 50 different clubs and activities at his school).

Mia and her friends looking beautiful (especially Mia) in their prom dresses!

That's about all for now, we love you all very much and hope that you're well! Also, Facebook tells me that it's Meri's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Meri!

Vienna pictures

Fountain in Neumarkt by Raphael Donner

Panorama photo of the back of the Hofburg (left) and a Modernist building by Adolf Loos (second on right). Franz Josef hated Loos' building because the windows didn't have any "eyebrows!" He refused to go out the back of the palace so he wouldn't have to look at it. Grandma got a little warped in this picture, but don't hold it against her. 

We went to Mass at the Stephansdom. It included live performances of music by Shubert, Mozart, and Bach.

Our back porch with Monday morning's snow.

Grandma and I are going to the ball. Grandma is getting the dress on the left and I'm getting the one on the right.