Megan Gradumatated!

Megan graduated from CU Denver on 12/15 - summa cum laude! She was excited and relieved and we were proud and relieved :-). The ceremony was held in the Denver convention center, not the greatest venue for this kind of activity, but it worked well enough.

The photos show Megan with her study-buddy Breeann, processing into the hall, and with the whole gang: Dad (Steve), Grandma Bonner (J'Nean), Grandpa Bonner (Dick), Matt, Megan, Mom (Gail), Matthew, Grandma Kopy (Helen), Aaron, Eddie.

Now that school is completed and graduation done, her next adventure is moving to an apartment north of Denver - this weekend! After that will be a job, wedding planning, the wedding and then pharmacy school starting Fall '08. She's going to be a busy girl.

Whacking the tree.....

We went on the traditional Christmas tree hunt the day after Thanksgiving. The usual gang was on hand for the fun and tree day activities.

First up, find a tree and cut 'er down. Handsaws only, the effort is shared by all the guys. We kept the top 15 feet or so for our tree, and toted it home with all the boughs and the trunk.

Next activity, lunch! This year, because it was so cold, we had a big old pot of chili. Steve's new stove did a great job of heating it up.

Other fun.....taking the annual Christmas photo and climbing on the rocks.

CHS Band Performance - STATE! Oct 07

Here it is.....the final performance of the year. The State competition had to be pushed back a week because of a huge snowstorm. State was held in Grand Junction at Stocker (with a long o) Stadium. The kids did a great job and came in 4th. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th bands were within 1.5 points of each other, it was a close competition!

Steve, Matthew and I stayed at a cute B&B in Palisade, just down the road in the middle of Colorado's wine country. Watching the band perform was lots of fun and wine tasting was fun too :-)!

Douglas County Invitational 10/13

Lobo Regiment at Homecoming - 10/5/07

Here's the gang on homecoming night...

CHS Band Performance Arapahoe Inv 9/28

The band performed at Littleton Stadium on 9/28. They took first in 3A and came in 9th of 15 against 4A and 5A schools. A great performance!

Remember Mr. Peabody and the WABAC machine?

Well, we traveled into the past this weekend. We went to the Renaissance Festival down in Larkspur (it's a little over an hour from here.) The photos are of Megan and Matt - hamming it up in front of the main gates, and Steve and me in our finery :-). The festival is held every year during the weekends in June and July. There is lots of entertainment - our favorite shows are the Washing Well Wenches, Puke & Snot, and Ded Bob - lots of food and of course lots of vendors. We added to our costumes this year. Steve got a sword frog (it's a thingy that keeps your sword horizontal instead of vertical), Aaron got wrist gauntlets and I got a flowered wreath to match my new costume. We'll go again next weekend when Matthew will be able to join us....more pix to follow!

More Bremerhaven...

Bremerhaven is also the place where Steve was born. The red brick building was the hospital where he was hatched, it now houses medical offices. Because we were there on a Sunday it was closed. The cobblestone streets and sidewalk are typical of smaller/older towns in Germany.

Bremerhaven.....

Bremerhaven is a port city on the North Sea and home to a maritime museum. They have everything from prehistoric dugout canoes to tall sailing ships to U-boats. We had lunch in the cafe and walked along the edge of the bay. It was very windy and rainy the day we were there.

On the road.....

Traveling through Germany, we could see why German settlers ended up in the Midwest US...it looked so much like home to them :-).

Boat Ride on the Rhine.....

We took an afternoon boat ride on the Rhine. There are several boats running up and down the river all day long making to possible to ride for just a few hours or all day. We boarded the Goethe in Kamp-Bornhofen and rode it upstream a few miles to St. Goar. After an hour or so in St. Goar we got on the Boppard and took it back to K-B. There are castles and small villages all along the Rhine...the castle you see here is the one we stayed in.

Castle Liebenstein.....

Castle Liebenstein is set high on a wooded hill, on the banks above the Rhine river. We stayed in the new part of the castle (the top floor of the white building) that was built in 1600. The old, gray part was built in 1100 :-). The grotto is where the castle's well was located. The path through the woods is part of a marked hiking trail that follows the Rhine and goes from castle to castle. The dining room was decorated with suits of armor and other weapons...the boys thought it was way too cool! The evening photo was taken from the top window of the white part of the building that you see here. Beautiful!

Aachen.....

These photos were taken outside and inside the cathedral in Aachen. Except for the one that looks like the exterior of a hotel, because that's what it is :-). We stayed at the Buschhausen, a nice place with a lovely patio restaurant.

On the road....

Photos taken from the road. Megan got a big giggle about the gute fahrt sign on the warehouse. Exits from the highway were also funny because they were ausfahrts.

gute fahrt = good drive
ausfahrt = out drive (or drive off the highway, exit)

Yes, we did travel on the autobahn system. It is amazingly civilized driving. There are three lanes and slower traffic keeps to the right except to pass. We often travelled at 140 kmh (88 mph) and would get passed as though we were standing still. To paraphrase the line from Pirates of the Caribbean -- "Speed limits, they're actually more of a guideline."

Germany uses both nuclear power and alternative power sources. We saw one wind farm with over 60 windmills. Pretty impressive!

Downtown Aachen....

We rented a van to get around, not expecting to be issued a 9 passenger Mercedes Sprinter. Driving, and parking, on the narrow streets of small German towns was an interesting adventure. Luckily we found a public parking garage right close to the center of town. We parked the bus and walked around the area. The cathedral was built by Charlemagne and for a time Aachen was his capitol. We tagged along with a tour being given in German, even though we couldn't understand a word, because it allowed us to see Charlemagne's throne. It was surprisingly plain, not much more than a bench with back and armrests. We also toured the cathedral treasury which houses many historical treasures and several reliquaries.

Breakfast.....

Breakfast was different in Europe. We were generally provided with french rolls, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, along with a selection of lunchmeats, cheeses, butter, cream cheese and jellies. Juices were often made with soda water which gave them an interesting taste and consistency (that's a nice way to say "ick"). A couple of places also had cereal, eggs and bacon along side the standard fare. Tea and coffee were also served and were very good.

More pix from the trip.....Aachen

Well, we're still a little jet lagged but getting better all the time. I think I'm only 2 time zones out of sync now and hopefully will be back to normal by tomorrow.

So.....here are more photos from the trip......

Our first night we stayed in Aachen. Aachen is about 40 miles west of Cologne/Bonn and is on the border of Germany, Belgium and France. The pictures were taken at the Hotel Buschausen where we stayed. We had dinner on the patio, notice that there aren't (yet!) any beers on the table.
This hotel had several traits in common with all our accommodations on the trip: the room was spotlessly clean; the beds did not have sheets and blankets but instead a feather bed with a crisply ironed duvet cover; the pillows were large, square and down filled; and none of the hotels provided washcloths. I had read that German hotels were BYOW and we found it to be true. Some places were also BYOS (soap). Oh! Also, the double beds are two twin mattresses on a full size frame.

Guten Tag from Hannover, Germanz

We've not had internet access for a couple of days, so we're behind the times :).

We found our way to Ermelo, the Netherlands, on Saturday and had a wonderful visit with the Knoppert family. Anneke didn't want to cook (I can relate to that) so they took us to lunch at their favorite Indonesian restaurant. Apparently Dutch food is very bland, boiled everything, and as a result of Indonesia being a former Dutch colony, there is a sizable Indonesian population in the Netherlands. The food was delicious and there were mountains of it. We joked that they would have lunches for a week.....until they explained that in Europe doggy bags are not done. Whatever you don't eat goes in the garbage.

That afternoon/evening we went on up to Bremerhaven. After a bit of driving around we found a deluxe (really!) downtown hotel that even had an indoor pool which the boys enjoyed for a bit. Next stop was the maritime museum on the Bremerhaven waterfront. The wind coming in off the North Sea is cool, strong and carries lots of rain. Standing up on the breakwater was only fun for a few minutes. After lunch we headed over to see the hospital where Steve was hatched. We walked around, took some pictures and hit the road again.

Sunday evening we made it to a southern suburb of Berlin called Ludwigsfelde. After a few wrong turns we found our way to the pension Tietz....a comfortable place run by a young couple. Monday morning we took a commuter train up to Berlin for some sightseeing. We went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum....at the former barrier between east and west Berlin....and also saw a bit of the wall that is left standing as a memorial. It is quite moving. We then went to the Pergamon Museum which has a huge collection of artifacts from Rome, Greece and Babylon.

A quick word about typing this on a German keyboard. Most keys are the same except that the z and the y keys are switched. Aaarrrrrgh! Typing becomes a very interesting task.

Today, Tuesday we are in Hanover (Hannover in Deutsch). We did the self guided tour (a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour) through the city. It is not a huge city but it is filled with interesting buildings and architecture. We stopped at the Waterloo Biergarten to re-hydrate, really!, and then finished the tour through the city. In front of the opera house a brass quartet was playing baroque and classical music....made me wish I had the movie camera. Dinner was in another bier garten and was delicious. All I can say is that it's a good thing we're doing so much walking or we wouldn't fit in our plane seats to come home!

Tomorrow we'll make our way back to the Bonn and Cologne area, do a bit of sightseeing and get ready to head home on Thursday.

I'll add more pictures later (and turn those that are facing the wrong direction).

See you soon!

More Liebenstein/Rhine Pix.....