Farewell Dustin

The day has come... way too fast and June 18 is here. The day we have to say Goodbye to Dustin and let him go back home to his family in Germany. We've had a great last week together spending as much time as possible together, attending Zoe's last school events and also spending time with his friends as well. 

I made my famous chocolate chip cookies one more time (and of course the meal plan for the last week were all Dustin's favorites)

Bowling with the kids...

puh, packing, that was a topic of its own *lol*... it was quite tricky to get under the weight limit but we did it and when we arrived at the airport both suitcases were just under 23kg!!! YEAH...

Schnitzel, was the first meal when he arrived and the last dinner before we let him go home....

We took a stroll through town while the Strawberry Festival was going on

had a last Frosty Boy of course...

And this morning a couple of friends came over and we had a great american breakfast and some fun quality time afterwards. Three of his friends came with us to the airport and it was as hard for them as it was for us to let him go. A couple of times his suitcases and passport got hidden *lol*

Ride to the airport

Slowly the kids realized it really happens...

Henry was very sad the whole time but when you'd ask him he said he wasn't...

Yeah, I think he was very sad... very cuddly and not his normal smiley anymore. Even Zoe told me when we got into the car that she almost started crying because she was so sad that Dustin was leaving. It made my heart jump with joy but also very sad because it's so hard on the kids. The whole time I was thinking about Dustins' family and how happy they'll be when they get to embrace him tomorrow in Germany... when I thought about that and how happy they'll be and what a crazy rollercoaster of emotion it'll be tomorrow at the Bremen airport... it made it easier on me. But I'm really sad and I will have to occupy myself very good the next few days not to feel blue. He was a part of our family and it made us complete. We're just meant to be a family of 5 ;)... We'll def. have many more exchange students in the following years... I guess that's a given *lol*... we just totally love it.

Swim Competition

She's in lane 2... such an amazing adventure... she's doing so great. I'm so happy for her to be a part of such a great team and that she loves to do this so much and does such a great job. Soon she's going to leave them all behind ;)...

Kindergarten Graduation...

The best thing... the teacher pronounced her name right... made me super duper happy

Trampoline in Action

Kindergarten Graduation

That's right... when you finish Kindergarten, you get a graduation as well *lol*... but on the flip side, we didn't really get a 'Einschulung' so I saw this little graduation kind of like the 'Einschulung' I was missing so much last year ;)... 

A cute 'list' of things Zoe planned on doing in the summer

Our trampoline in action...

Sunday I got to get out by myself... always such an awesome treat. I met a friend of mine in Downtown Detroit and I was super surprised how beautiful it is. It really is an amazing city, it just had some really rough years behind it and needs to clean up the ruins from the past... but what they have done so far is absolutely beautiful and I wish I would spend more time downtown now that I got wind of it :)

a little splash park... and the beautiful river walk right there... would you think this is Downtown Detroit? No, me neither but it really is...

MON was Zoe's Kindergarten Graduation... just a small celebration for the kids and families it was really nicely done and I shed some tears :(... the teachers made a slideshow and the song matching with it... I couldn't hold it back! The kids grow way too fast :(

After graduation we went to the pool and since it was a bit colder than we hoped it to be we went to Chuck E Cheese for play and pizza...

afterwards we watched Zoe competing with her swim team in her first 'Away Meet'

At at 830pm a Frosty Boy treat to make this day a real true fun filled and delicious day... we all fell right into bed once we got home *lol*... it was a long and fun day

Up To Date

Alright, here some more pics to make it an up to date status for us :). 

Last week there was a Ladies' Margarita Night on one of our neighbors deck and even though I was completely exhausted I went and had an amazing time and got to see this amazing sunset right off her deck.... I love our neighborhood:

Kleiner Schelm... erwischt beim Schokolade essen ;)

Strawberry Picking on a SAT morning... the kids have been asking me for months to go Strawberry picking and the time finally arrived that the Strawberries arrived and were ready for picking ;)

At a German Get together I brought a Marzipan Brot with me... the kids got a glimpse of it and asked me when I got home to eat one as well... well that thing was gone before I knew it! Crazy! German taste buds for sure :)

Zoe's Award Party... she was so proud receiving two ribbons. One for first place and one for second place... what a great achievement.

Zoe with Coach Sean

Henry on his last day of pre-school with his teacher helper Ms. Kim

Ready for a hair cut. I told him how about purple or red hair... he was like 'noooo' *lol*