From Paris To The Land Of The Vikings & Midnight Sun

July 3rd I left for Brunstad with Aaron Miller knowing we had a long layover in France. We hoped we could take the train out into Paris and see at least the Eiffel Tower. Sitting in Charles de Gulle Airport from 8 a.m. to 6:30 pm did not sound like a very inviting experience so we attempted to talk to some "information" people in the train station to see if we could get there, but they were most unfortunatly not very helpful or imformative. We finally ended up meeting a lady who spoke good English (this is a rarity in France) from Brazil, who was married to a Dutch guy and lived right next to the Eiffel Tower. What Luck! She took us most of the way there until the train blacked out on us and she had to get a taxi and left us to our own devices. We had a few interesting people encounters trying to switch trains, but finally got there. The site was actually amazing! I never would have believed it looked so cool just from pictures. We didn't go up as there was an insanely long line and it cost a bunch of money, that we didn't have and had a hard time trying to convince Hungarian beggar ladies of. We took a few pics, ate lunch at a little cafe right below the tower and then caught the train back to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Was a really cool experience, and if you have the time in a layover it comes highly recommended... it also comes highly recommended to speak more than 2 words of French cause they don't speak much more English than that! We ended up getting to Brunstad about 12:30 a.m. on the 4th so needless to say we were exhausted. Was super nice to be at Brunstad again and to see Teresa again! Heaven's knows I won't get pics of those put of for a long time to come if at all, but here's a few. (can't believe I managed two posts in July! wow!)

At the Fish Restraunt with Teresa (this food also comes HIGHLY recommended!)

Climbed the mountain behind Brunstad one afternoon with Marty and Keri.

Madison Elizabeth

Well, I told her to wait... or just hurry up, but she just didn't listen. Madison Elizbeth Coblentz was born July 6th while I was gone in Norway. Was quite exciting news to get though, and after the whole story of her weighing 6.15 kilos/ 13. 5 lbs was dissolved it was all good. She was a pretty "small" baby at almost 7lbs for our family anyways. She has really long legs and arms so I think she will make a really good volleyball player. Hehe, and I might just be a tiny bit jealous if she can block without hardly jumping. Well, I didn't get to see her til she was two weeks old, but that's ok, I still love her anyways. Baby's only get cuter as they get older so that is cool. Kris and Madison are both doing really well so that is fantastic! I will now try to keep putting pics of Madison up in between everything else around here. It is gonna be crazy busy for pretty much the rest of the summer since we have the Victory Feast in Sept. Well anyways... we do what we can, and what we can't do, doesn't get done. As anyone who happens to look at this blog finds out.

One More Post....

Ok, this post is just to post one more pic of Kris before I leave on Thurs. for Norway. She is now 38 weeks and could quite literally have the kiddo any day. We are having a war around here cause there are quite a few of us leaving on Thurs. who won't be back before Kris has her baby (unless she goes overdue) and then there are others who are currently gone and won't be back until after we leave. So we have two sides hoping and praying she has it before and after July 3rd. At any rate, unless she has it before Thurs. afternoon, this is probably the last pic of her you will see like this. It has been rather nuts around here. I haven't been home for a weekend in about 3-4 weeks and won't be for another 3 to come. Meanwhile, we have had our church outing at Killen's Pond, a baby shower for Kris, Jenn & I took a vacation to Williamsburg (not THAT is quite an interesting story, free vacations come with a price is all I have to say about that at this moment) Maybe I will have some pics on some of those things at some point, but at at this current moment... nicht. This other house picture is for Teresa. It is her house here in DE for those of you who have never visited, and a very nice house it is too. One day it rained really hard and the colors after were so nice. It looked really cool even though I missed the nicest part of the rainbow. Well, will update again after I get back on the 20th. Waaaaaaaahoooooooo! (yes, i'm excited! Don't ask if I am or I might just hand you a sign. ; )

Hurrah For Ben!

Ben, the sneak, did not tell anybody with the exception of Ang, that he was actually Valedictorian instead of Salutatorian and just let us read the programs and find out ourselves! Just a quick post for now. More later. Fantastic job Ben! An you had the best speech of the night by a Loooong shot. Wouldn't have taken much tho to beat talking about the "depressing world we live in", Dr. Seuss, cakes and sermons, and the other weirdnesses we listened to. Was still a good speech anyways.

Memorial Day

Monday was Memorial Day and while I think everybody enjoys a day off work every now an again I wonder how many people think of why they are getting off. Hmm, anyways... we had the whole family over for a cookout in the evening and had just a nice relaxing evening. We played "Scene It" with the kids, which is a game of seeing how well you know Disney movies. Ask Daniel's opinion of the game. : ) You may get an interesting response. There was once again an over abundance of good food. Was really nice to eat summer foods again. Grill food, corn on the cob, strawberries etc... Mom, Jenn, Kris, Ben, & I stayed up til 12 then playing dominoes. Was the first time for all of us except Kris I think. Me thinks she will have to bring that game over again sometime. Here's a pic of Kris's INCREASING bump taken on Memorial Day. Not much longer now. Bout a month an a half. Yeah!

God Bless America!

She husked it herself! :D Very pleased she was!