Watch out for that dog!

I'm back from my European tour. I was traveling for 10 days. First I was in Prague for a conference. It was great to see all my WBN friends and colleagues again. Reinhard from Germany brought me flowers at our first lunch as a group to say "welcome back". Here is a picture...




We went on a tour of King Charles IV castle on Saturday afternoon....his "compound" included a cathedral that was quite impressive....

We walked back to the hotel over the famous Charles Bridge (also named after Charles IV)...

I was in Prague from Tuesday to Sunday. Then it was onto Milan to meet with our client. Here is a picture of the cathedral in Milan - it only took 600 years to build it.



We left Italy and flew to Sibiu, Romania on Tuesday. We arrived at the airport and had driven about three blocks in our taxi when the driver hit one of about one zillion stray dogs in the country. The dog was ok, but it wrecked the license plate on the car.

The manufacturing facility is in Medias, Romania - which is about an hour drive from the airport. In addition to dogs, we also encountered some goats in the road.

Here is what a women's toilet looked like at the plant. Are you sure you want more coffee??

Before we left Romania, we had a walking tour that was arranged by our Romanian broker partner in Sibiu. But first we had to survive the drive from Medias to Sibiu with this same broker partner. Since one of the people traveling with us was an attorney, we decided that should anything happen, he was doing all the talking. The drive was a two lane road and included passing trucks on curves at a speed of about 60 MPH. This was all while there were pedestrians with small children walking along the shoulder of the road. I don't think that they will be exporting Romanian driving instructors any time soon.

This is from the old town in Sibiu. The area has been almost completely restored.

There were signs everywhere - there was going to be a Scorpions concert in the square shown in the picture above. The guy in the picture is my colleague from The Netherlands, Duncan.

Here is a picture of a dog in Sibiu. I think he was looking for his friend that had an encounter with the taxi license plate.


We left Romania late Wednesday afternoon to head to Bordeaux, France. Sibiu later. Here is a picture of the engine on our plane from Sibiu to Vienna. Hey - look, there is duct tape on the engine!

We didn't get to Bordeaux until 9:00 at night, minus luggage for Duncan. We drove to Tonneins the next morning (almost a 2 hour drive). The drive was very scenic.



Tonneins is very much in the country. There is an interesting neighbor next to the plant.

As you can see, it was an interesting and fun trip.

Matt and the girls did just fine without me. I talked with them every day. When I called from the airport in Detroit, Olivia wanted to know how long my hair was. Carina said she was going to hug me and kiss me and never let me go. It doesn't get much better than that.

Happy Halloween!

Lots of big excitement lately!

I've started wearing my new baby hair. It's definitely a work in progress, but better every day. I don't have so many bandanna matches with my winter wardrobe. This is my brother-in-law Brad - our hair is pretty much the same. Well, ok, his is actually twice as long....

Here is a picture of the girls at a Halloween Party at Grandma Becky and Grandpa Dennis's golf club. They had a great time and their cousins were there too. There was a magician and Olivia volunteered to be an assistant. It was hard to believe she went to the front of the room. There were about 75+ people there and she can be pretty shy sometimes.

I'm leaving for Europe tomorrow. I've been looking forward to this trip for the past 8 months. Needless to say, I'll miss the family a lot. It's really hard to believe it's finally here. I'll be back on November 9 and share some pictures.

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Vacation at last!!

I know it has been quite awhile since my last post - I got a concerned phone call from my friend Liz. No worries - everything is going just great.

The port removal was a little creepy since they are slicing you open while you are fully awake and aware of what is going on. Of course they use a local anesthetic. Anyway, that is all healed up now.

We just got back from 8 days in Florida. The weather was pretty good for the most part. We drove down - it's about 17 hours door to door with our few stops. We went overnight on the way down and during the day on the way home (leaving FL at 3am). The girls were both fantastic in the car.

I'm leaving for Europe on Monday the 29th and won't be home until the 9th of November. I'm really looking forward to it (of course I'll be missing the family in the mean time). The first part of the trip I'll be attending a semi-annual conference that I missed this past spring. I can't wait to see all my colleagues from around the world that have been so supportive during the past 8 months. The conference is in Prague and I've heard great things about the city. Next to Italy, just outside of Milan, then Sibiu, Romania, and Tonneins, France just outside Bordeux and home. We'll only be in the other cities for 2 days at the most so we won't have much free time.

Here are some pictures from our trip. The girls had a great time and can't wait to go back in May.

Olivia teaching Carina some ballet moves....

Sunset at the beach...

Carina wearing her sunglasses upside down and putting on her own headband....

Our last evening at the beach...it rained NON-STOP our last two days there, ending around 4pm the second day.

Yay Team!!

Today was our race. But before I get to that, I'll give an update since it's been quite awhile since my last post. We all went to Madison last weekend for the Badger football game. Olivia went to the game with Matt and Carina and I went to the zoo.

Yesterday we went to the apple orchard and did some picking and went for a hay ride.

Finally, today was the Race for The Cure. Thank you to everyone who signed up to participate and to those who donated. Your time and generosity are greatly appreciated. Here is a picture of those that made it by 8:30 for the picture. We actually were missing my mother and father in law and my brother and sister in law!

Brother and sister in law, nephew, my mom, my co-worker Emily, and my mother and father in law.....

Olivia walked for awhile (or is she marching her way through this?)....

Our family at the finish. My goal when I was diagnosed in March was to be a team captain and run in the race. Mission accomplished. My time was 33 minutes.

Other news.....This week Tuesday my port comes out. I'm a little nervous about that because it's just a local anesthetic and the scar from when they put it in is about one inch long. The good news is I won't feel terrible for the following three days - so really I guess this is a piece of cake.

Olivia's First Day of School

I'm all ready for my first day....
Everyone get in line....bye Mom and Dad!! Mrs. Zeimet is taking us to our classroom...
I love school! "Grandma, can I go again tomorrow?"

Three Happy Ladies

DONE!!!

I hope you are all enjoying your long weekend (at least those of you that live in the US). I'm feeling good and so very happy to be done with my treatments. Although this is not all over yet, I feel like the hardest part is done now. I can't thank everyone enough for their kindness and good wishes. I think I'm one of the luckiest people around to have such great family and friends supporting me through this. Now I just need to feel good enough to have some wine and life will be just perfect!

To all of you that signed up for the Race for the Cure - thank you. I'll send an e-mail out and keep you informed on the shirt pick-up. I'd also like to try and do a team picture!

Olivia's first day of school is Tuesday. I'll be sure to post some pictures. She's really excited. I'm not sure at what age that ends, but is sure is great now.

Until later....