Hi Everyone,

As you all know, Katie rides, jumps and loves horses.

Attached is a fairly short video clip of her doing all of that. (Although you will probably have to be a little patient for the download)

She was very involved in making of the clip, right down to the video editing, titling and selection of the music.

Hope you enjoy it as much as she and I did.

Grandpa L.

Braggin’ on Nicky!

My oldest son not only participated in the County-Wide Honors Band this past weekend, he was awarded the Student Academic Athlete of the Fall award on Tuesday – highest grade point average of all fall sports athletes!   Way to go, Nick!

Here are some pictures from honors band -

And from the sports award banquet -

Amy

The Kreiling’s new kitchen

Well, it seems like we’re doing everything at once, but here are pictures from our recent kitchen changes.   We had the ceiling fixed, the countertops replaced, and the “backsplash” area plastered & painted.   Whew!   We’re definitely keeping our economy in work!

Here are the countertops removed -

And here are the new countertops -

Notice that the walls aren’t yet painted.   Here is the completed product -

We’re very happy – now, it’s time to get the cabinet/drawer-fronts painted, new hardware on the cabinets/drawers, the cabinet fronts painted and finally, the floor replaced.   Hopefully coming in 2010!!!

Amy

The Kreiling’s new windows

As many of you have visited our home and suffered the effects of our breezy living room windows, I thought you’d enjoy some pictures of our new windows.  

First, I want to thank my sister, Laura, for painting the living room.  As you’ll notice, it’s a wonderful shade of light green now!

Here’s the story of the old sliding glass door -

the old door

  the hole in the wall

the NEW sliding glass door!

Here’s a picture of our new front window -

and here’s a picture of me & Lucy after a hard day of watching the guys install the windows -

Up next, pictures of the work being done on our kitchen!!!!

Amy

So the moment you have all been waiting for.... Or at least the moment Katie has been waiting for.... Her second jump! (I didn't have the camera on the first day)

Happy Birthday, Joey!!!
Today you are 11 years old!
Oh, boy!

A visit to Hawk Mountain

While in Philly, Laura took us to Hawk Mountain.   The day was cloudy and a little cool.   We only saw a juvenile hawk but the hike around the place was nice.  The view from the top of the mountain was wonderful as the trees had turned colors.  

We also sat in on a program about the owls of Hawk Mountain.   Here are pictures of the three owls discussed -

Finally, we stopped for a bite to eat at the Hamburg Diner.   It was suppose to serve Pennsylvania Dutch food, but the halibut Walter had, the patty melt I had and the spaghetti the kids ate so of negated the PA Dutch idea!  Laura & Craig have searched for PA Dutch food and have yet to find it.   Must be a marketing ploy!

Halloween

The Kreilings headed north to Philly for Halloween weekend.   Uncle Craig instructed all children that they needed to wear a costume this year and go trick-or-treating.   This required some last minute purchases for the Kreiling clan, but we found some great costumes (I think!) 

 

The first picture cuts out Scooter – it’s important for a cowgirl to have a horse!

Maddy & Katie made some really great pumpkins, too -

 

Even though it rained most of the t-or-t time, the kids & Uncle Craig had a great time!   And the amount of candy collected – wowie-zowns!   There’s something to be said about living in a neighborhood of split homes (or whatever they call them in Philly!)

Amy

For those of you checking the blog regularly, here is a diversion from the air boot!

The Kreilings are visiting this weekend, so we should have more pictures posted next week.

And by the way doesn't she look happy? This is her partner in crime Piper. Piper is a very fiesty pony - Katie and Piper get into trouble all the time! :)

Mr. AirBoot Man

Look what’s the new fashion for 8th graders!   An AirBoot!   Not really – Nicky aggravated a growth plate in his ankle and now has to wear this AirBoot for at least the next two weeks.  Unfortunately it also means no soccer and PE but he seems okay with that.   Joey just had to take a picture and I promised to put it on the blog.

Joey also wanted a picture posted of our new printer – isn’t it new  & shiny looking?   Our last printer kicked the bucket (& noisily I might add).

 

And here’s a picture of Lucy & Duke – they are doing just fine.

--Amy

The Kreiling-Little Annual Camping Trip – Lake Placid

While not our first stop, the Lake Placid visit was definitely memorable!  Our first view of the Olympic events was of the ski jumps – wow, are they ever TALL!

Later in the visit, we actually went up to the top of the ski jump and looked around.   It was a great view of the Lake Placid area, the surrounding mountains and the other Olympic venues.   We also saw the kids practicing their ski aerial jumps – skiing down a wet surface, doing their acrobatic jump into a swimming pool.  Way cool!

The highlight of the visit to the Olympic venue was the BOBSLED ride!   We all rode it – IT WAS AWESOME!

Amy & Walter visit Europe – WITHOUT the kids!

If you can imagine it, Walter & Amy actually took a kid-less trip to Spain, Andorra and France.   The kids stayed with Tante Laura & Uncle Craig – THANK YOU! 

We were very fortunate to be invited by our friends, the Marks, to join them in staying at a French home called Tardibail (near Foix, France).   The home was secluded and lovely. 

 

The Marks graciously provided us with the small cottage out back to stay in

While in France, we ate lots of bread, cheese, pate, cured ham & other meats. Walter even gave his special cured ham a name, Leftie, and ate it all week long -

 

And of course, good French wine – here’s our collection of empty bottles on the day we left Tardibail -

We visited chateau’s, saw a cool birds of prey show atop a medieval castle, a medieval walled city (Carcassonne), and the city of Mirepoix (apparently also a cooking term).  Here are some pictures -

On Saturday (July 11), Amy stayed at Tardibail to relax while the Marks went to Toulouse and Walter visited the Tour de France!   I’ll let Walter post his pictures.

We left Tardibail on Sunday and headed to Andorra.   The drive through the mountains was spectacular, although Amy couldn’t watch on a few of those hairpin turns.

Andorra was interesting – the city was located in the middle of mountains but ironically souvenirs were hard to locate – no Andorra t-shirts for us.   We did have some yummy tapas, and of course Walter was happy with his pitcher of Sangria.  He drank Sangria and ate cured ham whenever he could!

 

After a night in Andorra, we headed back to Barcelona and stayed for three nights.

The famous food market – Boqueria -

Architecture from Gaudi -

The famous Gaudi cathedral, still in progress -

We had a wonderful time!