Rie's Pictures

Here's some pictures from our new guest from Japan. Rie is staying with us through August.

Above left: Charity and Rie

Above right: Rie visited the Mall of America before flying in to Sioux Falls.

Here's the "Bucket Brigade." James, Rebecca, Michael, and Rie. --->

Not sure who is holding the piglet, but this was taken at Grandpa and Grandma Sandbulte's farm. The kids spent part of a day there in the haymow, playing with the pigs, and swinging on the tree swing.

Sarah and Rie at Oak Grove Park. James and Michael came along with them and ran the trails.

We have two new ponies now. Sorry no pictures of them here.
The kids (mainly the boys) are riding them almost every day. It sounds like Dillan wants to ride them a bit, too. They're a nice size for the smaller kids, so hopefully they continue to get ridden a lot.

Rebecca + Roommates: Euro Journal Entry

(Rebecca is wearing the "Italy" jacket.)
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Day 8: July 14, 2008

Hey parents! Today we spent the day in Lucerne, Switzerland. We got to sleep in until 8...and then enjoyed the luxuries of an actual shower. We loved having big towels. The breakfast here at Anker Hotel was good... we had delicious bread and fruit and stuff.

At 9:30 we went on a walking tour of Lucerne. We had this sweet guide named Blanca who was raised in the mountains near Lucerne. The walking tour was rainy and cold and we were all sopping wet by the end, but it was nice change from the humidity of Venice.

We went into a palace in Lucerne that had beautiful stone pillars. We then went across this beautiful wood bridge from the 1400s. There were cool paintings on it depicting swiss legends... part of the bridge burned down but was rebuilt. We saw a monument for swiss soldiers, The dying Lion. Mark Twain once wrote "This is the saddest rock I've ever seen". The tour ended there and we made our way to a swiss shop to buy souvenirs and presents.

We took a boat and then the cogwheel train to Mt. Pilatus (or as we liked to call it Mt. Pilates).. the height was a bit terrifying but the view was incredible! We went down the mountain in a cable car. We are all agreed we would like to live in Lucerne even though it rained..

****Paula, Elisabeth, Rebecca & Hannah****

Nymphenburg

This was taken from the Euro tour web-site....

Munich guided sightseeing tour. Nymphenburg palace: lots of good, beautiful paintings, room of beauties. Crazy drivers! I have never seen so many u turns in my life. Also I went to the bathroom next to a computer hard drive. The food was good though and not to expensive. Dachau: To be completely honest we are speechless. The feeling as we walked in was one I will never forget. Everything was just silence even the talkative girls hushed their voices. As we drive away the only thing I wish more from the experience was more time. From being there I have a sense of sadness but I am also determined to do all in my power to keep the holocaust known so it will never happen again. However words will never be able to describe the experience. After visiting Dachau we went back to Marienplatz and did more shopping and exploring. It was fun and unique. For dinner we went to Hard Rock Cafe; the food was awesome! On our way home we took the tram and called it a night.*****Devan, Sara & Angelica****

Rebecca's Euro Trip

Somewhere in Germany...

Sometime yesterday...

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I haven't seen any of Rebecca's pix on her site yet, so here's one from the tour web site.

Dad