One reason why I need to learn German!

The other day the girls were sitting on our front steps waiting for Abe to get home. As I was watching them from the window, a little German girl that lives on the other side of the street and down to us showed up. She just happens to go to Adeline's German Kindergarten and apparently her name is Dalene. Her dad did walk over with her and stood there for a minute while she played with our dog Chloe and with the girls. I asked her dad in German if he spoke English and he said not really. Keep in mind that I don't know these people AT ALL! All of a sudden, her dad said a couple things to her and walked away back to their house. I figured that she was going to play with us outside for a bit and run back to her house when we were done. As soon as he left, she made a run for my front door and let herself in. I told her "no" in German and pulled her back outside. She kept speaking to me, but I had no idea what she was saying. She clearly wanted something though. She started rubbing her tummy. This girl is pretty homely, large and her parents are a little odd. I asked her if she wanted some water in German (I hardly know any words) and she said in German, "No, Hot Chocolate". I just kept saying "No, water" until she agreed. I went inside to grab some water and some crackers and came back outside. She took a sip and then made another run for the front door and tried to let herself in. When I wouldn't allow her to, she made a run to the back of our house and let herself in my back door! I got her back outside again and she looked at me with a sad face and said something about needing to go to the bathroom. I hurried her inside to let her go and then had her come back outside. She was not happy with me that I wasn't letting her in my house. But hello, I don't know her and I would be worried sick if she were my kid and in a strangers house. So I locked my doors so she couldn't get in. She let herself in the garage and got Adeline's scooter. She was riding it around crazy and kept falling really hard. Of course I told her she couldn't since she was hurting herself and didn't have a helmet, but she didn't understand me! I was worried she was going to crack her head open, so I took that away too and locked the garage.

It had been almost an hour of not knowing what to do with her and finally Abe pulled up. I told him that I had no idea what to do with her. Abe opened the door to our house and she immediately ran into my kitchen and started finding the treats I had... and of course I had to take them away. While she ran around and was trying to help herself to everything, Abe figured out how to say, "Go home". She responded in German saying no, that her papa would be back in 20 minutes. So Abe looked up the word "now" and told her. So she started running home and Adeline and I ran after her so she didn't go all by herself. Her dad didn't look like he was going to be picking her up anytime soon. Later on I found out from my German friends that her parents don't care for their kids and leave them by themselves all the time. She is younger than Adeline and they will leave her at the park ALL DAY by herself. She will go around begging everyone else for food and something to drink.... but she only wants unhealthy things to eat and drink (which would be why she is so large). So I feel really bad, but I really don't want her inviting herself into my house all the time! So, I need to learn some German so I can communicate :)

Normandy

A couple weeks ago, Abe's parents flew in to see us. We picked them up from the Brussels Belgium Airport and drove immediately to Normandy. To be honest I didn't really think I would enjoy it all that much, but I LOVED it. It was really neat to see some D Day sites and a little emotional too.

American Cemetery




Norah loved finding all the stars





Adeline would go from grave to grave asking, "What is his name?" "Where is he from?" and "When did he die?"





Pointe Du Hoc
This Place was so incredible. When we first walked over to the site, we saw a huge hole in the ground from a bomb. We all thought it was pretty crazy until we turned the corner and saw a hug open area with hundreds of these massive bomb holes, bunkers, etc.













Omaha Beach



















We stayed at the neatest little Bed and Breakfast really close to Omaha Beach. The owners were incredibly nice and the served the best breakfast. The building was an old barn they converted. The girls loved running around on their property and seeing the cat, geese and really old sheep.












Utah Beach