Got home from the week in Germany last night, sailing up through the country like we had jet propulsion, in stark contrast to our crawling, staggering, stuttered drive down. What took us (and should take us) about 11.5 hours including the ferry and stops on the way back took a horrendous 16.5 hours on the way down, thanks to massive, unending construction and unbelievable traffic. Between Hamburg and Hannover on the way down, while I was at the wheel, 30 kilometers took us nearly 3 hours. ON THE AUTOBAHN.

We had a lovely week with my brother, Simone, the boys, and my mom, in John's new, beautiful, huge house that they have renovated in record time. We had scorching hot weather as well (30F!) and sunshine the entire week. Anders and John spent two full days laying their new deck and we enjoyed bug-free evenings outside in the yard and then on the deck.

Today was laundry, chores, groceries, etc., and tomorrow starts a 4-day week for me that includes insanity at work with a huge amount of stuff to get done before Friday including training our summer worker. Add to that an eye appointment, naprapat appointment and hair appointment as well as WW and a visit to Anders' mom plus PACKING and you can see why I am starting to freak out a little bit. Hard to believe the summer is actually here and we are heading to the US (without Anders, wah!) in 5 days and Martin will not be coming back with us.

Anyway, I'll have to catch you on the flip side since writing possibilities will be scarce while I'm in Michigan. Happy Summer!