Brightwood Lights

Another DC Summer

We are in the throes of another hot and sticky DC summer, but that doesn’t mean that fun is not to be had.  Local highlights of this past month have included going to another Nationals game AND to an Orioles/Tigers game in Baltimore (where Simona yelled “Let’s go, Nats!” the entire time), enjoying weekly dinners with Tante KK (with an occasional appearance by the attack-Schildkroete), listening to free music at an outdoor amphitheater (National Symphony Orchestra!) and at the Zoo (Army Jazz Band), and spending plenty of time at pools, splash parks, and playgrounds.

Not-so-local highlights have included a weekend in Iowa to visit family and- for Nancy and Caleb only- a twenty-four hour trip to Chicago to attend a friend’s wedding.  Simona stayed behind for one night with Tante KK, which, I’m told, was completely tranquil and uneventful for all parties involved.

Tante KK is only in town for one more week, and we will be quite sad to see her go.  Fortunately, we go to Georgia in mid-August and will spend one more weekend with her (and other family) before she heads back up to school in New York.

We hope you’re all enjoying your summers, too!

Pictures are updated!

Just a quick note to let you eager family members know that there are now new photos posted. We are off to Iowa this coming weekend, so we will likely have more to share soon.

Enjoy!

Summer in Deutschland, Sverige, and USA

It’s been a while since we’ve posted, so here are the highlights from where we’ve been in the past month and a half:

- Germany (9 days): riding bikes along the dykes, swimming at the Fortuna Bad, playing on the beach on the North Sea, attending Doris & Karl-Heinz’s wedding, seeing family & friends (including Mickey!), watching Simona learn LOTS of German (including a song “auf Platt”- in the Low German dialect), and eating plenty of good food!

- Sweden (7 days): touring Stockholm, eating “glass” (ice cream), crossing the Oresund Bridge (which connects Sweden & Denmark),  driving through the countryside, skipping the trip to Gotland, camping and hiking along the Vannern lake, and spending one night in a nice hotel!

- USA (the rest of the time):  Tanke KK moving to DC for the summer,  celebrating Simona’s 2nd birthday, buying an air conditioner (first summer since 2004 with A/C!), cheering on Germany in the European Cup soccer tournament (the finals are this Sunday!), catching up with friends, and announcing that we’re expecting another baby!
Hope you’re all well- pictures from our trip to come soon, along with another update, I hope!

Ready, Set, Go!

April gave us a chance to take a test-run on the upcoming summer travel season. We’re certainly looking forward to it, but in that staring-up-a-cliff-that-you’re-excited-to-climb sort of way.

Nancy got her practice by running (running!) the Boston Marathon in April. It was a long-time dream - kind of the granddaddy of marathons - so it was great for her to (1) qualify and (2) get to run it. Our good friend Carolyn from Northwestern is finishing dental school in Boston, so they got to spend the long weekend together. Reinhard also came to run the race with Nancy (what is it with these Ketsches?).

Caleb and Simona took the race weekend as an opportunity to slip back to Iowa for a weekend to see Grandpa, Grandma, Uncles Seth and Wyatt, Great Grandpa Brenneman, and Great Grandpa and Grandma Neil. Simona traveled like an angel (sleeping mostly) and Caleb fulfilled his role as the “Simona Delivery Service” =). It was a great chance to see the family and get some fresh Iowa air.

So that little weekend was a preview for our upcoming adventures. At the end of May, we’re traveling to Germany and Sweden for two-and-a-half weeks. We’ll spend one week of that exploring Sweden and the rest of the time in Germany with family.

After we get back from Europe, we have another trip to Iowa and a whole slew of weddings coming up this summer. And those are just the trips that we would need to fly to. Throw in a trip to the beach, maybe a couple to see some Grandparents, hanging out with Karen (who will be in DC for the summer!), and visiting a friend or two on the East coast, all before Labor Day, and we’re starting to get a little vertigo starting up the cliff … in a good way =).

PS - Oh! And April also gave us a chance to see our friends the Sacketts who were back in town (from Wichita) for almost a week. Sam had some work to get done in DC, so Sarah and Eliana came along. Eliana and Simona were nearly inseparable … not that we would have expected anything else.

PPS - New pictures are up, as always =).

Play ball!

The first photo of Caleb and me (that we know of) was taken at a Cubs game we attended with a big group of friends from college in the spring of 1999. Caleb hates that I am wearing a Cubs hat (a free give away that day) as that is one of his least favorite teams, but otherwise it’s a good picture.

It also was a harbinger of what was to come in our marriage.  One of our main shared interests is the good old “national pasttime.”  I grew up “doing the chop” at Fulton County Stadium, while Caleb caught as many Cards games as he possibly could at the old Busch stadium. Thus, we were both thrilled to learn that the (former) Expos, now known as the Nationals, were moving to Washington in April 2005. Most spring, summer, and early fall nights in our household incorporate the voices of Charlie and Dave, the Nats radio hosts, as background noise, and many a train of thought has been derailed by the words, “way back. . . going, going, and gone!  Goodbye!”

(For the record: We’ve agreed that, though our first loyalties will remain to our respective teams, we will raise Simona a Nats fan and cheer for them when they don’t play (or otherwise affect) our Braves or Cardinals.)

Thus, we were THRILLED to get two tickets to Opening Day in 2008. Not only was it each of our first Opening Day, it also was the opening of the new baseball stadium in Washington DC. President Bush threw out the first pitch, which marked our first sighting of him since living in this city. I even agreed to cheer for the Nationals over the Braves for this one select occasion (though I wore my Braves t-shirt under my Nats shirt, did a few Tomahawk Chops, and was secretly glad that Chipper hit the first homer in the new park. . .) Anyway, the Nats won with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, and, despite the forty-degree weather, the night was unforgettable. I took WAY too many pictures, but we’ve included just a few on the pictures page.

Here’s to wishing you and yours a great baseball season!