Pharoah's Visit

Pharoah and her two biggest fans

Pharoah was my very first friend when I moved to Salem in the middle of high school (and I'm forever grateful to her!)  After graduation she moved to the east coast for college and has been living there until she very recently moved just a couple miles away from us in Oregon!  Very exciting, but then of course we left.  Fortunately, she is in Europe quite a bit for work, so she hoped over on the train from Zurich, Switzerland this weekend to visit.

She is great with the kids, and they definitely milked that for all it was worth!

oh, how pleased James is with the milking!

coloring while Pete got in some piano time at a church friend's house.  again, James is pleased.

But thankfully there were other activities available besides babysitting - she was actually here on the most happening weekend in Luxembourg - the celebration of National Day and the Grand Duke's birthday.  I suppose you could compare it to the 4th of July in the states but with more general "partying."  Pharoah and I braved the city on Friday night but quickly retreated home after dinner, as it was loud, packed, and the fireworks, though allegedly impressive, didn't begin until midnight.

Saturday, we headed into the city center by the canyon route, and encountered a street fair with all sorts of free activities for kids.

the normally serene path packed out with families

the hillside the kids like to climb on this walk

view from near the top

The kids tried their hand at a couple games before we moved on through.  Next year we'll probably try more.

Luxembourgish air hockey?

Luxembourgish Tilt-a-Whirl? (Daphne inside)

continuing the walk to the Grund near Pete's office

Pharoah just left this afternoon, and that's our last visitor until September when Pete's parents come.  We'll miss you, Pharoah, please come back soon!

bus stop buddies

Oh, and I should mention one last milestone from the weekend...

James conquered his first Luxembourgish giant tube slide!