From last winter, dad and daughter on the sled in the snow. Caroline and I once tried sledding here in the sand but it didn’t work out very well. There are a couple of reasons I really liked this photo, first, Katharina’s cheeks are so rosy red making her oh so cute. The other reason, look behind them on the left, what is that kid doing laying face down with his sled over him?

Did you save us a piece? Here’s our far-away niece showing us the braided bread she made all by herself just for Caroline and me. Ok, she probably did not make it for us, maybe she didn’t make it all, and she certainly did not save us a taste. Love the socks, I wonder if mom made them.

This is our niece Katharina on the playground – obviously not in America. I say obviously because if you look, she is running on a spinning wheel, she could hurt herself and sue someone if this were in America. Look at the uneven logs in the background, holes where feet could get trapped, ropes to fall over. It’s a sorry state we have come to that liability insurance, lawsuits, and greed has in part taken some of the fun away from being a child. Fortunately, this little girl is growing up in Germany where she can still skin a knee, run around without a care, and have fun on the playground.

My brother-in-law, Klaus, from Germany sent this photo of two snails dedicated to Caroline from our niece, Katharina. Caroline’s nickname as a little girl was Schnecke – which is snail in German, so it is wonderful that Katharina thinks of her aunt Caroline and has made such a beautiful drawing of her aunt who lives so far away in America. Sadly, we have not yet met Katharina as we have not been back to Germany in 12 years and Caroline’s sister Stephanie, her husband, and daughter haven’t yet come to America. On occasion though we see some very sweet photos of Katharina, such as the ones I will be posting for the next few days. Maybe one day we will be able to convince Stephanie and Klaus to bring Katharina for a visit so she can go to Disneyland, hike a bit of the Grand Canyon, look for bears in Yellowstone, take a dip in the Pacific Ocean and finally meet her aunt and uncle for the first time.