Hayes Park

Before Blankita and her family were returning to Mexico City her friends from school got together at Hayes park. A great playground with a water park.

It was a wonderful cool evening and it was great to see everyone again

Ballerina Class

During the summer Mia has been taking a dance class on Tuesday mornings in a dance studio across the street from her school. A new substitute teacher was a lot of fun

Lapp Farm

On our last day in Amish county we checked out a farm that is famous for their home made ice cream. But it seems that all the cats and kittens were quite the attraction for Mia and Larrisah as well
First they met a cat that wanted to be petted

There were also some baby calf.

Then we had to wait a bit since the lie for the ice cream was pretty long. But there were some books to look at

But the wait was worth it

 There were also some very cute kittens

 

Dutch Wonderland

Last year we promised Mia a visit to Dutch Wonderland when we passed it on the way to the hotel but then we couldn't go because of the weather.
This year then it was more fun to go together with Christoph, Shika, Larrisah and their baby.

Also, Mia could do rides she could have not done a year ago

But luckily not all the rides were wild

Amish County

After the summerfest in Newtown Square we headed to Amish county again since we really enjoyed it last year.
Our first stop was the railroad in Straburg:
Not much time left until the train was leaving:

Christoph and his family stayed at the Fulton Steamboat hotel with its playground. They had gotten the last room and so we stayed accross the stret

SAP Summerfest

A colleague that works at the SAP US headquarter in Newtown Square, Pa recommended the summerfest there for all employees and their families. Its set up like a county fair and lots of fun for children. So we and some other colleagues with their families went up there to check it out.
The drive was not too bad  and took only 2.5 hours.

After lunch at an Amish market, we checked out the hotel pool and then headed to the festival after Mia's nap

Mia was excited to see Larissah which she knows from German school

They checked out the Ferris wheel with Christoph

Then some other rides

 It all ended with a bog fire works

Goodbye to Erika, Jacob, and Ha

It was finally time to say goodbye to Erika, Jacob and Ha at a breakfast in the common room before they took off on the road trip to Denver.
We will miss you all very much

Bye Bye Erika and Jacob

With a breakfast in the common room we all said good bye to Erika, Jacob and their parents when they left Arlington for Denver, Colorado. We will all miss you very much

Busy Weekend

Mia had a busy weekend. We are trying to spend a lot of time with Erika, Jacob and Ha before they leave later this week and we had cousins Ben Ben and Ella over on Saturday evening:
First the three of them played a bit at our place, then check out the pool and a a bath before heading to restaurant for dinner

After that it was some "Curious George" and Mia and Ella went to bed together/

Toronto

On 6 am on the fourth of July we left Washington DC on a flight to Toronto. A bit early but worth the extra day an we made it time for a second breakfast to our hotel in downtown. After that we hopped on a street car for a quick trip to Chinatown

After a long afternoon nap we took the streetcar again to explore the waterfron

 After dinner in an outdoor cafe Mia had to check out he pool in the hotel

The next day we checked out other parts of downtown'

and then decided to take the bus to the Niagara Falls

Saturday day morning we checked our St. Laurence street market - according to National Geographic the No 1 market in America.

 Ji agreed

 In the afternoon we took the ferry to Centre Island. An Oasis in the city

 There was a beautiful beach

 The evening view of the city was beautiful

 On Sunday we checked out another beach in the east of the city and discovered some other nice neighborhoods