Visiting Ryan and Lisa

Standing in front of their apartment right before heading to the airport. I am officially no longer the shortest person in my family!

Downtown Ft. Collins- lots of cool shops and restaurants.

Biking is very popular, especially at the CSU campus.

Lisa's lab- she's explaining her NASA project to me. Notice the camera person (me) is not nodding in understanding!

Ryan and Lisa "consulting" in her office.

Ryan begins his telecommuting day in pj's "promptly" at 8am in their second bedroom.

Their ground floor apartment.

View from their front door- heated spa and pool.

American School of Warsaw Pledge Run

Hey, Kyle here!

The coach for my cross-country team has organized a pledge run for various charity events, which will take place October 3. This has been an incredibly successful run in the past (last year the team raised over $2500!). My request to all relatives who read this: Pledge a small amount of money per lap (which is .25 miles) and send it our way after the run. Even 50 cents would be a huge help! I estimate I'll run 20-25 laps in the given 60 minutes. Please post your pledge in the comments, or send it to the family Yahoo email address.

These are the links to the charities we will be donating to:

http://www.bridgingdevelopment.org/

http://www.jua.org/

http://www.carbonneutral.com/

http://www.tecza.org/art.php?dzial=ostowarzyszeniu (the site is in Polish, but basically it's, and I quote, "working towards the health and happiness of blind and partially blind children through charitable activies, health care, rehabilitation and education in work and society)

http://www.synapsis.waw.pl/%22 (this is in Polish too; the charity helps families with autistic children and other families suffering because of different health, educational and social problems.)

Thanks for the help,

Kyle

Blueberry Picking

The Poles have an experimental agricultural station where they are learning about American blueberries. Since there's no one to pick and sell the resulting fruit, the director invites the Americans from the embassy to a yearly picking session. Then they charge us a nominal fee per kilo.

We ended up with more than 10 pounds of blueberries for only about $22! The freezer is full and we plan to eat blueberry pancakes, muffins, pie, cobbler, and smoothies for many months.

Since bugs were present, this is where Katy spent her time during the excursion! This is a step up from last year's apple picking fiasco when tears were involved (tall, dry grass and flying grasshoppers in the apple orchard- so much for passing on traditions and memories from my own childhood)!

Condi Comes for a Visit!

For those of you who don't know his right ear as well as I do, this is Tim shaking hands with Condoleezze Rice. She had just come from signing the missle defense shield treaty with the PM of Poland (Donald Tusk). She stopped by the embassy for a meet-and-greet. This was my first VIP photo op and I don't think I'll be hired to do it professionally! I think Tim already emailed the group photo to all of you. Debbi wanted to know why Tim had his hand on Magda's butt!

First Day of School

Michael, Kyle, and Katy are ready for their first day at the American School of Warsaw. They have attended various orientations and feel comfortable and eager to begin at this new school (fifth in five years and yes, I feel very guilty about that). A van from the embassy will pick them up right in front of the house and take them and several other neighborhood kids the five miles to school. In the afternoon, they can come directly home or stay for activities and take one of the two late vans home.

Moving Day

All our worldly possessions had been packed out of Virginia the week before Memorial Day weekend in May. Today, two and a half months later, is moving-in day. With joy (familiar beds and pillows!), trepidation (in what condition will everything arrive?), and dread (oh God, do we have to put all that stuff away AGAIN?!) we greet the movers and begin one very long day.

This is a view of the dining area and living room BEFORE the chaos begins.

DURING the move, a lovely team of 11 Polish movers unpack 18 crates off two trucks. We were told that we more than doubled the previous record for number of crates for an American coming to this embassy. Tim and I are both competitive people and enjoy setting new records!

Katy

AFTER- stuff is piled everywhere because we wanted the movers to take away as many empty boxes as possible. The result is a mess.

These pictures were taken three weeks ago. As of today, all furniture has been placed, all boxes unpacked, and the drapes hung. Unfortunately, I cannot say this about the third floor. And nothing has been hung on the walls. But, we are having a party here on September 7 so we WILL be done by then!

Martha Jane Burke O'Brien Adds Another Candle!

Today is Martha's birthday so call, email, or leave her some birthday wishes in the comments section! Congratulations to Martha from us on another stellar year of successes in both her personal and professional lives- we love you!