I got done writing my lovely new letter and of course, my Computer had a hiccup, and now I can't find my letter. Of course, this happens AFTER I downloaded the fourteen pictures onto the page! I'm now re-writing this new letter and you will have to understand why I won't have as many witty comments in it. I will start off with the pictures from Germany, as all of the lovely readers have heard the story of what happened while we were there. I will still send the pictures. Before we left Tucson, I bought an outfit for Piper. It just happened that Sabrina had bought a new shirt similar to Piper's and so they matched!

We took the bus down to Hanau to see the Market Plots. This is their outdoor marketplace that sells fruits, vegetables, and a lot of flowers. (That's one of the only things that we didn't see on this trip.)

The girl in the picture's name is Emily. You may not know her, as she is our host's youngest daughter. She passed her driving test the day we left. Poor thing! She had to take it at 07:00am while it was raining, and she also had to drive on the Auto-Banh during rush hour! Even with all that, she still passed it anyway. It ONLY cost her about 2,400 euros which, is about $2,600 dollars. Symantha came all the way over to Germany and couldn't resist eating at Hanau's new Subway. That's where we went for lunch. I had to decline, as I don't like Hanau's Subway. The rest seemed to enjoy it.

I will say, that I was impressed! Sabrina and Symantha even went into a bakery all by themselves!!!!

The next day we took the train to Frankfurt and had a good time.

Piper may not look as though she had a good time going but, once we got there, she was fine.

We went to the top of the mall and took pictures of both the city and the view.

This picture turned out blurry, which I was sorry about.

On our trip back to Rodenbach, we were able to ride and experience many different trains. We were lucky enough to have bought an all-day pass. This made it possible for us to ride several different trains, all-day, without paying any additional money.

On one train ride, Piper even got her own seat!

After passing Rodenbach (We were trying to get off the train there), I gave up and called our friend, Reingard in Hanau, to come and get us. Hanau is about a 10 mile drive from Rodenbach.

On the trip home, I was able to stay an extra day in Tucson before flying back to Tulsa. I was able to see Karren, KD and Ashley. Ashley is getting rid of her moped, so we all had fun taking turns riding it.

Since then, Zeke and I, went camping. I figured that since we couldn't come to AZ and go camping with the family, that we would go here instead. We picked out a lovely spot by the lake and set-up camp. (We made sure that we wouldn't have any neighbors.) This is the truck before we set up camp.

The tailgate worked great as an area for us to cook.

Zeke and I did a good job at setting up camp, and I thought it was a lovely spot to be able to camp.

Zeke was the Master Firestarter, and

I'm the Master Cook!

The following morning, we went out in the canoe. It floated under a big tree that all these birds had made their nests.

Since this is a man-made lake, many trees were destroyed in the process. The birds, that we thought might be eagles (Ed. note: probably osprey), seemed to have made good use of them. I was concerned for the baby birds that didn't learn to fly on the first shot, though. Later that afternoon, a Forest Ranger came. He politely told us that we weren't allowed to camp where we were and that we needed to leave. Just across the lake, there were some campgrounds. So, for only $8.00 a night, we were more than happy to camp there. We packed up and left. Apparently in OK., you can only camp within 150 yards from a public road. (A public road is one that has no grass and a ditch on at least one side.) Since we had to drive down a cow trail to get to the campground, we packed up and went home. All in all, we had a great time.

Zeke and I have taken up shooting but, like camping in OK, you can only do it in designated areas. As pregnant women shouldn't touch lead, this is how it goes; Zeke sets up the targets where he wants them,

I watch while wearing all the protective gear, and

Zeke shoots the gun to make sure the sight is setup. By this time, I don't feel like shooting, and I'm starting to get hungry, so Zeke cleans everything up and we go home. We had a good time. It was fun to sit back and watch how accurate Zeke is with a rifle. I wouldn't want to be a deer that he was trying to shoot, that's for sure!

Yesterday, I went to the Dr. to have an exam and was not expecting to have an ultrasound. I was lucky enough to get one and was able to hear the baby's heartbeat. She was in position so the Dr. could measure her. (I only use the pronoun she, because that's what we are wanting). The baby is head-down and your suppose to be able to see the hand. I couldn't really see that. I'm about 11 weeks and 3 days along. On October 12th, I have another appt. where the Dr. should be able to tell us the sex of the baby. HOORAY!!! The whitish line on the picture is the baby's spine. The baby is about 3-4 inches long and is the size of a peach. And so far, I have gained about 7 lbs.

Stay tuned, and we'll let you know as more happens.
We love and miss you guys.
Mylinda and Zeke Ellis