This weekend turned out really well on more than one account. Friday was "organizational day" for the Landstuhl Dentac (which includes Baumholder), and as I mentioned earlier, it was at an amusement park. Steve had to work, but I took Emily with me. We enjoyed the company of some other contractors for the day - a couple of dentists and a hygienist (all of the same generation) and also a 16 year old boy who didn't feel like spending the day with his parents. It took some convincing, but Emily went with the boy, Dylan, and for the first time in her life rode a rollercoaster!! She was grinning ear to ear when she got off. It was a corkscrew type, and though not the biggest one they had, there is no way I'd ever get on it! I believe there is a Stafford gene that keeps us off those things, am I right? Which of you goes on these rides? This is a picture of it, "Superwirbel" - super whirl.

At the end of the day we drove the 30 min. or so over to Anne & Alfons', to celebrate Alfons' birthday. We spent the night, and did a little shopping for goodies in France the next day. I got help from Alfons in looking up the tickets for the new bullet train line that goes from Kaiserslautern to Paris in just 2 hours (by car almost 5 hours), and followed his tip on making the purchase over in France for a better price than what I'd pay in Germany. Anne of course did all the talking at the ticket window. So, thanks to the two of them Emily is getting her weekend in Paris! I also got help from our cousin Pierre, who I'd emailed with a request for recommendations for a hotel. http://www.hotel-palais-bourbon.com/ Isn't it great to be so well connected :) We'll arrive early afternoon Saturday and leave Monday afternoon on Labor Day weekend.