19:48!

Hey, I did it! Ran 5 km race under 20 minutes today. Now Rob, quit picking on me, please.

//Hanna

Benke 25-ish, May 29.

Hurray! You're living your dream and made Ratatouille hit the road on your birthday.

We love you - and not only for that!

//Hanna & kids

New Babies

Congratulations to Diana & Florian for Carolin, May 3,




and Helena & Robin for Fredrik, May 12!

The Running Sandelowskys

It’s not difficult to be proud of the girls in the family. Johanna did her first real race this Saturday. It was the 5K River Run down town. She did great and won her class, girls 10 years. Wow! Hanna also showed growing potential (!) by finishing overall third woman with time 20.28 on 5K. And I should mention that there were 450 female runners in the race…

Jonte and Maja also did a short race. I wonder if my third girl wants to run races soon too?

What I did? I’m the supporting father and a loving husband, of course. And I have my Trädgårdsarbete to take care of.

//Benke

For more pictures of the Memorial Day Weekend, see http://picasaweb.google.com/Sandelowskyalbum/MemorialDayWeekend

Nad last but not least: Happy Birthday, Becky!

Birthday Family in Sweden

Happy Birthday to Staffan & Helena ! 60 + 15 = 75 years to celebrate back home in Gudö! Hope you'll have a wonderful day. We miss you.

Ratatouille Report

The project is proceeding as expected - with a few nice and some less welcome surprises. Benke is looking forward to a nice and long summer working on his Rat (Read: no wife or kids bugging him all the time. We'll be in Sweden).
Look at the progress at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Sandelowskyalbum/Ford1937RatRodTheWayToGetRiding

//Hanna

2008 Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon Weekend

This was the 10th annual marathon weekend in Cinci. Johanna took part in the Kids' Fun 1-mile Run in the rainy Sat. morning and modesty was not the word of the day: she was the overall girl winner! I ran the half marathon race at 6:30 (!!) in a beautiful Sun. morning, getting it done by 1:39 hours as the 9th woman in my class. Thanks for great cheerleading, Benke, Jonte and Maja!
Now, Johanna wants MORE, and I'm hoping for a running friend in this family, finally. //Hanna

We also saw the great view of Cinci. We saw a REALLY big, long boat, the baseball stadium, the American football stadium, and, of course, the Ohio River!

//Johanna

The stork was at Florian & Diana's Door!

Idag såg vi en skölpadda, den var minst 30 cm lång! Den låg utanför Tyskarnas hus.Vi sa att den hette Carro för att tyskarna fick en bäbis i dag som hette Carolin.Carolin var jätte liten, ävenom jag bara såg henne på en bild!He He!Okej, vi tog skölpaddan Carro till "ponden". När vi släppte ut henne så var det sorligt, men jag vet att hon var glad för att hon åkte ner i vattnet som en blixt!Och när vi skrek hej då, så kom skölpaddan Carro ut från vattnet.

// Johanna

...yes, the stork was definitely visiting our German friends: CONGRATULATIONS TO LITTLE CAROLIN BRECHT, born May 3rd 2008! Here's the proud father with big sister Elisa:

//Hanna

News and Observations

Detroit Red Wings rule. See more at http://redwings.nhl.com/ . But, who the heck is Franzen??

I'm in a period that feels a bit like a mandatory transfer. Not really living in the present, instead thinking about the summer and our trip back home to Sweden. My work, our house, the garden, all the people we're going to meet again, what comes next. I keep telling me not to do that, because time flies: it's spring in Ohio and there's lots to see and storage in your memory box. The trees are almost done with this year's blooming, it was breathtaking with the intensity and the colors, and I didn't even take a good photo of it. Our pool opens next week, and the Mexican gardeners have returned. Maja is running around, she's had her 3rd haircut, she desperately tries to form words and have a conversation with us. Must be so frustrating! The temperature varies and jumps up and down, and I, together with Maja, ended up with a bad cold. So typical since I'm supposed to run a half marathon this weekend. The lesson of the story: I'm not 25 anymore and need to rest to get better and obviously not run 10 km with a sore throat.

Johanna has had the Ohio State Achievment Tests in reading, writing and math, and she was applauded with a special price called P.I.E. (Progress In Education) due to good English skills. What a wonderful surprise, I must say we all were pretty proud of her. Jonatan keeps surprising us with his ideas and dedication, 1st grade seems to be so exciting. And the presidental campaign goes on. Whoever takes over, there will be tons to do. Just today there were a young man and a woman right by IKEA in our nice and safe West Chester, holding a sign Homeless, please help us! The rain was pouring down on them. No-one took a notice. I don't think people don't care, but it is kind of scary - nothing we're used to see in this area. I try to silence my bad conscience by not understanding the situation: it simply pisses me off when people try to raise money for sick kids or families in need (there's a letter almost every week in Jonatan or Johanna's school folder!) because I really belive every rich country that calls itself civilized should take care of its sick people, at least the children. A minimum requirement. So I keep telling me it's not my problem - they have chosen this system themselves. Let's see what they choose next time.

Oh well, back to domestic life, safe and sound. It's Friday night, and movie night for our family. Tjingeling!
//Hanna