Doesn't get much better than this

All the way from Cape Town to British Columbia to Durham!! Our good friend Fritz has been in BC the last 10 months to work on his dissertation, and we were SO excited to host him for a brief 44 hours while he was en route from BC to a conference in Philadelphia, before returning back to Cape Town this past week.

It has been nearly 4 years (!!) since we left Cape Town in May 2009. So of course we had a great time together, re-connecting without missing a beat. How to "catch up" on all that has transpired in four years? ...We did a lot of talking and laughing and sharing about dissertation work (Jim and Fritz, that is) and dreams for the future.

not sure what was so hilarious...but the Apple Crisp was delicious

Fritz was an extremely gracious and easy-going guest, who didn't mind putting up with the craziness of our two little ones (and the rough night-time sleeping, as we were all still adjusting at this point to the new apartment). Gemma took to "Uncle Fritz" without a problem and was frequently climbing in to his lap and right at home singing and dancing and walking around in her dress-up shoes.

We only had one full day together, but we did get out briefly in the morning for a cup of coffee at one of 9th Street's coffeeshops. Of course, with two car seats in our Rav 4, there's only room for 2 adults up front, so guess who snapped this photo from his "seat" in the rear trunk area...

Timo loves to stand up and take in everything around him (with one eyebrow raised)

Thank you for making time to see us, Uncle Fritz! And see you again soon, DV!!!