Trip to Interlaken

Today we decided to head to Interlaken, Switzerland. It's about a 2 hour train ride one way. It's a beautiful area. The town is nestled between 2 lakes and is surrounded by mountains. It definately had the feel of a ski town. We picked a good day to go. It wasn't crowded and the weather was perfect.

The following are a few of the pictures that Jason took while walking around town.

We had arrived at 12:00. It was pretty to hear the church bells ringing.

I can't believe Devin had his eyes closed!

Jason was able to get some really nice pictures on the train ride back home.

We plan to stay home for a few days. I think we have all had our share of train rides for awhile.

A trip to Montreux

We decided today to head to downtown Montreux. The ride was nice and not too long - 1 hour. We got to see some of the mountains and SUNSHINE! We haven't seen that for awhile and it felt sooooo good!

Montreaux has one of the biggest Christmas Fairs in Switzerland and everything is set up on the shore of Lake Geneva.


We were having some fun!

There were quite a few "trolls" around the fair. I don't know how they are associated with Christmas. I'll have to ask about that.

We were enjoying the view in the following picture. We were also happy to get away from the crowd for a little bit. It was very busy!

Jason snapped a nice family picture. It's hard to see the mountains in the back due to the haze. Once the sun started going behind the mountains, it cooled off very quickly.

We ended the trip watching the men play the Alp Horns. Here is a sample.

Christa's Parents Arrive

My parents arrived this past Tuesday morning. Kate and I took the train to Zurich to meet them. Everyone was very excited to have them come and see us. They are getting very familiar with walking around Neuchatel. The day after they arrived we had snow. We got probably enough to cover the ground but where the boys go to school, they had over a foot of snow.

On Thursday, we decided to head to Bern to walk around. We bundled up and off we went. Dad said that parts of the train ride looked like scenes from Dr. Zchivago (sp?) It was very cold. This time I knew where we were going and I didn't take them to the other side of the river.

It was so pretty and fun to see all the snow.

At the end of the day, my parents were worn out. I think they were also dealing with jet lag. Lucas thought it would be fun to capture the moment.

Fun!

We had a nice snow storm last weekend and the boys went sledding over by their friend's house. I wanted to show you this video of Lucas sledding. It cracks us up every time we watch it. Just to let you know, Lucas did not get hurt.

Christmas Lights

It's Christmas time in Neuchatel!

I wanted to post some pictures we took during our walk thru town a couple of weeks ago. I know I am a little late but it's been busy.

This snowman is one of many in the flowerbeds. It's made of moss that has been either spray painted or dyed. Pine cones for eyes and beautiful greenery all around.
Kate and I enjoy all the Christmas trees that are right in front of our place.

These are a few of the streets that have lights.

This Christmas tree is at the end of the block. It is very big and has many lights.

Kate on Ice!

Kate's class has started their ice skating sessions. They go on Friday afternoons to the local ice rink. I went along to help drive and help with getting the ice skates on. I told Kate she could watch but of course that wasn't enough for her.

Her PE teacher Mrs. Wooters came over and took her out on the ice for the very first time. She loved it! She also loved being able to say "I told you mom that I could do this!"
She then got really brave. She decided to try out one of the training frames.

The other kids were so surprised to see her out on the ice. Now, she can't wait for Fridays!

Lucas's Mall

Lucas's class has just completed their Unit of Inquiry - Buildings. The central idea of the unit was "The design of buildings and structures is dependent on the environment and available materials".

It was a great process. They took a walk thru the town of Gumligen (where there school is located) and took pictures. They discussed the ideas of why those buildings were built and their materials. They worked in groups of 4 or 5. They had to do research and go back to their group to talk about what they had learned.

Lucas's group decided to design a mall that was environmentally friendly. They did everything in class. The paper mache (sp?), the painting, lego building, and each of them had to make a brochure on Publisher. The part I love is that they did this all by themselves without parents influence or help. They also learned quite a bit about team work.

They did a great job! They definately made learning fun!

Christmas Around the World

This past Wednesday, the school celebrated Christmas around the World. The mothers and some fathers from 10 different countries put together a table and a 5 minute presentation. We started at 8:30 and went to 12:00. There were children the entire time. Occasionally we would get a small break and I would sneak over to another table to hear about the wonderful traditions. I loved it. It was so much fun and a lot of samples of desserts!

Sweden ................ Sorry, I cut off Annika's head. St. Nick is the size of a gnome (sp?) I believe it is on Christmas Eve when the children dress up in all white robes or red and the eldest girl of the family will wear the crown of candles. Germany........ The advent calander with the goodies which starts Dec.1st. I forget what the name is of the beautiful piece on the left. I know it represents the Nativity scene.

Italy.......I think she was giving the best presentation. Kids were always at her table and I never got a chance to visit her table to hear what she was saying.

Switzerland..... They came prepared. They had hot tea, coffee, apple cider, hot wine and tons of goodies.

Switzerland had 2 tables and a tree. They had each child hang an ornament. I forgot to take a picture at the end. I was tired at the end and ready to go.

Israel had the potato pancakes and the cakes that look and taste like doughnuts. I think the kids loved their table the best. They passed out chocolate coins too!

Poland's Table had beautiful pictures of food that they prepare. They serve a 12 course dinner on Christmas day. They passed out sample menus. I think you would have to not eat the day before. However, I don't believe you can start eating until the first star is spotted by one of the children.

Australia.. They enjoy a camp out on the beach.

I forgot to take a picture of my table and Spain. I did visit with Spain and what I found interesting was that lottery tickets are very popular. It is not uncommon at Christmas time for an entire town to win and you get back usually what you have spent over the years on purchasing lottery tickets.

It was a fun morning. I hope you enjoyed the tour.

UNICEF Fundraising

Katelyn's class is participating in UNICEF's Twinkle Week. There goal is to raise money for the children in Laos. They had a press conference in the classroom. The local media attended and there were two representatives from UNICEF. Kate was one of the welcome greeters. They did the conference in both English and French. I hope to post this weekend Kate's portion of the conference and what was on the local news. She did a great job!!

Last Friday, the class went downtown and basically stood in the main part outside the grocery store and a big department store. They were in groups of four and every group had an older child from 4th or 5th grade that helped. The teachers were giving them the game plan.


Kate and her good friend Victoria were a great team. Kate held the UNICEF brochures and she would say "excuse me" and if the person would stop, Victoria would do all the talking in French.
It was funny, there would be times when someone would say in English that they didn't speak French. They would walk away before Kate realized that she could say something to them. It was a great experience for them. It was nice when someone would actually listen to them. It takes a lot of courage to go up to strangers and ask for donations.

On Saturday morning, they had a baked goods sale at the market downtown. It was very cold and I was happy that our shift was from 12 -1. It had warmed up a little. I think they did really well. I never heard a final count. I just stood there and smiled. I didn't know how to tell people that they could pay whatever they wanted for the treats.

Kate has been collecting at home. We put all the change under 1 Fr in her box every week. I think she is doing pretty well. Now we have to sell raffle tickets. The dinner and raffle is in January. This is the longest fundraiser I have ever participated with. Wish us luck!