Something Funny to Share

I finally got a picture this morning that Kate & I have been discussing for the past couple of days. This silly girl with the balloons just gets so upset when............
we are behind this city bus. This bus uses the same route we take to and from school. As soon as she sees it, she gets so red in the face and mad that they would put a picture like that on a bus!

Something funny from Switzerland!

December - Before Christmas!

Happy Holidays everyone! I can't believe how long it has been since I posted something. December has flown by and it was a bit busy!

At the end of November, the kids all took turns being sick. I was sort of happy to have that over with before the holidays. They were pretty miserable for a couple of days. The boy's school actually closed for one day because so many kids were out with "flu like" symptoms.

Devin and Lucas were better by the time their school went to Basel, Switzerland for 2 days - December 10th and 11th. They had a great time. They visited 2 museums and toured the town. They visited the Christmas market and brought back some very nice gifts for us. Devin took the following pictures.

Their school has been doing some fantastic activities. They went last week to do "Curling". They said it was "super fun" but quite hard to get the stone in the circle!

I helped out with Christmas Around the World at Kate's school again this year. It was lots of fun once again. I added some countries that we didn't have last year.

France had some delicious dried fruits and nuts.

I really like the cheese and chocolate graters. I might have to get one of those before we leave.

This year I remembered to add the U.S.A table. I had a friend that just moved here not too long ago from Connecticut. She speaks fluent French and it was wonderful!

Last year I saw one of these at the table for Germany but I forget what it is called. It is basically a nativity scene in the middle and the heat from the candles makes it spin. I found it last year right after Christmas at a great price. We just love it and we actually have it out all year long.

We just started getting really cold last week. We had one day where the view of the Alps was so clear. We had our first snowflake in Neuchatel this past Sunday. Skiing has begun in the mountains. We have had snow flurries on and off all week and it makes for a wonderful holiday feeling.

I need to go and finish the packing. We are off on a big Adventure. I hope to post some great pictures for the end of 2009! We want to wish everyone a wonderful Holiday Season!

November Sunrise

Jason photographed a beautiful sunrise. The rest of the family was down in the fog almost all day!

The Walking Cello

Today I remembered to snap a picture of Lucas going to lessons down the street. He says his cello teacher laughs every time he opens the door and sees that huge cello on Lucas. It still brings a smile to my face every time I think of him carrying that huge thing.

Goodbye to Fall and Hello Winter

Hello everyone! It's been a while but we haven't had too much happening. Everyone seems to be busy. The boys are enjoying school and tennis lessons. Katelyn is doing well and just got the ok to start putting weight on her leg again. We were able to get a nice family picture this weekend. The leaves are almost gone.
Lucas had a friend over on Saturday. His name is Dario. We had a nice time with him. His English is coming along. He speaks French and German at home. He had that smile on his face the whole time he was at our house. We had gone down to the lake to play some American Football but Dario prefers European football.

Maggie is just too cute!

It was quite chilly on Saturday but we had a pretty good view of the Alps even with all the cloud cover. They have been getting lots of snow but here in Neuchatel we have just had rain.

I'll leave you with some pictures of the end of Autumn in Neuchatel.

Historical Halloween

Today Katelyn's class celebrated Halloween with "Historical Halloween". They had to choose a person and present some facts about them. Katelyn chose Sacagawea. We had a good time making the costume. We probably should have practiced more on the memorization but I think she got nervous and the mind went blank. It was a fun morning and all the children did a great job. It was a fun way to celebrate Halloween!

Murten, Switzerland

We headed over to Murten this past Sunday. It was about a 30 minute drive. Murten is located on a small lake that is directly East of Neuchatel Lake.

In 1476, a very important battle took place here. It is where an army of 10,000 villagers defeated the "mighty Charles the Bold" with his 20,000 well armed Burgundians. In the picture below is where 3 cannonballs were left to remind the villagers of their great victory.

The town within the walls was like a postcard.

I loved the artwork under the eaves of the roof.

Katelyn had fun bundling up. It was very chilly in the shade.

The sun wasn't shining on this so I'm not exactly sure how it works.

The view from the castle wall was pretty.

Devin was making Kate upset by standing up in that window.

It was trying to clear up and the clouds were so white and puffy.

Baking competitions are very popular. The clock tower below won a few.

That was our weekend and it was nice going back home to warm up with a good cup of Swiss Hot Chocolate!

First Snowfall

This past Saturday on October 10th, we had some snow in the mountains above us. We went up to where we usually go on the toboggans and there was snow! Devin and Kate said it made excellent snowballs.
On Friday night we picked up my cousin Ashley at the airport in Geneva. She is doing a semester at a University in Spain. We all enjoyed her visit!

I thought this was a pretty picture. I love those red berries with the snow and yellow leaves in the background.

We took a ride around the countryside. It looked like winter and felt like winter.

On Sunday, it was neat to see the snow line on the mountain.

Grindelwald, Switzerland

On Sunday, we had to get out of the house. We had a good week but we spent a lot of time at home and Kate catching up on homework. We went on a road trip - Grindelwald. The ride was beautiful and it did not take quite 2 hours.

Grindelwald according to "Rick Steves" is just an expensive resort town. It probably is but it provided us with some fun for the day. We could have caught a train that would have taken us to the top of "Junfrau" but we are saving that for another day. If I am looking at the map correctly, I believe the mountain you see below is "Eiger".The following looked like a glacier. We had quite a bit of haze that day but in certain directions it was clear. There was a wedding at the church. The groom or the bride must have worked for the fire department or some type of mountain rescue. There were quite a few men in gear and the vehicles were parked out front. We tried to wait around because there was a line of about 20 people getting ready to ring the big cow bells but we finally gave up. Jason snapped a picture of the cemetary while we were waiting. The flowers were beautiful.
We did get a picture of the groom pulling a little wagon with the bride behind a cute little tractor. I felt sorry for the bride - the smoke was awful!
On our way home we stopped a couple of times to get some pictures. The leaves are just starting to really change here in Neuchatel but there was some color up in the mountains. It was fun to see the snow. We are having a warm spell and for Switzerland it looks very dry. We have not had a significant amount of rainfall in a very long time. The river looked low and very grey. I would like to see what it looks like when the snow is melting in the Spring. Just one more picture of that beautiful mountain!