Visitors

It was a very nice day and we had opened a window in each of the rooms. We went to the kitchen and made some lunch. When Lucas went to his room afterwards, he came running back saying he had some visitors.
The pigeons just flew right in to his room. It's funny, we have been worrying about what we'll do with the bugs and flys because we don't have any screens on the windows. We didn't ever think about birds.

That one liked the fireplace mantel. They were in there long enough for Lucas to be on cleanup duty!

5th Grade Performance

On Friday afternoon March 27th, we headed over to Gumligen. It was our first time to drive to the boy's school. We always have taken the train. We had beautiful views the whole way over. This picture was the best one of the mountains that I took. I hope you can see the mountains.

Lucas's class sang some songs and played some instruments. It was a program created by the kids with some guidance from the teachers. They then put on a play called "The Rainbow People" It was a combination of acting, dancing and having some fun. There was no speaking parts, just body language. Lucas did very well. We all enjoyed watching him.

In the first video, they are all pretending to be hatching from eggs. Lucas is in the middle dressed in all black.

After they hatched, they realized there were others just like them. They copied one another and then broke off into four groups - blue, green, yellow and red. Each group had something special associated with them. One had water, another had fire, another had food and the last group had material for clothing. Once they discovered that the other groups had something different, they began to steal from one another. So the following video is the scene that followed. The groups marched towards one another and then broke out into a fight scene.

Then a member from each group had "died". A "teacher" gathered everyone together and showed them that they needed to share and get along. Then the ones that had "died" came back and everyone was happy and celebrated. That was Lucas sliding on his knees. You just watched 1 minute from a 45 minute video. I keep having images of Lucas performing on the streets in Paris with a little cup sitting in front of him. Hee Hee!

Time to get out the bikes

On Sunday, we did some spring cleaning out in the back yard. We organized our stuff and made room for the bikes. We have had such nice weather. Katelyn could not wait to get on her bike. It's been a while since she has ridden it and it needed some adjustments. We headed down to the lake with everyone else.
I don't know if you have noticed but everyone pretty much wears black. Katelyn and I are easy to spot in our bright colored jackets. Of course, Lucas is in shorts. Kate was happy to be able to carry the bread for the swans in her basket.

It was a little bit hazy that day but you could see the Alps. It is hard to see them in this picture.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that helmets are not big here for kids on bikes or scooters. We see the real little ones with helmets but by the age of 8 they seem to not exist. It makes it very hard for our kids to wear one. Of course, you can see who fights us the most and gets away with it every once in a while.

There are lots of swans right now. At least 50. They are so much fun to watch.

This big area was a perfect place for the kids to ride around. Kate was trying to race her brothers. They did a good job dodging the people on the sidewalks.

Kate was a proud biker. She slept really well that night. Of course the weather has changed this week. We had rain, sleet, snow and sunshine all on Tuesday. Today seems to be just an overcast, cold (37 F) day. They are predicting rain for the rest of the week.

Katelyn turns 8!

It is hard to believe that this little girl is 8 years old! She had her friend Victoria over and her sisters. They brought 2 cakes - one was lemon and the other a chocolate. Very delicious!

The girls did a sweet pose.

Then they asked for a tickling pose.

On Saturday we celebrated once again. The Taylors and the Larsons came over for pasta, salad and a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate mousse frosting.

Lucas was trying to be the music conductor. We had some help blowing out the candles. It was a fun evening.

Playing Catch up

I have decided to finally take the time to organize our pictures. I came across a couple of things that I wanted to post but never did. So bear with me while I get us completely caught up!

On the way to work a couple of weeks ago, Jason went thru an ice fog. He took some pictures and I thought this one turned out pretty neat!

On the 6th of March, a good part of Switzerland had some snow. In Neuchatel, we just had rain. The first picture is a webcam picture in Le Locle. It took Jason about an 1 1/2 hours to get home that day. His biggest complaint was that people would stop right in the road and put on chains.

On Fridays, the boys go skiing with their school at Gstaad. They have 7 ski days and this coming Friday is their last one. They are with an instructor the entire day and there is about 5 kids per group. The boys have really enjoyed it. However, on this day, it was a blizzard and they skied in about 2 feet of powder. They hated it because they kept falling. Their leg muscles got a good work out that day. I snapped this from the webcam because I was curious on what kind of weather they were having. I was glad I made them dress warm that day!!!

The last picture that I have is of a new cookie that I found that is exactly like Nona's "Crystali". Jason and the boys liked it but I didn't care for it. I like the other one better. This one has the sprinkled sugar. I saw some other ones at a grocery store downtown that looked home made. I didn't buy any because we still had these at home. I think I'll have to go back and get some to try and also they had some good strawberries on sale!

Sledding in Switzerland

Saturday we hung out at the lake flying airplanes and throwing the football. The sun was out and it was beautiful. On Sunday we headed up the mountain (lots of snow up there) and went sledding with our friends - The Taylors. We had a really good time. I crashed the second time down and that did me in. Everyone else continued with the craziness. Stanton is really good with doing fun things with video and pictures. So we borrowed what he had posted on his blog. Enjoy!

Traditional Swiss Meal

This is a Swiss favorite, "Raclette". Raclette was mentioned in medieval writings as a particularly nutritious meal consumed by peasants in mountainous Switzerland.
Jason got the grill from the kids as a Christmas present. We have used it several times now. It makes for a little fun to be cooking your food on the table in front of you.


You can grill meat and vegetables on the top surface and melt cheese and spices in the tray below the grill surface. It doesn't take long to prepare, and the aroma is very appetizing.


When all is ready to eat; boiled potatos are the base, smoothered with the cheese, and topped with the meat and vegetables. All and all it's tasty and fun.