Happenings this past week!

I decided to play catch up and post everything in one. It has definately been busy.

Last Thursday, Lucas had his 5th grade graduation ceremony. The boys in his class were very excited!
He was proud to stand in front of the U.S.A. Flag.

Lucas is really going to miss his teacher - Mr. C ( Coddington) We are going to miss him too. He reminded us so much of Lucas' good friend back in El Paso - Jacob.

Katelyn's school had their year end program this past Saturday. It was nice but very long (1 1/2 hrs) Kate's class was only on stage for about 10 minutes of that time. She did a great job and spoke loud enough for us to hear her in the back.

The performance ended with the entire school singing a Michael Jackson song "Heal the World". They have been practicing that song for the past 2 months.

Oops, I got out of order. Oh well. Last Friday, Devin turned the Big "13". We officially have a teenager in the house. I think he would say that the best part of his day was the cake - chocolate with white (buttercream) icing. It was a delicious American birthday cake that Devin and I made!

It is so hard to believe! He's growing up.

Finally, today was Katelyn's last day of school. We were all very excited. I don't know if you noticed on the right of our blog (live camera of Neuchatel) there is another circus in town. It's a very big Swiss Circus - KNIE. Anyway, Kate's class walked down to the lake to join so many others to watch the elephants bathing in the lake!

It was some sight to see them having so much fun in the water. There is four of them and one of them was under water the majority of the time. I don't think we would have ever seen anything like that in the states. The trainer and 2 men walked them from their pen which was a good 100 yards away thru a bunch of people.

There was nothing between us and them and as you can see, many people were right there by them. The American in me was a bit worried about them charging and what could happen. The Swiss have so many strict rules for certain things but they have a free spirit for so many other things. This is one of those things which I would say is so different but I definately enjoyed it.

Afterwards, we went over to the circus zoo. They had monkeys, pigs, goats, over 20 horses, 12 ponies, llamas, camels, zebras and parrots. It was bathtime and the horses loved it but I don't think those camels did. We had a fun morning and we are anxious to go to the circus on Friday night.

On Saturday, Jason's siblings come and we are ready for them! I will try to post something next week. Have a good day!

Tomahawk - Camping Trip!

Last Monday, Kate and I went camping with her class. It was an overnight trip. Katelyn and I drove about 30 minutes from our house. We had everyone's luggage (change of clothes and a sleeping bag). There was 28 of us on this trip and Jason's car was full of bags. I think some kids packed for more than 1 day or had a huge sleeping bag!
The name of the area we went to is "Tomahawk". It is set up on this couples land right next to their house. They have 3 teepees, a big gravel area where they do demonstrations with the horses and a covered area with picnic tables.

We slept in the Buffalo Teepee, the biggest one, which sleeps 12. I had to laugh because we came from the Southwest to Switzerland and we sleep in a teepee in Switzerland!

The weather wasn't all that great. It would rain and the sun would come out for a few minutes and then get cold and rain again. This picture is everyone else arriving to the camp. They took the train and then hiked over to the campground. It just started to rain really hard.

Katelyn and her friends were very excited about this adventure!

The couple dressed up in their Sioux clothing and talked about the Sioux traditions. Everything was spoken in French but they do speak some English.

The teachers built the fire and we had to heat our own water for tea. We had quite a few pots of tea because it was the only thing keeping us warm. I have to say there was quite a bit of smoke with that fire.

The owners also demonstrated how to lasso with different types of rope. He was very good.

Katelyn's teacher, Ms. Greenbaum, and some other classmates were trying to stay warm around the fire.

They did have running water and 2 toilets! This picture is a bit crooked but I was standing on a hill and was trying to be quick about it.

Each of the kids had to bring a piece of meat to be cooked. I think it would have been easier for everyone to send in a couple francs and everyone have the same thing. Everything was well cooked and there were no mix ups. There sure was a variety of meat. This grill was completely full.

I like this picture because it was raining on one side of the camp but not on the other.

We had to do our own dishes. We filled the bags up with water and used hot water from over the fire to do the washing.

At bedtime, we all gathered in our teepee and the chief demonstrated how to build a fire.

We had a hot fire and it took about 5 minutes for the smoke to clear the teepee. That was a little rough but the heat felt great. They told some stories and he played the flute.

We survived and I did my every 20 years camping trip. I have to say it was a fun adventure. The kids had a great time!

International Day at the International School of Berne

Hello everyone! It's been a very busy past week. I have quite a few adventures to post. Just a quick note, we have still been picking raspberries and I have made 5 batches of jam! I think we are finally at the end.

On Saturday the 20th of June, we attended the International Day at the school where the boys went this past year. There were 20 countries represented and each had a booth and sold food and miscellaneous items. They were supported by their embassy. All proceeds went to the PTC - 18,000 CHF.

Devin's French class had a table and sold pastries and recipe books. I don't know how well they did but the boys from his class definately worked very hard that day.
They had a parade of the flags. It is amazing how culturally diverse that school is. It was fun to see everyone and to try all the different types of food.

At the stand for the U.S. A., they were selling Rolling Rock beer for 4 CHF. We had to get one. It's funny, in the U.S. there is no alcohol allowed on school premises. Here it can be sold like soda pop. They did have a sign that stated that any alcohol bought or sold had to be by an adult (over 18 years I assume).

Raspberries, Framboises & more Raspberries

Katelyn & I have been having the best time picking raspberries (framboises in French) in the garden this past week. They are a nice size and very sweet.
I have felt guilty picking so many that we thought it would be nice to make a raspberry cake and give some to our neighbors. The first floor is an investment company so we took the whole 8 inch cake to them. Then to the couple below us and the young college girl above us, they were given slices and a cup of fresh raspberries.

It's funny, when we start picking these berries, we can't stop. We keep seeing one more ripe one. I think we may have one more week of berries. We shall see.

It's almost summer!

The weeks are going by too fast! The kids are anxious for school to end. They have 2 more weeks to go. That last week will be just crazy.

I wanted to post some pictures of things that have been happening. We had a nice thunderstorm 2 weekends ago and I forgot to post this picture of the rainbow. The colors were so bright and it actually became a double rainbow. It was just as pretty as the ones we would see in New Mexico and El Paso. The pictures just don't show its true beauty!

I had to take a picture of the gardens in the park with their new plants and flowers. They dug up all the bulbs and in a week - voila!

I couldn't get over all the different types of flowers.

On the way back home from walking Maggie, I had to take a couple of pictures of this great idea! I noticed them setting this up and couldn't figure out exactly what it was. It is a training course for children and bike safety. They have stop lights, street signs, roundabouts, crosswalks, and yields.

There are 3 police officers and they review all the rules with a class of about 15. The police provide the bikes and helmets and the children ride around and get to practice what they have learned. They have about 4 or 5 classes a day and it looks like it is a mandatory course. The children are around 10 years of age. I say that they should do this in the states. I wouldn't mind taking the course! It looks like fun too!

We finally had a day that it was warm enough to head to the lake. We have been having nice weather but it's been staying in the low 70's. We did have a spell of wind. The wind boarders loved it for the lake. You have to be really strong to do that sport!

Kate, Jason and a swan cleaning its feathers were enjoying the beach.

That was about as deep as Maggie would go. She's definately not a water lover. The lake water is so clear - you can see all the rocks. It is a necessity to wear water shoes. There is too much broken glass and who knows what else.

Lucas and his friend and I were the only ones brave enough to swim out to the platform. The water temperature was quite cold but you get numb to it after awhile. I have to admit it felt good once I got in and swam. I hit a few warm spots which was nice. It is very hard to swim with shoes on.

I spotted a crawdad (sp?) on the way back in. Katelyn had no idea that it was only a foot away from her. Lucas discovered the babies on the bottom.

Kate did some swimming too. She has finally graduated from the huge facemask to the googles.

Devin looked pretty relaxed drinking his "Fanta".

Kate catching some sun.

We had a fun day yesterday. Today, we woke up to pouring down rain. It's a Monday!

Chateau de Gruyeres & Cailler Chocolate Factory

On Sunday morning, we headed to the area of Gruyeres with some friends. It was a nice day and the views were beautiful.

Our mission was to see the Castle of Gruyeres. The castle was constructed back in the late 1200's. It looks enormous but once you get inside the castle itself, it's not as big as we thought.

I personally liked the ceilings the best.

This room had a huge fireplace but the bed was very small. It doesn't appear to be "fit for a king"but maybe a very small queen.

The knight's room has bright, detailed pictures on the walls.

The views from the castle are just like the postcards or picture books.

After we walked the castle, everyone decided they were hungry. Jason decided to treat himself to a nice USDA ribeye. They serve it on a hot stone and he got to cook it to his liking.

He didn't keep it this pink but there is quite a few people here that like their meat really rare.

After lunch, we decided to go have dessert. We headed to the Cailler Chocolate Factory. We watched a quick, old movie about how the chocolates are made and packaged. There was a quick walking tour of the old machines and the inventors of the differents types of chocolate.

The best part was they have free tasting of their different types of candy. It was a fun little tour and I was glad that we stopped since we were in the area.

At the very end, they do have a store where you can buy whatever your favorites are. Of course we had to buy some dark chocolate candy bars.