Katelyn -Broken Leg - Geneva

Well, we have been having a very long week so far but I think we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

On Saturday night, we were at our friends house and Kate's crutch landed on a toy. She slipped and fell hard onto the tile floor. She knew instantly that she broke something. We took her to the ER and they sent us to Geneva by ambulance. The hospital in Neuchatel was not equipped to repair the broken femur which happened right where she had a metal plate and screws from a previous surgery when she was 2 years old.

We chose Hospitaux Universitaires de Geneva because just 3 weeks ago we met an Ortho-Pediatric doctor that comes up to Neuchatel every 2 months. We really liked him and wanted him to see her. When we arrived in Geneva they put her in traction and that helped the pain tremendously as long as she wasn't touched. They scheduled surgery for Tuesday morning. She had the brackets and screws removed from her right leg and they inserted 2 pins. On her left leg, they removed the brackets and screws to help prevent this incident from happening to that leg. The surgery went well and we are hoping to be going home on Friday or Saturday.

It has been quite an experience. There are some similiarities to the U.S.A. and some differences. I can't say there has been a language barrier. Everyone has at least a little bit of English. Our French is poor but we can at least say a few things in French if they are not understanding our English. Some of the nurses are enjoying the opportunity to improve their English. We have had a few tough, older nurses. Katelyn prefers the younger ones - they have more sympathy for her. All the doctors have been very nice. I haven't met one that hasn't smiled and thinks they are "Almighty".

I was hoping this was one experience that I would never have to write about. However, all is well and we have learned some new things. We have received so many well wishes and wonderful phone calls. Thank you! We are just so thankful that she is feeling more like "Kate"!

September Already!

Sorry about this posting. I was trying to do a different format and it didn't work. It looked good where I edit the post but not when I actually posted.

I can't believe we are already into September! The weeks seem to be flying by. We have had a few days where it feels a little bit like Autumn but we still are having some very nice warm days. However, the leaves are starting to change on some trees.

I wanted to post a picture of the park. Here is the picture from "before"summer.

This is the "After" Summer. Some of those plants have to be at least 7 -8 feet tall. It's amazing!

Here is a good picture of the ram. They always have some design in this flower box but it's not always easy to get a good picture.

A couple of weekends ago, they were having a Bocce tournament down at the lake. It was fun to see. They had perfect weather.

The boys have finally started school. Their first day was on Monday, the 7th and they were ready to go! I thought they looked pretty handsome in their uniforms.

St. George school is the first International School for the middle and high school years in Neuchatel. The city has invested a huge chunk of money to help them get started. St. George's main campus is in Clarens down by Montreux. So far there are 16 students enrolled. Hopefully it will grow over the next 3 years. We are thrilled with the school and the boys have really enjoyed their first 3 days. They are looking forward to their after school activity on Friday which is Kayaking on the lake.

Chateau de Grandson

This past Sunday, we took a half hour road trip to Grandson. It is along Lake Neuchatel on the northwest border. Grandson was having their Medieval Festival at the castle.
We paid a fee to get in and we noticed everyone was wearing a costume over their clothes. They had a place where you could borrow costumes to fit in with the crowd. The kids and I decided to joy in on the fun.

There were demonstrations of different crafts, music and dancing. We toured the castle and they had some good exhibits of armor, guns and swords and for some reason old cars.

We decided to get a drink across from the castle.

On the drive back home, we were amazed at the number of sail boats out on the water. It was a beautiful day. A good breeze and not too hot. The white you see in the picture are the sailboats. I wish I could have gotten a better picture.

Boys and Geocaching

Last Friday, Stanton took the boys hiking and geocaching to keep them busy. I had fun watching Stanton's youngest son, Parker (almost 1). Their goal was to find a geocache and hike down to the dam. Devin took his camera and took some nice pictures.I bet Lucas is thinking that is a long way down!

They met both of their goals and hiked about 12+ kilometers I think. They had a good time and are looking forward to the next adventure.

Stanton captured some funny video of Devin on the trip. He posted it to his blog. I think this will come back to haunt him for a very long time.

http://familydetaylor.blogspot.com/2009/08/geocaching-at-barrage-du-chatelot.html

Visit Swiss Family Taylor Blog

We went to the public pool the weekend before Kate's school started with our friends the Taylors. It is a really nice facility. We took our underwater camera and decided to check out the feature "underwater". Stanton was quicker to post to his blog so I thought I would have you visit his blog to see the pictures. He has time and patience to do really cool things with his pictures and video. Maybe some day I'll get it together.

http://familydetaylor.blogspot.com/2009/08/cool-vid-from-our-day-at-nic-du-cro.html

Summer is Over

Woke up today, it was raining and the sky was gray. I thought it would be a good day to get caught up on the blog. I have been a little bit lazy but hey it was summer!

We had a good time back in the U.S.A. We were quite busy but it was lots of fun! I apologize to those of you that we didn't get a chance to see. It is crazy how fast time flies and we just couldn't do it all.

I wanted to post this picture of this sign that is in Raton. I made Jason pull over so I could take a picture. I have never seen anything like this before and it just made us laugh. I love the squirrel! We did see 2 turkeys within an hour of taking this picture. The bears were out in full force with the trash dumpsters. They do make a mess and get the dogs barking.
We did some kayaking which is always fun up at Lake Maloya. Aunt Linda always has some fun up her sleeve!

Up in Angel Fire, we did some fishing. I think the kids caught 9 fish that day but it was a long day! I think we got there around 9 in the morning and left around 5:30 pm. Katelyn wasn't leaving until she caught a fish. There was some big trout in that lake.

We had a nice family reunion with my mom's side of the family. We had a good time and lots of laughs!

We headed to Albuquerque and Zeb and Kelly's wedding was beautiful. They had an outdoor wedding and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was really nice once that sun went down. The kids loved the dancing!

We were exhausted from our vacation. It took us about 5 days to adjust back to Switzerland time. Everytime I turned around someone was sleeping in a different location.

Katelyn started school on the 17th of August. She is enjoying it so far. However, the boys don't start back until the 7th of September.

Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower