As Good As It Gets

Weather really does make or break me.  When it's sunny and beautiful outside, so is my demeanor.  It was gorgeous all week.

  

Monday we had book club and reviewed the book "Left To Tell" about the Rwanda Holocaust.  True story, a must read!!  We always meet at my friend Michelle's home because it is huge and is the coolest old, Swiss flat ever.  It overlooks the Aare River and is right downtown Bern.  It's a treat every time I go to her house

 because she is as great as her home.

Tuesday was my amazing son, Ryan's birthday.  He is an incredible person.  He is smart, hard working, great husband, and according to his wife, an amazing father to his six month old little boy.  He just turned 29 which means that he and my daughter Jenny are the same age for the next six weeks.  Two kids, from the same mom, the same age, and not twins.  Crazy.  Ryan was a miracle to have come when he did because if he hadn't, it would have been just Jenny and I for the fourteen years I spent as a single mom. 

 I love him with all my heart.

We had German class Tuesday night and Keith and I stopped for a kebab on the way.  Josh had Judo class and Kelly loves having some time at home to herself.

Wednesday My friend Lori picked me up at 8:00 and we drove 40 minutes through the most beautiful country roads to get to some friends homes so we could go visiting teaching.  We were invited to breakfast at Becky's house which was delicious.  Afterwards we shopped at Aldi which is so great because I can really stock up on things since I'm with Lori in her car.  I then had a chance to stop by Monique's house and visit for an hour, always a treat.  That afternoon Keith met Josh and I so we could take Josh to his first doctor's appointment.  Simple tasks like finding Josh a speech pathologist is not very easy when you live in a foreign country.  This appointment was a long time in the making.  I am excited though, because unlike anything we came across in the states, they are looking at all different things to help him with his stutter.  Right after the appointment we met our friend Faith at the train station so Josh could go to baseball with Jack.  Kelly had Young Women's and learned to make Spanish food.

Thursday was cleaning day.  Luckily Lori pulled me away from all that so we could go visit another friend named Kayli.  Kayli is from the states and has lived here for just over two years.  She has five adorable children and a really fun blog about her two years in Switzerland. (Belles and Whistles)  In the afternoon Josh had a fund raiser at his school where they sold goods but also sold performances from the kids.  I paid 1.50 franc to hear Josh recite a poem in German.  The fun thing is a bunch of other people paid for his performance as well.

Friday I joined a group of ladies for their morning walk.  It has been too cold or too wet before now, so this was the first time I have gone and it was such fun.  We walked for about an hour and would stop occasionally to do exercises.  The weather and views were amazing.  Then at noon my hairdresser came to my house where she did my color, cut Kelly and Josh's hair, and Becky and Lori's.  Hair cutting party.  

We climbed up a hill and this was the view on our way down.

Lori is going to kill me for posting this,
but she is so cute and I thought it was funny.

Keith said Saturday was his favorite day since we've moved.

We rode our bikes to Gumligen where we got on a train and took it to Interlaken.  We rode around Interlaken and got a little lost as we were trying to find the trail out of town.  We went to the Coop and got rotisserie chickens and bread and ate them by the river.  We then headed along Lake Thun to Spiez.  The weather was so warm but halfway to Spiez these thunder clouds rolled in and it poured.  We rode in the rain until we could find some shelter but by the time we did we were all soaked to the bone.  We waited out the storm and then rode the rest of the way to catch the train home.   When we finally got to Spiez, wet and tired, we saw that the train was just about ready to leave.  We rode as fast as we could through the station, down the ramp, and up the ramp to our gate.  We barely made it but I'm sure we made a few people mad as we zipped past them in a place where you are not suppose to be riding  bikes.

Camels in Interlaken

This was taken minutes before the downpour.

Cold and Wet 

The skies look blue and yet it was pouring in this picture.