Christmas in March

The other day the intercom buzzed.  I still don't know if the buzz means someone is at my actual door or downstairs outside the locked building.  Luckily, Kelly answered and was able to talk in German and then told me to go down and sign for a package.  As I carried it up the stairs the kids were so excited they met me halfway.  I let them open it and every time they would pull something out they would squeal like a couple of three year olds.  The box was filled with all their favorite treats that we can't find in Switzerland.  It was incredible!  After everything was laid out on the counter we took turns picking our favorite things.  I was as excited as they were.  You can't find most American candy, cookies, or chips here and yet to send them is so expensive.  Needless to say, it was a fun surprise and over the top generous.  

Thank you Kristin.

Birthdays and more...

We are four days into March and the weather has been perfect all month.  

March 1 - I had lunch with six of my favorite Switzerland friends.  

March 2 -The birthday of the most amazing man on the planet.  Dr. Seuss

        Just kidding, it was Dr. Seuss's birthday, but I was really referring to Keith.  He is without a doubt the most amazing, wonderful man I know.  The other two are my father and Keith's father.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this case.  Keith and I went to dinner in Bern at Tim Tam Thai and the food was excellent.

March 3 -The birthday of the most amazing woman I know - my mother-in-law. 

      She is a storybook grandma, she sews pajamas, robes, costumes, dresses, etc..., she never forgets a birthday and always sends a card and a gift, she is always willing to babysit and will drop everything to fly to Salt Lake to take care of your children for nearly two weeks while you take a last minute, once in a lifetime cruise, just to name one of many examples, she makes beautiful blankets for her great-grandchildren, she has more energy at 79 than I do at 50, and this is just to name a few.  I could go on for hours, but as I write this I realize she does have one flaw, she puts me to shame.  

     We all went skiing today and it was spectacular.  The snow was good, the weather was so warm you didn't even need a coat, and the views were breathtaking.

A view from the train.

Grindelwald

Stopping for lunch.

We had perfectly blue skies until the last run of the day.

March 4 - Today after church we took a long walk as Kelly roller bladed along side.  The pictures don't really show, but the field a block from our house and the view of the Alps is incredible.

February Highlights

Lots of skiing,

Lots of raclette, we got our own raclette grill,

Lots of crazy Swiss Culture at its best - "Fasnacht"

Lots of rollerblading to and from school and around Bern,

Lots of shopping,

Kelly's new outfit.

Lots of enjoying the city at night now that the weather is good,

And now that Spring is here, or at least it feels like it, a lot more of seeing Switzerland.

One of the payoffs

In the past eight months I have often felt sorry for my kids and their lack of social interaction since we've moved.  In Salt Lake, Josh would play with friends almost every day after school.  Kelly would always spend the weekend with friends and they both had a huge group of kids their age just around the corner.  They were busy playing water polo, swimming, tennis, baseball, dance, piano lessons, voice lessons, ....

Since we have moved to Switzerland it is just the four of us.  No lessons and very little time with others outside the family. I have felt that we wouldn't survive. The fighting seemed worse than before - of course it was, we were never apart, we all share one bathroom, and live on top of each other.  But the other day made me realize something.   We will survive and by the end of the two years we all may be much better off.

Kelly and Josh came home for lunch, as they do every day, and after they ate they both disappeared.  I assumed that they were in their rooms but after too much silence I went to find them and this is what I saw.

Kelly was helping Josh with his homework.  Miracles do happen and sometimes it takes desperate measures to remind our kids that siblings can be our best friends.  

February in the Canaries

The kids had the first week of February off from school so we headed to the warmest place we could get to easily. We left Thursday night and took a train to Basel. We stayed overnight in Basel because our flight left terribly early the next morning. We stayed in a Formula One hotel, which my nieces had talked about with Kelly and scared her for life about staying in one. It was a little scary. Bathroom down the hall, two twin mattresses on the floor with little room for your suitcases. Poor Kelly, my little princess, was not amused.

 We woke up and had to walk to the airport at 5:00 AM in -10 degree C because even though the taxi driver the night before had said we could get a taxi early, we couldn't. This time, none of us were amused, except Keith who thinks we are all a bunch of pansies. We dragged our suitcases in the snow behind us and at times had to walk in the street because there were either no sidewalks, or there was too much snow to tell where they were. The flight was almost five hours, and took us to Tenerife which is one of the Canary Islands. We rented a car and were in our condo by noon. 

The weather was beautiful, the pool nice, the beach quiet, and as long as you didn't mind being surrounded by 70 year olds from Great Britain,(which we didn't), it was a great place to be. The only time we did mind being surrounded by 70 year olds was at the beach where even they sunbathe like the rest of the Europeans.  That we minded. 

 (remind me to never go topless after thirty, twenty, never go topless)

Every day was pretty much the same. Breakfast in the room. Actually, the first few days we ate breakfast out. But what they call "English Breakfast"  which includes "blood pudding" was not our favorite. So after the first two days, Keith cooked us pancakes. Then out to the pool for a few hours, an ice cream bar, lunch by the pool, a lot of reading, another ice cream bar, off to the beach for the afternoon, back to the pool until the sun set, and then out to our favorite Chinese Buffet for only 6.50 Euros per person. Sure beats the prices in Switzerland. The only real variation from that was a few days Keith and Josh explored the island while Kelly and I shopped. And a few days we were so full from hamburgers and ice cream at the pool that we skipped dinner altogether. 

It was a wonderful week but there was a part of me that couldn't completely enjoy it as I thought about what was going on at home. Two people I loved dearly had just been murdered http://www.glennalawrenceshapiro.com/  and another friend from high school has a son that fell while skiing and she is in the hospital waiting to find out if he will ever walk again.  www.wjgb.blogspot.com

Life is Fragile.