The Traveling Man

Remember that virus I mentioned in my last post? The one Luke had, and the one I thought the rest of us managed to avoid? Yeah, it totally kicked our butts. One by one we all got sick, including Andrew who came home on Friday. Really, if you think about it, it was only fair that he get his share of the sickness too. (Kidding!!! Well, kind of.) Everyone is better now, so it is all good.

Andrew got home safely and I think he enjoyed himself. True to form, he did lots of sight seeing before and after his meetings. Stockholm was what Andrew was expecting (it was nice-he ate lots of Swedish meatballs), but Singapore surprised him. He really wasn't expecting the heavy western influence found there. It is very beautiful country, but Andrew's assessment was that if you want an Asian cultural experience, Singapore is not the place to go.

Here are some of Andrew's pictures from his trips-

--Stockholm, Sweden--

The picture below proves that no matter how much you think you know a person, you can never truly know anyone. I would NEVER in a million years peg Andrew for someone who would ask a random stranger to take his picture. I was dead wrong.

The royal palace

Who has heard of Sweden's Prince Carl? Why does anyone talk about those British princes with this guy around??? Is anyone else baffled?

--Singapore--

Below is a picture of the hotel where Andrew stayed. Insane right?
The flat thing on top is actually a pool (shown below).

A pergola ride above the forest

There he goes posing again- who is this guy?

Singapore's Chinatown

And finally, Afton modeling the little outfit her Dad bought her in Chinatown. I was a little disturbed at the pose she struck once I got out the camera. Also, I didn't think she deserved this gift given that 12 hours earlier she broke my Kindle. Oh that baby!

All By Myself

The test has arrived to see how I handle living in Europe as a single parent. Andrew was in Stockholm last week, home for 2 days, and now is in Singapore for a week (our understanding is that he typically won't have trips this close together). Prior to his departure I maintained a positive attitude (mostly) and envisioned the kids and myself having movie nights, going on walks to get gelato, and eating pizza every night (this, because it takes 5 minutes to make).

The reality: I awoke to Luke throwing up on Sunday morning.

The good news is that we made it to a pumpkin festival the day before (pictures below), and Luke's illness only lasted 2 days. On top of that, no one else seems to have contracted the illness. I'll count it as a victory. I've also discovered that Andrew being away while living in Europe is just like Andrew being away while living in the US. The kids and I maintain our daily routines and look forward to his return. Oh, and I also get to stay up as late as I want reading (I'm starting book 4 of the Fablehaven series which I began 3 days ago) and I get to control the TV/DVD player. I'm still trying to figure out if I'll be watching Pride and Prejudiced or Little Women tonight. Maybe I'll watch a little of both, or maybe I'll just read my book.

Here are some pictures from the pumpkin festival. We missed you Andrew!

I thought this was kind of cool. This was a game where the kids had to stack plastic crates on top of each other while climbing the crate tower. The higher they got, the more unstable and wobbly the stack became. Of course they were wearing harnesses, but those kids were fearless (most seemed to be around 5-8 years old)! I tried to get Sam and Luke to do it, but had no luck.

Afton in Europe

As you can see, Afton is thoroughly enjoying her time here...



When she is awake, she loves snuggling up with her favorite "baby doll".

One Month Assessment

Bern, Switzerland

On Tuesday it will be one month since we've moved to Switzerland. The time has flown by, and in many ways it seems like we have been here much longer. We have a Swiss bank account, we secured permanent housing for ourselves (we move into our new place on November 1st), our car is currently being "converted" to European standards, and most importantly, we received our letters yesterday informing us that we are officially Swiss residents (not to be confused with Swiss citizens).

While the big things all seem to be falling into place, we are continuing to get our social footing here as well. Andrew's work, Sam's school and our church have all played a big role in this. On Tuesday night I was invited to a baby shower thrown by some Swiss women. They informed me that the Swiss do not give baby showers, and that none of them had ever attended one before. You would never have guessed this though. They got all of their games and decoration ideas from the internet, and had enough food to feed 200. As I sat and listened to the lively conversation- all in German- I realized that even though I was clueless and completely out of my element, I was having the time of my life.

Yes, we are having fun here, but most importantly, I think we are all adapting well. Andrew has his first business trip next week, so I may be changing my tune after experiencing Switzerland solo. Wish me luck.

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Below are some pictures from this weekend. On Saturday we visited nearby castle ruins in Dornach (this is about 10 minutes from our soon-to-be house). The castle was built around 1350 and sustained a lot of destruction during the Battle of Dornach in 1499. The ruins were pretty remarkable, and the backdrop breath taking. It wasn't hard to envision the history there.

And today, we took a train to Bern to attend Stake Conference (this is a semi-annual regional church meeting). It was great meeting, especially since 2 of the speakers spoke in English. Afterwords we took the opportunity to walk around the city, and like all of the Swiss cities we've been too, it was beautiful. The highlight for the boys was visiting the famed "bear pits"

One of the bears from the "bear pits".

Lucerne

I cannot adequately describe Lucerne- it's that amazing. The city sits right on Lake Lucerne and is surrounded by the Swiss Alps to the south and Jura Mountains to the north. We spent the full day there yesterday, and we easily could have stayed all week. The good news is that it's only an hour from Basel (by train), so I'm sure we will be going again in the near future.

When we first arrived we went to the outdoor market, which is one of the many things I love about Switzerland. The markets here are quite charming, and every time I go I want to buy things I would typically never consider buying, like strange-looking sausages. I guess the markets are catered to suckers like me. We also took a steam boat on a two hour loop around a portion of the lake. Along the way the boat stopped at little port villages and allowed people to get on and off. We disembarked at one such port village and took a roller-coaster-like train car to the top of one of the mountain/cliffs overlooking the lake. I'm deathly afraid of heights and nearly passed out looking down, but luckily the ride wasn't too long. When we arrived at the top Sam said, "It's okay mommy, you can open your eyes now". Upon completing our boat tour and returning to Lucerne, we visited the Musegg Wall (the original city wall) and connecting towers. You can go climb the stairs inside of three of the towers, and again I nearly passed out for fear of the height and narrow stairs. I'm really going to have to get over this fear while we're living here.

Now for the photo overload- I really couldn't resist.

Look at the cheese at this stand! I am a cheese lover, but that middle one looked a little scary.

A picture of the steamboat which took us on our tour. It was foggy during the morning, so you could only see the outlines of the mountains. It was still beautiful.

*A little side note about Luke: A couple of days ago he was looking in the mirror and said, "Hey I lost a tooth too!" I think this was the first time he noticed the gap in his teeth. It made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

In the background below you can see the track which took us up the mountain.

I wish I could have captured how steep this was- this picture does not do it justice!

The view from the top

The cart taking us down

Luke at the city wall and tower

Andrew, Luke and Afton inside the tower.

Look at how narrow and steep these steps are. The middle was open and went all the way down to the bottom (we were at the top here). I was so tense that after we got down I had a shooting pain in my upper right leg. Don't worry- it went away after 5 minutes.