Woo Hoo Henry's Two

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2009

Fishing for tadpoles

A couple weekends ago, Pete's friend Frederic invited us over to his house in France. He has an amazing house and a yard to die for. If we lived there, I don't think our kids would ever be indoors. The main attraction on this particular Saturday, was a pond filled with tadpoles. Frederic, his wife, and their two kids were the perfect hosts. Not only did they treat us to desserts and drinks (ice included!), they also assisted Alex and Ruby in catching a few tadpoles.

They had the best luck using the net and when they captured a few they would put them in the black pot to study for a while.

Alex and Ruby trying to catch them with their hands

I got one!

Henry also tried to get tadpoles, but he was really just interested in playing in the fountain. I was like a broken record as I repeated, "Careful Henry. Don't get too wet."

He listened momentarily...

...but the pull of the water was too much for him. Mere seconds after this was taken, he leaned a little too far and soaked his shirt. Hate to say I told you so.

Don't you love Switzerland? Part 2

One day when Ruby was home for her lunch break, we were riding razors down the street. Up ahead in the road I could see something moving but I wasn't sure what it was. I told Ruby to stay put while I rode ahead and checked it out. Sure enough I found a turtle, stuck on it's back. Ruby told me that one of her friends on the street had a turtle and it was probably hers. I carefully rolled it over and then told Ruby to stand guard while I found someone who could help us.

Fortunately, the closest neighbor (Remember my post about Evan? It was his dad.) was not only home, but was outside working. In my amazing french I asked him if he could help me. He was confused but followed me out to the street. To his surprise there was a turtle in the street and to my surprise, the turtle belonged to him! Apparently he has 3 turtles and while his kids were showing them to their friends they left the gate open and this one had gotten out.

He was really grateful to us for finding it. Had we not spotted it, it may have gone the way of many a roadkill before. For our reward, he taught Ruby how to pet it right underneath it's head. Don't you just love happy endings?

Don't you love Switzerland? Part 1

Pete was walking the kids to school one morning when they came across some...












...COWS!

The street from our house up to the school connects two farms so cows are frequently being moved from one to the other. Our kids love to watch the farmer guide them, especially one day when one ran off and he had to chase it back to the herd. The downside to all of this: a street full of cow poop that only goes away when it rains. Stinky!

Meanwhile, back at home ...

... the boys were having their own party. Between the five dads there were 11 kids of which Alex (7) was the oldest. Saturday evening they met up at a park on Lake Geneva and had a barbecue. The highlight of the night was A&W root beer and Oreos provided by the Berg family.

The park, some kids, plenty of smoke and the lake. If you look closely you can see Henry in the middle of the picture looking for his mom.

Mark and his dad working the barbecue

Greg teaching the kids how to play Red Rover

Tom helping out on the other team

Alex attempting to break through the line of girls. Watch out!

No boys allowed

The last weekend in April, some girlfriends and I headed to Lyon, France, leaving our kids with our wonderful husbands. Lyon is about an hour from Geneva and is the second largest city in France. It has a lot of the charm that you find in Paris, without all of the crowds. We ate yummy food, shopped and stayed up late talking. On Saturday, our friend Jessi drove in for the day with her baby Chloe. I loved Lyon and will definitely be going back with Pete and the kids. Thanks girls!

When we got to our hotel we found out there was parking underneath. The desk clerk opened up the gate and we pulled in to find we were in an elevator for cars! In these pictures you can see that we were completely enclosed...not great for someone like me who is a bit claustrophobic.

Sarah and Aimee at Mendo Restaurant
Our first night we ate Japanese food! Crazy, I know, but it was so delicious and hard to find over here.

Sarah, Suzy and me in front of the Rhone River and the Hotel-Dieu de Lyon

Hotel-Dieu de Lyon

Each morning we went out to the street market right outside our hotel to get our breakfast of pain au chocolate (chocolate bread), fresh fruit and fresh yogurts. It was so good and a lot better deal than the 16 euro breakfast our hotel was offering.

Don't these look yummy? Only 20 Euros a basket!

Jessi, me and Chloe in front of the Rhone River and the Hotel-Dieu de Lyon

Suzy, Aimee, Jessi, Chloe and Sarah crossing over the Rhone River

Stopping into a French bakery

Suzy and Sarah enjoying some yummy macaroons

Aimee, Jessi, me and Sarah

Notre-Dame de Fourviere

Saint Jean Cathedral

Shopping around town

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant recommended by one of Pete's colleagues who is from Lyon. It was interesting ordering in French, sometimes not knowing what exactly we would end up with.

Suzy and Aimee

Sarah, Jessi and Chloe

Our view eating lunch included the mini-Eiffel tower and Notre-Dame de Fourviere

A parting view of the Saone River

The dental caravan

After we returned from spring break, this trailer was parked in front of the kids' school. It's a dentist office on wheels - think Book Mobile with dentist. Each of the kids came home with notices that they would be having their teeth cleaned during school. Apparently it is done once a year and is paid for with taxes.

The funny thing was that one of my English speaking friends in the village made a point to call me and let me know that I should not let the caravan dentist do anything more than a cleaning on the kids' teeth. Last year, her son came home from his cleaning with a cavity. Not having a dentist here in Switzerland, she signed the consent form allowing the caravan dentist to fill the cavity. It did not end well. Her son came home with a broken tooth and they quickly had to find a competent dentist to fix it. It was very traumatic for her 6 year old, especially since he was given nothing to numb his mouth.

Fortunately our kids returned home with a clean bill of health (I wasn't too surprised since it hasn't even been 6 months since their last checkup). Alex did say that the dentist was really rough and even banged his front tooth to see if it was loose. OUCH!

Un Ami

Evan (pronounced A - von) is a little Swiss boy that lives on our street. He is 6, was in Alex's class last year, and is in the grade between Alex and Ruby. Most importantly he was Alex's first friend when we moved here. He doesn't speak any English and his French is so Swiss that we have a hard time understanding each other. Many times my conversations with Evan go something like this:

Me: Evan, quand est ton anniversaire? (Evan, when is your birthday?)
Evan: Quoi? Je ne comprend pas. (What? I don't understand you.)

He's really sweet though and has been nice to both Alex and Ruby, often inviting them over to swim or play in his back yard. Recently he acquired a trampoline for his birthday. And I thought I was spoiling Alex with Roller blades.

signs of spring

The winter season is bittersweet for me. Bitter because I hate the cold but sweet because it makes spring that much nicer. Living in California it's hard to appreciate the end of winter because it is spring all year round. With everything turning green and in full blossom it has been incredibly beautiful.