Well, I must say that yesterday was one of my biggest mommy mess ups!

A few months ago I picked Jackson up from school and he had a piece of masking tape on his shirt with his teachers contact info and address. I was puzzled and asked the teacher what it was for. She said she had been talking to Jackson about the animals near her house and she would love to have him out to see them. He had asked for her address and phone number so that I could call her and make a plan. Oh my. We have been so busy this summer that it took me a while to get it together but yesterday we went for a visit. Her house is in Bolligen, a small town just on the edge of Bern. She lives in the top floor of a big mansion that I believe has been in a Swiss family for a couple hundred yrs. The cement steps had grooves in them to tell you how old it was.

The boys were ecstatic. Owen started mooing as we pulled in next to the cows. Before going out to see the animals we went and had a drink and snack on the terrace. As we walked onto the terrace Jackson’s teacher said, “the only problem is that the railings are low”. Um, yep, they were low alright. If Jackson had tripped while walked toward the edge of the terrace he would have launched right over the edge. It was below his waist. Which of course means that Owen could easily climb over! So as the 2 teachers sat and enjoyed visiting with Jackson I feverishly followed Owen to be sure he was safe.

After our tea time we went outside and picked prune plums. I am no expert on prunes or plums but I thought prunes were just dried plums. Apparently, there are plums from Italy that are known as prune plums. Anyhow, Jackson’s teacher grabbed him a bag and helped him pick a big bag full. Owen (my picky eater mind you) thought they looked good and started popping them in his mouth. No big deal except for the big pit. So I chased Owen around during our plum picking to ensure that I could help him pop out the pit. He was in heaven running through the tall wet grass, picking up freshly picked plums! They were like candy to him. As we finished the plum picking I remember sighing a sigh of relief thinking “whew, done with the terrace and the plum pit popping, now we can just enjoy looking at the animals and head home”.

I pulled out the camera and let Owen toddle down the dirt path ahead of us toward the cows. As I watched him walk with excitement ahead of me I made note of the fence and saw that he could not get too close to the cows or pony. I snapped a couple of pictures and headed his way. When I was about 10 steps from him he let out a huge scream and was thrown back from the fence. You guessed it, my sweet Owen got shocked by the cow fence. He had grabbed on with both hands and it threw him back and he plopped down crying and holding his hands out. I felt HORRIBLE!!! Here I thought I had things under control. Luckily he was not burned and he was fine beyond the initial shock.   We can now check “letting your child get shocked by a cow fence” off the list of mishaps!!

I have to add this for all of you parents with kids starting school…The irony of Jackson’s teacher inviting him over is that when he began last year she really had a tough time with him. For about a month or more I would go to pick him up and she would have some complaint. She didn’t quite know what to do with his energy and I think he really challenged her with his millions of questions. I literally started picking him up quickly and rushing out so she wouldn’t tell me about the morning. He was loving school and I reassured her that we had just made a move and left all of his friends and that I knew he needed time to transition. Pretty soon I noticed that she greeted Jackson cheerfully in the mornings and had made a special bond with him. He had become a helper in the class which was using some of that extra energy and she now “got him”. It was a tough transition and it was so hard as a mom to know that I had to relinquish my control and let him learn to be a part of a class. It made our adjustment to Bern quite hard.  But, a yr later Jackson had tea with his teachers that he once struggled with and they expressed to me how much joy Jackson had brought to the class and how much they would miss him this year. My prayer for Jackson is that God would provide teachers that “get him” along the way and that he will be able to use his strengths to continue to impact the lives of others.  He has an extra dose of energy that I myself struggle to channel but I hope that we have the resources along the way to help him grow and be a successful learner!

I am way behind on posting from my parents visit. We did so much in those 10 days that I think I have still been catching my breath! Here are some pictures from their time here.

they made it!

by our river

Old Towne Bern

Luzern..including next few

fondue night

Jackson’s Birthday

Montreax

Gurten

Rosengarten

We had a packed 10 days! We couldn’t seem to kick the clouds and rain but we made the most of it!

It’s Friday and I couldn’t be happier that it is. School starts next week and I am craving new routine. But before the new routine sets in we are heading to Ramstein base this weekend to do our huge stock up trip. We were supposed to go in June or July but I just could not muster up the strength. We normally go to Heidelburg and do a marathon 14 hour day but this time we are going up Sat morning and coming home Sunday afternoon. We will stay at Ramstein and hopefully enjoy a few American meals and maybe have a chance to take Jackson bowling or to a movie.  I’m thankful for the time with my boys.  Starting on the 22nd of August we will have solid visitors or one of us traveling until the end of September. Although this trip requires 4 months of meal planning and a roadtrip with 2 tots I am hopeful it will still be some much needed family time and a mini R&R.

(the boys a yr ago when we arrived!)

It’s hard to believe but we have been in Bern just over a year. I remember the day like it was yesterday. We got to our new home, jet-lagged and adrenaline rushing for the new adventure. The house was empty, lacking the temporary furniture we had arranged for. We had our 8 suitcases and a packnplay…oh yes, and a curious toddler and an overtired, out of sorts 7 month old. We had made it through the weeks of chaos surrounding Seth’s German exam and our pack out. We had survivied the trip and now we were “home” .

Our social sponsor had picked up some basic groceries for us and made us a meal. She drove me around to different groceries stories and introduced me to our store just up the hill. We didn’t have our car for the first few months so my calves muscles quickly trimmed in the pursuit of groceries, laundry soap and entertainment for 2 little ones.  The temporary furniture was delivered along with our small shipment of necessities.  I did my best to settle the kids into a routine and get my barrings straight. Coming into this move I thought it would be a piece of cake, well, maybe not a piece of cake, but I anticipated it would be more “dessert-like” than Bogota. Bogota was not a bad post but there were safety restrictions and other factors while we were there that made life more complicated than I had hoped. Especially with a small child.

The first week rolled into the second here and the weeks into months and I woke each morning with the goal of “getting us settled”. I soon realized this was taking longer than I had hoped. Logistically speaking everything went smoothly and all of the ducks were in a row. We had been super organized and I had made lots of contacts before coming. I could be organized and line the ducks up but I couldn’t write the script of our time in Bern. Our first year has been one of discovering so many new things about the culture and beauty of Switzerland. I can honestly say looking back that I have had more culture shock here than I had in Bogota. I naively thought being in Europe would mean that things would feel much more like what we were accustomed to. Instead, we have found the Swiss to be unique in their social interactions and privacy. We are even still often baffled as we try to navigate the social climate here. And while in Bogota we could rely on the Embassy community for our social outlet we quickly discovered that Bern, in addition to be a small post with less people, is generally more disconnected socially. Who needs social events when you have the Alps’ to hike and all of Europe out your back door? A year in we have made some friends and have settled into a routine. I have discovered that some people who have done the Foreign Service/Expat life are able to jump into friendships because they know they can’t waste time and others have been weathered by the coming and goings and enter into friendship with great reserve.  As a second tour family I think we are still finding a balance with this. I am typically one to invest deeply and with little reserve but I find myself feeling more reserved here.   I often long for social settings back home when I didn’t come home exhausted from navigating the cultural stuff.  Building new friendships every couple of years feels a bit like a full time job and takes so much energy!

We have seen amazing beauty in the mountains and scenery here. The views are breathtaking. We have thoroughly enjoyed having a river and woods so close by. I never knew that little boys have an intrinsic need to throw rocks into water and collect sticks. Switzerland has been great for our boys in providing them the great outdoors! Spiders galore!  Although restaurants are not kid-friendly there are many parks and wide open spaces to run!

Our boys have grown and matured so much this year. I will remember our first yr in Bern as a season of getting to know Owen’s sense of humor, watching learning to walk, talk and really become an active little family member. And I will remember watching Jackson navigate a new country, school and friends.  I will remember hearing him miss his home that he knew but still waking up each day enthusiastically asking me who we would meet and where we would go. He has taught me a lot about making the most of it. He never stops!

We have had the priviledge of hosting so many friends and family in Swiss Chalet Kolb. Visits from friends and family get us out to explore new areas of Switzerland.  They also give us an excuse to have lots of fondue and chocolate! If my math is correct by the end of September we will have hosted 24 people in our home (not counting the repeats of visitors from germany :)) this year to stay and many more local people for dinners, etc. The guesthouse is hoppin!  October begins off season around here. We will have some time to catch our breath focus on keeping up with 2 on the go boys!

At the end of the day as much as this is an amazing place to live, it really is just normal everyday life as I have said before.  We have pediatrician appointments, lots of rainy days, run out of milk and bread kind of days just like you do in your home. Being in Switzerland isn’t all postcards and pots of fondue.  We feel blessed with the opportunity to be here and we have enjoyed sharing it with all of you via visits and the blog.

With less than a year left I can feel the months beginning to fly by. We are making the most of our time here and enjoying as much chocolate and fondue to last a lifetime doing Gillian’s 30 day shred to make sure we don’t come home 30 lbs heavier!

whew, if you made it through this reflection post you are none the wiser! The title warned you it was random!