All of you know by now that my Nana came a little over a week ago to have a Swiss adventure…read here if you missed the whole story! Don’t get confused by the title of the post linked….Nana isn’t a spider. You’ll have to read to catch up! 

Slowly we are getting into a new routine and trying to balance her desire to get out of the house with the need to also rest and lay low. It makes life more than interesting. I often find myself pushing the stroller with Owen bucking in the stroller seat, Jackson on one side hoping to speed up and Nana on the other struggling to hold tight enough. We are quite a spectacle for the Swiss to behold!

Last week Nana got to experience play dough time with the boys, lots of book reading, an outing to the river, raclette, dinner at a beautiful lookout restaurant and then after church on Sunday night we walked her downtown to see the Rendevous Bundeshaus light show! Here are some pictures from her first week in Switzerland!

playdough time!

Owen sticks closer than a brother! He is Nana’s watchdog!

rock throwing demo for Nana…don’t worry dad he looks closer to the edge than he is!

raclette night

looking innocent…she tends to get them riled up and gets Owen wrestling her!

evidence!

and this is just tiny sneak peak at the light show!! More to come on this…maybe tomorrow!

So that catches you up on our week! I will try to stay up with uploading pictures because I know many of you that know and love Nana would love to see what she’s up to!

Almost done with the catch up folks I promise!  This is my last backtrack post!

The day Dan and Margo flew out was the first day of the church weekend away. We had reservations to go but for the couple of weeks leading up to it we waffled back and forth trying to determine if we should really go or not. Not because we weren’t interested but because we had many guests, as you already know, and Seth had to travel beginning the Monday following the retreat. Oh yes, and because for the 4 of us to go to the rustic weekend away it was going to be $350 Swiss Francs. Um, okay that’s a whole lotta mula. About a week before I emailed the coordinator and asked if by chance anyone who wanted to go wasn’t able to go because of space. I just could NOT fathom the packing, sleepless nights and exhaustion accompanied with such expensive fun! Another couple decided at the last minute to come and needed our space. Phew. But we still wanted to go for the day Saturday to spend time getting to know people and enjoying the scenery. So that is what we did. We drove the hour up Saturday morning to Kandersteg, listened to a speaker in the morning, spent the afternoon picnicking and hiking to a lake with friends and then enjoyed dinner with the group before heading home with two very tired boys!

The Lodge where everyone was staying was about 5 mins drive to the base of the hike that took us to Oeschinen Lake. We opted for the gondola with the stroller. It was pouring as we bought our tickets but about 5 mins into our walk to the lake the rain let up and we had a really nice time outside. Jackson and Seth got to go in a boat on the lake and we all visited over hot chocolate. While we were on the patio of the cafe having drinks we heard bells coming our way.  A big herd of sheep were making their way down the mountain and passed by on the path next to us. Jackson loved seeing the sheep dogs at work!

our pastor’s wife Margi is a retired Biology teacher. She loves Jackson’s curiosity and has so much patience to answer his questions!  He was the only big kid on the hike so he got to get all of the grown-up attention.

Daniela and Miguel with baby Anna. They are in our small group and have become good friends! Seth gets his Spanish fix with Miguel and Daniela has been such a sweet friend in this mothering adventure. She is so patient with my boys enthusiasm and even took them up the Gurten a couple of weeks ago so Seth and I could go out on a date!

Sue and Margi laughing hysterically at the boaters…I told them my thought was if the wives of the men wouldn’t get in a boat with their husbands that there was no way I would get in!!!

sweet Owen was snacking and content in his stroller so I stepped away to take his picture from afar…no worries the breaks were on and he was buckled in!

I think this is hysterical…everyone looks a bit concerned again about those silly boaters

This is Seth and Jackson on their turn. One of the ladies asked if they could “take Jackson”. I laughed and said “sure” thinking she was wanting to take him home with her. She meant on the boat. I told her I didn’t mind her taking him to live with her but the boat sounded a bit scary! No really, laughing aside, it did scare me. Seth assured me that he could handle Jackson on the boat safely.

don’t let this awake face fool ya, the next one is of him ten minutes later. He was exhausted from all of the fun!

We are drawing to the end of day trip and festival season. It’s about to get really boring in terms of pictures of the sights of Switzerland. Today the high was 45 degrees. And rainy. Lord, help me through this upcoming grey season!!! Last winter was tough y’all. The Swiss love the outdoors but haven’t mastered indoor activities and kid activities! So glad to have some better friends this year that I know well enough to call for emergency playdates!

In early September our friends Dan and Margo along with their twin boys, Seth and Bryce came to visit us for a week! Seth and Dan have known each other since their awkward teenage yrs! Dan and Margo were so brave to face the jetlag with 3 yr olds and amazingly jumped in and saw so many things!! We did our best with 4 little ones to get them around Switzerland and make sure they had yummy meals and warm beds! Jackson and Owen loved having brothers around and my Seth *may* or *may not* have said at the end of the week that he will let me adopt twins! I will keep you posted on that one. For now here are a few pictures from their visit!

The Saturday they arrived was the Sharing of the Cheese Festival in Magisalp

this doesn’t look so yummy but apparently it was so good Seth had to take off his glasses to eat it. toasted bread, sauteed onions and melted cheese poured on top.  not part of our weekly diet…more like once a yr!

i love this one because it looks like I photoshopped Owen in.

little boys gathered around a little frog

lots of bike riding and outside time!

fountains downtown

Cow Festival downtown

I don’t have pictures here but they also went down to the Aare for walks, Zermatt, Gruyere, Callier Chocolate factory and Old Towne Bern.

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!