Field Trip to Texas cattle ranches!

Today, Stephen and Sterling and I took a field trip to the Texas cattle ranches... figuratively speaking, of course. 8-) This movie 'Temple Grandin' has been so highly recommended to me, we finally watched it. I'm so glad we did! EVERYONE should see this movie ("true story of an autistic woman who became an unlikely hero to America's cattle industry--and to autistic people everywhere") Claire's performance is unbelievably amazing, and the story is just heart-warming... I cried several times, and the boys got teary. It was terrific fodder for conversation ~the story reminded me of one of my favorite quotes: "God himself does not judge us until the end of our days... why should we?" An amazing story of perseverence and love.

So then we went out and checked on our cute Crassier cows. I can't look at them the same way now. They're more like friends. 8-)

Mike and Kas ~ here's proof that Sterl did go running with me while here!

Stopping to admire the little carts set up by the roadside with wares for sale... here are 'courges' (pumpkins) for 2 francs per kilo. Honor system: you see here the pumpkin and the payment box for you to drop in your money. Love it.

We loved hosting Kassie's friend Natalie for lunch (spaghetti carbonara and ice-cream) and some great rounds of Screwy-Louis card-playing!



Lunchtime fun

Kenny loves to have his cute friends over for lunch -- today he and Louis had a great time building a train puzzle, then scooting it on the floor all around the house making choo-choo noises... adorable!

Singing the French alphabet song ~

The kids torment Sterl while we wait for Kenny in his gym class...

This morning, Kenny looked at the fruitbowl and said, "Mom, I think it's time for us to buy more fruit." Yes, it's a bit tricky when Daron's GOT THE CAR IN GRENOBLE!!

Today, I'm missing when my kids were little. It goes too fast, and I want that time back

when they were tiny and snuggle-able...

Family Home Evening with the Missionaries!

Always the most FUN when our friends, the missionaries, come to eat and play with us! Tonight they did the FHE lesson for us... can you tell what skit they were acting out? They got props from the kids' room (in addition to the ones they brought) and practiced with the kids before their 'performance'... holy cow - we laughed so hard!  Particularly when God punishes the wicked with floods and lightning. We love these guys!

Annecy, church and yoga

We loved our 2nd time back to Annecy... all colors and fun!

more ice-cream of course!

It was so great to have Jen and Sterl come to church with us.

The kids practiced their songs and talks for their Primary Program next week... cute Jen taped it all with her new ipad!

Yoga with our friend Patty Chatterley - so much fun! Plus PE credit for the homeschooler boys...

A freezing swim and Cailler Chocolate... again!

Crazy Texan jumping in French lake!

And later at the Cailler Factory... for the 3rd time!

 (Kenny fell asleep on the way there...)

Our experience here was again lovely, and yet different this time... we had a Swiss Chocolate Guard to watch us in the "Eat-Yourself-Sick" Room! You can see her on the left -- eyeing us as we gorge. And who can blame her? Check us out, with our huge trenchcoats, looking like thieving American tourists ready to empty every plate of chocolate into our pockets. Terrible. And yet so delicious. No shame - - even with her piercing eyeballs. We paid our entrance fee. 8-)

We can't even speak. Our mouths are too busy.

One hand in the mouth, one hand cleverly placing more chocolates into the pocket...

Counting the loot...

I love this girl... here she is yesterday heading off to horse-riding class, wearing her horsie necklace.

Sterling cuts open a coing (pronounced "kwa") ... a fruit new to all of us...

Keepin' it real.

Dropping off Kenny-Boo at school...



Dropping off Daron at HP...

and keeping the homeschoolers on track!



Just trying to live up to this quote from my sister...

"The Chillon Castle was magical!"

Those were Jen's words after touring the castle today - I'm so glad we went! Here we are going down into the 'batcave' (our parking garage) to get the car for our daytrip...

We happened to be at the castle when they were filming a historical documentary! It was so cool to see the actors in their medieval costumes.

Happy Halloween!

What better way to kick off the candy holiday than with healthy salads for dinner??

Cute Jen has been such a sport - we've had NONSTOP FOG since she arrived, covering all the mountains -- it's becoming purely comical. Fog, everytime we go see something.  And today we drove up into the Jura to ride the Luge toboggans, and they were renovating it all, so no rides! We went shopping instead. 8-)

Our new dangling friend, Yvoire the Cow.  Jen got his matching cousin, Yvoire the Frog.

Checking out a cute stream over in Divonne...

Haircut time!

We came across a quote we all liked while driving our endless hours in the car last weekend:

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.  That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes."

The hills are alive...

Endeavoring to show our Texans a good time, we took to the road and drove them across Switzerland to Salzburg, Austria… the home of the Von Trapp family from The Sound of Music! (Both the real life family, and the site where they filmed much of the movie) We woke up bright and early and crammed food, blankets, laptops and clothes into our little car… Kas and Kenny were troopers to sit scrunched in the far back the whole time!

The  bathroom/gas station stops are always entertaining… from riding the racecars to paying for the potty to buying healthy (and unhealthy) snacks! Here's Sterl chawing on a cucumber... (prerequisite for everyone in the car prior to our McD's stop)

Salzburg is BEAUTIFUL – everywhere you look, you can recognize statues and fountains from the famous Rogers and Hammerstein movie… we kept singing “Do, a deer…” with each footstep. 8-) 

Here's the gate leading to the courtyard where Rolf found the Von Trapp’s hiding place and blew the whistle to announce their whereabouts ~

Mozart’s birthplace ~

Delicious sausages on the street ~

Our great hotel had an automatic shoe-shiner machine... which works on shoes AND bare feet!

My bandaid matches Kenny’s shirt.

Day 2, we drove to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany; this time it was green and lovely, instead of the cold snowy landscape we saw when we went in March.  We stretched our legs and walked up the mountain to the castle, rather than taking the horse and buggy ride.