Liz comes to Switzerland

My sister Susan's daughter, Elizabeth, came for a visit in late June.  She is attending a music program in southern France in July, so she came here to visit us first.  Liz just graduated (as valedictorian) from high school in Alabama, and she is going to Utah State in the fall.  While she was in Switzerland, we went to Luzern and visited the Richard Wagner museum.  We went to the Rheinfalls (I am still terrified every time I take that boat out to the rock next to the waterfalls!) and Stein am Rhein, and we even saw fireworks at 11pm two nights in a row during the Zurich Festival (it's a festival that only happens once every 3 years, and it happened to be the 2-4 of July).  Fireworks on the 4th of July!  Another highlight was the time Liz and Elise had to play the piano together.  Liz is an excellent pianist, and it was so fun to hear Elise and Liz play duets together.

Budapest, Hungary

The day after school ended for the kids, we took a trip to Budapest Hungary.  It was a great city and a really fun trip.
We flew from Zurich and arrived in Budapest on Friday afternoon.  We stayed at Central Passage apartments, which was a really central location on the Pest side of the city.  After checking into our apartment, we set out for the Szechenyi baths - thermal baths located in the city park!  There are lots of thermal baths in the city, such an old and beautiful setting.  We all had such a great time!  There were several different pools of varying temperatures, but all comfortably warm (to very hot!).  Our favorite part was the whirlpool that pushed you around in a circle.

On Saturday morning we took a tour on the Riverride, a bus that also goes into the river.  So, after touring around the city and seeing the major sites, the bus drove down the ramp and right into the Danube!  Dave and I had been on the Duck Tours in Boston, but that was a military amphibious vehicle.  This was a coach bus!  It was a fun experience.  On the river, we went right past the Hungarian Parliament building, which is 4 meters longer than Westminster in London, and very beautiful right on the river.  We also saw the Buda part of town, and the Royal Castle up on the hill.

After the tour we walked across Chain bridge and took the funicular up the hill to the castle.  After eating lunch near the castle, we walked around Buda.  This is the oldest part of the city and is really fun to see.  Along the way we picked up a Hungarian dress for Meredith and soccer kits for Nathan and Will.  We also tried a the Hungarian funnel cakes for the first time!  We then made our way to the Buda Castle Caves.  What an experience!  These are extensive caves underground, and you really can get lost.  It's dark and a bit wet - but also very cool.  We ate dinner in Pest, and tried Hungarian goulasch (different than I always thought it was - it's just a beef soup, not a stew).

On Sunday morning we walked along the pedestrian old town.  We had tried the Hungarian sweetbread called "kalacs" the day before, and we stopped at a kalacs shop again and had some great bread (we tried the ones coated with cinnamon, chocolate and almonds).  In the early afternoon we made our way by metro to the LDS church over on the Buda side.  The meetinghouse was nice, and this ward was actually in English!  It was a small congregation, but very welcoming.  It seems that most of the Americans work with the state department, and there was also a Korean family and a German family there.

After church we went back to the Pest side and walked along Andrassy street, a beautiful shopping street in Budapest.  We walked by the opera house, then took the yellow metro back to our apartment to get ready to fly back to Zurich.  It turns out that the yellow metro line is the oldest metro line in Europe!  And the escalators to get down to the subway are longer than we had ever seen in any city!

It was a really nice trip, and so interesting!

As it happened, Thursday night, the night before we were scheduled to leave for our trip, I had severe pain and went to the hospital.  It turned out to be kidney stones!  Luckily they didn't admit me to the hospital, as the scan showed the kidney stones' location wasn't dangerous, so they gave me pain medication and told me to drink lots of fluids.  I really wanted to go on the trip, and the doctor said I could travel (I didn't tell him where...).  I had the same severe pain again Friday night in Budapest.  Dave gave me a blessing, I took a second dose of the stronger pain medication, and I was able to feel better.  I am just so thankful that the pain came first when I was at home in Switzerland and could go to the hospital there (which is very familiar by now - and such great care!).  In any case, everything was fine, and I'm once again so  thankful for the many blessings and the protection we receive as a family.

End of School Year 2009-10

I can't believe Elise is finishing 4th grade (and will be the oldest of the primary school next year), and Nathan is finishing EY2 preschool and will be moving into Kindergarten next year.  Where does the time go?  Elise's class went to the local pool for their end-of-year party, and she and her friends jumped off the 5-meter board!  Very brave!  Back at the classroom they decorated t-shirts for the 4 kids in their class who are moving (Sarah, Zofia, Rob and Sahej).

 Nathan's class was supposed to have a picnic at a local lake (I am one of the class parents and had helped to organize it), but the picnic was moved to the classroom at the last minute because of rain!

Mrs Harman, Nathan's teacher

Mrs. Cameron, Nathan's teaching assistant

 William's class party was the potluck at the end of his sports day the week before.  Will had tried out EY1 for a few weeks at the end of this school year to see if that was the right cohort for him (since his birthday is August 15, just 2 weeks before the cut-off).  His teachers raved about him and what a smart and confident little boy he is, but they also said he could do very well as the oldest in the class.  After a lot of thought, we decided to let him be one of the oldest in his class, so he will be in the new EY1 class this fall.  He is really excited to be the oldest in his class, and I'm really excited for him.  He's not very big, and I think always being the youngest (no matter how smart and confident he is now), would be tough.  I'm looking forward to a great year for him in EY1 next year!

I can only say that I love the kids' school!  It's a private school, and I definitely see what you get for the tuition.  We are fortunate to have the kids enrolled there.  So many great opportunities!

Sports Day

During the week of June 14, all of the kids had a sports day at school.  Will's was first on Monday - Meredith and I was there to film all the EY1 action!  We had a fun potluck after the event.

Nathan and Elise had sports day on June 16, and while the big kids didn't need parents to come watch, I was able to go to Nathan's and get a few photos.  Unfortunately it was pouring rain, but that didn't seem to stop the kids (or teachers).