Noah's birthday adventures

This is Sean writing: We had a very nice time celebrating Noah's birthday today, one highlight of which was the outing to Forestland with Samson and Friso. They had an excellent zip line course that involved a lot of walking across swingin logs and cables suspended 4 meters off the ground, and several fast long zip lines that led from one tree to another. All of the boys seemed at ease with the harnesses and hardware, and all of the techniques necessary to navigate the 1.5 hour airborne adventure course. The day went from excellent to outstanding when it was discovered that the local food specialty was hot dogs and french fries. The orders of fries was large enought that all 3 boys were able to share with their humble (and hungry) chaperone. The last hour or so included a lot of jumping and tumbling on trapalenes and large inflatable slides and obstacle courses. We knew it was time to go home when Friso took a tumble on a slide that produced an impressive amount of blood, and required a visit to the doctor for a couple of stitches in his lower lip. Everyone took that mishap in stride, including Friso's mom, and it provided an exclamation point for the sort of daredevil antics that an 8 year old is likely to remember for a good while.

You can have a look at Noah's arboreal finesse by clicking on the video below. You will hear Samson giving him important advice and encouragement toward the end.

Nancy made another one of her cake masterpieces (pictured at the top) - guided by her unique ability to identify subtle clues related to the passions and preferences of her children. In Noah's case, we are talking about sugar. He also happens to enjoy building legos. Rachel and Molly were very happy to join this part of Noah's excellent 8th birthday adventure. Happy Birthday Noah!!

Farmer's market at Rue de Rive

This is Sean with another weekend blog, and I am under orders From Rachel to keep it short. Nancy was away teaching a course in India this week, so I tried my best to keep up some of her weekend traditions, including the trip to the local farmer's market. This one is walking distance from our house - involving a nice stroll through the Parc Eaux Vives across the street, which takes you down to the beach on Lake Geneva, and then toward the flower clock which is near one end of the farmer's market. The pictures are of the children's beach on the lake (with a playstructure made of bike tires), the flower clock, and some lovely raspberries and blueberries at the market.

Col de la Faucille

Hi this is Rachel. We haven't blogged for a while, so I think I'm not going to be the only one blogging today. Anyway, I am going to talk about something we did exactly a week ago, today is Sunday the 13th. We went to Col de la Faucille, an amazing ropes course/zipline place in France. We went with our friends Nina and Sally and their adorable boys Milo (6) and Cy (4). My height allowed me to do the adult course, which is amazing, except my muscles were aching for days. The adult course goers were me, my dad, and Nina. My mom and Sally monitored the other courses. Molly and Noah did the junior course, a ropes course ranging from 6-20 feet off the ground ending in a zipline. Cy did the kiddie course. The adults course consisted of 6 ropes courses and ziplines, ranging in difficulty from green to red! It was really hard but fun, too. I am thinking about having my birthday party there come April, but then again, it is not enjoyable at all if you are afraid of heights. The adult course must have been 40 or 50 ft high! At the end, we had crepes. Yum! I have attached a picture of me going down the first zipline and one of all the kids. Left to right: Cy, me, Noah, Molly, Milo.