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!!

Lego by Noah

This is the Lego Power Miners Underground Mining Base. It is a present from my grandma Nana. It is very big and I like it.

Recent stuff

Bonjour, C'est Rachel. We are about half way through our time without Dad. He is still in the States and has been visiting with friends. He is going to send back mail, MY SKATES, and other things. Because we were so sad he was gone, we took a trip to the lake and got ice cream for dinner! It was really good. Today we also got a huge box in the mail. It contained amazing American neccessities, like Lucky Charms and Reeses. It also contained a long awaited present for Noah, which he will blog about later. I am not one to spoil surprises so that's all for now.

Museum of Natural History and Adventure Course

This is Molly: Yesterday, my dad, Noah, and I went to the natural history museum. The museum had a real turtle that had two heads. It was named Janus after the roman god with two faces. The turtle was born at the museum. When we saw the turtle, it wasn't really moving because one head was trying to go one way while the other head was trying to go the other way. At the museum, we also saw lots and lots of dead and preseved animals in dioramas. The museum was really cool and I can't wait to go back!

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.

First Week of September

Hello! This is Sean. Saturday, Sep 5 was a gorgeous day in Geneva. Bright, sunny, and 16 degrees Celsius. In apparent celebration, we witnessed the start of a hot air balloon festival right outside our living room window (pictured above). We then had a nice family outing to the Rue de Rive farmers market. On the walk home, we stopped for hot chocolate and a lemon crepe at a little shop near Le Jet D'eau. Also pictured above is our annual first day of school photo, in our new "backyard" (see first day stories in past blogs).

Hi! This is Rachel. The video of the alpine horns has been posted on YouTube. Please check it out and come back and tell us what you think right here on the blog. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC1wU3xXFAQ.
Enjoy!