Kiss me, Kate

We have a little game we play sometimes. Gary or I will pretend to be asleep, and Luke will kiss us to wake us up. I'm not sure how it started, but I think Gary thought of it. Anyway, Gary and I love to play it because it's a sure way to get a smooch from Luke. Until today, no one else had participated in our little love-fest. As many of you know, Kate, a girl in Luke's class at school, is his girlfriend/best friend. Today at school she was pretending to be Snow White and was lying on the ground like she was sleeping. Luke went over to her and told her to wake up; when that didn't work, he kissed her. His first kiss! His teachers thought it was really sweet, and I only wish I had been there to see it.

How does your garden grow?

Gary and I have always enjoyed planting a few vegetables each spring, and we had pretty good success in Columbia. We were less successful here in Texas until our friend Steve helped us out. He is quite the gardening guru, and he helped Gary build a nice sized garden, despite our tiny backyard. We have planted lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers, and the lettuce and carrots have already started to come up. Last weekend Luke helped Gary plant the tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, and they both had a good time. Gary built this trellis. Eventually there will be cucumbers growing up it.















Luke helps Daddy plant tomatoes.
















Luke loves to scoop dirt, so this was a perfect job for him!

Big boy bed

Well, we finally made the move to the toddler bed this week. Everyone I talked to said to keep Luke in the crib for as long as we could, and I think if we hadn't moved him, he would have gladly slept in it till he was 12. He only tried to climb out once and was always lying there waiting for us in the morning. But a few weeks ago as I hoisted my 35-pound-child into the crib, I thought, "OK, that's it - time for a bed he can get into himself!" So this week was the week for change.

I got the bed and put it together Tuesday while he was at school. When he came home I told him I had a surprise for him in his room. I thought he would be a little more excited about it than he was; he just stood there and looked at it for a minute and then said, "Is there anything else?" I ignored his ungratefulness (who wouldn't love a bed as a present?!?) and talked up the big boy bed. He didn't want to get in it at all that afternoon, but that evening once he realized he could get in it all by himself, he thought it was pretty cool. He was a little unsure about sleeping in it and did cry for about 5 minutes Tuesday night, but then he gave it up and fell right asleep. He's been staying in it all night and waits for me to come get him in the morning. We left the crib up in case he really balked at sleeping in the new bed, but we took it down this morning (with his blessing, of course), and he has said several times this week how much he likes his new bed. So all in all, this transition went pretty smoothly.
As you can see, we didn't get rid of any of the stuff that was in the crib. It's a little more crowded in the new bed with all the stuffed animals and books, but he finds a little spot right in the middle to sleep in.

A few more Switzerland pictures

Another view of Chamonix.

We climbed a steep hill to get to the chair lift that took us up to 6,000 feet. This is the view from the bottom of the chair lift.

We saw 5 or 6 parasailers in France. We're not sure, but we think they just jump off the mountains and float down. It's definitely not a sport I'll be taking up, but they were neat to see.

6,000 feet high - spectacular!

Switzerland pictures

On Wednesday everyone on the trip went to a dinner in one of the hotel ballrooms. As you can see, it was more of a dressy dinner, and I loved wearing my new dress. I felt like I was getting ready for the prom!

We toured Chillon Castle, which was built in 1260, on Thursday. I loved teaching The Canterbury Tales, and since it's set during the Middle Ages, I really enjoyed the castle tour.
On Friday we took a three-country tour which took us from Switzerland into Italy and then France. On the way to Italy we stopped in St. Bernard for coffee and a croissant. We got to take pictures with a couple of real St. Bernards. There was so much snow in St. Bernard, and although it was quite cold, the scenery was beautiful. It's the best coffee break I've ever had.
Here we are in the town square of Aosta Italy. It's a little hard to see us, but you can clearly see the Alps in the background. Our time in Italy was short, but it was long enough to walk through the town, grab a quick cup of coffee (which was VERY strong according to Gary), and buy some Italian cookies. The most interesting thing about Aosta was the bathroom I used. It was outside of a pastry shop, and when I walked in, there was no toilet to be seen - there was just a hole surrounded by porcelain in the ground. I figured when in Aosta . . .

This is Chamonix, France, and it was the last stop on our three-country tour. Chamonix was absolutely breath-taking! The entire town is surrounded by the Alps, and you can see Mont Blanc from here as well. Gary and I thoroughly enjoyed our time here. It was picturesque and quaint - you felt like you had stepped into a storybook.

Bon jour!

Our trip to Switzerland was wonderful! We left Dallas at about 12:30 p.m. on Monday and arrived in Geneva at 9:30 Tuesday morning. It was a long flight, but we were so excited to be there finally that we were ready to go the minute we got off the plane. Our hotel was exquisite, and we had a great view of Lake Geneva and the French Alps from our room. We spent Tuesday walking around Montreux and doing a little shopping. We finally crashed that afternoon and took a quick nap and then were off for dinner at a local restaurant. Montreux is in the French speaking part of Switzerland, and I was surprised at how much of my high school French came back to me. I remembered enough to be able to translate menus, signs, and other fairly straight-forward things. Madame Ross, my French teacher, would be proud!

The view from our balcony.

On Wednesday we took a tour of Geneva which is about an hour from Montreux. We drove around the city and saw several of their famous buildings, including the Red Cross headquarters and the European United Nations headquarters. Then we took a 45 minute walking tour which included Geneva's famous water fountain, the flower clock, St. Peter's Cathedral, and the Wall of the Reformation. After our tour we did a little shopping (we both got Swatch watches - a throw-back to our teenage years!) and had lunch. We found a Bob the Builder memory card game for Luke at a local toy shop. It's written in German, one of Switzerland's four national languages, and instead of Bob the Builder, it's Bob der Baumeister - pretty funny, especially when you sing it that way in the theme song.

Geneva's water fountain.
Geneva's famous flower clock. I imagine it's amazing when it's in full bloom.

It's hard to believe, but there are palm trees all over Geneva and Montreux - they call it the Swiss Riviera (but as you can tell by my clothing, it definitely wasn't bathing suit weather!)

More SC pictures

The last thing we did was go to Pump It Up on Tuesday. It's a place that's filled with giant inflatables - slides, obstacle courses, and bounce houses. They have free play for children 5 & under on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and we thought it would be fun to go. Luke & I both had a blast! He loved the giant slide, especially when he rode in my lap and went super fast. It was a great way to spend an hour and was well worth the $5!

We really had a wonderful visit - probably one of the best ever. I know that Luke will remember his cousins now and will look forward to seeing them again. We were sad to leave, but we have some great memories from our visit.

We are family

Last week Luke & I headed to Greenville, SC to visit family. My mom and her husband and my Nana recently moved to Greenville from Florida; my sister and brother-in-law and their children have lived there for about 1 1/2 years. It was great being able to see everyone in one visit.

Four generations!

Luke was great on the plane going there and coming back, and he had a great time. We played with my sister's children (Luke named them "the kids") every day, and Luke had a ball! He fell in love with Hannah and wanted her to play with him all the time (it was a nice break for me!) He also loved wrestling with the boys and being loud and silly all the time.

Luke & the kids

Some of the highlights of the trip were getting a chance to visit with my dear friend Tonya and her children, Ty & Alli. We played at the church playground several times, and Luke loved the scooper (although he needed a little help to work it.) We also got to take a ride in Uncle Cam's cool pick-up truck.