Brian's mom, Shelley, arrived on August 31st to visit us for 2 weeks. We kept her busy. I'm pretty sure she could have used a vacation after this trip! We started off by going to Yvoire in France for a day trip during the week while Brian was working. The boys were happy and even took a nap and the weather was beautiful! I've started noticing that whenever we go someplace to have fun that the weather seems to always be awesome for us and this was no exception.
Me and the boys also decided to take Shelley downtown to walk around a bit and we ended up at Baby Plage on the lake and at Parc des Eaux Vives. As you can see I just let the boys play in their undies/diaper and then got them dressed back up for the park. It is normal for kids to go swimming here in their underwear (even little girls) until about 10 years old so we fit right in. There are some makeshift tire swings and swinging ropes set up in the big trees on the beach and James especially enjoyed those. Of course, another beautiful day!
And then when Saturday came around we took Shelley to Gruyere which is an old town that sits on top of a small mountain/large hill. It is beautiful and home to Gryueres cheese as well as double creme de la Gruyeres (basically the most sinful and awesome dessert ever)! I let Brian take Shelley and Bubba into the castle and I took Johnny on a walk around the castle. We stayed for a fondue lunch and then went on a tour of a real cheese factory. Brian took the train and I drove there with Shelley and the boys since it is about 2.5 hours from home. It is always a pleasure to go up there and the weather was again spectacular.
We love having company!
The next day we took a flight...but then that is a story for another post! Stay tuned!
There was a fishing festival in Versoix that we decided to check out. James caught his first fish ever! He caught his first fish in about 5 seconds so we decided to let him try again for a second one after this.
We stayed a while after and played on the "beach" (it is all rocky and made of pebbles) and then had dinner there and listened to the music while the kids made some friends and danced for a while. It was a nice day.
The kids also did a painting project with me. I saw an idea for marble painting online and decided to try it with the kids. I decided that I would also buy a few extra canvases and prepaint them so that the boys could be creative and so that I could get their handprints and footprints. It was fun but they had to take a bath immediately after and I had to scrub the balcony off afterward. We have hung the pictures throughout the house and I have had friends ask where we bought that red/black and white picture (the marble painted one). I have even showed a few friends how to do this project and I am helping the primary do this as part of an activity on Saturday.
James had taken to giving Johnny lots of toys to play with in the morning. Johnny enjoyed it until the toys got to be too much for him to move when he would start yelling for us.
This is also the time when I James lost having his toys in his room. Can you tell why? He just made one too many "boats" out of his toys. I moved the toys to my room for a few months and just yesterday I moved them to the living room.
We also went raspberry picking a few times with Brian and the kids really liked that. It makes the raspberries actually affordable at about $4 a lb. if you pick them yourself. The boys especially love every minute they get to spend with Daddy.
As you can tell we had a laid back and fun ending to our summer.
Work in progress
"To be angry is to yield to the influence of Satan. No one can make us angry. It is our choice. If we desire to have a proper spirit with us at all times, we must choose to refrain from becoming angry. I testify that such is possible."
--Thomas S. Monson
