Down by the River

Sunday was a sunny day after several of rain, so the kids and I decided to picnic down by the Aare. Todd was home sleeping, in recovery from his 3-days at the Greenfield Festival.

Izzi and Xav wading...







Xav enjoying his chicken...













Izzi easing herself into the cold Aare...











Xavier searching for cool stones...

Circus, Circus!!

A friend gave us discount tickets to a small circus playing in Bern, so Todd took Izzi and Xavier on Sunday afternoon. They ate popcorn and cotton candy and had a thoroughly good time:)

http://www.nock.ch/

Xavier Goes Short

Traditional Dance

The Steiner School (where Isabella and Xavier attend) hosted the 12 class student projects today. It's an all-day affair, where each 12th class student presents the project they chose for their final year to the community. One of the 12th class students chose traditional dance as her project. She spent most of this year teaching several of the younger classes a few traditional Swiss dances which they performed today. Isabella's class was one of the classes who participated, and her class danced two dances this afternoon.

Unfortunately, no photo taking is allowed during school performances, so no visuals to share.

Dental, Dancing and Deoderant

Dental
Izzi, Xavier and I rushed to catch the 12:30 train to Bern after school today. Isabella had an appointment with her orthodontist to have a mold made for the retainer she'll be receiving in a couple of weeks. The doc has estimated two years of treatment: first to correct a misaligned jaw (probably hereditary), and secondly to correct an overbite caused by her years of being a thumbsucker. She'll wear this first retainer while sleeping for one year. She will then be fitted for a second retainer that she will wear 24 hours for one year. She actually seems a bit excited about the whole thing...we'll see once she actually starts wearing it.

We then stopped at the Starbucks on Barenplatz for a cool drink. It was hot, and Xavier was quite tired (not sleeping so well this last couple of weeks), so the kids needed a bit of reviving.












Dancing
As her 8th grade project, a girl in Izzi's school has been teaching the 4th and 5th classes several traditional Swiss dances. Next week the children will perform on Thursday and Friday night for the community. All the girls must wear a white t-shirt with a colorful, flowy skirt. Our next errand today was to find such a skirt for Isabella. We were successful, and also found a t-shirt with a tiger on it for Xavier. He loves tigers and has always wanted a shirt with a tiger image.

Deoderant
Third and final errand was to purchase some deoderant for Todd and Isabella, along with a few groceries. Yes, Isabella wears deoderant daily now. Just one of the many small signs indicating how much she has matured over this last year or so.

Loony for Lizards

The kids and their friends have been enjoying the lizards in the school gardens. Izzi and several of her friends have fallen into the small pond on more than one occasion. Sometimes they just catch the lizards and hold them a bit and then return them to the pond. Today they were busy moving 50 or more of the lizards from the one small pond to another in the school garden.

Royal Treatment

Xavier woke me this morning and asked that I come to the kitchen. Isabella, Xavier and Janna (a friend who had slept over)had decorated my chair with silks, picked some fresh flowers, and laid out my presents. All by 7:30 a.m.

Isabella gave me some new chocolates, Xavier made a windsock at school, and Todd and the kids gave me a lithograph of one our favorite fountains in Bern.