My family and I have just finished reading the book Bloomability by Sharon Creech.  It is about a girl named Dinnie who moves to Switzerland.  She lives with her Uncle and Aunt and goes to an international school.  She meets lots of friends.  She also runs into a lot of drama.
Dinnie is an interesting, nice, thoughtful kind of girl.  She meets Guthrie who is an exploring, optomistic, nice, out of this world kind of boy.  She also meets Lila who is pessimist, drama queen, spoiled kind of person.
Dinnie learns that changing to a new place isn't going to be easy.  You are going to have some hard times in life but you keep on going.  She also learns that you have to have a good attitude to take advantage of exciting oppurtunities.
I liked the book because it caught my interest and it is some of what I am going through and I recommend it to all ages to read.  I give it 4 out of 4 stars.
P.S.  My mom loves loves loves this book.
by:  Kathryn

A New Kind of John Deere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zGOhoHktJc&feature=related

That is how I felt when I looked out our back door last night and saw the hill behind our house was being mowed...by sheep.  I guess they do this because gas for a real lawn mower is too expensive.  I am excited because I miss our dog Khloe, so I am going to pretend they are my new pets.
By:  Joshua

Belle in Boots

Kami has taken the song "There must be more than this provencial life" from Beauty and the Beast to heart.  We are all enjoying the weather, the yard, and the beautiful view.

The Field Trip

Today we went on a hike with our neighbors. It was fun because we don't go on feild trips very often.  That is one of the advantages you get to have if you are homeschooled.  The other  advantage is you get to go  outside and have fun with other people.  You get done a lot earlier than regular school time.  The hike was long and fun I hope we get to do it again some day.  Kathryn                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

John and Ben, This One Is For You...

We have been partaking in that painstaking activity of visiting churches.  The kids are mortified at this process because they have been completely spoiled by our home church of CMPC where when they walk down the hall most people know and love them. When we asked Jackson after the service which of the two churches we have visited so far did he like best, he replied, "Chestnut Mountain." But they are being pretty good sports and not complaining too much.  Thankfully, there are a few english speaking congregations to pick from and this weekend we went to a very special one.  It was in the Church of Scotland of Geneva in the Calvin Auditorium in Old Town, Geneva.  Christians have been worshipping in this building possibly since the 5th century and it is also the place where John Calvin and later John Knox each delivered sermons.  I could hardly concentrate on the message because I was so excited to tell John and Ben and the rest of our Chesnut Mountain Presbyterian Church staff where we were!  You guys would have loved it.  We took some pictures to share and even got you some souvenirs (yes, they actually sold them in the library and although I know you wouldn't approve of that-we couldn't resist).  Hope all is well there, and Jackson is right, yall are still our all time favorite :).
Love Mary

The Reign of Terror

Jackson and I have been learning about the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror (when thousands of French people; innocent, guilty and children alike, were guillotined following the revolt against Louis XVI).  The second "Reign of Terror" came this past week as the Voorhees family descended on Paris!  Here are the kids' thoughts, pictures and videos of their first trip outside the Geneva area.

Jackson:

Paris is not what I expected.  First, Paris is not the cleanist city in the world.  There are also a lot of homeless people.  But Paris is very cool because all of the historical sites we visited were very large.  I couldn't believe how big The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, The Catherdal at Notre Dame and The Arc De Triumph were. From traveling on the subway to staying at the hotel, our whole trip was an adventure.  The food in Paris is pretty good.  The guide that we hired was extremely helpful and nice.  Her name was Stephanie.  I attached some pictures and videos of our trip for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4V6kfVygd4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cd3VgrPoOg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnR2EtCz1m4

Bon Jour Y'all!

I was in Paris this past week with my family.  I went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, Venis de Milo, The Winged Victory, and Michelangelo's Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave sculptures.  I went to the Ace de Triumph and it is right in the middle of the busiest traffic circle in the world!  I went to The Cathedrel at Notre Dame which is an old catholic church.  I climbed the stairs at the Eiffel Tower which was the scariest of all because I am afraid of heights!  The Subway was also scary because people often steal your belongings, but it was a great way to get around the city in order to go to far away places.  As you can see, I had a blast and I learned a lot.  Here are some pictures and videos of my crazy adventure in Paris.
Kathryn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeSYJQaO2nQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ3oK7EVaWo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P01hBce7bbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du1x9-5-2MQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFJK0h0qaX8

He went to Paris looking for answers to questions that bothered him so...

I have always been wondering about how big the Eiffel Tower really looks because it is hard to tell in pictures.  I have also wondered about what the Arc de Triumph and also what the big deal is with the Mona Lisa.  Well, I got to find out this week because I visited Paris, France.
The famous  Mona Lisa is in the Louvre. We went to the Louvre.  The only way it is "big"is because it is famous.  In real life, it is small.
I liked walking around the city the best because you could see so many cool things.  All of the most famous things that are there, I got to see.  The trip was amazing.

Joshua
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obt-jzsz_YY 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYRF2Fi_iWY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQ3uBEHnS4

To Market, To Market To Buy A Fat Pig

Yesterday, we went grocery shopping in Geneva.  We noticed they had pork on sale for, get ready...$53 francs a pound (the franc and dollar are about 1 to 1)!!  So we decided to go to the open air market today in France to see if we could get a better deal. Obviously, they had pork!  We were not brave enough to buy any of it, but we did however come away with some fresh bread, great fruit and a rotesserie chicken.  It was very crowded, but a fun adventure and the prices were better than in Switzerland, so I'm sure we will go there again.  We head to Paris tomorrow, so we will talk to you next from there.  Have a great weekend everyone, miss you all!
Mary

Lots of flowers for sale

Fruit stands everywhere

We sampled the fruit.

Things we did not buy:

Chickens with heads

chickens with feet

Fish without bodies

Meow???  If I could speak French I would have asked this vendor how many ways there are to skin a cat.

Not sure if the wine was sold separately...

Sam I Am

Sam is our new neighbor.  He is twelve and goes to an international school here in Geneva.  Sam is an interesting person.  First he lived in England.  When he was 7, his family moved here.  Then they went to Boston, and now they have moved back to Geneva. Sam also has an older sister. Her name is Ellen and she is in boarding school in England at the moment.  Sam likes to play Xbox and soccer.  He also likes to play with all of us on his trampoline.  Last weekend we went to a pizza shop with their family.  We drank Coke out of wine glasses :).  Also, thankfully, he ordered in French for us. Sam is a very nice kid and we will all have fun hanging out with him for the next 18 months.

-Jackson Voorhees

It's Not Easy Being Green

Dealing with your trash in Switzerland is very different than in America.  The people here always have to put their recycling and regular trash in different places.  When we went to go drop off the all the trash, we went to the bottom of the street and dropped that off first.  Then we went down the street further to drop off the glass, paper and platsic.  My dad and my brothers unloaded the recycling  and put it in the correct trashcan.  When we got there it was very confusing because all of the signs said what not to put in the trashcans and all of the signs were in French.  As you can see,even taking out the trash is an adventure in Switzerland!

Kathryn