Playin' Hooky

Growing up in Virginia Beach, we skipped school to hit the beach.  But in Geneva, we skip school to hit the slopes!  This past Monday we called in "sick" and put our skis and snowboards to the test for the first time.  It was a beautiful day for some lessons and the kids did great.  Snowboarding is definitely harder and the boys have decided to ski instead, but they gave it a good effort.  We plan to be back on Saturday for the day, one of the many advantages of living 45 minutes from some of the best skiing in the world:).

Birthday in Monaco!

Geof and I took a long weekend trip to Monaco to celebrate his 40th birthday.  It was great, but a little quiet for us.  So, we cut it a day short, drove home, and celebrated with the kids on Saturday night.  Sarah Beth helped them make Geof a cake and "Happy Birthday" signs and we finished the weekend in our favorite place...home.

The town of Eze

The Monte Carlo

Cafe De Paris, outside the Casino

Gypsies in the Palace

Christmas was extra special and busy this year.  We headed back to Georgia on Kamryn's 4th birthday and then jumped in the car and drove to North Carolina and then Virginia to celebrate the holidays with our family.  Matt and Marni were out of town and although we missed them, we thoroughly enjoyed staying at their beach house!  It was a great visit and we returned last week to Geneva for our last 6 months here.  I can't believe we are already making plans for when we move make to the States.   Here are some pics from Christmas and our quiet, peaceful stay at the Husson's :).

Matching Christmas PJ's is a Lowder family tradition

My philanthropic daughter got "TOM'S" 

Joshua can finally stop swiping everyone else's i-jiggy

Notice Khloe sleeping beside Kate; Aunt Carla took the title of Most Amazing Aunt and brought Khloe all the way from Florida to see us!

Party Animal!

The Lovely Aunt Carla...

...or at least Josh thought so.

Marni...I don't know how all these people got in your house!

One of the highlights of the whole trip was getting to spend so much time with Jason, Elizabeth, Claire, Ally, and the terrorist.  I mean Asher; who-by the way- regularly declines phone calls on Liz's iPhone because he is addicted to it and can operate it better than she can!  

I Like To Party

December is certainly my favorite month!  Between my Christmas Performance at school, my fourth birthday (which was celebrated over 3 days, in 3 countries and was 30 hours long) and the holidays in the US, I became quite fond of celebrating.  It was a great month for my whole family and we are happy to now be back in Geneva.

Kami celebrating her birthday in the Paris airport

Making cookies Christmas Eve with Ella and Thomas

Kate came over from her class and helped decorate cupcakes with my friends. 

My Mom rocks!

Ms. Darlene was very brave to bring out the cookie cutters!

"Be Careful Darlene! She bites..."

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

L'Escalade!

This past weekend was the famous L'Escalade festival in Geneva.  Here is a brief history of the event and some pictures of the event.
"On December 11 and December 12 1602 — the longest night of the year — the forces of the Duke of Savoy, under the command of the seigneur d'Albigny, and those of Charles Emmanuel's brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, launched an attack on the city-state of Geneva. The troops marched along the Arve River at night and assembled at Plainpalais, just outside the walls of Geneva, at 2 o'clock in the morning. The original plan was to send in a group of commandos to open the gate door and let the other troops in. The Geneva citizens defeated the men by preventing them from scaling the wall (a climb in French is an escalade). The night guard Isaac Mercier raised the alarm, church bells were rung, and the Genevois were alerted. The populace fought alongside their town militia. The duke's 2000-plus mercenaries were beaten. The Genevois lost 18 men in the fighting; the Savoyards suffered 54 fatalities and the troops had to retreat. Thirteen invaders who had been taken prisoner, including several well-born gentlemen, were summarily hanged the following day as thieves, since they could not be treated as prisoners of war, peace having been repeatedly sworn on the part of Savoy.
According to Genevois legend, Catherine Cheynel, originally from Lyons and the wife of Pierre Royaume, ("Mère Royaume"), a mother of 14 children, seized a large cauldron of hot soup and poured it on the attackers. The Royaume family lived just above the La Monnaie town gate. The heavy cauldron of boiling soup landed on the head of a Savoyard attacker, killing him. The commotion that this caused also helped to rouse the townsfolk to defend the city."

my most reliable source:  Wikipedia

Day Trippin'

Emily and I got up enough courage to take a quick road trip last Friday and go to Chamonix, France.  At the base of Mount Blanc we got our fill of snow, fondue, and a little adventure.

A Swiss Christmas

With December in Switzerland comes the enchanting Marche de Noel, or Christmas Market.  Lights, booths, merchants and shoppers pop up in every village around the country and this past weekend we visited the festivities in Montreux.  It was picture perfect.  The decorations were beautiful, the food delicious and the ferris wheel ride-freezing.  But now we are even more excited to head back to the states next week and celebrate Christmas in the best place of all...Home.:)



The Glass Blower



Emalee's first crepe

Delightful.