Six Flying Dutchmen

Saturday, February 11, 2012

We Miss Football

What is a boy to do when he lives in a time zone where the Superbowl Kick Off is at midnight? Set his alarm for 3am and watch the last quarter! Jackson and Joshua were so thankful to at least be able to catch the end of the game that they didn't even complain when 6:45am rolled around and they had to get up (again) for school. We will be happy next fall when we can watch our favorite teams on Eastern Standard Time!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Oh Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Finally! We have snow in Geneva. After 11 months I was beginning to wonder if we were going to miss the winter wonderland experience promised for this time of year. Well, we are not! The start of the week brought snow, sledding, snow"queens" and a Siberian Weather System (that is what the weather people around here are calling it...you don't want to know what I'm calling it). We are experiencing the coldest temperatures Switzerland has seen in over 30 years. The wind keeps the "feels like" temperature well below zero, which is hovering just above my patience level for putting layer upon layer of snow clothing on my children. But there is hope- the weather is supposed to get back up in the thirties...next week. Lesson here? I guess sometimes we should be careful what we wish for :). And yes, I know what the temperature has been on the east coast all week.
I'm not talking to any of you.

Me: "Kami, do you want to go outside and make a snowman?", Kami: "No-I want to make the Queen of Sheba."
Well, there you go.

Real men slide on pink sleds.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

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

Monday, January 9, 2012

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.