Switzerland

Dear Family and Friends,

This week, we bid farewell to Julie's parents. This capped a busy, though enjoyable, month of visits from both sets of parents. Now that everyone has come and gone, we are trying to avoid getting homesick by looking foward to our trip to the States later in the year.

Before they left, Nicolas and Nathaniel got to celebrate their birthdays with their Tams Grandparents. Nathaniel received an interchangeable space shuttle and launch pad that he has enjoyed taking apart and reassembling. The Cars card didn't hurt either.

Nicolas received two important DVDs for his birthday, Pokeman and City of Ember. Pokeman is popular at the International School and Nicolas enjoys playing Pokeman with his friends during recess. However, when Nicolas completed the City of Ember book series, he declared that book the and the movie were his favorites of all time. Ever since then, he has been facinated by electricity, which is an important part of the story, and has transcribed part of the movie score for piano.

Even though we just finished traveling all over creation, our Branch Temple trip happened to take place this weekend. Consequently, we packed up the kids once more and drove seven hours to Zolikofen, Switzerland.

With two other couples there from our Branch, Julie and Joe were able to attend a session together. This was a welcomed change and the first time that Julie and Joe had gone on a 'date' in about eight months. The following day, we returned the favor by watching another couple's two kids. Unlike the last time we visited, the weather in Switzerland was warm and the kids were able to run and play in the small park behind the temple housing.

On the return trip, we took time out from driving to stop in our favorite little town of Merten. Saturday just happened to be the day the town was holding an antiques market. Fortunately, Julie was able to keep Joe in check and the only thing with which we left town was some very good food in our tummies.

Along the way, we stopped again at an old Roman village in the middle of Switzerland and peered into the old ampetheater. Elyse and Joe also walked around a small Swiss castle.

Finally, we took a detour in the French alps to take pictures of a few small villages, including Percy.

We hope you are all doing well and are enjoying the spring.

Bonne Semain (Have a good week),

Joe, Julie, Nicolas, Elyse, and McThaniel