Our Benjamin is 6

Benjamin's birthday is 3 days AFTER Luke's. It's hard for an almost 6 year old to wait 3 WHOLE days. Especially when dad and Michael celebrate birthdays before him too. Well, the big day FINALLY came. And it was a big day. By 8:30 in the morning Mary and I had cracked a dozen eggs between making breakfast, a batch of cupcakes for the Kindergarten class and a cake for the family party. Whew!

As you can imagine, the cupcakes in Kindergarten were a big hit

Benjamin requested the same birthday dinner and cake as last year.

Thrilled with his presents.

Our Luke is 2

Weighing in at 32.6 pounds and a hair short of 3 feet tall, complete with fat lip from a nasty fall, here is our sweet 2 year old.

Getting ready to open presents in jammies with blankets and thumbs...

The talking car was everyone's favorite

This little guys keeps us on our toes. I was playing the prelude music in church today and just before the meeting started our sweet Luke escaped from his dad and banged on the keys. The congregation started to laugh and Luke was thanked from the pulpit for his contribution to the music. This little guy makes us laugh everyday.

Spring Break (continued)

My friend and I took the kids to an early 18th century watermill in the town of Shalford. This is the view we had from the car park. The daffodils were amazing.

This was a working corn mill until 1914. The boys were intrigued with how it all worked.

I was too busy chasing this little climber to listen to the tour guide.

The boys grinding their own corn after the tour.

The mill is on the Tillingbourne River. Beautiful setting.

We also took the kids to Claremont Landscape Garden.

We took a walk through the extensive gardens. Luke thinks he is too big for the stroller so I let him walk this time. He ended up wanting to be carried on the big hills. I got my workout for the day.

Taking a rest in the gardens. I love this picture for a few reasons. The flowering trees in the background, the boys laughing at something together and Mary taking care of Luke.

The kids climbing on a massive tree stump they found.

A look-out spot in the Claremont gardens.

We also made gooey cookies...

and enjoyed the beautiful Spring weather and the blossoms in our garden.

I love Spring Break! It was hard to let the boys go back to school today.

Dapdune Wharf

The kids are out of school for spring break this week too. Yesterday a friend and I took them to Dapdune Wharf. It's a former wharf on a man-made navigation (canal) that was built in the 1600's to more efficiently transport goods to London. It eventually meets up with the river Thames. Michael studied the map carefully when we arrived.

I loved seeing the swan nest next to the walking path.

This is the hilarious face we get these days when we say, "Smile Luke". Anyway, here he is with the nesting swan behind him.

We had our own private boat ride down the navigation. Scary with an almost two-year old? Yes! Especially when he found this rope hanging off the boat.

The view of the navigation from the boat. That bridge was built in the 1880's. It was the first bridge built in the area that didn't charge a toll to walk across it.

Another view from the boat. It was a beautiful day.

Our sweet kids, my friend and our boat driver Eric.

The wharf buildings had interactive activities for the kids. They had a great time exploring.

The boys could have spent the entire day making this lock work.

The wharf staff let the kids do an Easter egg scavenger hunt. In the end they each got a chocolate egg. The perfect end to a great day.

We stayed home today but I ended up cleaning up after a neighbor kid that had a "runny tummy" in my bathroom. I think we'll go out again tomorrow.

Backpacking through Switzerland

I procrastinated this post for a couple of days because I didn't know where to start. We took over 500 pictures on our trip to Switzerland and it was hard to narrow it down to a few. We had an incredible trip. We packed a backpack for each family member and once we flew into Switzerland, we took trains to several cities throughout the country.

I could do a whole blog post about the food in Switzerland because it was so fantastic. Traditional Swiss cheese fondue, biscuits, and of course my favorite, Swiss chocolate. Luckily we did a lot of walking or I might have come home a stone larger than when I left.

We were so impressed with Switzerland. The country is beautiful, clean and the people are generally nice. I had some opportunities to speak Italian which is always exciting for me. It was funny to watch people stare at us though. It's almost as if people hadn't seen a family with 4 children before. One of my favorite comments was, "Wow! So much children!" We also heard people count to four while staring at us in German, Italian, English and French.

Speaking of the kids, they did great! Michael loved having a map and figuring out where we were off to next. Benjamin and Mary loved the double-decker trains with the playgrounds inside. Luke loved the Swiss food and we kept plenty of it on hand for our train trips. (Notice the sack full of food from COOP next to his stroller).


Our first stop was Lucerne. This Lion of Lucerne sculpture is carved out of rock. This monument commemorates the Swiss guards who were killed in 1792 during the French revolution when the Tuileries palace was stormed by revolutionaries.


This is the Chapel bridge in Lucerne. It was built in 1333 to help protect the city of Lucerne from attacks. It is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe.

Our next stop was Interlaken. We hiked to the St. Beatus caves. The hike was beautiful and the view of the Swiss Alps was breathtaking. Todd and the boys had a tour of the caves. Michael tells everyone we know how long it takes for a stalagmite to develop. Ask him about his visit to the caves next time you talk to him :)

Next we went to Bern to visit the temple. It was beautiful and we had a great time.

This is the view of the Matterhorn from our hotel room balcony in Zermatt, Switzerland. Just one word, incredible!

The kids in Zermatt. Notice the tip of the Matterhorn behind the middle building.

Our next stop was Geneva. We went to an amazing traditional Swiss restaurant and they had live Swiss music. The boys made friends with the musicians and they were asked to hold the bells and later they even blew in the big Swiss horn. Good times.

The garden clock in Geneva.

Benjamin at Lake Geneva with the big water fountain (called the water-jet) in the distance.

This is one of my favorite pictures in Geneva. Todd took this picture of our family in a mirrored building as we walked along Lake Geneva. Benjamin is in front. On the left is me giving Mary a piggy-back ride, then Todd taking the picture, then Michael and finally Luke in the stroller. Love it!

We visited the United Nations. Very cool!

And finally we sent the kids through the fountains at the airport in London to shower off from wearing the same clothes a few days in a row :)

What a trip!