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Our First Journey Beyond Switzerland

We have truly enjoyed getting to know our surroundings, particularly since we've usually had friends or family with us to share these experiences. At the same time, we've spent most our weekends getting our house to where we want it. Last week our light fixtures got hung and Maria purchased curtains. We are 95% there now. 

We wanted to finally get out of our house for a weekend and decided to venture to southern Germany to visit the Black forest. We left early Saturday and headed to Freiburg, Germany where we spent the day in the city's Christmas market and beautiful cathedrals where, unexpectedly, we were able to listen to a rehearsal of an upcoming concert. It was cold; about -5 Celsius. However, the bratwurst and gluvine kept us warm. 

We stayed the night in a tiny village called Furtwangen, nestled in the heart of the Black Forest. Our room turned out to be a min-suite with a kitchen - plenty of room. We spent the chilly evening together as a family putting a puzzle together, reading, or playing Connect 4. We had a lovely dinner with nice local wines and were amazed at how much further a dollar goes in Germany compared to Switzerland.

The next day we traveled to Titisee - a picturesque down sitting on a lake in the middle of the Black Forest. Steve wanted to buy a cucu-cucu clock - he has fond memories of the Neill's clock - but didn't find one yet. 

It was a quick but enjoyable weekend; it felt so good to get out and travel again.

Thanksgiving and Our First Snowfall

Every year the Woolley family is thankful and amazed by how well God looks over us. This year is no exception. We have again been provided with good friends right here in our neighborhood. The family who shares the house with us is American/Brazilian- (Monica, Nicco and their children, Lorenzo, Camilla and Santi). We pooled our resources in our tiny kitchens to pulled off a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. The kids couldn't have been happier with snow that didn't stop. There was barely time for them to decorate a few cookies and eat some turkey! When it was time for pie, another wonderful American family joined us-- Amy and Ross Bell and their three kids, Elise, Sydney and Charlie. We were so sedated from the turkey that I guess we forgot to take a picture of them!! Will add one later, I promise.

Part of the Trowbridge Family Makes a Visit

My dear friend, Michelle and Kate's best buddy, Avery (from Dubai) traveled to see us over Eid. Kate and Avery were out of their minds with excitement. There were a few days when the girls had school so Michelle and I took Avery out for some 'home school' trips. She was happy to be with us, but kept asking how much longer until we could pick up Anna and Kate? Kate was not feeling well one day and Avery was happy to stay at home with Kate (squeeeeellllll). But our most memorable day was our trip to the Chamonix ski area in France. The kids had a blast playing in the snow at the top of the lift. It's been a long time since any of our kids have seen snow like this! It was a really, really nice reunion and very difficult to see them go.

A Good Old Halloween in Switzerland

What can we say? It was just like home. The neighborhood rallied. Do you think it was just for us? :) Look at all the great looking kids Anna and Kate have to play with on a daily basis! 

Grandma Jean and Grandpa Bill Visit!

Oh, we had so much fun showing Grandma and Grandpa around! Actually Bill knew more about our region than we did, so I am not sure who did the showing . . . . Anyway, we took some lovely day trips to the Chamonix ski area in France to see the glaciers and snow. We ferried across Lake Geneva to the cutest little French town called Yvoire. We also visited two impressive castles: Gruyere and Chillion. We  visited city of Lausanne and Jean and Bill explored Geneva on their own one day. They even were here for Halloween and helped us hand out the candy! And the best part was that Anna and Kate's Fall break fell during their visit so they got to spend a lot of time with them. We are trying to convince them to return again this Spring. We love when family comes to visit!

First Day of School

The girls attend an international school called College du Leman. It's a short drive from our home in the town of Versoix. We sure have been blessed with good teachers and this year is the same. Anna is in 3rd grade with Mrs. Valentine and Kate is in 1st grade with Ms. Karen. The curriculum is very similar to our curriculum in Dubai except that they get French language lessons instead of Arabic. I think they are finding French to come a bit more quickly! They've made friends quickly and are settling in nicely.