Fall in the Alps

These photos are from our trip to the Jungfrau region a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful. We stayed on the Thuner See. It was just a lovely way to enjoy the changing of the seasons. It has been nice entering our second season in Switzerland.

Mom and Granny

So I just want to document, as good as my life is here, and as content as I feel. Last week was a bummer. My Mom had a heart attack and her second coronary by pass surgery (a redo of the first). That was stressful enough. Of course I wanted to be there. By the time I found out it was happening, it was happening. Then you have to figure anouther 36hours to get there. I missed out. Before my mom was released from the hospital my grandma (my mom's mom) passed away
I thought that I would go. Even the airfare was acceptable at 24hrs. notice. I was so sad-especially for my mom.
I loved my Grandma. She opened her home to everyone. It was truly a gathering place. I knew the last time I saw her it would be the last. Since then I've been wearing her scent and sipping her drink, diet cherry coke, in her honor. It hasn't been hard. I love the way she smelled and I love diet coke in all its forms.
Also in her honor I will buy a new dress and a pair of shoes to match. That's what she would have done.
I didn't end up going, and that's ok. Granny is ok with it.
My mom is doing well. I'm so grateful that she was able to make it out here and spend time with us before all of this happened. I miss her and talk to her as often as I can.
This is the hardest part about being here. With technology you feel so close. It is so easy to communicate and even see each other. It's even easy to trick yourself into thinking that you aren't that far away. But when it comes down to it. . . in the words of Elsa, "We are from the other side of the lake." That is one big lake.

Halloween? You bet!

When we saw Halloween costumes and decorations in some of the larger stores we were stunned. It turns out, Halloween is catching on. I give it five years for full infiltration. We all waited anxiously to see how the holiday would pass. We had heard that the church Halloween party was the event not to be missed. A huge draw for American ex-pats. Greg was in charge of the party, and surely felt the weight of the community.
The party was a success. Americans had been importing candy for a month from the states to hand out to the kids. Thank goodness, good old American starbursts and M&Ms (yes, I know they have M&Ms here, but they just aren't the same).
We actually were able to take the kids trick-or-treating in a friend's suburb. We even had a few come by our apartment. That made us feel so good.
The kids were even invited to a Halloween party a couple of days before. Thrown by a couple of American moms.
By the time the Ward Halloween party was over, we definitely felt like we had celebrated.
The Banshees had a great time dressing up, naturally!