August 1 - Swiss National Day, like July 4th...

So, August 1 in Switzerland is a big holiday known as Swiss National Day. In the morning of that day, most farms extend an invitation to the public to join them for brunch.

Dave made arrangements for us and to go to Alp-Stoss Farm, near Lake Noir... it's on top of a mountain with views from every angle. The Billingtons went with us, too.

We drove up a steep, 1 lane road to 'who knows where' for many miles, then walked a couple of miles over the hills and through cow pastures (and paddies) to get to the farm house. Perfect weather, more than perfect scenery, and lots of interesting stuff to look at... the food was good, too.

This particular farm had cows and made cheese. The also had chickens, horses and pigs. They served potatoes, eggs, sausage, cheese, fresh bread and great jams/jellies, and yogurt. It was really enjoyable... and Marti and I heard the sound of Alpine horns in the valley on our walk out.
In the evening, we couldn't resist going to the park behind our house to see the results of some work we watched for 2 weeks. We'd go to swing, slide and feed the ducks and watch the Villars-sur-Glane workers build a pyramid of pallets and dry trees ... it was around 20 feet high.

It's apparently an annual August 1 event here...all the villages seem to have fireworks, but only Villars-sur-Glane has the bonfire. After food and a good fireworks show, all of the lights go out and they light this bonfire. Fortunately, all of the Swiss firemen are here to keep it under control...or I might not have a house now.

Kacey's school was there giving away Barbe a' Papa (aka Cotton Candy, but Papa's Beard in French). There was a huge 'Bouncin' Bob' style jumping thing which we hoped would use of the energy she got from the Cotton Candy (from the little red shirt in the picture above, you can see the energy exuding from her).

The entire day was very interesting... "July-4th-like" with some entertaining twists...

July 20 - A few warm days

The weather here has been cool to mild all Summer...given how pregnant I am, I've had no complaints about it, but others have been very dissappointed. There have been a few warm days these past few weeks that gave Kacey some time in the pool and in the
sprinklers ... so that's been a nice treat.

The pools here are funny...there aren't many, so the ones that exist are packed with thousands of people...they're like a beach with grass. And sorry guys, the women wear their tops (that wasn't always the case at the French lake we went to last week, but it is the case in Switzerland.)
Swimming by Chateau du Chillon in Lake Geneva...in Montreau.
Playing in the sprinkler with Charlie and Marti and a shower curtain turned into a slip and slide.

A new float in the Payerne pool.

July 15 - Amy and Neal visit

Amy and Neal met us in Geneva after spending a few days in France...including Bastille Day. They're on their honeymoon and are spending it with us! Amy got on our nerves a little...we've been here 4 months and she's been here 4 days and her French was right on... while ours is still non-existent. So that caused a little tension :-) Actually, it was nice to just set back and let her handle the talking!

After missing the Tour de France with them on Sunday, they tried to climb a mountain with Dave on Monday, but it was closed. So, they were 0 for 2 on their honeymoon with us. Things got a little better though. Tuesday, Dave took them on a hike in Chateau D'Oex. Wednesday we spent the day in Fribourg and climbed up the top of the Cathedral Tower... what a view... highly recommend that.
Thursday, we walked a valley outside of Lauterbrunen, near Interlocken...a valley of 2 million waterfalls or something like that...we saw about 10 and they were spectacular. Also saw lots of hangliders that day. Had a great day and good German food to finish it off.
Friday, they shopped for some Up Dog while we spent the day at the park. And, Saturday, our opera at the Roman ruins in Avenche was rained out. That was all the disappointment we could offer them for the week, so we shipped them off on the Golden Pass Railway Sunday morning to Lucerne, where they had 5 more days of honeymoon freedom from the chaos of dealing with a pregnant woman and a 2 year old. And, Amy was ready to get Neal back... she and I would leave him and Dave crashed out on the living room sofas everynight.

July 13 - Bailing Hay, Tour de France

The hay behind our house was cut down and bailed up over the past few days.









And we took our first trip to France. We drove over and caught one of the stages of the Tour de France...it was about 2 hours from our house that day. We set ourselves up 500 m or so from the end of the stage. The cars, campers, buses and crowds were entertaining... especially this particular car tent.




And we were there VERY early, so Kacey had hours to play in the creek. Of course, my camera batteries died before the bikes came by...oh well...it would have been a blur anyway.




But, it was great to be there and we would recommend it highly. But, it wasn't so different from the Tour de Suisse or the Tour de Georgia.





We did learn the next day that we were fortunate to see it. We met up with Neal and Amy in Geneva Sunday morning, July 15, and we tried to go back to the stage that day, but the after sitting in Atlanta-style rush-hour traffic for a long time, the roads were closed before we made it. We stopped and spent some time on a French beach at Lake Annecy instead, then drove back to Fribourg that evening to kick off a week with Neal and Amy...which is always an adventure!












And, I can't resist finishing our Tour de France posting with a photo of our favorite cyclist...