October 21, 2007 - More Baby pictures, a hike

Just a quick update mainly to post some pictures.

Kacey turned 3 on the 11th and had a birthday party with some friends and neighbors. There are 2 little girls nearby who are her age, but they both come from a family of four, so there were 8 kids here who didn't speak English... one family is German and the other is French. Fortunately, their mom's speak much better English than my French will ever be.

Otherwise, we haven't done much out of the ordinary except a small hike in a gorge near Broc yesterday with the girls, Tom, Katie and 2 of their friends, Dan and Roselee.

It's cold here now ... a high in the mid-30's today.

2007, October 16

I have very little time at the computer. Here's a quick update and some new pictures of Cambelle.

We went to a 'cow festival' a few weeks ago with Tom and Katie. The cows come down from the hills for the winter and there are parades around that with the cows in their festive attire. Kacey loved it. So did I. Dave preferred to be hiking, but he and Tom did that after the cows were gone...they hiked up the Kasereig (spelling?).

Cambelle and Kacey are good. Kacey wants to hold her ALL THE TIME. Cambelle's gained some weight and is more attentive now.

August 29 - Cambelle Grace Burgess

Just call me a typical mom......our visitors have been great, the scenery is spectacular, but the highlight of our time in Switzerland is definitely this. Cambelle Grace Burgess was born on August 29, 2007 at 8:43am (Swiss time), 2:43am EST. She was 3430Grams, and 52 Centimeters and in perfect health.

I'd recommend having a baby in Switzerland to anyone...it was a great experience and I've recovered much more quickly this time. And Kacey is enchanted...she can't keep her hands off of her and she has to be in the lap of whomever is holding Cambelle.

We've had lots of help here. Dave's parents arrived on August 19th and my parents arrived on the 25th. All are here for almost a month, so I can't really comment on how tough life is with 2 kids just yet cause I haven't really experienced it... I haven't cooked, cleaned, or washed clothes for 2 weeks now and my house is more together than ever.

I'm assuming I won't have time to comment on having 2 kids once all my help leaves... in other words, this might just be my last blog entry for the next 18 years...:-)
We thought Kacey was a baby until Cambelle arrived... check out the giant foot on Kacey!

Thanks for all of the calls and notes and e-mails. I really miss not being close to family and friends ... she really makes you want to show her off. I hope to get the birth certificate and passports and everything needed to come home sometime soon...no progress or word on when that will happen just yet.

Here are a few other pictures of things we've done while all the grandparents have been visiting:

Kacey and Lu go on a hike with Pop while Dave and Gram take a ski lift ride in Schwartzee.
God was in on this miraculous event... If you know anything about Dave's dad (Pop), he was a pilot before getting injured and flew before he walked... flying was his passion. Dave, Pop, and my dad took a car ride one Saturday while grandmother's napped with Kacey. They just happened to go to a grass airport near Bulle. Upon arrival, they were swarmed by a group of people saying, "So, you're here for a ride!! Come on." Pop said, "You guys go on." The group says, "No, you". They were giving free rides to people in wheelchairs. So, Dave flew with his dad through the alps. Goosebumps, huh....

Strolling through our neighborhood to the park where we fed the ducks and played on the big slide.

Kacey leads her grandfathers into the chocolate factory.

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...