Weekly Review

Waiting for Kent to come back from the States, Nathan is experimenting with spinning his tops in milk and drops of food coloring--lots of cool designs.

Nathan saved his hard earned money from feeding rabbits, mowing lawns and washing windows to purchase a Messi (soccer player) jersey to replace the hand-me-down one he got from a neighbor that was beyond respectable use.

Kent returned on Thursday full of great tales and excitement from his basketball camp, EFY, Brady cousins and surfing, Grandpa and Grandma Brady, and a girl he met :)  Kent also got his driver's permit.  His grandpa graciously taught him and allowed him to drive all over Virginia.  He won't be driving in Switzerland but he did park our car (5th from right) just to practice with our manual car.

We are in Meiringen ready to hike up the Aareschlucht (gorge) of the Aare river that later flows through our town.

 Quick alligator ride before we head up the gorge.

It was a gorgeous hike through and along the gorge.  Only the swiss will build the walkway to traverse a 1.4 km gorge that is otherwise, non traversable :)

Then off to Reichenbach Falls where Sherlock Holmes met his demise, only to revive 3 years later in another novel.

The alleged falls of Sherlock's demise.

But my boys will take care of that poor Sherlock!

Crossing over the top of the falls with a view to the very bottom.  It reminded us of Multnomah Falls in Portland :)

And then a view to the top.

Heading back down the Drahtseiltram.

Then off to Ballenberg Museum, a huge outdoor museum with houses and farms from different parts of Switzerland. 

 Ryan jumping over his younger brother.

Erin and some flowers

Did you know that the tops of onions looked like this?

Checking out the beehives and honeycomb.

Love the Ticino chimneys!!

Ryan in a Ticino (southern Switzerland, Italian region) atrium.

Ryan and Nate found the outhouse in the house.

 then had to peer below...

 and below :)

The watering troughs were great for water fights.

and more water fights!

Sunday we drove to Annemasse, France (suburb of Geneva) to attend church in one of Elder Brady's previous wards.  He left a bag of stuff with his companion for us to retrieve.  The kids had fun digging through his bag to claim various items.  

the hat on Nate, the necklace on Kent, the tie on Ryan and the shorts on Erin.  Not sure they were really for claiming--we'll see.