Maryland in Pictures

We just got back from a trip to Maryland to see Walter's grandparents Marion and Nels. We also saw Walter's brother David, Aunt Carolyn and cousins Mark and Rachel. Everyone was in fine form and we had a really super time with them. Toby got to meet the MD family for the first time and Allie had his first ever sleep over (with his great g'parents!).

Nels and Marion live beside the Chesapeake. As soon as we arrived, we took a walk down to get some sun and excercise to beat the jet lag.


When waking at 4am, the boys passed time by:


Allie and Toby settled right into the routine.



Allie got to visit the library with the Great GParents. He and Toby spent many hours reading with them.


Nearly every day, the boys got to visit the local playground in the Quiet Waters Park. Somehow, Allie would get together roving bands of boys to chase stinkbug monsters (from one of the library books). The weather was beautiful except for one day, and the leaves were changing.

Walter and Nels enjoy a quiet moment.

There was a cool, big swing (probably for people with a physical handicap) that the boys could both fit on.

Allie is very good at propelling himself on the swing now.


One day, David came to the park too. Before our trip, Allie got very excited about seeing his uncle.
From LtoR: Toby, Walter, Nels, David and Allie in the Autumnal sun.


At the weekend, Carolyn had us all over for the afternoon. She did this, even though there's a huge upheaval going on at the school where she teaches: Gallaudet in Washington DC. The last few weeks have been stressful. If you're interested in the story, I would try to read past the general news, which hasn't done a very good job in capturing the real issues.

LtoR: Rachel's friend Veronica, Rachel's boyfriend Casey and Walter's cousin Rachel herself!


Rachel's brother Mark and his friend Amy.


Amy's children Lauren, Alexandra and Joey, playing with the wee boys. They spent the whole afternoon playing happily and running around the garden. They got on very well.

We also met Amy's dad, John (here with Alexandra).

Barb (a long time friend and co-worker of Carolyn) and Carolyn.


The following photos are of the night before we left. This was the night Allie slept over. We left him playing games with the G G'parents and Great Aunt Carolyn! Apparently, he went off to bed with no problems and didn't surface the next morning till 8am! I think a night not sleeping with Toby did him good. He was then treated to a cooked breakfast :)
Carolyn and boys.

Marion, Nels and boys.


The afternoon of departure.



Flying to the US (esp. DC), then flying back to Switz. via Heathrow, we got to sample the latest in Security techniques. What a polava! We went Zurich-Brussels-DC, where I took water bottles through, but wasn't allowed children's tylenol or lip balm. I was allowed a lipstick, which they didn't even look at. We queued to board the plane and were then told to go back to the gate desk to be asked those stupid secuity questions (after waiting in a long line again with 2 boys who had to get up at 4am). Why they couldn't have put up a sign to direct us there in the first place is beyond me. The only impression I have of Belges right now is that they are snits.... On the way back there was a sign saying small quantities of toiletries were allowed, but people were having them removed anyway. David had given some squishy ball toys to A n T, which had brought hours of entertainment. They brought hours more because apparently the gel substance in them isn't a concern (?!?). I think all of this is a cunning plan of the government to make it look like chaos and keep the terrorists on their toes. Here's Allie demonstrating the squishy ball:


Thanks Marion, Nels et al. for a really nice week. The boys are still talking about it, and Allie is learning to say "Grandparent en arriere" meaning great grand parent.

Those Swiss and their Drums!

Walter found this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8809786444178529755&q=Top+Secret+Drum+Corps

Cool eh? We're going to the Tattoo next year....if we can. Tickets were sold out within hours of going on sale for this years... last year!

Fete des vendanges, 2006

Ahhh we plunge deeper into the culture of Neuchatel! Fete des vendanges (as I may have discussed this time last year) is the high point on the Neuchatel calendar. It's 2 days and 3 nights of partying, Neuch. style. A few months ago we decided we'd like to sample the night life, sans children, so I started asking around about baby sitters. A couple of times people honestly laughed in my face! Apparently, everyone over the age of 16 is at the Fete, and if they're not then they're babysitting their grandchildren. We did find a good babysitter who we use regularly now, but she flat out refused to do anything for the Fete. She did recommend a friend's sister who's 14... and really quiet. She saved our A@#*s, and we went out on the Friday night (last weekend). This is supposed to be the best night. Everything's fresh and only the Neuchatelois go. Saturday, everyone from every other canton comes, and Sunday night is somewhat the same. The whole of the center of town was closed to traffic. The bus lines were re-routed, and according to Walter the CSEM bulding was completely empty by 4 pm. We got the bus at about 7 and it was packed with jolly people who all knew each other. There was a lot of Swiss kissing all round. When the bus got to the end of the line, we all got out and headed towards the "thumpthump" noise. People were streaming into the center(rather like rats) to where all the stands were. Just before that was the fair ground, which we didn't feel up to trying. The Fete is all about the grape harvest and the beginning of wine season, so there were plenty of wine stands. We've been there and done that, so we headed to the (one on every corner) Brazilian booze stands, and sampled all those easy on the gullet coconut and lime drinks. We then started ambling around the streets, sampling some Thai food and pork (straight from the pig which was just sitting there...). Somehow, we ran into every one of our neighbours and some parents form Allie's school. There were pleasantries exchanged and quizzical looks when we tried to reply in French after a Caipirinha, then we would move on. The atmosphere has got to be one of the nicest, least tense that I have ever encountered in a street fair. Supposedly, there were ~250,000 people there over the weekend, and only a couple of minor fights! Another big thing of the Fete is confetti. Unbelievable amounts of milticoloured confetti gets thrown around all weekend. They were lucky it didn't rain till the Sunday night. In the big parades on Saturday and Sunday, large trucks with manned confetti canons trundle along, blasting it at people. They also aim for open windows in the apartments along the way. Children are given free reign to throw it in one's face also. Anyhoo, on the Friday night the "Guggenmusik" bands parade along for a practice run... interspersed with the 'canon trucks'. As parades do when there are loads of people around, it stopped. Right in front of me. I was fired upon and am still finding confetti in my clothes. That's supposed to be a sign that one has been "Neuchatelised" or something. Finding confetti in your house for 6 months after Fete des vendanges. We moved slowly through the heaving crowd once more, listening to all the different types of music coming from all the stands (representing every small club and business in the canton) and made our way back to the bus. Here's happy Walter ;)


On the Sunday, we ventured in with the wee boys. Allie had been going on about trying candyfloss (or Barbe a papa), so what better way to get it. They were allowed a bag of confetti each to throw at anyone they wanted. Allie meted out conservative handfuls at people's bottoms and Toby threw gobs of it everywhere. Lucky for him his brother has a kind heart and gave him some of his.



They consumed some candyfloss and then decided it was too much, leaving me and Walter to try and finish it... with no luck. I seem to remember gulping the lot down as a child and enjoying it!



We also saw the grand parade from afar (as we didn't buy tickets). I do believe I saw a Loch Ness Monster float and a bunch of kilted men. I certainly heard piped Scotland the Brave! This is the only pic we have of the floats. I'm sure the rest were lovely too.




After some more walking, the crowds were getting a bit too much for the boys, so we went home. It was a smashing fete, though. I've booked the babysitter for next year.

Ferry Ridin'

After a few days of Blogger not allowing me to upload my pics, here we are!

There are lots of different ferry rides to take around the "Three Lakes". We started with an easy one- Saint Blaise to Neuchatel. It had been quite a blustery weekend, so the ferry was very quiet. The ride took 20 mins with stops at the Latenium and Hauterive. In town, we played at a park, consumed some tasty, weird Falafels and took the bus home. Speaking of Falafels, if you're acquainted with them you'll know that the tasty weee gems, veg and sauce are all wrapped in pita bread. Not so in the Twilight Zone of Neuchatel. They load all of the stuff into a giant, soft roll thing. It's a meal in itself!

The ferry pulls up as we run to catch it.

Wind blown Walter :)

The 3 most handsome men in Neuchatel.

Allie enjoyed the trip... I think. At least no-one threw up!

The view from the back of the ferry as we left Hauterive.

The view of Areuse (where the cool gorge is).


Next time we'll go through the canal in Marin to Lac Morat (Murten) for a day trip. Toby is giving up his naps now, so we're a little more mobile. And harried.

Hooray for Jamie and Susan !!!! 9th September 2006

What a busy few days. We arrived in Edinburgh last Weds morning. Easyjet somehow managed to get us there on time, with bags. Thursday was the wedding rehearsal, where Allie (or Alasdair, as he now wants to be called... in a French accent!) met one of the lovely ladies who would be holding his hand down the aisle.

Friday, Walter and I went out for dinner with my brothers, girlfriends, and friends.
Robert, Jamie, John on the night before the 2nd one gets hitched.

Saturday, we spent most of the day getting ready for the wedding. All the men wore kilts (including the wee men) and I wore the stupid dress that I finally fininshed. It was quite comfortable ;) The wedding was in the Glasgow University Chapel. It's a beautiful, nicely designed chapel with lovely stained glass depicting the faculties of the university. The pews had all kinds of carving of animals, faces and celtic knots. It also sits in the middle of the historic part of the university. We arrived and parked wee, bamboozled Allie with his G'parents to wait for the bride. Susan looked absolutely stunning and her dress was indescribably lovely. Her mum walked her down the aisle to Jamie, who was handsomely bekilted ;) Allie followed at the back, holding hands with the bridesmaids. He seemed very happy! The ceremony was performed by the minister who married Susan's parents and buried her father. It was a really nice service. Walter got to see a wee bit from the back, then had to take Tobe outside to release energy. They had fun running around the quads!
Susan, looking emotional and beautiful, and her mum, looking radiant and happy. Just above Allie's head, you can see Walter and Toby just before they depart.


Signing the register... it's a done deal.


The happy couple!!!



After the ceremony, it seemed like the photos took hardly any time at all, hence my inability to take any of us (that's my excuse). We were then bussed down the road to the Oran Mor. What a venue. It's a rennovated church, with the artwork of one of our most favourite artists and writers Alasdair Gray (guess where the inspiration for Allie's name came from). The boys had 2 other wee boys of about the same age to play with, so they all ran around and had a good time.
Far away glimpses of Allie and Toby.


By the time the speeches came round, Walter had to take crazy Toby off to bed. The plan was for me to bring Allie up after the speeches and settle the babysitter in. She never showed up! If anyone is ever thinking of hiring a babysitter in the UK, DON'T use SafeHandsNetwork. Every time I've spoken to them on the phone, all they've done is make a lot of defensive sounding excuses. By the time we had explored all the other options (using hotel staff- the head receptionist that night was very helpful, and others) we were knackered and went to bed. IT would have been nice to see Walter and have a wee dance...
The next morning we met up with my parents in the Botanic Gardens just around the corner. I remember it from many trips as a child. The boys were especially interested in the banana trees ;) Jamie and Susan made it too, and it was agreed that everyone "needed" an ice cream ;)



Somehow, in the mayhem of the wedding I ended up with no photos of us the Stockwell clan! I'm really kicking myself, but there should be some from the professional photographer... at some point. If anyone who attended, and is reading this, can they email me something.... please!

Now we're home and recovered, and Jamie and Susan are tooling around parts of Asia :)

Too busy!

I don;t think I'll be able to post for a while. I've procrastinted myself into a corner with the dress I'm making for Jamie's wedding (a week on Saturday). So here's a taste of what will be coming:
1) Our ferry trip form St Blaise to Neuch.
2) Our trip to Ticino to stay with Kim, Christian and Loic (man it was good)
3) The list of pros n cons of living en Suisse. I think I'll put that out on Sept the 20th. That's the date we moved into our house in St Blaise.... 7 weeks after moving out of Cali.
4) err... that's it.
5) Probably photos of Jamie and Susan's wedding. Still haven't found a cow bell and I hear them every morning!

Did you know.....

..... that big spiders make significant quantities of poo? Saint Blaise is spider mecca. They all come here to live on our windows. From where I stand right now, I can count 8 in the living room and 9 on the windows... that's just a glance. They're all very active and big- ~0.5-2" across. Our French teacher says that vacuuming them up is no good. They just crawl out again! Anyhoo, I've been noticing lots of little black spots and splats around the places that spiders like to 'hang'. Then today I actually saw it happen! Bleurgh. They're still better than those freaky millipedes (see Sept 05).

Where did you go on vacation?

For the last 1.5 months every Swiss I know has been asking that question (or where are you going on vacation?). You're nothing if you don't take a holiday here. Our neighbours went on cruises to the carribean, the south of France and Majorca.... I took the boys to bonny Scotland and we had just as much fun, and almost as much sunshine! Well, it only rained on the last day. We spent a lovely week at my parents:

Uncle Robert holds Allie in his favourite postition, while a lone hand tickles.


Robert the boy magnet.


I couldn't find a good pic. of my Dad....


Uncle Jamie, Uncle Robert, me and the wee boys.


My mum has an MG which Allie thinks is super cool since he gets to ride in the front with the top down.


The Kelvingrove Art Gallery openned up in July after 3 years of renovations. We met an old friend Sally (Hi Sally!!) there for lunch and artistic inspiration. I'm not sure what was rennovated, but the stuffed animals had been thouroughly dusted. It is famous for the Dali painting: Christ of Saint John of the Cross.


We took a wee trip to Troon Beach. My Dad took the boys down to the water, while I lay around ;)


Another event that happilly coincided with our visit was Susan's Hen night. Here's the lucky girl, well on the way to a happy evening!


We go back to the UK in a couple of weeks for Jamie and Susan's wedding. I haven't started making my dress yet.... well I've cut it out and hummed and hawed about whether it'll look OK. Allie's going to be a page boy (he presents the lucky horse shoe to the couple) and I think he should present a lucky cow bell!

Allie va a l'ecole!

That's right, our wee Allie is now part of the 'school machine'. Yesterday afternoon we hiked up the hill to some portacabins (quite nice all things considered. Our French teacher told us they were a temporary measure when she was in school) and waited for the teacher to appear at the door. There are 13 children in his class (mostly boys!) and I recognised a few of them (and their mothers) from around the village. The teacher is very confidant and has the reputation of making children do her will without raising her voice. That is the opposite of my experience at home ;) She brought us all in, tinkled some wind chimes and told the children to cross their arms and be quiet. They did it! The parents sat in a circle while the children played and the teacher explained the ins and outs of the school. I understood mooooost of it... i think. I suppose time will tell. There seemed to be a lot about birthday etiquette! She said a few times to the children that they would be kiss their parents goodbye and we would leave soon. When the time came, Allie seemed quite composed if a little nervous, and only one boy clung to his mum. I then went on to a "Pedibus" meeting. This is a fab Swiss thing for walking children to school. Children gather at the designated points with their parents, then a 'conductrice' leads them to school while they hold onto a rope. Parents take turns being the conducteur(trice). This is only for the 4 and 5 year olds, which is nice as I don't think I'm quite ready to handle children misbehaving in French. All the children (even if they don't Pedibus) are given reflective vest thingies for walking to school. Allie's second day was today and he was very happy to go: we made sure we explained that he would have to go every day.


Toby has been getting acquainted with the creche, and for a while wasn't enjoying it. Allie went with him on his last day to show him the ropes. We had made a cake in honour of Allie's last day and now Toby always asks if there will be cake....

He told Walter today that he had "a little bit of fun, but not so much". Things are looking up!

Happy 1st and 3rd of August!

1st August
On this day in 1291 (although not recognised till some 400 years later) 3 cantons got together and the Swiss Confederation was born. More info. here. It's an excuse for the Swiss to go Fire work crayzeeee. They're freely available here, and for the week leading up to the big night, youths let them off just as you're slipping into the land of nod. All the communes have big shows and partys, and it's a national holiday. Walter took the day off, and we felt very Swiss :) Sadly, we couldn't partake of the fireworks since they started at 10 pm and later, but wee had a nice view from our bedroom window. We could see alot of communes around the lake doing it too. It rather reminded me of the Bay Area on 4th July...


We took a windy walk to the beach to watch the windsurfers and kite surfers. It turns out the tradition (although not that old) is to have brunch at a farm on the 1st. It's suppopsed to be a chance for the farms to showcase their wares and for the city folk to see that country folk aren't that strange.



3rd August
On the 3rd of August last year, we said good bye to the good ole US and headed to Europe. It'll be a year 'en Suisse' on the 15th August. I'll discuss the pros and cons then....

Herb, Vero et al. came over for a BBQ, so we took a wee walk to the park afterwards.






I bought our grill from Migros because it was small and cheap (their own brand 'M-Budget'). Friends have since told us there was an article in the local paper saying that they will be collector's items soon, as only a limited number were produced. There's a pic here .

The church has been working on a new 'hall' since before we moved in. The patch of ground left over after the building has had a lot of TLC put into it. Four men would come every day for a while, till the soil with a machine, remove all the stones with a machine, flatten the ground with a machine, rake it by hand and flatten again! They set up a sprinkler that goes every hour. We expected a magnificent lawn of perfect proportions. Look closely at the pic.