That Girl In Switzerland: Month o' Sundays

Over several Sundays in September, I was priviledged to go with my host family on several very cool family outings. I thought I would post some pictures here since everyone complains that I post too much poetry... :-D

The first Sunday in September, we went to a small town in France called La Clusaz. It is about an hour's drive from Anières, Switzerland, where we live. We were having company from Barcelona for the weekend, so it was basically just a fun day trip for all of us.

Here are some pictures from our day trip to La Clusaz:

My fabulous host family - Arnaud, Charlotte, Félix (7 years - Mr. Coolness), and Jules (4 years - my little monkey).

Charlotte and Jules riding the luge d'été (summer luge).

La Clusaz in the background with part of the summer luge track in the foreground.

Félix playing putt-putt - I kept score. :-P

The Sunday after we went to La Clusaz, the family and I went to Cirque Knie...the Swiss National Circus! Cirque Knie has been run by the Knie family for five generations now - they do all of the animal training, and hire on the other acts. It's great fun! This was the third circus the Grobet family had invited me to, and it's always so much fun! Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos, but here is a link to the acts from last year and this:

http://www.knie.ch/zirkus/fr/notre-tournee/artistes-2008.html

The very next Sunday, Félix had his caisse à savon - a soap box race! Although the traditional and fun thing to do is to build your own car, the Grobet family cheated a bit and bought one that had been made by somebody else for a race last year. Just to demonstrate how much things cost over here...they paid over six hundred Swiss francs for it.

The racing started very early Sunday morning, but I slept in and met the Grobets in Corsier after lunch. I only wanted to stay an hour or so and see Félix race once before I left for church. There were quite a few kids racing - I think sixty just in Félix's devision. Félix placed sixteenth, so he was quite proud. :-)I can't wait to do things like this with my own family someday.

Here are some pictures of the caisse à savon:

Félix and his awesome car and outfit. Doesn't he look cool?? :-)

A few of the other contestants' cars.

Part of the track down the hill.

Félix driving past on his way down the hill!! (He had a wreck just before this picture was taken.)

And finally, last Sunday...for lunch Charlotte made American pancakes complete with maple syrup! I definitely thought that it deserved a mention. Félix helped flip them, and he's still talking about how he made me American pancakes for lunch and how they were the best ever. (And they really were the best ever...Aunt Jemima mix from the American store. Charlotte is so thoughtful.)

So here are two final pictures: one of Félix feeling proud of himself, and one of my "second family" and their American pancakes.