Another day, another walk in the woods.

I was all set this morning to have a terrible day. It was a wet, gray Monday morning, and I felt kindof icky and blah. But then I went for a walk –just to the grocery store- and decided I felt okay. So then when the older kids got home from school, I took them to the second-hand store and got them some gum boots and took them on a walk. It was delightful, although the store took longer than I really thought, and so we were late getting home, and Ethne and Talmage were very tired and whiny on the way back. But, fun fun nonetheless.

I think Switzerland has more stacked wood than it knows what to do with. Have you noticed this? So, naturally I stick the kids on and take pictures. :)

Hazel insisted that I take a picture of her little toy-whatever-it-is in the tree branches and call it a dwarf. So—there it is, her dwarf.

Then we found a tiny little creek and we saw a couple frogs swimming quickly away. So I told Jethro he had to catch one, and he obligingly hopped down to the water and I told him where it was hiding and he caught it.

Everyone enjoyed checking it out.

And I told Hazel to pretend to kiss it, and I would take a picture of her.

So she did. But then she stumbled a little, and actually DID touch it with her lips, and then she cried. And then all evening we teased her about kissing frogs. Which made her mad at first, but then she finally started thinking it was funny too. Oh, and then it jumped out of her hand and since we were all so close, it startled us and we screamed. And Talmage cried. Funny.

And this is a little sign we found. Brett says that it means something like ‘Devil’s Temptation Road.’The end.

Yesterday was a nice day.

Through tall cowslips nodding near you,

Just to touch you as you pass.
Author: Lord Lytton

     

Yet soon fair Spring shall give another scene.

And yellow cowslips gild the level green.
Author: Anne E. Bleecker

The snowdrop and primrose our woodlands adorn,

And violets bathe in the wet o' the morn.
Author: Robert Burns

   

The lyric sound of laughter Fills all the April hills

The joy-song of the crocus, The mirth of daffodils.
Author: Clinton Scollard

 

I must go seek some dewdrops here,

And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
Author: William Shakespeare

 

 

“You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again.”

 Jean-Jacques Rousseau

I wonder...

Hazel: Are there really wishing stars?

Jethro: What would it be like to be an animal?

Brett: What would it be like to have perfectly obedient children?

Me: Why do I ever buy clothes when I wear the same hoodie every single day?

Tower (Umizberg) Hike

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. –Dr. Seuss

I always love love LOOOOVE days when Brett is with us all day. This morning we went to a store like Lowe’s for a couple things. Then we went to Brett’s work where he used the band saw to cut what we had bought at the Lowe’s-store (to make pin-thingees to hold up the shelves he cut out of the old table). Then we went grocery shopping. I decided I must never leave the house without my camera because I would have liked to take pictures of all the cool robot mechanical devices Brett’s working on, as well as this really awesome thing they had going on at the shopping center. It was a sand sculpture racetrack that kids were racing marbles on, as well as these neat sand bears and other things. Not so cool without pictures, totally cool if you could’ve seen it. Oh well.

Then after we had lunch and Talmage had a nap we took a hike to a communication tower that’s not far from us. We took maybe 3+ hours. The kids did great except that Hazel and Jethro fought over who got to be the leader. Grrr. And we were gone just a little too long because Talmage and Ethne both got cold and started whining/crying part-way home. But it was sooooo much quicker going down than up, thankfully.

Here we are on the tower lookout. It was sooo high. We could see all over. We could even see the temple! Pretty awesome.

This is the tower, but it’s much taller than it appears. We had a little rest, enjoyed the view, and ate Toblerone. Mmmm. I think we should include Toblerone as a tradition for all our Swiss hikes.

We took a shortcut a little ways down from the tower, which may not have been the smartest idea. Hazel slid and slipped all the way down. Good thing she ran into Daddy’s leg or she would have tumbled down the whole mountain. :) It was funny—she was laughing her head off. I love cute little Hazel-laughs.

On the way down the Hazel and Jethro were being hilarious. Hazel started acting like a tiger and they carried on and were quite silly. Good times.

And after Ethne got home and wrapped her poor cold feet in a blanket. Out like a light.