Are missionaries allowed to take a vacation?

We live in an extremely picturesque place.  With in an hour or two there are wonderful and amazing things to do and see. And we have a car.  So, a 30 minute drive on a Sunday for a swim in a lake is really nothing.  An hour drive to see a canoe and kayak competition (and another half hour to the border of Italy), really not a big deal.  We will be here a year and we want to enjoy what God has created here. It is beautiful and God is good!

European World Jr. Kayak and Canoe Finals - about 45 min. from Albertville

Sunday afternoon after church

A new thing to see

Snow in Italy- 30 min. further up the road

Catching Grasshoppers.  That's what boys do-

Beautiful place to enjoy God's creation!

View in Italy

Most beautiful place yet!  

But it is not very interesting to write about a typical day. 'Got up, took a shower, made breakfast, got the kids reviewing math, cleaning, doing laundry, etc.'  Pictures of me studying notes or reviewing vocabulary on memrise.com is not fascinating or fun to look at.  I will put some up, but when I'm not studying, its not what I think about or look at!

Swimming at the lake 30 min. from home.
Hottest part of the summer!

Boys finding shells

Cold girl

30 min. the other way.  A show-

So now, we have 20 days until classes begin again.  If we were in the States, we would go on a trip in the summer.  Is it okay for us to do that here? Drive and visit friends or stay in inexpensive hotels and eat sandwiches.  Is it bad to spend the money we have been given on pleasure?  Or should the time here be purely French study and library type activities?  I do not believe life is healthy when it is all work.  I know our family has not had a real vacation in a very long time, so we are choosing to go. To take a vacation and see these things God has created.

Still giving haircuts - just like at home in the States....

Monday we drove to Zurich Switzerland. Wow.  Beautiful. And as we drove, I did not read my book, study, or write thank you notes.  No, I was simply astonished at God's handiwork in mountains, flowers, clouds, children, bugs, lakes, rivers, waterfalls.  I looked with wonder also at the things man made- castles, churches, bridges, trails, bikes, a truck moving a house (?!) down the street... My kids looked, mostly, but at some point they all (and Megan) settled into their books. I love to read, but wow!  I didn't want to miss this!  We might never go back this way...

We are staying for a few days with the Breutsch family.  They have been the kindest hosts, tour guides and friends we could have imagined. We went to a glass factory, Burn, toured an IKEA (I know these are everywhere, but we had never been) and Zurich.  We have eaten well and rested.  I am overwhelmed with kindness and generosity and so thankful for being here.

Tomorrow we leave for Germany where we will look around at the town the Gassler family was from a century or two ago.  I will write again.

Mt. Blanc, 90 min. from home

Another view of the glaciers

Playing Pooh sticks in the last town in France.
Switzerland is next....

Noah and Ben picked me flowers

Switzerland

The other side of Lake Geneva

Our first squaties- not in Africa, in Switzerland at a rest stop (the picture above is the view)

Ben found this bug at the rest stop

More beauty in Switzerland

Glass Blowers

More Glass

Part of the glass went into machines for finishing 

The Ball maze for your marbles

Playground at the glass factory (Lucerne)

The Musician is happy....

Megan and Julia

Our Hosts- Julia and Pam

Grenoble: The next part of the visa process and an unexpected hike

Double Waterfall - on the way to Grenoble

Today we went to Grenoble for the OFII part of our visas.  It's a little over an hour south west of Albertville and a beautiful ride.  We left about 10:30 after a late breakfast and a quick walk to the park to look for my bike key (accidentally dropped last night on the way home) - didn't find the key but ran into the neighbor from our first apartment who found Kristin's hat (I could understand and talk to him this time! It felt Great!).    Unfortunately, it was hot already.  By the time we found the park it was HOT!

We ate lunch at the park and then Megan stayed with the kids while Chris and I walked over to the office for our appointment.  We waited for the office to reopen at 13:30 and were the first in line.  I must say everything was quick and professional.   Checked in with paper and passport; next waiting room- one at a time for x-rays to check for TB (small changing room, no paper 'tops' like in the US, one male technician who politely turned his head); another waiting room; visit to nurse to answer health questions and give shot record; waiting room again and then the doctor (or nurse?) took bp, height, weight, family medical history, and listened to heart and lungs; upstairs to clerk who checked the paperwork, took the 241 Euros each in official French stamps, took our pictures, and stuck the OFII part of the visa in our passport.  The whole thing took about an hour.  That's pretty amazing!

Next we got the kids and drove to the center of town, parked and walked around a bit.  We stopped in a needle work store for Megan, looked at gems for the kids, and finally stopped at a little ice cream shop by a playground.  The ice cream tasted  SO good on this hot day: chocolate, passion fruit, pistachio, cookie dough, and I had licorice. The kids played for a few minutes and then we had to go- time was up on our parking place.

City views...

An ancient church

Megan taking pictures

Another fountain

See the giraffe? Cool!

Churches-

The playground-

Bike/horse and buggy to rent at the park.  Fun to watch!

Last before we left town, we tried to drive up to a geocache, just for fun.  It turned out you had to park by the river and walk up.  It didn't look far, so off we went.  Stairs.  A lot of stairs up the hill were part of the bastille there.  We kept thinking we were at the top, but there were always more stairs.  We could have done the switch backs on the path, but we did more stairs.

But the view after a mile of stairs was incredible!

At he top~

Sane people ride up to the top.  But, we saved 35Euros... and we have a story!

Not sure what these are, but they were pretty fruit-

Stairs

Geocache.  I give up, but Chris doesn't!

More than half way up only 380 more stairs.

3/4th of the way up

Not there yet-

We made it!

See! The cable car comes here too...

Ben found a giant bug on the way down~

Up was hard, but now my legs are jelly going down!

This sign is close to the bottom. 2.9 km up

School zone markers-

The ride home...

And the wildflowers~  I took pictures all the way down of the flowers. So beautiful!


We had pizza for dinner tonight.  I'm tired.  Megan and the kids are asleep already...

It costs? Visas. French Friends and Heat

This one is a little random- just thoughts of the day...

Tomorrow we get to drive to Grenoble to finish our long stay visa application.  There is a doctor's check-up, TB x-ray, and yes, a stamp to purchase.  Only 241 Euros each (that's $319 today and the exchange rate is pretty good right now). Thankfully, the kids don't need this!  They *only* had to pay the original $129 at the consulate we all got to pay.  Hopefully it covers the doctor stuff in the office!

On the good side of things, we have been able to spend parts of 2 days with my conversation partners' family.  One afternoon at their home and a dinner at ours.  Lots of practice actually speaking French to real people.  It is completely different knowing vocabulary and grammar rules, and actually forming the sentence you are trying to say in French.  It sounds easy, but it's not.  Chris seems to be doing okay.  Mine is coming slowly- I'm still happy if I can think of the right word- verb tense is still very secondary, but it's coming!
The family is wonderful, patient, generous, and kind.  I am so thankful for them!  And Megan was SO helpful with dinner so I could participate in more conversation.

We got a break from the heat. Saturday through yesterday it was really nice.  Today at noon, it is starting to be quite warm.  I'm glad for leftovers tonight for dinner so the kitchen isn't so hot!

Back to French study and lunch.

p.s. Trying to plan a small trip for a short vacation before school begins again.  $$$$ So glad bread and cheese are affordable!