What we did on our summer vacation

And, we're back! I apologize for being away from the blog for a month. We were in the US for three weeks, and although I had the best intentions of writing an entry while we were there, it didn't happen.

Thumbs up for s'mores!

We really enjoyed staying with family in the US, both in Syracuse and western Massachusetts. It was a vacation of hot weather, swimming, frisbee, fishing, water balloons, playgrounds and campfires. Bob and I even got a chance for 2 nights without kids, which was a welcome getaway (thanks Mom and Dad!).  And food seemed to be a big part of our holiday -- we got our fill of hot dogs and burgers, caught up on pancakes and breakfast food, made s'mores, enjoyed cakes, and hit our favorite local restaurants.

You've probably seen news about the Swiss Franc and the exchange rate with the Euro and the dollar. Call it strong or high or just plain expensive -- it means that we spent a lot of time (and money) shopping in the US. We came prepared with extra space in our luggage. All of us came back with new clothing and shoes, and we also pre-bought a few things for birthdays and Christmas. I can't help thinking of other things that we could have brought back, but just ran out of time and room!

It was fun to be back in the US for July 4th -- a quintessential American holiday that made us happy to be "home". We celebrated at a parade, the kids were singing songs like  "Yankee Doodle" and "This Land is Your Land", and we watched fireworks at night.

We all felt very comfortable in the US;  at one time, Landon said "it's like we live here"!  But we also made time to be tourists as well. (The kids wanted to know what language was spoken in each state we visited as if we were visiting another country.) We visited museums, state parks and the Nationals -- a hot-rod car collection at the Syracuse Fairgrounds. The kids are so happy when they're with grandparents and family that it was hard to fly back to Switzerland. However, returning to our house in Switzerland also felt like home to all of us, which was comforting.

I'm planning to once again write weekly blog entries, so stay tuned! "Bis später" -- Until later!