Howzitgoin?
Bizziness aboundz at Chez Doodz (find the silent z...). The last week in February was our quarterly "CMS Week", lots of meetings, and my adviser was in town. Next week is GRuMM (Global RUn in the Middle of March - we keep wondering why they didn't call it GRiMM instead...). I've been trained in as a "shifter" along with several others, and now I'm on 1 of 5 shift teams. I just finished two days of shift on Thursday and Friday. And I have another shift scheduled in the middle of GRuMM this next Thursday.
Meanwhile, B has three therapy sessions a week and is going great guns. The therapists are thrilled. Apparently he has passed a critical milestone, in that he brings things to center with both hands, like clasping his hands together, clapping, banging two blocks together in front of him. He's also eating well, taking over more of the motions that are necessary. He also mobilizes by laying on his belly, pushing backwards, and then sitting up in a new place. K hadn't seen this action until recently - she was wondering how he managed to be in an entirely new place from the last she checked on him! Recently she found him playing with the TV remote. I'm tellin' ya, folks, it's genetic.
So that plus French classes on Mondays, cleaning on Fridays and women's group meetings keeps K quite bizzy as well. And in the middle of all this she also managed to score a great deal on a Dell All-In-One printer/scanner/copier for 50 CHF, from a fellow American lady (...fellow lady?) who used it to print out her PhD thesis and is soon headed back to the states. And I finally scored green plates for Yoda the Honda, after ~4 months of waiting.
Last weekend was a black and white weekend. On Saturday I spent some time in the morning at work underground at Point 5. But then the elevator went on the fritz! Everybody had to climb ~100m (30+ story building) worth of stairs to the top in order to get out. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, while trying to run an errand K got lost in downtown Geneva, which is a frighteningly easy thing to do. So all of her morning errands were thwarted. So when she came to pick me up, we had a miscommunication, which led to some very difficult feelings on both sides. But at the end of the day we talked it over and learned some important things about each other.
Fortunately, the bizziness and the difficulties haven't prevented us from being able to enjoy ourselves! The next day couldn't have been more different: after church we decided to go for a drive around the vicinity. There are too many kewl things to see around here that we've waited for too long to see, and the weather was particularly fine, with clear views. I thought we'd start on the east end of the Salève, work our way across the top, come down on the west side, and then drive up the valley on the other side of the Jura from us and then climb up and over them near the Col de la Faucille and back home. The Salève however proved in itself to be more than enough for one afternoon! In fact we only got to see part of it. (In addition to the web link given in the previous blog entry, here's another one in French that has some cool pictures across the top).
Here's a map of our route (modulo some aimless wandering on the other side of Annemasse, and trying to get on the autoroute):
View Larger Map
I had seen in a couple of local guidebooks that there was a Téléphérique (cable car - it's tele-fa-reaky!) and, not far from the top station, a restaurant next to the radio tower you can walk to for a meal. So it was worth investigating for possible future date nights/outings.
Well. Check out K's previous blog entry for what happened at the restaurant - and their menu prices look a little spendy according to the web site; they're obviously charging for the fabulous views along the Salève. I've heard that pictures speak a thousand words (you can click on any one of them for a larger version)...
We had unobstructed views both north (Geneva, the Jura)
and south (the Alps and Mont Blanc):
After a drive further down the road we discovered where everybody parks, gets out of their car and climbs the hill to watch all the parasailers and hang gliders and radio gliders. There was plenty of wind to be had; you could hang in mid-air all day long if you wanted. I especially liked the sound that the radio gliders made swooping low overhead.
Boy, what a day out like that does for the soul. We hope to do more in the near future. In fact, just this weekend we went to the Geneva Auto Show, which is even bigger than the one in Minneapolis. Got lots more show-and-tell for ya! In the meantime, there are more pictures and films (believe it or not) from our Salève trip on the dropshots website, for those who can't get enough - and you know who you are! :) But seriously, thanks for your interest, your love and thoughts and prayers.
Take care,
-PKBD
1 comment:
This is an amazing blog! I am stunned at what people do for gliding on the wind. Phil, your aviation blood had to have been pumping hard while you were watching the gliders. The pictures are incredible. What an adventure.
K- Who would have guessed that everyday functions such as peeing and parking would have been such an adventure as well? I am so glad you ran into someone that could interpret for you. (the Canadian) It creates quite the bonding experience between strangers, doesn't it? I am so glad B usually goes with the flow.
P&K I have a little adventure of my own to tell you. Last weekend I drove to Madison and visited my family and took Anja with me. I did this flying solo, if you will, because Laila and her family had to do a trade show in Minneapolis during the same weekend. I was a little scared to drive for 4 hours by myself with Anja. I had nightmare pictures of Anja screaming in the back seat all the way down and all the way back. Well, I took the risk mainly because Anja and I would be by ourselves for most of the weekend anyway. Might as well go somewhere exciting. Therefore I devised a plan. Tire out Anja so much that she sleeps all the way down in the car, and do the same thing on the return trip.....
Well, early Saturday morning at 6am Anja awoke as her typical bright self and wanted to be fed and changed. By 8:30am she was tired and cranky and fully dressed standing in her snowsuit in our kitchen. She could not understand why I was not putting her in her crib. Instead I was reacting with glee to her insistent crying, knowing she would be out like a light the minute I started the car. I put her in the car, Laila and I prayed over any fear of taking Anja alone, and then I struck off. Anja didn't make it more than two miles! She conked out like clock work - and I floored it! I knew I had only so much time and I had to be by my mom's when Anja woke up. Well, Anja slept over 3 hours. I got within 45 miles of my mom's house. Anja was a little restless, but I pulled into a gas station 30 miles from my hometown and discovered a town I had never been to before. Imagine that. They had a wonderful place to change Anja and she was much better. I mixed some milk for her and we made the last leg of the trip just fine. My mom's birthday was the 8th of March and Anja and myself walked in unannounced and surprised my mom! She had no idea we were coming.
The rest of the weekend was fun. We visited my aunt and uncle as well because my uncle had knee surgery. We played cards and all of that. The return trip went very well too because Anja had played all day and the night before. The sleep she had was just enough to get her to noon on Sunday. I kept her up and going until she was almost sleeping standing up! Then I grabbed her and threw her in the car, bid farewell to family, and floored it toward the twin cities. Anja didn't even make it to the end of my mother's road! She was out like a light and really slept hard for hours. I was 20 miles away from Woodbury by the time she woke up.
Everyone we had visited was so glad we came. Poor Laila had to work all weekend at the tradeshow and put in many hours. She was glad to see us again come rolling into the garage like a band of gypsies. All of us were tired and glad to see each other - except Anja. She was refreshed and jubilant. She could not understand why papa kept dosing off while playing with her that evening.
All in all, there is a lot to be said about driving like a Nascar driver on the freeway. The impending doom of having a sleeping child in the back not knowing when she will wake up is excellent motivation to pass everything on the freeway!
Well thanks so much for the great blogging, we will post another on the blog soon.
Love,
Rob, Laila, Anja, and ???
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