Friday, May 31, 2013

Ben's School Trips

A while back I told y'all about the trips Ben has been taking at school.  The first one was to Davos, Switzerland where he and the rest of the 3rd grade spent 3 days skiing.  Then a few weeks ago he and his fellow 3rd graders spent 5 days in Verbier, Switzerland doing adventure activities.    Since parents were not allowed on either trip I wasn't able to get any pictures from these trips.  And since I like to document practically every move my kids make that really bothered me.  So for the past several weeks I've been begging Ben's teacher to send me her pictures from both trips.  

I really wanted to have photos from both trips because I didn't want Ben to forget these experiences.  Overall, he's been great with the move here from Midland.  He's gone through a lot in this past year and a half, and he's handled everything about as well as we could have hoped for.  But despite his good attitude about everything I know he misses Midland, and I know he greatly misses his friends back home.

I'm sure there are times when he probably wonders..."why did we come here again?"  Ever since we got here we've been telling him that we're getting to see things and do things that we would not be able to do back in Midland.  But of course Jenny and I probably get more out of the things we're experiencing than the kids.  That's why I was so happy for him that he got to go on these trips with his school.  For the first time he got to experience something different that was totally for him.  For the first time I think he realized we are in fact doing things over here that we would never be able to experience back home.

So anyway, that's why I was begging Ben's teacher for any kind of pictures she could give me.  Fortunately...Ben's teacher came through for me.  She gave me a drive stick of photos from both trips.  So here are some photos from both of Ben's school trips.  I've included shots of him, as well ones of his close friends.  He's made some pretty special friends over here at his school.  The kids he's met are from all over Europe, and they all get along great.  That's still one of my favorite things about living over here.  Well, I hope he'll always remember the friends he's made over here.  Hopefully these photos will help him do that.  

As you'll see...he had a blast.

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"SKI TRIP" IN DAVOS (3 DAYS)



ON THE SLOPES




CREATIVE WRITING






MORE SKIING




MAKING T-SHIRTS


BEN'S ROOMATES





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"ADVENTURE TRIP" IN VERBIER (5 DAYS)



HIKING






ZIP-LINING ON A ROPES COURSE





ROCK CLIMBING








Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Byrds In Zermatt, Switzerland

Before the Byrds returned to Texas we all spent a weekend in the village of Zermatt, which lies in the shadow of the famous Matterhorn.  This time of year Zermatt is pretty much done with the skiers, but the summer tourists haven't arrived yet.  So the village was pretty quiet.  It did snow on us at times, which meant the mountain was shrouded in clouds, but we didn't mind because it gave us an excuse to do some shopping.  Finally, on our last day we took the train to the top of the Gornegrat observation area, where we all got great views of the famous mountain.  Many people who visit Zermatt never see the Matterhorn due to bad weather, so the fact that we got to see the mountain was the perfect way to cap off a 10 day adventure.






"Where's the mountain?"