Weekending

The weather this spring in Basel is incredible!  One of our favorite spots to visit is the local Botanical Gardens; rich with colors, amble space to run and play, a very adventurous playground that Noah adores and lots of wonderful animals to admire.  This Sunday, after a long couple of weeks of travel, Noah and Robert made a trip to the gardens to enjoy the beauty of the spring, while spending some quality “dude time.”  Nothing like the springtime with my boys!

  Enjoying the tulips!

Time on the swings.

Four Years!

One of the most beautiful aspects of life, is that if you allow the ride to take you, you inevitably end up on a journey that exceeds your wildest expectations.  When we were married we never imagined that we would be living abroad, exploring so many countries, surrounded by cobbled streets and a foreign land. With that said, we also knew that if the opportunity ever arose to live overseas that the inevitable answer would have to be, “yes!”  And though we initially thought our stint overseas would last a mere 1-2 years, our journey has now brought us into our 4^th year. 

Four years of residing in a foreign country with unique cultures, different faces, and of course, that very hard to grasp language and the most challenging aspect of all - distant family and friends.  But what this life does offer is wide and expansive…we have been afforded and blessed with the gift of simple living, incredible travel and an array of experiences that keeps us smiling each time we take a moment to reflect on where we have been, what we have done and where we still plan to go.

And one of the greatest gifts of all was having our son in Switzerland – witnessing all the trials and tribulations of having a baby in a country other than your own.  And now as we embrace the arrival of our second baby, we have become a bit more familiar with the process and a bit more at ease with his or her arrival.

So, what has all of this taught us?  In simple language – go for it!  Had we have stayed put in our comfortable home, we would have indeed been happy, for we were quite content, but we knew we wanted more.  We decided to say “yes” and take the plunge that landed us some 6 odd thousand miles away from everything that was once so familiar, and though there have been struggles along the way, the experience has been so rich, so vast with opportunities both personally, together and as a family that we feel all the more grateful for our ability to move into unchartered waters.

Here’s to a fabulous four years of living abroad and who knows where the journey may take us next?

 Basel at night...

 Along the Rhine

 The tram life

 Robert enjoying the views along the Rhine

One of our favorite places...Grindelwald.