Balloons & Friends

 Wow!  

What an incredible weekend we had with a dear old high school friend and her family.

Saturday gave way to clear, windless skies and the balloons took flight!

We played in the snow, we joined in the festivities of the day, we sled, we laughed, and we ate.

Thanks for an incredible weekend Sonja, Aaron, Mia, Lila and Nathalie!

 What a beautiful sight to see hot air balloons rise over the Alps!

We are so grateful for a beautiful day!

 Tessa truly enjoyed the day!

 Noah exhausted after a long day of sledding!

 Special friends and special shapes!

Incredible weekend!

Thank you, thank you!

The balloons won't fly in wind, rain or snow, so boy, oh boy, did we luck out!  

More photos to come on our other blog...

We Are...

 We Are...

Bracing ourselves for a cold and rainy week.

Proud of the children for embracing the woods, old castles and hiking.  We love hiking and hope they do too!

Happy to have read Chrissie Wellington's book, A Life Without Limits and amazed at what the human body is capable of!

Listening to Rosie and Me and loving their music.

Looking forward to seeing an old friend and her family this weekend in a beautiful setting.

Loving the quote, "What we are teaches the child more than what we say, so we must be what we want our children to become."  Joseph Chilton Pearce

Closing up some small projects and looking forward to new projects.

Embracing new fitness goals and getting them done!  Ah yeah!

Wishing everyone a beautiful start to a new week!

 Noah & Tessa at Landkron castle.  Amazed that they both walked 3+ miles!

 Exploring the castle.

 When did Tessa get so big? 

 Awesome discovery on a new hike.

 Snack time!

 This is Tessa's "I am not tired" face.

 Another fun hike from Allschwil to Neuwilerstrasse.

 Walking in Muttenz hand -n-hand.

Tessa and the kitty.

We Are...

Welcoming the New Year and all of the promise that it brings with reckless abandon.

Listening to Ben Howard...whew, sing it.  What an incredible talent!

Reading A Life Without Limits, by Chrissie Wellington, which is the perfect read to start this new year off right!

Smiling at what a wonderful year 2013 was for us as individuals and us as a family.

Proud of Robert for his recent patent and for smashing a huge work endeavor for helping those in need!  Awesome work Robert!

Reading and re-reading the speech below.  I love it more and more each time those words roll off my tongue and vowing to "step into the arena" more often than not.

Looking forward to the love, adventure, and lessons that 2014 will teach us all.

All the best for a wonderful start and a fabulous year!

 

The Man in the Arena

Theodore Roosevelt – 26^th President of the United States of America

“It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again;
who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly
so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”