That's Michael who swam out to a platform in Lake Geneva. People looked worried as he swam out, wondering who was watching this little guy, but he made it. I generally am more cautious than Carolyn with these things; she's usually right. With the French Alps across the water, the view is spectacular, although the water was FRIGID - cold spring. 
Jo introduced us to Oliver, a very red-headed boy with an English mom and Irish dad. Jo was the program assistant at Pepperdine's Lausanne branch 2 years ago and lives in nearby France, where the real estate and cost of living is generally much, much cheaper.
Julian and Ann brought their children to play in the lake, where we had a familiar grill and picnic of sausages and wine.
Michael really liked grilling his bread, as well, until almost burnt.
We then visited Julian and Ann at their new home in Oron - a real out of the way village with one noteworthy institution: a private Christian school. Not sure how far private Christian schools will go in Switzerland; I suspect not as big a movement as in the States, but this one's been going at it for 15 years.
Evangelical Americanism generally leads the way, as European believers seeking authenticity look to North America for the contemporary.
Juian, a ballet dancer and former British downhill Olympiad teaches a dance class at the school, which Michael joined for the afternoon. Simple, lacking the bells & whistles we might value back in SoCal, it was a nice window into "Big Jack's" world. We named the older child "Big" Jack to avoid confusion with our "Little" Jack.
The art class absolutely rocked. Switzerland is extremely sophisticated in terms of its museum/art knowledge spread in the culture at large, local cities pouring much resources into opera, classical music, and visual arts, although Zurich and Basel hold the world-class collections. Big Jack can identify numerous 20th century (Rothko, Klee, Mondrian, Matisse, etc), as well as Old Master painters. I am determined that M & J know their art!
We had a pasta lunch with tomatoes and peas from their garden.
Their home was lovely and, in Swiss tradition, very sturdy and high-quality materials, but we were surprised to hear that the careful laws that govern apartments don't exist for private homes, where people can get ripped off, as did happen in this case.
A shot of our rental's front windshield which had a bus-like touring panorama view; we got tans just driving around.
From the balcony. We rented the top efficiencies of the house, which faced the La Tour port - a real find. Lake Geneva enjoys a temperate microclimate (check out the palm tree).
Our Italian gelato man welcomed us, noting the boys' growth. He seemed to think Jack was a real bruiser. This little stand sells the most intense flavors of chocolate, black currant, jamaican rum/raisin, although the tropical flavors seemed particularly popular now.
Leftover bread went to the swans and ducks
We kept running into that little swan family. Also, enjoyed the local perch & fries meal at our favorite spot. I am always pleased to be able to order wine by the deciliter. Switzerland is an anomaly in Europe - not socialist, but very strong capitalist traditions. EG everyone required to have health insurance, but it is not State run. Curious that the US is now adopting European models of government run social polity - a postwar model that eventually failed in the 80s, which is currently unraveling, especially in Greece, Spain, and Italy.
Traveling abroad is definitely a luxury, but also a home of sorts, due to my earlier L'Abri life. We weren't sure how our new church family would react to our excesses, but it definitely cost us a lot of postage in postcards! So, for the first time, we feel pulled in two directions: home and home elsewhere.We were very glad to have dinner with Rodman and Becky Miller (no picture), whom I knew from the early L'Abri days. Rodman was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor last year, so I wasn't sure he'd still be living, but he's responded well to treatment and is beating the odds right now.
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