Some may have noticed that I went a while earlier this month without posting. My father passed away October 2nd. I was traveling to KC hoping to see him, but he passed while I was in route. Kathleen and the boys followed me to KC a few days later. Little Parker couldn't travel until he had a passport. Fortunately it arrived in the mail in time for them to attend my father's funeral and commitment. Sadly my father wasn't able to see his newest grandson Parker, but at least he knew of him and saw some pictures.

My mother preceded my father in death 3 years earlier. Both were committed together at the Veteran's Cemetery in Higginsville, MO. It is a nice place for them. It lies roughly half way between where they each grew up - my mother from Garden City, MO and my father from New Franklin, MO - and not far from where they spent most of their lives - Kansas City/Liberty, MO.

My brother Howard is the only son of three (myself the youngest and Fred the eldest) to have served in the military - US Army. It was fitting for him to receive my father's flag.

Rest in peace mother and father. You will be missed more than you could know.

Sunday Night Football

Tonight we had the Marchiondo boys over to watch the Steelers vs. Bengals game. They are Steelers fans. I say 'night' because the 1:00 game starts at 7:00 for us and it is dark outside. It all started out well enough, but as you can see their attention drifted to something better. Payton and the boys found watching Toy Story more interesting! Maybe the Bengals were watching it too. The Steelers killed 'em.

Sunday in the Park

We didn't do anything special today, just spent some time at a park.

This view is so much better in person. The fall colors are beautiful.

Payton is doing real well with his scooter. He's even trying some skateboard moves. Of course this isn't much more than standing sideways on the board with both feet. He is getting the hang of stepping on the rear fender to brake - it pushes against the rear wheel.

Smart boy! Let someone else do the pushing!

Many of the parks have tire zip lines. These are pretty cool. Payton loved this thing.

Mama mi and Parker we tired at the end of the day. We think Parker is going to mama's boy. Not a mama's boy, just mama's boy.

Payton has a new group of friends - from America!

The Marchiondo's have moved over from the USA and they have three great kids that Payton is crazy about. Today we all walked up to the playground to have some fun. The boys actually rode their scooters and bicycle.

Payton, Lucas and Devin having fun on the teeter-toter.

Looks like sister Katelyn is trying to knock brother Lucas off.

"Help me. My shoe came off!"

Devin slipped and couldn't get up.

A hike in the woods

We packed a light lunch, picked Payton up at school and headed to the woods for a walk-about. We headed for the botanical garden not far from school. We didn't know exactly where it was and it turned out to be a good thing. We parked much farther from it than we needed to, but this allowed us - made us - walk through the woods. It was a nice day to do so and we enjoyed ourselves. Note that we packed the little guy too. Kathleen hauled Parker around the whole hike. Mostly he just slept through the entire adventure.

We did have a downer at the end of our hike. Payton and I were goofing around in the parking lot after our walk. He fell backwards, smacked his head and then we were in the ER. He split his head open, but it was a small split. In the back too so any scar will be covered. The Doc glued him back together and he is doing fine.

Fete de Vendanges

Ah, All 3 boys are napping and Mommy has some quiet time! It's a cool Sunday afternoon, the NFL pregame show is on TV, now if I could just order a good Pizza for delivery I would think I was back home in the US!

Yesterday we went to the Fete des Vendanges. This is a huge event to celebrate the grape harvest in Neuchâtel. I had expected something like a wine festival in the U.S. where each of the local wineries has a booth set up to sell their wines and you could stroll around sampling the offerings.

What we found was more akin to State fair type atmosphere mixed with a little "G" rated Mardi Gras. There was a parade starting out that featured the commune (town) we live in, Corcelles, mixed with marching bands. TONS of confetti was part of the parade and continued to be thrown well afterward. Following the parade we found endless food vendors, carnival rides, and games. Booths seemed to be run by every type of food vendor, restaurant, and social club in the region. What I didn't find was a single Winery! I did manage to get a small glass of Vin Rouge to sip on, but that's all. Given that I was carrying Parker in my baby BJORN carrier, it was probably not wise to get tipsy.

We wandered through the crowds and vendors for some time and then decided it was time to leave the excitement to the partiers. Good thing too because Parker decided he didn't want to sleep last night. Thankfully Stanton and I can pull shifts, but a fussy baby can make for a long night.

Right now, he's sleeping like and Angel....

Do the boys look alike?

Click play to find out.

Beware of sending Gifts!

We have on several occasion wondered how economical it would be to ship goods from the US to Switzerland. Especially for gifts or items we just can't seem to find here or to bring Christmas gifts back to Switzerland after the Holidays. We have mail ordered a couple of items and experienced paying import taxes. Basically we pay shipping when we order an item and then have to pay the Swiss Postal service another fee to get the package. It can get quite expensive. Well...... we got a good idea yesterday that shipping gift items into Switzerland is not a cost effective venture.

A wonderful and well meaning friend sent us a beautiful gift for the birth of our new baby. They paid about $60 US to send the gift. We got a nice little note in our mailbox to pick it up from the post office. After paying $55 CHF in Swiss Postal Service extortion fees (I mean import duties) we were able to retrieve our gift.

So, in case you are tempted to send us anything, please resist! Send us a card or an email instead and donate the shipping charges to charity!

US forwarding Post Box: (for letters, cards, etc., basically envelopes)

Taylor Family
Obtech - Switzerland
PO Box 950
New Brunswick, NJ 08903

Bacon Butty Sandwich

Several of the TV shows I watch here - either on the tele or the computer - are British shows. I have heard savory references to a sandwich called Bacon something. It is sometimes hard to understand the British accent, but after rewinding to listen again and again I now know the sandwich is a Bacon Butty. These are very popular in Britain. They are eaten throughout the day. They are what I would call a bacon sandwich, but with a twist. The bacon sandwich I have has mayonnaise on it. A Bacon Butty has HP sauce. HP sauce is a brown sauce and very similar to - if not exactly the same - A1 sauce. This I am going to have to try when we travel to Britain.

Want to try one at home? Start with dry cured, thick sliced bacon and make some snips into the fatty areas. This will keep your rashers (slices of bacon) from curling up too much. Cook until crispy, not burnt or dry. Pile your rashers on a slice of bread. Cover the other slice with HP sauce and then put it sauce-side down in the frying pan. Leave it there a minute or so to soak up some juice and get nice and warm (but not toasted). Assemble your mighty buttie and eat straight away. Sounds yummie eh?

2 more and we'd have a baseball team!

The mama mi's can be the coaching staff.