From A to Z

So if I were a volcano and no one could pronounce my name, I would probably get pissed off and spew hot stuff too. I have come far my friends - just two weeks ago I was cursing volcanoes and their stupid magma and their disregard for human travel plans with all of their "creating fertile soil and new earth crust" shtick. I am no longer cursing volcanoes rather my attention and wrath has turned to the constant onslaught of rain we have been experiencing over the past 5 days, which by the way has no end in sight.

We couldn't go to Atlanta but we could stay in Switzerland and have a "Staycation" (props to my dearest Paige, lovely girlfriend of my brother in law, for reminding me of this spectacular word). Our Staycation started off with an olive branch from Mother Nature:

What is better than a rainbow? Two rainbows...if you look closely or out of the corner of your eye, you will see a rainbow above the one that is visible. It looked far more glorious in person and reminded me of all things good in the world: Kermit the Frog, Lucky Charms cereal, fuzzy frolicking kittens and fluffy puppies chasing butterflies... On this day we also had a little retail therapy session at IKEA where we purchased outdoor furniture so we can enjoy these types of things sitting down.

Mother Nature was so excited that we were cool again that she made the rest of our Staycation sunny and almost T-shirt weather warm. The Boy had a bug in his butt to bike to the famous Swiss Benedictine Abbey "Klosters Einsiedeln". Founded in 835, Klosters Einsiedeln is home to a Black Madonna which is said to have miraculous powers and is rumored to have inspired America's most famous Madonna to write "Like a Virgin". In addition to the Black Madonna, the church portion of the abbey built in the early 1700's is one of the finest examples of Baroque architecture in Europe. If Baroque means "paint everything peach", well then it certainly was a fine example. I think someone's Grandma had a bit too much input on the interior paint colors. Here are a few pics from the day:

Why hello photo that looks like a painting...you're purdy

I like to call this fountain "Pissing Contest" or "Even God Urinates"

While all catacombs are spooky, the dead people in here weren't dead long enough which sort of took the "spook" out of "spooky".

We did witness one miracle, a group of highly trained EMT's rescuing a very life like dummy, complete with the most amazing wedgie:

As you can see, this poor dummy needed some serious buttock resuscitation.

The following day, I took the boy and the doggies to Lucerne. While I had already witnessed its cuteness first hand, the boy had not. If you were to line up all of the "cities" in Switzerland, I would have to say Lucerne is the prettiest I have seen thus far:

Um...camera angles do the funniest things. Look at the head on that Boy!

The Loewendenkmal was Pedro and Dooley's favorite part of Lucerne. It was a gift to the Swiss guards of France's Louis XVI. The lion you see behind me is in precisely the same position that Dooley is in for 21 hours a day.

We rounded out our week with a BBQ which was held on the warmest day of our Staycation. I think this picture sums up the time we had:

There is no shame in the Staycation game. We had a wonderful week at home, in Switzerland, together, while enjoying some really lovely weather.