Welcome to the Web Site of the Boise Schwarthoff Family!
Please check back for new pictures once a month!
It is not Christmas yet, as we pack our bags for Germany.
When we're there, it will be Christmas.
The Schwarthoff family wishes you all a wonderful holy time!
Die Familie Schwarthoff wünscht Euch allen eine wunderbare heilige Zeit!!!
Here they are, all looking at the thing that immediately commands their attention, no matter what they are doing.
It's like magic.
So, we have arrived in the time where screen time needs to be strictly regulated.
We also are in a time of experimentation: No sugar for a week has shown a significant reduction in crazy mood outbreaks.
This is the end of a very tiring but wonderfully rewarding week of music: Verdi Requiem and Hymns of Thanksgiving. Which came after I was in Virginia for a week-long business trip :). How welcome is the upcoming week of the Thanksgiving Holiday, where we can get some rest and focus on the upcoming travels to see family in GERMANY!
This month, all everyone talks about is Halloween. Well, everyone under five feet. Everyone above five feet talks about adding another bedroom, and how much it costs to fly to Germany.
Two boys baking cake. One girl eating it.
One first-grader and two third-graders are busy with math, writing, and discussing how advertisement is done in our world. How fast is summer forgotten!
Helena is studying the violin. Noah is studying toy advertisements.
Recently:
Noah is caught peeing while standing up. Daddy reminds him that he needs to stop that habit. Helena: "I'm not doing it!"
Also recently:
Mama: "You're not doing what Mama and Daddy are saying." Noah: "You are supposed to like us anyway."
Finally opportunities to enjoy the Idaho summer. Camping along Mores Creek, at the City of Rocks, and Alturas Lake.
Here, we are on an alpine hike in the Sawtooth Mountains.
We have to fight wasps in our backyard, but are having a terrific time floating the Boise River again.
The temperatures have been hot as usual (but this time Germany was also there...). 110 Fahrenheit - 42 Celsius.
Ooooh wait! School starts Monday!
Singapore.
Next: Mexico.
The pyramids of Teotihuacan impress everyone. The traffic around the capital only insofar that it doesn't move very fast through the potholes, despite everyone trying.
We find art in many places. Here we are making faces in Queretaro, where cousin Chris is living with his family. Pretty streets, great food, friendly people, but pack your Spanish.
Hiking in the mountains of the Sierra Gorda, along the Rio Escanela. Getting there involved some insider knowledge, three miles of dirt roads, and paying for a guide at a staffed entrance booth.
Cousin Chris with his family. Sonja and the girls Kim and Zoe.
When you are in Mexico, try the long distance buses. A lot better than flying. One of those took us to the beach in Zihuatanejo.
Taking a boat to catch some fish for dinner. Not wearing socks for ten days.
Back home, and I am leaving the family again for business in Lehi.
The Boise River is a great place for an afternoon picnic. About 15 minutes from our house. By bike.
This is the last Idaho will see of Hubert this month. Off to Singapore on business, then everybody will go see family in Mexico.
See you next month!
Towards the end of last month, Oma and Opa accompanied Abraham and Noah to their First Communion. A small step for mankind, a big step for an eight year old.
Looks just like Germany.
Today, it is 86 degrees outside. 30 Celsius.
Mai-Ausflug on the Boise Green Belt. Anybody want to come?
Fastenzeit has ended, Easter has come, and suddenly we have two Birthday boys.
Having fun being 8. With an abundance of physical energy that needs to be applied somewhere. I say "Hamster Wheel".
Shortly afterwards, Oma and Opa visit from Deutschland.
aa
In the valley: green is sprouting.
On the mountain:
The spring plans are taking shape. Family is flying in from Mexico this week, to help us ski the slopes. They want hot springs.
Sunday afternoons are spent discussing penance, works of mercy, first communion.
Ski hill, we are coming.
Summer, we are coming.
Other people think about summer, too, as we are not successful in reserving a camp site on Red Fish Lake for August. Yet, we are very excited in planning a trip to visit cousin Chris and his family in Mexico. Brush up on the Spanish, amigos!
In the valley, we explore Boise's newest park by the river on bicycle, in beautiful sunshine.
Later this week, Beethoven's 9th.
Buon Giorno, New Year! Fireworks announce that the world keeps turning.
Bitter cold had been keeping Boise in a deep freeze, at zero degrees (Fahrenheit, that's minus twenty Celsius). There had to be some sleds to have good fun.
Going to school in the morning means crunching snow underfoot, and kids that look like care packages. There are not many snow plows in Boise, which is why all traffic is going very slow after the city was covered in a few inches of white.
Ski hill, we are coming.
Vacation planning is also taking place, along with First Communion preparation, house remodel, relatives visit, musical rehearsals, dentist joy, school volunteering, and financial manoevering.
These pictures were taken at bedtime, of children reading busily. The boys read an hour on most days, requiring a steady flow of new books to be acquired.
Copyright Hubert Schwarthoff