Hi Everyone,

This is a long overdue hello to everyone. We had a long hot summer and we have just stopped melting about a month ago. We had a wonderful 3 week vacation. Peter has never had that much time off in one shot!! We spent 2 weeks in Venice and Greece and we all enjoyed the sun and sights!! We have the boys in St. George and are loving the new School.

Santorini Greece was absolutely wonderful!! Sun, Sand and total relaxation!! We couldn't ask for more fun and interesting sites. Athens was very educational and the boys LOVED checking out the Greek architecture! We all were quite fascinated. The Acropolis was breathtaking and the Olympic Stadium was really great to see, since the the Summer Games will be held there in 2004. It wasn't our favorite place but it was worth visit for the history. I know the boys will get a lot out of it when they study this in school.

Venice was spectacular!!! I have to say for me, one of my personal favorites!! Peter and Drake both celebrated birthdays there and Peter turned the big 40!!! We took him out on a gondola ride and the gondolier sang to him in English, French and Italian, he was great!!! We were all fascinated by the charm and magic that seemed to be everywhere in Venice. It was enchanting to see the street performers, mimes, musicians, opera singers, street performers... The evenings in Venice took on a mystical flavor all of its own. The first evening, Peter and I took a dusk stroll and stood motionless as we entered San Marco's Square. It was truly a wonderful experience.

Every time we take another trip we learn so much about traveling and exploring we figure that by the time we return home we will be old pros and then need to discover some of our own Country. After all this fun and excitement here in Europe it might be hard to keep any of us in one place for too long.

We started the boys in school now and we are all thrilled. The boys couldn't be happier!! Drake is taking basket ball and soccer after school and Davis is doing soccer, running and on the swim team. Drake has already run in an inter-house cross country run and did quite well for his house. The Jr high won first place!! Davis has already won a badge for best effort in school and both the boys are really taking the new school by storm. It just goes to show you when they are in a safe and challenging environment kids know it and soar!! Peter and I are both really happy with the diversity in the Jr High too. Drake is getting music, drama, art, IT (computer), French, and the basics every day. It is a long day but he is really happy and making a lot of great friends. Would it have been wonderful to be here both years! We may have to stay longer just to take advantage of the school.

We still have a few more destinations that we would like to explore. I have yet to get to Monte Carlo, I think Peter and I will do that on our 13th Anniversary in March. We are thinking about traveling to Germany and Holland in during Spring Break and doing a little "root" searching. We do want to ski Austria and some in France, skiing the rest of Switzerland goes without saying. We are looking at doing England, Ireland and Scotland for our three week vacation in Summer 2004. We thought it would be nice to visit English speaking Countries just before we came home. I would like to squeeze in Paris again and Venice. We still have some stuff to show the boys, Rome, Nice, Florence, Vienna and hmmm, that's it, for now. Not too sure we can do all that before we come back. We may need to stay longer, LOL.

We are coming back for a visit in December. We are thinking 2 to 3 weeks, not sure of all the logistics yet. We really want to see and do more this time around. The last visit was a little hectic and visiting was pretty non-existing. Well, I think that pretty much sums up the summer. Please write and let us know how you are all doing. Oh and check out the web site for all the new photos!!!

Love to all,

The Swiss Gradys