Le grand orage

Last night we had the craziest thunderstorm I think I may have ever been through. It didn't last all that long, but all of a sudden it started raining HARD and these loud claps of thunder felt like they were RIGHT above us. I'm sure it helped that our bedroom's on the top floor. It even hailed for a bit. I mean, it was crazy. When it started hailing (onto the glass window right above our bed) I could hear Sierra's bell ringing as she ran off to try to hide somewhere-- poor thing has never been through a thunderstorm before! I guess we've probably had storms like this in Texas... but it's been such a long time since then. It was a bit scary, but also kinda cool. Luckily, the rain had completely stopped by the time we had to get up and out of the house this morning.

The sun came out in the afternoon, and Zach and I took a walk around the village. Last week Zach had discovered a huge patch of sunflowers growing, and by today most of them were about ready to bloom. They're all a good 4-5 ft tall. I'll have to go out there sometime in the next few days and get pictures. It's gonna look amazing when they're all blooming. The grapevines are also growing their little green bunches of grapes. I guess they never flowered after all... it's kinda cool getting to see what were tiny clusters now getting bigger, a good several inches long.

As we were coming back to the house, we stopped by to say hello to our neighbors, and they invited us in for some tea and to chat. It was great French practice, as they're very patient with us and good about helping us find the right words to say what we're trying to say. I keep hearing things about how usually the Swiss take a long time to warm up to and become friends with, which makes me feel so much more blessed that this couple has completely taken us in under their wing and been so sweet to us.