Zurich, Toulouse

I had to go to Zurich, Switzerland and then to Toulouse, France. The purpose of the Zurich trip was to work on an Embraer 170 simulator at Swiss Aviation Training. I was in Zurich for four days and found it to be a very clean place. Everyone was very nice.
I arrived in Toulouse the day that stage 14 of the Tour de France was 20km from Toulouse. As a result, every rental car was booked. I took the bus and metro everywhere I went which turned out to be a pleasant experience. Instead of focusing on driving which I normally do, I could look out the window and check out the place. I went to Airbus for 3 days of meetings. On the 3rd day I had a look at the A380 "iron bird". An iron bird is a static mockup of all the control surfaces, hydraulic lines, actuators, etc that are all married to giant electric pumps and a flight deck. I've seen the 787 iron bird before and am happy I got to see the A380 (and incomplete A350) ironbird.
If things didn't work out for me, I could have become a Domino's pizza scooter-delivery boy. I told Dylan that he could look forward to a future in scooter pizza delivery.
There was a cool bicycle rental system (pictured). There were stations all over downtown Toulouse. You could buy a pass or a single day rental. Just swipe your pass, hop on a bike and go. At the end of the day leave the bike at a station. Lots and lots of bike riders in Toulouse.

Stoneman Lake

We went to Stoneman Lake on Saturday. I've always wanted to go there and I'd like to go back sometime. It was over 105 degrees at home and humid; it was 72 and breezy at the lake. We brought the little buggy which you've seen in recent posts, as well as the little freebie motorcycle/streetbike and the quads. The buggy didn't go very well... just not enough power. The motorcycle was pretty cool but is really better suited for the street. I think we will sell the motorcycle and do something else.

Independence Day 2010

This Independence Day weekend brought high temperatures outside. We typically have a barbecue but did not this year. Rather
-we celebrated Amy's dad's birthday
-had my mom and sister over
-spent much time in the pool
-started a fireplace project

I like these pictures of the boys jumping in the pool. What is maybe not noticeable from these stills is that Walker (the little one) jumps in and gets to the side on his own. He can navigate over to the love seat on his own as well. Just today for the first time we noticed that Walker popped his head up for a breath whilst swimming from here to there. Today was also the first time he put goggles on.