Corey and Kristin Visit!

We just finished hosting my sister and brother in law- we had a wonderful time with them here- the girls love the extra attention!  The visit went by so quickly, with our days full of taking them on new adventures.

They arrived last Tuesday, so after picking up Adalyn from school we headed down to the lake- unfortunately it was a gloomy day- but they were able to see the main attractions by Lake Geneva.

Wednesday, we headed to Chamonix, France.  This is one of our favorite places to visit, so we always want to take visitors there to see the village along with the amazing views.  It was a beautiful sunny day, so we were able to really take in the scenery.  They decided to take the cable car up to Mount Blanc, which is the highest mountain in Europe, 15,767 ft.  Adalyn has no fear when it comes to heights, so she joined them- Eliza and I stayed on land.  You have to be three to ride the cable car, so I gladly offered to stay with her!  They had a wonderful time on the top of the mountain and were able to get some great pictures.  After their mountain adventure, we spent some time walking around the village, and of course stopping at the restaurant with the tasty chicken nuggets before leaving!
We had an awesome day in Chamonix.

Looking down on the village- 

The top-

Adalyn really wants to go paragliding with her cousin Sophia next spring- Although, she did inform me last week that she was a "little unsure, since her and Sophia don't know how to fly!"

Thursday, Corey and Kristin headed to Paris, so we were back to our regular schedule for a couple days.  For people interested in visiting us, it is only a short three hour train ride to Paris- easy destination to take a day trip to from Geneva.

Friday night, they arrived back from Paris.

On Saturday, we had big plans, unfortunately Mother Nature had her own plans.  Where we wanted to go, was predicting 5-8 inches of snow, which makes it difficult to get around, and you don't get to see the views when it is snowing heavy.  So, since it was basically raining or snowing within a 100 mile radius of Geneva, we went bowling in the morning!  There is a really nice bowling alley close to us, so we decided it would be something everyone could enjoy.

Ready to go bowling with Uncle Corey-

Adalyn got a new Elsa braid, so she was excited to wear it out!  

In the afternoon, Chris watched the girls, and the three of us went to a wine bar for a relaxing afternoon, another great way to spend a rainy day.  Saturday night, we went out to dinner - kid free!!!

On Sunday, we named it, "Swiss Sunday!"  For breakfast, I made crepes for everyone, which is a popular French pancake, but since Geneva is so close to France, they are popular here too.  After breakfast, we drove to the Callier chocolate factory, about 1.5 hours away.  We did the tour and of course participated in the chocolate tasting at the end of the tour.

After we were full of chocolate, we all decided some wine tasting was necessary- so we drove to the Lavaux Wine Region, which is a 19 mile stretch of vineyards from Chillon to Lausanne.  We visited, Lavaux Vinorama, which is a wine tasting room which also has a very informative video that we watched that documented the life of a wine grower.  In the Lavaux region, all of the wines are handmade- no machines, which requires much more work.  Since it requires so much more work, they export less than 5% of their wine.  To them, quality is more important than quantity.  It was fun to try Swiss wines, since I haven't tried many since we have lived here, so now I know some good local wines.  After the wine tasting, we drove around the vineyards for a bit and then headed home.

For dinner, we had a traditional swiss meal, Raclette.  Raclette is three things: the name of a cheese, the name of a Swiss dish involving melted cheese, and a type of grill used to melt cheese.  I had just purchased a raclette machine, so we wanted to try it out.  You basically have a table top grill that everyone sits around, everyone has their own tray to put the raclette cheese in to heat it up.  While the cheese is heating up in the pans, you can cook meat/seafood and vegetables on the top part of the grill. You also serve small boiled potatoes with the meal.  The racelette meal was successful, so we are excited to do it more often.  To complete our "Swiss Sunday," we had chocolate fondue for dessert.  It was definitely a swiss filled day; crepes, chocolate, wine, raclette, fondue, the only thing missing was buying a watch!

Chocolate fondue!

On Monday, Adalyn went to school, Eliza went to the ski garderie, and I took Kristin and Corey skiing in the Alps.  It was Corey's first time ever skiing!  He was a bit frustrated at first, but after a few runs, he was able to successfully get down the hill and enjoyed it!  It was a fun day of skiing-

On Tuesday, Eliza and I took them to Annecy, France- another one of our favorite spots.  It was market day in the village, so it was fun to walk around the market while enjoying a Vin Chaud (hot wine)- Corey's new favorite drink! After school, we drove up to the top of Mt. Saleve- it was my first time driving up the mountain, but thankfully the road conditions were great, so we made it!  We explored the area and Adalyn even went sledding.  Tuesday night, we celebrated Eliza's birthday with them, since her birthday is next week-

Lake Annecy

Feeding the ducks-

Reading her new Elmo book- 

We had such a wonderful time hosting them and spending time together  Now, we have Chris' brothers, Chad and Ben, visiting in a month, so we are looking forward to planning their trip!

Other photos from the week-

Happy hour outside!  (We need outdoor furniture)

Adalyn made a card for Eliza- very excited to give it to her- 

Holiday in Lucerne

This past weekend we took a mini holiday trip to Lucerne, Switzerland, which is described as "the city, the lake, the mountains."  Lucerne is located in central Switzerland, three hours from our house.  While living here we have tried to learn about the Swiss traditions and are always looking for ways to experience them.  Switzerland in the winter celebrates their biggest festival, Fasnacht.  I had read that Lucerne had the best carnival celebration, so we decided if we were going to learn about this tradition, why not experience it at the largest one in Switzerland.  We had no idea it was going to be as entertaining as it turned out to be- it totally exceeded any expectations we had.

Fasnacht is a pre-lenten carnival- think Mardi Gras- but no beads and everyone kept their tops on!  It is a six-day all out carnival which starts at 5am on Thursday and ends on the morning of Ash Wednesday.  It was absolutely crazy!  Over 100,000 people come out to celebrate in Lucerne for this celebration- the streets in Old Town were packed with people marching along, playing musical instruments, dressed in elaborate costumes and wearing the most amazing masks we had ever seen.  I had read the celebration in Lucerne is famous for its chaotic "march any direction you like" street parades- and they were not joking!  The marching bands started around 8am on Saturday and when we went to bed they were still marching on.  It was definitely a memorable experience and we loved seeing how much joy and pride the people had while participating in the Fasnacht.
** For some reason I don't think the videos work- but it still gives you an idea of what it was like.

One group parading across the bridge- 

Other groups would stop and play live music anywhere in the street- 

Lucerne- showing how crowded the streets were along the lake- 

Although the carnival was very entertaining, there are so many other cool things to do in and around Lucerne so we definitely took advantage and headed to the mountains both days.  On Friday, when we arrived, we headed to Mt. Pilatus.  We took a cable car up to the sledding area and spent a couple hours enjoying the scenery and sledding down the mountain.  The girls loved sledding- unfortunately, I learned that I am not good at sledding on a wooden sled, and almost went off the side of the mountain with Adalyn, so Chris took the girls the rest of the time while I watched!  After sledding, we went down to a lower point and the girls played on the playground.  It was a wonderful afternoon spent in the mountains.

The sled they took down the hill- typical German sled- 

Eliza's first cable car ride!  Loved it- 

Playing at the playground- 

View from Mt. Pilatus

Friday night, we walked around Old Town and visited the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrucke), which is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe spanning across the Reuss River.  The bridge was originally built in 1333 to link the old town on the right bank to the new town on the left bank.  The bridge is 560 ft long.

Daytime view of bridge- 

Night view of bridge-

On Saturday, it was a beautiful sunny day, so we took a boat to Weggis, which is also on Lake Lucerne.  From there, we took a cable car up Mt. Rigi to the Rigi Katbad stop about 1,433 meters high. The views were once again unbelievable.  After walking around a bit, we took a train back down the mountain, and hopped back on the boat and went back to Lucerne.

Getting ready to ride the boat- 

View of Lucerne from the boat- 

View from Mt. Rigi

They had horse drawn sleigh rides on the mountain- 

Girls on the train- 

On Saturday afternoon we walked around Old Town and enjoyed the joyous ambience- everyone was so happy and having so much fun!  Who wouldn't be happy dancing in the street to live music??

We had such a wonderful holiday- we are so glad that we visited Lucerne and already have plans to go back.

Now, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sister and brother in-law who arrive on Tuesday.    

The Amazing Alps

After a rough week two weeks ago, strep, flu, trips to urgent care, and a sliced finger, we all had a much better week this past week!

Lately there has been "the cloud" hanging over Geneva and we rarely see the sun.  So, on Saturday we headed up the mountain to go skiing.  Down below in the village it was still gray skies but as we ascended in the cable car up the mountain, we arrived into sunshine paradise.  It was the first time we could actually see the mountains while skiing- the other two times it was foggy and snowing.  Adalyn had another lesson and even went on a tow rope by herself- they have a unique type of tow rope here called the "Pommel Tow" which is a tow rope with a plastic plate on the end, and you put the plate between your legs and it pulls you up.  They are complicated at first... I fell the first time getting on- so we were super impressed that Adalyn was able to do it!  Unfortunately, I wasn't there to get a picture.  While Adalyn was in her lesson, Chris and I skied with our friends, Nicole and Tyler.  It was an amazing morning of skiing- the views were unbelievable-

The white/gray in the middle of the picture is actually a layer of fog - we were above the clouds- 

definitely a memorable view- 

Adalyn and Avery after their lesson

This week, Adalyn has off for what they call, "Ski Break."  Most people rent chalets and go skiing for a week- we decided we weren't quite ready for the crowds on the slopes, so instead this upcoming weekend we are going on a mini trip to Luzern, which is in central Switzerland.  We have heard a lot about it, so we decided to go check it out- we are looking forward to going up Mt. Pilatus, sledding in the mountains, and walking around the old town village.

This week, since Adalyn and Eliza are off of school, I will be busy finding different things to do to keep the kids entertained- thankfully the weather should be nice-upper 40's, so hopefully we will be able to get outside.  We will also be getting ready for our next visitors, my sister and brother in-law, who arrive next Tuesday- we are very excited for them to visit!

Another difference I discovered this week between MN and Switzerland, is only adults celebrate Valentine's Day here. Adalyn's class didn't do anything for it and you don't see stores filled with candy, stuffed animals, etc.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!  

L'amour a'vous tous!  

Since Adalyn had strep last week and couldn't go skiing- she went "skiing" in the house!

Eliza LOVES Peppa the Pig!