Ben visits!

We just spent a great week hosting Chris' brother, Ben.  He was only here a week, but was able to see and do so much during his visit. 

The first full day he was here was Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is obviously not celebrated in Switzerland, so business is as usual, but we decided since Uncle Ben was here the girls could skip school.  They ended up spending the day at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, looking at all of the artifacts from previous Olympics. 

The real torches from previous Olympic games-

That evening, I made a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Turkeys are hard to find in Switzerland, and our ovens are tiny, so I cooked up two turkey breasts instead.  We were able to enjoy turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, pumpkin bars, and apple crisp.  After the meal we watched the Vikings game, which was perfect timing for us at 6:30pm. 

The next morning, Chris and Ben flew to Rome, Italy for the weekend.  They were able to tour all of the main attractions and enjoy the delicious Italian cuisine.

Trevi Fountain

Colosseum

On Sunday, when they flew back, we headed to Anney, France.  Last time when Ben visited, we did not go to Annecy, so we knew we wanted to take him there.  The Christmas market season has begun and we love walking around the markets seeing the different items for sale, enjoying vin chaud, and getting in the holiday spirit. 

Old Town Annecy

Eliza loved this bear-

Lake Annecy

Monday, Ben visited CERN.  He is very interested in science, so this was a perfect outing for him.  CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research and operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.  Many physicists and engineers work there using the largest and most complex scientific instruments to study fundamental properties.  One fun fact, CERN is the birthplace of the World Wide Web.  It began as a CERN project in 1989 and the first website was activated in 1991.  A very important day was April 30, 1993, when they announced that the web would be free to anyone.  Can you imagine life without google search???  

Sadly, on Tuesday Ben had to head back to Minnesota.  We had such a great time with him!  After he left, it was time for birthday prep for Adalyn.  She had a "Tea Party" birthday party and had a fabulous 7th Birthday! 

So thankful for her friends in Geneva- a wonderful group of girls!

Excited to see our family and friends in TWO weeks!!! 

Autumn in the Swiss Alps

The hills are definitely alive in Switzerland in the fall.  There really is no better time to head to the mountains.  The girls had off the last week for fall break, so we decided to visit two mountain villages for two long weekends; Verbier and Zermatt. 

Last weekend, we headed to a well-known ski village, Verbier, in the southwestern part of Switzerland.  We stayed in a chalet in the town of Le Chable, which is a ten minute drive from Verbier.  We spent the first day exploring the village and ice skating. 

The second day, we took a cable car up and did a hike along the mountain.  It was a perfect hike with the kids, wide and flat.  In the afternoon, we did a scavenger hunt hike that the kids loved.  We were in the forest area reading clues and answering questions.

Sculptures along the trail-

View from the hike-

Hooray for hiking!! 

Scavenger hunt hike-

On our way home Sunday, we visited Barryland, the museum of St. Bernard dogs in Martigny.  Since the early 18th century, monks who lived along the St. Bernard Pass kept the dogs to help them rescue people after bad snowstorms.  The St. Bernard Pass was the only way for people to travel through the Alps between Italy and Switzerland.  Over a span of 200 years, it is estimated that about 2,000 people were rescued because of the dogs.  The dogs were able to find buried travelers, and provide them warmth while the other dog would go back to the hospice and alert the monks.  Fast forward to today, they now have 18 Bernard dogs, that spend their time either at the hospice on top of the mountain, or below in the town of Martigny.  As for rescues, those are now done with helicopters.  We were lucky to be able to see the dogs and the new puppies that were just born in August. 

This past weekend, we visited another well-known ski village, Zermatt.  We had visited Zermatt once two years ago, but only for a day and it was cloudy and we weren't able to really see the true beauty of the Matterhorn.  The forecast was showing mild temperatures and clear skies all weekend, so we booked a last minute weekend getaway.  We are so happy we did.

The highlight of our trip to Zermatt was taking the Gornergrat train which goes from Zermatt to Gornergrat (10,266 ft) which offers up close views of the Matterhorn. 

Loving the snow! 

Hot chocolate with a view-

Natural beauty-

Admiring the reflection of the Matterhorn in Riffelsee.  Unfortunately, the lake was partially frozen, but still pretty amazing.

We decided to hike down from Rotenboden to Riffelberg, which turned out to be a very icy descent, but the girls did great and we were able to spend time in the open mountain air. 

Adalyn excited she made it down the icy trek! 

A perfect ending to our weekend-

Grandpa and Grandma Schultz Trip Highlights

We were lucky to have just spent three weeks with my parents.  We had a wonderful time exploring new and old places with them.  Here are some highlights from their visit. 

One of their first days here, we took them to Parc Merlet and Chamonix.  It was a beautiful day in the mountains hanging out with the wildlife. 

Parc Merlet-

Chamonix

Shortly after arriving, Chris and I took a trip to Italy.  While we were gone, the girls were very excited because they built a balance beam with my dad.  They had been requesting it ever since my parents booked their trip, so they were very happy girls when the day finally arrived. 

Finished project! 

After Chris and I returned, my parents took a three day trip to London. They enjoyed seeing all of the sights and walking around the big city. 

My parents were also able to cook with Eliza's class, which was a lot of fun! Many of the kids don't speak English, so we had an added challenge, but it was a great morning spent with Eliza and her friends.

We also took a trip to Munich, which was a highlight from their three weeks.  We were able to explore the Old Town of Munich, visit many pubs, dine twice at the Hofbrauhaus, and visit Dachau.

Cheers!  Yes, my mom drank beer!!! 

Drinking beer with my dad at the Hofbrauhaus...priceless! 

Cheers!

Dressed for their German night out! Eliza danced all night long.

Last call!

We even found a bar with the Vikings game on! 

When the girls were not in school, we spent time playing at home and at various places around Geneva.

We spent an afternoon at a park in the mountains, Signal de Bougy. 

The girls had so much fun playing mini golf with grandpa and grandma.

Bowling

Time for a check-up! 

Baking pumpkin bars with grandma- yummy!

This past weekend, before they left, we spent the day in the Lavaux wine region of Switzerland.  It was a beautiful day enjoying the fall colors and Lake Geneva. 

On their last day, we headed to the mountains for one last adventure. 

Anyone that knows my dad, knows that he is super handy and can fix just about anything.  While here, he fixed our lawn mower, mowed the lawn twice, cleaned out all of our sink pipes, cleaned the garage, and fixed the shower.  It's a good thing he travels with tools and carries electrical tape in his toiletry bag! 

Hard at work...

Of course, they also brought along some American goodies for us!!   

The time went by so quickly and all of us were sad to say good-bye.  On the bright side, we will be home to visit in two months!! 

The week before my parents visited, my cousin Jenni and her husband, Mike, visited us.  Despite a very rainy weekend, we still had a great time.  We were able to show them some of our favorite places and enjoyed catching up.  We are so fortunate to be so close to our family and have them want to come visit us! 

Selfie stick!